Innovative Projects Realized

Assessment and Optimization of Chemical Extraction of Critical Metals from Li-ion Batteries (LIB) Waste

The proposed research project aims to explore a cost-effective and eco-friendly method for recycling lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) used in electric devices and electric vehicles. Lithium, cobalt, nickel, and copper, which are considered critical metals, are present in LIBs, and they are essential to the operation of electric vehicles and devices. After their lifetime, these batteries often end up in landfills, leading to significant environmental hazards. By developing an effective recycling process, it will be possible to recover valuable metals and reduce the amount of hazardous waste generated. This research project will contribute to a more sustainable and eco-friendly approach to battery recycling, which can help to reduce the environmental impact of waste batteries. The results of this project will be valuable for various organizations working in the field of battery recycling and recovery of critical metals.

Application of Artificial Intelligence in Human Fall Detection

Falls are a significant public health concern, particularly among older adults, who are more vulnerable to injury and death resulting from falls. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), falls are the second leading cause of accidental or unintentional injury deaths worldwide. With the global population aging rapidly, there is an urgent need to develop reliable and accurate fall detection systems.

The current approaches for fall detection include wearable and non-wearable devices, such as sensors, cameras, and accelerometers. However, these methods often suffer from limitations, such as low accuracy, false alarms, and inability to detect certain types of falls, such as falls from a seated position or falls on soft surfaces. The use of artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms has shown great potential in addressing these limitations by providing more accurate and reliable fall detection.

The application of AI in fall detection is a growing research area, with many recent studies exploring the use of machine learning, deep learning, and computer vision algorithms in human fall detection. These studies have shown that AI algorithms can significantly improve the accuracy and reliability of fall detection systems, particularly when combined with wearable and non-wearable devices.

Samantha Lin – Circular Economy in Canadian Fabric Manufacturing Industry

The intern will be participating in a project analyzing and growing upon a case study of advanced manufacturing circular economy initiatives in the global fabric manufacturing industry. They will create a proposal for how to integrate a circular economy in Canada’s manufacturing industry, utilizing key success stories, identifying vital partners in the current industry, and conducting research into best practices to work with existing practices and integrate new technologies and solutions. In addition, by collaborating with key project partners, including the Cansbridge Fellowship and the intern’s academic supervisor (Dr. Marcus Taylor), they will utilize their analytical sustainability perspectives and knowledge about development and production best practices to assess the feasibility and create a roadmap for advanced manufacturing integration in Canadian industries. The partner organization will provide direct mentorship through its alumni network with expertise spanning multiple sectors and different scales of impact. The direct benefit to the partner organization is the advanced manufacturing circular economy proposal that the organization’s alumni can integrate into existing and upcoming startups and business initiatives.

Mobilisation et accompagnement pour l’évaluation participative des projets du système alimentaire montréalais

La démarche d’évaluation participative des projets du volet alimentaire de Montréal en commun (MEC), un programme porté par le Laboratoire d’innovation urbaine de la Ville de Montréal (LIUM) issu de la candidature gagnante de la Ville au Défi des villes intelligentes du Canada, est appelé à changer d’échelle dans le cadre de ce projet de recherche, de mobilisation et d’accompagnement. Celui-ci vise en effet à élargir l’utilisation des outils d’évaluation développés dans ce contexte et à favoriser l’intégration de pratiques d’évaluation dans plusieurs organisations du système alimentaire montréalais. Ce projet contribuera à l’atteinte de deux des principaux objectifs et défis du LIUM, soit la pérennisation des projets et outils numériques développés dans le cadre de MEC et la mise à disposition de ces outils au plus grand nombre d’organisations montréalaises. Cela s’inscrit dans la vision du Défi des villes intelligentes du Canada de mettre les données aux services de la collectivité. Le projet d’élargissement de la démarche d’évaluation participative représente, d’une part, un héritage qui sera laissé par MEC, mais aussi une contribution à la consolidation des projets dans le système alimentaire montréalais.

Partner – Development of retail operations strategy for increased business demands

The Brackley Bay Oyster Company is a family-owned, boutique oyster packing and shipping facility. We ship wholesale to domestic markets, we have a federal CFIA license to allow us to ship internationally, and also have a retail location at our packing facility, which has been in operation for 3 years. After seeing the success of the retail operation, we decided to modify our business strategy and focus more on the retail sector. We had a piece of very valuable commercial property in a busy tourism location in Brackley Beach, in an underserved area, so we built a new larger, better served location and plan to open in June 2023.
Our expertise is in the oyster growing, processing and packing side of our business. We need help in the retail organizational skills and customer experience, human resource management and and the daily operation management that will be required. This project will assist in us, not only bringing someone on with this skill set, will help us learn and train an intern to continue work with us on a full-time, year round basis.

Addere | Service-conseil en changement climatique : Développement et normalisation de l’offre de cohorte pour entreprises

Dans le cadre du développement de son offre de services, ADDERE Service-conseil veut élaborer un parcours structuré d’accompagnement en changements climatiques sous forme de cohorte pour les entreprises, le tout dans le but d’accélérer la transition carbone des entreprises au Québec. ADDERE Service-conseil préfère travailler en cohorte (groupe d’entreprises) car cela mousse la motivation des entreprises participantes et mutualise les services offerts (ex : formations communes) donc diminue les coûts pour les entreprises.

Sourcing Intern 2023 – ETCH Sustainable Procurement Database Expansion Roll-out

While ESG initiatives and corporate social responsibility have become major priorities in boardrooms around the country, many organizations are still in need of support to execute specific strategies to tackle these important projects. As leading experts and champions within the sustainable procurement space in Canada, ETCH is uniquely positioned to apply its knowledge to instruct organizations on how to accelerate their environmental progress and implement sustainability directly into their business models. ETCH’s team of experts has developed an open-source Sustainable Procurement Database (https://www.etchsourcing.com/sustainableprocurementdatabase) for organizations to draw inspiration from and undertake sustainable initiatives in simple, digestible steps. This project will involve further development of the sustainable procurement database through the addition of multiple SDGs and designing the diversity, equity, and inclusion component of our go-to-market strategy with new stakeholders and a communication plan for the sustainable procurement database.  This project is part of ETCH’s brand recognition plan as one of Canada’s leaders in enabling organizational transformation from traditional to sustainable procurement and spearheading the goals/missions of achieving Canada’s net zero targets by 2030.

Impact Investing, Acceleration, and Advisory – McGill University

Propel Impact will be working with Mitacs interns across two universities to support social innovation and impact investing organizations in Canada.

Senior Housing Complex (Independent Living) Business Plan – Grand Bay – Westfield

The Census Metropolitan Area of Saint John has and will continue to grow. This has led to an increase in property values and a housing shortage. The project is to meet Council’s first strategic goal of smart growth through increasing housing stock. Council’s second strategic goal is to increase organizational capacity and the successful student will increase the Town’s organizational capacity through the development of a business plan for seniors housing.
The goal of the project is to provide, through a business plan, information enabling Council and a third party to make an informed decision regarding the development and operation of a seniors housing complex.
The two links below outline the strategic goals for the town and the annual report shows the aging population demographic of the Town of Grant Bay – Westfield.
Strategic Goal Link – chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://grandbaywestfield.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Strategic-Plan-2023-2026-FINAL.pdf
Town Annual Report – chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://grandbaywestfield.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/2021-Annual-Report.pdf

GenGuard Software Platform Expansion and Maintenance

Modernizing plant breeding programs through integrated genomic and phenomic data management and analysis is an important organizational innovation for many public and private plant breeding organizations. This project will expand the GenGuard database and software platform for additional high priority data sources from Nutrien, including new areas of business operations. The proposed project also aims to increase the security and maintainability of the databases and software systems that comprise GenGuard, which is a business priority for Nutrien Ag Solutions.

Civonus Web Application Development

Civonus Inc. is developing an internet based, transparent, asynchronous policy-making process for governments, public institutions, and civil society organizations/consultants who advise governments on policy issues, to use to improve their policy-making process. It is curated to produce deeply engaging, consensual, sustainable, equitable, inclusive, strategic, evidence informed policy-making.

This project is to develop, in stages, MVP, beta and commercial versions of the web application that is required to facilitate the policy making process.

Strengthening the support for BIPOC entrepreneurs in Canada

In Canada, only 3.5% of venture capital funding went to companies with at least one female founder, and only 2.2% went to companies with at least one BIPOC founder in 2021. There is an increased need to support BIPOC founders with access to employment, education, funding, training and a network that provides them with the knowledge, skills, and agency they need to thrive in an ever-changing world. The project will entail developing and piloting an investment and financial management strategy for startups within the BIPOC ecosystem that Tribe Network supports.