Tuesday, January 10, 2012

WHITEHORSE—They say great minds think alike. Later this month, the Cold Climate Innovation Centre (CCIC) at Yukon College is hoping that they’ll think together.
The CCIC is holding an ‘Innovation Think Tank’ on January 23 at 7 p.m. at the Westmark Hotel.
They’re hoping where brains meet brains, great things can come about.
“It’s basically an idea lab,” says Rick Steele, one of the organizers. “We want to hear from people who want to bounce their ideas off other people.”
The CCIC is holding a two-day ‘Research Innovation and Commercialization’ workshop January 23-24, and the think tank is a highlight of the program.
It’s a chance for people with good ideas to come and share them with like-minded inventors, dreamers, and innovators. Participants will be asked to talk about their ideas with others- without fear or favour.
And what is brought up in the room stays in the room- you’re not to take someone else’s idea and run with it, says Steele. You’ll be asked to sign a non-disclosure form before you enter the invitation-only event.
“We call it both full disclosure and non-disclosure,” he says. “It’s probably not the greatest thing to come to if you’re paranoid about sharing a great idea.”
The payoff for sharing? Steele notes that refining concepts and bouncing issues off others makes it more likely an idea will progress.
“You can have 100 per cent of nothing, or a share of something that actually becomes a reality,” he says.
Depending on the success of this month’s event, the think tank might become a regular happening, says Steele. Interested members of the public are now being invited to join.
To participate, you can contact Cold Climate Innovation at YRC.
Cold Climate Innovation is one of six key programs that operate under the Yukon Research Centre at Yukon College. The others are Technology Innovation, Northern Climate ExChange, Science Adventures, Resources and Sustainable Development in the Arctic, and Social Economy Research Network of Northern Canada.

Interested media can contact Kawina Robichaud to line up interviews at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Wednesday, January 04, 2012

Whitehorse-  The Board of Governors of Yukon College is pleased to announce Paul Flaherty has been named interim Chair of the Board.

Flaherty is President and Chief Executive Officer of Northwestel, based in Whitehorse. He replaces Clarence Timmons, who stepped down from the position of Board Chair in December.

“I have been Board Chair for five years, and a College Governor for eight,” says Timmons. “With a new College president in place, it’s a good time to have a new start all around.”

“It has been an honour and privilege serving as Chair of the Board, and I’ll miss it,” he added. “But it is gratifying to know I’ll be leaving the position in Paul’s capable hands.”

“I am pleased to take on the challenge of Chair of the Board of Governors of Yukon College,” says Flaherty, who has been on the board for three years “I am coming to the position at an incredibly exciting and challenging time for the College. I hope I can help take the College into the future.

“I also want to thank Clarence for his good work as chair and setting a solid direction for the institution’s growth and development.

A graduate of the University of Western Ontario, Flaherty holds a Bachelor of Engineering Science (Civil) degree, as well as a Civil Engineer Technology designation from Fanshawe College.  He is also a graduate of the Ivey Executive Development program from the University of Western Ontario.

Flaherty has been an active volunteer in Whitehorse community activities for many years. Since moving to the North, he has coached minor hockey, was a member of the Yukon Arts Centre Board of Directors, was the VP of Sponsorship and a member of the Board of Directors for the Whitehorse 2007 Canada Winter Games, among many other activities.

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Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Whitehorse –You may know how much fuel your furnace burns in a month- or how much you spend on gas for your car. Now imagine scaling that up to include all the energy used and emissions created by every person, home, business, and vehicle in your community.

That’s the job facing researchers at Yukon Research Centre (YRC) and the Kluane First Nation (KFN) in southwest Yukon.

“It’s actually a lot more complex than the home energy audit most people are used to hearing about,” says Lisa Christensen, the researcher with YRC. “That’s why we call it an ‘energy use and emissions inventory’.”

Working in partnership with the KFN, the inventory will look at the total energy use and emissions generated by the 65 private homes in Destruction Bay and Burwash Landing, as well as all the commercial   and government activity taking place in the communities. The study will also try to quantify the emissions associated with land use changes, forestry, the local landfill, and even the sewage system.

The First Nation can then use this information to plan community energy strategies, and measure the success of alternative energy projects or energy conservation efforts.

“The First Nation has a number of renewable energy projects underway and ones they are interested in setting up,” says Christensen. “This kind of inventory can inform and support development of those projects by helping to create a picture of how energy use and emissions may be offset.”

Similar community energy and emission inventories are done in jurisdictions like British Columbia, but this is the first time one has been done at the community scale in Yukon. The YRC is working closely with the Kluane First Nation in planning and implementing the inventory. Researchers will hire a local person to work on the inventory and establish a local committee guide the project to make sure it meets the needs of the communities.

While the report, due in March, will give the First Nation government valuable information it can use to measure projects and plan for the future, it can also help individuals in their energy conservation efforts, says Christensen.

“I think people these days are well aware of climate change and its impacts, and there is a growing awareness of energy security,” she says. “People want to protect their energy security and this is one way of supporting efforts associated with that.”
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Contact:
John Boivin
Media Coordinator, College Relations
Yukon College
867 668 8786
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
http://www.yukoncollege.yk.ca

Jacqueline Bedard
Director, College Relations and Int’l
Yukon College
867.456.8619
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Friday, December 09, 2011

Whitehorse – A small Yukon software company is bringing its novel product to the world, thanks to support from the Yukon Research Centre.

Subvert (http://www.subvert.ca) is just a small operation- two guys working out of an office in downtown Whitehorse doing software development. But sharing information between them could be a pain at times.

“We’d need to share files, send messages to one another, or links, or snippets of text,” says Geof Harries. “But email was onerous, Skype was overkill- there was no other simple way to send these small things.”

If only there was some simple way to “flick” these snippets of information to one another, they thought. And out of that idea, Flik was born.

Flik is a very small program that allows users on the same internal network, or LAN, to share information simply and securely. And it worked great. That gave them another idea- if Flik worked for them, maybe there were other people in small offices who could use it as well.

“We had put some time and money into building the prototype and we knew about Technology Innovation at the Yukon Research Centre,” says Harries. “So we decided to contact Rick Steele.”

That was in the summer of 2010, and Steele, TI’s co-ordinator, liked what he saw.

“It’s a sweet little app,” says Steele. “It is a no-brainer to install and use. And it’s plain in its simplicity and obvious utility.”

YRC’s Technology Innovation put up $20,000 to help Subvert refine the product and prepare it for market. The software was launched about a month ago, already has a high number of downloads and is generating a buzz on the Internet.

“One review from Australia sent us a lot of traffic,” says Harries. “ A blogger wrote a review and that generated a lot of installs.”

More companies are beginning to make inquiries now, and the Subvert coders may scale up their product for larger businesses. But it’s still at the very earliest stages, seems to be selling itself, and they’re thrilled at how the product is growing.

“We could maybe have done it without Technology Innovation support, but it would have taken us a lot more time, and we could have lost a lot of momentum,” says Harries. “But because of that push, the support offered from Rick in terms of ideas and feedback, we are moving a lot faster today.”

“This shows a local developer doesn’t need massive marketing backup to make things happen,” says Steele. “If you have a good idea, a good app, it will catch on. And this is an example of the kind of good work that can be developed in Yukon.”

Technology Innovation is one of six key programs that operate under YRC at Yukon College. The others are Cold Climate Innovation, Northern Climate ExChange, Science Adventures, Resources and Sustainable Development in the Arctic, and Social Economy Research Network of Northern Canada.
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Monday, December 05, 2011

Whitehorse –   Students of Yukon College and University of Saskatchewan (USask) will have more access to programs, research and facilities of both institutions as a result of a new agreement between the College and University.

A memorandum of understanding between USask and YC is being signed today by College President Karen Barnes and Peter MacKinnon, president of the Saskatoon-based University.

“This is really a foundation for further collaborative participation that will broaden opportunities for our students, as well as University of Saskatchewan students,” says Shelagh Rowles, the acting vice-president of Education and Training at the College. “It really is creating a ‘two-way street’ for students.”

The MOU states the college and university will look for “appropriate collaborations across the spectrum of their missions”.

This includes things like research, scholarly and artistic work, undergraduate and post-graduate education, and outreach. The two institutions will work together to build more distance education and experiential learning opportunities, as well as developing programs to meet the needs of their Aboriginal partners.

“We are both coming to the table with our existing resources and figuring out how to work together,” says Rowles. “We see that working together mutually, sharing resources creates more opportunity for both our student bodies.”

Officials with Yukon College and USask will meet in January in Whitehorse to discuss specific projects to be developed under the MOU.

USask and Yukon College have worked together on the University of the Arctic project and cultural exchanges, says Rowles, but the MOU takes collaboration to a new level.

“It’s a first step for both our institutions, and we’re incredibly excited at the possibilities that can grow from this agreement,” she says.

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Contact:
John Boivin
Media Coordinator, College Relations
Yukon College
867 668 8786
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
http://www.yukoncollege.yk.ca

Jacqueline Bedard
Director, College Relations and Int’l
Yukon College
867.456.8619
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)