Good morning, committee members.
I would like to thank the standing committee for inviting Alberta Innovates Technology Futures to present before the standing committee. I would like to send the regrets of our president and CEO, Mr. Stephen Lougheed, who is unable to be here today due to other commitments.
I'm pleased to see that the standing committee is reviewing the topic of innovation in Canada’s energy sector. This is a very important topic for my organization and for the Alberta government. While I will be speaking today on the topic of CO2 capture and storage, Alberta Innovates Technology Futures, or AITF, is actively advancing a wide range of technologies to support environmentally sustainable energy production.
Briefly, part of the Alberta Innovates system, Technology Futures, comprises over 600 staff in five research facilities in Alberta. We undertake technical services and strategic research as well as the development and commercialization of technologies. We also administer programs designed to attract technical and scientific talent to Alberta and fund other academic institutions to stimulate research in emerging areas, including nanotechnologies, information and communication technologies, and “omics”.
AITF currently manages over $160 million in total revenue. We provide grants to universities and other institutions, undertake contract research work, and work with a wide range of clients, including industry, government organizations, and not-for-profit institutions.
Technological innovation has been a fundamental component of Alberta’s energy sector for over a century. The province’s early investments in science and research resulted in Dr. Karl Clark's developing the hot water process for oil sands extraction in 1921, a process that became the foundation for the first commercial oil sands project in 1967.
After commercializing the hot water process, Alberta recognized the need to invest in technologies to unlock the remaining oil potential found in Canada’s oil sands resource. In 1974 the Alberta Oil Sands Technology and Research Authority, AOSTRA, was created. AOSTRA pursued a range of technologies, including steam-assisted gravity drainage or SAGD, that have been instrumental in developing deeper in situ oil sands resources.
SAGD had marked advantages over earlier technologies. It enhanced bitumen recovery rates by up to 45%, significantly lowered natural gas—