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Canadore nets $2 million for aviation campus

Canadore College in North Bay has received $2 million in federal funding for a new composites research facility that will serve the aviation industry, and has secured its first private partnership with Swiss Space Systems (S3).

Canadore College in North Bay has received $2 million in federal funding for a new composites research facility that will serve the aviation industry, and has secured its first private partnership with Swiss Space Systems (S3).

The Advanced Composite Fabrication, Repair and Test Centre (ACRCT), to be located at the college’s aviation campus, would provide the private sector with dedicated, secure access to equipment and technologies for research and development, according to the announcement.

The centre will feature cutting-edge technology and equipment, as well as applied research and testing facilities. Once fully operational, the centre is expected to help create more than 40 full-time jobs in the region. The project is a joint initiative with the Province of Ontario and the private sector.

S3, the first aerospace company to partner with the new centre, unveiled its plans to build a privately owned and operated robotic rocket shuttle that will launch small payload satellites into orbit. S3 has selected Canadore’s School of Aviation Technology for the testing of scaled models of the shuttle.

“That partnership is significant. Behind S3 stand several major aerospace partners, including France’s Dassault,” Nipissing MP Jay Aspin said in a release. “The significance of today’s announcement is not just the addition of a new industry and jobs from the S3-Canadore partnership, but it is the strategic opportunity our region will now have to attract additional growth and investment in a sector that is forecasted to grow significantly  worldwide.”