The National Research Council of Canada (NRC) announced on November 16 that it has opened a new advanced materials research facility in Mississauga.

The facility will serve as a national clean energy hub, where researchers from the public, private and academic sectors will collaborate on projects to develop clean technologies and advanced materials.

The initial focal areas of application will include materials that enable the conversion of carbon dioxide to fuels and other high-value industrial products, multi-functional powders and nanomaterials; and advanced metamaterials and devices for consumer, automotive, aerospace and biomedical applications.

The facility will also house a number of university collaborations, including the NRC-University of Toronto Collaboration Centre for Green Energy Materials, which will lead to discoveries and advances that will result in publications, patents, and the commercialization of technology, as well as provide training opportunities for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows.

“The opening of our new facility in Mississauga represents a major stepping stone for the National Research Council of Canada in advancing Canada’s clean energy agenda,” said Roger Scott-Douglas, the acting NRC president. “Our vision is for this collaborative hub to become the home to new technologies that will enable industry to be more sustainable. We look forward to working with our partners in accelerating the development of advanced materials technologies and their commercialization into disruptive products for industry.”

The facility will be part of the Canadian Campus for Advanced Materials Manufacturing, a joint initiative between the NRC and the Xerox Research Centre of Canada. This initiative will establish a suite of accessible platform technologies for substantially accelerating the rate of discovery of new materials for a range of applications, including clean energy and additive manufacturing.

When research operations begin in mid-2021, the facility will host a team of about 15 researchers and support staff, with space for about 20 additional guest and visiting workers at any one time. The fully completed facility will house roughly 100 researchers and support staff from the NRC, and a broad range of collaborators and partners from academia, other government departments and industry, from Canada and around the world.

The advanced materials research facility consists of 21,500 square feet of laboratories, office space and meeting rooms on its first floor with a shelled-in second floor, ready to be outfitted. The two-floor building will be expanded as part of Phase 2. A third floor will be added to accommodate collaborative work with other government departments and is anticipated to be completed in mid-2022.

“We are thrilled that the National Research Council of Canada chose Mississauga to locate its new regional advanced materials research facility and shows the strength and diversity of our city’s advanced manufacturing sector,” said Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie. “NRC Mississauga will become a key innovation asset in our city that will bring together regional and national industrial partners to develop products, devices and systems that will create jobs and help grow Canada’s economy. The city looks forward to working with and supporting the NRC and its key stakeholders as they conduct world-class and innovative research right here in Mississauga.”

The facility will also house the operations and core R&D activities of the NRC’s Materials for Clean Fuels Challenge program, which is collaborating with leaders in academia and industry to catalyze the discovery and development of materials for early-stage exploratory technologies to decarbonize Canada's oil and gas and petrochemical sectors.