Innovative Projects Realized

Explore thousands of successful projects resulting from collaboration between organizations and post-secondary talent.

29670 Completed Projects

2811
AB
4990
BC
801
MB
663
NL
825
SK
8841
ON
9197
QC
95
PE
568
NB
1088
NS

Projects by Category

Community Food Program Assistant

The Western Environment Centre is a small but very active organization working on environmental education through citizen engagement in Corner Brook NL. This project helps WEC develop its programs to reach a wider audience, and to continue to build their community network. Through the development of social enterprise activities (such as providing services and programs that charge small fees), and by building wider community support, WEC can create a stronger foundation of financial supporters and donors.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Garrett Richards

Student:

Partner:

Western Environment Centre

Discipline:

Sociology

Sector:

Education

University:

Memorial University of Newfoundland

Program:

Business Strategy Internship

Nonlinear quantum optical effects in freeform dielectric waveguides

Dielectric waveguides are key components of photonic integrated circuits (PIC) connecting platforms made of different materials. In this way it is possible to combine the complementary advantages of different integration platforms. The use of PIC allows the transmission of information signals imposed on optical wavelengths. The freeform dielectric waveguides also called photonic wire bonds are fabricated “in situ” by additive nanofabrication techniques once the positions of the input and output are measured and the trajectory is computed. This method can compensate for inaccuracies of the placement of the platforms and so increase the transmission efficiency. In the proposed project we focus on the nonlinear effects which could be present in the waveguides and also describe the transmission of light in quantum regime in order to extend current considerations and understand physical phenomena taking place in these structures. In this way we can develop alternative tools for fast calculation of transmission and optimization of the shape of waveguides.

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Faculty Supervisor:

John Sipe

Student:

Partner:

Karlsruher Institut für Technologie

Discipline:

Physics

Sector:

Education

University:

University of Toronto

Program:

Globalink Research Award

Winter ecology of juvenile Chinook Salmon in the Strait of Georgia

The goal of the study is to investigate the health and ecology of juvenile Chinook Salmon during the winter, a season with supposedly very low levels of survival. We fish throughout the winter on an on-call basis, and sample and release
most fish brought on board; a small portion of juvenile Chinook Salmon are retained for further sampling. The samples we collect in the field include length and weight, diet composition by induced stomach evacuation using water pressure, and scales to determine genetic stock origin. We also measure ocean temperature at depth of capture using a small, scientific instrument. The energy content of prey from the diets and retained fish, along with fat content of those fish, will be determined. These results will fill critical knowledge gaps and contribute to a better understanding of fluctuations in Chinook Salmon survival and productivity in the Strait of Georgia.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Francis Juanes

Student:

Partner:

Pacific Salmon Foundation

Discipline:

Life Sciences

Sector:

Agriculture; Other services (except public administration); Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

University of Victoria

Program:

Accelerate

Summer Analyst – Impact Investing, Acceleration, and Advisory – University of Calgary

The Social Innovation Academy will be working with a network of Mitacs interns to develop national-scale backend infrastructure resources for impact investing funds across Canada. These resources may include (but are not limited to): initiatives for advancing equity, diversity, and inclusion; impact measurement frameworks; deal flow generation. In addition, interns will provide marketing, research, and financial analysis for social purpose organizations over the duration of the 14-week internship.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Ari Pandes

Student:

Partner:

Propel Impact

Discipline:

Business

Sector:

Social Innovation; Sustainability & the Environment

University:

University of Calgary

Program:

Business Strategy Internship

Smart PV Modules with Laminated On-Cell Energy Storage

Efficient yet simple energy storage schemes and smart electronics will not only boost PV system efficiencies but it will also lead to many innovative applications at the system level such as solid state lighting, active bypass diodes, bifacial configurations etc. This research project seeks to develop a novel and efficient on-cell energy storage scheme. By proper design of materials and processes, traditional lamination sheets will be modified to yield high permittivity dielectric films that could be deployed on the back side of the cell, by the standard lamination process, to provide large area capacitors. The capacitor design will be stacked layers of metal foils and lamination films. Novel cell designs will be implemented and prototyped with the large area capacitor functioning as on-cell energy storage device. Since this process takes place at the module fabrication stage, it doesn’t impose any changes at the cell manufacturing. Finally smart PV systems will be designed employing PV modules with on-cell storage.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Siva Sivoththaman

Student:

Partner:

S2E Technologies Inc

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Construction and infrastructure; Finance and Insurance; Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

University of Waterloo

Program:

Accelerate

Pharos BSI App

Pharos has a data fusion platform for geospatial and spatiotemporal data. This project will extend the platform to cover additional data sources, such as flood risk data, and allow for the on-demand calculation of decision-relevant metrics. This requires an investigation of the underlying data, methods to combine sources, and development of pipelines for efficient automation. Sourcing and ingestion, data management and conversion, bias-correction and transformation, and validation are required to produce a decision-useful data product. By adding these variables, Pharos will be able to access new markets and offer a more complete solution to existing customers who want to incorporate weather and climate data into their analytics workflow.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Karen Smith

Student:

Partner:

Pharos Platforms

Discipline:

Computer science

Sector:

Information and cultural industries

University:

University of Toronto

Program:

Business Strategy Internship

Machine learning methods to accelerate design and synthesis of clean energy materials

The aim of this project is to establish a long term collaboration between researchers at NRC/McMaster University and KIT, in order to develop machine learning (ML) methods to support and boost research on clean energy materials. Initial contact between Canadian and German researchers was established within the German Canadian Materials Acceleration Center (GC-MAC), which aims at the development of materials acceleration platforms (MAPs) for clean energy materials, bringing together expertise in materials science, automation, and machine learning in Canada and Germany.
The main focus of this MITACS visit will be to bring together a postdoctoral researcher working on machine learning methods for materials science with experimental researchers working on the development of MAPs in Canada. The goal is to generate a common understanding of theory and experiment, study the current experimental procedures for synthesis and characterization of electrocatalysts, membranes, and other energy conversion or storage materials, and identify the most promising and impactful ways of applying ML methods developed at KIT in those experiments. For promising areas, we will then create databases to train ML models or design closed-loop workflows where ML methods directly interact with automated experiments.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Robert Black

Student:

Partner:

Karlsruher Institut für Technologie

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Education

University:

McMaster University

Program:

Globalink Research Award

Aroha Meaningful Connections Incorporation

This research project involves creating a mobile and web application to improve the quality of connections between older adults in retirement homes and their families. The intern will be tasked with the creation of the mobile and web application, and therefore is expected to have experience and skills in application design and development. The intern will be asked to create at least 3 consecutive versions of the application and conduct user testing for each version except the very first (with the support of ourselves as the researcher and the academic institution). The partner organization, McMaster University, and more specifically McMaster’s novel Health Innovation and Entrepreneurship Clinic, is interested in advancing evidence-based solutions for Canada’s aging population especially. Aroha will be the first scientifically-backed app that makes emotional connections accessible, rewarding, and ever-present in the daily lives of seniors living in retirement homes and caregivers in Canada. Aroha streamlines communication in a way that is accessible and easy-to-use. With less time dependence on health care workers, the hope is to alleviate stress and reallocate the newfound time to providing the best possible care for seniors in Retirement Homes. In the long-term, meaningful connections made through Aroha can improve the quality of life for seniors in Retirement Homes. Mitigating loneliness and isolation is known to improve senior health outcomes, consequently decreasing costs associated with illnesses.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Roy Eagleson

Student:

Partner:

Baycrest Centre for Aging and Brain Health Innovation;Aroha Meaningful Connection Inc.

Discipline:

Life Sciences

Sector:

Health and Related Sciences & Technology

University:

The University of Western Ontario

Program:

Business Strategy Internship

Health Learning System with Real World Evidence

Although the gold standard for supportive clinical evidence has historically been randomized controlled trials, given their rigid and constrained nature, they rarely describe the effectiveness of an intervention or drug in real-life practice. Therefore, regulators, payers, healthcare providers, and institutions are turning towards real-world data collected at the interface of the patient and the health care system. However, there are 3 challenges to be addressed, including (1) lack of high-quality real-world data from health information systems or electronic medical records in Canadian hospitals; (2) lack of trust and collaborations amongst key stakeholders; and (3) lack of a future working model to facilitate the design and implementation of programs that address the major barriers for the generation of decision-grade real-world evidence in Canada. Therefore, this project aims to co-design solutions from the University of Waterloo’s intern and the partner organization to demonstrate a health learning system using Chimeric Antigen Receptor modified T cells treatment as a case study. Both the intern and the partner organization will benefit from this proposed project to learn strategies and technologies of a learning health system enabled by real-world data and evidence.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Helen Chen

Student:

Partner:

Canadian Personalized Healthcare Innovation Network

Discipline:

Life Sciences

Sector:

Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

University of Waterloo

Program:

Business Strategy Internship

Supporting sustainable transportation cluster development in Toronto

Within the green sector in Toronto, the largest cluster is sustainable transportation, which makes up 38% of green jobs, and is the fastest growing cluster in the sector at 4.9% compared to the overall green sector at 3.9% and across all industries in Toronto at 1.9% (5-year average between 2015-2019). As such, in order to support the incredible growth of the sustainable transportation cluster especially as it recovers from the COVID-19 global pandemic, a report is scheduled to be submitted to City Council in 2023 to determine the roadmap to develop a cluster management organization. This organization will be headquartered at a proposed sustainable transportation hub in Toronto which will also feature an innovation lab, training and meeting space, and co-working desks to support the innovation and growth of the businesses within this sector. To prepare for this hub, this project will feature the development of a business operations plan for the hub. It will also support the work of the micromobility sector within the sustainable transportation cluster.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Andre Augusto Cire

Student:

Partner:

pointA

Discipline:

Business

Sector:

Transportation and warehousing

University:

University of Toronto

Program:

Business Strategy Internship

Bridal Couture Application

Bridal Couture is currently engaged in the sourcing, selling, and alteration of wedding dresses for prospective brides. In pursuit of additional revenue streams, Bridal Couture is interested in launching a “bridesmaid box” product for members of the bride’s wedding party. The intern’s role will be to successfully launch and monitor the success of this new product. The intern will begin by understanding our business, the needs of our brides and their bridemaids, and ideally the types of products they would be interested in. The intern should also research the market and understand which other bridesmaid boxes are available and how we can differentiate ourselves in the crowded wedding market. Then, the intern should execute on their strategic vision and create the supplier relationships, designs, and other resources needed to make the product a reality. The intern should also create promotional messaging to announce the key benefits of Bridal Couture’s bridesmaid box to accompany a marketing plan that will maximize Bridal Couture’s potential revenue. After launch, the intern should work on tracking the product launch’s success based on key metrics they identify as strategically important. The intern should suggest changes in real time to the product, marketing plan, or overall strategy

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Faculty Supervisor:

Ning Su

Student:

Partner:

Bridal Couture

Discipline:

Business

Sector:

Retail trade

University:

The University of Western Ontario

Program:

Business Strategy Internship

Impact of Caregiving as a Continuing Professional Development Category

While more than 50% of Canadians are women, less than 14% of practicing engineers are women. Furthermore, while more women are graduating with engineering degrees, they are less likely to remain in the profession than men. The workplace and professional self-regulation are not traditionally tailored to employees who balance work and caregiving responsibilities, which are primarily undertaken by women. This “balancing act” can negatively impact the health and well-being of caregiving employees, causing some to drop out of the workforce. To better support caregiving employees and to recognize the value that caregiving brings to society and the profession, Engineers Yukon now recognizes up to 20 continuing professional development (CPD) hours per year for caregiving activities, at a rate of 1 CPD hour per 15 hours of caregiving. This project will evaluate uptake, use, and impact of this change to the CPD program. It will establish a year 1 baseline evaluation and provide recommendations for future program modification and evaluation.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Shannon Lloyd

Student:

Partner:

Engineers Yukon

Discipline:

Business

Sector:

Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

Concordia University

Program:

Accelerate