S«** UBC ****** UBC Volumrte 34, Number «5, Marcsh 24,1988 $436 million in KAON spinoffs, study predicts by Debora Sweeney cated Radio Frequency (RF) technology for use in medical and space research, and for radar Technology spinoffs from a proposed KAON systems. factory at TRIUMF will total $436 million per year, a Cryogenics. Producing extremely low tempera­ report prepared for the provincial government says. tures necessary for superconductor research and TRIUMF and provincial government officials are application. seeking that amount from the federal government Anticipating business opportunities, a TRIUMF/ to construct the facility. KAON Ventures Office has been established, The project has a price tag of $571 million. So headed by Dr. Richard Johnson. Johnson said far, the provincial government has committed $87 there are several industries across the country million, but plans to go ahead are on hold until the which wiH be targeted for technology transfer. federal government assesses the economic impact. "Technology transfer in the last several years Support for a KAON factory at TRIUMF from has been recognized as a national need," he said. Japan, Europe and the U.S. is expected to reach "A lot of what we do involves scientists and King Carl XVI Gustaf ot Sweden, seen here with UBC President David Strangway, toured the campus engineers at UBC, cooperating with companies like March 18. He was accompanied by Queen Silvia on his visit $150 - $200 million, more than twice the $75 million recommended by a federal review committee. MacDonald Dettwiler, Microtel and Canadian Astronautics." With the economic impact report in hand, TRIUMF Director Dr. Erich Vogt believes the case The report says in eight years, paybacks to Siddon at ceremony for a KAON factory is indisputable. governments will be in excess of $120 million per The questions put to us by the federal year by combining potential sales with $161 million government have now been answered very in production from the direct operations of a KAON positively — even more positively than we factory. thought," said Vogt. Kaons are tiny sub-atomic particles made up of quarks, which are thought to be the most funda­ Fisheries lab mental building blocks of matter. With a KAON Advanced factory, physicists could study quarks in a new way, probing more deeply into the nature of matter. The report states aggressive exploitation of placement TRIUMF/KAON technology, once up and running, would result in sales of $243 million, in these areas: report to Senate given to UBC Microelectronics. Electronic circuitry 100- 1,000 times faster than the silicon circuits used by A report examining UBC's policy on 90% of the world's electronic companies. advanced placement and advanced credit for by Jo Moss technology to the food industry, including the fish Nuclear Physics and Chemistry. Developing high school students taking enriched academic processing sector. The Centre will also provide the pharmaceuticals for use in hospitals. programs will go before Senate April 13. Tom Siddon, the federal minister of Fisheries public and private sectors with a number of Measurement Systems. A new generation of The report, prepared by the Senate and Oceans, will visit the campus Friday, March 25 services including assistance in business PET (Positron Emission Tomograph) scanners, Admissions Committee, contains feedback to give the keys of a former government fisheries management and marketing. currently used to provide pictures of the human from UBC faculties on recommendations made technology laboratory to UBC. brain at work. to Senate last November by a presidential In a brief ceremony, Siddon will unveil a plaque With the establishment of the Centre, and increased laboratory space in the new building, the Control Systems. Advanced robotic and Task Force on Liaison, Recruiting and at the 30-year-old Vancouver Laboratory on the artificial intelligence systems which can measure Admissions. west side of campus, officially turning over the Food Science department will be able to expand its the condition of high tech machinery in one ten- UBC President David Strangway said he 22,000 square feet of laboratory and office space research program in seafood science and other millionth of a second. to the university. areas. welcomes discussion and comment about the Software. Converting information gathered at task force recommendations (see insert this Siddon said he was pleased to be able to "Up to now we have been hindered by lack of extreme speed into pictures. issue). support seafood research at a major western laboratory facilities," Powrie explained. "The Electromagnetic systems. Developing sophisti­ university. Vancouver Laboratory is perfect for our needs as it "Technological advancement is the key to was designed and built specifically for food keeping the Canadian fishing industry competitive,'' research, with an emphasis on seafood." he said. The building offers walk-in freezers, a small The Fisheries and Oceans research unit has New policy comittee cannery, a chemical analysis laboratory, and a moved to new facilities In West Vancouver. food analysis laboratory for flavor and texture The Department of Food Science, which profiling. currently operates out of three separate locations on campus, will take over the building. "We'll be able to undertake more innovative research that addresses some of the major approved by Senate "For the first time, we will all be under one roof," problems in the seafood product industry," Powrie by Gavin Wilson said William Powrie, said. advisory body with no more power than other Senate committees. department head. Current research activities in seafood science Faculty members in indude developing simulated scallops from Despite strenuous opposition, the Senate has "It's only power would be to report to Senate," Food Science are underutilized fish, and investigating the storability of established an advisory standing committee on he said. "It would give Senate a tool to do its job academic policy. currently conducting frozen aquacultured salmon under modified better, tt wouldn't be an alternative to Senate." research in cramped atmosphere packaging. Critics of the proposal said the committee was Spencer recommended that the committee on facilities under crowded neither necessary nor wanted, however the Senate The new facility will allow expansion of this academic policy report to Senate "at least annually" and unsafe conditions. gave its approval at its March 16 meeting. and meet with other committees on an ongoing The new building will research and provide for new initiative. One proposed study is to investigate polyunsaturated Dr. Richard Spencer, who proposed the new provide more laboratory "As it stands, I dont believe Senate is well- fatty acids in B.C. fish products and determine their committee, said Senate needs such a body to draw space, Powrie said. prepared to make decisions on the establishment or relationship to the prevention of heart disease. up long-term academic goals and give guidance to Part of the Vancouver members who often get bogged down in the details discontinuance of new programs. We have no Laboratory building, about POWRIE "The building will help foster our collaboration of day-to-day decision-making. framework to work with, no coherent policy, no plan, 1,500 square feet of non-laboratory space, is no guidelines to use as references," he said. with B.C. Research in the development of all He suggested the committee could took at such occupied by the International North Pacific aspects of food technology," Powrie said. issues as enrolment, levels of research funding, Dr. Luis De Sobrino agreed, saying that Senate Fisheries Commission which has had tenancy liaison with other institutions and the long-term members are often left with their own instincts when since the 1950s. Under the university's ownership, Seafood science research is just one part of the implications of curriculum. making committee decisions. They could use more INPFC will remain for at least the next ten years. department's broad spectrum of food research, some of which is undertaken in collaboration with Critics such as Dr. Paul Tennant dubbed the information about the university's long-term objectives, he said. The acquisition of the Vancouver Laboratory industry partners. Food Science researchers have new body a "super committee" that would duplicate follows closely on the heels of the formation of the developed new foods from milk by-products, a the work of existing committees and fundamentally Commerce and Business Administration Dean new B.C. Food Technology Centre—a collaborative dairy-free ice cream; and investigated new change the way Senate operates. Dr. Peter Lusztig suggested that the new committee venture between the Food Science Department methods of assessing the nutritional quality of would conflict with the powers of faculties to and the Fisheries and Food Products Branch of processed food products. "I'm worried about the duplication of work and establish academic policy. Faculty recommenda­ the denigration of existing committees," said Law tions on academic matters are taken to Senate for B.C. Research, a non-profit research organization Still in developmental stages is an innovative which promotes industry research and develop­ Dean Peter Bums. "I don't see how this committee approval. process for preserving fresh fruits and fish with would function any better than what we have now." ment. non-toxic inert gases, increasing their shelf life. Spencer said the work of the committee would Sliced mangoes, for example, can be stored up to Science Dean Dr. Robert Miller asked: "What not interfere with the academic leadership of the (B.C. Research is located on the UBC campus, special information or wisdom would this committee President's office or the autonomy of faculties and but is not affiliated with the university.) 24 weeks. The process wiH offer enormous economic benefits to Canadian fruit farmers have to allow it to usurp the power of existing departments.