‘Innovating the innovation process’ focus of new oil sands partnership between industry, researchers, govt

Oil sands
Oil sands CAPP Twitter photo.

Goal is to more quickly develop, implement new technologies that reduce environmental impacts

A new partnership involving Canada’s largest oil sands producers is supporting research to “innovate the innovation process,” a move aimed at reducing the environmental impacts of the sector while improving long-term competitiveness, according to a press release.

oil sandsResearchers at the Ivey Business School, University of Alberta and the University of Quebec at Montreal have launched a research collaboration led by Canada’s Oil Sands Innovation Alliance (COSIA).

The research team, led by Professor Tima Bansal, Canada Research Chair in Business Sustainability at Western University and Director of the Network for Business Sustainability, will work closely with the companies to map their innovation processes and identify new opportunities to embed sustainability into innovation.

“Effective innovation goes beyond developing new technologies; it’s about people and processes,” said Prof. Bansal.

“Our approach takes design thinking, and applies a systems lens. By understanding the system, we can find solutions that create financial and social value simultaneously. A systems approach invites broad input, which is often the wellspring of creativity.”

The partnership includes three COSIA member companies (Canadian Natural, Suncor and Cenovus), Alberta Innovates, and Natural Resources Canada.

“Alberta Innovates is interested in understanding more about how new technologies and processes are brought to market,” says John Zhou, Alberta Innovates VP of Clean Energy.

“Our focus is to accelerate the deployment of new technologies. This work will provide core insights to make that happen faster.”

This new project will work with the participating member companies, COSIA and the two government partners to seek important breakthroughs in innovation processes.

“COSIA members are leaders in technical innovation and they have a long history of advancing solutions working with the academic community. Connecting our collaboration model and sustainability thinking and linking it deeply to the innovation process by partnering with these expert thinkers in innovation systems will help us find ways to boost our inventiveness and capacity for breakthrough,” says Dan Wicklum, chief executive of COSIA.

The project is a public-private partnership in which industry and government collaborate directly with the research team to understand how new technologies and processes are brought to market—and importantly, the key factors in determining which investments will succeed in creating long-term value. “This project offers a unique opportunity to study firsthand how industry and government innovate for sustainability,” says Joel Gehman, an assistant professor in the Alberta School of Business.

As equal partners in this collaboration, Alberta Innovates, COSIA and Natural Resources Canada are interested in using this process to understand how to accelerate the deployment of new technologies across sectors in Canada.

“Our Government continues to support projects that will help facilitate innovation and bring clean technologies to market,” said Jim Carr, Canada’s minister of natural resources.

“This project demonstrates that through collaboration and knowledge we will be one step closer to reaching our climate change goals, a clean economy and a healthier environment for Canadians.”

oil sands
Follow Teo on LinkedIn and Facebook!