In partnership with the Government of Canada, which is providing financial support through the Strategic Innovation Fund, CRIN is seeking to identify game-changing technologies in three areas: reducing environmental footprints; low emission fuels and products; and, digital oil and gas.
The focus areas for each competition have been determined with the input of the oil and gas industry, including Suncor, to ensure the solutions meet industry’s needs and challenges.
“Reducing environmental impacts from the oil and gas industry will require the ideas and efforts of multiple stakeholders. There is no silver bullet,” says Bradley Wamboldt, general manager, enterprise technology, and member of CRIN’s Steering Committee. “These competitions are designed to pull forward projects with the highest-impact solutions nearest to commercialization with a particular focus on decreasing GHG emissions.”
Each of the three CRIN competitions are run by an independent competition coordinator to ensure fairness and transparency while allowing all CRIN members to participate without conflict of interest (this means Suncor projects are eligible):
- Reducing Environmental Footprint Technology Competition, led by Emissions Reduction Alberta (ERA)
- Low Emission Fuels and Products Technology Competition led by Foresight Accelerator/Delphi
- Digital Oil and Gas Technology Competition led by MaRS
Recognizing how unexpected collisions between collaborators can often lead to powerful connections and partnerships, CRIN was established in 2017 as a national innovation ecosystem for the oil and gas sector. Along with Canadian Natural Resources and Imperial Oil, CRIN is also led by Suncor through Ginny Flood, who retired last year from role as vice president of Government Relations and is now CRIN’s board chair.
CRIN was established three years ago and has a network of more than 2,100 members. It aims to create better connectivity across Canada with the common goal of accelerating the commercialization and faster adoption for clean technology solutions.
There are many associations, companies, entrepreneurs, universities, governments, investors, innovators and young leaders who are committed to making a difference through Canada’s continued energy development and progressive environmental stewardships.
“CRIN’s approach to engaging Canadians in many different sectors across the country is another pathway to help enable breakthrough technologies,” adds Bradley. “The network creates another mechanism for us to collaborate with the many people within the innovation ecosystem and across industries beyond the energy sector.”
