1 Presentation to Technical Research Committee Canadian Home Builders’ Association in Banff, Alberta February 23, 2011 Walter Cool Industrial Research Assistance Program National Research Council Canada

2 NRC-IRAP Overview Who we are What services we provide Who our clients are What we do in Construction and Housing

3 NRC-IRAP Our Purpose We support small and medium-sized, for profit, enterprises (SMEs) grow through technological innovation.

4 We assist firms to develop, adopt and adapt technologies and incorporate them into competitive products and services to be commercialized in the global marketplace NRC-IRAP What we do

5 Who Are Our Clients? NRC-IRAP worked with 8,693 SMEs* in , of which 2,871 received some form of funding. 84% have less than 50 employees 65% have fewer than 20 employees NL 352 PE 74 NS 222 NB 377 QC 1936 ON 3037 MB 352 SK 188 AB 954 BC 1201 *small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) – Firms with 500 employees or less

6 LEGEND NRC-IRAP Industrial Technology Advisor (ITA) NRC-IRAP Regional Office NRC Institute NRC Cluster The ITA Advantage *ITA – Industrial Technology Advisor

7 The IRAP Model

8 Financial Contributions Innovation projects with SMEs (for profit and less then 500 employees) Graduates (younger then 31) working with SMEs (for profit and less then 500 employees) Organizations that support innovation with SMEs

9 Helping Our Clients Grow Stronger, Faster, Bigger Recent client surveys show 91% have increased technical knowledge and/or capabilities 68% increased business knowledge and/or capabilities 62% enhanced their ability to conduct R&D 61% consider that NRC-IRAP helped develop/improve the firm’s internal business/ marketing/ management 63% of clients have indicated that NRC-IRAP helped identify other sources of financing Quantiam Technologies, Edmonton, AB

NRC-IRAP in Construction NRC-IRAP supports a large number of construction projects with manufacturers of building products NRC-IRAP supports a number of software and communication technologies projects for the construction sector NRC-IRAP more recently is supporting projects related to making buildings more sustainable by incorporating a range of innovative technologies and green design principles NRC-IRAP has supported a few project with home builders related to automation of manufacturing of building systems NRC-IRAP has funded an Industrial Technology Advisor who worked out of the CHBA office in Ottawa 10

Innovation Opportunities for Home Builders Digital Show Homes Computerization of Business Process Management Implementation of Building Information Modeling Modeling Tools for Net Zero Homes Development of Innovative Building Products Automation of Production of Building Panels in Plants 11

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