John Hepburn, CEO and Scientific Director of Mitacs talks about $40 M federal government funding (18:55-34:55) Listen here…

A Canadian biopharmaceutical company focused on cannabinoid-based products has been awarded a Mitacs grant (sponsored by the Canadian government) to work on a treatment for lung inflammation associated with COVID-19, in tandem with the University of Toronto’s faculty of pharmacy. According to information procured exclusively, the publicly traded company in question, Avicanna Inc, will be […]

Ninety-eight per cent of Canadian businesses have fewer than 500 employees. These small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are critical to our economy. Furthermore, Canada has some of the highest rates of early-stage entrepreneurship in the OECD. With approximately 15 per cent of the Canadian working-age population having undertaken a business startup in the last three […]

Two professors at the Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy (JSGS) in Saskatoon and Regina are working to help Indigenous and northern communities fight against COVID-19 with new digital technologies, according to a release from the University of Saskatchewan. The projects will introduce Indigenous and northern communities to digital technologies that can help reduce […]

Katapally, a population health researcher, is developing an app with Île-à-la-Crosse residents to provide key decision-making data to Indigenous leaders during the pandemic. The app allows residents to voluntarily report any COVID-19-like symptoms, tracking their movement in the community to better inform containment efforts. “Northern and Indigenous communities are at serious risk of loss due […]

A collaboration between Lakehead University and a high-tech company has netted the Thunder Bay post-secondary institution some funding for a research internship. Salimur Choudhury, an assistant professor in computer science at Lakehead, has been working with Mesh Scheduling Inc. on the software for an automated staff scheduler in the health-care industry. Read more…

The partnership support comes in the form of 100 Mitacs internships for COVID-19-specific projects, funded by a $375,000 investment from Innovate BC. The funding infusion from Innovate BC coupled with Mitacs’s leveraged funds offsets the standard company-partner contribution towards the intern’s stipend and increases access to research during this pandemic. This funding will be distributed […]

The technology is being given to Western University scientists, who hope to harness the technology to produce antibodies from microalgae. Serology tests – i.e. testing for antibodies – will be an important tool for managing both the economy and the disease, since these tests can determine who has immunity to the virus. Suncor had developed technology […]

VANCOUVER — If you’re a small to medium-sized enterprise (SME) with an idea that can contribute to Canada’s fight to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, a national research organization is ready to help. Mitacs, a not-for-profit organization based in Vancouver that fosters research related to industrial and social innovation, has announced an initiative that will fast-track projects. […]

Energy giant Suncor is joining the fight against COVID-19 by putting technology currently employed in its wastewater treatment processes to use with the aim of developing an at-home antibody test kit. The project — a partnership between the Calgary-based energy company and scientists at the University of Western Ontario — aims to use equipment and […]

Suncor Energy Inc. has teamed up with Western University scientists to tackle the shortage of COVID-19 tests, using technology intended to treat wastewater from refineries to produce home testing kits. The devices, which could be ready in a few months, would allow individuals to test small samples of bodily fluid, such as blood, for COVID-19 […]

Governments and technology companies around the world are working quickly to unveil contact tracing abilities, which could prove to be an important tool in limiting the spread of COVID-19, especially as more countries begin to loosen restrictions and reopen their economies. Yet while these types of tools are expected to be useful in protecting the general population, […]