Innovative Projects Realized

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

31132 Completed Projects

2940
AB
5159
BC
837
MB
685
NL
882
SK
9291
ON
9695
QC
97
PE
601
NB
1161
NS

Projects by Category

Advanced Matrix Computation Methods for EMT Simulations

Computer simulation of transient events in an electric power system requires advanced modeling and computational tools. Introduction of renewable resources, such as wind and solar power, has caused fundamental changes to our power systems, thereby rendering many of our existing simulation tools inadequate. This research aims to solve some of the underlying shortcomings of power systems computer simulation tools through advanced computational methods and modern computing hardware so that simulations of large, complex systems is possible with efficiency and speed.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Shaahin Filizadeh;Ian Jeffrey

Student:

Partner:

Manitoba Hydro International Ltd

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Professional, scientific and technical services; Utilities

University:

University of Manitoba

Program:

Accelerate

MALDI mass spectrometry technologies for investigating tumor metabolism

Cancer treatments that stimulate the immune system, called immunotherapies, have shown promise in fighting cancer. However, the success of immunotherapy depends on many factors, including tumor’s metabolism and the surrounding environment—the tumor microenvironment (TME). The TME is a complex mix of different cell types, including those that support the tumor’s growth and others that fight it. Cancer cells change the way they use energy and build new molecules, which creates a unique metabolic signature. This metabolic signature can affect how well immune cells called tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) can attack the tumor. Tumors that have TILs, called ‘hot’ tumors, usually have better outcomes for patients than tumors without TILs, called ‘cold’ tumors. By understanding the metabolic differences between ‘hot’ and ‘cold’ TMEs, we can develop more effective immunotherapies. To study the metabolic profiles of ‘hot’ and ‘cold’ TMEs, we need highly sensitive techniques like mass spectrometry (MS). One powerful MS technique is matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) imaging (MALDI-MSI), which can create detailed maps of the distribution of metabolites within the TME. The goal of this proposed research project is to improve the sensitivity of MALDI-MSI so that it can be used to detect biologically important metabolites in ‘hot’ or ‘cold’ TME.

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Faculty Supervisor:

David Goodlett

Student:

Partner:

BC Cancer

Discipline:

Life Sciences

Sector:

Health and Related Sciences & Technology; Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

University of Victoria

Program:

Elevate

Real-time Wind Calculations based on AI and CFD

Un-crewed Air Vehicles (UAVs) have many applications in different sectors, such as security, surveying, and logistics. However, the flight autonomy of the UAVs is a key factor that can limit their mission potential. Shearwater Aerospace is a Canadian company based in Montreal that develops autonomous operating software based on artificial intelligence, Smart Flight, for professional and commercial drones. Smart Flight improves drone capabilities, allowing them to achieve longer flight durations, higher speeds, and more frequent operations through the integration of advanced artificial intelligence and wind-powered autonomy. The proposed research project aims to expand the capability of Smart Flight by using a Neural Network (NN) that can estimate the wind speed over any terrain in real-time. The NN will produce the three-dimensional wind velocity field over a specific area that is given as an input. The NN would be much faster than the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation where a velocity field will take about one second to generate. A Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) that is trained on CFD data based on a high-fidelity turbulence LES model. By enhancing Shearwater’s ability to measure the wind speed and direction before and during flight operations, they will be able to give drone operators accurate estimates of the flight performance. This is vital for successful mission planning, as well as improving flight safety, operational efficiency, and overall performance. The project will also lead to a significant increase in flight time and a decrease in energy consumption.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Marius Paraschivoiu

Student:

Partner:

Shearwater Aerospace

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Information and cultural industries; Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

Concordia University

Program:

Accelerate

Further enhancements of machine learning strategies for hematology analytics with near-field microscopy

Alentic Microscience Inc has developed a highly portable device that performs complete blood counts and other in
vitro diagnostic tests based on the lensless microscopic imaging of blood and reagents. The system uses
proprietary sampling techniques and unique analysis software based on advanced machine learning techniques.
The software has been designed as a multistep process of artifact removal, recognition of cell localization, image
enhancement, and classification.
We have previously investigated several possible advancement techniques within a two-term internship of a
Master student. Some of the anticipated improvements such as vision transformers have not shown major
improvements, but we made progress with multi-stage processing for recognition of difficult classes. Also, the
investigation of uncertainty within class shows important potentials that we will further develop in this internship. In
addition, we have devised several new potential improvement strategies specifically on the super-resolution
strategy as well as the processing of context in different clinical settings.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Thomas Trappenberg;Dirk Arnold

Student:

Partner:

Alentic Microscience Inc

Discipline:

Computer science

Sector:

Manufacturing; Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

Dalhousie University

Program:

Accelerate

Quantitative analysis of forestry effects on Pacific salmon abundance

The decline of Pacific salmon on the south and central coast of British Columbia has resulted in well-recognized economic, ecological, and cultural impacts. Numerous factors are considered to have contributed, including marine conditions, climate change, and changes to freshwater habitats. Forest harvesting is often considered to have altered freshwater habitats where salmon spawn and rear via changes to temperature, flow regimes, erosion, and sedimentation. This project will use multiple time-series of salmon abundance and spawner-recruit analysis to characterize the impacts of forestry on wild salmon populations. As iconic populations with unique cultural, economic, and environmental impacts in western Canada, wild salmon have many Canadian groups who are highly motivated to help protect their health and long-term viability. These groups include First Nations, government, industry, environmental NGOs, and academics. This project, in partnership with environmental NGO Salmon Coast Society, will engage and collaborate with such groups, including Musgamagw Dzawada’enuxw Fisheries Group Society, Pacific Salmon Foundation, Ecofish Research Ltd, and the Universities of Victoria and Toronto.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Mark Lewis

Student:

Partner:

Salmon Coast Society

Discipline:

Life Sciences

Sector:

Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

University of Victoria

Program:

Elevate

Beyond Criminalization of Indigenous Fisheries: Documenting injustice and envisioning just futures

Our project seeks to document the criminalization of Indigenous fishers and fisheries in so-called Canada and beyond, and use equitable knowledge-bridging and research co-creation tools to explore possibilities of transformation towards justice. The criminalization of Indigenous fisheries (among other cultural,
spiritual, and subsistence practices) is a destructive colonial practice that leads to inequity, loss of subsistence and cultural practice opportunities, and foments incendiary conflict between Indigenous and non-Indigenous governments and peoples. Coupled with exploitative colonial fisheries management and environmental practices, the unjust criminalization of Indigenous fishers has led to personal trauma and incarceration, the usurping of Indigenous rights, colonial violence, and attempted destruction of millennia-old relationships between Indigenous Peoples and Fish. In partnership with and guided by the Unama’ki Institute of Natural Resources (UINR; our partner), and in service primarily to the five Mi’kmaq communities in Unama’ki/Cape Breton (in so-called Nova Scotia, Canada), we intend to together document historical and modern unjust colonial practices of criminalization of Indigenous fishers, with focus on shedding light on the just futures and transformative approaches that Indigenous Elders, youth, and knowledge holders envision for their fish, fisheries, communities, and selves. Ultimately, we hope our collective work will contribute materials, methods, approaches, and praxis to aid in confronting on-going colonial harm and pernicious power imbalances in the
context of fisheries management and beyond, with particular focus on Indigenous rights resurgence and fisheries management, conflict transformation, and Indigenous approaches to equity and relationship-building.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Andrea Reid

Student:

Partner:

Unama'ki Institute of Natural Resources

Discipline:

Sociology

Sector:

Agriculture; Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

The University of British Columbia

Program:

Elevate

Development of a ZrO2/sericin-membrane-enhanced integrated mobile system for decentralized wastewater treatment with energy recycling and emission reduction

In Canada, there is still a lack of wastewater treatment systems for enormous number of remote communities and industrial sites. Therefore, a mobile and cost-effective waste treatment system is urgently desired for scattered water treatment demands. This project aims at the development of a ZrO2/sericin-membrane-enhanced integrated mobile system (IMS) for decentralized wastewater treatment with energy recycling and emission reduction. The developed IMS system will consist of (1) a multi-source power supply module, (2) a wastewater treatment module with electrocoagulation as a pretreatment and ZrO2/sericin (zirconium oxide/sericin) membrane for fine treatment, and (3) a smart operation and management system. The developed IMS can be powered by various power sources such as fugitive gases from oil and gas production, and quickly deployed at remote sites for on-demand wastewater treatment The system efficiency will be maximized through process integration/optimization in terms of IMS operation and route planning. Major efforts will be made to evaluate and enhance the cost-effectiveness of the IMS under multiple site conditions.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Gordon Huang

Student:

Partner:

Petroleum Technology Research Centre

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Mining; Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

University of Regina

Program:

Accelerate

Development of Analytical Techniques for Assessing the Numerical Stability of Multi-rate Electromagnetic Transient (EMT) Simulations

Electromagnetic transient (EMT) simulations are often used nowadays for analyzing the transient behaviour of power systems. However, due to the large size and complexity of modern-day power networks, simulating them in EMT programs can become excessively slow. Multi-rate simulation is one of the effective ways of speeding up EMT simulations. In this approach, only critical subnetworks of a system are simulated with small time-steps while relatively large time-steps are used for simulating the remaining (non-critical) parts. In the current literature, multi-rate simulation methods have been primarily investigated for their superior computational properties compared to the traditional single fixed time-step approaches. However, the numerical stability properties of such methods have not been effectively investigated. This research aims to address this gap by developing analytical techniques for assessing the numerical stability of multi-rate methods used in EMT simulations.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Aniruddha M. Gole

Student:

Partner:

Manitoba Hydro International Ltd

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Professional, scientific and technical services; Utilities

University:

University of Manitoba

Program:

Elevate

Analyse de données pour la performance énergétique et industrielle

Le secteur industriel est le plus grand consommateur d’énergie au Québec, représentant environ 40 % de la
consommation totale d’énergie. L’amélioration de la gestion de l’énergie dans ce secteur est un objectif essentiel,
tant pour le fournisseur d’énergie et les clients, compte tenu des coûts de l’énergie, des impacts environnementaux
et des ressources disponibles. En conséquence, ce projet vise à développer une application intégrée d’analyse
énergétique pour aider les clients industriels à mieux comprendre les tendances de leur consommation, leur
performance opérationnelle et leur intensité énergétique. Par conséquent, cet outil peut encourager et soutenir
les efforts des clients en matière d’efficacité énergétique. Ainsi, Hydro-Québec pourra optimiser l’exploitation du
réseau électrique et les clients pourront réduire leurs coûts énergétiques.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Sousso Kélouwani;Sousso Kelouwani;Kodjo Agbossou

Student:

Partner:

Hydro-Quebec

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Construction and infrastructure; Professional, scientific and technical services; Utilities

University:

Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières

Program:

Accelerate

Designing guar gum-based hydrogels for promoting anti-adhesion and anti-infective skin wound healing

Epidermolysis bullosa (EB) is a series of hereditary skin fragility conditions, currently without a cure, that are characterized by fragile skin that is prone blister formation in response to minor friction or trauma. Existing wound dressings are often too abrasive and/or stiff to effectively treat this condition without compromising healing, demanding new materials solutions to enable safe and effective dressing lift-off while maintaining the broad-spectrum antimicrobial properties required to prevent infections in the blisters that develop. In this project, the Hoare lab is partnering with Oligomaster Inc. to develop a new hydrogel-based solution to this challenge based on guar gum derivatives, which are highly lubricious to enable easy wound lift-off, and extracts of eremuran, a plant root extract of the eremurus plant that has been demonstrated to exhibit broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity. We anticipate the materials to be developed will lead to improved treatment options for EB that meet the unique treatment needs of this patient group in addition to other patient groups that suffer from chronic and fragile wounds (e.g. diabetics).

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Faculty Supervisor:

Todd Hoare

Student:

Partner:

Oligomaster Inc

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Manufacturing; Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

McMaster University

Program:

Accelerate

Demographic, genetic, and physiological responses of woodland caribou to changes in habitat across a managed forest landscape.

Boreal Woodland Caribou is a species of conservation concern that faces challenges due to habitat alteration and landscape disturbances. This research project aims to explore how landscape disturbance and habitat quality affect demographics, genetics, and physiology of woodland caribou. Three subprojects focus on specific aspects: 1) understanding how landscape factors impact caribou population density, 2) assessing the effects of disturbances on population structure and gene flow, and 3) examining the influence of landscape condition on stress and pregnancy rates. The research integrates spatial analysis, genetic studies, and physiological measurements. It will analyze factors like forest composition, age, roads, wildfires, and harvests to understand their impact on caribou across the study area. Genetic analysis will assess connectivity, considering potential barriers like fires and roads. The third subproject will study stress and pregnancy rates by analyzing hormones in fecal samples. This comprehensive approach aims to provide insights into how woodland caribou respond to various landscape conditions, contributing to conservation efforts and helping formulate strategies for road decommissioning and rehabilitation. The research outcomes are crucial for understanding caribou habitat dynamics and supporting the provincial conservation strategy.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Ashley Thomson;Dzhamal Amishev

Student:

Partner:

Dryden Fibre Canada;Weyerhaeuser

Discipline:

Life Sciences

Sector:

Agriculture

University:

Lakehead University

Program:

Accelerate

Novel Prediction of Watershed Peak Flow Across Logging and Climate Change Scenarios in the Redfish Creek Watershed

Recent findings expose the concerning sensitivity of hydrologic and geomorphic function to clearcut logging. Water quality, fish habitat, downstream infrastructure, and human lives are all suffering due to clearcut practices and climate change. This study will explore for the first time the differences between the effect of clearcut logging and more ecosystem friendly logging practices on flood risk. These logging scenarios will be compared in the Redfish Creek watershed in southeastern BC both using historically based, and climate projected weather data which will be simulated. Ground-breaking, watershed-scale spatial modelling will then be done, depicting environmentally friendly, clearcut, and no logging scenarios. This will showcase the flood risk differences in effects of logging with and without climate change projections. The partner has contributed to silvicultural research in the same watershed prior to this project, the culmination of these two pieces of research in separate fields will be beneficial to a more comprehensive understanding of the impact of logging in the hydroclimatic region where the research is taking place.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Younes Alila

Student:

Partner:

Mothertree Consulting Ltd

Discipline:

Earth science

Sector:

Other services (except public administration)

University:

The University of British Columbia

Program:

Accelerate

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Mitacs — Return on Innovation

Mitacs is funded by the Government of Canada, the Government of Alberta, the Government of British Columbia, Research Manitoba, the Government of New Brunswick, the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, the Government of Nova Scotia, the Government of Ontario, Innovation PEI, the Government of Quebec, the Government of Saskatchewan, and the Government of Yukon.