Nation’s resource sector emphasizes innovation
Canada’s resource sector needs huge doses of innovation and creativity to adapt to a quickly changing global economy, says Todd Hirsch, co-author of The Boiling Frog Dilemma: Saving Canada from Economic Decline, and chief economist with Calgary-based ATB Financial, says.
“I believe resources are the future for the Canadian economy, but the world is looking at us through an increasingly critical eye,” he says. “Using innovation to advance more environmentally acceptable extraction and transportation practices will allow us to take a leadership role in the global economy.”
That said, Hirsch concedes there are already s o me significant steps taken, especially in Canada’s oil sands. “While we’re not fully there yet, the industry is constantly making advances, and that story needs to be told.”
One of the best examples is the develop ment o f SAGD (steam-assisted gravity drainage), an enhanced recovery technology for producing heavy c r ude oil and bitumen, he says. “SAGD is transforming the entire sector. We’re able to extract more of the resource with less environmental impact, fewer carbon emission and less disruption to water systems — and that’s just one example of Canadian innovation.”
To accelerate the speed of innovation, 13 oil sands companies, accounting for 90% of production, have joined to collaborate on ongoing research and development through Canada’s Oil Sands Innovation Alliance (COSIA).
The most exciting aspect of the alliance is the leverage that can be gained, says Dan Wicklum, CEO of COSIA. “Historically, sectors have closely guarded intellectual property. COSIA is breaking down the barriers to sharing with each member company contributing equally to the group in terms of innovation and technology. It is a model that is being pioneered in Canada,” he says. “To date over 560 technologies spanning water, land, greenhouse gases and tailings — and costing almost $1-billion to develop — have been shared, allowing each company to benefit from the research and development of their 12 partners.”
Water treatment is one area that is getting a significant boost from the COSIA collective. Member companies are working toward the development of a water technology development centre. The centre will allow new technologies to be tested without the need to shut down production operations, thereby shortening the concept-to-implementation process.
“One of the interesting components of innovation is the ability to connect disparate thoughts to create substantive and economically feasible output,” says Wicklum. “By accelerating the journey we can get better faster, and help other sectors and countries to learn along with us.”
Hirsch says he is convinced that in the next 10 years Canada will make quantum leaps in innovation and technology. “We’ ll be looking back and seeing how far we’ve come in using technologies that are now only in their infancy.”