Business people and researchers talk security
The term “homeland security” can conjure up mental images ranging from stern-looking border patrol officers to colour-coded terror thermometers. For a group of Concordia researchers, however, homeland security represents an opportunity for academics to work with industry to bring new technology to market.
Concordia’s Office of Research, Valeo Management and the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) jointly organized a meeting between researchers and business representatives as part of an ongoing series of Industry and University Matching Conferences.
The February 11 exchange sought to showcase the work being developed by several of our researchers and to accelerate the promotion of technology being created at Concordia.
Lotfi Chouanine, Director of Commercialization Micro/Nano Technologies at Valeo Management; and Jacques Denommée, Montreal Director, Venture Capital, Energy, Environment, Electronic and Materials at BDC, opened the conference, which they hoped would be the first of many. “In Canada, huge amounts of funding are poured into research and development in the security sector,” said Denommée. “It’s important for companies like ours to work directly with universities so that we can create strong partnerships and work to capitalize on the research going on in institutions like Concordia,” explained Chouanine.
Four Concordia experts were on hand for the morning of presentations and dialogue, presenting their research to industry leaders who attended either in person or by teleconference. John Capobianco, professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, was joined by professors Tien Dai Bui and Ching Y. Suen from the Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering, and Professor Aishy Amer from Electrical and Computer Engineering. They presented research with applications to security issues ranging from counterfeit wine to handwriting recognition to vandalism detection.
This is the first of many conferences that Concordia plans to organize with BDC and Valeo Management to showcase its expertise and technologies. These conferences help establishpartnerships with industry to bring the benefits of university research to the public.
Related Links
• Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering
• Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
• Business Development Bank of Canada
• Valeo Management
• Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering