![Picture](/uploads/2/1/7/6/21764530/7611968.jpg?398)
Our world is changing at an alarming rate. With today's technology, knowledge is at our fingertips. In their acclaimed book '21st Century Skills', Fadel and Trilling (2009) stated that creativity and innovation are high on the list of skills in demand for the 21st century. They also noted that creativity and innovation can be nurtured by:
Trilling, B., & Fadel, C. (2009). 21st century skills, learning for life in our times. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
- learning environments that foster questioning
- patience
- openness to fresh ideas
- high levels of trust
- learning from mistakes and failures
Trilling, B., & Fadel, C. (2009). 21st century skills, learning for life in our times. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
![Picture](/uploads/2/1/7/6/21764530/5141164.jpg?313)
New Brunswick has a not-for-profit research and development funding corporation, called New Brunswick Innovation Fund (NBIF). They focus on:
NBIF R3 Challenge:
Created in 2012, the R3 Innovation Challenge is a bi-annual competition for a chance at $100,000 worth of research and development services at a New Brunswick postsecondary institution or qualified research organization.
2012 Winner: Jonathan Barry, CEO, Breviro Caviar
Caviar from the Shortnose Sturgeon is one of the rarest and most sought after delicacies in the world. Breviro Caviar plans to research and develop an aquaculture system and technique in Charlo, New Brunswick, that speeds up the sexual maturation of the fish, which takes up to four years.
Since winning the Challenge, NBIF took an interest in their business model at large, making a venture capital in the company as well.
- Information & Communication Technology (ICT): Internet solutions/e-commerce, Geomatics, and Engineering
- Energy & Environment: Alternative energy sources, Climate and natural environment technologies and Energy efficiency
- Biosciences: Biotechnology, Wood Science, Marine Science
- Aerospace & Defence
- Industrial Fabrication
- Value-added Food
- Value-added Wood
NBIF R3 Challenge:
Created in 2012, the R3 Innovation Challenge is a bi-annual competition for a chance at $100,000 worth of research and development services at a New Brunswick postsecondary institution or qualified research organization.
2012 Winner: Jonathan Barry, CEO, Breviro Caviar
Caviar from the Shortnose Sturgeon is one of the rarest and most sought after delicacies in the world. Breviro Caviar plans to research and develop an aquaculture system and technique in Charlo, New Brunswick, that speeds up the sexual maturation of the fish, which takes up to four years.
Since winning the Challenge, NBIF took an interest in their business model at large, making a venture capital in the company as well.
2012 Winner: Paul Gunn, CEO, Soricimed Biopharma
In the process of development its current cancer fighting drugs, Soricimed Biopharma discovered that chemicals found in shrew venom attach to specific receptor cells in the prostate, ovaries and breasts. As a result, the company proposes to develop a new drug that can be used to deliver other cancer detecting or fighting drugs to those specific sites, making for more targeted cancer therapies.
More current NBIF research
![Picture](/uploads/2/1/7/6/21764530/6413389.jpg?344)
Imagine a world in which curtains, roof shingles and vinyl siding could convert sunlight into electricity at an affordable cost.
That’s the world Felipe Chibante is trying to create.
Chibante, the Richard J. Currie chair in nanotechnology in the department of chemical engineering at the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton, has received $460,000 from the New Brunswick Innovation Foundation to discover a way to reduce the cost of making fullerene – a carbon molecule – which can be combined with conductive polymers to create plastic solar cell technology.
Plastic solar cell technology – the alternative to silicon solar cell technology, such as solar panels – has been in development for years, ever since Nobel Prize-winning chemist Richard E. Smalley discovered fullerene in 1985. Chibante was a student on his team.
The problem is that fullerene is expensive – at $15,000 per kilogram, it’s only slightly cheaper than gold. In comparison, silicon costs about $55 per kilogram.
So the goal of his three-year research program is to find a way to lower the price of fullerene, which at a human level looks like brown salt. Though other companies are doing the same, they’re aiming for a 20 to 30 per cent price drop. Chibante plans for a 50 per cent decrease initially, and by the end of the project, he hopes to bring fullerene down to $1,000 per kilogram, maximum.
![Picture](/uploads/2/1/7/6/21764530/2538135.jpg)
Still More Funding from NBIF...
Seven research projects in the province were given a boost on May 30th, 2013, with $1 million to hire new technicians under the New Brunswick Innovation Foundation's Research Technicians Initiative.
Seven research projects in the province were given a boost on May 30th, 2013, with $1 million to hire new technicians under the New Brunswick Innovation Foundation's Research Technicians Initiative.
![Picture](/uploads/2/1/7/6/21764530/3853004.jpg?327)
The world's population has supposed its carrying capacity, there is global warming, and economies are floundering. Despite all of these challenges there still lies hope, in innovation. It is extremely important we prepare our students for whatever may come in the 21st century.
There are new and exciting things afoot and there is opportunity out there, even in our little province. Let's spread the word and inspire our students to lead the way in creativity and innovation!
There are new and exciting things afoot and there is opportunity out there, even in our little province. Let's spread the word and inspire our students to lead the way in creativity and innovation!
For more information on NBIF please visit: http://www.nbif.ca/en/about_nbif/