Durham College (DC) has partnered with Spark Centre and the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) to launch a new program aimed at helping small and medium businesses develop products focused on robotics and automation.

With funding from the National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC-IRAP), this initiative will offer a variety of services to support potential projects, including assistance with:

• Development of a business/marketing plan.
• Modification of control software.
• Prototype design/development.

The funding can also be used to support access to facilities on the shared DC-UOIT Oshawa campus such as the DC Integrated Manufacturing Centre (IMC) and UOIT ACE Climatic Wind Tunnel.

“This program is a natural extension of Durham College’s leadership and innovation in robotics, automation, applied research and entrepreneurship,” said Debbie McKee Demczyk, dean, Office of Research Services, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, DC. “With the funding from NRC-IRAP and our partnership with Spark Centre and UOIT, the college will be able to further leverage the expertise of our faculty and students, as well as our state-of-the-art facilities such as the IMC, to address the critical need for technical and business services for small and medium-sized businesses in the automation and robotics space.”

To qualify for the program, companies must be incorporated and have less than 15 employees. Applications will be assessed based on suitability for the program and each organization’s capacity to complete its project. The deadline for applications is Tuesday, September 6. All projects must be completed by Wednesday, March 15, 2017.

Interested companies can apply by downloading the application form.