Press Release: Foresight and COSIA award cleantech companies $250k to reduce GHGs
Vancouver, CANADA – August 22, 2016 -- Foresight Cleantech Accelerator Centre and
Canada’s Oil Sands Innovation Alliance (COSIA) announced the winners of the initial stage of
the “COSIA-ARCTIC Waste Heat Challenge” to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The
challenge aims to reduce GHGs and increase energy efficiency by identifying cleantech solutions
for capturing heat lost during oil sands production.
AMSEnergy Corp and Heat Matrix Group BV were selected from a pool of global innovators
that submitted solutions to the COSIA-ARCTIC Waste Heat Challenge. They will receive
funding to develop their solutions over the next six months, as well as in-kind contributions such
as lab space, marketing support, equipment and materials, and mentoring. Following this stage of
the challenge, one company will be selected to receive additional funding and invited to field test
their technology in western Canada. The winner will be announced in early 2017.
The COSIA-ARCTIC Waste Heat Challenge is the first in a series of challenges sponsored by
the Advanced Resource Clean Technology Innovation Centre (ARCTIC), Foresight’s flagship
program. ARCTIC accelerates clean technology development by bringing together industry,
entrepreneurs, and the public sector to find and fund solutions for resource sector challenges in
western Canada.
“The clean technologies developed by these companies have the potential to deliver
environmental and economic benefits,” said Neil Huff, Managing Director of Foresight. “Not
only will they help Canadian oil sands producers reduce their environmental impact, but they
will potentially create local manufacturing jobs, build capacity, and drive the need for locally
sourced equipment and services.”
“This COSIA-ARCTIC Challenge accelerates the pace of development to find and adopt
technologies and systems that will help reduce GHG emissions in the oils sands, and in other
sectors and industries” said Dan Wicklum, COSIA’s chief executive. “By incentivizing the
world’s best minds, we are creating opportunities to develop transformative technologies that
will address climate change and contribute to a cleaner energy future.”
ARCTIC has proven to be a successful model for sourcing innovative cleantech solutions to real
challenges in the oil sands. In addition to the Waste Heat Challenge, COSIA and Foresight are
collaborating on a second ARCTIC challenge that is focused on hot water production in oil sands
mining facilities.
The ARCTIC program is funded with support from Western Economic Diversification (WD) and
the BC Innovation Council (BCIC).
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About FORESIGHT CLEAN TECHNOLOGY ACCELERATOR CENTRE
Foresight is a BC-based not-for-profit that provides early-stage cleantech innovators with the
resources, expertise, and partners they need to accelerate their growth and eventually
commercialize their products. Foresight startups have gone on to create millions of dollars in
investment and 70+ jobs in Canada. ARCTIC is Foresight’s flagship program and brings
together industry, entrepreneurs, and the public sector to find and fund cleantech solutions for
resource sector challenges in western Canada. Find out more at www.foresightcac.com and
follow on Twitter @ForesightCAC.
About COSIA
COSIA (Canada’s Oil Sands Innovation Alliance) is an alliance of 13 oil sands producers,
representing over 90 per cent of production from the Canadian oil sands. COSIA’s vision is to
enable responsible and sustainable development of Canada’s oil sands as a global energy source
while delivering accelerated improvement in environmental performance through collaborative
action and innovation in areas of greenhouse gases, land, tailings and water. Since COSIA’s
inception in 2012, member companies have shared more than 814 environmental technologies
worth almost $1.3billion. Find out more at www.cosia.ca and follow on Twitter @COSIA_ca.