Blaise Champagne, Eng. Ph.D.

Director General, NRC Industrial Materials Institute (NRC-IMI)

Blaise Champagne holds a Ph.D. in Materials from the University of Laval in 1980 and then joined the NRC Industrial Materials Institute as a scientist. He was successively named Group Leader in 1984 and Director of the Process Development Section in 1990. He stayed in Tsukuba, Japan for a cooperative R&D project in 1993. He developed many technology transfers to the industry and coordinated multidisciplinary teams. He holds many patents and has written numerous scientific publications.

Dr. Champagne was promoted Director General of NRC-IMI in 1999. He has coordinated the NRC Manufacturing Technologies Group involving several NRC institutes and R&D centres from across Canada. He represents the NRC on several committees in Canada and abroad, particularly VAMAS (Versailles Project on Advanced Materials and Standards).

He has been asked to oversee the implementation of the new NRC Aluminium Technology Centre (NRC-ATC) in Saguenay, created in 2002. He has also created with partners new incubation facilities, the Crossroad for Industrial Materials Innovation. These facilities, officially opened in 2003, are aimed at supporting the creation and growth of emerging companies for the commercialization of advanced materials technologies.

Dr. Champagne is a member of the following professional associations: ASM International, American Metal Powder Industry Federation, Ordre des ingénieurs du Québec (OIQ).

He received the following awards and scholarships: Award for Excellence from NRC Transition Team (1996), Recognition Award from IRAP (1994), Scholarship from Science Technology Agency in Japan (1992), Scholarship from ministère de l'Éducation du Québec (1978-1979), Scholarship from NSERC (1974-1977), Scholarship from Office Franco-Québécois (1975) and Scholarship from Quebec Iron and Titanium Inc. (1973).

November 2004