Goal 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization, and foster innovation
Related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
Research
Innovation@UCalgary
UCalgary enables the innovation cycle from discovery to deployed solutions by promoting a culture of innovation within our community. Innovation is part of the broad spectrum of research and application activity at UCalgary, and links discovery, creativity, invention and entrepreneurship to solve societal challenges. The program includes the Hunter Hub, Innovate Calgary, Ward of the 21st Century and Creative Destruction Lab Rockies. The University Innovation Quarter provides an interface between the university and community entrepreneurs and industry.
City Building Design Lab
The School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape actively engages in community-based, industry-focused projects in its City Building Design Lab, often operating at the centre of interdisciplinary teams from across UCalgary. Innovative projects include integrative infrastructure for sustainable cities, healthy neighbourhoods, high-performance building envelopes, co-creation, green infrastructure, digital fabrication for the circular economy, outdoor playscapes in urban environments, affordable housing, walkable cities, aging in place and more.
Teaching, learning and student experience
Law school launches new internship program in innovation
The Innovation Internship Training Program connects current law students with forward-thinking employers in the legal profession to help companies and law firms address and overcome key business challenges. The program allows students to gain hands-on experience in identifying, developing and implementing solutions to industry issues, including process mapping, stakeholder needs identification, project management and communication. Students will also develop a broad understanding of data analytics and legal technology solutions.
Hunter Hub Launchpad
Run by the Hunter Hub for Entrepreneurial Thinking, in partnership with the Schulich School of Engineering, this is a transformative interdisciplinary experience designed to expose undergraduate and graduate students and post-doctoral scholars from all faculties to entrepreneurial opportunities. Launchpad has helped student teams develop a health-monitoring toilet, create a speedy battery-recharging concept and explore ways to help the flower industry abandon toxic foam stem holders by developing a safer and more sustainable option.
Bridging scientific discovery and commercialization
The new Precision Health Program creates job-ready specializations to bridge scientific discovery and commercialization. The Ministry of Advanced Education has approved a master’s degree offering in the program to equip health-care innovators with the necessary knowledge, experience and professional contacts to ensure their health innovation ideas receive stakeholder support. The transdisciplinary Precision Health Program will bring together specialists from diverse backgrounds — including business, education and engineering — with health-care professionals who want to become impactful agents of change.
Campus and community impact
Local
The GRInSTEM fellowship program will support the commercialization of new energy- and environment-related innovations developed at UCalgary. The program will provide recent high-potential, entrepreneurial graduates (master’s or PhD) and postdoctoral scholars of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) disciplines with a “commercialization runway” to help advance their technology-based projects over two years, enabling entrepreneurship as a career path.
National
Canadian Innovation Week in May 2021 showcased entrepreneurial ideas and practical solutions, while inspiring lively conversations. Hosted by the Rideau Hall Foundation (RHF), this fourth celebration of innovation brought together partners from across UCalgary and our national innovation ecosystem.
International
Innovate Calgary’s IMPACT program in the Life Sciences Innovation Hub supports startup companies with clinical trials and regulatory approvals as they prepare their product for marketing authorizations from Health Canada or the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. This process is complicated and requires immense documentation, as well as an established quality management system.