NORCAT takes training program to Africa

The Northern Centre for Advanced Technology (NORCAT) is intent on bringing its expertise in health and safety training to international markets, said the non-profit innovation centre's CEO.

In keeping with this goal, NORCAT recently inked its first international agreement with an open-pit titanium mine in Africa, Don Duval told those gathered at an April 26 Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce luncheon.

“Hopefully that will become an opportunity to further expand into Africa and obviously a similar model in South America,” he said. “So we're ecstatic about that.”

Duval, who has been NORCAT's CEO since July of last year, said the “time is right” for NORCAT to bring its expertise to companies outside of the Greater Sudbury area and outside of Canada, for that matter.

While NORCAT's core training focus will continue to be the mining industry, he said it plans to branch out and take its expertise to other sectors, including government, health-care, construction and oil and gas.

Improving health and safety is important, as 2.2 million people die every year because of injuries and illnesses they incur on the job, he said.

That's why NORCAT has entrenched both providing world-class programs to reduce injuries, save lives and enhance productivity in the workplace, as well as building a global brand, as two of the goals in its five-year strategic plan, Duval said.

Other goals in the plan include working with community partners to accelerate the growth of innovative ventures, transforming NORCAT's properties into a a vibrant innovation hub which “ensures the place reflects the services,” and creating a dynamic workplace for NORCAT staff.

Playing into the goals surrounding innovation, Duval said he hopes to create what he refers to as the NORCAT Commons on about 2,000 square feet of vacant space in the NORCAT Centre.

“This is going to be a co-location incubator for early-stage entrepreneurial endeavours to hang out and work on their businesses,” he said.

“The concept is we're going to allow them to connect in a peer-to-peer environment to share ideas and share thoughts.”

The NORCAT Commons would be “sector agnostic,” meaning that it wouldn't target any one sector, Duval said.

The idea behind that is if you have a “mining company beside a clean-tech company beside a health-care company, they all look at the world a little differently,” he said.

“So when you put them into a giant pot and you shake it all up, and you get that entropy, you're going to have kind of a peer-to-peer environment where they coach each other and share ideas.”

Duval said there's already early-stage businesses occupying what will become the NORCAT Commons. He said he hopes to receive government funding to do renovations to the space.