Projets novateurs réalisés

Smart Textiles for Health and Well-being

McMaster University is collaborating with National Research Council Canada (NRC) under the AiP program of NRC, to develop smart textile technology that will integrate energy components into textile wearable products to provide daily and on-demand physical stimulus to the aged wearers. It aims to slow down or prevent the development of age-related health problems. The selected student will join the project and focus on creating localized compression in textile wearables to achieve the targeted physical stimulation. The technology is to integrate passive and active compression components into textile wearables to apply localized compression on body for achieving the equivalent effect of compression therapy or acupressure therapy. The localized compression will overcome the main problems of existing textile compression wearables that are hot, difficult to put on and uncomfortable. It will also introduce acupressure function into textile wearables so that wearers can receive its medical benefit conveniently and effectively.

Data Analytics and Communication Services for Career Services Professionals

Skill Squirrel has developed a web-based platform designed to help people in career transition, and challenged with accessing relevant career services. It serves to offer more purposeful matchmaking between job seekers, learners, trainers, and employers, while also reducing the workload of career services organizations (CSOs) and professionals that offer job search assistance, education recommendations and training programs. Through this Mitacs internship, Skill Squirrel wishes to enhance its Early Adopter Program (EAP), so that CSOs can achieve a better understanding of their client’s needs and achievements; the main project deliverable will be a prototype second iteration of the existing Skill Squirrel platform with new features that will focus on data analytics, this includes a data dashboard for career services professionals and user-to-user communication services. The enhancement of the existing EAP will support the small private and public career and education services providers, who rely heavily on government funding, which is often not paid out to the organization until after a job seeker they supported has been employed for one year. By allowing CSOs affordable access to tools like chat and other customer support services, it could improve communication and reporting for a mutually beneficial relationship between services providers and their clients, which would help to sustain small organizations and contribute towards keeping Canadians employed and helping more Canadians find new employment opportunities.

Optimisation de la Structure des programmes aux Startups

Le but du projet proposé est d’optimiser la structure des programmes d’accompagnement aux entreprises du Centech, en particulier les programmes Accélération et Propulsion. Ce projet contribuera au positionnement stratégique du Centech comme incubateur offrant un service exceptionnel à ses entreprises et contribuera à son rayonnement international. Le projet proposé devra répondre aux questions suivantes :

• Quels sont les enjeux spécifiques des programme Accélération et Propulsion du Centech ? Et comment répondre à ces enjeux ?
• Quels processus opérationnels mettre en place pour obtenir un accélérateur hautement performant, et qui s’intègre à l’écosystème d’innovation québécois et canadien?
• Comment optimiser les processus actuels pour renforcer le positionnement du Centech comme incubateur de calibre mondial ?

À travers ce projet, l’étudiant Mitacs aidera le Centech à déployer et réviser les programmes Accélération et Propulsion pour assurer leur réussite au sein de l’écosystème d’innovation de Montréal et tendre vers l’atteinte des objectifs pour l’ensemble des parties prenantes. Plus spécifiquement, l’objectif principal de ce projet est d’accompagner le Centech dans la restructuration de ses programmes

Evaluation of AI/ML systems and how they apply to discrete manufacturing (inspection of conformal coating of printed circuit boards)

Celestica has partnered with 3 separate AI suppliers to analyze live manufacturing data and provide solutions that will replace human inspection. The role of QMIND will be to evaluate the three different AI/Machine Learning systems on how they perform on the optical inspection of the conformal coating of the PCBs.

Model Living Contractor-Client Referral System

The home renovation industry as a whole has seen little innovation compared to other industries, and the experience for homeowners and contractors is abysmal. The intern will undertake a project to develop a Client Referral System that will allow contractors refer their clients to Model Living to take advantage of the software platform that dynamically design their spaces online and get upfront pricing in seconds. Contractors that are part of the Model Living network are already referring their clients to Model Living, however, without a proper referral system in place, the company is not able to take full advantage of this acquisition channel. Therefore the successful design and implementation of the Contractor Referral Program will directly contribute to Model Living achieving its growth targets.

Artificial Intelligence in the Mortgage Industry

GreenFlow Financial, with the help of our intern, Mr. Nikhil is looking to develop an opportunity in the financial services and artificial intelligence space. This project will focus on demonstrating applicable technology and evaluating the possibility of eliminating banks and brokers to deliver a fast and reliable mortgage matching system to the market with the use of artificial intelligence. This project has the potential of disrupting the industry by directing connect the lenders and borrowers. Our goal for Nikhil during this internship is to conduct thorough market research and assess the demand for such technology.
This project will support GreenFlow Financial in reaching its innovation goals and will assess the market opportunity and ability to build a product.

Whiz Trainer Inc

The Whiz Trainer skating aid can revolutionize the skating industry by encouraging more children to get involved in the sport of ice skating. The technology was developed in Newfoundland and is being manufactured on a small scale. In terms of the technology, children can learn as young as 2 years old can skate with ease and safety and without fear. With the Whiz Trainer, a child will actually enjoy his or her time on the ice and will want to keep coming back to learn how to skate. The technology provides a new approach to how children learn to skate. We need innovation and expertise in numerous aspects of the business, including manufacturing analysis – and sales and marketing.We have developed the product and it is being sold but we are missing expertise on how we are going to manufacture it (scale-up) especially in light of the pandemic and disrupted manufacturing and supply chains. This project has a dual focus and we have identified 2 business interns with complimentary skills to help us in both areas.

Pre-Clinical validation of Eyful’s solution providing general visual enhancements for AMD patients using augmented reality

Founded in 2019 in Montreal, Eyful is a young start-up at the juncture of technology and medicine. Our mission is to help people with retinal diseases regain their independence by enhancing and assisting their vision. More specifically, we have been working for the past two-years on assisting patients suffering from aged- related macular degeneration (AMD), using artificial intelligence (AI) and augmented reality (AR).

We have developed in-house algorithms predicting the visual symptoms of a patient diagnosed with AMD, as well corrections to help them see better, using AR. With the help of patients, we need to validate that our predictions are accurate and that our corrections are helpful in a systematic and replicable manner. To this end, we have partnered with an optometric clinic, and have prepared a pre-clinical trial. This trial will be the focus of this Mitacs project.

Project Co-ordinator

The Battlefords Chamber of Commerce has been impacted by COVID-19, but also our members have been impacted by the challenges and opportunities currently facing business in this environment. We are a member driven organization that serves the business community in a few key ways. We are an advocate for the business community, we offer networking opportunities and events, provide options for member affinity programs, as well as advertising and promotional opportunities.
We are a very small office / operation, and are in need of upgrading many of our processes, member materials, and streamlining office operations to become more efficient and effective. Beyond COVID, sources of non-dues revenue are important, and events cannot be the only source. Efficiencies and effectivess and streamling of processes is very important.
The projects for the Co-op student intern will be based on research, reviewing and proposing innovative solutions and options for the challenges, and identifying new and exciting ways to reach those member and non-member businesses.
We recently undertook an application for Accreditation nationally, and while that process has gone very well, it did indeed open a window into the need to update and upgrade processes and systems. To be the voice of business requires that we are a leader in many respects, and so to lead in business practices and model, it will be important to have additional human resources to assist in completing this work.

Wellington Greens Development Internship: New Client Acquisition and Comprehensive Business Model Creator

At the beginning of 2020, Nancy Wilson, the business owner, purchased a vertical farm from Freight Farms. Since then, she has been selling a variety of products to customers. As a business owner, her time has been devoted to all aspects of the business, like any new business. However, this has inhibited the growth of the business. Hiring an intern will allow Nancy to focus on the process of farming and Brendan, the intern, will research the demand for different types of products and acquire new clients. Together, Nancy and Brendan aim to develop a process whereby they know exactly what produce to grow each month based on the demand of the clients. Additionally, they plan to maximize yields from the farm by making the process as efficient as possible. Aside from the business model, they hope to use the business as a way to provide fresh produce to food outreach programs like the Food Bank.

Artificial Intelligence / Semantic Similarity Project

Avondx developed a Voice Analytics solution to assist companies in enhancing Customer Engagement by monitoring Customer Service Agents (CSA) interaction with customers in the retail market. Avondx wants to improve its voice analytics solution that can determine the semantic similarity between many different phrases. We are looking for assistance with artificial intelligence and neural network that deals with natural language processing.

Avondx wants to add a feature to its voice analytics solution that will improve the “engagement capture rate” of their current product. Every day, Avondx must record and process many interactions. We call these interactions “engagements”. Avondx would like to use machine learning and neural networks to be able to tell if an engagement is (or is similar to) a start phrase (or end phrase) that a CSA might use with a customer.

Through the Mitacs program we are looking for a resource that can assist our software development team to build the Semantic Similarity function.

Soil moisture estimation using satellite imageries for Canadian croplands

Agricultural water management, being a critical area in accordance with the freshwater consumption rate, should be regulated with the help of emerging cutting-edge research. Recent research proves that precision technologies significantly reduce the agricultural input cost for the farmers thereby increasing their net revenue at the end of harvest. Technologies such as AI, remote sensing, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV’s) etc. are the recent trend in agricultural research. Precise water and nutrient application to the crop fields reduce significant percent of agricultural input application. The results of this innovative research program will have a very significant impact on increasing the sustainability and economic competitiveness of irrigated agriculture in Canada, and internationally. Overall, the results from this research will be a beneficiary to water resource planners and irrigation managers in the real-time basis design, planning and allocation of irrigation water. Provincial and federal government will use the information to come-up with water policies to optimize water consumption.