Building & Sustaining Industry Relationships: Be Relevant & - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Building & Sustaining Industry Relationships: Be Relevant & Responsive

novaNAIT novaNAIT’s Mandate: novaNAIT bridges the applied research capacity of NAIT to deliver relevant solutions to industry and the community. novaNAIT’s Context: Relevant or Market Driven Applied Research Solutions Capacity novaNAIT Industry Faculty, Staff & Community Students

NAIT: An Emerging Applied Research Institution • NAIT Vision: “To be globally valued for student success, applied research, and innovation” • Guiding Principles: “Foster innovation and applied research”

NAIT: Schools • JR Shaw School of Business • School of Health Sciences • School of Trades • School of Sustainable Building and Environmental Management • School of Information Communication & Engineering Technologies

Applied Research … Provides: • Solutions to industry’s challenges • Beneficial partnerships • Practical learning opportunities for students • Professional activities for faculty and staff

Applied Research Programming: Relevant Outcomes Outcomes in many forms: • Prototype and Product Development • Proof of Concept and/or Design • Testing • Technical Valuation and Validation • Technical Consultancy • Product or Service Improvements • New Intellectual Property • Business Strategy Development • Market Feasibility and Planning

Priority of Focus: Boreal Reclamation Large Scale in Situ Pads 15,000 Abandoned Well Sites in the Alberta’s NW Boreal

Priority of Focus: Boreal Reclamation Oil & Gas Industry SME Nurseries, NAIT Communities, First Nations, Contractors, Consultants, Boreal Research Institute & Metis Enterprises Forest Companies Government

Priority of Focus: Green Chemistry and Engineering Ledcor Group Applied Research Chair in Oil Sands Environmental Sustainability • GCE = design, manufacture of safer products with less energy • Supporting industry compliance – partnerships in oil sand environment solutions • Validate tailings treatment technologies & management • Develop measurement solutions & standards

Priority of Focus: nanotechnology Prototype Development NanoCARTS • nano Centre for Applied Research, Industry Training and Services • world-class micro- and nanotechnology systems integration centre • development of prototypes and products • Focused on servicing SMEs • NAIT students have access companies and can already start working on industrial projects

Utilizing Your Institution Challenges: • United front • Consistency • Don’t reinvent the wheel • Dynamic layers • Harmonize • Communication • Appeasement • Roles clarity

Capstone “designed to provide real world experience integrating their learning in an applied, practical, industry sponsored project. Interdisciplinary teams of 3-4 students over a period of 6 months with students contributing 600-800 unpaid student hours.”

Connecting Students with Industry Students: Challenges: • Management • Networking • Liability & Risk • Job opportunities • Metrics • Entrepreneurship • Tools & Resources Industry: • Recruitment • Cost effective • Innovative

Motivation to Engage Industry: • Access to funding • Access to resources • Recognition • Enterprise Development

Motivation to Engage • Entrepreneur in Residence Program • A partnership with NRC IRAP • Providing mentorship and advice to NAIT’s SME and entrepreneur community Results in 2 years: • 4 tenants have achieved angel investment • 7 have accessed predevelopment grant support • 9 new companies

Motivation to Engage Institution Challenges: • Setting expectations • Alignment • Reactive vs. proactive • Education & experience • Accountability • Relationships = support • Credibility & reputation • Collaboration • Reporting & metrics • Understanding behavior

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Thank you Sandra Spencer Business Manager sandrals@nait.ca