Member Services
PTAC offers members a variety of opportunities to become involved in innovation, research, and development, demonstration, and deployment initiatives that further the Canadian hydrocarbon energy industry.
PTAC provides industry with a neutral forum to work collaboratively together, leveraging collective experience and expertise to identify opportunities, challenges, and potential solutions that require research or technology development. These discussions can lead to joint industry projects where PTAC, as a neutral facilitator, assists with soliciting proposals and launching projects through a fair and balanced process. PTAC also identifies existing R&D to raise industry awareness and minimize duplication. PTAC may also provide up to 15% seed money to help move projects forward.
R&D Proposals
PTACÂ members may make unsolicited R&D proposals to the oil and gas industry by either hosting a Technology Information Session or simply by having their proposal posted on our website and circulated through our contact database. We recommend doing both to maximize the number of interested participants you may reach.
Funding Sources for R&D
PTAC has developed sound relationships with several funding sources over our twenty year history in order to help increase the number of research and technology development projects that receive funding. Many of these sources are current industry members of PTAC, and PTAC will work with your organization to facilitate the funding application processes for joint industry projects. PTAC may also provide up to 15% seed money to help move projects forward.
As a service to members, PTAC facilitates Technology Information Sessions (TISs) for interested companies. TISs provide member companies with an opportunity to present new technology or research and development projects to industry in order to solicit interest, gather feedback, invite participation, or seek potential funding. These sessions provide benefits to both the presenting company and those in attendance. Connections are made that help both the presenters and those in attendance identify industry partners to complete proposed research or technology development projects, such as field/pilot testing. TISs also provide a targeted opportunity to report back to industry on field tests or pilot results and provide information on new technology-related services. For PTAC’s service and supply members, a PTAC TIS can also be an excellent method of marketing new technology to the Canadian oil and gas industry.
What is a TIS?
As a neutral facilitator of innovation, collaborative research, and technology development, PTAC looks to form multi-stakeholder consortia in the areas of applied research, engineering studies, field pilot projects, and commercialization of technologies. Essentially, at what we call a Technology Information Session (or TIS for short), a company makes a presentation in front of a group of industry experts, and these experts relay to PTAC as to whether they would be interested in creating a consortium or establishing a joint industry project (JIP) on whatever subject matter, technology, etc., is being presented at the TIS. TIS’s are run at a PTAC supplied venue for 1.5-2 hours, usually from 11:30 a.m. – 1:00p.m. over a light lunch provided by the proponent.
Why hold a TIS?
A TIS can be conducted by a PTAC member in order to:
- Solicit interest, feedback, participation or potential funding for new R&D projects.
- Solicit additional funding or participation for ongoing projects.
- Find industry partners to complete proposed R&D or technology development (such as field test or pilot sites) or to report on field test or pilot results.
- Provide information on technology related services offered by members (such as funding, legal and tax).
- Market new technology or proven technology that is new to the Canadian oil and gas industry.
Who can host a session?
All organizations hosting a TIS through PTAC must be a member. PTAC members receive complimentary registration for all TISs, while non-members pay a fee of $50.00+GST.
How much does a TISÂ cost?
As mentioned above, all TIS proponents must be a PTAC member, and must pay for all 3rd party catering costs. Outside of these costs, a TIS is free service that each PTAC member is entitled to in correlation with the size of their organization:
- (1-100 employees) 1Â free TISÂ per membership year
- (101-200 employees 2Â free TISÂ per membership year
- (201-300 employees), 3Â free TISÂ per membership year
- (Over 300 employees) 4Â free TISÂ per membership year
TIS Presentation Guidelines:
A proponent typically needs to accomplish five key objectives during a Technology Information Session:
- Tell the potential customers about the research or technology offered or proposed by the proponent and why it is important.
- Tell potential customers how the proponent will deliver what has been offered or proposed.
- Provide sufficient background to establish confidence with potential customers that the proponent can deliver what has been promised.
- Obtain feedback and solicit questions from potential customers to upgrade or focus what has been proposed, or to ensure the customer has gained a clear understanding of the issue.
- Tell the customers what the next steps are and approximate timetable.
If you are interested in hosting a TIS or would like to discuss further, please contact [email protected] or call 403-218-7700.
Focusing on broader needs or larger technical areas, PTAC forums are comprised of presentations detailing new technologies, case studies, and the objectives and results of current research.  Of course, presentations always provide opportunities for questions and answers. The goal of PTAC forums is to bring forward the most up-to-date information from across the industry, and transform it into an enriching learning experience. PTAC workshops provide opportunities for participants to work collaboratively in focused groups to clearly define research and development challenges, identify potential solutions, and select the best approach to move forward. Workshops provide a venue for industry members to candidly share their needs so that R&D providers hear about issues firsthand. Solutions are formed by leveraging the collective expertise and ideas of all participants, while protecting proprietary interests. PTAC hosts all workshops and is pleased to provide the necessary facilitation, administrative support, and coordination to launch projects once identified.
The PTAC Knowledge Centre provides public access to non-proprietary technical information on commercially available oil-and-gas-related technologies pertinent to the hydrocarbon energy industry. The Knowledge Centre offers advice on access to technical databases to meet the educational, informational, and technical needs of the user community.
The Knowledge Centre provides services to SMEs, technical steering committees, project performers, researchers, and others, to help identify technologies and research needs, avoid duplicate research, and monitor industry trends. Services for PTAC members include advice on technical document and journal article retrieval, and contact information for subject matter experts in industry, government, and academia. PTAC members are invited to provide non-proprietary technical information on their technologies to PTAC for display in the Knowledge Centre. Relevant materials are accepted on an ongoing basis.
PTAC Technical Steering Committees consist of PTAC members representing all industry stakeholders, including producers, government, regulators, and academia. These technical steering committees work to identify opportunities for collaborative research and technology development, raise awareness of existing research and technology development initiatives, find solutions to challenges through the process of soliciting proposals and launching new projects, and promote involvement by informing appropriate colleagues of Technical Steering Committee activities.
PTAC’s streamlined communications strategy has reduced the number of broad email blasts being sent to our members by replacing individual event notifications with an opt-in bi-monthly newsletter. This electronic publication highlights current PTAC project opportunities, new technologies, member news, upcoming events, and other initiatives addressing current industry current trends and needs.