TEXTILES.ORG
Centennial College, Toronto, Canada, and its partners have received $4 million in multi-year funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) to develop products for the global e-textile market, as well as to assist small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the transportation, food production, energy and advanced manufacturing sectors.
Centennial’s Technology Access Centre (WIMTACH) was the lead applicant for this award, partnering with Sheridan College, Humber College and the KITE Institute at the University Health Network (UHN). The project team will receive $2 million over two years, pooling the award along with their equipment and expertise to support SMEs in Toronto and across Canada. The colleges are members of the FabrIc-Based REsearch (FIBRE) network, a development and commercialization platform for textile computing technologies led by UHN’s KITE.
“SMEs have requested support with issues facing the e-textile industry in Canada,” says Dr. Purnima Tyagi, Director, WIMTACH. “As strengthening employer relations is a key area of excellence for Centennial, this research collaboration will engage deeply with them to support business goals related to the design and manufacturing of e-textile components.”
Centennial shares an additional $2 million in NSERC funding to assist SMEs in the transportation, food production, energy and advanced manufacturing sectors as part of the Southern Ontario Network for Advanced Manufacturing Innovation (SONAMI), a consortium of postsecondary institutions led by Niagara College that provides innovative solutions to Ontario’s manufacturers.