Canada - U.S. Collaboration on Automotive Clean Energy R&D Initiative(Automotive Partnership Canada)

["Knorr, Jennifer" <jennifer.knorr@usask.ca>]

NSERC News Release http://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/Media-Media/NewsRelease-CommuniqueDePresse_eng.asp?ID=159

 

Canada – U.S. Collaboration on Automotive Clean Energy R&D Initiative

In February 2009, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and President Barack Obama established the Clean Energy Dialogue to identify ways both countries can jointly develop clean energy solutions to reduce greenhouse gases and to combat climate change.

Today the  Canadian and U.S. governments announced that they are collaborating on a joint automotive initiative. Given the shared marketplace, both governments have identified the potential for working more closely together in research and technology developments that underlie the fuel efficient vehicles that Canadians and Americans want to buy.

The initiative is led in Canada by NSERC, on behalf of all the partners in Automotive Partnership Canada, and in the U.S. by the National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy. This joint venture brings together Canadian academics, government researchers and industrial partners with their counterparts in the U.S. in the funding of research and development projects.

Backgrounder +

 

The Government of Canada is collaborating on a joint automotive initiative with the United States. Given the shared marketplace, both governments have identified the potential for working more closely together in research and technology developments that underlie the fuel efficient vehicles Canadians and Americans want to buy.

This joint venture brings together Canadian academics, government researchers and industrial partners with their counterparts in the U.S. The funding agencies—the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), on behalf of Automotive Partnership Canada (APC)—are developing mechanisms to facilitate joint projects.

This initiative will boost cooperation between Canada and the U.S. on advanced automotive technology research and development. The cross-border approach involving industry, universities and government labs will ensure the creation of new generations of highly skilled graduates and researchers in areas of importance to the development of the auto sector. While each country will continue to fund its own domestic projects involving industry and university partners, the nature of the Canada-U.S. auto marketplace lends itself to a number of important cross-border projects over the next five years.

APC, NSF and DOE will bring their complementary strengths to addressing key areas of strategic interest to the auto sector and to the Governments of Canada and the United States. These include, for example, some of the following areas:

·         Hybrid and vehicle systems

·         Lighter weight and/or sustainable materials

·         Advanced powertrain

·         Energy storage

·         Application of alternative fuels, including biofuels

·         Power electronics and electrical machines

·         Intelligent transportation systems

The agencies will facilitate the coordination of applications and reviews to reflect the integrated nature, scale and scope of the proposed projects.

The funding agencies:

The $145 million Automotive Partnership Canada (APC) program, led by NSERC, was launched earlier this year. It brings together the resources of five Canadian organizations of the federal government: NSERC, the National Research Council, the Canada Foundation for Innovation, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and the Canada Excellence Research Chairs to support, in a coordinated fashion, joint automotive R&D projects among industry, universities and government. APC will be the program under which the new Canada-U.S. collaboration will be delivered. Visit  www.apc-pac.ca for further information on the APC program.

The U.S. National Science Foundation is the funding source for approximately 20 percent of all federally supported basic research conducted by America’s universities and colleges, often with industry partners. Funding for this collaboration will be primarily through existing programs of the NSF Engineering Directorate  (www.nsf.gov).

Through its Vehicle Technologies Program, the U.S. Department of Energy supports development work in areas such as hybrid and vehicle systems, energy storage, power electronics and electrical machines, advanced combustion engines, fuels and lubricants, materials technologies, plus several industrial research partnerships.