Sheridan College Receives Major Investment From Canadian Government

Sheridan College has received some support from the Canadian Government in order to help improve manufacturing in Ontario.

On Thursday (July 11) Sheridan College received an additional investment from FedDev Ontario in support of the Southern Ontario Network for Advanced Manufacturing Innovation (SONAMI) project.

SONAMI provides access to the newest applied-research equipment and expertise to Southern Ontario’s advanced manufacturing cluster.

The renewed investment of $14 million will allow SONAMI partners to continue to offer a “single-window” approach to supporting manufacturers’ research and development needs.

Sheridan will receive up to $1.9 million in funding for collaborative applied research projects over the next four years.

“Sheridan is proud to be a key partner in the Southern Ontario Network for Advanced Manufacturing and Innovation,” said Andrea England, the Vice Provost of Research at Sheridan. “With the support of this second investment, we look forward to continuing our collaboration with partner academic -institutions, and driving industry value and economic growth within our network’s communities.”

In December 2016, FedDev announced an investment of $7.3 million through the Investing in Commercialization Partnerships Initiative, which was vital in SONAMI’s launch.

SONAMI is led by Niagara College, in collaboration with Sheridan College’s Centre for Advanced Manufacturing and Design Technologies (CAMDT), McMaster University’s McMaster Manufacturing Research Institute (MMRI), and Mohawk College’s Additive Manufacturing Resource Centre (AMRC).

The network expanded in 2018 to include Conestoga College’s Centre for Smart Manufacturing (CSM), Fanshawe College’s Canadian Centre for Product Validation (CCPV), and Lambton College’s Bluewater Technology Access Centre (BTAC).

“Sheridan’s Centre for Advanced Manufacturing and Design Technologies brings expertise and research excellence to SONAMI in the areas of robotics and automation, additive manufacturing, and advanced modelling and simulation,” said Dr. Michelle Chrétien, the Director of CAMDT. “This collaboration is a groundbreaking opportunity to foster innovation and cutting-edge research collaborations between among industry, academia and government.”

SONAMI also supports academic and industry collaboration through different innovative projects.

One project, led by Professor Shirook Ali, a researcher in Sheridan’s CAMDT, is attempting to improve the traffic industry with a new intelligent design.

This intelligent intersection has ‘eyes’ in the form of cameras and a ‘brain’ through analytics and data processing. If completed, it is claimed to be smart enough to make decisions in real-time, and help keep traffic flowing smoothly.

You can learn more about SONAMI and the colleges involved here.