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Canada’s Premier Cleantech Destination

Cleantech Commons: An engine of growth for Canadian clean technologies

Blog, Community Updates July 5, 2020

“Cleantech Commons,” says our executive director, Martin Yuill in a recent “Update to the Community“, “is designed to host a clustered community of growth companies, spin-out & startup ventures, and corporate accelerators & ‘innovation outposts’.”

Building “Canada’s premier cleantech destination”: Cleantech Commons executive director, Martin Yuill, says that our research park is designed to host a clustered community of growth companies, spin-out & startup ventures, and corporate accelerators & ‘innovation outposts’, all co-located with the academic & research expertise of Trent University and supported by a wide range of value-adding business support & incubation/ acceleration services.

Pointing out that Cleantech Commons is co-located with the academic & research expertise of Trent University, Yuill says that the research park’s “community of clean, green, low- & zero-carbon technology innovators & entrepreneurs” will help to “significantly advance energy, environment and climate technology innovations that will have both national and global impact.”

“Critically, the efforts of these entrepreneurs to take their innovations to market,” Yuill says, “will be assisted by a wide range of value-adding business support & incubation/ acceleration services.”

Explaining how Cleantech Commons will serve to “anchor Peterborough’s cleantech innovation corridor“, Yuill writes that clusters such as Cleantech Commons “help develop new & existing companies through innovation and contribute to economic growth & job creation”.

“In the case of Cleantech Commons, our laser focus will be on enhancing clean technology-led economic development,” Yuill says.

This includes providing a home for ventures in the clean technology, water technology, environmental services, advanced material sciences, biotechnology, and agri-food and agri-business sectors.

Designed to tap into the region’s growing cleantech innovation ecosystem, Cleantech Commons will provide tenants with access to the facilities, resources, knowledge, expertise and mentorship they require to:

  • Develop solutions that help reduce greenhouse gases,
  • Promote the use of renewable resources,
  • Contribute to a low carbon economy,
  • Reduce waste,
  • Develop new environmental remediation approaches and
  • Commercialize clean and green processes and products.

 

Tenants at Cleantech Commons

Working with Trent University’s chemistry department, Carbonix has developed a proprietary process that can convert large amounts of petroleum coke and boiler char – previously considered waste byproducts – into activated carbon.

Tenants at Cleantech Commons will be able to work with Trent University’s researchers, students and facilities, including the Trent School of the Environment, Water Quality Centre, Trent Centre for Biomaterials Research, the Inorganic Materials Research Laboratory, and The Emery Lab.

Already, a number of future Cleantech Commons tenants are working with Trent researchers and faculty on various collaborative research initiatives.

Please review the Tenant Criteria for Cleantech Commons here!

Trent’s exceptional learning environment and academic performance have earned the University a ranking among the world’s best.

The main campus of Trent University on the banks of the Otonabee River. In the 2020/21 World University Rankings Trent is ranked 32nd out of 96 Canadian universities, and in the top 6.2% of universities worldwide. Image: Justen Soule of Visual Endeavour Corporation.

In 2019 Trent built on its strong reputation as an environmental leader, ranking number five in Canada in the annual “UI GreenMetric World University Ranking”. (See: Cleantech Commons contributes to Trent’s improved Sustainability Ranking.)

Offering experiential learning for students, creating spaces for the incubation and acceleration of student research, and providing commercialization support will all be a key focus of Cleantech Commons, which will be the 26th University-integrated research park in Canada.

Recent research conducted by the Association of University Research Parks found that for every job created in a park, an additional 1.34 jobs were created in the surrounding community.

Positioning Peterborough as a “leader and cutting edge community”

Cleantech Commons will build on Trent’s outstanding reputation – and will help position Peterborough as a “leader and cutting edge community” when it comes to building “a more sustainable and green future“, says Mayor Diane Therrien. (See: Cleantech Commons positions Peterborough as “a leader and cutting edge community”.)

Locating at Cleantech Commons

Cleantech Commons offers a picturesque location adjacent to the main campus of Trent University on the banks of the Otonabee River, with access to some 1,400 acres of land and over 30 kilometres of nature trails. Trent University boasts one of Canada’s most picturesque campuses.

Offering a picturesque location adjacent to the main campus of Trent University on the banks of the Otonabee River, Cleantech Commons is designed specifically to be a point of convergence for academic and industry partners driving innovation in the clean technology sector.

Our clean technology research & innovation park affords access to some 1,400 acres of Trent land and over 30 kilometres of nature trails on one of Canada’s most picturesque campuses.

(Beyond that, Peterborough and the Kawarthas “is a cyclist’s playground – for both road and mountain bike riders,” says Canadian Cycling Magazine; while the City of Peterborough website details at least eight recreational walking and cycling trails of 15 to 40 km in length.)

The combination of lush forest, drumlins, wetlands, streams and open fields at Trent University provides a unique learning and recreational environment that is used by students, faculty and staff alike and is fully accessible to members of the Cleantech Commons community.

To protect and preserve this unique habitat, the master plan for Cleantech Commons includes several sustainable design elements, such as low-impact development standards for stormwater management. View Our Master Plan [20MB PDF].

Cleantech Commons tenants will also be required to commit to sustainable site design, green building principles, and environmentally-friendly operations.

Interested in Tenancy at Cleantech Commons for your company, startup, research lab or collaborative research project?