With a demonstration fleet of B-Class F-Cell vehicles unveiled in 2010, Mercedes-Benz has established itself as a key competitor in this emerging market. The breakthrough came as a result of thousands of hours of research and development into fuel cell technology at Mercedes-Benz’s North American pilot manufacturing plant.
“These people were my heroes,” he said. “I knew that I wanted to follow in their footsteps one day.”
And he did. At the age of 20, he invented an electronic system to control lighting in luxury houses with the use of a remote. Shortly after, he created an electro-mechanical device that could be installed on the wheels of bikes and vehicles which emitted pulsating lights to increase safety and visibility at night and sold 3,000 units.
Sina was beginning his program at the University of Northern BC’s Natural Resources and Environment Studies department when he was given the opportunity to apply his specialized knowledge of watershed management to an Accelerate project for lumber giant Canfor.
“We have a pulp mill in Prince George that draws water from the Nechako River,” says Mike Bradley, Director of Sustainability for Canfor Pulp. “That means the water level and its clarity are very important to us. We were concerned about how changes over time would affect our business.”
Han Chen, a Mechanical Engineering Masters student at McGill University, has created what amounts to a virtual factory, where new tools and equipment can be designed and tested, significantly reducing their real-world production time and creating a lot of opportunities.
KDC is a manufacturer of personal care products with facilities in Ontario, Quebec and the USA. The company connected with Kathryn Battista, Mitacs Accelerate intern and graduate student in Master's in Environment & Sustainability at Western University, for a research project aimed at enhancing KDC’s environmental practices under the supervision of Professor Ian Colquhoun from the Department of Anthropology.
“Kathryn’s internship focused specifically on designing and implementing boundaries around our waste management,” says Sonya D'Cunha, Director of Sustainability at KDC.
With the support of Pierre des Lierres, Business Development Director at Mitacs, the company obtained the financial support of Mitacs Accelerate Quebec and connected with Iban Harlouchet and Professor Pierre Lafaye de Micheaux from the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at Université de Montréal. Iban undertook research at Odotech to optimize algorithms of the e-nose sensors that analyze olfactory emissions.
Can you tell us a bit about the research you did through Mitacs Accelerate that led to you winning theMitacs Award for Outstanding Innovation – PhD award?
They can be maneuvered around refinery stacks or high voltage power lines for inspections without risk to pilots, and survey crops or mining operations using a fraction of the fuel needed for a normal airplane or helicopter.
But for a UAV to be effective, it must be able to capture high quality photos and video while being controlled remotely.
Found in the glacial deposit at Kisameet Bay on the British Columbia coast, the clay, now trademarked as “Kisolite”, is naturally antimicrobial.
Kisameet Glacial Clay Inc. has exclusive rights to harvest the clay for commercial use. But the company needed solid scientific evidence of its medicinal properties prior to going to market.
