Boeing joins Univ. of British Columbia in composites research

27 February 2013

Boeing has become the founding industrial member of the University of British Columbia’s Composites Research Network (CRN). The CRN will collaborate with other composite initiatives, such as the Canadian Composites Manufacturing Research and Development Consortium hosted by the Composites Innovation Centre in Manitoba.

This collaboration has the potential to generate new applications of composite processing technology not only within Canada’s aerospace industry, but in other fields such as the automotive and resources sectors.

—William Lyons, director of Global Technology at Boeing Research & Technology

Established in 2012 with an investment of $9.84 million from Western Economic Diversification Canada, the CRN consists of a Vancouver hub based at the University of British Columbia’s Vancouver campus; a Kelowna node based at UBC’s Okanagan campus; a Victoria node, based at the University of Victoria; and a Manitoba node, based at the Composites Innovation Centre in Winnipeg. Future nodes are planned for Alberta and Saskatchewan.

Boeing’s involvement with the CRN will support Canada’s Industrial & Regional Benefits (IRB) policy. Canada’s IRB policy requires prime contractors such as Boeing to make investments in the Canadian economy as a result of winning defense and security contracts with the government of Canada. Boeing has four active IRB programs tied to the procurement of the CC-177 airlifter; ScanEagle unmanned aircraft systems services, and CH-147 helicopter.