Local news delivered daily to your email inbox. Subscribe for FREE to the rdnewsNOW newsletter.
(rdnewsNOW file photo)
energy, health care and social innovation

Red Deer Polytechnic receives ‘historic’ $3.25 million applied research grant

Sep 14, 2024 | 1:01 PM

Red Deer Polytechnic has received what it calls a “historic” grant.

The Mobilize grant, worth $3.25 million, is the largest one-time applied research grant in the institution’s 60-year history, and comes from the federal Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC).

According to RDP, it will enable the school to leverage data-driven solutions to foster regional innovation and prosperity across RDP’s applied research pillars: Manufacturing & Advanced Manufacturing, Energy Innovation, Healthcare & Health Technology and Social Innovation.

“Data-driven innovation will be a cross-cutting applied research theme, enhancing synergies across the existing applied research pillars and positioning Red Deer Polytechnic and our students at the forefront of digital transformation to increase regional productivity and enhance social innovation,” explains Dr. Tonya Wolfe, Associate Vice President, Applied Research.

“Over the next five years, our data-driven strategy will result in cutting-edge interdisciplinary applied research and the adoption of digital technologies by multi-sectoral organizations with direct benefits to regional prosperity, including improved regional productivity, revenue generation, and job creation.”

The grant will, for example, permit RDP to develop and improve health care devices and digital tools, contribute new knowledge to enhance programs for child advocacy and support energy companies to develop and demonstrate technologies that reduce emissions.

Through these experiences, Red Deer Polytechnic graduates will increase their demand in the labour market, RDP says.

The grant will be distributed to RDP over five years.

For local news delivered daily to your email inbox, subscribe for free to the rdnewsNOW newsletter by visiting rdnewsNOW.com. You can also download the rdnewsNOW mobile app on Google Play and the Apple App Store for all the latest updates on this and other stories.