Innovative Projects Realized

Program Manager, Social Innovation Consulting Group

SIA is enlisting the support of a Mitacs intern to develop a Social Innovation Consulting Group (SICG) – a new initiative within the SIA umbrella. SIA is looking to expand its programs to include longer-term consulting engagements in partnership with a post-secondary institution in Canada. While the Social Innovation Fellowship currently offers 8-week projects, there is a new opportunity to incorporate a student-led consulting group that will benefit from pre-existing SIA training and expand the avenues of support available to social enterprises and non-profits. The Mitacs intern will lead the development of this program and create new procedures specific to the SICG. This new program will provide consulting services to social enterprises and non-profit organizations, over a duration of 16 weeks with the option for academic credit within the post-secondary institution.

BestCities 2022 Global Forum Case Study on the Impact of International Congresses

Destination Vancouver (DVAN) is seeking to investigate meetings and conventions impacts and understand their changes given the pandemic-induced increase of hybrid and online meetings. DVAN has sought the technical expertise of academic supervisors at Capilano University’s Centre for Tourism Research and Extension Services’ (CTRES) in understanding these impacts, especially for repeat and one-time international conferences in Vancouver. Participation in this project will provide interns the opportunity to apply theory, concepts, tools, and skills learned throughout their Tourism Management degree. Under the direct guidance of academic supervisors and with support from DVAN, interns will conduct relevant research and use a theoretical framework to evaluate real-world impacts in the new normal of the meetings and conventions sector.

Planet Hatch Startup Sales Accelerator Internship

Planet Hatch is an acceleration centre located in Fredericton, that helps entrepreneurs and startups grow into well-positioned, internationally competitive businesses through programs, funding, mentorship, coaching, facilities and events.

The Planet Hatch Sales Accelerator program is the first sector-agnostic sales acceleration program in Atlantic Canada. The program helps startups build their sales pipeline, develop skills to close deals fast, and drive revenue for scalable growth. Our organization collaborates with dynamic students who fulfill the role of Startup Sales Intern, a position in which, students are placed with a growing startup company participating in Planet Hatch’s Sales Accelerator program.

Throughout the program, students and entrepreneurs receive intensive, hands-on sales training that will help them develop skills to identify, negotiate and close deals. At the end of the program, graduates receive certification as a sales professional which is recognized across North America.

In a recent survey of Canadian employers, sales professionals were identified as 2nd of the 10 most in-demand skills. Almost a quarter of employers say the main reason they can’t fill these roles is due to a lack of qualified applicants.

Improvement of web-based Human Machine Interface (HMI) for enhanced user interaction experience with novel glaucoma detection devices

Diagnosis of glaucoma during the early stages is critical to prevent permanent structural damage and irreversible vision loss. Glaucoma is typically detected through an examination of structural damage to the optic nerve combined with measurements of visual function. This research project aims to focus on the development of an enhanced graphical user interface to perform, monitor, and analyze the visual field examination results for the detection of glaucoma using novel techniques. The graphical user interface will include statistical tools for analyzing the visual field, automated warnings for patients and technicians during visual field examination, a tool to stream the eye movement during the test, and graphical tools to produce the final report. The developed graphical user interface will not only help the technician to reduce the possibility of false detection by continuous monitoring of the eye but also would help the ophthalmologists to analyze the progression of glaucoma in patients by offering a user-friendly graphical interface.

Earth Intelligence Platform development and optimization

This project will help 3D Planeta train interns to help towards novel product development. Through this project, all the interns will be engaged to take on specific tasks that will help build on the work 3D Planeta’s team has been developing. This work will help 3D Planeta to advance it’s 3D offerings from the advanced prototype stage to being commercially viable products.

Ontario Health Team Digital Transformation Roadmap

Headwaters OHT and the Professional Practice Centre for Health Systems at the University of Waterloo will work together to produce the Harmonized Information Management Plan (HIMP). The essential first step is to understand the digital environment including digital asset (information systems), data sources and data flows among the partner agencies. This information will enable us to identify the needs, propose the future state of the digital ecosystem to realize the vision and mission stated by the Headwaters Collaborative. This project’s outcomes will help OHT meet the Ministry’s evaluation requirements and identify possible funding opportunities for pilot and implementation that could enhance the OHT’s digital capability and competency.

Bridging Knowledge Gaps for SMEs to Thrive in the Next Normal Economy

Bridging Knowledge Gaps for SMEs to Thrive in the Next Normal Economy

Hiring and developing skilled workforce talent is a major challenge faced by all companies. However, this challenge is amplified when companies receive a high volume of applicants – particularly where the company is a labor-intensive business, or growing quickly, and or facing high attrition rates (churn).
The adoption and use of virtual and digital platforms in talent management, career development and skill development pathway discovery has enabled ways to access opportunities for both employers and jobseekers. At the same time, it has also simultaneously created a plethora information that requires more time costs for employers who are inundated with candidate applications – candidates who may not have the best fit for the job posting, creating more work, time and costs for the employer (limited HR resources). As a result of the impact of COVID, the additional time and cost challenges that face and stress small and medium sized companies (SMEs) is even more amplified today, and as well the access to skilled workforce talent to meet their future workforce needs.

A framework for assessing qualitative and quantitative risks of installing and operating water supply services in small, remote Indigenous communities

Water infrastructure and supply service in Canadian small, remote Indigenous (SRI) communities are facing various challenges, including long-term water quality advisories. A water infrastructure risk assessment system is much needed to help identify critical nodes that are prone to cause failure in the entire water supply service chain, ranging from pre-project planning to water service operation. In the proposed study, a comprehensive framework will be developed to assess various types of risks in water infrastructure project development and water supply service in SRI communities. The framework integrates both qualitative (e.g., supply chain risk) and quantitative (e.g., human health) risk assessment methods into one system, and it will be able to aggregate different types of risks assessed into one metric for risk benchmarking. The framework will be applied to four SRI communities in BC for demonstration. The outcomes of the proposed study will provide a useful tool to help address water supply issues in Canadian SRI communities.

Development of a Sediment Transport Model in Support of the Cornwall Sediment Strategy

There are zones of contaminated sediment along the Cornwall waterfront in the St. Lawrence River that were identified in the Cornwall Sediment Strategy (CSS). In addition to the existing contaminated sediments accumulated over time in the river bed, there are contaminated sediments that enter the river from other sources such as wastewater sewer systems. It is of essential importance for different stakeholders and end users to understand the transport of these contaminated sediments in the Cornwall waterfront of the St. Lawrence River. The main goal of this project is to develop a numerical tool to study the transport of these contaminated sediments within the reach. The outcome of this project can provide insights for remediation and restoration strategies and plans.

BETSY – Bovine Expert Tracking and Surveillance

OneCup uses Computer Vision to uniquely identify livestock and wildlife from almost any angle, effectively Face ID for animals, called 360 Live ID. We then track health, growth, activity, nutrition, and phenotypes with the ID. It is a revolutionary idea that will disrupt the agricultural industry. We call our AI for cattle BETSY, or Bovine Expert Tracking and Surveillance.
In this research project, we will expand BETSY’s functionality and her deployment platforms. Two of the researchers will implement and test AI pipelines on Android and Apple mobile devices. Based on visual indicators, a third researcher will teach BETSY how to open and close gates. By implementing QC algorithms on her predictive abilities, the final researcher will expand BETSY’s autocorrecting ID features.

RetinaLogik Biotech – Kalpita Reddiar

RetinaLogik Biotech Inc. is a social enterprise based out of Calgary, Alberta. We believe everyone deserves access to quality vision care: With RetinaLogik software, life-changing eye exams can be delivered on intelligent and portable devices at a fraction of the cost.

As we approach the beginning of our clinical trials, we see this as excellent timing to bring on additional support to help us gather in-depth structured market intelligence and standardize our marketing materials (user guides, pitch decks, etc) so we are prepared and informed for a smooth transition from clinical trials to successful market launch.

Impact Investing Housing Fund – Data Analytics

Ayrshire is an investment management firm focused principally on real estate investing in Alberta. We own retail,
office and residential properties in multiple markets. Recently we have seen a shift in investment demand associated with new acquisition and developments of multifamily apartment housing in Western Canada. Recently Ayrshire received federal funding through CHMC Rental Construction Financing Program to build affordable housing units for a project located in the Beverly community in Edmonton. Given it’s strong performance and impact investing nature, Ayrhsire has undergone research to raise capital for an Impact investing fund focused on core needs housing to service Canadian’s through affordable housing, seniors housing, student housing, accessible needs housing, etc. Given subsidy programs and available public private partnerships opportunities emerging in Western Canadian urban centers, there are strong tailwinds and an opportunistic time to be investing in multifamily developments that have measurable social impacts. We are needing an intern to help gather economic and financial data to help identify markets where Ayrshire’s investment thesis is supported. This research may be specific to some opportunities in our deal pipeline but will generally be focused on relative fundamentals important to real property markets. We have actively been looking for ways to effectively participate in impact investment and and need resources to deliver the quality of analysis that our executive team is expecting.