SUCCESS STORIES

Enabling wireless communications leadership
A thriving research partnership with wireless communications experts at École de technologie supérieure (ETS) has helped Montreal’s Ultra Electronics TCS become the world’s top supplier of high-capacity, line-of-sight (HCLOS) tactical radios.

The ETS researchers have helped Ultra revolutionize military communications with tactical radios whose waveforms and applications are primarily defined by software. These platforms provide the foundation for a virtually limitless array of new multimedia applications that support military command, control, information, surveillance and reconnaissance operations.

Conquering coronary heart disease
Researchers at the University of British Columbia, in partnership with Vancouver-based Angiotech Pharmaceuticals Inc., have developed breakthrough medical technologies that have improved the lives of millions of patients worldwide suffering from coronary heart disease.

The collaboration has led to novel polymeric drug delivery systems and "drug-loaded" surgical implants and medical devices, including a coronary-stent system that enables the precise delivery of a water-insoluble drug which inhibits important cellular mechanisms involved in angiogenesis, inflammation and scar formation.

Cleaning up arsenic contamination
Arsenic contamination is a widespread problem at a variety of industrial and commercial sites across Canada. An NSERC-funded partnership involving the University of Waterloo and Goldcorp has demonstrated that permeable reactive barriers (PRB), composed of iron filings, wood chips and gravel, can remove arsenic from groundwater near mining operations.

Existing remediation methods are maintenance intensive and involve chemical treatment and consume water resources. By contrast, PRBs are less costly, relatively maintenance free and more eco-friendly.