‘Our ecosystem’: RRC Polytech revels in applied research status

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 26/11/2024 (314 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Twenty years ago, what was then called Red River Community College entered into a research agreement with Motor Coach Industries. The goal: to see how its coaches could achieve U.S. Environmental Protection Agency standards.

It effectively marked the startup phase of the Winnipeg post-secondary school becoming what is now one of Canada’s leading applied research institutions.

Since then, like many of the successful startups it has helped birth — in the words of Jolen Galaugher, director of research partnerships and innovation — it has scaled up.

RRC Polytech brought together many of its industry and research partners to mark the 20th anniversary Tuesday.

“I think one of our best kept secrets is the scale we have reached, where we have come to where we are now. Most of our research is inter-disciplinary. We can support industry at any stage,” said Galaugher.

With about $90 million in capital infrastructure and equipment and state-of-the-art facilities, it is one of the only post-secondary institutions with three Technology Access Centres: aerospace and manufacturing, building efficiency technology and Prairie research kitchen.

In noting the importance of the kind of basic research done at the universities, RRC Polytech CEO Fred Meier said: “For Manitoba to thrive and to really move forward, we also need a complimentary type of research — that is applied research, especially with all the discussion about productivity right now in Canada.”

Perhaps it’s conceivable to think of some other way to organize the broad range of industry-driven applied research work being done at RRC, but there’s no need to. Not only has it “scaled up,” it is brilliantly sustainable in there is industry or community support for every project undertaken.

(The college is not able to say Tuesday just how much its industry collaborations have contributed to the provincial GDP, but that analysis is underway.)

Dating back to its work with MCI, under the leadership of the program’s founding director, Ray Hoemsen, the school has helped numerous Manitoba companies and organizations solve important technological (and social) challenges.

RRC Polytech helped NFI Group design its battery electric buses in a years-long collaboration with the province, Manitoba Hydro and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.

It helped Frontiers North design an all-electric tundra buggy that is in operation at Churchill, helping to ensure the sustainability of the tourism industry in the North.

It’s currently working with Magellan Aerospace to design composite parts.

Dan Blair, founder and CEO of BSDXR (formerly Bit Space Development), may be the poster child for the success of another of its applied research facilities, ACE (applied computer education) Project Space. It is a collaboration between information technology students (who are credited with course work), with startup entrepreneurs helping them to build-out their technology.

BSDXR, which employs 30 people, is now a leader in the use of virtual reality technology for training in a range of sectors from construction to mining to manufacturing.

As a recent grad in 2014, Blair was the ACE Project’s first entrepreneur in residence.

“I literally started my company at the ACE Project,” he said.

BSDXR has pioneered the use of virtual reality and digital technology in the industrial training area.

“We built our first product that became one of our cornerstone tools and has been for years and is still in business today that combined VR with construction equipment training,” said Blair. “It’s a no-brainer today, but at the time had not really been done.”

It’s an example of the fact such research does not occur in a vacuum.

“Some of the greatest impact we’ve had has been the result of collaborations with industry and the community,” said Galaugher. “This is our ecosystem.”

The research does not occur in a vacuum, nor does the actual deployment of the innovation by the various third parties that work with RRC Polytech.

They all need people to work with them and the talent pipeline the school may be more well-known for is part of the applied research continuum.

“Many would say that increasing student and faculty engagement in applied research is the primary purpose of the college as an applied research and applied technology institution,” Galaugher said.

“It’s to support the talent pipeline. To provide the workforce to support the innovation being undertaken.”

RRC Polytech was one of the first six colleges to take advantage of the initial Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada funding (back in Hoemsen’s days) that initiated its journey into applied research, making it a leader in that field in the country.

What makes RRC Polytech unique in that space is all of its applied research projects report to its Indigenous strategy office.

Now that it is a veteran in applied research, figuring out how to do it with an Indigenous perspective will be another way for RRC Polytech to sustain its important positions in the Manitoba ecosystem.

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca