A Technology Roadmap for Welding and Joining in Canada — Introduction

• What are Technology Roadmaps?
• Industry Canada and FedNor Contributed to the Development of this TRM
• Technology Roadmaps in the United States
• The Canadian Welding and Joining TRM Process
• Expected Outcomes

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What are Technology Roadmaps?

Technology Roadmaps (TRM's) are a collaborative, industry-led strategic planning exercise for developing innovative products and processes to meet emerging market demands and international competitive pressures. The process of development provides a tool for industry, working with governments, education and research institutes to align objectives for mutual benefit.

Figure 4 — A TRM Aligns Objectives for Mutual Benefit

The process has become more and more popular over the course of the last fifteen years with governments across the world actively partnering with industry to encourage the kind of forward thinking and innovation that is required to succeed in the 21st Century.

In Canada, TRM's have been completed for a wide range of industries — Aluminum, Electric Power, Fuel Cells, Intelligent Buildings, Marine and Ocean Industries and Wood-based Panel Products. The majority of the industries that have completed TRM's rely on Welding and Joining as an enabling technology. As new technology platforms unfold, such as biotechnology and advanced materials, strategies that cut across traditional single industry lines will become increasingly important. For instance, apart from welding and joining, a recent TRM that has spanned traditional industry profiles is Lean Logistics/Supply Chain Management.

Industry Canada and FedNor contributed to the development of this TRM

Industry Canada plays a very important role in initiating and supporting Technology Roadmaps and has contributed both financially and through technical support to the preparation of this Welding and Joining TRM. In addition, the economic development program for Northern Ontario, FedNor, which is part of Industry Canada, also made an important financial contribution. The FedNor contribution recognizes that the initiative for the roadmap emerged in Northern Ontario as part of the business planning process by the Kirkland Lake campus of Northern College of Applied Arts and Technology to create a "Materials Joining Innovation Centre."

Technology Roadmaps in the United States

Like Canada, United States has also strongly supported the development of technology roadmaps by a wide range of industries. In 2000, A Welding Technology Roadmap was prepared for the United States Department of Energy, Office of Industrial Technologies in cooperation with the American Welding Society and the Edison Welding Institute.

The Canadian Welding and Joining TRM Process

This Welding and Joining TRM began with a session in Whitby, Ontario in late 2003 promoted by Industry Canada, FedNor, Northern College of Applied Arts and Technology (Kirkland Lake, Ontario), the Canadian Welding Association and numerous industry partners.

The logic of the Technology Roadmap process moved from the Vision and Strategic Targets, through the Barriers to Solutions and Projects.

From the Vision and Strategic Goals developed at the Whitby Forum, a Welding and Joining TRM Steering Committee (see Appendix A for a list of Members) managed the process through numerous meetings culminating in four Regional Forums held in Montreal, Cambridge, Edmonton and Halifax in October 2005.

Throughout the process more than 250 participants representing a wide range of companies, associations, educational and research institutions as well as all the levels of government participated (See Appendix B for a full list of process participants). The entire process, inclusive of resource materials, has been documented on the Weldingtrm.org website.

Expected Outcomes

A TRM is really only the beginning of a long process for an industry and has only limited use unless it is followed by implementation. While some immediate benefits are expected, results are more likely to occur over a long time-frame thereby making them hard to track. On the other hand, through the process, collaborative efforts are often established outside the formal TRM framework and these are not always attributed to the TRM effort.

In general the expected outcomes of the TRM are to:

• Define the "road" to compete successfully in tomorrow's markets,
• Guide an industry and firms to predict future technology and product needs along with skills requirements,
• Guide the industry and companies to seize future marketing opportunities,
• Guide the industry and companies in making decisions on technology application and research,
• Increase collaboration, shared knowledge and new partnerships.

Examples of outcomes from other Canadian TRM's include:

• A commitment of over $200 million from the government of Canada to accelerate full-scale commercialization of fuel cells.
• The creation of the Aerospace Manufacturing Technology Centre in Montreal.
• Creation of the Intelligent & Integrated Buildings Council (IIBC).
• Creation of a Logistics Sector Council for human resource development.
• Identification of over 1200 specific technologies relevant to marine and ocean industries.
• Forecast of technology needs in the area of medical imaging.

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