Fanshawe College receives grant from Canada Foundation for Innovation

Funding will support development of new Centre for Connected Building Technology

(London, Ontario) – Fanshawe College’s Centre for Research and Innovation (CRI) has received a grant of $359,961 from Canada Foundation for Innovation to support a new initiative in Internet of Things (IoT) sensor development and testing for connected buildings.

The grant—received through the College-Industry Innovation Fund (CIIF)—will support the creation of Fanshawe’s new Centre for Connected Building Technology. This centre will transform campus facilities into a living laboratory to test and validate emerging IoT technologies to improve sustainability of buildings.

“The Centre for Connected Building Technology positions Fanshawe College to strategically support enterprises that are growing Canada’s economy in IoT building technologies and automation,” says Colin Yates, project leader and chair of the Centre for Research and Innovation. “The facilities for development and validation of these advanced systems support this emerging industry and advance Fanshawe’s ability to demonstrate ways to reduce our own environmental footprint. The development of expertise in the field of smart building management using advanced systems technology is crucial for turning around the impact that buildings have on the world, creating a more sustainable future.”

Once complete, the centre will feature a prototyping facility for sensor development in Fanshawe’s Innovation Village, a supercomputer hosted at Compute Canada for algorithm development and a sensor infrastructure and a data management system that enables collection of facilities data. This will provide a real-world testing environment and commercialization support for companies focused on sustainable building technology.

CRI is teaming up with Toronto-based startup incubator, the DMZ, that enables IoT startups to be integrated into the Centre’s testing environment.

“As we work together to put an end to the COVID-19 pandemic, we must also look at the next big challenges in front us, with climate change at the top of the list,” says François-Philippe Champagne, minister of Innovation, Science and Industry. “The projects we are funding today will allow colleges to provide the tools researchers need to find solutions to these great challenges and develop the world-class talent businesses covet.”

“Bringing industry partners together with researchers and students in spaces equipped with technology’s latest tools is a recipe for innovation and economic growth,” says Roseann O’Reilly Runte, president and CEO of Canada Foundation for Innovation. “This investment will enable bright ideas to be tested, applied and developed into new businesses in labs that have collaboration and partnerships at their core. The Canada Foundation for Innovation is proud to contribute to Canada’s future by supporting our extraordinary colleges, institutes and Cégeps.”

For more information, visit Fanshawe's media contact page.