This text is part of the special notebook 55 years of INRS
At first glance, nothing in particular distinguishes the offices of the Center Énergie Matériaux Télécommunications (EMT) of the National Institute of Scientific Research (INRS), in Varennes, from the neighboring buildings. But, behind its gray and blue facade, the future of cutting-edge technologies is being shaped.
The director of the EMT Center, François Légaré, has a clear vision of the mandate entrusted to him. “Several of the axes of our center are in line with the Quebec Strategy for Research and Investment in Innovation, because the mission of INRS is to contribute to the socio-economic development of Quebec,” he explains bluntly.
To achieve this mission, the director is preparing to update the center’s research axes, the 2020-2025 version expiring next year. The exercise will allow it to ensure that it remains in “synergy with the needs of Quebec”.
Vision in six variations
For the moment, the team of professors affiliated with the center, which numbers just over 40 people, focuses on six areas of research. The first, “sustainable energy, sources and use”, partly explains the choice to place certain offices in the center so close to the Hydro-Québec Research Institute (IREQ). “We are interested in the production of green hydrogen, in the materials used in the manufacture of batteries, in new solar technologies,” says the director. In short, the technologies of the future which will enable the energy transition. »
Added to this are “nanomaterials and advanced manufacturing processes”, the discoveries of which help to propel sectors such as biomedical or aerospace. “Ultrafast and photonic science” concerns lasers and quantum photonic technology — “everything that has optics,” explains the man who took office in 2022. Without forgetting telecommunications, biotechnologies and, finally, , the “digital modeling of physical and cognitive systems”. “For example, I have a colleague who works on computer simulation to predict the properties of new materials,” cites François Légaré to illustrate this last axis.
Successful collaborations
Current research, as well as the establishment of the center’s new scientific programming, is carried out in close collaboration with the industrial sector. “My liaison committee is made up mainly of people from high-tech companies or people from government agencies, such as the National Research Council Canada,” recalls the director.
In addition to directly contributing to the strategic vision of the EMT, the partners also help to fill the INRS coffers. “More than three quarters of the center’s research funding is obtained through research partnerships with the industrial sector,” underlines the director. This figure is explained by the “leverage effect” of certain subsidies. “For example, a private company agrees to invest $100,000. Quebec and Canada each double this amount, so for each dollar that comes from the industry, we obtain two dollars from Quebec and two dollars from Canada. » These partners are the “engine that drives INRS forward”, he summarizes.
What do these industries have to gain by allying with INRS, which does science at the intersection between fundamental research and applied science? “Our level of technological maturity [en anglais Technology Readiness Level (TRL)] is quite weak,” concedes François Légaré. To illustrate this metric, he cites the example of engineering faculties, whose TRL is much higher. It is first of all the desire to remain close to research, to “develop new approaches which allow innovations and subsequent commercializations and therefore to remain competitive internationally”, which motivates manufacturers, he believes.
A second advantage for industries is to remain in close contact with the next generation, he observes. “Even if their research isn’t exactly on the topic that businesses are interested in, students still learn about science and technology in the industry at large. They can easily join these companies later. »
According to François Légaré, these partnerships in no way diminish the quality of the work of EMT teachers, on the contrary. “The primary objective of my colleagues is to excel in research. I am surrounded by researchers of international caliber, equal to MIT [Massachusetts Institute of Technology] or Harvard,” he says with pride. “We have the cream of the crop.”
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