Algonquin College and George Brown College have formed a research alliance to explore new ways to collaborate and redefine the Canadian College research landscape.
By utilizing in-house expertise and state-of-the-art facilities, Canadian colleges help industry partners design, prototype and take new products and services to market, playing a critical role in social and economic development. The unique partnership between Algonquin and George Brown marks an important step forward, where two colleges will explore opportunities to share resources, develop best practices and enhance applied research across the region.
Under the agreement, Algonquin and George Brown plan to develop, implement and test new models for innovation and collaboration for applied research. They will look at ways of aligning their centres of excellence to share best practices, build each other’s strengths and minimize competing interests.
“We are proud to partner with George Brown College to pursue new, dynamic applied research opportunities,” said Doug Wotherspoon, Vice President, Innovation and Strategy at Algonquin College. “This agreement will allow us to further hone our capacity to innovate and discover different avenues for collaboration. Algonquin College continues to build on its reputation as a centre of excellence in applied research, and as such, we look forward to working with George Brown.”
Other benefits of the partnership include the possibility of pursuing joint application and grant proposals, and connecting faculty and students with similar interests, to enhance collaboration across institutions.
“This is what the future of research and innovation looks like – interdisciplinary collaboration across jurisdictions to leverage our unique individual strengths and expertise to their greatest potential,” said Dr. Rick Huijbregts, Vice President, Strategy & Innovation at George Brown College. “The George Brown-Algonquin partnership will better position both of our institutions as catalysts of Canadian innovation, leading to high-quality, high-impact outcomes for industry and the communities that we serve.”
A Memorandum of Understanding was signed on June 28 by Algonquin College President, Cheryl Jensen, Senior Vice President Academic, Claude Brule, George Brown College President Anne Sado, and Vice President Academic Dr. Cory Ross. The partnership officially kicked-off on July 15.
