NC had 32 million reasons to celebrate its Research & Innovation division on December 7.
A celebration was held in Benchmark on the evening of December 7, organized by NC’s Community Relations and Events team, which invited College administrators, members of the Colleges Board of Governors and industry partners to celebrate its guests of honour: NC’s Research & Innovation division.
The event came on the heels of news – announced earlier that day by Research Infosource Inc. in its Canada’s Top 50 Research Colleges report – that NC secured the top spot as the No. 1 research college in Canada for research funding, with more than $32-million in research support (based on total research funding numbers for 2022).
President Sean Kennedy noted that the division’s success is an example of how the College transforms the lives of students and communities, and how it makes a difference working in partnerships as R&I helps its industry partners innovate.
The real magic, he noted is the experiential learning students gain.
“It is truly experiential learning at its absolute finest. Our students have a chance to work as part of an applied research project where they truly are solving working with an industry partner to help them solve their problem, to help them meet the challenge that’s before them,” he said.
“The fact that we’ve not only made a difference in in so many industries, working with great industry partners where we’ve had the chance to utilize our incredible faculty expertise and our equipment and our staff expertise, where we’ve drawn on the amazing research innovation team… But we’ve also provided over the years thousands of incredible, unparalleled experiential learning opportunities for our students.”
VP of Research, Innovation and Strategic Enterprises Marc Nantel noted that this marked the ninth year in a row that NC achieved the top 10. He noted NC’s R& division wants to give students an enriched education with experience and learning opportunities and to help industry partners innovate.
“We take our role as an economic driver in the region seriously and we want to help these companies develop new products, new processes and new services to offer to their clients and make them more competitive in the world market and help create the jobs into which our graduates will go,” said Nantel.
He also noted that each proposal written is a work of art.
“While a lot of what we do with research and innovation, with the faculty, the staff, everyone is, you know, in science and technology, in business, it all starts with art,” he said. “When you when you write a proposal for funding, you have to tell a story.”
A great part of our success is knowing how to write these great novels, compose these catchy tunes, know, make sure we paint evocative pictures of everything we want to do, and to put on plays that will have our funders sit up on their seats and say, ‘yeah, yeah, so what happens next?'”
Execution is also key to the division’s success, he said.
“So we’re good at getting money and we’re good at doing well with it. That’s how we generate some of the great stories we tell. That’s how we get more funding.”
The importance of teamwork was emphasized by Nantel as well as Director of Strategic Partnership, Research & Innovation, Carolyn Mullin.
“In reflecting on this celebration today, I find myself reveling in our team dynamic in the research and innovation culture,” said Mullin. “We really do support each other. We readily jump in to help our teammates when needed.
“We rise to challenges together. And then, almost just as importantly, we take the time to celebrate our accomplishments, to reflect on where we’ve been.”
Industry partner Paul Raymer, President of SoilOptix®— an Ontario based high-definition top-soil mapping company which uses precision agriculture technology to help farmers improve the distribution of nutrient and texture in their fields – praised the College’s R&I division.
“I’m definitely very honored to be here and to be basking in the celebration with this College for what has been so instrumental in helping with our success,” he said. “We’ve been able to work alongside, partnering with the college, but also hire on the graduates … to be able to build a system to be able to digest data that used to take me eight to 10 hours a day just to do one field.
“The credit to the team for being able to put together a system of this size and scale… we continue to be able to push the barriers of this continued demand that we’re getting from an international marketplace.”
Research Associate Gabriela Torrens, who is a recent Greenhouse Technician graduate (2023), said she looks forward to the future, with a new state-of-the-art greenhouse underway, poised become a hub for the College’s Horticultural & Environmental Sciences Innovation Centre (HESIC).
“The ongoing construction of a dedicated research facility opens up a world of endless possibilities of innovative project. Thank you for the College and the founders for the generosity to make this vision come to life.
“I feel an overwhelming sense of pride. I’m proud of the incredible team I have the privilege of working with, proud of the impact we collectively made on the community, and proud to be part of Niagara College’s remarkable girls at the forefront of research excellence.”
The event began with a mocktail reception – incorporating non-alcoholic spirit from R&I division’s industry partner, Sobrii – and concluded with a celebratory cake cutting. The celebration involved the School of Culinary Arts, Benchmark as well as culinary offerings from alumni (Cheese Plz, Bittersweet Symphony) and more.
