Announcements - NRC joins UBC 'living laboratory' to accelerate the deployment of integrated clean energy solutions

Collaboration advances market readiness of new technology and helps meet ambitious GHG reduction targets

September 27, 2010 — Vancouver, British Columbia

The National Research Council Institute for Fuel Cell Innovation (NRC-IFCI) is deepening its partnership with The University of British Columbia (UBC) to accelerate the development, deployment and commercialization of clean energy technology.

The partnership, formalized in a memorandum of understanding signed today, will build on a successful eight-year relationship between the university’s Faculty of Applied Science and the NRC institute. The UBC-NRC relationship is recognized as the most important fuel cell collaboration hub in Canada, attracting top researchers and companies from around the world and producing technology breakthroughs.

“Our collaboration with UBC has helped put the Vancouver-based fuel cell and hydrogen technology cluster on the map as part of a critical mass of clean energy companies, investors and research centres in this region” explained NRC-IFCI Director General Maja Veljkovic. NRC-IFCI and UBC currently share two joint faculty appointments and five NRC-IFCI researchers are also adjunct professors at UBC. Together they have helped mentor more than thirty-five graduate students and post-doctoral fellows, and contributed to nine inventions and five patent-pending technologies.

“We are pleased to expand our collaboration with NRC-IFCI to include other UBC faculties and departments such as the Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability,” said UBC VP Research & International John Hepburn. “UBC is committed to working with partners to establish a ‘living laboratory’ of sustainability. This will advance the market readiness of new technology while meeting our goal of becoming a ‘net-zero’ greenhouse gas campus by 2050.”

NRC-IFCI will be one of the founding tenants of the new UBC-CIRS smart building which will be used as a platform to test and showcase the performance, interaction and usability of different clean energy technologies and systems. Scheduled to open its doors in Fall 2011, CIRS will be one of the most innovative and high performance buildings in North America, demonstrating leading edge research and sustainable design, products, systems and decision making.

NRC-IFCI and UBC are also building bridges to other technology clusters in Canada and other jurisdictions such as California, through industry-driven partnerships like the BC Clean Energy Technology Cooperative. As the lead institute in the National Program on Hydrogen and Fuel Cells coordinated by NRC, Natural Resources Canada and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, NRC-IFCI also acts as a BC gateway to national clean energy capabilities across NRC and other federal government departments.

About The University of British Columbia

As one of Canada's largest and most prestigious public research and teaching institutions, The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a leader in clean energy research, including fuel cell systems, biofuels and clean burning engines. Patented UBC technologies and spin-offs contribute to BC’s clean energy sector. The UBC campus is a “Living Lab” for demonstrating early-stage clean energy technologies with promising environmental, economic and social benefits.

About NRC-IFCI

Canada's National Research Council (NRC) is a leader in the development of an innovative, knowledge-based economy for Canada through science and technology, and was recently ranked among the Top 10 government organizations and NGOs for scientific output in fuel-cell research in the world. The NRC Institute for Fuel Cell Innovation (NRC-IFCI) supports Canadian leadership in fuel cell and other clean energy technology by addressing industry-defined R&D and commercialization priorities.

For Further Information Contact:

Sylvia LeRoy
NRC-IFCI Communications
778-840-6140
sylvia.leroy@nrc.gc.ca

Brian Lin
UBC Public Affairs
604-822-2234
brian.lin@ubc.ca