where science meets industry
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Micro sensor motes successfully travel through a Canadian heavy ...
WOW is actually the best way to describe our past visit to Canada. From the prime minister of the province of Saskatchewan to oil field managers, we have met them all. Let me give you a quick overview.
As you might be aware INCAS³ and its Canadian partner institute PTRC are setting up a program to chart the structure of CHOPS (heavy oil) reservoirs in Canada. As the devil is in the detail we met up with representatives from two large oil companies to discuss facts and fiction on these reservoirs. The basic idea is to use micro sensors to chart these reservoirs. Now, as far as is known only artifacts smaller than two millimeters have passed through a reservoir; thus size matters! Just one more detail to illustrate the challenge. It gets freezing cold where these fields are, down to -40 degrees Celsius. So, either we have to stick to the summer or we need really warm coats. The next day we met up with Malcolm Wilson, the director of PTRC, and his colleagues and we continued our discussion how to tackle the challenge of charting the CHOPS reservoirs. We outlined the next steps and at the end of the meeting, renewed our existing agreement.
The Netherlands might be wet, but also the Canadians have their challenges. Frequently they have large storms and the cities can’t also ways cope with all the water. Therefor they created storm ponds, shallow basins of a couple of hectares with the function to buffer large amounts of water, to avoid flooding of the river. Furthermore, the idea is that the water during its stay in the ponds gets rid of its pollution. The structure of these ponds has been based on models but no detailed measurements have taken place on the effectiveness of the ponds as well to avoid flooding as the purification function. Regional expertise like Medusa Explorations has, could play an important role here, so we are investigating the possibilities to setup a new project in this area.
Now, for something completely different. The timing of our visit was such that it coincided with a MLA reception hosted by the Dutch Ambassador to Canada, Mr. Geerts. The evening prior to this, Heinrich and I were invited to join a dinner with the Ambassador Geerts and Saskatchewan minister responsible for innovation and education Norris. This was a very interesting experience. Both gentlemen started out with exchanging recent developments in Saskatchewan and Europe, slowly moving into opportunities that the combination of both countries offers. Halfway through, we got the opportunity to pitch INCAS³ and our vision on research, science and innovation. Our positioning between science and industry as well as our approach to offer PhD candidates the option to stay with us for half a year to write their own PhD proposal, clearly got their attention. Who could have imagined this three years ago, INCAS³ as a unique selling point for the Netherlands.
Finally on Wednesday evening the reception took place. As a side activity we arranged to meet Peter Vanriel (director of CanNorth) at the reception to sign our newly established collaboration agreement. With CanNorth we are going to collaborate on the development of robust, reliable and autonomous sensor systems suitable for all year monitoring of surface water. Peter and I ended up signing this agreement in front of a camera with the Ambassador and Consul General of Vancouver standing behind us (see video). So, at least there is proof we were there (-: Just a final comment relating to the meeting with Minister Norris. He was also at the reception and so kind to introduce us with Saskatchewan’s prime minister, explaining in highlights our way of working. Nice!
There is not much more we could have wished for this visit. We signed two agreements, we foresee at least one additional project, we met the prime minister and the minister of innovation of Saskatchewan and last but not least we had a couple of meetings with the Dutch Ambassador. WOW.
Assuming this is the last blog, I wish you a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year.
-John