Innovation starts with asking the right questions.

For Transport Genie Ltd., a deceptively simple question vexing Canadian biosecurity experts sparked a collaboration that accelerated development of the company’s smart sensor technology and brought it to the cusp of commercial success.

Based in Aurora, Ont., the company is working with two Mitacs interns supervised by University of Saskatchewan’s Dr. Terry Fonstad to advance sensors that monitor animal welfare during transport.

The fashion industry has an environmental problem and Iris Redinger is working to address a significant part of the challenge: clothing dyes. Her innovative solution uses micro-organisms that naturally produce colour. 

Nathalie Gingras-Royer, a master’s graduate in vision sciences from Université de Montréal, is working on the development of an inclusive technology that will address the needs of people with visual impairment. As part of her master’s, she took part in the Mitacs Accelerate program to carry out an internship with VMWare, a company that provides virtualisation and cloud computing software and services. 

After turning conventional wisdom on its head — by exploring the role that lactic acid plays in cancer cells even though scientists have long considered it a harmless waste product — University of British Columbia (UBC) researcher Stephen Yiu Chuen Choi is using his breakthrough discovery to develop a first-of-its-kind treatment for difficult-to-treat prostate cancers. 

Thierry Judge, a master’s student in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Sherbrooke, has developed a technology that identifies when results generated by emerging artificial intelligence (AI) systems — which speed up analysis of ultrasound images to detect heart disease — are incorrect or uncertain. The software, called CRISP, is currently being tested by Oxford, UK-based, Ultromics Ltd, a leader in AI echocardiography. 

A lack of innovation in prosthetics in recent decades means opportunity for Halifax start-up Awenza Health Inc. Founded two years ago, the company is working to disrupt the prosthetics market and provide better solutions for patients through new technologies. 

The need 

Many current products on the market, says CEO Sam Awara, cause high levels of discomfort and even pain in some situations. So Awenza is building a suite of products to solve these issues for those with limb differences. 

While Juliette Champeil pursues her PhD in Chemical Engineering at Laval University, she also serves as co-founder and CEO of her bioengineering start-up, Ivano Bioscience. The company is advancing Champeil’s breakthrough innovation: ready-to-use lab test kits that come pre-loaded with bioengineered artificial cells and viruses designed to mimic real life. The test kits speed up the process for testing new vaccines, helping them get to market faster. 

Speedy solution 

Injuries and bad habits can derail an athlete’s career and quality of life. Pascal McCarthy learned this first-hand when his professional volleyball career was cut short due to recurring injuries. That’s when he saw the gaps in the medical system when it comes to treating sports injuries, including concussions, and decided to do something about it. 

Karina Gasbarrino uses AI to tackle the second-leading cause of death and third-leading cause of disability worldwide – stroke. Her journey started more than a decade ago when she lost her grandfather to a sudden stroke. Since then, she has devoted her academic career to his memory, helping to advance early detection and diagnosis of harmful fatty deposits in the arteries of the neck. Rupturing of these plaques is the main cause of strokes. 

It’s difficult, dirty and dangerous work, but someone has to do it. For clients of Copperstone Technologies, that someone is an amphibious robot.