George Brown College Secures Funding for Green Construction Research

TORONTO, April 8, 2015 /CNW/ - George Brown College has been named as recipient of two grants from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council's College and Community Innovation Program (NSERC-CIIP) and one from the Canada Foundation for Innovation's College-Industry Innovation fund (CFI-CIIF).

These grants include a joint NSERC-CCIP Innovation Enhancement/CFI-CIIF grant in Building Information Modeling of $3.3 million over 5 years and an NSERC-CCIP Industrial Research Chairs for Colleges Grant in Smart Connected Buildings: Intelligent Building Automation Systems of $1 million over 5 years.

The announcement was made today as part of more than $40 million in grants to colleges across Canada to support applied research and development activities by industry by Ed Holder, Honourable Minister of State (Science and Technology) and David Sweet, Member of Parliament for Ancaster—Dundas—Flamborough—Westdale.

This funding will create industry partnerships and opportunities in two key areas of research growth for George Brown, building automation and building information modeling, which will directly benefit the Canadian construction sector while training the next generation of highly skilled Canadians.

"The aim of our applied research is to create a bridge between Canadian companies and their ability to innovate, a particularly vital need within the Canadian construction sector," said Anne Sado, president of George Brown College. "This funding builds on our history of green technology in two areas of growing research here at the college, Building Information Modeling and Smart Building Automation. Finding new and sustainable ways to build is crucial to the future of the Canadian landscape.  With our established strategic relationships with leaders in the Canadian construction industry, George Brown College is well-placed to make a meaningful contribution by helping our partners conduct applied research while giving our students key innovation skills." 

Research and Innovation at George Brown has made it a mission to support and advance industry- and community-problem solving through excellence in applied research, commercialization and scholarship.

About George Brown College
Toronto's George Brown College has established a reputation for equipping students with the skills, industry experience and credentials to pursue the careers of their choice. From its three main campuses located across the downtown core, George Brown offers 148 full-time and 1,600 continuing education programs across a wide variety of professions to a student body of approximately 64,000 (including those enrolled in full-time, part-time and continuing education programs). Students can earn diplomas, post-graduate certificates, industry accreditations, apprenticeships and four-year bachelor degrees. 

SOURCE George Brown College

Lisa Marchitto, Corporate Communications Manager, George Brown College, Office: 416-415-5000 ext. 3767, [email protected]