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2004-2005 CATIMAC results have been posted!
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*** Important Notice *** CATIMAC changes for the 2005-2006 year Please note that for the 2005-2006 year, the nature of the CATIMAC program will be changed from an interactive competition to a resource tool with access to problem statements as well as experienced professionals. As an educational resource tool, we are seeking to encourage engineering students throughout Canada in developing suitable solutions to any of the problem statements discussed on this website. With access to experienced de-mining professionals, the student can work towards developing novel, practical designs while gaining a deeper understanding of the problems created by landmines. Stay tuned for more information regarding the new CATIMAC program in the new year! 
CATIMAC 2004-2005 Announcement The seventh year of the Canadian Appropriate Mine Action Technologies Competition (CATIMAC) is now completed! The first place winners, from McGill University, designed a unique and cost effective metal fragment removal device. As highlighted by our judges, the innovation and simple construction materials of this proposal have made this the winning choice! The second place team from Guelph University designed personal protection equipment with both the comfort and safety of the field experts in mind. Finally, the third place team has proposed a low cost mobility device to assist the victims of landmines who have had above the knee amputations. All of the submitted projects indicated a great deal of research and thought invested in the designs. With submissions from universities across Canada, the 2004-2005 was an overwhelming success! Mines Action Canada (MAC), Canadian partner to the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize winning International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), and Engineers Without Borders, are pleased to announce the winning teams of the 2004-2005 Appropriate Mine Technology Competition. 
Thousands of people around the world are killed or maimed by landmines each year. Wildlife is also injured and killed. People displaced by war are prevented from returning to their homes because of mines. Thousands of acres of field and pasture, suspected of containing mines, lie unused while people go hungry and without income. Livestock, often representing a family's entire savings, is killed. Thousands of kilometers of roads and paths are impassable, leaving people isolated socially and economically. Vital infrastructure - wells, public buildings, dams, and bridges - can be used only at great risk. Post-conflict reconstruction and rehabilitation is threatened. Even when people are able to return to their homes, individuals who have become physically injured by landmines are forced to find new ways of earning a living or adapt their existing livelihood to their disability. 
Humanitarian Demining (HD), unlike military breaching techniques, typically involves the removal of mines from farmer's fields, children's schools, and urban areas in a manner that preserves communities as much as possible. The distinction is important because HD methods focus on support of the community's struggle to rebuild. Humanitarian mine clearance continues to rely heavily on hand-held metal detectors, dogs and manual probes. Once landmines have been cleared from the community, landmine victims need to be rehabilitated. This could mean a variety of things ranging from receiving a prosthetic limb; a mode of transportation such as a wheelchair or bicycle; or adapting vocational tools for disabled use. 
Technologies for humanitarian demining and victim assistance are necessarily community-based. They must be suitable for the detection and removal of different types of mines, but also appropriate to local conditions and control. The same restraints must be considered with victim assistance technology. Local conditions in mine-affected countries are often different from our own and they may include:
This is the Sixth year of the Canadian Appropriate Technologies In Mine Action Competition (CATIMAC) hosted in partnership by Engineers Without Borders (EWB) and Mines Action Canada (MAC) in universities, and colleges throughout the country. MAC and EWB are soliciting research papers directed towards a variety of problem areas. To see the list of proposed projects click here. Special Prizes These prizes will recognize projects related to Our areas of mine action interest, although not part of the demining technology competition itself. For example, they may be related to victim assistance equipment (rehabilitation and vocational technologies) and mine awareness education enabling techniques. A panel of judges who have extensive field or equipment development experience will assess all submissions. As an added incentive, leading submissions will have the opportunity to be reviewed by the engineering staff at the Canadian Centre for Mine Action Technology (CCMAT). Judges will be assessing projects based on four key criteria: reliability, cost, effectiveness and simplicity. 
The only requirement to participate in this competition is that contestants must be currently enrolled in a Canadian university, college, or technical school. Contestants can enter as individuals or as a team. |
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