The Durham College MRC Studio has received a $1.75-million Technology Access Centre grant, creating five years of support for applied extended-reality research with industry partners.
Durham College announced the award on October 30. The federal College and Community Innovation programme will provide $350,000 annually over five years to the Mixed Reality Capture Studio.
The award gives the college its second Technology Access Centre designation. Its AI Hub received Technology Access Centre funding in 2023.
Support for immersive training and simulation
The MRC Studio works with organizations developing extended-reality, or XR, applications. The college says those technologies are moving beyond their familiar uses in gaming and entertainment into advanced manufacturing, energy, defence and hazardous-workplace simulation.
In those settings, immersive environments can be used to develop training experiences and explore workplace scenarios. The studio’s team has been working with industry partners to turn conventional learning materials into more interactive, hands-on experiences.
The funding is intended to help the studio maintain expertise, support longer-term partner projects and give students opportunities to work with emerging technologies. The announcement does not identify a fixed number of new jobs or student placements under this particular grant.
A separate award from the earlier research-stage funding
The Technology Access Centre support is distinct from the $1.886 million previously announced through the Canada Foundation for Innovation–College Fund and Ontario Research Fund for an immersive research stage.
All About Durham has already covered that research-stage infrastructure investment. The new announcement is not a second description of the same award: it provides an additional $1.75 million through a different programme and establishes the studio’s Technology Access Centre status.
Jason Hunter, the studio’s senior manager, described the earlier funding as support for equipment and infrastructure, while the new designation helps sustain the expertise needed to deliver projects with partners. The two awards support related work but should not be combined into a claim that one grant has simply increased.
Applied research opportunities in Durham
The Durham College MRC Studio sits within the college’s wider applied-research activity. Its work is intended to connect industry needs with practical research and experiential learning.
Debbie McKee Demczyk, associate vice-president of innovation and research, said the recognition strengthens the studio’s standing as a centre of expertise. The college describes partner demand as broadening as organizations look for ways to use immersive technology in training.
The new award provides a multi-year funding commitment. It does not mean every potential XR application is already deployed or that an unbuilt research stage has opened. The concrete developments are the funding amount, its annual schedule and the studio’s new national Technology Access Centre designation.
