INNOVATION July-August 2017

Capturing vibration signatures of concrete test bridges as a part of CFI funded research at Dr. Rishi Gupta, P.Eng.'s Materials Lab UVic.

professor Rishi Gupta, P.Eng. “We want industry to come to us and say ‘Hey, we have a problem. Can you help us?’” Vancouver-based Minaean Construction Corp. did just that a few years ago when they approached Gupta who was teaching at BCIT at the time. “They were looking for their “own ‘secret recipe’ for light-weight concrete so they wouldn’t have to pay royalties to someone else outside of Canada anymore,” Gupta says. “We used a generic off-the-shelf chemical admixture and developed a cellular light-weight concrete mix that they now use with their system.” Crucially, by working with university labs, companies like Minaean get to retain intellectual property rights over their ideas and the research completed for them under programs like NSERC’s Engage Grant. Gupta’s current work at the University of Victoria’s Facility for Innovative Materials and Infrastructure Monitoring (FIMIM) includes the development of “smart” concrete that can heal and seal cracks. “The industrial applications for Rishi’s work are endless,” says Alexandre Brolo, director of the university’s Centre for Advanced Materials and Related Technology (CAMTEC), which, like FIMIM, owes its existence to infrastructure funding from the CFI and its BC counterpart, the BC Knowledge Development Foundation. But better concrete is not the only new material under development in Victoria. “Four different kinds of labs–nano- fabrication, optical imaging, electron microscopy, and bio-molecular sampling– enable research at CAMTEC,” says Brolo, “and any company can use our labs. We’re open for anyone.” Dragons and angels may have more glamour and better press, but government funding is really helping to fuel the growth of R&D and innovation in Canada right now. v

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