Projets novateurs réalisés

Digital Media & Membership Innovation Intern

The Educator Experience is creating an innovative private podcast platform designed to deliver exclusive, high-value content to a dedicated educator audience while fostering community engagement and long-term member relationships. This internship will focus on building the foundation for the platform, including researching best practices for private podcast delivery, designing the member experience, developing content access strategies, and integrating monetization pathways. The intern will work closely with the founder to craft a unique, niche-specific experience that goes beyond traditional podcasting—transforming it into an interactive, membership-driven learning community.

Development of the Market-Ready Next-Generation Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) Data Collection & Analysis System

This project focuses on developing a ready-to-market Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) Data Collection & Analysis System to improve the accuracy and efficiency of NDT assessment. By automating data collection and analysis, the system will reduce assessment costs by over 50%, making inspections faster and more reliable as well as providing asset maintenance advice and lifespan prediction. The project will finalize the design, test performance, and prepare for production, helping Archirit bring an innovative and cost-effective solution to the industr

Conception et création d’un nouveau matériau issu de la fusion du verre et d’un autre solide (céramique, verre…)

Les verres d’oxydes occupent présentement une place considérable dans tous les secteurs industriels. L’intérêt majeur de ces verres réside dans leur large éventail de propriétés grâce à la possibilité de créer des objets personnalisés pour répondre aux demandes d’une application particulière. De ce fait, l’innovation est essentielle pour découvrir des nouveaux verres qui peuvent être utilisés dans diverses applications où les verres de silice classiques ont déjà atteint leurs limites de performance. C’est dans ce contexte qu’est né ce projet qui s’intéresse au développement d’un nouveau verre d’oxyde de nouvelles compositions vitreuses basées sur la présence de composés fortement ioniques de formule SiO2-Na2O-Al2O3-MxOy (M = B, La, Ba, Sr…). La synthèse de ce matériau sera effectuée tout en apportant des modifications dans les compositions de verre pour le rendre plus résistant au choc thermique, facile à utiliser et opérationnel. Les propriétés thermo-mécaniques, la durabilité chimique envers des milieux agressifs et la capacité à générer des cristaux de façon contrôlable de compositions vitreuses spécifiques seront étudiées. Dans le but de déterminer les énergies d’activation et les coefficients d’Avrami et d’optimiser les paramètres thermiques, des études de dévitrification seront effectuées également.

Morton Food Service

This project will help Morton’s Foods make better day-to-day decisions and coordinate customer outreach. We will review available sales, orders, product, and inventory data to define a short list of clear KPIs and build easy-to-read dashboards for leaders and operations. In parallel, we will set up a simple, multi-user SMS process with shared templates, consent/opt-out handling, and basic tracking of replies and re-orders. The work will fit the tools the company already uses and be documented so staff can maintain it. Expected benefits include a consistent view of performance and trends, quicker customer follow-ups, improved demand visibility, fewer stockouts, and stronger repeat orders for the partner organization.

TrendAI Market Innovation Research

Project Summary

TrendAI is an advanced AI-powered SaaS platform designed to transform the fashion industry by enabling brands to anticipate trends, optimize inventory, and improve customer engagement. This project centers on two complementary initiatives: primary market research and innovation development.

The research project focuses on identifying niche opportunities within the Canadian fashion market and ensuring strong product-market fit. Key activities include mapping target customer segments such as independent retailers, mid-sized brands, and e-commerce businesses; analyzing their pain points in demand forecasting, inventory management, and consumer engagement; and validating the effectiveness of TrendAI’s solution. A critical component of this research is the recruitment of potential customers as beta testers. Their insights will shape TrendAI’s roadmap, ensuring its features and strategy are directly aligned with industry needs.

The innovation project builds on these insights to refine TrendAI’s business model, marketing strategies, and product offerings. Emphasis will be placed on enhancing AI algorithms for improved forecasting accuracy, developing a user-friendly interface, and ensuring seamless integration with e-commerce and inventory management systems. In parallel, targeted go-to-market strategies will be developed to accelerate adoption among Canadian fashion brands.

A marketing intern will play a vital role in executing these initiatives, conducting competitive and trend research, engaging early adopters, supporting marketing content and campaigns, and analyzing customer feedback.

The methodology combines AI-driven market analysis, digital marketing tools, and structured feedback loops through surveys, interviews, and beta testing. This iterative approach ensures both the product and strategy evolve in line with customer requirements and market realities.

The outcome of this project will be a validated market position in Canada, a strong base of early adopters, and a refined platform offering. By aligning its innovative analytics solution with customer needs, TrendAI is positioned to become a leader in AI-powered solutions for the fashion industry.

AI-Driven Workplace Accommodation System

Magnify Access is partnering with Sheridan’s Centre for Applied AI (CAAI) to advance the Workplace Accommodation System (W-PAS), a technology platform designed to streamline workplace accommodations for employees with disabilities. This collaborative project has two key objectives: (A) to strengthen the Artificial Intelligence (AI) component of W-PAS to improve the accuracy and relevance of its accommodation recommendations and (B) to validate the platform’s assumptions and outputs through research and testing. The project will engage Sheridan’s staff, faculty, and students in developing machine learning models using curated datasets of workplace accommodations, functional limitations, and environments. It will also include structured validation activities, such as user testing and expert reviews, to ensure that W-PAS’s recommendations align with real-world needs and accessibility standards. The anticipated outcomes include the creation of a robust, AI-enabled recommendation engine, evidence-based insights into accommodation best practices, and new knowledge on how AI can reduce barriers in workplace inclusion. For Sheridan’s students, this project will provide valuable applied research experience in AI, accessibility, and inclusive design. For industry and community partners, the project promises a validated and scalable solution that improves efficiency for employers, reduces bias in decision-making, and creates a more equitable and productive work environment for employees with disabilities.

Large Scale Airline Crew Scheduling

In the airline industry, crew planning is an essential task that every airline will face. Flight crew expenses constitute the second largest operating cost (Kohl and Karisch. 2004), second only to the rising cost of fuel. Crew planning refers to the assignment of flight segments to pilots and flight attendants so that they start and end at their base city, do not work more than the allowed time, etc. Because crew planning has a significant economic impact on the financial wellbeing of an airline, even small percentage improvements can easily translates into large cost savings, especially in nowadays’ highly competitive aviation industry with many low-fare carriers and thin profit margins. Given the numbers of flights and flight attendants, optimizing such an operation for an airline is daunting task. Navtech is a Waterloo-based company that specializes in helping airlines perform this complex operation. The current project will explore more advanced ways to improve the current solution platform they provide.

Biomedical Engineering Research Internship

The proposed project aims to improve and scale femfit – a medical device designed to help women manage urinary incontinence – for increased manufacturing capabilities and improved performance. Interns Sarah Mack and Mairi Brydon will work alongside acclaimed researchers at the pelvic floor group of the University of Auckland; Sarah focusing on adjusting the injection molding manufacturing process to accommodate a larger production volume, and Mairi researching ways to make the sensor array within femfit more durable. By enhancing the reliability and production capabilities of femfit the interns are contributing to urinary incontinence research – an extremely relevant yet rarely discussed aspect of women’s health. This research helps to connect two institutes on opposite sides of the globe, aiding in strengthening the research community at Memorial University by fostering connections between students and professors alike. It reinforces Memorial’s position as a reputable and innovative institute, and provides the interns with unique international research, training, and learning opportunities.

L2M – Scalable 3D Digital Twin Creation for Large Scale Infrastructure Using Autonomous UAVs, NeRF, and Metaverse Platform

In Canada’s remote and weather-challenged regions, inspecting critical infrastructure like bridges or monitoring agricultural sites such as vertical farms often involves costly, dangerous, and infrequent field visits. This project explores whether there is a commercial market for a new platform that enables engineers to perform these inspections remotely, using virtual reality (VR), autonomous drones, and artificial intelligence.

The technology creates high-detail 3D digital replicas—called “digital twins”—of real-world assets like bridges. It uses drones to collect data, AI to automatically detect cracks or damage, and VR to let users inspect and collaborate without needing to be on site. The aim of this project is not to develop the technology further, but to validate whether infrastructure owners and operators would actually buy and use it. Through interviews with companies like Manitoba Hydro and municipal inspection teams, we will identify pain points, test pricing models, and determine how this system could best support Canada’s infrastructure needs.

If successful, this solution could significantly reduce inspection costs, improve safety, and help ensure early detection of problems in hard-to-reach areas—ultimately making Canada’s infrastructure smarter, safer, and more resilient.

Fabrication and Design internship

Seacork Studio is developing compostable architectural acoustic panels made from a seaweed biocomposite. This internship project will support Seacork in designing and producing a professional sample kit program, a impact-plaque system,and product photography. This creates a repeatable pipeline for design-firm outreach, accelerates specifications, and strengthens evidence-based sustainability storytelling at installs.

Further investigation of Paced Electrogram Fraction Analysis (PEFA)

The goal of this project is to develop a faster and more accurate way to detect ventricular tachycardia using an algorithm to analyze the signal results from Paced Electrogram Fractionation Analysis (PEFA); ideally real time through use of a basket catheter. St Jude Medical, our research partner, creates medical hardware specifically geared towards detecting and treating heart disease, including arrhythmia. If we are successful in our endeavor, they hope to gain an improved diagnostic system. This system will be more accurate than their old system (EnSite Velocity®), as it will use pacing rather than passive signals in the heart, and faster, as it will use a basket catheter to concurrently map all sites. The end result of this will be that fewer patients with ventricular tachycardia will be missed in hospitals and, in turn, fewer patents will present with associated diseases such as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and myocardial infarctions.

The development of a disposable stick-on hip protector for the prevention of hip fractures in hospitalized patients

Hip fractures exert a profound toll on the independence and quality of life of older people, and over 95% are due to falls. Over 2000 hip fractures occur annually in hospitals in Canada. Wearable hip protectors are a promising method for preventing hip fractures, but patient compliance in wearing traditional garment-based hip protectors averages below 20%. In this project, we will examine whether patient compliance in wearing the device is improved by a disposable, low cost stick-on hip protector, which provides increased force attenuation, and little risk for pad shifting, when compared to current devices. A pre-post intervention trial will be conducted in two wards at Surrey Memorial Hospital. Our sample size will allow us to detect a clinically meaningful difference of 20% in compliance. This project will immerse the intern in working with industry and clinical collaborators to evaluate new technology in the clinical environment. Our clinical trial results may provide our industry partner, Blue Tree, with an evidence base necessary for successful product marketing, and essential information for further design iterations.