Queen’s University has joined the Southern Ontario Water Consortium (SOWC) – a partnership of 10 universities and private sector organizations that seeks to advance innovative water technologies to commercialization by providing funding and access to real-world facilities.

“Our membership with the SOWC presents Queen’s researchers with new opportunities for funding and partnerships with industry, and access to highly specialized infrastructure,” says Steven Liss, Vice-Principal (Research).

Queen’s footprint in water technology research includes more than 50 faculty researchers, most of whom are part of The Water Research Centre at Queen’s. The interdisciplinary centre is dedicated to furthering research on water governance, sustainability and protection of water resources, amongst other topics.

“The Water Research Centre represents researchers from many disciplines across campus,” says the centre’s director Kent Novakowski.  “Our diversity of membership represents an ideal environment for collaboration and we are excited to explore the partnerships afforded by the SOWC.”

Several of Queen’s unique facilities will expand SOWC’s current offerings. The Queen’s Coastal Engineering Laboratory, the largest university hydraulics laboratory in Canada, provides researchers with the technology required to study coastal engineering, natural channel design, sediment transport and solid-liquid pipeline flow. Multiple wave flumes, a coastal models basin, an oscillating water tunnel and closed pipelines enable researchers to tackle a broad range of water issues including river engineering, lake dynamics, water supply systems and landslides.

The Queen’s University Biological Station, a 3,200 hectare internationally-recognized research facility on the shores of Lake Opinicon, is geared towards multi-disciplinary field work and is used by researchers from across the globe and by the university for teaching and research purposes. In addition to the university’s water-focused facilities and laboratories, Queen’s has partnered with several facilities specifically equipped to assist broad-based technology commercialization. These include Innovation Park at Queen’s, a regional technology convergence centre hosting technology startup companies, economic development facilities and business service offices.

“As a member in SOWC, we are also very pleased to make available to the consortium members, and their partners, access to the world-class research and research facilities at Queen’s,” says Dr. Liss. “We look forward to collaborating on innovative technologies, with academic and industrial partners, to solve water challenges and advance marketable solutions.”

The SOWC reduces the barriers to commercializing promising technologies in water treatment, conservation and monitoring by matching private sector innovators with academic collaborators. The partners can then apply for funding to demonstrate new water technologies and gain access to a wide range of special testing and development facilities managed by consortium members.

“The partnerships we have with post-secondary institutions play a vital role in our goal to support development of innovative water technologies,” says Brenda Lucas, SOWC Executive Director. “We are pleased about Queen’s University joining SOWC and excited to be able to broaden our capacity with the addition of the school’s facilities and researchers.”  

For more information on the Southern Ontario Water Consortium, please visit the website.