Innovative Projects Realized

Quarterhorse Solutions-Marketing Coordinator Intern-My

Starting as a small family-run sign shop, Quarterhorse Solutions grew into a multi-disciplinary fabrication firm, a passionate group that sweats the details, expanding capabilities and concepts with each unique project. When the goal is to enhance and bring meaning to an interior, we understand that lasting impressions matter. From unique feature walls, to specialty millwork pieces, to graphics and wayfinding, we build sensational visual environments. We collaborate with our clients through every stage of the creative process, helping to bring to life their space, brand, and their story. With technical precision and a care for quality, we tailor solutions that will connect, engage, guide, motivate, and inspire. This project will focus on a specific market search, aimed at identifying opportunities for growth and at finding ways to connect to our audience more effectively. The intern will prepare, collect input from our team, and start working on building a relevant strategy, identifying our target audience and what are their preferred platforms, and assisting with establishing and executing a social media campaign focused on connecting with key decision-makers.

Feasibility Study of a Community Microgrid: Key Components, Control and Communications

This project involves the feasibility study of specific community microgrid technologies for the development of a Smart Community in London, Ontario by SE2 Technologies Inc. A first of its kind, such a community will represent a learning platform for universities and other cities in Canada. The smart community will consist of a minimum of 50 residential units situated in London, Ontario, and will be Net ZERO energy, built electric car ready and emphasize Smart Grid technology including the demonstration of a community microgrid. The goal of the community microgrid will be to provide reliable, sustainable and efficiently power to the local community using locally produced renewable energy. This work involves a necessary first step in assessing the feasibility of critical technologies for the community microgrid design. Three aspects are investigated: 1) the identification of key system components, 2) the development of aspects of a control platform, and 3) research of the best in class communication network. Currently, in Phase I of the plan, SE2 is conducting a broad study to determine the best in class technologies and designs at the building and community level. This project contributes to the feasibility study of microgrid control and communications system.

Treatment of Fixed Income Products with Optionality in Fundamental Review of the Trading Book (FRTB)

The Fundamental Review of the Trading Book (FRTB) is a set of regulations by the Basel committee, which is expected to be implemented by banks by 2022. The regulation targets market risk management in banking industry. According to FRTB, banks need to post extra capital against non-modellable risk factors, which could
account for 30% of total market risk capital requirement. Reducing the weight of non-modellable risk factors can greatly reduce the required capital and thus increase banks’ profitability. In this research, we will first examine three ways for the purpose of reducing non-modellable risk factors: simple rule-based proxies, statistical modelling approach and machine learning. We will also study another machine learning method based on Gaussian process regression. This method requires fewer parameters for calibration and hence less complex. Since the method is based on well-known probability distribution, it can be understood easily.

Unpacking and Redesigning the Town of Qualicum Beach Development Review Processes

Municipalities manage the approvals processes for real estate development applications. There are a range of approvals that may be sought by a landowner including amendments to Official Community Plans and zoning as well as permits for development and building. In 2019, in response to widespread expressions of frustration, the BC Government undertook the Development Approvals Process Review – a study of development approvals processes in BC municipalities. The study found a lot of room for improvement in the current development process and noted an improved process means more clear communication between all groups and smoother approvals which will have many social and economic benefits. Vancouver Island university, in partnership with the Town of Qualicum Beach and a dozen other local governments, have received a grant from the Union of BC Municipalities to work on improving this process through research, analysis and development of a toolbox of best practices and resources.

UX/UI Website and mobile app design – RUNNR Delivery

It is crucial for RUNNR to incorporate best practices and strategies for our UX/UI for our platform to not only lead within an industry just in our proprietary smart logistics technology, but as well in our user’s experience. Being a technology startup, it is crucial that we can display our features and benefits to users in such ways that are attractive, easy to understand, and fun to use. No matter how innovative our technology is in solving our target market’s pain points, if they are unable to use it efficiently or don’t like using our platform, this will impact RUNNR’s ability to grow and scale operations. Due to RUNNR offering a tech solution in an industry that is currently operating mostly offline, having an amazing UX/UI design, enables easier customer acquisition and customer onboarding; significantly improving our competitive advantage in the market and coming out on top versus our competitors.
As a startup, RUNNR has taken the approach of focussing on customer service and satisfaction. The lion’s share of RUNNR’s resources and focus has gone into this customer service focus which has left improvements yet to be made in RUNNR’s brand and product road map.

Research and Recommendation of Best Practices For Hybrid Work And Automation of Human Resources Tasks – AltaML

AltaML is growing, improving its culture, making changes in its processes and systems to manage its growth as well as the creation and growth of its joint ventures, while adjusting to a hybrid work model. With the organization scaling and increasing its opportunities there also comes a higher demand on the Business Operations side of the organization which includes the People Team. Much of the HR support we provide is needing improvements or start to be implemented. In addition, we are looking for support in general Human Resources and facilities tasks. The role for the intern would have a general theme of enhancing the employee experience.

The benefits to AltaML would include the support, improvement and implementation of needed processes and services that have a direct impact on our Employee Net Promoter Score (ENPS) which impacts all cultural aspects of the company.

Communication Enhancement Project

The project that Wolseley Family Place is working on is called Communication Enhancement Project. Wolseley Family Place will be embarking on some re-branding, and streamlining their communication content (brochures, posters, signage in the resource centre, website, facebook). This project will look at venues of communicating to the wider community to enhance their program promotion and bring more families through the doors. This may include social media content creation, creating posters to email to networks, physically delivering handbills to neighborhood households, etc. The project will also include spending time ensuring consistent graphics, colours, and logos throughout the current communication documents and applying a critical eye to the written content to ensure that it is communicating well. The student will be able to work from the centre in person but will also be able to work from home, in a hybrid model as determined by supervisor.

Because Wolseley Family Place moved locations in 2019 right before the pandemic hit, they have had a harder time reaching out to their new community to announce their programs and services and get more people through the door.

Escouade Numérique – Développement d’une stratégie de marketing Web pour la génération de demande d’entreprises désirant optimiser leur performance globale au niveau numérique.

L’Escouade Numérique est un OSBL ayant pour mission d’alphanumériser nos belles entreprises québécoises en contribuant à leur croissance et en améliorant leur rentabilité. Nous souhaitons à travers cette plateforme offrir une tribune neutre où des spécialistes au sein d’entreprises établies partageront leurs conseils de manière efficace et transparente. Il s’agit d’un lieu d’entraide, où chacun participe sur une base volontaire, sans attente de visibilité ou de rentabilité. Une cinquantaine de spécialistes de différents domaines (un nombre qui augmentera dans les prochaines semaines) sont réunis ici dans le but d’aider et d’accompagner les PME québécoises dans leur transformation numérique. Le projet Mitacs s’axera autour du développement d’une stratégie de marketing Web pour la génération de demande d’entreprises désirant optimiser leur performance globale au niveau numérique.

Hey Neighbour Collective

Using a collective impact approach, Hey Neighbour Collective (HNC) brings together housing providers, non-profits, researchers, local and regional governments, housing associations and health authorities. Together with residents of multi-unit housing, our mission is to experiment with and learn about ways of alleviating loneliness and social isolation while building capacity for neighbourly support and mutual aid. Interns will gain experience in professional program evaluation and be able to compare this approach to research to a more academic social science research approach. The intensive social component of these internships will also offer valuable network-growing benefits to the intern within the expanding domain of the urban housing professional sector in BC.

Interactive Broadcast Platform

Cya Inc. is a Toronto-based company that is creating communal experiences around content for a modern digitized world. Our mission is to make digital interaction a seamless experience. Movie theater attendance has been falling prior to the pandemic. Only 14% of people were found to go to movie theaters one or more times a month according to a Statista survey of people in the United States in June 2019. In turn, studios have been suffering due to an inability to reach Gen Z as well as they used to reach previous generations. Cya Live offers an interactive experience catered to the new way we rapidly consume content. With a recent shift towards virtual communication, Cya Live bridges the gap that exists when it comes to creating meaningful experiences in an online environment. We make real-time interaction possible for large groups and broadcast scenarios.
Cya’s platform, “Cya Live,” is the world’s first interactive, multi-way live events platform for virtual engagement with large audiences. Cya Live facilitates a multifaceted viewing experience by letting audiences interact with live content, other users, and hosts through video, audio, and text, and use social media—all in full synchronicity.

Scotiabank HRSS Operational Efficiency Enhancement

The increased demand for reliable and useful human resource information has pushed the subject to the top of the practitioners’ agenda. Accordingly, human resource and capital management is also one of Scotiabank’s core priorities. As an ever-growing multinational company that employs a large number of employees, human resource information reporting is a vital service for Scotiabank for ensuring good decisions in talent management. Yet, there is no standardization in the workflow to integrate request intake for data and reports, causing delays in request handling. This internship will tie into a research to improve request intake process, assist prioritization of information services workflow, identify the most widely-needed human resource information and services together with HR clients, and present the HR analytic metrics result to HR clients and partners. The goal is to help Scotiabank translate its company-wide HR and workforce data into workable insights that it can use and share with its business leaders.

Career Trek WOW Summer Camp

Career Trek is a non-profit organization that seeks to connect kids to oppurtunities and experiences that can develop life long interests and passions. Through school and post-secondary partnerships Career Trek introduces children from ages 10 to 12 to different experiences simulating possible career paths and oppurtunities. The Wonders of Work camp focuses specifically on exposing the participants to ‘days on the job’, through exercises and activities that introduce them to the working world. Through the worshops provided by Career Trek, these students get to interact with their peers and develop skills that will help them in their future endevors, like their education and work oppurtuites. Career trek aims to create a learning environment that is accessible to kids of all backgrounds to learn and grow. What we are looking to get from this project as an outcome is a plan of milestones, budgets, outcomes, etc. of the entire planning and project process, alongside a report of the operations, challenges, and decisions made in
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Business Strategy Internship
Proposal Template
running the program. My role, besides in helping plan and run the camp, will be also focusing on the creation of a business process of sorts.