Two years ago, becoming an entrepreneur was not on Will Walmsley’s radar. Today, he can’t imagine doing anything else, thanks to a program that helped him take his master’s degree research project and turn it into a business. Read more.

A dearth of venture capital is one of the greatest challenges facing the development and commercialization of novel health technologies coming out of Canada’s universities and research hospitals. A Vancouver-headquartered, nationally-mandated CECR has made great strides in just over five years to pre-validate and de-risk many of these academic discoveries-enhancing industry’s ability to invest. Now, some of the world’s top pharmaceutical companies are stepping up to help take these projects to the next stage. Read more.

Canadian Tire is one of 469 organizations that partnered with CECRs in 2012-13. Based at the Communitech incubator, one of the Canadian Digital Media Network’s 28 hubs across the country, the retailing giant receives support for its aggressive customer engagement strategy, using digital media to keep it on the leading edge of new applications for its online presence and retail locations. Read more.

A long-time developer of MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online) games, Funcom partnered with the Graphics, Animation and New Media Canada (GRAND) network to successfully pilot a unique internship opportunity that complements academic training with high quality real-world work experience. Funcom brought 10 students together in the summer of 2012 for a 10-week intensive development project. Mentored by senior designers, the team adapted a creative concept and turned it into a working prototype of a game. Read more.

In 2011, the Ontario and Quebec governments established the Ontario-Quebec Life Sciences Corridor, enabling the two provinces to become one of the largest bioclusters in the world. One of its priorities is to enhance opportunities for investment, partnership and collaboration in life sciences research, innovation and commercialization. Read more.

One of the biggest challenges small and mid-sized Canadian wireless companies face today is how to identify and connect with the critical resources, partners and opportunities that will enable them to commercialize new products and services, and expand into new markets. Read more.

In Canadian schools, bullying happens every 7.5 minutes in the playgrounds and every 25 minutes in the classroom. Although the statistics are alarming, the human impact is heartbreaking – children who are victimized can be emotionally scarred for life. Read more.

Researchers with the Stem Cell Network have identified several genes, proteins, small molecules and culture methods that enable human blood cells to be expanded in the laboratory, breakthroughs that could greatly expand patients’ access to valuable therapies. Read more.

Sometimes the greatest successes come from the most unlikely of places. For a handful of Canadian scholars in the 1990s, it was a fervent belief that we were failing as a country to reap the economic and social benefits of one of the most misunderstood and undervalued sciences. Read more.

Over its 14 years as an NCE, the Canadian Institute of Photonic Innovations (CIPI) brought together thousands of researchers, graduate students, companies and other partners to create the country’s first national photonics research and training network. Read more.

Research into human thought and behaviour is an essential part of successful innovation and addressing the complex challenges facing Canadians. Read more about how unique contributions from the social sciences and humanities help NCE-funded networks and centres address the full scope of their mandates. Read more.

To mark Earth Day 2013, read about some of the ways NCE-funded networks and centres as well as projects funded through the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council are helping the environment. Read more.

The ArcticNet NCE’s newest Integrated Regional Impact Study will help officials in Nunavik and Nunatsiavut, and the federal government, develop informed policies to improve quality of life, safeguard the environment and facilitate sustainable development in a warming Arctic. Read more.

The GreenCentre Canada CECR start-up, Forward Water Technologies, has developed a green desalination process that uses less energy, and is much more cost effective than current distillation or reverse osmosis-based systems. Read more.

Launched in 2012, the Halifax-headquartered Marine Environmental Observation Prediction and Response Network is working with several government agencies, the private sector, communities and international partners to develop and test new technologies and strategies that will help Canada better anticipate and respond to marine hazards. Read more.

There’s no question the Canadian Stroke Network has been a catalyst for change. Since 1999, the network has been focused on what matters by investing time and resources on initiatives with the biggest potential gains. Read more.

NCE-funded Networks of Centres of Excellence (NCE), Knowledge Mobilization Networks of Centres of Excellence (KM-NCE), Business-Led Networks of Centres of Excellence (BL-NCE), and Centres of Excellence for Commercialization and Research (CECR) focus research capacity on social and economic challenges, commercialize and apply Canadian research breakthroughs, increase private-sector R&D, and train highly qualified people. Read more.

Communities in Canada and India will be the first to try out new technologies related to water quality, infrastructure and public health, thanks to the new India-Canada Centre for Innovative Multidisciplinary Partnerships to Accelerate Community Transformation and Sustainability (IC-IMPACTS). Read more.