Niagara College’s Research & Innovation Division will showcase its most recent recipe for success next week by offering samples of an alcohol-free lager developed in partnership with MADD Virgin Drinks.
The taste sampling will be just one of the demonstrations by Niagara Research at the Ontario Centres of Excellence Discovery conference, being held May 27 and 28 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.
Discovery is one of Canada’s prominent innovation-to-commercialization conferences, showcasing leading-edge technologies, best practices and research in Ontario.
Besides the alcohol-free lager, one of the latest products for MADD Virgin Drinks, Niagara Research will also demonstrate successes in recent applied research projects for small and medium-sized businesses in the areas of advanced manufacturing and digital media and information technologies.
Non-alcoholic beer has a widespread reputation for having a flavour that falls short of what is expected in a beer with alcohol. Through Niagara College’s Canadian Food and Wine Institute Research Centre, the research team successfully created an alcohol-free lager that closely matches the flavour profiles of an alcoholic lager, but with zero per cent alcohol content, as opposed to the current 0.05 per cent standard.
“We were delighted and proud to work with Niagara College on this unique initiative and help them showcase the scope and capabilities of their curriculum to a North American audience,” says Brian Bolshin, president and CEO of MADD Virgin Drinks.
For digital media and IT, Niagara Research partnered with Ultimate Kiosk, a company that develops advanced hearing assessment technologies in the form of a kiosk, similar to blood-pressure monitoring stations in pharmacies. Niagara’s research team developed software enhancements and added new features to the existing platform to optimize performance and increase revenue streams and job opportunities for the company. The Ultimate Kiosk will be demonstrated at Discovery.
For advanced manufacturing, the research team will showcase the College’s capability to conduct projects in the areas of engineering design, prototype development, 3D digital scanning and lean manufacturing.
“As a leader in applied research, Niagara College is involved in a wide range of projects where our faculty and student research teams are helping small-to-medium sized enterprises innovate and bring new products to market,” says Dr. Marc Nantel, Associate Vice-President of Research and Innovation. “In addition to leveraging our areas of specialization to support economic development in our region and beyond, our applied research activities provide unique opportunities for students to use the knowledge and skills they’ve developed in the classroom to develop real-world solutions.”
Niagara Research, the Research and Innovation Division of Niagara College, provides real-world solutions for business, industry and the community through applied research and development projects. We conduct projects that model processes to determine solutions, develop and test prototypes, adopt new technologies and knowledge, and develop and evaluate new or improved products, processes, or solutions to business and community issues.
Niagara College offers more than 100 diploma, bachelor degree and advanced level programs at campuses in Welland, Niagara-on-the-Lake, and Niagara Falls; as well as more than 600 credit, vocational and general interest Continuing Education courses. Areas of specialization include food and wine sciences, advanced technology, media, applied health and community safety, supported by unique learning enterprises in food, wine, beer, horticulture and esthetics. For more information visit niagaracollege.ca
For more information about Niagara Research, visit niagararesearch.ca
