Innovative Projects Realized

Retaining Diverse Employees at Technology Companies

The current research project aims to investigate internal communication among organizations in the IT industry and whether communication experiences are different among minorities and women in the organizations. A diverse workplace is important to facilitate an inclusive, productive, and healthy workplace. However, no study has looked at how communication to women and diverse employees may be different than majority groups. The objective of this study is to understand how communication may differ quantitatively (response time, word count, etc.) and qualitatively (content of the messages) between diverse employees and women compared to majority groups and males. Using proprietary technology to assess communication dynamics from thirty-to-fifty Canadian technology companies through the Vize Technology platform. The study aims to shed light on the unconscious bias that occurs in internal communications between traditional tech employees and women/BIPOC hires. The findings from the research will be used to inform organizations of implicit biases in their workforce for targeted training plans or interventions and subsequently increase the retention of women and diverse employees.

Lab Assistant for R&D Drosophila Lab

Main Purpose:
The main purpose of the internship is to assist with the development of research protocols for the fruit fly.
Tasks / Key Results Expected:
1. Establish a biological laboratory – Equipment set up, qualification and record.
2. Establish optimized drosophila melanogaster growing environment conditions using agile project management
methodology
3. Create novel experimental protocols and SOP based on business gap analysis and experimental observations
4. Observe, monitor and record drosophila melanogaster growing and behavioural activities
5. Acquire necessary laboratory skills for drosophila melanogaster feeding, anaesthesia, sex recognition,
and that required to achieve fly genetic crosses, such as virgin flies and genetically modified fly selection
• Other responsibilities as assigned by their supervisor.

Benefit to Organization:
The protocols and flows will be an essential part of our business to continuously produce model systems for the study of human neurodegenerative diseases, which PurMinds Neuropharma seeks to gain advanced knowledge of. The relative simplicity of the Drosophila systems and genetics makes it ideal for creating animal models of complex neurodegenerative disorders. It has emerged as model system for studying mechanisms of neurodegeneration in several major neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Parkinson’s disease (PD), Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), etc. Genetic studies using these animal models have provided novel insights into the disease process. Multiple rigorous assays to score neurodegeneration can be used in Drosophila, providing reliable measurements for the effects of the disease process. These studies will help PurMinds Neuropharma in developing drugs to treat these neurodegenerative diseases.

Web UI & Graphic Design of Glo3D website, web app and smartphone application platform, also creating marketing and promotional materials

The goal of the project is to use the Design Thinking framework as a guide to creating effective marketing and website materials that will help strengthen Glo3D’s brand image and broaden our reach as we enter new verticals. The candidate will be tasked to learn about the users of our software, as well as our company brand and style to create pieces that will attract our target markets. They will gain a better understanding of user experience(UX), website design principles and become experts in PhotoShop, Illustrator and more. As they develop these skills they will need to communicate the Glo3D brand and tell stories with their designs using 3 key qualifiers:
• Is it useful?
• Is it clear?
• Is it pleasing?

Tuck’s Bee Better Farm Marketing Plan for Agrotourism

Tuck’s Bee Better Farm was incorporated in 2013. The farm supplies stores all across the island with honey, cranberry juice, and various other products with honey as an ingredient, and various wax products. It is a small family run business that has an opportunity to grow but does not have in house marketing expertise.
Tuck’s Bee Better Farm is planning to expand and market the various honey products as well as to incorporate a café, shopping, and tourist visiting. The facility has the space ready but does not have a marketing plan to launch it. Having an intern with a keen interest in business and marketing will be crucial in order for us to expand and tap into the tourism market.

Marketing and Data Analytics Innovative Systems Implementation

The past two years have shown increasing distrust through online division, polarizing protests and strikes, and destructive riots. This problem has gotten worse due to our unverified, disorganized, and time consuming citizen and stakeholder engagement systems; especially social media, focus groups and town halls, and voting. In order to solve the problem of increasing distrust Veras has developed a platform that provides verified, targeted, and ongoing proactive engagement, Veras Technologies Inc. will work with intern Francisco de paula Nieto to implement a digital marketing and online data analytics strategy to help convert more users and customers and commercialize the verified citizen and stakeholder engagement platform. The intern will first implement a social media, website, and blog marketing campaign to establish an online presence for the company. Then the intern will implement a SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and data analytics process to measure progress and marketing campaign effectiveness. Veras hopes to use this project to get more users and customers onto their platform. The intern hopes to utilize this project to grow his technical, professional, and interdisciplinary skills that will provide himself a professional work environment foundation to advance the transferable skills needed to advance his career.

Strategic Marketing Plans for the Yorkton Brick Mill Heritage Society

The Yorkton Brick Mill Heritage Society would like to develop a comprehensive and innovative marketing strategy to build on the work of the volunteer-run Mill Society. The marketing plan will be targeted at four broad groups, tourism, donors, community groups and schools. Each target market will require a different approach, some will partially overlap. The goal is to create a community organization that contributes to the social fabric of the region, providing insight and educational resources into the history of the Yorkton Brick Flour Mill and bringing it into the present and future by considering the continuing influence of modern agriculture.

Business Development & Strategy Intern

The project will focus on developing expansion strategies as Doggy Bathroom enters the European market and hosts pop up shops throughout North America. The project will focus on creating business development strategies to aid with the rollout of these projects. The main goal of the company is to continue growing the brand awareness throughout North America and break into the European market. The innovation to be developed is a business model catered for Europe (through logistics, feasibility, warehouse management, market research, marketing) and North America. The methodologies that will be used are various business frameworks and processes that will help Doggy Bathroom determine the needs of the business and an implementation strategy.

Valorisation des mégots de cigarettes

Fondée en 2020, Sumeco Solutions Inc est une start-up montréalaise ayant pour mission de trouver des alternativbes et des solutions à la crise environnementale au Québec. Sumeco Solutions a lancé le Projet Ciga qui a pour but de récupérarer et de transformer les mégots de cigarettes. Sumeco Solutions désire donner une seconde vie aux déchets (mégots) et, part l’étude effectuée par l’étudiant, identifier la seconde vie la plus avantageuse ainsi que les alternatives à prendre en considération. Sumeco Solutions désire également travailler avec l’École Polytechnique de Montréal pour l’analyse et l’identification de d’autre processus de transformation ainsi que de processus de récupération des mégots de cigarettes. Ces activités seront chapeautées par le Dr. Mario Jolicoeur.
Le travail qui sera effectué par l’étudiant(e) permettra d’analyser les méthodes présentement utilisées pour la récupération et le traitement des mégots, de monter une étude comparative afin de cibler les alternatives à considérer par l’entreprise. Ces résutlats permettront de définir les bases technologiques de l’entreprise qui pourront être utilisées par Sumeco Solutions et qui pourront aider à orienter la suite des activités de développement. Sumeco désire débuter le processus de développement avec une solution locale qui présenterait Un ensemble de plus-values, tant pour l’environement que pour la santé publique du Québec. Sumeco vise ainsi la réduction des rejets toxiques dans l’environnement tout en minimisant l’empreinte environnementale du cycle de vie des mégots.

Fishing for Success Best Practices

Fishing for Success (F4S) is a community-based nonprofit social enterprise that works to transmit the intangible cultural heritage of Newfoundland & Labrador’s family fishery while advocating for an inclusive, gender-equitable & sustainable small-scale fishery that can help combat climate change and contribute to food sovereignty through better local seafood access. By partnering with academic researchers, ocean industry organizations, and other nonprofit groups, Fishing for Success has been able to magnify the impact of its work and highlight the very real benefits of fishing for everyone in our community. Programs of Fishing for Success have been copied and brought to places as far away as Japan, identified by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health as a “promising practice,” and recognized for the contribution to academic research by Memorial University of Newfoundland’s President’s Award for public engagement partnership. All this rapid growth and success, though, brings a challenge! This project will provide access for MITACS interns to learning and accessing connections within a dynamic social enterprise, while they contribute to its foundational success and future growth through the production of a Best Practices Guide that can be shared with other communities.

Creation of a research data base at Montfort: buisness plan and feasability evaluation

At the time being ISM uses the Montfort hospital databse to store and manage its research data.

ISM hopes to create its own database, so that it can improve efficiency of its operations and overcome delay and other managerial barriers.

Thus, the main project goal is to help the company develop a buisness model and plan that will evaluate the costs and feasability of creating a separate database in accordance with the needs of ISM researchers and team.

We wish to recruit a student that will grasp the ISM researchers and team needs in terms of data sotrage and management, then propose a buisness plan to evaluate the feasability of the project and its potential impact on the efficiency of operations.

Development of a Business and Marketing Plan for the PTRC

With the announcement by the Government of Canada of increasing measures to reduce CO2 and other GHG emissions to Net-zero, the PTRC has begun to reposition itself as a world-leader in CCUS to help the country, and international partners, reach aggressive targets by 2030 and 2050 respectively.

With the new realities of carbon pricing, taxes and (recently) the announcement of a federal tax incentive for CCUS in Canada, the PTRC is working towards a new business and marketing strategy that will achieve the following objectives (the chosen intern will help define and identify how to proceed with each):
• establish and develop new markets for its CO2 storage and MMV expertise across additional industries that have large set point sources of emissions
• work with existing clients in oil and gas, energy and academe to establish projects that will help Canadian companies reach their environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals
• identify and apply for funding from Canada’s government, and provincial/private sources, that match the PTRC’s wheelhouse or research and project expertise
• work to expand our participation in equity, diversity and inclusiveness in our practices and research activities, especially but not exclusively with indigenous groups
The main objective of this 6 month program for the intern of choice would be to work one-on-one with the new CEO and create a fully realized marketing and business plan to incorporates all of our policy goals (emissions reductions, EDI, ESG) and helps steer the company towards future success.

Supporting in Carbon Capture Project Development

At the International CCS Knowledge Centre (Knowledge Centre), we take climate action seriously. We are dedicated to advancing the understanding and use of large-scale carbon capture and storage (CCS) to manage greenhouse gas emissions globally.
We know that the world can’t get to net-zero starting from ground zero – so we provide the know-how to implement large-scale CCS projects as well as CCS optimization. We house experts who were instrumental in the development and operations of the Boundary Dam 3 CCS Facility, the authors of the comprehensive second-generation CCS study, known as the Shand CCS Feasibility Study, as well as the leaders in the Lehigh CCS Feasibility Study, examining the application of carbon capture on cement.
We offer practical, hands-on experience-based guidance, and technical advice for planning, design, construction, and operation of large-scale applications of CCS from thermal power to industrial processes.
One of the biggest challenges for deploying CCS to large emitters is the capital and operational costs of the CCS facility and the balance of the plant that is required to support the CCS operation. With this Mitacs funding, the interns will assist in the Knowledge Centre to perform pre-feasibility, feasibility and Front End Engineering Design (FEED) studies of CCS project development in the various sectors including industrial and power production. The interns will contribute their Knowledge in Process simulation (using Aspen Plus and Aspen Hysys) to improve process efficiency, perform cost estimation and find innovative, cost-effective means to improve and promote the deployment of CCS projects.