Energized impact at the Imperial Energy Innovation Centre

In May 2025, Imperial and SAIT made history when Imperial donated a 40,000 square foot state-of-the-art research facility valued at $37 million to SAIT. This donation marked the largest corporate gift to any post-secondary institution in Alberta and positions SAIT to be a world leader in sustainable energy innovation and research.

The Imperial Energy Innovation Centre, named in honour of the donor, will support the expansion of SAIT’s Applied Research and Innovation Services (ARIS) — a hub of collaboration whose mission is to unite researchers, innovators and students and bridge the gap between academia, industry and communities.

“Because of Imperial, we’ll accelerate sustainable energy technologies and the environmental performance of conventional resources, while helping to prepare Alberta’s workforce for the future,” shares Jamie McInnis, Director of ARIS.

“This is long term impact towards our mission and vision at SAIT. Our students will experience opportunities for work-integrated learning. They won’t just study innovation as a theoretical concept...  They’ll be in the lab, in the field, and in conversation with industry experts, working on real challenges.”

Imperial has a long history of supporting education at SAIT.

Improved efficiency and reduced footprint

The Imperial Energy Innovation Centre features equipment and techniques involved in processing oil sands made up of sand, clay and bitumen, and is focused on research and innovation to improve operational efficiencies and reduce environmental impacts.

Here’s just some of these cool techniques and equipment:

Canada’s first lab-scale Once Through Steam Generator (OTSG)
The OTSG is a boiler system that uses recycled boiler feed water to generate steam at high temperature and pressure—reducing the need for fresh water to separate bitumen

Tailings
Tailings are materials left over after bitumen is extracted from oil sands ore. They include a mixture of solids, water and residual bitumen. Tailings-related research is focused on treatments to better manage volume, improve tailings consolidation, and lower our carbon footprint.

Physical Model Experiment
The facility and equipment are used to test the injection of 100% steam or 100% solvent, and anything in between, into a scaled-down reservoir with real reservoir pressure and temperature conditions.

Empowered evolution

The Imperial Energy Innovation Centre allows ARIS to be at the forefront of energy and environmental solutions today and tomorrow.

“Our Applied Research will now go beyond addressing today’s problems, We can now accommodate greater anticipation of tomorrow’s needs, uncovering pathways to unconventional solutions and solving industry problems,” shares SAIT President and CEO, Dr. David Ross.

“The Imperial Energy Innovation Centre represents our next evolution: as an institution that not only responds to industry needs, but anticipates them, and co-creates the solutions alongside industry experts. Ultimately, Imperial’s investment goes beyond supporting SAIT — it empowers Alberta’s evolution toward a sustainable, resilient, and prosperous energy future.”

Tomorrow’s talent, today

The Real Futures campaign will enable SAIT to deliver on the promise to transform who, how and what we teach in response to the changes unfolding across our communities, technologies and economies. With a fundraising target of $150 million, the campaign will assure SAIT’s continued ability to provide the training and skills that industry needs to stay relevant and that students need to thrive, whatever vision of tomorrow they’re working toward.

Real Futures