Advanced Materials Clusterobservatoire.cmm.qc.ca/.../gm_advancedmaterials.pdf · the wheel continues to turn since the researchers are already looking for other paths to follow A

Advanced Materials Cluster

October 2004

Advanced Materials Cluster

(French edition ISBN 2-923013-24-7 )

Legal deposit: March 2005Bibliothèque nationale du QuébecNational library of Canada

ISBN 2-923013-25-5

All rights reserved for all countries.The content may not be copied in any way or translated in whole or in part without the permission of the Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal.

ISBN 2-923013-40-9(French edition ISBN 2-923013-39-5)

Legal deposit : March 2005Bibliothèque nationale du QuébecNational Library of Canada

All rights reserved for all countries.The content may not be copied in any way or translated in whole or in part without the permission of the Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal

•�Advanced Materials

Note to the readerThrough its Economic Development Plan, the Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal (CMM), has adopted a competitiveness strategy centred on dynamic and innovative business clusters. In the fall 2003, the CMM launched a cluster identification program for metropolitan Montreal. This marked the first phase of a process leading to the development and launch of an integrated economic development and innovation strategy.

For each of the sectors studied, the CMM wishes to join forces with all the territorial bodies and economic stakeholders concerned. It means to concentrate its efforts on its own role of planning and coordination and does not intend to take the place of existing players and decision-makers in the field, whose role it is to agree on a development plan under the supervision of a relay organization representing their sector.

This document is divided into two distinct sections:

• The first section presents a configuration of the Advanced Materials cluster; • The second section groups together the ideas of the main players of that particular cluster and

their thoughts on future development.

The cluster configuration was based on documentary research confirmed by stakeholders in the cluster itself. Comments were then made by industry officials in the ministries concerned. This first section describes the value chain of the cluster and goes on to identify the organizations or infrastructure contributing to its development. Finally, as economic development transcends administrative or political borders, potential links with other regions of Quebec are indicated, taking into account the niches of excellence developed by certain regions under the ACCORD (Action concertée régionale de développement) program.

While the first section of the document is inherently factual, the second is more subjective, since it reflects the perceptions of the main players in each cluster. These thoughts were gathered in the strictest confidence so as to produce a maximum amount of data. They are focused on two main themes, the state of relational assets and growth strategies. Since we know that relationships between stakeholders are the first source of innovation, it is necessary to identify the relational flow between the various components of the cluster. In the same way, in order to set priorities, we need to know which strategies for growth are favoured by the players in the field.

This document is thus intended as a catalyst for priority actions aiming to energize the strategic process of the cluster and to give direction to its innovative thrust. The process will be carried out in a spirit of openness and dialogue which will eventually enable the Montreal metropolitan area to assert its distinctive capabilities among the world’s most innovative and prosperous cities.

Michel LefèvreConsultant – Economic DevelopmentCommunauté métropolitaine de Montréal


Advanced Materials

The Materials Race

Value Chain

State-of-the-art Research

Sectoral Areas

An Impact on All Industrie

Development Factors

Training in Good Supply

Targeted Knowledge Transfer Skills

Primarily Public Capital

The Beginnings of an Infrastructure /The Emergence of Specialized Services

A Technology Cluster

Interregional Links

Outside the Metropolitan Area

Strategic Elements

A Knowledge Cluster

Relational Assets

The Challenge of Collaboration

Avenues for the Future

Promising Segments

Appendices

University Research Units

Active Innovating Companies

Sources

Individuals Consulted

Credits

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The Materials RaceMaterials so much are part of our day-to-day lives, we hardly even pay any attention to them. However, in laboratories, an army of researchers are examining and manipulating them in the hopes of discovering and exploiting properties that will make it possible to improve the products that industry manufactures for our use. The race to create advanced materials is so intense that the National Science Foundation has dubbed this the Materials Age (see next page).

Hundreds of Montreal researchers are in the race. Their knowledge, their skill and the tools available to them make them amply qualified. The training offered by the four universities and two engineering schools in the metropolitan region is very solid. There is a large and diversified research infrastructure. Montreal, which is already the chosen location of numerous public and private specialized research centres, continues to add scientific chairs, groups and university laboratories to its roster. In addition, the presence of national networks creates a stimulating dynamic.

The all-important transfer results

Results transfer from research to industry is encouraged, but perhaps not sufficiently supported (very little venture capital, in particular). Small businesses are trying to serve as relay stations by becoming the suppliers of raw materials, additives and technologies for large manufacturing or distribution companies.

A certain amount of transfer is being carried out by the large manufacturers themselves. Fortunately, the metropolitan region can rely on businesses that are leaders in the fields of aeronautics, telecommunications and biotechnologies, and plan on developing some promising niches. The energy and construction sectors are also likely to be drivers of this integration.

The industrial ramifications of the cluster are limited to about 50 companies (including those that are developing nanomaterials). The majority are SMBs in R&D, hoping to persuade various manufacturers from one or more industrial sectors to use their product or their technology in their production chain. The others are well-established companies from industrial sectors for whom these materials hold a strategic importance (plastics processing, aeronautics, telecommunications, and transportation).

The promises of innovation

How will the cluster develop? Research will probably become more intense, given the quality of the teams and equipment in place. The multidisciplinary approach being used augurs well for innovations in many different sectors. The presence of very strong aerospace and telecommunications clusters in the metropolitan area certainly helps to maintain a high level of research activity.

The well established desire to market the results of university and research centre research will lead to the creation of new businesses that will continue on with product development. Québec is well positioned in the following materials classes: magnesium alloys, metal powders, thermoplastics and plastic composites, magnetic materials, ceramic coatings and advanced concretes.

Some emerging classes to look for are aluminum foams, conductive polymers, photonic polymers, polymer foams and fibre optics. Nanomaterials, and more particularly nanopowders and nanocomposites, are also very promising possibilities. Finally, the development of multisectoral technological platforms should take priority due to the multiple possible markets.


The Materials Age

According to the National Science Foundation (United States), materials science is, like biotechnologies, one of the most important fields for the future of scientific research and economic growth. This prestigious organization has already dubbed this the Materials Age, an age in which we will discover innumerable permutations and combinations of matter as yet unknown.

One might say that materials are in everything and everything is in the materials. This is because all products are based on materials upon which a large part of their performance depends. This is so true that a new product often requires a new material. In reality, new materials are rarely invented. Nature has already provided everything. For example, depending on how the molecules are arranged, carbon turns into graphite, diamonds, fullerene or nanotube. Each of these forms of carbon has its own characteristics to be exploited.

Researchers and engineers examine and manipulate the various materials, hoping to give them new properties (electrical, energetic, magnetic, mechanical, optical, photonic, etc.) which will improve existing products or devices, or make it possible to create new ones.

The materials sector is, by definition, a leading-edge sector. Manufacturers have always sought to increase materials’ performance. The objective has always been to reduce production costs. Today, manufacturers are also seeking to increase the eco-efficiency of products and manufacturing procedures.

An octopus-like science

Materials science is one of the most ancient and most concrete of all the sciences. All materials are subject to research, from the most common to the newest, and from the simplest to the most complex.

Materials research is traditionally a very big part of university physics and chemistry departments and engineering schools. For the past few years it has also been of interest to molecular biologists, who are trying to develop organic materials and biomaterials.

Today, the approach is necessarily interdisciplinary and, depending on their field, researchers are aiming at specific goals in four major fields of research and applications with spinoffs for all industrial sectors:

• Knowing the structure and properties of materials; • Exploiting, accentuating and adding properties; • Developing technological platforms and instruments to enable analysis or

transformation into economical and eco-efficient products; • Performing trials and perfecting measures to control their behaviour.

Any material can become an advanced material as long as it can acquire new properties. For example, there is steel and high-strength advanced steel, concrete and high-performance concrete. As soon as it enters into common use, it ceases to be an advanced material. This sometimes happens rather quickly. Only 10 years ago, very little was known about liquid crystals. We are now at the stage of integrating them into such mass consumption products as windows, for example. They have now been replaced by others at the top of the list of new materials.


More receptive sectorsThe lifetime of an advanced material depends on a given usage in a given sector. Montreal’s economy is based on three very strong sectors: telecommunications, aviation and other transportation equipment, and biotechnologies. These sectors are likely to be the most receptive. They harbour a number of market niches that represent business opportunities for R&D companies. Here are a few examples:

Telecommunications: Sensors and nanosensors, telemedicine, micro- and nanomanufacturing.Aviation: Thermodynamic light materials, anticollision materials, materials for aircraft windows.Biotechnologies : Hot embossing and nanoprinting, biomaterials, organic materials for decontamination and restoration.Energy: Electricity transport network components, materials for fuel-cells.

In the construction sector, if demand for eco-efficient materials arises, it could mean major spinoffs for many classes of materials: high-performance cement, energetic or anticorrosion materials, insulation, and functional materials.

The advanced materials cluster is a technology cluster and will remain so. Once a material becomes widely used it becomes, along with its technology, a component of the sectors that integrated it. And the wheel continues to turn since the researchers are already looking for other paths to follow

A nanometric junctionScientific advancements in fields such as condensed matter physics (the study of the large assemblies of atoms in the form of materials), photonics (use of light or photons) and nanoscience (study of phenomena on the nanometric scale) are opening up new possibilities for materials science. In fact, in the foreseeable future, we will need to add the nano prefix to many materials and technologies.

A multifaceted inventory

It is not easy to draw up the list of advanced materials, since there are so many methods of classification. The simplest way would certainly be to distribute them in three major categories according to the substrate: pure or composite polymers, pure or alloyed metals, ceramics and minerals. However, this classification excludes multi-materials composed of two substrates such as metallic glass, plastic wood and other bio-composites, a growing family of materials.

Scientists often tend to identify materials according to a distinctive property. This typology divides materials according to whether they are energetic, magnetic, quantum, porous, thermoplastic, adaptive («smart» materials), etc. Most of the time, each class includes several subcategories. For example, the so-called smart materials include alloys with shape memory, piezoelectric materials and magnetostrictive materials.

Materials science also encompasses the development of instrumentation making it possible to see inside matter, as well as manufacturing process and surface treatment technologies. The researchers are particularly interested in plasma technologies to design new materials, thin layer deposits and moving surface interactions.

•10Advanced Materials

Everything indicates that it will be possible to reproduce on a nanometric scale everything that currently exists on a metric scale. Nano-structured materials and nanopowders are already on the market. Also on the horizon is the multiplication of marriages between inert and organic materials (biocomposites), and even the appearance of entirely organic materials.


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Configuration


Value Chain


State-of-the-art ResearchAn inventory of Québec’s scientific networks shows that Montreal plays a major role in the field of advanced materials. This advantageous position is explained by the presence of four engineering schools or faculties (École Polytechnique, École de technologie supérieure, McGill and Concordia) and strong chemistry and physics departments in the various universities.

There are hundreds of Montreal academics active in materials science and engineering. They are surrounded by an impressive number of candidates for second or third cycle diplomas and professional researchers. These teams divide their work between fundamental and applied research. All of the avenues explored by these researchers are on the cutting edge, as shown by the list of research units active in the metropolitan area (see Appendices).

This list shows the intensity of research led on advanced materials and related technologies. The universities have many other projects in store. The Université de Montréal and the École Polytechnique for example, are planning to create no less than six research chairs on materials, including design and manufacture of functional materials, creating and pressing metallic powders, synthesizing nanocrystalline materials for energy purposes, supra-molecular materials (made of supermolecules), biomaterials and their sterilization, and medical devices using shape memory materials.

The INRS-Énergie et Matériaux in Varennes, which includes about 50 researchers, makes a major contribution to materials science in the following areas: energetic materials, conductive and electroactive polymers for the energy and biomedical sectors, new materials for photonic applications and sensors. Part of the work is performed under microgravity conditions. Synthesizing advanced materials requires new processes. The researchers at INRS-Énergie et Matériaux are studying plasma processes and ionic implantation to create new coatings, modify surfaces and develop nanodevices.

The Industrial Materials Institute of the CNRC (IMI), whose main facilities are located in Boucherville, is another major player. Research based on industry needs is aimed at developing transformation and shaping processes for the entire range of materials: polymers (liquid crystals, selective or impermeable membranes, oriented film, foams and nano-structured polymers), polymeric composites (rigid and eco-efficient, safe high-strength thermoplastics, nanocomposites), metals (metal powders, magnetic and porous materials, metallic foam, thermal spray coatings and moulding technologies) and finally ceramics and minerals (ceramic powders, metal-ceramic composites). IMI researchers are also interested in modeling and instrumentation processes.

Interest among corporationsLarge corporations that use advanced materials, such as Bombardier, Nortel and Pratt & Whitney, carry out or finance research on advanced materials and technologies through contracts or partnerships. Other examples include Hydro-Québec, that conducts its research on superconductor, magnetic and nano-structured materials, protective coatings and repair materials for dams through its own institute (Institut de recherche de Varennes (IREQ),. Several smaller companies are also working on R&D projects.

In sum, research on CMM territory is diversified — some say too diversified — and covers the four main areas of research and application of materials science and engineering. It is a stimulating field. Among the excellent scientists directing research teams, there are a number of

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•1�Advanced Materials

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highly-reputed expatriates who have chosen to come back to the fold. There are numerous gifted second and third cycle students, and highly skilled professional researchers, as well.

The laboratories and equipment made available to researchers are state-of-the-art. Several research facilities have just been inaugurated, such as the McGill University Tools for Nanoscience Facility and the Centre de recherche en génie des structures (structural engineering research centre) at École Polytechnique. Others are still under construction, such as the Laboratoire de micro et nano fabrication being built jointly by INRS-Énergie et matériaux and the Université de Sherbrooke, and the new J.A. Bombardier pavilion being built by Université de Montréal and École Polytechnique.

Some fifty companiesA brief overview on CMM territory has made it possible to identify more than 50 companies involved in developing or operating new generation materials and their related technologies, not including nanomaterials.

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Overview of Québec’s positioning

Advanced metalsHigh-strength advanced steelMagnesium alloys Titanium and titanium alloys Superalloys Aluminum foamAmorphous metals Metal composites Metal powder Advanced polymersTechnical thermoplasticsTechnical thermosetting materialsPlastic composites (commodity and high-performance) High temperature polymersConductive polymers1

Photonic polymersBiocompatible polymersBiopolymers and natural polymers Dendritic and metallocenePolymer foams

1) The emering channel in Québec for conductive polymers is the channel related to fuel cells

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Source of data: Jean-François Audet Courtier Stratège, KPMG and IC2 technologies, Stratégie de développement et identification d’occasions d’affaires pour le Québec dans le secteur des matériaux avancés. Study carried out for the MDERR, SGF, Investissement Québec and Hydro-Québec, Fall 2003.

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Advanced ceramicsMonolithic ceramicsCeramic coatings Ceramic composites BioceramicsSuperalloysRefractory materials

Other functional materials Fibre optics Magnetic materialsPiezoelectric materialsSuperconductorsRheological fluidsShape memory materials


However, there are very few suppliers of raw materials within this group. The producers of steel, aluminum and magnesium are located outside the greater metropolitan region. On the other hand, cement manufacturers (Cimenterie Saint-Laurent, Groupe Lafarge, Ciment Québec) and plastics manufacturers (Petromont, Basell) are located here, along with a few specialty manufacturers: AGS Taron (aluminum foam), Montreal Carbide and Plasmatec (ceramic coating), PyroGenesis (titanium metallic powders).

Most of these companies are those that manufacture, transform or recycle advanced materials or who are seeking to develop processes to do so. According to a study carried out in 2003 for the MDERR, SGF, Investissement Québec and Hydro-Québec, Québec is well-placed in certain classes of materials. There are other, emerging classes to watch for too. The study points out, however, that Québec has lost some ground with respect to magnesium due to the closing of the Asbestos Magnola plant and the Noranda Technology Centre in Montreal.

Fields of interest The overall view presented in the attached table applies to the greater metropolitan region of Montreal, where most industrial activity is concentrated (see Appendices for the list of companies).

Many of these companies are small and still dependent on R&D. They concentrate their efforts on powders, foams and metal alloys, as well as on advanced polymers, especially composites and thermoplastics, and on biomaterials. A dozen enterprises are interested in nanomaterials, which is an advanced niche, albeit absent from the above-mentioned study.

Some of these SMBs would like to become suppliers of materials, additives or technologies for large manufacturing or distribution companies. They will manage to do so under certain conditions: the investment required is not enormous, production volumes are relatively small and products are made to measure.

The presence of leaders stimulates development Other companies will bridge the transition gap until the major manufacturers decide to integrate materials preparation in their production chain. The decision will be influenced by the nature of the material. Before they can be used, certain materials such as thermoplastic composites engender high costs that can only be brought down through mass production. Nanocomposites, on the other hand, can be used at low cost in existing machinery.

Finally, a few of these SMBs will start to manufacture finished products and will profit from the added value themselves.

The presence in the Montreal area of leaders in the fields of aerospace, transportation, telecommunications and energy represents a major stimulus for research, development and marketing of new materials and new technologies. There are about 20 manufacturers in these sectors who are major users of materials and are already or will soon be order originators for the integration of advanced materials. Their presence will support the growth of innovative SMBs, who are central to this emerging cluster.

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Sectoral Areas


An Impact on All IndustriesA field of exploration as vast as that of materials naturally involves a multitude of promising areas of research. Only time will tell which will succeed. It is nevertheless possible to assert right now, without fear of error, that all industrial sectors will be affected. All manufacturers are looking for high-performance materials that are easier to handle, less costly to produce, less harmful to the environment and that have qualities that give them added value with respect to the use for which they are intended.

Transportation sector at the head of the listThe transportation sector (aviation, automobile, rail, commuter, recreational) is the main market for strong materials or emerging materials identified by the MDERR, SGF, Investissement Québec and Hydro-Québec study, as shown in Table 1.

Steel is by far the most commonly used material. In the automobile industry for example, steel and cast-iron have given up less than 10% of the playing field since the famous Model T, 78% of whose weight was due to those to materials; in 2000, iron and steel still accounted for 70% of a vehicle’s weight.

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Table 1 – Outlook for strong and emerging materials markets in Montreal

Class of materials Key markets Size of North Expected American market progression (1)

in US$ million

Magnesium alloys Automobile 150 to 500 7 to 10%

Aluminum foams Transport, industrial, < 50 > 15% urban infrastructures

Plastic composites Transport, medical, sports + 3,000 0 to 3% equipment

Conductive Electronic, industrial, medical < 50 7 to 10% polymers

Technical Transport, electronics, + 3,000 3 to 5% (2)

thermoplastics industrial, medical equipment

Ceramic coatings Transport, industrial 500 to 1,500 7 to 10%

Advanced Construction, infrastructures +3,000 3 to 5% concrete

Fibre optics Telecommunications 1,500 to 3,000 0 to 3% (2)

industrial, medical

Magnetic Transport, industrial, 500 to 1 500 7 to 10 % materials electronics

(1) growth outlook for 2003-2008 (2) Certain niches have stronger outlooks for growth.Source of data: Jean-François Audet Courtier Stratège, KPMG and IC2 technologies, Stratégie de développement et identification d’occasions d’affaires pour le Québec dans le secteur des matériaux avancés. Study carried out for MDERR,


The main competitors to the most recent generation of high-strength steel are aluminum and magnesium alloys that have the advantage of being light, an extra benefit given the necessity of reducing the weight of vehicles to cut down pollution. A 10% reduction in weight means from 5 to 7% greater fuel efficiency.

On the downside, they are more expensive, more difficult to shape, and use less well-known technologies.

The needs of contract originators During a symposium on advanced materials that took place at the Industrial Materials Institute on April 29, 2003, representatives of Bombardier (aerospace and transport), Renault Nissan, Daimler Chrysler and Pratt & Whitney presented the needs of their industry. It is not sufficient for materials to be lighter; they also need to be stronger, durable, easy to produce and maintain, recoverable in whole or in part in order to respond to consumer and manufacturer demands with respect to security, dependability, comfort and costs. In fact, it is the cost of utilization for the entire useful life of the product that will be the decisive factor.

To improve the cost/performance ratio, manufacturers want to decrease the number of suppliers and work more closely with those that remain. More than just subcontractors, manufacturers want suppliers to become partners who assume a part of the risk and to assist them in identifying the materials that will allow each part to optimally fulfill its function. Suppliers are therefore invited to form groups and consortiums if they want to do business with the major contract originators. Another very clearly expressed desire is to reduce the number of parts to be assembled. The future therefore lies in larger parts composed of several materials if necessary, which will require the development of new technologies.

In the automobile industry no single material is expected to predominate. However, at Bombardier Aéronautique, thermoplastics are perceived as being most likely to have a downward effect on prices.

Other sectoral markets Many industrial sectors will progressively integrate advanced materials. For example ceramic coatings will be used as thermal protection for engine parts or to prevent wear on cutting tools. Plastic composites will be competing with metals in many industrial applications as well.

In the field of telecommunications, photons will replace electrons and transmit information more quickly through the use of increasingly mobile systems. This technological change requires a new category of materials that makes it possible to further develop miniaturization and reduce costs. Fibre optics, conductive polymers, photonic polymers, magnetic materials and thermoplastics will be part of this change. In addition, research on material surface modifications by plasma is critical to this industry.

Changes in the energy sector mostly depend on the availability of materials with certain characteristics, such as superconductor, dielectric (insulating), nanocrystalline or porous materials, for example. The fuel cell industry in particular is expecting materials that will make it possible to accelerate the reaction inside the battery, to store hydrogen and reduce costs.

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The construction industry is a natural market for a wide range of new materials. On the horizon are intumescent paints (that protect steel beams from flames) and other functional coatings (that fulfill a particular function in response to an outside stimulus), windows with low surface conductivity (that filter heat but let in light), soundproof glass and advanced concretes, for example.

Bridges, roadways and other infrastructures will also be subject to the integration of new materials. Structural steel for bridges could eventually be replaced by conductive polymers. High-performance concrete and polymeric bitumen will be used to extend the lifetime of roadways. Thermoplastics will be used in industrial, municipal, commercial and residential pipes and plumbing.

Progress in medicine will drive up the demand for fibre optics, conductive polymers, and biomaterials that are entirely compatible, both mechanically and biologically, with the human body. The list of uses for such biomaterials is continually growing: regeneration of tissues and organs, internal prostheses, cell culture substrates, molecular research for pharmaceuticals, bioreactive bandages, systems for drug delivery within the body, smart materials that attack viruses with controlled deployment, etc.

Finally, materials science will offer the textiles sector fabrics that resist wear, keep their shape, are maintenance-free or protective (fireproof, toxic chemical proof, or projectile proof, for example). Adaptive fabrics offering a new level of comfort no matter the external conditions will be in high demand. Trendy fabrics using fibre optics or built-in sensors will also be developed.

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Development Factors


Training in Good SupplyMaterials are so omnipresent that specialists from this field are active in all industrial sectors and at every stage in a product’s life cycle, from design to production and final elimination. Labour needs also change to keep pace with growth in the various sectors. The integration of advanced materials or new technologies supports, and even accelerates, that growth.

Québec’s education system offers quality specialized course programs at all levels. At the professional training level there are, for example, programs in mechanical manufacturing, metalworking and composite materials workmanship. There is a specialized institution for the aerospace trades. The cégeps award technical diplomas for manufacturing production, plastic materials transformation, electronic technology, physics technology, laboratory techniques and biotechnologies, engineering, etc.

The universities offer diplomas in physics, chemistry and biology that can lead to second and third cycle studies in the materials field for those graduates who are interested. Except for Concordia, which has a Materials Engineering B.A., engineering schools and faculties generally offer majors depending on the field of engineering studied. For example, chemical engineering students at the Polytechnique can opt for a major in plastics processes, those in the physical engineering or metallurgy can choose a major in materials engineering. Students in physics engineering may also choose to go into micro and nanotechnologies. At the Master’s level, they have even more options: nanomaterials, composites, industrial ceramics, etc.

Integrating new materials to a product production chain requires an adaptation in the labour force that must be ensured by the companies and training institutions themselves. An increasing number of tradespeople, technicians and professionals will have to upgrade their skills to keep in step with rapidly expanding market penetration by these materials.

No matter what their basic training, workers have access to public continuous training programs that can be given inside or outside the company. Once again, aerospace stands out with the CRIAQ organization (see following section), whose mission includes ensuring the relevance of training offered to specialized workers and promoting the sector to young people.

If, in the near future, the industry lacks qualified labour to support the integration of new materials and their associated technologies, it will not be because of any lack in training offered. Due to the presence in Montreal of four universities, INRS-Énergie et matériaux and two engineering schools, the region also has a large base of potential researchers and technicians with solid scientific backgrounds to carry out R&D activities.

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Targeted Knowledge Transfer Skills

Valorisation-Recherche Québec has chosen not to create a single network in materials science and engineering the field is far too vast but rather to support a few sectoral networks: NanoQuébec for nanotechnologies; PROMPT-Québec for microelectronics, photonics and telecommunications; and CRIAQ for aerospace. These three networks provide meeting places for industrials and academics and sponsor research partnerships, many of which have a strong materials component.

For example, CRIAQ, the Consortium for Research and Innovation in Aerospace in Québec, brings together researchers from the École Polytechnique, ÉTS, and Concordia, Laval, McGill and Sherbrooke universities. Its industrial members are Bell Helicopter, Textron, Bombardier Aéronautique, CAE, CMC Électronique, Pratt & Whitney, Techspace Aero and Thales Canada. Other members include Delastek, a Shawinigan-based manufacturer of electronic and composite products, the Aerospace Industries Association of Canada, and the National Research Council of Canada. Among the projects given priority by CRIAQ are composite materials and low-cost manufacturing.

In order to promote the transfer of technology, CRIAQ puts the accent on innovation, i.e. the creation of new concepts ready to market or to use. The organization also plans to knit some ties with European and American programs having similar technological objectives, which could give rise to joint research ventures and technology exchange.

The construction industry can rely on the Québec Building Envelope Council (QBEC) that was set up in 1989 by the Concordia Centre for Building Studies to promote knowledge transfer between architects (39% of members), manufacturers (32%), engineers (23%), entrepreneurs and researchers (6%). Located in Nun’s Island, the centre is also targeting new research projects that meet the needs of the industry.

The Industrial Materials Institute plays a central role in terms of technology transfer. The research that is done there follows the needs of industry, but that is not all. Groups in which the companies participate are formed around particular problems. Five of these groups are from the materials field. They are: SURFTEC, a technology group for surface engineering; FOAMTEC, the technology group on polymer foams; PNC-Tech, the technology group on polymer nanocomposites; GIMS, a blow moulding interest group; and GIM, an injection moulding interest group.

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Primarily Public Capital R&D is driving the development of advanced materials and associated technologies. University researchers largely depend on subsidy-granting organizations in both levels of government. The Fonds québécois de recherche sur la nature et les technologies (FQRNT, Québec nature and technologies research fund), the most active in the field, saw its budget cut by 7%, as did the Fonds de recherche en santé (FRSQ, health research fund), active in the field of biomaterials research, among others. This first cutback in 20 years is of great concern and there are signals to the effect that more cuts are possible.

The impact of these cutbacks is even greater given the leveraging effect of subsidies. It is estimated that every dollar invested by Québec research funds in infrastructure and structuring projects carried out in partnerships attracts nearly five, and sometimes up to ten dollars from other sources.

The Québec government has also reduced R&D tax credits to companies. This decision has affected emerging sectors and particularly start-up companies whose main activity is to continue research begun in university laboratories. The situation is all the more difficult since the Québec government is their main support, with federal programs kicking in later on.

The government is betting that private venture capital will take over. This is a pretty risky bet given the performance of the most locally active venture capital companies in recent years (Innovatech of Greater Montreal, Investissement Desjardins, the FTQ Solidarity Fund, Société générale de financement, CDP Capital, Hydro-Québec CapiTech, T2C2). Only a few companies on our list (Biorthex, Nexia, Lavergne, ECI Composites, Composites VCI) have obtained financing from the venture capitalists. Venture capital companies say however that they are open to any serious proposal. It has been observed that they seem more attentive when it is question of nanomaterials and nanomanufacturing, since they have invested in almost all companies active in the field.

It would certainly be desirable that the private sector set up a continuous financing chain and be the main financier at all stages of the life of innovating companies, both for when it is necessary to target a still-hypothetical potential and for when it is necessary to considerably increase outlay to support marketing efforts. More time and incentives will be required before this desire becomes a reality. In the meantime, realism demands that we act with caution and provide for a transition period of a few years at the very least. In leading-edge and emerging sectors, it is even probable that public funds will continue to have a predominant role to play for a long time to come.

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The Beginnings of an Infrastructure The CMM territory has a dozen materials-testing laboratories. The most dynamic will likely adapt their facilities in order to be in a position to test advanced materials as they arise on the markets.

Start-up companies derived from research are often housed at the beginning of their lifetime by institutions where the researchers work. The IMI (Industrial Materials Institute) makes premises and laboratories available to companies where they can validate and scale products and technologies that they want to market.

In partnership with Valotech (see below), the IMI recently created the Crossroads for Industrial Materials Innovation (CIMI), an incubator located adjacent to the Institute at 75 Boulevard de Mortagne. A dozen companies have moved in as of this writing.

Also on the South Shore, the Centre d’incubateur d’entreprises de la Montérégie (CIDEM technology business incubator) provides a management framework for innovative technology companies in order to maximize technology knowledge transfer. Companies working in the sector of materials and processes used for their manufacture are among the priority targets.

The Cité du multimédia also has a technology business incubator. Although the primary clientele is the information technology sector, companies that manufacture or market industrial technologies are also welcome. The Centre d’entreprises et d’innovation de Montréal (CEIM) also offers advisory services to technology companies, whether they are tenants or not.

The Emergence of Specialized Services The technology consultancy firms (CEIM, CIDEM, E.M. Optimisation, Inno-Centre, Innovitech, Sygertech, Société de développement Angus, VSA) help businesses reduce product or technology development time through coaching and supervision in areas such as the creation of research consortiums and networks, business intelligence activities, protection of intellectual property, marketing strategies, financial packages, employee recruiting and training, and structuring operations.

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A Technology Cluster The advanced materials cluster is a technology cluster, and will remain so. As soon as the use of a material becomes more common, the material as well as the technologies required become a component of the sectors that integrated them. And the wheel continues to turn: researchers will already be looking for new materials.

Subsidized organizations encourage strategic networking among the researchers and institutions. Some networks are already in place and are defining the ramifications of a potential cluster: a general network called the Regroupement québécois sur les matériaux de pointe (Québec advanced materials group), and specialized networks with a strong industrial component (NanoQuébec, NanoQuébec Innovation, PROMPT-Québec et le CRIAQ). These networks have not yet produced all their effects. There is still no real team or interdisciplinary approach to speak of. In addition, the inter-institutional ties are not considered to be strong enough.

The companies that are the most likely to develop leading-edge materials and technologies are grouped under sectoral labels (mines and metals, metallurgy, plastics, aerospace, transport, etc.) where they get lost in the crowd. These innovative companies have nonetheless begun to give themselves a voice in the fields of aerospace and nanotechnologies, among others. There is also a Canadian Association for Composite Structures and Materials (CACSMA). It is directed by researchers and industrialists in the Montreal metropolitan region.

The companies, institutions and organizations involved in R&D and innovation can join the Valotech strategic alliance network, based in Longueuil and responsible for the creation of the Crossroads for Industrial Materials Innovation housed in the IMI.

The circulation of information acts as the catalyst in forming a cluster. It is therefore very positive to see the materials annex of the Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information (CISTI) located in the IMI facilities.

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ks Outside the Metropolitan Area Materials science and engineering are important, if not priority, areas of research in all countries that are the least bit industrialized. Many countries have national research and laboratory centres specialized in materials study. In the last 50 years, the US National Science Foundation financed the establishment of about 30 Materials Research Science and Engineering Centres (MRSEC) where interdisciplinarity is the rule. Over time, each Centre has developed its own fields of expertise.

However, these transversal disciplines (materials science and materials engineering) are rarely the subject of such general intervention. The offensive is usually far more targeted. For example, Switzerland decided that the development of high-temperature superconductor materials would be the subject of national research focus under the stewardship of Geneva University. In France, three related fields of research, surface engineering, complex materials physiochemistry and nanostructures are deemed as “incentive concerted action” and benefit as such from special support from the government’s Ministry of Research.

Several countries have adopted strategic action plans with significant budgets to develop nanotechnologies. Part of the sums allocated to these programs is earmarked for materials research, in which nanomaterials is taking an increasingly large part.

Although Canada has no strategy targeting particular programs, research on materials in this country is still very intense.

The Québec effort: focus on research efforts Several strategic groups throughout Québec have been set up under the initiative of the Québec research fund on nature and technologies, FQRNT (Fonds québécois de la recherche sur la nature et les technologies).

The Regroupement québécois sur les matériaux de pointe (Québec advanced materials group) includes 60 researchers from McGill University, Université de Montréal, École Polytechnique and Université de Sherbrooke as well as from governments industry and colleges. Plasma-Québec includes about 40 researchers from INRS and three universities: McGill, Montreal and Sherbrooke. Synthesizing new materials is one of the main applications of plasma technology.

In conjunction with Valorisation-Recherche-Québec, the FQRNT also initiated the establishment of the Québec Consortium for Research and Innovation in Aerospace in Québec, CRIAQ, whose academic members are from École Polytechnique, École de technologie supérieure (ÉTS), and Concordia, Laval, McGill and Sherbrooke universities. CRIAQ researchers focus particularly on developing light thermoplastic composite materials.

Finally, the FQRNT has announced for this year the creation of a plastics and composites centre to be directed out of École Polytechnique. The Centre will include researchers from Cégep de Saint-Jérôme, the National Research Council of Canada, École de technologie supérieure, and Concordia, Laval, McGill and Sherbrooke universities. Three other inter-university research centres will be created that will also have an impact on the development of materials and technologies. Those are the research centres on high-performance manufacturing (main research at École Polytechnique), interface properties and catalysis (main research at Université Laval), and energy, plasma and electrochemistry (main research at Université de Sherbrooke).


For 10 years, Université de Sherbrooke was at the top of Concrete Canada’s network of centres of excellence. Its engineering faculty consequently acquired internationally recognized expertise in the field of high-performance concrete. Several road construction projects outside the city of Sherbrooke served as trials. This is also the region where the first companies to manufacture components in HP concrete were founded.

Finally, it will not come as a surprise to learn that the Université du Québec in Chicoutimi (UQAC) is a leader in aluminum research. The Centre québécois de recherche et de développement de l’aluminium (CQRDA, Québec aluminum research and development centre) houses, along with two industrial chairs, one relative to solidification and aluminum metallurgy (CISMA) and the other to advanced technologies in light materials for automobile applications (TAMLA). In addition, there are IMI installations in the Saguenay region dealing with precious metals. We also note that UQAC has unique expertise in de-icing and antifreeze materials.

The Canadian effort: diversified financial support In Canada, there is no program that expressly provides funds for basic research in materials science. Subsidies are granted through other avenues. For example, in civil engineering 29% of research grants go to projects on materials. Out of the 24 research centres affiliated with the National Research Council of Canada located throughout Canada, only one, the Industrial Materials Institute (IMI), which has facilities in Boucherville and Saguenay, is dedicated to materials. However, several other centres contribute to the advancement of materials science, as shown by the table below.

The research groups, laboratories and other groups dealing with materials science or engineering and their applications are legion among Canadian universities. The federal government finances, through national subsidizing organizations, research chairs and networks of excellence which bring researchers with similar interests from throughout Canada to work together.

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Materials Science in Canada

National Institute for Nanotechnology Edmonton Nanomaterials

Institute for Research in Construction Ottawa Development of

innovative materials

Institute for Microstructural Sciences Ottawa Advanced materials for telecommunications and photonics

Steacie Institute for Ottawa Functional and transition mateials; Molecular Sciences molecular spectroscopy; molecular interfaces

Technologies Institute London Use of new, integrated manufacturing materials

Institute for Information Technology Ottawa Use of pulsed laser fo depositing thin films

Institute for Fuel Cell Innovation Vancouver Battery materials fatigue


There are research chairs in all Canadian universities, including several in materials science or engineering. Their funding comes mostly from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC). The Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIAR) finances nine subsidy programs, including two (on nanoelectrons and quantas) that have a direct impact on materials science. Québec scientists direct both programs: Peter Grütter, a McGill University physicist who is also scientific director of NanoPic, NSERC’s platform for innovation in nanoscience and nanotechnology, and Louis Taillefer, holder of the Canada Research Chair in Quantum Materials at Université de Sherbrooke.

Canada currently finances 21 subsidized networks for excellence. Two are directly related to advanced materials. The AUTO 21 network groups 205 researchers, including 49 from Québec. Among the themes being studied, we should mention materials and their manufacture, polymer composites and new generation steels. The ISIS network deals with smart materials made from fibre-reinforced polymers integrating detection systems. This is a small network that includes only a few Québec scientists.

Since 1997, the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) has invested nearly a half-million dollars in Québec ($495,490,000). This sum has mainly contributed to upgrading scientific equipment available to researchers.

Federal support for research and innovation in terms of materials goes through other channels as well. For example, CANMET, a network headed by Natural Resources Canada and the Canadian Space Agency, manages microgravity experiments carried out by researchers from McGill University and INRS-Énergie et Matériaux, among others.

Montérégie, growth through innovation Primary transformation is a mature industry in Montérégie, and its growth now depends on technological innovation. This observation has compelled the region to push forward with research in this field to become a “leader” under the Accord program in the “technology of transforming ferrous metal and new related materials” niche. Nanomaterials are among the promising technological innovations since they allow for creating alloys with superior properties.

The Accord program (Action concertée de coopération régionale de développement) was created jointly by the Société générale de financement (SGF) and the Ministry of Economic and Regional Development and Research (MDERR). The program aims to establish a regional production system that is competitive in both North American and world markets by identifying and developing preferred markets of excellence in each region that will become those regions’ mark of distinction.

The challenge in Montérégie consists in consolidating the primary transformation sector while developing other phases of transformation. To meet that challenge and become a leader, the region benefits from the presence of numerous private and public specialized research centres, including the Industrial Materials Institute in Boucherville.

The region is also seen as a “determining partner” in the niche of advanced technologies for land transportation equipment. Contrary to the traditional land transportation sector, this niche is much more focused on research, development and integration of new technologies in concrete applications. Its development is enhanced by the presence of public research centres on the territory and by the active participation of companies in the integration of new technologies.

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The Laurentians, full speed ahead in public transport In the framework of the Accord program, the region would like to explore the “emerging niche” of advanced land transportation. It already enjoys an enviable position in this niche that offers a strong potential for long-term growth.

To succeed, the Laurentians have a key player at the Cégep de Saint-Jérôme – the Institut du transport avancé au Québec (ITAQ, Institute for advanced transportation), an organization that seeks to participate in “the emergence of new land transportation technologies offering improved energy efficiency and exploitation of renewable energy, with a general view to promoting sustainable development and improving quality of life.” The ITAQ is working with national and international companies and provides them with R&D, product development, technology transfer, technology and strategic watch and adapted training services.


Perceptions


Strategic Elements


A Knowledge Cluster Advanced materials are, like biotechnologies or nanotechnologies, a knowledge cluster, a key technological field that is well structured, transectoral and that, although it is located upstream from the other sectors, has an empowering effect on the various sectoral industries.

As a general rule, a new material will require a new process and if the material is advanced, manufacturing must be advanced as well. Sometimes, however, it is the reverse. A new process enhances an existing material, giving it added value. There is a very close relationship between the material and its manufacturing. Both go together. A material is nothing in itself; transformation is what gives it its place and its value, to the point where the process is often the determining element in a decision. The applications are therefore what make a material and its related technologies of interest.

The definition given by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) for an advanced material reflects this close interaction: “An advanced material is a material that was launched on major markets no more than 25 years ago.” Consequently, a material will cease to be on the organization’s list when it has become subject to mass use for manufacturing mass consumer products.

Accelerate technology transfer Québec – led by the Montreal metropolitan region – represents a force in terms of research, since it is where the highest concentration of materials knowledge in Canada is located. The transmission of this knowledge to the industry is unfortunately dispensed through an eyedropper at an extremely slow pace.

There is currently a lack of balance between the strength of research field and the strength of industry, which is why industry is not taking full advantage of the research work. There are several reasons for this imbalance: most companies are small and do not have sufficient means to take advantage of research, and local industrial activity is too limited; there is also the fact that research is not sufficiently adapted to the needs of the industry.

A weak culture of innovation is also a cause, along with the low level of industrial research. Companies are afraid to take risks, which influences their decision-making, leading them to prefer to import proven technology rather than to innovate. We should say that in certain sectors such as aeronautics or automobiles, the demands and time required to certify a component also make the engineers very cautious.

The need to accelerate the pace of technology transfer is unanimously agreed. A greater critical mass of companies would create a new dynamic throughout the creation/transfer/commercialization chain. Catalysts such as Valorisation-Recherche Québec, academic technology transfer companies and the transfer centres have an important role to play in this regard. They therefore need more support.

Despite the fragility of its industrial base, Québec can still aspire to take advantage of the growth that several established or emerging market segments should experience in the coming decade.

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Give priority to resolving the financing problem The advanced materials segment is facing the same financing difficulties as the other emerging sectors. The further we get from research, the more difficult the money is to find. Researchers can talk to more stakeholders than they could 10 years ago and several subsidy funds have even had their credits increased in recent years. A dialogue has been established over time between the managers of these funds and the research community concerning the preferred paths to follow.

It is quite another story when making the transition from research to development, where financing no longer depends on subsidy funds. The private sector makes it itself scarce when it comes to betting on a hypothetical potential or significantly increasing outlay to support marketing efforts. Today, there is much uncertainty surrounding the establishment of incentives to convince the private sector to invest and, when that is not possible, improving the availability of public funds to ensure a continuous financing chain.

According to general opinion, financing is a major problem that could jeopardize the expertise already acquired and the development of an “advanced materials” cluster. It is urgent that public and private capitalists play their role fully, in agreement with the research and business communities, if innovation is finally to come out of the laboratories and actually be used

Increase the critical mass of companies Without a critical mass of companies, the advanced materials segment will remain on a virtual level. That is why it is necessary to create conditions that favour the creation of companies and, most importantly, that encourage intense economic activity.

Major projects require collaboration by a combination of very diverse areas of expertise and oblige people to direct their energies towards reaching common objectives. Such projects can be initiated by either the public or the private sector. The challenges associated with building large dams, carrying out a lunar mission, building a high speed train or the car of the future, for example, mobilize all players in the development process. On a smaller scale, the agreement signed with GM to compensate for the closure of the Boisbriand plant, which enables Québec companies to be kept informed of the intentions of the automobile giant, has a positive spill-over impact.

In short, the best strategy consists in taking an interest in all the innovative and restructuring initiatives that impact the demand for advanced materials, both here in Canada and elsewhere in the world, for it is in the field, during the process of realizing applications, that the dynamic of exchange will begin and will ultimately stimulate research, increase openness to innovation, stimulate the creation of companies and promote the building of infrastructures and specialized services.

Mastering tools and fundamental expertise Advanced materials, as mentioned at the outset, form a knowledge cluster composed of three basic areas of expertise: the design of new materials, modeling/simulation and diagnostic.

The design of new materials is based first of all on knowledge of materials in their microstructure and now in their nanostructure. It is based secondly on the capacity to control those materials, i.e. to treat them, assemble them and mix them to obtain characteristics that enable a given performance in terms of hardness, durability, elasticity, fatigue, etc.

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ts The mastery of digital modeling/simulation tools is also essential. Primary modeling is done at the structural and chemical levels, secondary modeling takes place during the setting processes and the products that come out of the chain. These modelings identify the corrections to be made in order to reach the structural and functional performance goals that will meet the needs of users and consumers.

Diagnostics is the instrument for quality control. It makes it possible to see inside materials, to conduct a fine analysis of processes, in order to make sure the product is in every way compliant with the required specifications.

The advanced materials universe therefore involves a major share of sophisticated instrumentation that has its place not only in research laboratories but also in the factories that manufacture components or products using advanced materials.

Apply the cluster concept to advanced materials The advanced materials technology field is currently poorly irrigated due to a deficient relational dynamic. Applying the “cluster” approach will help to fill in that gap.

A cluster shines its spotlights on the body of knowledge necessary for the study and use of advanced materials. It focuses attention on common sectoral and inter-sectoral problems. It promotes the circulation and distribution of information among researchers, industrials, financiers, economic stakeholders and political leaders. It facilitates the convergence of actions and the emergence of a relational dynamic that is likely to create more overall development and to constitute an attractive factor, both for researchers and for industrials. It creates a pole of excellence and outreach that will position Québec advantageously on a national and international scale.

The emergence of a cluster is based on a long-term vision that is shared by all players concerned. Its implementation requires major resources, which will only become available if there is a solid political will to consider advanced materials as a priority national initiative, fully justified by the contribution of those materials to the development of all industrial sectors.


Relational Assets


The Challenge of Collaboration Commercializing advanced materials and manufacturing on the world scale poses enormous challenges. To meet those challenges requires concerted and collective efforts on many fronts.

Optimizing research networks Networks and groups are increasingly popular among the scientific community. In the past few years, subsidizing bodies have been encouraging collaboration between researchers and promoting inter-university groups, especially since the nature of experimental infrastructure required to carry out advanced research largely exceeds the capacity of a single researcher, which makes their joint efforts an absolute necessity.

However cooperation among these networks is not always optimal because of old, deep-seated individualist reflexes. In addition, there is often not enough money to ensure truly efficient and dynamic coordination. Despite their weaknesses, these networks are useful and generate better research.

Research on advanced materials has taken a major step forward with the creation of the Québec Advanced Materials Group, made up of about 60 researchers representing just a fraction of the all researchers interested in advanced materials, since they are basically from the three research centres that founded the Group: the Groupe de recherche en physique et technologie des couches minces at the Université de Montréal, the Centre for the Physics of Materials at McGill University and the Centre de recherche sur les propriétés électroniques des matériaux avancés at the Université de Sherbrooke. Recruiting outside this basic core has now begun.

Strengthening ties between researchers and industrialsRelations between researchers and industrials are generally established on a one-to-one basis. Large companies have more means to finance research work. They also tend to want to control a greater part of the intellectual property than researchers are ready to allow, thereby hindering their desire for collaboration.

SMBs, on the other hand, have an increasing need for public research infrastructures in order to characterize materials and model their behaviours. Some innovative SMBs develop close and original ties with university institutions. As an example, we will mention Lavergne Group, a manufacturer of engineering thermoplastic polymer mixes and alloys that has an École Polytechnique laboratory on its premises.

Collective relations are maintained primarily through research groups, that are very often required to have industrial partners. Forced partnerships do not always last, and in fact half of them exist only on paper. The overall results are still positive, since the other half have led to solid, long-term alliances.

The transportation sector is a pioneer in the field. Aeronautics has created a Consortium for Research and Innovation in Aerospace in Québec (CRIAQ). On a national scale, the Canadian Lightweight Materials Research Initiative (CLiMRI) groups together industrials, three federal government laboratories and four universities. The participants from Québec are Alcan and Noranda, the Industrial Materials Institute in Boucherville and McGill University.

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Groups of companies exist in most sectors of activity. With the exception of the transportation field, very few of these groups are formed around a particular theme, such as advanced materials, and have researchers associated to them. Worthy of note, however, is the Canadian Association for Composite Structures and Materials, whose management offices are in Montreal. Inter-sectoral networks are even rarer still.

Push harder for inter-business cooperation Cooperation between companies is still limited. The need to protect competitive advantages is cited as a reason for the refusal to sit down with competitors. This is going counter-current to the world trend; there has in fact been a significant increase in alliances among competitors, a phenomenon responsible for the neologism “coopetition” (cooperation-competition).

The Industrial Materials Institute has succeeded in bringing competitive businesses to the same table thanks to interest groups formed around particular problems, such as surface engineering or polymer foams. The CIMI has welcomed a dozen companies. Increasing discussion and cooperation are among the objectives pursued in order to support the marketing of the products, processes and technological platforms of its various tenants.

Bring major contract-originators and suppliers together Surprisingly, contract-originators do not work closely with their suppliers, despite the synergy that must exist between industrial design, materials engineering, process engineering and product engineering.

Cooperation, when it does exist, is technological and not commercial, in the sense that the contract-originator does not invest in the R&D or the trials that the suppliers carry out in order to meet the required specifications and obtain certification of a material. Sometimes contract-originators do certain trials at their own expense when they are able to carry them out in their own facilities.

Also, the desire of the major contract-originators to reduce the number of their suppliers is an invitation for the suppliers to group together and form consortiums that will have a structuring impact.

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Avenues for the Future


Promising Segments Upon reading the preceding text, most experts consulted felt that now was the time to start assessing the Applications are what define the different markets. All commercialization efforts will be in vain if the materials and technologies proposed do not correspond to the needs of users.

Let us take the example of the transportation market, which is looking for lighter materials and whose quest has become more urgent with the recent rise in oil prices. It will not be sufficient for the material to be lighter; it also needs to be strong, durable, easy to manufacture and to maintain, fully or partially recoverable, to meet the requirements of consumers and producers in terms of safety, dependability and comfort. In order to lower their costs, manufacturers are seeking to reduce the number of parts to assemble. The future lies therefore in larger parts, composed if necessary of several different materials, which will require the development of new technologies.

Each sector has its expectations, and these are constantly evolving, which is why it is important to be constantly on the lookout for business intelligence. Some trends, which are essential to take into account as we will see later on (see box page 43) are becoming generally confirmed no matter what the sector. But, before we talk about productivity, here are a few promising segments.

Bank on foams and metallic powders Despite the acquisition of new characteristics like high strength and steel, metal, the dominant force of the last century, is up against competition from aluminum and magnesium in several applications. Québec is well positioned to do battle. Aluminum foams offer an excellent outlook in particular, due to the R&D efforts underway and the presence of major contract-originators in the fields of urban and industrial infrastructures (municipalities, mining companies, pulp and paper manufacturers) and air, rail and automobile transportation.

Hope is re-emerging for magnesium as well. Québec, which had an enviable position in the early 1990s in the field of aluminum alloys, was later surpassed by other countries, including Australia and Israel. Then the consecutive closings of the Magnola plant, the Noranda Technology Centre and the Société de développement du magnesium (magnesium development corporation) (SDM) dealt a heavy blow to this emerging industry. Now, reopening the Magnola plant is under consideration. Prices are rising and China is increasingly less able to provide for other countries, since it is dealing with a very strong internal demand and does not have sufficient energy sources to increase its production.

Metallic powders, other than aluminum or magnesium (titanium, copper, iron and other sinterable metals) are another market where Québec is in a good position, both in terms of industry and of research. Powder metallurgy makes it possible to manufacture finished products while limiting the number of stages and even to obtain materials with unique properties. We can, for example, produce porous materials from powders, that have a great capacity for absorption and filtration (noise, heat, air, water). The transport, tooling and machining, energy and biomedical (implants, prostheses) sectors all offer interesting prospects.

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Québec is the Canadian leader and a major league player on a world scale in terms of plastic composites (high performance and commodity). Several research groups are now masters in the development of new composites and the optimization of processes. IMI researchers have, for example, developed methods enabling them to obtain structural shapes or castings with greater rigidity and better resistance to fatigue and shock. In May 2004, the Fonds québécois de recherche sur la nature et les technologies (Québec nature and technologies research fund) accredited a new research centre, the Centre de recherche sur les polymères et composites (polymer and composite research centre), that involves all Québec universities and is managed from the École Polytechnique.

The industrial base is also solid. A multitude of transformers, using leading-edge technologies, gravitate around the major contract-originators, several of whom work in the field of transportation. Manufacturers of sports equipment and recreational products are also major users of composites. Finally, we should note the presence of expertise in the use of polymer composites, a non-corrosive material that can be used to contain and store hazardous liquids.

Québec also functions very well in thermoplastics, which is good news since this material is increasingly sought after due to the fact that it leads to an appreciable reduction in welding costs.

Three types of emerging polymers could represent opportunities for Québec: conductive polymers for the manufacture of fuel cells, photonic polymers for the telecommunications industry and polymer foams, more particularly those that use safe, non-toxic blowing agents that are compatible with the environment. Producers of insulating board and food packaging also represent major potential markets.

Be on the lookout for possible sectoral transfersCeramic coatings have given rise to a solid manufacturing and forming industry, which has been stimulated by the presence of opportunities in various sectors, such as pulp and paper, aerospace, energy (turbines), metallurgy and sports equipment. Several companies have benefited in this case from the transfer of new technologies developed in one of the many materials research laboratories operating in Québec.

Since the middle of the last century, Québec has built an enormous amount of infrastructure: dams and hydroelectric power stations, highways, bridges, schools, colleges, hospitals, museums, theatres, etc. Tons of concrete have been poured and continue to be poured. Concrete has been the subject of much research, often made necessary by the rigours of our climate. The latest generation of concrete is high-performance, self-placing, self-cleaning, conductive, ecological, etc. The links in the chain of researchers, producers of raw materials, transformers and users are solidly attached and the industry is in a position to meet market needs.

Powders and magnetic materials are at the basis of the development of two important markets: systems for recording, reading and storing data, and motors and electrical systems using higher performance alternators. It is this second market that Québec would like to succeed in penetrating.


The above overview identifies the markets that are most likely to be of interest for local industry in the short term. Other classes of materials have already caught the attention of researchers and could turn out to be major avenues for development. This is particularly the case with biopolymers, given the availability of raw materials and the strength of the plastics sector, and superconductor materials in the energy sector, among others.

Adopt targeted strategies The advanced materials market is vast, diverse and bursting with business opportunities; it is up to industry to seize those opportunities by adopting targeted strategies.

It would seem that Québec does not have the industrial base to become a major player on mass markets occupied by densely populated countries such as China and India, where low-cost labour is in plentiful supply. However, niche markets and job lot productions are within reach of Québec companies. Those are the niches that we need to target.

There are two ways for a company to sell a new material and its related technology: either go to the suppliers of the major order-originators or knock directly on the doors of the order-originators themselves so that they add the material to their specifications. The second approach is often the more effective, on condition that the right entry way is found, which is often much more difficult than it seems.

Regardless of the path chosen, the proposed change must add value to the product manufactured or the process used. This excellent sales argument will, however, remain ineffective if the final cost appears prohibitive. We therefore need to carefully document cost reductions, productivity gains and environmental or social spinoffs attributable in the short, medium or long term to the introduction of the material and its technology.

Since the domestic market is too restricted, Québec companies are obliged to export to ensure their growth. Export support programs are therefore critically important. They must, however, go beyond the framework of trade fairs and provide real accompaniment for businesses on foreign soil.

Aven

ues

for t

he fu

ture

Trends

The great decompartmentalization: developing the multimaterial and multiprocess approach

• Clients are seeking value-added products and not just particular materials.• Importance of material second to integrated engineering (optimal cost-performance/ease of manufacturing with a view to a product’s complete life cycle). • Trend towards developing products with greater added value (integrated product, module vs. part).• With technological change, greater ease of substitution among several materials (for example, steel, magnesium and plastics in the automobile industry). • Optimal solution sometimes signifies combination of materials and processes optimizing geometries and physical properties.

Source: J.-F. Audet Courtier Stratège – IC2 Technologies – KPMG - April 29, 2004


Appendices


University Research Units on CMM Territory Many of these units are multidisciplinary and inter-university. Here they are associated with the institution that acts as head of the network.

École Polytechnique Canada Research Chair in Low Temperature Physics: development of thin film materials for the microelectronic and optoelectronic industries

NSERC Industrial Research Chair in low-pressure plasmas

Applied Polymer Research Centre (CRASP): polymer matrix composites, shape memory electrical circuits

Centre de caractérisation microscopique des matériaux (centre for the microscopic characterization of materials): metal matrix composites, powder metallurgy, coatings, new methods of characterization

Research Group in Biomechanics and Biomaterials (GRBB): shape memory alloys, ceramics, biodegradable polymers, surface treatment and analysis, improvement of biocompatibility and resistance to corrosion

Modeling of Multi-Functional Materials and Manufacturing Processes Group

Smart Composite Manufacturing Laboratory

Surface and Material Analysis Laboratory

Electrochemical and Energetic Materials Laboratory

Biomaterials Research Laboratory

Université de Montréal Canada Research Chair in Polymeric Biomaterials: transport and release of drugs.

Canada Research Chair on Supramolecular Materials: “custom” design and construction of materials

Canada Research Chair on Electricity-conducting Interfaces and Nanostructures: development of new materials for the electronics industry

Laboratoire international sur les matériaux électroactifs (with the CNRS in France)

Computational Materials Physics Group

Groupe de physique des plasmas

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es École Polytechnique and Université de Montréal Centre des technologies de fabrication de pointe appliquées à l’aérospatiale (Centre for advanced manufacturing technologies applied to the aerospace industry) (under construction)

Thin Film Physics and Technology Research Group (GCM)

McGill UniversityCanada Research Chair in Advanced Composite Materials

Canada Research Chair in Mechanics of Materials

Canada Research Chair in Non-Thermal Plasma Processing

Canada Research Chair in Colloids for Advanced Materials

McGill Institute for Advanced Materials: study of chemical, mechanical, electrical and magnetic properties of different forms of matter

Centre for the Physics of Materials (CPM) : metastable materials, transition materials, multimaterials, study of quantas and photons, microscopic imagery, etc.

Aerospace Materials and Alloy Development Centre

Polymer McGill Research Centre

Plasma Technology Research Centre

McGill Metals Processing Centre

Biomaterials Research Group

Electronic Devices and Materials Research Group

École de technologie supérieure Chaire de recherche en matériaux et équipements de protection en santé et sécurité au travail (research chair in protective materials and equipment for health and safety in the workplace): materials resistant to chemical or mechanical stressors and to extreme temperatures

Laboratoire sur les alliages à mémoire et les systèmes intelligents (LAMSI – memory alloys and smart systems laboratory): design and development of composites from shape memory alloys

Laboratoire universitaire sur les chaussées à revêtement bitumineux (LUCREB – university laboratory for bituminous road surfaces)

Concordia UniversityCentre for Composites


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es Centre for Building Studies (Civil Engineering department)

Laboratory for Inorganic Materials

Canadian Institute for Telecommunications Research (centre of excellence)

INRS – Énergie, matériaux et télécommunications

Canada Research Chair in Ultra Rapid Photonics Applied to Materials and Systems

Plasma Science and Applications Laboratory


Active Innovating Companies

Name Sub-sector Location

Manufacturing Companies

Biosyntech Biomaterials LavalBitumar Polymerized asphalt Montreal5 N Plus Purified metals MontrealAmerican Iron & Metal Co. Recycling and manufacturing MontrealCorp. can. poudres métal. Metallic powders Saint-LaurentDemix Advanced concretes LongueuilDomfer Metallic powders LasalleGMB International Thermoplastics VarennesLafarge Advanced concretes MontrealMetalliage Ferro-titanium Saint-HubertMontreal Carbide Metallic powders and ceramics LongueuilUnibéton Advanced concretes CMM territory

Laboratories and ResearchAgs Taron Technologies Aluminum foams Boucherville (CIMI)Arian Sazeh Thermoplastics Boucherville (IMI)*Biorthex Biomaterials Boucherville (CIMI)Bodycote Testing laboratories Pointe-ClaireCoesi Smart materials MontrealImfine Magnetic lubricants Boucherville (CIMI)Hydro–Terra Magnesium by electrolysis MontrealKaizen Composite materials Boucherville (CIMI)Kromascience Laser instrumentation Boucherville (CIMI)Maetta Sciences Metallic powders and ceramics Boucherville (CIMI)Megatech simulations Forming Boucherville (CIMI)Metafoam Technologies Metallic foams Boucherville (CIMI)PharmaLaser Laser spectroscopy Boucherville (CIMI)Nexia Technologies Bio-filaments Vaudreuil-DorionPlasmionique Plasma treatment system VarennesPultrusion Technique Insulation materials St-BrunoSynthesarc Ceramic coatings Boucherville (CIMI)Terralium Organic luminescent powder Boucherville (CIMI)

User CompaniesAlphacasting Titanium parts Saint-LaurentAmphenol Air-LB Connectors Saint-Hubert Camoplast Thermoplastics Terrebonne VCI Composites Design Mirabel

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•�0Advanced Materials

ECI Electro High performance composites Boisbriand Composites and subsidiariesFilotech Electrodes Metallic powders DelsonCanam Manac Group Metallurgy BouchervilleLavergne Group Recycling of polymers Anjou GSM VCI High performance St-Laurent composites Héroux-Devtek High strength steels LongueuilIngersoll-Rand High strength steels MontrealMarquez Transtec Thermosetting Montreal and high performance compositesMessier-Dowty High strength steels Mirabel MTC Suspension High strength steels ChamblyMXT Electromagnetic fibres MontrealPlasmatec Metallic powders MontrealPerformag Magnesium alloys MontrealPolymos Expanded resins Vaudreuil Robert Mitchell Industriel Magnesium alloys St-Laurent SDM Trimag Magnesium parts Boisbriand Soudatec High precision soldering Lachine Vac-Aero International Ceramic coatings Boucherville

Nanotechnology Companies BioMatera Nanomaterials CIMI, Boucherville Cerestech Nanomaterials École PolytechniqueCNT Plasma Carbon nanotubes Montreal (UQAM)Fermag Nanomaterials Montreal Formmat Nanomaterials Montreal Groupe Minutia Nanomaterials Boucherville (CIMI)* Hera Hydrogen Nanomaterials Longueuil IatroQuest Nanomaterials Verdun Pyrogenesis Nanomaterials (plasma) Montreal Sinlab Nanomaterials Boisbriand

* The offices of the researcher (and the researcher’s company) are at the Institute itself. Plans are to move to the CIMI.

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Sources

Studies and AnalysesStratégie de développement et identification d’occasions d’affaires pour le Québec dans le secteur des matériaux avancés [Strategy for Developing and Identifying Business Opportunities in the Advanced Materials Sector]. Audet, Jean-François, strategy broker; KPMG ; IC2 technologies. Study carried out on behalf of the MDERR, SGF, Investissement Québec and Hydro-Québec, Fall 2003.

CRIAQ, presentation document.

The Year in Science. Discover, January 2004.

Recherche publique et innovation : Produit national du Québec [Public Research and Innovation: Québec National Product]. Fonds de la recherche en santé du Québec; Fonds québécois de la recherche sur la nature et les technologies; Fonds québécois de la recherche sur la société et la culture. Fragile. Fall 2003.

Regroupements stratégiques. Fiches descriptives [Strategic Groups. Descriptive Profiles]. Fonds québécois de la recherche sur la nature et les technologies, 2003.

Dossier sur le génie biomedical [Study on Biomedical Engineering], Papineau, Jean-Marc, Plan January-February 2001.

Cahier spécial Innovation [Special Issue on Innovation]. La Tribune collection, Sherbrooke 2003.

2002-2020 : la vie technologique [2002-2020: Technological Life], Courrier international, special edition

Events Advanced materials symposium, 29 avril 2004, Industrial Materials Institute.

Internet SitesNational Research Council – www.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca and links to network institutions.

National Science and Engineering Research Council – www.nserc.ca

Cybersciences.com

Fonds québécois de la recherche sur la nature et les technologies – www.fqrnt.gouv.qc.ca

Canadian Institute of Advanced Research, Nanoelectronics Program – www.ciar.ca

Material with Novel Electronic Properties, University of Geneva – www.manep.ch

Materials Today – www.materialstoday.com

Ministère du Développement économique régional et de la Recherche – www.mderr.gouv.qc.ca

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es Radio-Canada, Découverte and Les années lumière programs – www.radio-canada.ca

Plasma Québec network – www.plasmaquebec.ca

Strategis.ic.gc.ca

Sites of associations and organizations mentioned in the text

Technical Support from the Ministries InvolvedAlain Planckaert, Ministère du Développement économique et régional et de la recherche (MDERR)

Pierre-Jules Lavigne, Ministère du Développement économique et régional et de la Recherche (MDERR)

Alboury Ndiaye, Ministère du Développement économique et régional et de la recherche (MDERR)


Individuals Consulted

Mohamed Chaker, Researcher, Canada Research Chair in Plasma Applied to Micro- and Nanomanufacturing Technologies for the development of RF and photonic components, and Director of the INRS-Énergie, matériaux et telecommunications energy centre.

Blaise Labrecque, Business Development Officer, Industrial Materials Institute.

André Bazergui, Senior Partner, Innovitech, and former Director of the École Polytechnique de Montréal.

Claude Attendu, Assistant Regional Director, responsible for the NRC Industrial Research Assistance Program (IRAP)

Émile Beauchamp, Advanced Materials Officer, Industry Canada

Louis-Michel Caron, Vice President Special Projects, Director General, Valotech, strategic alliances

Blaise Champagne, Director General, NRC Industrial Materials Institute (IMI)

Alain Cloutier, Technology Advisor, MDERR

Robert William Cochrane, Manager, Québec advanced materials group, member of the Groupe de recherche en physique et technologie des couches minces (CGM) research group and researcher at the physics department of the Université de Montréal

Michel Dumoulin, Director, Advanced Materials Design, Industrial Materials Institute (IMI)

Dr Hoa, Director of the Centre for Composites, Concordia University and President of the Canadian Association for Composite Structures & Materials

Jean-Luc Lavergne, Founding President, Lavergne Group (recycled polymers)

Jacques J.Martel, Senior Director, IREQ

Carlos Trindade, Administrator, Strategic Technology, Bombardier Aerospace


Appe

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es CreditsEditorial Director

Research and CopywritingResearch Assistants

Language Editing

Graphic Design

Michel Lefèvre

Jeanne MarazainJean-Philippe Meloche Charles-Albert Ramsay Julie Ranger Frédéric Simmonot Dominique Chichera

Pascale Detandt

Metropolitan Cluster Technical Committee

Michel-Marie Bellemare Economist – Regional Policy,

Ministère du Développement économique et régional et de la Recherche

Daniel-Joseph Chapdelaine Advisor – City Planning and Institutional Relations,

Ministère des Affaires municipales, du Sport et du Loisir

Yves Charette Coordinator – Economic Development,

Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal

André Gagnon Advisor – Industrial File Development,

Ministère du Développement économique et régional et de la Recherche Michel Lefèvre

Advisor – Economic Development, Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal

Christine Phaneuf Advisor – Local and Regional Development,


Ramata Sanogo Economist – City Planning and Institutional Relations,


Francine Rivard Director – Regional Development Coordination,

Société générale de financement du Québec

Documents

Advanced Materials Clusterobservatoire.cmm.qc.ca/.../gm_advancedmaterials.pdf · the wheel continues to turn since the researchers are already looking for other paths to follow A