CCIL News

In the past two weeks, two government-funded innovation networks have clarified that Fanshawe College’s Canadian Centre for Product Validation (CCPV) is no longer a partner in their programs.

It was announced last week that CCPV is no longer a participating technology development site supported by the Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE) under its Autonomous Vehicle Innovation Network (AVIN).

Now the Southern Ontario Network for Advanced Manufacturing Innovation (SONAMI) states that CCPV has been removed as a listed partner on its website. Officials at SONAMI explain that this listing was an oversight and that its relationship is with Fanshawe College’s Centre for Research and Innovation, not with CCPV.

Kithio Mwanzia, SONAMI Network Manager, noted: “Our prima facie objective at SONAMI remains to help industry find disruptive solutions to their challenges while providing exceptional experiential learning for post-secondary students.” Mwanzia also noted that “Fanshawe’s Canadian Centre for Product Validation (CCPV) is no longer a partner in the SONAMI network.”

SONAMI is a network of seven academic institutions that pool its resources to provide innovation and technology to smaller manufacturers to help them commercialize products. It receives funding from the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario).

Both OCE and SONAMI have taken these actions following complaints from the Canadian Council of Independent Laboratories (CCIL) that CCPV is using public funding to compete unfairly with commercial laboratories in the provision of routine testing services.

The CCPV is a 25,000-square-foot centre in London, Ontario, established by Fanshawe College and it too receives funding from FedDev Ontario.

There are other programs both at the provincial and federal levels that are having the unintended consequence of pitting publicly funded facilities against commercial laboratories for a share of the routine testing market. CCIL is working on a number of fronts to protect the business interests of its members, and will be announcing details in the months ahead.

“Competition from publicly-funded institutions is a huge concern for our sector,” says Araujo. A recent member survey found that 95% are “very concerned” about this issue, 87% said this competition would result in a loss of business, and 64% said it would result in layoffs and job cuts.

CCIL’s members have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in state-of-the-art facilities and equipment, and employ thousands of engineers, scientists, and technicians in well-paying jobs.

Media contact:

Tony Araujo
President, Canadian Council of Independent Laboratories
416-939-0429
taraujo@ccil.com