Filling Gaps in Canada’s Technology Development Capacity Robert Verge, P.Eng., MBA, CA, CMC Managing Director, CCFI November 15, 2016

CCFI Started as joint initiative of MUN and MI in 1989 Response to industry problems of 1980s – bankruptcies, quota cuts Fishery still based on groundfish – but quotas being cut Aquaculture still in very early stages in Atlantic Canada Industry-led; government-funded Core funding from ACOA until September 2009 NL DFA since September 2009

Organization Not-for-profit corporation owned by MUN Board of Directors 16 members Representatives: 1 MUN; 1 MI; 1 DFA Managing Director 12 members drawn from industry Executive Committee Representatives of MUN, MI, DFA Advisory committee chairs: aquaculture; harvesting; processing

CCFI’s Mandate Help the aquaculture, fishing & fish processing industries take advantage of opportunities & solve problems by facilitating access to the capabilities of MUN, MI & other academic institutions, improving the institutions’ capabilities to help the industries, & levering industry investment in R&D by drawing on government funding programs

Goals We are focused on commercial goals Goals can be Short-term problem-solving Longer-term capability improvement through R&D We do not do research for the sake of research Goals can be Industry wide – e.g. health & safety Sector-specific – e.g. related to crab Enterprise- or company-specific – e.g. to gain competitive advantage We also want to build institutional R&D capabilities relevant to fishing, aquaculture, and fish processing We do not compete with the private sector We fill gaps in what the private sector has to offer We license technologies we develop to others

CCFI Projects Research Development Commercialization Systematic discovery of new knowledge and information Technical risk Development Apply knowledge for a commercial purpose Technical + commercial risk Commercialization Improve industry competitiveness and performance Attract customers/increase revenue/decrease cost Commercial risk Information dissemination Provide industry participants with information to help them understand opportunities, improve operations, and manage risks

Criteria for Project Selection Importance to industry Potential impact Innovation – where we try to focus our spending Likelihood of success

Sea Cucumber Processing Challenge: Reduce the amount of labour required to process sea cucumbers Eviscerating machine now being used in several plants, replacing a lot of labour Patent likely to be issued soon

Crab Meat Extraction High-Pressure Processing Challenge: Increase value obtained from snow crab, by producing high-quality meat Automated crab meat extraction system: 3 components – HPP, butchering, meat extraction Patent likely to be issued soon for robotic crab butchering cell Robotic Crab Butchering Cell

Robotic Cell in Operation