A rising tide may lift all boats, but a flood can destroy everything in its path. With climate change driving higher temperatures and more rainfall around the world, the risks posed by weather events are growing increasingly acute. And when extreme weather events strike, it is often society鈥檚 most vulnerable that live in the areas most exposed to the consequences.

But there is hope. In November 2023, the published its , which seeks to provide assessment of current climate technologies, innovation, policies, and financial investment. In early December, 杏吧原创 professor Dr. Elisabeth Gilmore of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering presented on its key findings at the  in Dubai.

As the lead author of one of the report鈥檚 five chapters, Dr. Gilmore assessed the state of technologies that can play a critical role for climate action for water management, public transport, building cooling, social housing, and energy distribution and generation. Her team found that many of the technologies we need the most are already available and feasible to implement.

鈥淭here is high feasibility, but there are barriers too. Institutional challenges are hindering the implementation options that are already available, and there is a need to improve this,鈥� says Anas Alhusban, a PhD candidate who served as a chapter fellow on the project.

Some of the most effective and impactful technologies do not require complex engineering or even large amounts of money. For example, green roofs and urban canopies can help absorb heavy rainfall, and can be highly effective tools in managing heavy rainfalls.

鈥淕reen roofs can store greenhouse gases and absorb water, and have been implemented in many places, especially Germany. This is just one of the examples that is highly feasible technologically but underutilized due to institutional barriers,鈥� says Alhusban.

“This is the difference between simply putting in electric vehicles (EVs), and having those EVs in place along with better public transit and better urban planning to establish more transformative ways of how we choose to move ourselves around.鈥�

But for Gilmore, the Climate Technology Progress Report provides something more than assessment of the status of climate technology and possible blueprint for the future. It provides a dose of hope in a troubling time.

鈥淭his report stands out from other UN climate reports because it is much more hopeful. People read about the harms of climate change all the time, and this underscores the need for immediate action,鈥� she says. 鈥淏ut the Climate Technology Progress Report is a place we can find hope that we can meet these challenges. It is not just about barriers, but also about how we can enable innovation and further climate action. Technology is not going to do everything, but there are so many ways that it can help.鈥�

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A bird of prey swoops silently through the night, and grasps a catch in its talons. Owls are not the fastest fliers, but the shape of their wings enables them to glide with barely any sound. And the evolutionary advantage conveyed by nearly silent flight has allowed these highly efficient predators to thrive for tens of millions of years.

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BlackBerry Limited (NYSE: BB; TSX: BB) and 杏吧原创 University today announced a $21-million USD, five year strategic partnership agreement that will provide software engineers and researchers access to BlackBerry庐 QNX庐 technology for use in a wide range of industries, including automotive, robotics, transportation, Internet of things (IoT), aerospace and medical devices.

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When Richard Yu publishes a paper, he garners attention. He鈥檚 often leading the way in terms of new ideas that lead to technological advances and industry standards. A professor in 杏吧原创鈥檚 School of Information Technology, Yu made Web of Science Group鈥檚 both 2019 and 2020 list of Highly Cited Researchers internationally and his research papers have more than 25,000 citations recorded according to Google Scholar at the time of writing.

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A team of four students from 杏吧原创 University鈥檚 School of Industrial Design won the Automotive Parts Manufacturers鈥� Association (APMA) of Canada  design competition, beating out 20 other entries from across Canada. The 杏吧原创 team鈥檚 design will be used to create an original, full-build, zero-emission concept vehicle.

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Seven 杏吧原创 University researchers have received Engage Grants from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). The funding will support research on a range of subjects including wearable smart devices, snow science and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), data encryption, virtual reality, manufacturing, edge computing and turbines.

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If you鈥檝e ever sat idling impatiently as an apparently endless stream of boxcars rolling past a level crossing, you won鈥檛 be surprised to learn that freight trains can reach nearly four kilometres in length and carry thousands of tonnes of cargo.

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A pair of 杏吧原创 University students sit in the front seats of a red Toyota RAV4 parked on Library Road outside the Mackenzie Building. A few seconds later, one of their classmates in the Bachelor of Information Technology (BIT) program gets behind the wheel of a grey Ford Explorer parked in front and opens a laptop on the passenger seat. After the man in the Explorer attaches a few cables to the computer and steps outside to put a Cohda Wireless communications device called a Roadside Unit (RSU) on the roof, the RAV4 pulls away from the curb and begins to drive north.

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