Canada Foundation For Innovation News

BMT Fleet Technology, of Ottawa, Ontario has announced its collaboration with the University of Victoria to design and deliver North America’s first ever hybrid, electric research ship. The vessel, formerly known as CCG Tsekoa II, will be used by the University as a research facility off the British Columbia (BC) coast to investigate changing coastal ecosystems, marine resources and continental shelf and slope dynamics. Funding in excess of $10 million has been provided by the Canada Foundation for Innovation, the BC Knowledge Development Fund and other partners, including industry.

The research capacity of the University of Victoria-led NEPTUNE Canada, the world’s first regional cabled ocean observatory, received a significant boost today with the announcement of an additional $20 million in funding. The $8 million from the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI), $8 million from the BC Knowledge Development Fund (BCKDF) and $4 million of in-kind support from private partners including Alcatel will allow scientists to significantly expand the scope and scientific impact of the NEPTUNE Canada observatory. Beginning in fall 2007, Alcatel will lay an 800-km network of powered fibre optic cable across the seafloor in the deep ocean off the B.C. coast.