Innovative Projects Realized

Transformation numérique du processus d’affaires de Darspec

Le stage a pour objectif d’effectuer la transformation numérique du processus d’affaires de Darspec.
Le stage sera réalisé par Mathieu Devar et supervisé par Sylvain Boudrias (Darspec) et Mohammad Jahazi (ÉTS).

BSI at Planetary Hydrogen and Review of Clean-Tech Supply Chains

At the end of 2020, the Government of Canada released its Healthy Environment and Healthy Economy plan. One of the aims of this plan is to support Canadian companies in the transition to a clean economy. The framework of action items laid out in this plan has significant implications for Canadian business (i.e. tax credits, access to funding, and more). The goal of this internship is to: 1) identify the potential implications of the plan on Planetary Hydrogen
2) identify opportunities for Planetary Hydrogen to strengthen its business model under the framework proposed by the plan, and 3) scanning the literature and best industry practices on clean-tech supply chains.

Genus Capital Management – ESG/Fintech Analyst

Like many businesses, we are investing in strategy and technology to market to, sell to, onboard, and service prospects and clients in a remote and digital reality.
For investment services this will include expanded social media and content strategies, communication techniques such as webinar/podcast, fintech implementation to replace paper forms and ID verification, better advisor and client dashboards, and more. Much of this was underway pre-COVID, but the pandemic has accelerated adoption and acceptance of the work. It has also significantly increased the importance.

Finning International – Global Tax & Financial Reporting Intern

There is increased pressure on Finance to produce reports and financial information quickly to support decision making and risk mitigation. The Credit and Collections team and Global Financial Reporting Transformation teams are working in partnership to support this priority through the deployment of a comprehensive credit and collections system. An intern would support this initiative by working with end Finance users to understand business requirements, and assist in the development, testing, and deployment of this solution.

Automatic Tagging for Document Retrieval in Corporate Environments

Knowledge-intensive industries accumulate content at a rate and volume that is impossible for humans to manually organize and retrieve. A typical search engine based on keywords is not effective, because the user must provide the exact words contained in the text of the document or description of an entity and cannot filter search results based on the implicit context of the search. The search capabilities of the search engine can be extended by content metadata in the form of tags. However, manually adding metadata to each content element has prohibitive cost. Oris4 is a product that aims to provide easy access to corporate content by automatically extracting the required metadata for search. The proposed project aims to apply recent research results in automatic tagging of documents in large corpora towards substantially enhancing the quality of metadata in Oris4 and thereby making it a more competitive product in the marketplace.

Ocean Allies 3

The Ocean Allies project has a total value of more than $420,000 where the Ocean Supercluster will provide $250,000 with the balance of funding coming from project partners. Led by Pisces Research Project Management Inc together with partners Upswing Solutions, Huntsman Marine Science Centre, Assembly of First Nations, BioNB, Centre for Ocean Ventures and Entrepreneurship (COVE), Irving Shipbuilding, Nova Scotia Business Inc, Ocean Technology Council of Nova Scotia, Ocean Frontier Institute, OceansAdvance, PanGeo Subsea, Synapse, Mitacs, and Ulnooweg, this project is designed to access, engage, and support a diverse ocean economy through targeted strategic activities.

Axtion Independence Mobility Inc. – BSI for Production and Regulatory Readiness

Axtion Independence Mobility Inc. was founded in January of 2020 to design in-home, affordable devices to help seniors and others with mobility challenges remain living independently and with dignity. Axtion’s first design combines a rollator walker with an elevating seat to help fall victims recover from a fall. The elevating seat also stops at any height between the floor and counter stool height, making everyday activities easier and reducing the risk of falls.

Over the last year, and with the support of Mitacs and its Accelerate internship program, Axtion developed the basic design for our product, obtained our provisional patent and fabricated its functional prototype. Axtion will continue to iterate through prototypes this Spring and will be ready to approach and engage potential contract manufacturers (CM) and distributors. This BSI Program will help Axtion will help Axtion prepare for production manufacturing and the regulatory approval processes.

The intern will evaluate two to three possible business models and recommend the best fit for Axtion and identify potential CMs and Distributors. In parallel, Axtion will pursue the required regulatory establishment licenses for Canada, the US and the UK and the conformity assessment for the EU.

Craft Food and Beverage Space Sharing Project

This project is designed to support the local food sector in Squamish, which is one of the hardest-hit sectors from COVID-19. Many businesses have been forced to close for several months, and travel restrictions have limited the number of visitors to our region, further reducing revenues.

To support businesses in adapting to the pandemic, this project aims to facilitate ways for businesses to reduce costs and/or generate additional revenues, by creating a platform for businesses to share resources and assets locally.

The goal of the project is to research, conceptualize, and design a simple, self-serve tool that allows local food entrepreneurs to find commercial kitchen, refrigeration, and ingredient/equipment storage space at an affordable cost. Simultaneously, a key project goal is to support local food and beverage establishments in generating additional revenue, by offering a platform where they can quickly and easily advertise their un-used space and other assets for rent.

The goal of this project is to design a tool that’s optimized for users, including the research, user-centered design process, specifications development, and prototypes.

Goodside Internship

Goodside is an HR-focused marketing agency that showcases the vast hiring possibilities available. They are a start-up who believe there’s a better way to attract talent. A more engaging, less boring way, where applicants can get inspired.
Their mission is to make hiring an exciting experience by turning lifeless job ads into personable videos, and they strive to make the process super simple and affordable to small businesses. They work to help match individuals and organizations with the position that best suits them both. In this ever-changing world, social media plays a crucial role in connecting the right people with the right job. Goodside helps streamline this process through marketing strategies and tools, to help serve their clients in the best way possible. Having an organization take on the data collection, marketing and more to predict better job matches, gives the client more time to focus on the business itself. Goodside takes on the responsibility of filtering potential applicants and fitting the perfect applicant for every position. With Goodside, businesses can be confident that the employees they attract will not only have the skills but the personality that fits the job.

Qubit Systems Business Development Intern

Qubit Systems designs and builds instrumentation for research and teaching in the biological sciences. Founded 25 years ago, the company sells equipment to universities, research institutes and commercial entities worldwide. Products are used across the entire spectrum of the biological sciences including bioreactors to cultivate algae and bacteria; respirometers to monitor the metabolic activity of fish; insects and mammals; portable systems for monitoring photosynthesis in plants; analysers for measuring greenhouse gas emissions; and wearable systems for evaluating the cardiovascular fitness of human subjects.

Qubit Systems faces several challenges to its business model as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, primarily a result of the sudden and increasingly urgent need to improve and modernize its online branding and presence. It must also continue to provide value and expertise to potential and existing customers – a mission that was previously tackled largely in-person through trade shows, meetings and conferences.

In my first Mitacs internship with Qubit Systems, the team and I put in place a long-term strategy that includes new branding elements, and a newsletter and content creation strategy.

On-demand streamflow projections in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic – RES0054182

The streamflow forecasting tool proposed here will automate data collection and processing for machine learning (data-driven) models by querying online databases from Alberta Agriculture and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and then using the received data to predict the current year’s average monthly and seasonal streamflow with minimal input from users. Of relevance during Covid-19, the proposed web-based tool will ensure rapid, online and “on demand” delivery of monthly and seasonal streamflow forecasts for irrigation districts, provincial agencies and other stakeholders. Previously, predictions were delivered in-person in workshops or through infrequent individual emails. From a business perspective, access to the online streamflow projection tool will be combined with access to a powerful reservoir management model called WEB.BM (Optimal Solutions Ltd.), which will provide beneficial exposure to both products. The PhD student will learn about water resources planning and management at a river basin scale, data-driven modeling, and developing web-based forecasting tools. Further, through collaboration with our partner organization and user community, the PhD student will be well prepared for interdisciplinary water resources management, water policy and academic work, which – like Alberta with its Water for Life strategy – are moving towards an interdisciplinary, integrated watershed management approach.

LIAM First – Accounting & Special Projects

The project will be a continuance of helping the organization to become online and to streamlining processes to allow staff to work remotely and to be able to recruit staff from outside Fort McMurray and allow current staff to work efficiently while working remote.