Research Overview

OCRI has initiated and supports university chairs under NSERC's Industrial Research Chair (IRC) program. This program is intended to build on existing strengths within the post-secondary academic institutions to achieve the critical mass required for major research endeavours in science and engineering of interest to industry. The OCRI Chairholder conducts world-class research and trains highly qualified personnel, two requirements of today's globally competitive high technology company.

1. Industrial Research Chairs

The OCRI/CITO/NSERC Industrial Research Chair (IRC) program builds on strengths within post-secondary academic institutions. Its goal is to achieve the critical mass required for a major research endeavour in science and engineering of interest to industry.

IRC grants go towards research that presents unique industrial opportunities and that responds to industrial needs. Funded jointly by NSERC, CITO, OCRI, and industry, these grants provide complete financial support for research initiatives, covering infrastructure, equipment, and general costs, as well as the salary of a distinguished research chair. Chairholders are appointed for five-year periods, which are renewable for another five years if progress is satisfactory and industrial support continues. The main responsibilities of chairholders are the conduct of research and the training of highly qualified personnel.

Current Chairs/Programs are:

• Real-Time Multimedia Distributed Database Systems Chairholder: Dr. Ahmed Karmouch Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Ottawa
• Performance Engineering of Real-time Software Chairholder: Professor C. Murray Woodside Department of Systems and Computer Engineering, Carleton University
• User-Centred Product Design Chairholder: Dr. Gitte Lindgaard Computer User Research and Evaluation Program Department of Psychology, Carleton University

2. Centre On Governance

The Centre on Governance is an interdisciplinary research and teaching unit at the University of Ottawa that was created to examine the changing patterns of organizational and social co-ordination. The Centre brings together academics from different university faculties and a number of first-rate practitioners from the private, public and civic sectors.

In collaboration with OCRI, the Centre is exploring network-based business models, civic entrepreneurship, and the dynamics of regional innovation. Previous projects include SmartCapital, a 3-year $450,000 study of regional innovation and learning, and e-commerce related interest groups.

For further information, please visit: www.governance.uottawa.ca

3. Strategic Alliances

Partnerships and alliances have been the enablers of success for OCRI. Partnerships with local, provincial and national organizations allow OCRI to broaden their efforts to advance Ottawa's technology community. The following organizations pursue collaborative R&D activities in a wide range of areas:

Local

• National Capital Institute of Telecommunications – NCIT
• Ottawa Photonics Cluster
• Ottawa Photonics Research Alliance

Provincial

• Ontario Centres of Excellence
  o CITO - Communications and Information Technology Ontario
  o MMO - Materials and Manufacturing Ontario
  o PRO - Photonics Research Ontario
  o CRESTech - Centre for Research in Earth and Space Technology
  
• MEDT

National

• NRC
• NSERC
• Industry Canada
• CRC