The PLASTICS CREATE training program consists of two tracks: Science & Technology Track, and Science Translation to Impact Track, that provide complementary technical and science translational foundations to catalyze the career development of trainees to support Canadian industry and organizations, and to catalyze the translation of inventions and ideas to impact.
The Science Translation to Impact Track in turn ladders into the national Invention to Innovation (i2I) program for science-based innovation and entrepreneurship, and into regional entrepreneurship training in collaborator universities in PLASTICS CREATE (for example, the Queen's Founders and Innovators Initiative at the Dunin-Deshpande Queen's Innovation Centre).
Science & Technology Track
The Science & Technology Track provides background to researchers that complements their area(s) of specialization. Trainees are provided with the essential concepts in complementary fields for plastics valorization. For example, a student research genomics would have the opportunity to learn the essentials of Life Cycle Assessment, which is key in characterizing the benefit from technologies that might have been developed using genomics.
ST1: Bioprocess and Analytical Technology
Biotechnology for plastics circular economy
Lab-on-a-chip biosensing
Overview of relevant spectroscopic techniques
ST2: Depolymerization and Conversion Technologies
Types of recycling/valorization solutions
(biochemical, chemical, mechanical)
Assessing solutions in context of industry requirements.
ST3: Technology Impact Assessment
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)
Techno-Economic Assessment
Use in industry decision-making
ST4: Design for Circularity
Systems Mapping for Plastic Waste Flows
Innovation ecosystems and requirements to
support solutions
Modeling approaches (overview)
Science Translation to Impact Track
The Science Translation to Impact Track provides a foundation for researchers to identify impactful problems to solve using a human-centred approach, and to understand the physics-social systems context in which solutions must be implemented. High performance teams and the importance of diversity are introduced early in the track, and business-oriented contexts are presented, including value chains and innovation ecosystems. Customer discovery is an important element that focuses on the assumptions we are making about human behaviour influencing the adoption of solutions. etc. rewrite
ST2I-1: Systems Thinking and Human-Centred Design
Systems Thinking
Innovation Ecosystems
Diverse High-Performance Teams
Overview of qualitative research
(tools + analysis)
ST2I-2: Plastics Circular Economy Ventures
Identifying Opportunities
Value Chains and Ecosystems
Business Models and Customer Discovery
ST2I-3: Science to Innovation
Strategic Deployment of IP
Design to Commercialization
(Technology Readiness Level,
De-Risking,
Raising Capital)
ST2I-4: Social Acceptance and Systems Leadership
Ecosystem Mapping
Stakeholder Engagement
Consensus-building using systems-based
frameworks
Assessing Impact