TORONTO, October 28, 2002 -- An outstanding R&D partnership between York University’s Faculty of Pure and Applied Science and Toronto-based Optech Incorporated has earned a national innovation prize, one of six national prizes to be awarded tonight by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and The Conference Board of Canada.

The 2002 Synergy Award for Innovation recognizes York and Optech for developing and extending the application of laser radar technology, known as lidar (light detecting and ranging). Lidar is similar to ordinary radar, but sends out narrow pulses or beams of light rather than radio waves to collect information. Initially used to measure atmospheric pollution, lidar is now revolutionizing topographic and urban mapping.

"Creativity and entrepreneurship drive innovation," said NSERC President Tom Brzustowski. "These partnerships draw together those who produce new knowledge with those who know how to use it productively in the Canadian economy."

York’s long-standing relationship with Optech began with the company’s founding by Dr. Allan Carswell almost 30 years ago while he was a professor at York. "I recognized that this technology had considerable practical application that could be pursued successfully in the private sector," says Carswell.

Optech has collaborated closely with York’s department of Earth and Atmospheric Science. The partnership gives researchers at York access to state-of-the-art equipment, and their expertise contributes to technology development at Optech in modeling new applications of lidar. "York has one of the strongest atmospheric science groups anywhere. They’re keen to try some of their models in a totally different atmosphere, namely Mars," says Carswell. York professors Diane Michelangeli and Peter Taylor have been conducting theoretical studies on some of the more fundamental aspects of the atmosphere of Mars, with a view to developing a Martian weather station.

York professor and Canada Research Chair in Geomatics Engineering, Vincent Tao, has been using Optech’s airborne lidar sensor data, combined with high-resolution satellite data, to produce faster, more accurate 3D urban mapping for emergency response and disaster management. "This will really open up new areas for urban mapping on a very broad scale," says Tao. "With conventional methods we could only update maps every two to five years, and in our rapidly changing environment those maps are quickly out of date."

The prizes will be awarded tonight at the Fort Garry Hotel in Winnipeg. For more details on the winners, visit www.nserc.ca/about/awardeng.htm.

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For further information, please contact:

Prof. Vincent Tao	Dr. Allan Carswell	Susan Bigelow
Earth & Atmospheric Science	Optech Inc.	Media Relations
York University	416-661-5904	York University
416-736-2100, ext. 55221	allan@optech.on.ca	416-736-2100, ext. 22091
tao@yorku.ca		sbigelow@yorku.ca

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