MACLEAN'S 100 - Leaders and Dreamers, Special Commemorative Issue, 2004


ISIS Canada Leads The World

The Networks of Centres of Excellence created ISIS Canada (Intelligent Sensing for Innovative Structures) in 1995 to revolutionize the design and construction for civil engineering bridges and structures, for the benefit of Canadians and beyond. Research results have been outstanding and the impact on the engineering community unprecedented.

According to internationally acclaimed engineer, Professor Urs Meier of EMPA, Switzerland, “ISIS Canada is the world leader in the field of intelligent sensing for civil engineering structures.” EMPA, the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing and Research, is a globally recognized authority on materials and systems technology.

With headquarters at the University of Manitoba, ISIS canada is making an impact by meshing space age, fibre-reinforced polymers with structural health monitoring to develop new design concepts that result in smarter, stronger structures. Over the long term the potential savings are huge. With its 275 researchers based in 14 Canadian universities, in partnership with 100 corporations and government agencies, ISIS Canada is making a difference.

The impact of ISIS is being felt by the engineering design community through its design manuals, revisions to design codes and partnerships with government agencies such as the National Research Council and Public Works and Government Services Canada. The ISIS design concept for a steel-free bridge deck is now being used in the U.S. ISIS has also launched ISHMII, a global organization to advance the needs and objectives of structural health monitoring. the spin-off companies FOX-TEK Inc. in Toronto and IDERS Structural Health Monitoring Systems in Winnipeg are marketing unique instrumentation worldwide.

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