by Gloria Welton
The PEI Cleantech Academy recently hosted their second conference event in partnership with the Government of PEI, Holland College, UPEI, and Springboard Atlantic Inc.
“Thanks to Springboard Atlantic this was a free event for the 160 attendees representing post-secondary institutions, communities, industry, organizations, and government,” says Sandra Moore, Director of PEI Cleantech Academy and PEI’s Cleantech Innovation Centre.
“Because clean technology is a relatively new industry on the Island, events like this help raise awareness of innovative research and projects in cleantech, sustainability, climate change, and building retrofits,” says Sandra. “It also gives attendees the opportunity to network and explore ideas and possible collaborations to advance cleantech research and adoption.”
Springboard Atlantic has been growing innovation in Atlantic Canada for over 20 years. The network moves knowledge and technologies from universities and colleges to the economy. They connect industry with researchers to solve real-world problems and help entrepreneurs protect their intellectual property.
President and CEO Daryl Genge has over 30 years’ experience in building partnerships with academia, industry, and government. “Springboard is supported by the federal government and is firmly committed to the federal government’s goal of achieving net zero by 2050,” says Daryl. “We also aim to help PEI become the first net zero province in Canada.”
In 2021, Springboard 360° Series was launched. “By bridging industry, research institutions and governments in Atlantic Canada, the Springboard 360° Series aims to promote meaningful collaborations to achieve net zero goals.
“We did a lot of consultation at that time, and the number one suggestion was the need for more events, partnerships, and opportunities for collaboration. That is why we are so excited to support this event today.
“Our net zero goals are ambitious, and they will take a lot of work to achieve. We have to make sure we are invested in areas that are important to our economy, and we need to attract high- potential companies to build entrepreneurial opportunities that will move towards achieving our goals. And as importantly, we have to develop leadership skills, which is at the forefront of the Cleantech Academy. It is a shining example of what happens when government, academia, and industry come together.”
Read more about initiatives on PEI that are making a difference from some of the event speakers below:
Shawn MacDougall, Director of Applied Research at Holland College, oversees several industry-focused research groups and is responsible for the development of new research capacity within college programs. His focus is on driving innovative applied research projects that support economic growth and development on PEI while training the next generation of innovative thinkers for the workforce. Shawn has a Master’s Degree in Environmental/Analytical Chemistry from UPEI.
“We help facilitate research projects and relationships with industry partners and not-for-profits within our 65-plus programs at the college. “The future looks promising with the build of PEI’s Cleantech Innovation Centre, which will house the Cleantech Academy in Georgetown, PEI. This will lead us to the next generation of innovation.
“In the last two years, Holland College’s Canada’s Smartest Kitchen, which provides market insight to food business challenges, has done more research with Cleantech in mind. One example is the efforts being made to generate value and reduce waste from food products entering our landfill. Cleantech is everywhere and we are discovering more all the time.”
Maria Steele is the UPEI Manager of Research Administration, Partnerships, and Innovation. Maria completed her Certificate in Engineering at UPEI and her Bachelor of Engineering Science (specialization in aerospace engineering) at the University of Toronto. She also holds an MBA from McMaster University, specializing in management of innovation and new technology, and is registered as a professional engineer with Engineers PEI.
“I manage research, innovation, and partnerships at UPEI and I also work collectively with Springboard network. We look at finding ways for the more than 350 researchers at UPEI, who have all types of backgrounds, to assist organizations to find solutions to their burning questions. Whether it is a not-for-profit organization, industry partner, or government organization, we can find capacity to apply cleantech research that can help. On occasion, we also collaborate with Holland College where appropriate.
“Over the last three years on PEI, some amazing things have happened in cleantech. Funding from the PEI government and other means has helped support our research. This is helping UPEI researchers look at new innovations that can assist to grow and expand the cleantech sector.”
Ives Kennedy Eyquem is a Business Development Advisor with Mitacs, covering PEI and parts of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. For more than two years at Mitacs, Ives has helped connect academia and industry to foster innovation through research partnerships.
Mitacs is a national organization that supports collaboration between Canadian academia, businesses, and government to drive industrial and social innovation.
“We support a range of disciplines, from STEM to social innovation. We have broadened our undertaking to include college and undergraduate students, as well as graduates and postdocs and we have expanded our network of businesses and not-for-profit organizations.
“I have seen quite a few renewable energy projects. We have research looking at how PEI can integrate renewable energy and energy efficiencies in sectors such as agriculture using drones to monitor seeding and other activities. We fund the physical sciences and the social sciences to encourage researchers to look at how PEI can develop more pro-climate attitudes.”
Daniel Breau is an Industrial Technology Advisor with the National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC IRAP). In 1998, Daniel completed a Bachelor of Applied Science in mechanical engineering. He kicked off his career with Michelin North America (Canada) and worked there for 12 years. During his first five years with Michelin, he fulfilled the roles of industrial engineering, maintenance supervisor, and Capex projects at the Bridgewater, NS manufacturing facility.
Six years later, he transferred to the Waterville, NS facility to become a senior manufacturing tire designer for the military and earth mover tire lines. In 2010, Daniel joined the Irving Group organization at their Cavendish Farms potato processing plants on PEI to lead the maintenance department. In 2014, he joined NRC IRAP.
“The National Research Council of Canada operates multiple research facilities and programs across the country, and my office is here on PEI. We conduct research, support small and medium-sized enterprises to help them scale up and compete, and connect Canadian innovators to leading research and development capabilities.
“In my role as an industrial technology advisor with NRC IRAP, I help companies grow through technical innovation. I have learned a lot over the years, and I pass on those lessons learned to the companies that I work with to help them overcome technical, business or innovation barriers and turn their ideas into success.
“Almost half my clients are energy-based, and that is a significant increase. For instance, in the last few years there has been a growth in demand from end users wanting to use hydrogen as an energy source. More and more of this research is being funded by industry as well as government.”
Ramona Doyle, MEB, is VP, Program Delivery and Business Development with the Clean Foundation. She has 10 years’ experience in program design and delivery, policy development and implementation, developing and implementing community energy plans, climate action plans, PACE programs, and managing energy performance contracts.
Ramona holds a Master’s Degree in Environment & Business from the University of Waterloo, and a Bachelor of Arts with Honours in Environmental Studies and Anthropology from the University of Victoria.
“Two years ago, I made a transition into the NPO sector with Clean Foundation. Clean is a program delivery non-profit which makes progress toward a cleaner future by taking on environmental and climate change challenge-related projects.
“We work on a wide variety of programs across PEI and Nova Scotia, including workforce development, home energy retrofitting, educational workshops, energy audits, and more.
“It was recently announced that three municipalities on PEI including Charlottetown, Three Rivers, and West Prince will participate in Quest Canada’s Net-Zero Communities Accelerator Program, which is supported by the Clean Foundation.
“A big part of this program will focus on community energy assessments, emissions inventory, and the economic impact of community energy planning. We are in initial meetings with community leaders and look forward to the results from this project.”
Katrina Cristall is the Climate Action Officer for the City of Charlottetown. Her work with the City has spanned a wide range of topics including food security, sustainable procurement, and climate-related community education and engagement.
Most recently, she has focused on the development of a Climate Action Plan for Charlottetown that will guide both adaptation and mitigation efforts. Through this process, her priority is to build networks and relationships within the community to enable collaborative climate action.
“We are at the final stages of developing a Climate Action Plan for Charlottetown and have a fairly large team of staff contributing to this plan. It all is about relationships, collaboration, and trust building. We are working on bringing people into the conversation who historically have not been at the table.”
John Jamieson joined the Town of Three Rivers as CAO in September 2023. Previously, John worked in the food industry for about 20 years. A Professional Agrologist and Certified Nutrient Management Planner, John most recently served as CEO of the Canadian Centre for Food Integrity.
While working with the Government of PEI, John also served as the DM of Agriculture and Fisheries and the DM of Rural and Regional Development on PEI. Through this work he became acutely aware of the importance of transparency in building and earning public trust in public and private institutions. He has sat on the boards of several national and regional organizations.
“My job is to work with council and staff to manage our municipality of about 9,000 people. We have become one of PEI’s largest municipalities and we manage a significant amount of infrastructure. We have two utilities, three marinas, a community theatre, and two arenas. We are at the point of determining how we want to grow in a sustainable manner.”
Jordan MacDonald is the Executive Director of Develop West Prince, a non-profit community economic development organization working in the Westisle Family of Schools region. In his role Jordan supports municipalities, community organizations, and other service providers to accomplish collective goals and initiatives.
Jordan holds a BBA (Entrepreneurship) and MSc (Capacity Development and Extension). He lives in O’Leary, PEI and is an active volunteer in local and provincial organizations with interests in housing, rural creativity, and community service.
“We have been doing a lot of work around housing and realized that many were energy insecure. This led to some conversations with organizations such as Clean Foundation and we were happy to promote and partner with projects they were doing.
“Our region has about the same population as the City of Summerside. We seek to promote the region and its communities and advocate on their behalf to improve local quality of life through renewed infrastructure, improved information and knowledge sharing, and access to resources.”
Josh Silver is the Program Instructor of the Heritage Retrofit Carpentry program at Holland College.
This program looks at the preservation and conservation of historic buildings. “About a third of the curriculum involves energy efficiency,” says Josh. “Heritage buildings are amongst the most challenging buildings to make energy efficient. This program strives to teach best practices and explore new innovative technologies and techniques to push these boundaries.
“We understand that some of the most beautiful homes in our communities are heritage homes, and historically they are the most difficult to heat. If we don’t intervene soon, they are at risk of being abandoned.
“Typically, homes built today last on average about 90 years. So, we have to start retrofitting them to become more energy efficient to meet the net zero goals. Our students are exposed to the research and know-how and training for typically-built homes and the renovation of heritage homes.
“We do a lot of applied research at Holland College which makes an impact on the industry and creates employment opportunities for our graduates.
“Recently we did a project that generated in-depth research on wooden window restoration. Installing new windows tends to increase energy efficiency. But in the case of a heritage home, I knew we could find a way to restore wooden windows that could meet energy audit assessment guidelines. Knowing that about 14 percent of PEI dwellings were built before the 1920s, we wanted to find a home around this age to work on for our research and class project.
“We found a home to work on that was built in the 1880s that has 17 windows. We did a blower door process on this home and found out how airtight the home was. We did a number of research approaches to repair and seal the windows, including replacing the glass if needed. We also did woodwork repairs around the windows. The result was brand-new wooden windows restored from the existing ones.
“This house had leaked a lot of air, and by just doing the windows we were able to improve energy efficiency.
“We were able to prove that maintaining windows is very important, very economical and very effective. And applying the know-how to restore heritage home windows is preserving the heritage fabric of our community.
“The average home wastes about 50 percent of its energy, so we have to make sure we communicate our research findings well. We need to let the public know what can be done to change and make lasting improvements.”
Daniel Breau is an Industrial Technology Advisor at National Research Council Canada (NRC- IRAP).
Maria Steele is the UPEI Manager of Research Administration, Partnerships, and Innovation.
Shawn MacDougall, Director of Applied Research at Holland College, oversees several industry-focused research groups and is responsible for the development of new research capacity within college programs (Submitted photo by Evan Ceretti, Communications Assistant-Photographer, Executive Council Office).
John Jamieson joined the Town of Three Rivers as CAO in September 2023.
Katrina Cristall is the Climate Action Officer for the City of Charlottetown.
Ramona Doyle, MEB, is VP, Program Delivery and Business Development with the Clean Foundation (Submitted photo by Evan Ceretti, Communications Assistant-Photographer, Executive Council Office).
