1. Filling Gaps in Canada’s Technology Development Capacity Robert Verge, P.Eng., MBA, CA, CMC Managing Director, CCFI November 15, 2016

2. CCFI Started as joint initiative of MUN and MI in 1989
Response to industry problems of 1980s – bankruptcies, quota cuts
Fishery still based on groundfish – but quotas being cut
Aquaculture still in very early stages in Atlantic Canada
Industry-led; government-funded
Core funding from
ACOA until September 2009
NL DFA since September 2009

3. Organization Not-for-profit corporation owned by MUN
Board of Directors
16 members
Representatives: 1 MUN; 1 MI; 1 DFA
Managing Director
12 members drawn from industry
Executive Committee
Representatives of MUN, MI, DFA
Advisory committee chairs: aquaculture; harvesting; processing

4. CCFI’s Mandate
Help the aquaculture, fishing & fish processing industries take advantage of opportunities & solve problems by
facilitating access to the capabilities of MUN, MI & other academic institutions,
improving the institutions’ capabilities to help the industries, &
levering industry investment in R&D by drawing on government funding programs

5. Goals We are focused on commercial goals Goals can be
Short-term problem-solving
Longer-term capability improvement through R&D
We do not do research for the sake of research
Goals can be
Industry wide – e.g. health & safety
Sector-specific – e.g. related to crab
Enterprise- or company-specific – e.g. to gain competitive advantage
We also want to build institutional R&D capabilities relevant to fishing, aquaculture, and fish processing
We do not compete with the private sector
We fill gaps in what the private sector has to offer
We license technologies we develop to others

6. CCFI Projects Research Development Commercialization
Systematic discovery of new knowledge and information
Technical risk
Development
Apply knowledge for a commercial purpose
Technical + commercial risk
Commercialization
Improve industry competitiveness and performance
Attract customers/increase revenue/decrease cost
Commercial risk
Information dissemination
Provide industry participants with information to help them understand opportunities, improve operations, and manage risks

7. Criteria for Project Selection
Importance to industry
Potential impact
Innovation – where we try to focus our spending
Likelihood of success

8. Sea Cucumber Processing
Challenge: Reduce the amount of labour required to process sea cucumbers
Eviscerating machine now being used in several plants, replacing a lot of labour
Patent likely to be issued soon

9. Crab Meat Extraction
High-Pressure Processing
Challenge: Increase value obtained from snow crab, by producing high-quality meat
Automated crab meat extraction system: 3 components – HPP, butchering, meat extraction
Patent likely to be issued soon for robotic crab butchering cell
Robotic Crab Butchering Cell

10. Robotic Cell in Operation