Innovative Projects Realized

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

29670 Completed Projects

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

Projects by Category

Green Roof Quality Specialist

The intern will be conducted industry-focused research geared towards increasing the understanding of native plant species survivability in various green roof systems. This will include plant species selection based on reported survivability in a green roof microclimate, and recording any differences in plant health (evapotranspiration, biomass, etc.), during the season when grown in multiple green roof systems (extensive, intensive, etc.). The intern will be designing, executing, data-collecting, data-processing, visualizing the results, and presenting them in a meaningful way to the company. The company benefits from better understanding the limitations of the green roof systems it supplies, while simultaneously being able to recommend species that benefit the customer, as well as the benefit the local environment.

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Faculty Supervisor:

David McLagan

Student:

Partner:

ZinCo Canada Inc.

Discipline:

Earth science

Sector:

Agriculture; Construction and infrastructure; Retail trade

University:

University of Toronto

Program:

Business Strategy Internship

Bridging Cultural Understanding in Mental Health Support for Newcomers

Sara Riel wants to improve organizational support to newcomers to Manitoba with their mental health needs.
“Past studies suggest that immigrants, generally, arrive in Canada with better self-perceived mental health than Canadians, but it declines after a period of time (Salami, 2017).” This has deteriorated further during the Pandemic. (Stats Can).
There are linguistic and cultural barriers to mental health expression. As a result, newcomers do not readily seek mental health supports, despite facing multiple challenges in their transition to a new country. Newcomers may have their own stigma of mental health issues, differing cultural perceptions of the definitions, causes, and handling of mental health, and a lack of awareness of supports offered in the community. Tasks will consist of research and education about newcomer populations, their needs and challenges, and reviewing current Sara Riel communication with recent immigrants with the goal of optimum quality of life. Research will address cultural safety practices. A knowledge exchange of resources/linkages of newcomer/immigrant service providers will be identified.
The student will complete the research with a combination of virtual and in-person meetings.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Shauna MacKinnon

Student:

Partner:

Sara Riel Foundation Inc.

Discipline:

Sociology

Sector:

Health and Related Sciences & Technology

University:

University of Winnipeg

Program:

Business Strategy Internship

Design and development of an innovative integrated structure for the cogeneration of liquid hydrogen and liquid carbon dioxide using wind and raw biogas renewables

As the main product of many renewable power plants, hydrogen plays a substantial role in the transition from the use of fossil fuels to renewable energy resources. Hydrogen can be liquefied, enhancing its desirability as an energy carrier. An innovative integrated structure for hydrogen and CO2 liquefaction from biomass and wind energy is proposed. It employs a thermochemical process for hydrogen and oxygen production and simultaneously CO2 capturing. High-temperature fuel cells and wind turbines supply the required electrical power. Fuel cells are fed by biomethane produced from biogas and purified from CO2 in the carbon dioxide capture process. Hydrogen and CO2 are liquefied and stored using a refrigeration cycle. The payback period, the prime cost of products, and the specific energy consumption of the whole process is going to be optimized. The design is aimed to be adjusted with the renewable energy potentials of Newfoundland and Labrador province of Canada.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Sohrab Zendehboudi

Student:

Partner:

Energy, Matter & Environmental (EM&E) Consultants Inc

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

Memorial University of Newfoundland

Program:

Accelerate

International commercialization and marketing strategy for groundbreaking, Canadian agbiotech products

Performance Plants Inc. (PPI) is a Canadian, privately owned and internationally recognized agricultural biotechnology developer with a series of powerful, validated ‘game-changing’ technologies that are applied to major staple crops for significant improvement of their productivity. As the realities of climate change become more and more evident, and growing populations demand more food, humanity faces a serious threat to our global food supply. The purpose of this Business Strategy Internship will be to support the marketing and business development activities of PPI so that the scientific breakthroughs developed by our research team can be commercialized and critical bio technologies can be introduced around the world.

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Faculty Supervisor:

John-Paul Ferguson

Student:

Partner:

Performance Plants Inc.

Discipline:

Life Sciences

Sector:

Agriculture

University:

McGill University

Program:

Business Strategy Internship

Mobilizing Adoption of Sustainable Solutions: Accelerating the Pace of Systemic Change through Transdisciplinary Collaboration

Humanity is dependent on a sustainable future yet fails to mobilize adoption of sustainability initiatives. If
current trends continue, we may not meet the 2030 UN Sustainable Develop Goals until 2082– more than half a
century late. Humanity’s insufficient response to the global lack of sustainability is a grand challenge driven by a
moral imperative to field solutions, despite the complexity of doing so. Better mechanisms to resolve and govern
our response to complex sustainability problems are needed.
This research investigates and tests mechanisms that improve on current approaches for designing and
implementing sustainable solutions in complex socio-ecological systems. An approach that leverages rather
than avoids the behaviour of complex systems may improve collaboration between diverse stakeholders,
address resistance to change, and accelerate the pace of change toward a sustainable future.
This research can extend our scientific and political horizons for designing sustainable solutions while
simultaneously catalyzing the willingness to act.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Vanessa Schweizer;Daniel McCarthy

Student:

Partner:

CTLabs

Discipline:

Sociology

Sector:

Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

University of Waterloo

Program:

Accelerate

Human Teleoperation over 5G: A Haptically-Enabled Mixed Reality System for Teleultrasound

THIS IS A GENERIC TEXT PUT IN PLACE AS THERE WAS NO PROJECT OVERVIEW

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Faculty Supervisor:

Tim Salcudean;Vincent Wong;Purang Abolmaesumi;Helge Rhodin;Christopher Nguan;Oron Frenkel

Student:

Partner:

Rogers Communications Inc.

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Health and Related Sciences & Technology; Technology; Artificial Intelligence

University:

The University of British Columbia

Program:

Accelerate

Soleco – Optimisation d’un procédé innovant de pyrolyse de déchets plastiques pour la production de carburant Diesel.

Ce projet porte sur l’optimisation d’un procédé de pyrolyse de déchets plastiques permettant de produire du carburant Diesel. L’originalité du programme réside dans l’utilisation d’une unité de production en lot ne nécessitant pas de tour à distiller ce qui constitue une première mondiale. Des études paramétriques seront réalisées pour définir des conditions opératoires permettant de produire un carburant Diesel ayant des propriétés optimales en termes de points éclair et d’écoulement. À terme, les retombées de ce projet seront très importantes pour l’économie, l’environnement et le secteur énergétique canadien. En effet, la mise au point de ce procédé novateur permettra le déploiement de petites installations délocalisées répondant à des besoins locaux ce qui limitera le transport des matières premières et les rejets de gaz à effet de serre associés. La valorisation de déchets permettra de plus de favoriser l’économie circulaire et de réduire les tensions sur les ressources en combustibles fossiles.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Romain Lemaire

Student:

Partner:

Soléco Énergie Inc.

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Manufacturing

University:

École de technologie supérieure

Program:

Business Strategy Internship

Embedding cultures of sustainability in the natural resources sector in BC

This postdoctoral study seeks to help Teck understand the practices that support and advance the company’s sustainability, its employees’ safety, Its collaboration with communities and Its protection of the environment. Through a series of case studies, the researcher will explore how Teck has managed the tension between regulatory compliance and sustainable innovation. The researcher will work with Teck to write case studies that highlight how individuals in the company have contributed to its sustainability, even when they were not required or incentivlzed to do so. Through these case studies, Teck will gain insight into how to place, support and reward different types of Individuals who help the organization achieve Itsinnovation and compliance goals, and who embed sustalnability in the company’s culture. The lessons that emerge from the study will be shared with other natural resource companies to improve their, and by extension the Province’s, sustainability performance.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Stephanie Bertels

Student:

Partner:

Teck Resources Ltd (Vancouver, BC)

Discipline:

Business

Sector:

Natural Resources

University:

Simon Fraser University

Program:

Elevate

Accessibility at the Vancouver Writers Fest

The Vancouver Writers Fest is one of Canada’s leading literary festivals. Accessibility challenges have been a major priority for the Festival, and meeting accessibility needs will allow it to serve and grow its audience more inclusively. This project aims to improve physical accessibility for participants at the Vancouver Writers Fest. The intern will work with the Festival’s Accessibility Engagement Team to implement accessibility recommenda-tions for the 2022 Festival, to assess the 2022 Festival afterwards, and to write accessibility recommendations for future Festivals. This research will inform not just the Festival but – via open publication of the intern’s final report – Canadian arts and literary organizations more generally.

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Faculty Supervisor:

John Maxwell

Student:

Partner:

Vancouver Writers Fest

Discipline:

Sociology

Sector:

Arts, entertainment and recreation

University:

Simon Fraser University

Program:

Accelerate

Design simulation and optimization of energy harvesting in wastewater applications

The project is partnered with Aslan Renewables based in Prince Edward Island (PEI), the company focuses on the energy generation from the wastewater flows. This work aims at the analysis of energy harvesting from wastewater flow applications for open channel flows. The computation fluid dynamics (CFD) approach using ANSYS will be implemented for the analysis using the flow condition data received from the Charlottetown wastewater facility. The turbine design and implementation layout optimizations will be also undertaken in order to maximize the power output under varying flow conditions. Finally, the power curves under varying flow conditions will be developed to characterize the performance of the turbine in wastewater applications.
The project helps the company to prepare the business plan for such installation projects. Local indigenous group Mi’kmaq Confederacy of PEI (MCPEI) will be also involved in the project for discussions. The overarching goal is to utilize this analysis to conceptualize the design of the wastewater facility of the MCPEI and Charlottetown wastewater facility.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Kuljeet Grewal

Student:

Partner:

Aslan Renewables Inc.

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

University of Prince Edward Island

Program:

Business Strategy Internship

Scheduling and Routing of Personal Support Workers at Nucleus Independent Living Co

This project aims to propose a decision support tool for Nucleus Independent Living that optimizes the scheduling of clients visits, the assignment of PSWs to clients, and the routing of the daily visits of each PSW while trying to minimize the traveling distances for the PSWs, the number of different PSWs visiting a client, and the inequality between the PSWs’ workload (in terms of the number of client visits assigned and the distance traveled). The decision support tool allows the organization to do the scheduling and routing piece faster and with less human intervention, which results in less risk of human error, better-quality decisions, and higher satisfaction among PSWs and clients. This research provides evidence to the organization’s decision-makers concerning the efficiency of practice for PSWs and workload equity, and patient satisfaction by considering clients’ preferences in choosing their visit hours and the gender of the PSW(s) who serve them.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Jonathan Patrick;Onur Ozturk

Student:

Partner:

Nucleus Independent Living

Discipline:

Business

Sector:

Health and Related Sciences & Technology

University:

University of Ottawa

Program:

Accelerate

Discourse Representation Framework for Consumer NLP

With the ultimate goal of enhancing Nexxt Intelligence’s market research SaaS platform, inca, this project will create a flexible framework for facilitating conversations with consumers using an agent powered by natural language processing and deep learning models. This ‘discourse representation framework’ will be capable of engaging with consumers in fluent English, and is designed to ask sensible and specific questions which are pertinent to ad-hoc research objectives. The agent will do so by adhering to a ‘discourse policy’, which will be a non-technical conversational design document which can be easily created by market researchers for their research goals. The framework will simultaneously extract structured information from user utterances, using a combination of deep learning and rule-based heuristics, and will navigate through the conversation based on the information it is able to extract.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Shurui Zhou

Student:

Partner:

Nexxt Intelligence

Discipline:

Computer science

Sector:

Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

University of Toronto

Program:

Accelerate