Success Stories
Commercialization of Terahertz Technology for the Wood Products Industry
City: Prince George
British Columbia Regional Science & Technology Network Council: Innovation Research Council
Almost every child would love to have X-ray vision – and with the mountain pine beetle ravaging B.C.’s forests from the inside out, the forest industry wants it, too.
Forest companies are scrambling for a way to see the insides of trees so that logs can be properly positioned in the mill for maximum efficiency. And world-class research done by two professors at the University of Northern B.C. –  Matt Reid (physics) and Ian Hartley (forestry) – may provide the solution.
Reid and Hartley are researching terahertz technology. Terahertz occupies the space on the electromagnetic spectrum between microwaves and X-rays. Like X-rays, terahertz signals provide the ability to see through objects, or to see features inside objects; unlike X-rays, terahertz do not have the associated health risks. Using terahertz technology as a part of the quality control process in forestry allows companies to extract the maximum value from each log.
Reid and Hartley, along with UNBC graduate students in physics and business, have been working with the Innovation Resource Centre and Prince George’s Wolftek Industries Inc. to commercialize terahertz technology for the wood products industry.
Wolftek Industries offers a variety of services to northern B.C.’s forestry, milling, mining and petroleum operations, including machining, fabrication, hydraulics, installations and equipment design and sales. Collaborative efforts on commercialization have connected partners with industry experience to researchers whose expertise lies in technology development.
 As Wolftek Industries owner Bruce Sutherland says, “The possibilities [for terahertz technology] are worth millions of dollars.” Wolftek – along with the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the National Research Council and UNBC – has provided funding for the project, the first to try to exploit terahertz technology for the forest industry.
The partners have already filed for one provisional patent and one patent corporation treaty, and expect to file more as research progresses. If their pattern of success continues, the project will improve quality control and process control, and will further sensor development, all of which will help wood products companies become more efficient and competitive.
Increased competitiveness will contribute to investor confidence, encouraging new business investment, and parallel job creation in the region. And terahertz technology could be the foundations for a new technology spinoff corporation.
As Reid notes, “This is a terrific example of how world-class, fundamental research can have very direct application to industry and economic development.”
For more information, please visit http://www.unbc.ca/media/2007/03_reid.html.
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