By working with partners in Western’s Faculty of Engineering, WORLDiscoveries has helped establish a Memorandum of Understanding between key mobility technology partners EnerTech Capital, Alectra, and Linamar that will allow for research and development collaborations in the mobility sector. Mobility technology focuses on autonomous vehicles, electrification, fleet management, and connectivity and transportation logistics.
WORLDiscoveries has a history of working with a wide range of industry verticals to help overcome technical challenges and open new and exciting market opportunities. Our team is dedicated to helping both industry and inventors find the solution that could make a difference to a company and a community.
“I believe there will be significant partnership opportunities for Western as we leverage our engineering research capabilities into new market opportunities in mobility,” said Ken Coley, Dean of Engineering at Western.
This partnership offers a variety of benefits for Western and WORLDisoveries by providing employment opportunities for students and additional research capabilities and outcomes by increasing interchange between academia and industry. Some areas of research and development interest include enhanced batteries, autonomy, hydrogen as a fuel source, smart cities, and renewable energy.
Typically venture capital firms like EnerTech do not partner directly with universities, instead opting to focus solely on startups. This novel approach hopes to get in on the ground floor of new innovations so they can be a part of their development from the start and provide capital and expertise where it’s needed most.
“We are excited to have Western University join the expanding ecosystem we are building in the mobility space. Their significant research expertise in a number of key areas will provide valuable insight as we build out our portfolio of mobility companies in both Ontario and North America,” said Wally Hunter, Managing Director, EnerTech Capital.
As a leading firm in the mobility space, EnerTech has taken a key role in building broad innovation partnerships, specifically working to create improved business engagements between industry leaders and early-stage innovation companies. EnerTech co-architected the California Mobility Center (CMC) with the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD), an EnerTech Strategic Partner. The California Mobility Center has also partnered with two notable academic institutions – University of California-Davis, and Sacramento State University.
Linamar is an advanced manufacturing company, made up of two operating segments – the industrial segment and the mobility segment, both global leaders in manufacturing solutions and world-class developers of highly engineered products. Alectra Utilities is the largest municipally owned electric utility in Canada, based on the total number of customers served.
“Western is proud to join the Ontario ecosystem EnerTech is building with Alectra, Linamar, and their links to the California Mobility Center,” said Souzan Armstrong, Executive Director of WORLDiscoveries. “As a university we see significant opportunities to add value through our research and commercialization capabilities which create employment opportunities for our students in the mobility space by paving a path in the exciting startup world.”
