Yukon Research Centre event to celebrate and attract partnerships

Yukon Research Centre

“Partnering with the Yukon Research Centre opens doors,” says Yukon-based software programmer Peter Coates.

Coates created Race Tracker with the support of a $20,000 grant from Technology Innovation at the Yukon Research Centre (YRC). Race Tracker is custom-built software that tracks race competitors and streamlines much of the organizational activity around race events,

“The financial support is certainly helpful, but more importantly the Research Centre connected me to the Yukon River Quest last year which enabled me to test and refine the software,” said Coates.

More refinements have followed, including an app for mobile devices which transmits a racers location as frequently as every thirty seconds, making the software more attractive to shorter races where lack of cell-phone coverage is not an issue. Coates has plans to launch the software commercially, once again with the support and advice of the YRC.

Coates will be showcasing Race Tracker at an event at Yukon College this week.Partnering for Growth in a Changing Climate on June 13 was celebrate those individuals, companies, governments and universities who have partnered with the YRC. Staff hope the event will also attract more partners to the table.

YRC partners – Kluane First Nation, Alexco Resources, Zakus Farms, Interpretour Inc., Boreal Compost Enterprises, and Borealist, will also be speaking about or showcasing their projects at the event.

“Strong partnerships are critical to our success and the success of each project,” said Dr. Chris Hawkins, VP Research at Yukon College. “It speaks very well of the Research Centre that so many of our partners have returned to engage us in further projects.”

Kluane First Nation has now partnered with YRC three times – on a Community Energy and Emissions Inventory, a wind monitoring turbine, and a landscape hazards mapping project. Yukon Energy partnered with YRC to complete an initial hydro security assessment of the headwaters of the Yukon River and then returned to work with YRC to develop projects and install meteorological stations that support the initial assessment.

Hawkins also points to new partnerships like NSERC Industrial Research Chair in Mine Life Cycle, Dr. Amelie Janin, who is working with Alexco Resources Corp., Capstone Mining Corp., Yukon Zinc Corp., and Victoria Gold Corp. This partnership will spend five years addressing northern specific challenges and opportunities within the mining industry, in particular, the managements and treatment of water and soil reclamation practices.

“Advancing the North by finding innovative solutions to Northern challenges is what the Yukon Research Centre is all about,” said Dr. Hawkins.

And the YRC is being increasingly recognized for it.

“The universities of Saskatchewan, Ottawa, Alberta, Laval, McGill, and Queens have partnered with us and more are knocking on our door each month. And only this week, two of our researchers have just returned from Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, where they have engaged in an Energy and Emissions Inventory for that community in partnership with the Canadian High Arctic Research Station – as a result of our work with Kluane First Nation,” added Dr. Hawkins.