Spotlight on the ARCTIC Program: Connecting Canada’s Game Changers with Industry Challenges

It’s been a big couple of weeks: newly-elected Prime Minister Trudeau officially took office, appointed his cabinet, and created a new ministry for environment and climate change. Now the wait is on to see how the new government will live up to its campaign promises, including commitments to reduce GHG emissions, phase out subsidies for the fossil fuel industry, and to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in clean technology (both the technologies themselves and the companies that produce them).

What are clean technologies? Solutions that have economic and environmental benefits: they typically use fewer materials and/or energy to produce, and/or help companies become more efficient and sustainable by generating less waste and pollution. The market for these technologies is set to expand as governments and industry in Canada and around the world seek solutions for the problems associated with climate change.

ARCTIC’s Innovation Sprint competition: Connecting Canada’s game changers with industry’s trickiest challenges

Delphi is pleased to be supporting the Advanced Resource Clean Technology Innovation Centre (ARCTIC), a program that fosters start-ups with big ideas on how to solve the most pressing energy, environmental and economic challenges in Canada’s energy, oil and gas, water, mining and forestry sectors.

Managed by Foresight Cleantech Accelerator Centre (Foresight CAC), Western Canada’s first clean technology accelerator, ARCTIC is sponsoring a series of “Challenge” competitions. There are three main phases in the Challenge process:

1. The Challenge Dialogue – Identifying the problem: A specific market challenge is identified by ARCTIC, in consultation with industry.
2. The Challenge Sprint – Supporting solution providers: A selection panel will select five firms that will receive funding to develop prototypes over a six month period. During this period the firms will receive mentorship and business support from Foresight to help accelerate an idea from concept to prototype and from seed to first funding.
3. Field Trial – Selecting a winner: The industry sponsor will select one prototype for field testing. Foresight will provide project management oversight, an Executive-in-Residence, lab and office space, and business support to help the company move towards commercialization.

Looking for innovators with solutions for the oil sands and mining sectors

ARCTIC’s first two Innovation Sprint challenges have been developed in conjunction with the Canadian Oil Sands Industry Alliance (COSIA) and the Canada Mining Innovation Council (CMIC). COSIA and ARCTIC have launched the Waste Heat Recovery Challenge, looking for innovators with ideas on how to capture low and high grade heat currently vented from oil sands in situ facilities and transform it into a higher value heat or electricity.

Specifically, COSIA is interested in the Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD) aspect of their operations, which requires significant natural gas combustion to produce steam. SAGD facilities lose the majority of the heat from the flue gas, at 200°C, and from the glycol loop, at 60°C to 80°C.

Want to know more?

Check out the ARCTIC website and watch the video from the COSIA informational webinar held on November 9^th here. The application deadline for the COSIA ARCTIC Waste Heat Challenge is November 28^th, and applications can be sent to arctic.info@foresightcac.com.

Contributors: 
Shruchi Bhargava –  Analyst (sbhargava@delphi.ca)
Carol-Ann Brown – Director (cabrown@delphi.ca)