Toronto: No more the quiet backwater, Ontario is becoming a global leader in technology innovation, attracting a flock of aggressive leading edge companies ready to do battle in the world market for high-end technology and technical services. Although much of this work is directly focused on power generation, it is becoming apparent that even in initiatives focused on other sectors, the new technologies being developed and deployed will increasingly be grid-aware and integrated to some degree with the power system. The range is extensive: Not just improved technology for generating power, but innovations in transmission, monitoring and control, industrial process integration, managing environmental impact, and more are poised to affect business opportunities in the power sector.
As a group, these technical developments in the power sector represent a promising growth area for the economy and a key strategic direction for the government of Ontario. With a range of initiatives, the provincial government is placing a high priority on making the province a destination of choice for sunrise industries, companies whose technology is both technically innovative and environmentally promising.
Whether government acts as the parent, the midwife or a cheerleader to this new industry, it is witnessing the birth of an astounding number of new companies and research institutions with a common agenda of competing aggressively in global markets for new technology. Commonly known as “Ontario’s research infrastructure,” something like 30 organizations, with evocative names like the Perimeter Institute, the Accelerator Centre for Commercialization Excellence, and IGLOO, are amassing their talents and building momentum for a major period of growth.
At the same time, new leadership and new ideas are taking hold in Ontario’s leading research institutions. Operating successfully in the sector requires the ability to communicate a broad vision and rally forces behind ambitious and well-articulated objectives. Major research institutions such as Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE) are refocusing themselves to deal with recently identified challenges — a far cry from the kid brother image that used to be associated with Canadian industry in comparison to the US or Europe.
As many readers know, a number of manufacturers are planning new investments to produce renewable energy technology in Ontario. In addition, Ontario is home to a great deal of activity focused on the natural gas industry, nuclear energy, the smart grid, and more. With such a convergence of manufacturing, many are expecting a significant upswing in the research and development sides of the business that have traditionally concentrated south of the border. Certainly Ontario has the academic institutions and the consumer market to support major research programs close to home.
Where is all this new industrial development likely to lead and how can the power industry hope to benefit from research activity going on close at hand? What expectations are realistic for the industry to hold in terms of commercially usable innovations coming from the research sector? If the research sector succeeds in implementing a fundamental makeover, what will it mean for the energy industry?
Although most of the answers are yet to come, IPPSO FACTO provides an overview of who is doing what, and where many of the answers are expected to come from, in the articles following.
See the following related stories:
• Ontario Centres of Excellence - ready to respond
• Ontario’s burgeoning research infrastructure
• Feature interview with Tom Corr, the new President of OCE
• Stories on the MaRS centre , Making the grid even smarter and Biomass innovation underway at Atikokan
• How to get more value out of a transmission line / Pushing the limits of what the grid can carry