The benefits agreement announced last week between the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador and Bay du Nord offshore oil project partners Equinor and BP includes $100 million for research and development. Not all the funding will go to Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador, however it is fully expected the province’s only university will benefit, as it has recently with other offshore projects.

A total of $31 million, for example, came from the Hebron and Hibernia oil projects through 2024 and 2025 into six major initiatives mainly within Memorial’s Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science. Those initiatives, as Atlantic Business Magazine was told, are coming to fruition and offer related benefits not just for the university but also for local business.

The largest, single commitment was $16 million to help establish a new additive manufacturing lab within the existing footprint of the St. John’s campus. It’s being called the SMART lab (for students working in Materials and Additive-manufacturing Research Technologies).

Assistant professor in mechanical and mechatronics engineering, and leader of the new lab, Dr. Ahmed Elruby said the idea of additive manufacturing isn’t new—local company Additive XL is an example (see Atlantic Business Magazine’s Mar/Apr 2024 issue for more)—however some key equipment procured for the lab will be new and supplement existing capabilities.

“Some planned equipment in this laboratory would be the first time in Canada, so not available elsewhere in Canada,” he told Atlantic Business Magazine, explaining the laboratory space is currently being customized and there will be a lengthy process in commissioning.

Hearing “additive manufacturing,” people may think about 3D printing, imagining the increasingly common commercial printers that can be used at home. The lab team is going to be working in far greater detail, on high-performance metal and industrial composites. They’ll be manufacturing things like corrosion-resistant pieces, while looking at quality control in additive manufacturing work. The latter is not insignificant for industry.

Elruby said he hopes to have the lab running full steam by this time next year. That said, the design and commissioning itself provides a learning opportunity. Six students joined him for work terms over the past year. He also has two PhD students on his lab team at the moment, with two more and a post-doctoral student set to join this spring. The lab is expected to accommodate 29 students for training and active research when its fully operational.

In addition to training engineers, Elruby said the lab will also eventually offer the opportunity for direct industry partnerships. These could relate to testing, process review, supply or technical services, as examples.

“It’s a huge investment. It’s something good for Memorial University and for the province,” he said.

The new lab was one of six projects receiving some of the $25.2 million contributed by the Hebron Project and $5.8 million from Hibernia in this latest collection of research support.

Others include:

• A student design hub, of particular benefit for students competing in national and international design and prototype competitions
• “High-impact placements” for training with local technology companies, facilitated through the university’s existing Centre for Artificial Intelligence
• An upgrade to the existing lab focused on process engineering run by Dr. Lesley James, allowing for further research related to carbon capture and storage
• Support for new collaborations on autonomous, remote and AI-enabled marine technologies under Dr. Wei Qiu, through the Department of Oceans and Naval Architectural Engineering
• Help for a multi-year research project exploring innovation in extractive industries with things like AI, data analytics and digital twins. The effort reaches into faculties like Business Administration and Geography, as well as across multiple institutions

All of this is separate from the $2.25 million contributed to Memorial by Cenovus Energy (operator of the White Rose offshore projects), announced in November 2025. The funding will help to cover scholarships for engineering students, support for Marine Institute student competitions, a field course in the Department of Earth Science, a leadership program for undergraduate women and more for the engineering student design hub.

The contributions are not landmarks in and of themselves. For example, Cenovus (and its predecessor company) have a 20-year history of contributions to Memorial, as president and CEO Jon McKenzie noted in a statement last fall. He said the university plays “a critical role in developing the pipeline of talent needed to grow our industry in Newfoundland and Labrador.”

Atlantic Business Magazine asked if there was an accessible list of all contributions to MUN from operators in the Newfoundland and Labrador offshore oil business. None was readily available. However, there is no doubt as to the importance of the funding to the institution.

The university has made staff cuts in the past year, is selling properties and working to move to a new budget model, with expectations of more to come. MUN is working to cut about $21 million from its base spending on the year and reach longer-term financial stability.

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