Dalhousie launches new microelectronics lab

A new lab that could improve marine sensors, medical technology and satellites was launched on Tuesday at Dalhousie University.

The province is allocating $1.4 million to the MINDI Hub, a new microelectronics lab that aims to develop technology for microchips.

“It’s a lot of years of effort,” said Jean Francois Bousquet, the project director and a microelectronic researcher at Dalhousie. “It’s a change in paradigm.”

Bousquet said one of the centre’s goals is to build underwater sensor networks to monitor the ocean.

“That allows you to understand better how the ocean behaves,” he said. “We want to be able to protect the environment.”

Bousquet said the Microelectronics Innovation, Design and Integration (MINDI) Hub will allow for more experimental and practical applications of ocean technologies.

“Now, we’re actually focusing on building up the microelectronics behind it.”

The launch, held on Dalhousie’s engineering campus, was attended by more than 50 people, including students and faculty.

In a speech at the event, Colton LeBlanc, the province’s minister for growth and development, said that funding this project aims to put the province in a position of growth by investing in Canadian technology, including semiconductors, which make up microchips.

Semiconductors are one of the most traded goods in the world. The industry is projected to be worth US $1 trillion globally by 2030.

“To be able to have this state-of-the-art research and innovation happening right here in our home province is very exciting,” LeBlanc said in an interview.

Boris Bam Nges, a PhD student at Dalhousie, works with Bousquet on an underwater communications system in the lab. He said the funding will open doors for their research.

“This new lab means quite a lot,” he said. “I’ve always been looking for a place where I could explore my talents and just get to improve humanity.”