The MITACS intern will help the partners at the Rocket Builders Canada Ltd. and the University of Victoria to evaluate the B.C. equity capital program (ECP) administered under the British Columbia Small Business Venture Capital Act. The main deliverables of the MITACS intern are to: (1) estimate the returns of investors under the equity capital program, (2) estimate the amount of capital gains tax the ECP has or will generate, and (3) perform a “survival analysis” of the companies that benefited from the ECP since the year 2000.

This project explores the role that management techniques play in changes in productivity, economic fluctuations and growth over time for Canada and the U.S, as well as regional productivity differences. This information should help economists create better models and policies, as well as better inform Governments and businesses about the importance of proper management and providing opportunities to train (and retrain) managers to employ the best techniques.

Electricity generation is one of the largest sources of carbon dioxide production in Canada. The combustion of fossil fuels (coal and natural gas) release carbon dioxide which contributes to rising global temperatures. Wind energy is considered to be an alternative to the traditional methods of generating electricity, producing electricity when the wind blows strong enough to move the turbines but not so strong that the turbines shut down for safety reasons. Although wind energy can be used to produce energy, its production is both variable and uncertain.

The July 2009 issue of Maclean's magazine published an article pertaining to 'Canada's Best and Worst Managed Cities.' The City of Saskatoon received an overall C- ranking in terms of economic development, and failed to meet relative national average standards.Since the 2007 year however, the provincial economy has undergone substantial gains in economic growth and productivity, as commodity prices have surged in response to increased demand for local resources.

The Centre for Operations Excellence (COE) at the Sauder School of Business,University of British Columbia (UBC) was asked by the Spinal Cord Injury Solutions Network (SCISN) and The Rick Hansen Foundation to carry out an evaluation of a forecasting model. SCISN and The Rick Hansen Foundation commissioned the development of the model to a third party consulting firm.

This project is designed to develop a decision-support module to be used with electronic patient records. By using innovative methodologies to analyze patient data as well as the sharing of such data with clinicians and the patients themselves, the project seeks to resolve current problems faced by clinical decision-support information systems (including problems that have limited the impact that these systems have had to date on medical practice).

An online game allows players to earn virtual currency and to collect, sell and buy online prizes, in effect creating a self©\contained virtual economy. There are indications that virtual gaming economies generate currency instabilities, increases in prices, and the accumulation of large virtual wealth holdings by some players. Such distortions can threaten the sustainability of the economy and the entertainment value for players.

Information regarding the likelihood and severity of automobile accidents for individual insurance consumers enables insurance companies to price insurance policies. The more accurate and predictive the data, the more accurate and fair insurance prices are. Modern advances, such as telematics technology, allow insurers to improve the quality of their information. This improved information has an efficiency-enhancing effect on the personal automobile insurance market which makes both insurers and consumers better off.

The Office of the City Assessor is required by the Cities Act to determine the fair value of land and improvements of single family dwellings by applying the residential sales comparison method. Thus, the intern will perform analysis to determine how major factors contribute to the values of properties using newly available data. Such analysis involves developing statistical models for major market areas in Saskatoon, preparing data for statistical analysis, estimation of models and evaluation the models’ performance based on statistical and economic plausibility.