In 1999, following the First International Industrial Ecology Conference in Sorel-Tracy, the Cégep de Sorel-Tracy and the Bas-Richelieu RCM launched an environmental initiative and founded an industrial ecology technology transfer centre, the Centre de transfert technologique en écologie industrielle (CTTÉI), to consolidate the industrial ecology expertise of Québec companies. The Centre brings together the Cégep de Sorel-Tracy, waste-generating industries looking to green their operations, small and medium businesses in the environmental sector and government partners. In 2001, the CTTÉI became part of the legacy of a man who helped build Sorel-Tracy and the province of Québec, Mr. Joseph-Édouard Simard.
Since then, the CTTÉI has been working in collaboration with the Technocentre in Industrial Ecology to implement an industrial ecology and sustainable development R&D platform to research, develop, test and demonstrate the processes and technologies advanced by the CTTÉI, the Cégep de Sorel-Tracy and the City of Sorel-Tracy, and the Centre local de développement (CLD) and Société d’aide au développement de la collectivité (SADC) Pierre-De-Saurel.
In July 2002, the CTTÉI was accredited by the Ministère de l’Éducation, du Loisir et du Sport and became a college centre for technology transfer and a member of Réseau Trans-tech (Québec college centres for technology transfer).
The mission of the CTTÉI is to develop the industrial ecology expertise of Québec businesses.
The Centre therefore aims to become a leader in Québec by promoting industrial ecology, contributing to the development of human resources in the field and supporting efforts to reclaim industrial, inorganic and mixed waste.
The CTTÉI’s actions stem from four strategic directions :
- Supporting businesses in their innovative efforts to reclaim industrial waste;
- Fostering industrial ecology education and awareness;
- Helping industrial ecology to become a pole of development;
- Creating value.
The college centres for technology transfer (CCTT) have a legal basis and are recognized by the Ministère de l’Éducation, du Loisir et du Sport. The centres are managed by CEGEPs and aim to carry out applied research, provide technical assistance to businesses and disseminate information in a given field so as to contribute to the development and execution of technological innovation projects and the implementation and dissemination of new technologies.
