27 mars 2020 | Local, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité

NRC COVID-19 response

The Government of Canada is taking strong and quick action to protect our economy, and the health and safety of all Canadians during this global outbreak of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

We are working with our partners as part of the collective effort to help find solutions to the COVID-19 outbreak:

1. The COVID-19 Challenges Procurement Program: NRC Industrial Research Assistance Program and Innovative Solutions Canada

Purpose: This program will post challenges seeking near-to-market solutions from small and medium-sized businesses (fewer than 500 staff) that need financial support from the National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC IRAP) to refine and sell their product or solution to meet a COVID-19 related need.

NRC IRAP works with roughly 8,000 small and medium-sized businesses every year through its cross-Canada network of 255 industrial technology advisors and provides over $300 million in support to more than 3,000 technology development projects annually
Through this initiative, the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) and Health Canada (HC) will establish a number of challenges corresponding to needs of health providers to deal with COVID-19
NRC IRAP will partner with Innovative Solutions Canada to launch calls for proposals over the next few weeks to address challenges, fund development of solutions, and buy successful products and services needed to address COVID-19
Together, NRC IRAP and Innovative Solutions Canada will:
- post the PHAC and HC challenges (Innovative Solutions Canada)
- award Phase 1 funding to successful small and medium-sized businesses to develop a proof of concept for their solution (NRC IRAP)
- award Phase 2 funding to the firms with the best concepts so they can develop a working prototype (NRC IRAP)

The NRC, PHAC, HC or another federal department or agency will then be able purchase the product for use against COVID-19.

Innovative Solutions Canada already has challenges in development, which they will begin posting to their website in the coming days. These will continue as PHAC, HC, and health care providers request new topics.

Companies with promising technology relevant to the COVID-19 challenges can register their technology or product by clicking on the Register button below.

2. The Pandemic Response Challenge Program: National Research Council of Canada

Purpose: This program will build teams to address challenges requiring further research and development for solutions to meet COVID-19 related needs. The NRC will build these teams drawing on internal-to-government capacity and academic researchers who register using the button below to indicate their interest, and related areas of expertise and capabilities.

The NRC will receive $15M to form dedicated teams to address challenges in the areas of greatest research and development (R&D) need in the fight against COVID-19. The NRC Pandemic Response Challenge Program will accelerate the development of diagnostics and medical countermeasures for a rapid front-line response to protect and treat Canadians. This national vehicle will convene the best Canadian and international researchers from academia and small and medium-sized businesses to collectively accelerate R&D to address specific COVID-19 gaps and challenges as identified by Canadian health experts. The Pandemic Response Challenge Program is currently structured around 3 main research areas:

Rapid detection and diagnosis
Therapeutics and vaccine development and
Digital health.

Researchers at Canadian and international universities, government departments, colleges, and highly innovative firms with relevant expertise can now register their interest to work with us on these challenges by clicking the Register button below.

Funding is available to help cover the costs of research for academic institutions, small and medium-sized businesses, and other eligible recipients participating in the challenge teams. Over the coming weeks, we will post the specific R&D challenges, send information to registered researchers, and invite them to indicate the expertise and capabilities they can bring to a team.

3. Biomanufacturing capacity at Royalmount: NRC Human Health Therapeutics Research Centre

Purpose: This initiative will result in a Good Manufacturing Practices platform to develop and scale up COVID-19 Canadian vaccine and therapy candidates.

The NRC Biomanufacturing facility, located in the NRC's Royalmount Avenue building in Montréal, is used to develop and scale up processes to produce biological medicines and is managed by the Human Health Therapeutics Research Centre. As part of its development capacity, the facility is equipped with pilot-scale bioreactors (200 L and 500 L), which will be operationally available to produce up to 100,000 doses of vaccine per month within 6 months once a vaccine suitable for front-line responders is available.

A $15 million investment will fund the certification of the facility for Good Manufacturing Practices compliance, and will enable production of material that will be used in humans, particularly for vaccines or therapeutics. This certification can also greatly increase the capacity for candidate vaccines or therapeutics to be quickly rolled out and clinically tested, particularly those originating from Canada. The work to refine and certify quality systems at the facility will include: bringing the existing facility to regulatory standards, installing equipment to expand capacity, and managing information.

Once certified, this facility will be able to accelerate the scale-up production and testing of various types of vaccine candidates in the context of the current COVID-19 outbreak, including protein-based, viral vector-based, and antibody-based products.

https://nrc.canada.ca/en/research-development/research-collaboration/nrc-covid-19-response

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25 novembre 2019 | Local, Aérospatial

ATC returning to Mirabel in January
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9 septembre 2019 | Local, Terrestre

Petawawa soldiers to test new camouflage for Canadian Forces
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3 juillet 2018 | Local, Naval

Davie aims to replace Canadian Coast Guard's entire icebreaker fleet
Kevin Dougherty Shipbuilding firm will start work on icebreaker conversion this summer Chantier Davie Canada Inc., the country's largest shipbuilding firm, is gunning for contracts to build new icebreakers for the Canadian Coast Guard. "Given the age of the Canadian Coast Guard fleet, the entire icebreaker fleet will need to be replaced in the near future," says Alex Vicefield, CEO of Inocea Group, which has owned Davie since 2012. "We have every intention of submitting a world-class proposal together with global leaders in icebreaker design." Until then, Davie, located across the river from Quebec City in Lévis, is in the home stretch of negotiations with the federal government to convert three surplus commercial icebreakers for the Canadian Coast Guard. Under its new management, Davie has made its mark in the industry by turning surplus ships into lower-cost solutions. The first converted icebreaker will be ready in time for the 2018-2019 ice season on the St. Lawrence and Great Lakes. However, when it comes to building new ships, there remain doubts about Davie's ability to deliver at a competitive cost. Canadian ships cost 'twice as much' Marc Gagnon is director, government affairs and regulatory compliance for the Montreal-based Fednav, which operates a fleet of nearly 100 ships. Fednav buys its ships in Japan because, Gagnon says, Canadian-built ships cost "at least twice as much." "Davie no longer has the capacity to build an icebreaker or a frigate," Gagnon said. "To do so, they would have to re-equip their shipyard." Vicefield said Davie is aware of the challenges ahead and has invested $60 million to upgrade its steel-cutting and IT infrastructure. The University of British Columbia's Michael Byers, who argues that Ottawa's current shipbuilding strategy is too costly and needlessly slow, says building government ships in Canada makes sense and Davie is definitely up to the task. "For every $100 million that is spent on building a ship in Canada, you would get several times more than that in terms of knock-on economic activity," Byers said. "And Davie is the logical place to do it. They have a very large shipyard. They have a very capable workforce. The labour costs are relatively low and it's an active shipyard." Asterix 'very impressive' Last year, before Ottawa agreed to sit down with Davie to discuss the icebreaker conversions, Davie delivered the Asterix — a container ship converted into a supply ship for the Royal Canadian Navy — on time and on budget. In 2015, when the navy's existing two supply ships were no longer seaworthy, Vicefield and his team proposed converting the Asterix to a naval supply ship for about $600 million. "What they did with the Asterix was very impressive," Byers said. "There is no other shipyard in Canada that could have done that." In comparison, Vancouver-based Seaspan was chosen to build two new navy supply ships for $2.6 billion. But the first new supply ship will only be ready in 2020. "This is a cutthroat business and there is a lot of money involved and a lot of politics involved," Byers said. "Davie has the capacity and the experience to build icebreakers, plus they have the lowest costs in terms of labour of any shipyard in the country," he said. The Canadian Coast Guard has an aging fleet of 13 ice-breaking vessels and two hovercraft. Ice still a hazard to navigation Canada's oldest and largest icebreaker, the CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent, was commissioned in 1969. It was to be replaced in 2017 by the CCGS John G. Diefenbaker. But from the initial estimate of $720 million, the Diefenbaker is now expected to cost over $1.4 billion, with delivery in 2022. To meet Ottawa's need for "interim icebreakers," Davie found four icebreakers built for oil and gas drilling off the coast of Alaska that were idled when oil prices fell, putting an end of Shell's Arctic venture. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau agreed to negotiations with Davie to acquire the three smaller ice-breaking vessels, leaving aside the larger Aiviq. With no other shipyard matching Davie's proposal, the conversion work will begin this summer. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/davie-coast-guard-icebreakers-canada-vicefield-byers-gagnon-1.4730332

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