Tag Archives: Avro Arrow

Ingenium or (as we used to call it) the Canada Science and Technology Museums Corporation (CSTMC)

The Canada Science and Technology Museums Corporation (CSTMC) has always been an unwieldy name in light of the fact that one of the three museums in the cluster is called the Canada Science and Technology Museum. (The other two are the Canada Agriculture and Food Museum, the Canada Aviation and Space Museum.) So, the July 6, 2017 CSTMC announcement (received via email) is a relief from the unwieldy corporate name,

A new national brand launched on June 26, 2017, to celebrate ingenuity
in Canada. Known as INGENIUM – CANADA’S MUSEUMS OF SCIENCE AND
INNOVATION, this corporate brand encompasses three national
institutions—the Canada Agriculture and Food Museum, the Canada
Aviation and Space Museum, and the Canada Science and Technology Museum.

From the Canadarm to canola and insulin, Canadians have made significant
contributions in the worlds of science and technology. INGENIUM –
CANADA’S MUSEUMS OF SCIENCE AND INNOVATION will continue the important
mission of preserving Canada’s scientific and technological heritage
and sharing its stories with Canadians. Under the Ingenium brand, the
three museums will be places where the past meets the future, with
spaces where visitors can learn and explore, play and discover. Ingenium
will provide an immersive, sensory encounter with human ingenuity and
tell the stories of those who dared to think differently and test the
limits of what we know and what we can do.

Currently under construction, Ingenium’s Collections Conservation
Centre [4], including a Research Institute and Media Lab, will protect
priceless Canadian heritage artifacts for the benefit of Canadians for
generations to come. Ingenium’s unique collection, and digital and
social media platforms will connect Canadians to the world stage in
unexpected ways by sharing their passions, memories, and everyday
experience, no matter where they live

You can find the Ingenium website here. Oddly, the organization’s June 27, 2017 news release is found on the About page,

With Canada just days away [July 1, 2017] from celebrating the 150th anniversary of Confederation, a new national brand is launching to celebrate ingenuity in Canada. Known as Ingenium – Canada’s Museums of Science and Innovation, this corporate brand, inspired from the Latin root for “ingenuity,” [this word will come up again in my commentary at the end of the post] encompasses three national institutions—the Canada Agriculture and Food Museum, the Canada Aviation and Space Museum, and the Canada Science and Technology Museum.

From the Canadarm to canola and insulin, Canadians have made significant contributions in the worlds of science and technology. Ingenium – Canada’s Museums of Science and Innovation will continue the important mission of preserving Canada’s scientific and technological heritage and sharing its stories with Canadians.

Under the Ingenium brand, the three museums will be places where the past meets the future, with spaces where visitors can learn and explore, play and discover. Ingenium will provide an immersive, sensory encounter with human ingenuity and tell the stories of those who dared to think differently and test the limits of what we know and what we can do.

Currently under construction, Ingenium’s Collections Conservation Centre, including a Research Institute and Media Lab, will protect priceless Canadian heritage artifacts for the benefit of Canadians for generations to come‎. Ingenium’s unique collection, and digital and social media platforms will connect Canadians to the world stage in unexpected ways by sharing their passions, memories, and everyday experience, no matter where they live.

November 17, 2017, will mark the next milestone for Ingenium when the Canada Science and Technology Museum reopens its doors. This modern, world-class museum mixes the best of its previous incarnation with new technologies and exhibition techniques to tell Canada’s science and technology story in an immersive, educational, and fun way. It will feature more than 7,400 m2 (80,000 sq. ft.) of completely redesigned exhibition space (the equivalent of nearly five NHL rinks), including a specially designed hall to house international travelling exhibitions.

QUOTES

Ingenium will bring a consistent voice and identity to our corporation. It will allow us to reach beyond our four walls and engage with Canadians from coast to coast to coast, and with international audiences. Ingenium is where the past meets the future and inspires the next generation of young innovators.”
– Fernand Proulx, Interim President and CEO of Ingenium

ABOUT INGENIUM – CANADA’S MUSEUMS OF SCIENCE AND INNOVATION

DIGITAL AND TRAVELLING PRODUCTS

Ingenium offers unique digital and social media platforms that put ingenuity in the spotlight for unforgettable and immediate experiences to inspire children, families, and scientists alike.

Highlights

Mobile games: Ace AcademyAce Academy: Black FlightAce Academy: Skies of FuryBee OdysseySpace Frontiers: Dawn of Mars

Digital platforms: Open HeritageOpen DataOpen Archivesonline collectionReboot: A Future Museum documentaryIngenium Channel

Travelling exhibitions: International Bicycle travelling exhibition (set for July 2017 launch in Israel); Space to SpoonCanola: A Story of Canadian InnovationFood for HealthGame ChangersClimate Change is Here

CANADA AGRICULTURE AND FOOD MUSEUM 

About the Museum: The Canada Agriculture and Food Museum is located at Ottawa’s Central Experimental Farm, which traces its roots to 1886 and is the world’s only working farm in the heart of a capital city. The Museum offers programs and exhibitions on Canada’s agricultural heritage, food literacy, and on the benefits and relationship of agricultural science and technology to Canadians’ everyday lives. It provides visitors with a unique opportunity to see diverse breeds of farm animals important to Canadian agriculture past and present, and to learn about the food they eat. In addition to breeds common to Canadian agriculture, such as Holstein dairy cows and Angus beef cows, the Museum also has Canadienne dairy cows, Tamworth pigs, and Clydesdale horses. Many other breeds of dairy and beef cattle, pigs, sheep, horses, poultry, goats, and rabbits round out the collection.

Public programming includes special weekend theme events, school programs, summer day camps, interpretive tours, demonstrations, and joint undertakings with community groups and associations.

Museum Highlights: Canola! Seeds of Innovation; 150 farm animals in a demonstration farm; historical tractor collection; special events such as BaconpaloozaGlobal Tastes and the Ice Cream Festival.

CANADA AVIATION AND SPACE MUSEUM

About the Museum: Located on a former military air base just 5 kilometres from the Prime Minister’s residence at 24 Sussex Drive in Ottawa, the Museum focuses on aviation in Canada within an international context, from its beginnings in 1909 to the present day. As Canada’s contribution to aviation expanded to include aerospace technology, the Museum’s collection and mandate grew to include space flight. The Collection itself consists of more than 130 aircraft and artifacts (propellers, engines) from both civil and military service. It gives particular, but not exclusive, reference to Canadian achievements. The most extensive aviation collection in Canada, it is also considered one of the finest aviation museums in the world.

Museum Highlights: Largest surviving piece of the famous Avro Arrow (its nose section); the original Canadarm used on the Endeavour space shuttle; Lancaster WWII bomberLife in Orbit: The International Space Station exhibition.

CANADA SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY MUSEUM 

Established and opened in 1967 as a Centennial project, the Canada Science and Technology Museum is responsible for preserving, promoting, and sharing knowledge about Canada’s scientific and technological heritage. The Museum is currently undergoing an $80.5-million renewal of its entire building. When it opens, it will feature over 7,400 m2 (80,000 sq. ft.) of redesigned exhibition space, including an 850 m2 (9,200 sq. ft.) temporary exhibition hall to accommodate travelling exhibitions from around the world. It is scheduled to open to the public on November 17, 2017, marking its 50th Anniversary during Canada 150 celebrations.

Museum Highlights: 11 new exhibitions with the capacity to showcase international travelling exhibitions from around the world. Long-time visitor favourites, the Crazy Kitchen and locomotives will also make a comeback in addition to the Game Changers travelling exhibition which is currently touring across Canada, Artifact Alley, a Children’s gallery, a demonstration stage, classrooms, the Exploratek maker studio, and three new apps.

THE NATIONAL COLLECTION

Ingenium is the steward of Canada’s largest and most comprehensive museum collection devoted to science and technology. It preserves and provides access to extensive holdings of artifacts and library and archival materials that document this priceless material heritage. Comprising over 100,000 objects and hundreds of thousands of books, historic photographs, and archival documents, the collection is particularly strong in the areas of transportation (air, space, land, marine), physical sciences, medicine, communications, agriculture, and natural resources.

Collection Highlights: The test model of Alouette 1, Canada’s first satellite; the world’s first IMAX projector and camera; the first successful electron microscope built in North America; the first automobile made in Canada; the oldest surviving aircraft to have flown in Canada; the “Sackbut,“ the world’s first electronic sound synthesizer

This rebranded name bears an uncanny resemblance to the title of new book about Canadian inventions,’ Ingenuity’ (see my May 30, 2017 posting for the Vancouver book launch; scroll down about 60% of the way) by Tom Jenkins and David C. Johnston (current Governor General).

As it turns out, Alex Benay, then president and Chief Executive Officer of the CSTMC (see my June 19, 2014 posting about Benay’s appt.) worked for Tom Jenkins at Open Text for several years.

(As of March 24, 2017 Benay was appointed to the position of Canada’s Chief Information Officer [see March 27, 2017 notice on Libararianship.ca]). Anyone who’s been involved with rebrands and renaming knows that the name is picked in months in advance so this rebrand has Benay’s (and, possibly, Jenkins’) pawprints all over it.

The Avro Arrow, Hy-Power Nano, and Dr. Hadi Mahabadi

Before launching into the nano part of this story, here’s a brief description  for anyone who’s not familiar with the legendary Canadian Avro Arrow airplane, from the Wikipedia essay,

The Avro Canada CF-105 Arrow was a delta-winged interceptor aircraft, designed and built by Avro Aircraft Limited (Canada) in Malton, Ontario, as the culmination of a design study that began in 1953. Considered to be both an advanced technical and aerodynamic achievement for the Canadian aviation industry, the CF-105 held the promise of Mach 2 speeds at altitudes exceeding 50,000 ft (15,000 m), and was intended to serve as the Royal Canadian Air Force’s (RCAF) primary interceptor in the 1960s and beyond.

Not long after the 1958 start of its flight test program, the development of the Arrow (including its Orenda Iroquois jet engines) was abruptly and controversially halted before the project review had taken place, sparking a long and bitter political debate.

The controversy engendered by the cancellation and subsequent destruction of the aircraft in production, remains a topic for debate among historians, political observers and industry pundits. “This action effectively put Avro out of business and its highly skilled engineering and production personnel scattered… The incident was a traumatic one… and to this day, many mourn the loss of the Arrow.”

Apparently, one young engineer moved on from the Avro experience to found his own company, Hy-Power Coatings Ltd.  which recently begat Hy-Power Nano. From the Hy-Power Nano History page,

In 1966, an engineer from Canada’s famed Avro Arrow Project took his unique knowledge of coatings and incorporated Hy-Power Coatings Limited in Brampton, Ontario. In 1975, Joseph G. Grzyb became President and principal owner of this privately held company. Mr. Grzyb was able to harness coatings expertise to evolve the electrostatic paint process and dozens of other coating innovations. A commitment to coating service excellence through innovation and customer service have made Hy-Power a premier coatings service provider.

Today, Hy-Power CEO Joseph Grzyb leads a strong, tenured team of coating professionals that service a loyal blue chip customer base.

Hy-Power Coatings’ experience resides in the finishing and refinishing of common substrates (metal, masonry, plastic, etc.). The company has strong core competencies in paint and coating application, as well as innovating coating products and application techniques.

Hy-Power has successfully improved many coating products to more environmentally friendly water-based compositions without sacrificing finish quality or durability.

There’s no mention in the company history of when they included a nano subsidiary with the main business but it’s somewhat recent (as per the news article by Peter Criscione which is excerpted further in this posting)  as they appear to be in the early stages of product development with something called, Thermal Liquid Glass listed on the home page,

 … a clear nano-enhanced coating for glass that maintains light clarity and blocks UV and R rays.

The company (Hy-Power Nano) has just announced the appointment of a new Chief Operating Officer, Dr. Hadi Mahabadi. From the Aug. 14, 2012 article by Peter Criscione for the Brampton Guardian (Ontario, Canada),

In 2010, Hy-Power Nano Inc. was established as Hy-Power Coatings’ “scientific branch” to further research and development of proprietary nano-based insulating coatings.
Although just getting started, Hy-Power Nano, which employs about 50 people, has taken major steps to boost its brand including bringing Mahabadi on to help “bring exceptional products to market.”
Previously, Dr. Mahabadi was vice president and director of the Xerox Research Centre of Canada, where he spearheaded many innovations and commercialized technologies.
Mahabadi, 66, spent 30 years with Xerox, rising to the company’s top Canadian research position.
He retired from Xerox in September 2011 with more than 100 published scientific papers and 70 U.S. patents to his name, as well as receiving numerous honours.
In June, he received an Order of Canada for his internationally recognized innovations in the field of polymer science and “his commitment to promoting scientific development in Canada.”
Mahabadi is also a recipient of the Robert F. Reed Technology Medal (the Printing Industries of America’s highest honour), two Xerox President Awards (the corporation’s highest honour for individual achievement) and the University of Waterloo’s Engineering Alumni’s Achievement Medal.
He is also a Fellow of the Chemical Institute of Canada, a Fellow of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, and a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering.
Mahabadi is currently president of CanWin Consulting Inc, which provides a range of services for innovation to start-up and other small and medium enterprises in Canada.
His credentials are impeccable, said Joseph Grzyb, Hy-Power Nano CEO.
“Dr. Hadi Mahabadi offered tremendous insights when he joined our board in February 2012 and also served as a consultant,” Grzyb said.
“We quickly realized he could play a more active role in the company by becoming COO. He’s a great addition to the Hy-Power Nano team.”
Mahabadi said he was attracted to the job because he’s intrigued with the nanotechnology commercialization work the company is doing.

Congratulations  to Dr. Mahabadi!

For anyone interested in more information about thermochromic windows, there’s my July 11, 2012 posting where I featured RavenBrick and its thermochromic windows.