Projets novateurs réalisés

TRLUP– Autonomous Long-Endurance Drone System

This project focuses on developing a long-endurance autonomous multirotor drone capable of performing continuous aerial operations for emergency response, environmental monitoring, and remote delivery. It addresses the critical gap between costly manned helicopters—which can cost over $50,000 per hour and operate for only a few hours—and short-range electric drones that can fly for less than 40 minutes.

The system under development is a generator-powered vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft designed to fly for more than 12 hours and hover for over 18 hours. This unique combination of endurance, autonomy, and portability makes it ideal for missions that require persistent observation and rapid deployment in remote or hazardous environments.

The project’s objectives include completing prototype integration, establishing a detailed testing and certification roadmap, and validating market needs across multiple sectors such as wildfire management, border security, and critical infrastructure monitoring. Its modular architecture enables quick assembly, maintenance, and transport, providing a practical and scalable alternative to conventional aircraft for extended aerial operations.

By developing a Canadian-made, fuel-efficient, and low-maintenance aerial system, the project will enhance Canada’s domestic capacity in advanced aerospace and robotics technologies. The development process will foster collaboration with local industry partners and research institutions, driving job creation, supply-chain growth, and national self-reliance in aerial surveillance and disaster-response systems.

Once operational, the drone will enable government and industry users to reduce operational costs, emissions, and safety risks associated with long-duration missions, while strengthening Canada’s ability to monitor and protect its environment, borders, and remote communities.

TRLUP Aromatase Nutritional Sciences

Small packs of vitamin and mineral dense gummy candies which are formulated to cater for those on gender affirming hormone treatment (GAHT). The product formulation is to be designed around a biochemistry-focused literary review model which maps hormonal pathway connections to vitamin and mineral needs. Additional research will be done on gummy composition to maximize vitamin and mineral release and absorption in the body. Furthermore, the learnings can be applied to many other areas of nutrition. The gummy composition can be used as a delivery system for any type of nutrients. Understanding the connection between the hormone system and vitamins and minerals will allow further expansion into assistance for other treatments. For example, perimenopause hormone replacement therapy (HRT) or cancer-focused endocrine therapy which supports surgery and chemotherapy. The project can open routes into similar areas of research for the partner organization.

L2M –Anchored Wellbeing: A Maritime Health & Safety Solution

Newfoundland and Labrador welcomes over 28,000 seafarers each year who support key sectors such as offshore energy, fisheries, and international trade. Despite the province’s deep maritime heritage, St. John’s remains the only major Canadian port without a dedicated Seafarers’ Centre. This gap limits access to essential welfare services, rest facilities, and communication support for visiting crews, many of whom spend extended periods at sea.

The project Anchored Wellbeing: A Maritime Health & Safety Solution seeks tohttps://apply.mitacs.ca/project/bsi/14097/internships address this need by developing a coordinated welfare model for the Port of St. John’s, combining a physical Seafarers’ Centre with a digital wellbeing platform. This innovative approach will enhance seafarers’ access to support while strengthening community partnerships.

Led by Morgane Sheppard, Station Manager of the Mission to Seafarers NL and researcher at Memorial University, in partnership with Dr. Desai Shan, Assistant Professor and expert in maritime occupational health and safety, the project brings together academic insight and frontline experience. The outcomes will provide an evidence-based framework for sustainable welfare delivery that can be replicated across Canadian ports.

L2M-A Novel Portable Ozone Generator Using Tunable Piezoelectric Transformer for Ocean Water Purification

Aquaculture and coastal water treatment facilities across Atlantic Canada and beyond are facing increasing challenges in maintaining reliable water quality. Marine environments are burdened by nutrient runoff, pathogens, and pollution that directly impact fish health, leading to frequent contamination events and yield losses of 10–30%. These losses translate into millions of dollars in damages annually and jeopardize the growth of Canada’s aquaculture sector, which already represents a $2 billion industry in Atlantic provinces alone.
Conventional disinfection methods are inadequate for this context. Chlorine-based systems leave harmful byproducts that threaten marine ecosystems, making them unsuitable for aquaculture. While ozone is recognized as a powerful and residue-free disinfectant, current ozone generation technologies are large, stationary, and energy-intensive, requiring stable grid electricity and costly infrastructure. This limits their accessibility for smaller operators, remote coastal communities, and mobile facilities. The gap is structural: there is no compact, renewable-powered ozone generation system designed for direct ocean water treatment.
The partner organization, Lab2Market Validate, focuses on bridging the gap between research excellence and commercialization outcomes. It provides training and entrepreneurial support to transform academic research into innovative, market-ready solutions. The innovation challenge in this project is to validate and commercialize a novel portable ozone generator based on tunable piezoelectric transformers (TPT) and wide bandgap (GaN) power electronics. Unlike conventional systems, this solution can deliver stable, efficient ozone generation directly from renewable energy sources such as PV, batteries, or fuel cells, enabling operation in off-grid and variable conditions.
The expertise required to solve this problem spans advanced power electronics, renewable energy integration, and applied ozone generation technology. My lab has extensive experience in designing compact, high-efficiency power converters, which are critical for driving dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) chambers. This technical expertise, combined with Lab2Market’s commercialization support, uniquely positions this project to overcome current market barriers and create a eco-friendly solution.

L2M – Silver Vantage Software – Fall Detection

This project will validate the market and technical feasibility of Silver Vantage Software’s privacy-preserving thermal fall-detection system for senior care. The system uses small thermal sensors to detect falls automatically without recording identifiable images, protecting resident privacy while improving response times. Through this project, we will engage healthcare partners and facility operators to confirm product requirements, pricing expectations, and installation workflows while testing the performance of our current pilot devices in real-world environments. The outcomes will help refine the product specifications, identify key adoption barriers, and create a clear path from pilot validation to commercial rollout. This will directly benefit the partner organization by reducing risk, guiding manufacturing and partnership decisions, and ensuring strong product-market fit before large-scale production.

L2M – MeasleScan Field Effect Transistor

MeasleScan FET is a portable biosensor that uses field-effect transistor (FET) technology to detect measles virus rapidly at the point of care. Unlike current tests such as PCR and ELISA, which are accurate but slow, costly, and lab-dependent, this device delivers real-time, label-free detection directly from clinical samples. The goal is to provide a low-cost, easy-to-use tool that can be deployed in clinics, hospitals, public health units, and especially in remote or resource-limited settings.

L2M-Conversion of Seafood waste to nanoparticles for applications in Agriculture, Medicine, Waste Water Treatment and Renewable Energy

This project aims to convert seafood waste such as shells, bones, and seaweed trimmings into valuable nanoparticles using nanotechnology. Instead of discarding these materials, they will be transformed into eco-friendly products for use in agriculture, medicine, wastewater treatment, and renewable energy. The nanoparticles will help improve soil health, enhance crop nutrition, clean polluted water, and support the development of green energy technologies. This approach not only reduces environmental pollution but also creates new economic opportunities by turning waste into useful, high-value materials. The partner organization will benefit through access to innovative, sustainable technologies that can be commercialized across multiple sectors, promoting both environmental and economic growth.

L2M-Quiecean

Quiecean develops a Cold Atmospheric Plasma (CAP) device that reduces underwater noise and pollutants to protect marine ecosystems. The project validates its technical design and business model for commercialization in Canada’s blue economy.

L2M-High-Performance MOFs for Direct Ocean Carbon Capture

The proposed project focuses on developing and testing metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) for capturing CO2 from both the air and seawater. The intern will identify promising MOF materials, conduct laboratory experiments to measure CO2 uptake, and use computational and machine learning tools to predict performance and optimize designs. The project also includes evaluating the costs, energy requirements, and potential market applications of these materials. By the end of the internship, the partner organization will gain valuable technical data on high-performing MOFs, insights into scalable CO2 capture strategies, and guidance on commercialization pathways, supporting innovation and potential future deployment of carbon removal technologies.

L2M – Innovative Strategy for Reducing Energy Consumption and Pollutant Emissions in Liquid Fuel Carrier Ships

This project will develop two integrated boil-off gas recovery and re-liquefaction systems for liquefied natural gas and liquefied hydrogen carriers that harness ship exhaust heat and convert it into usable energy through the Kalina power cycle and water-ammonia absorption refrigeration unit. Unlike conventional re-liquefaction systems that require burning additional fuel to produce cooling, the proposed solution will utilize waste heat to reduce onboard energy demand. This approach lowers operating costs by decreasing fuel consumption for BOG management, reduces greenhouse gas and other pollutant emissions, improves coastal air and water quality, and helps operators meet the International Maritime Organization standards through a scalable and optimized design. For the partner organization, this project will create practical, low-carbon technologies that can be adopted by shipbuilders, shipping companies, and clean-tech providers. It will reduce operating costs, improve environmental performance, and support Canada’s role as a reliable and sustainable energy exporter.

L2M- Protvac

Protvac aims to unlock the dark proteome against cancer by uncovering novel therapeutic targets. Studies show the non-coding DNA (dark genome) that has been thought to be irrelevant till now can translate into previously unannotated targets. In one proteogenomic study of human tumors, nearly 90% of tumor-specific antigens came from non-coding regions areas that standard exome methods would miss. These antigens are unique to cancer and could be recognized by body’s immune systems suggesting their potential as a new class of therapeutic candidates for cancer (Laumont et. al., 2018). Current treatment options for advanced cancers like prostate cancer, remain limited and many patients fail to respond to existing therapies. Thus, there is an urgent unmet need to expand the landscape of therapeutic targets.
The key challenges in commercialization are (1) establishing clear product-market fit in a crowded oncology innovation space, (2) building awareness and credibility for dark proteome-derived targets among investors and potential partners, and (3) prioritizing which therapeutic areas and validation pathways to pursue first.
Day-to day, the team focuses on discovery and lab validation. Through the L2M Validate program, this project adds commercialization-focused activities that bridge science to market. We will run multiple customer-discovery interviews with clinicians, pharma leaders, and investors to surface buying criteria, pricing signals, and partnership paths. Rather than continuing standard lab-based validation, the project introduces a structured market discovery process that will size the market and rank indications using epidemiology and adoption assumptions to produce a defensible focus list, starting with prostate cancer. This will allow the partner organization to translate deep-tech innovation into viable market applications, develop a commercialization roadmap, and strengthen its capacity to launch future biotech ventures- activities that extend far beyond regular academic or operational work.

TRLUP – ParkSmart (AI-Powered Parking Slot Detection and Analytics)

ParkSmart is an AI-powered parking analytics platform designed to make parking management more efficient, accessible, and sustainable for cities, campuses, and organizations. The system utilizes existing camera footage and applies computer vision and artificial intelligence to detect parked vehicles and identify stall occupancy in real time. Through this approach, ParkSmart generates live parking availability simulation maps for commuters, accessible via a mobile application, and provides data-driven analytical dashboards for city planners and administrators. By reusing existing cameras rather than installing new sensors, the project offers a cost-effective and scalable solution for smart parking and traffic optimization.

During the BSI Internship, ParkSmart will focus on refining its prototype to enhance detection accuracy, optimize performance across various weather and lighting conditions, and further develop the mobile application that integrates real-time availability simulation maps. The dashboard will display key metrics such as parking demand patterns, occupancy rates, and turnover times, enabling planners to make informed policy decisions and improve urban mobility without additional infrastructure investment. ParkSmart will also conduct market validation to assess the actual need for such a service and determine how much parking space owners are willing to pay, thereby identifying the product–market fit.

This partnership benefits North Forge by advancing its mission to support innovation-driven startups addressing real urban challenges. The collaboration enhances North Forge’s portfolio of sustainable technology ventures, promotes the application of AI in urban problem-solving, and provides visibility into emerging data-driven transportation solutions. Together, the partnership aims to deliver a practical and sustainable mobility solution that reduces congestion, lowers emissions, and contributes to smarter, greener, and more connected cities. Meanwhile, ParkSmart will receive business mentorship, technical guidance, and commercialization support to strengthen its go-to-market strategy. North Forge’s experience in nurturing early-stage startups will help ParkSmart evolve from a research-based initiative into a market-ready product.