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

Have You Eaten Any Fish Today? Understanding Why Canadians Don’t Eat Canada’s Food Guide Recommended Two Servings Per Week

BC seafood companies and their industry association partners are strongly interested in growing domestic markets for seafood and promoting their locally caught and raised seafood products, which fit well with a number of current North American food trends including local food, a growing focus on diets promoting healthy lifestyles and an increasingly older adult demographic with an interest in consuming high quality, nutrient rich, and often health promoting and disease preventing foods, like seafood. However, most people, including in Canada, are simply not already eating the amount of fish recommended by government health agencies and other health organizations; and there has been minimal research investigating why. This project will involve research into understanding determinants of seafood as a food choice that will provide relevant and targeted information to BC’ seafood sector which may be used to develop better seafood marketing approaches in order to help improve domestic seafood sales.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Grant Murray

Student:

Partner:

BC Salmon Farmers Association;Canadian Aquaculture Industry Alliance;BC Seafood Alliance;BC Shellfish Growers Association;BC Aquatic Foods Resources Society;Vancouver Island University

Discipline:

Business

Sector:

Other services (except public administration)

University:

Vancouver Island University

Program:

Accelerate

Financial risk evaluation for New Brunswick Power Corporation: A Monte Carlo simulation

To meet its energy obligations, NB Power uses a generation portfolio comprised of thermal, nuclear, and renewables sources such as wind and hydro. The fuel cost incurred by the corporation to generate electricity represents one of its largest expenditures. NB Power is subject to numerous factors that can affect its future financial projections. It currently evaluates a limited number of scenarios for the items that impact this cost and thus seeks to perform a more in-depth analysis of the risks by incorporating probabilistic techniques in its evaluation. This project will help NB Power improve its financial forecast and allow for stakeholders to have a better understanding of how current and future rates may change. This research project benefits the intern in several aspects. Firstly, the intern will have the opportunity to apply the knowledge s/he acquired in the classroom to solve real-life problems. Secondly, the intern will work on a real-life problem that s/he may not have learned in class. Thirdly, the intern has the opportunity to work closely with industry practitioners.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Donglei Du

Student:

Partner:

NB Power

Discipline:

Business

Sector:

Finance and Insurance; Energy and Utilities; Natural Gas

University:

University of New Brunswick

Program:

Accelerate

Quantification des écarts de volumes de bois entre ceux prévus par Woodstock et ceux réellement récoltés ou encore ceux disponibles à la récolte dans un avenir rapproché

En forêt boréale, la révolution forestière, c.-à-d. le temps de retour de la forêt mature est relativement long. En sapinière à bouleau blanc on estime qu’il faut près de 60-70 ans avant de pouvoir retourner récolter la forêt. Actuellement, la majorité des volumes prélevés en forêt boréale proviennent encore de peuplements naturellement établis. Mais cette ère tire à sa fin ce qui nous offre la possibilité de vérifier si nos estimations concernant les temps de retour sont justes. En effet, avec l’actualisation des données d’inventaire dans des peuplements qui sont issus d’anciennes coupes et qui sont considérés à nouveau comme disponibles à la récolte dans un avenir rapproché (moins de 15 ans), il sera possible de vérifier si nos estimations de croissance sont juste. Le projet proposé vise à vérifier l’écart entre les volumes attendus des peuplements issus de coupe et l’estimation retenue dans le calcul de la possibilité forestière. On désire faire évoluer les strates d’aménagements visées par une seconde récolte sur une courte période à l’aide des modèles existant (Natura et Artémis) et vérifier si effectivement les volumes marchands retenu dans le calcul de la possibilité seront effectivement au rendez-vous dans une quinzaine d’années.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Osvaldo Valeria;Alain Leduc

Student:

Partner:

Norbord Inc (La Sarre, QC)

Discipline:

Earth science

Sector:

Agriculture

University:

Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue

Program:

Accelerate

Hydrology and geochemical cycling of a complex urban stormwater system

The hydrologic cycle in major cities is influenced by roadways, rooftops, and other features, resulting in greater runoff and poorer water quality. At airport sites across Canada, de-icing compounds can also degrade water quality by altering water chemistry in surface ponds as well as subsurface water (i.e., groundwater). This project aims to characterize water movement between surface stormwater ponds and groundwater at the Calgary International Airport, to better understand the physical connections between these key parts of the hydrologic cycle. This hydrology knowledge will be combined with detailed sampling of water chemistry, notably sulphur compounds (which cause noxious odours) and nutrients, to identify the sources and mechanisms of water quality degradation at the site. Calgary Airport Authority will use the improved understanding of water movement and sulphur cycling to develop effective strategies for better stormwater control and water quality.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Edwin Cey

Student:

Partner:

Calgary Airport Authority

Discipline:

Earth science

Sector:

Transportation and warehousing

University:

University of Calgary

Program:

Accelerate

Smart Use of Infrared Thermography for Civil Infrastructure Inspections

Infrared thermography represents an attractive solution in the field of Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) by overcoming some drawbacks of the traditional surveys. However, the labor and the amount of data to be analyzed, stored, and communicated are extensive when inspections are scaled to a large network of structures. In addition, the information about the damages is usually analyzed and stored using manually-based approaches. Therefore, this study, in partnership with TORNGATS Services Techniques, aims to integrate state-of-art computational methods with the infrared thermographic technique to create a digital information model to process, store, access, and communicate the inspection data. Thus, this project aims to support more effective data communication between the inspectors, engineers, researchers, asset owners, and project managers about the structure condition, which is one of the imminent demands in Canada’s civil infrastructure inspection industry.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Xavier Maldague

Student:

Partner:

TORNGATS Technical Services Inc

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

Université Laval

Program:

Accelerate

Analog ASIC Artificial Intelligence at the Edge

Enabling Analog Artificial Intelligence by the systematic generation of Analog Neural Networks from well-known Artificial Intelligence software tools. The circuits and methodologies developed here enable “AI at the Edge” meaning local, low power, analog AI that provides, for example, medical devices that analyse signals to asses the need for intervention; voice recognition devices that do not send recordings to the internet; smoke detectors that recognise the chemical composition of gas in the air and similar. All this is achieved in low cost manufacturing using standard CMOS fabrication steps. The innovation is the ability to configure many thousands of small analog computation units into a neural network. Access to this technology is simplified: the customer need not understand how the analog core is operating. Industry standard AI tools generate configuration files that are read to define the AI processing. The system includes data acquisition elements that hook directly to the analog AI core. This enables, for example, a complete EEG chip including 64 low noise amplifiers and ADC convertors to feed into a trained analog neural net that recognises onset of seizure in epileptic patients or pain in neo-natal children.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Mohammad Hossein Zarifi

Student:

Partner:

SiliconIntervention Inc.

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

The University of British Columbia - Okanagan

Program:

Accelerate

A low-cost photonic device for the detection and quantification of Nitrous Oxide (N2O) and Ammonia (NH3)

The applicant has completed building a spectroscopic device to measure trace gases (e.g., Greenhouse Gasses -GHG) in agriculture fields. The objective of proposed project is to conduct a field trial of the developed device and optimize different optical components so that the system, operating as a standalone device, can perform the following tasks: (a) Multicomponent gas analysis – N2O, CO2, H2O, CH4 and NH3, and (b) Detection of Isotopologues of N2O.
The Long-Term objective of the proposed research is to develop the infrastructure to detect and quantify emitted gasses (e.g., N2O and NH3) from fertilized agriculture fields. The results will assist fertilizer companies to (1) develop the protocol of applying fertilizer under different environmental conditions to reduce emissions; and (2) develop innovative fertilizer products such as ESN. This infrastructure will also support farmers, in relation to fertilizer application, helping them save costs while creating more ecologically friendly and attractive products.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Gautam Das

Student:

Partner:

Nutrien Ag Solutions (Calgary, AB)

Discipline:

Physics

Sector:

Agriculture

University:

Lakehead University

Program:

Accelerate

Ubiquitous vital sign monitoring with loss of balance detection

This project will develop a loss of balance detection system to enhance the iMD Research Vital Zenzer, which monitors vital user biometrics. Accelerometer signals from both waist and wrist-worn body locations will be analyzed to obtain key inputs for Machine Learning and AI algorithms. Such algorithms will be developed to adapt to changing user conditions such as progress in rehabilitation. Classification and feature extraction will use key vital sign parameters to identify stable versus unstable conditions. A loss of balance prediction and risk measure will be developed. Importantly, the security and privacy of user data will be integrated into the system. All development will be performed in collaboration with the iMD Research team.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Sridhar Krishnan;Kristiina Valter-Mai;Reza Samavi;Kristiina Valter Mai

Student:

Partner:

iMD Research

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Information and cultural industries; Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

Toronto Metropolitan University

Program:

Accelerate

Suivi des sols contaminés stabilisés et solidifiés au ciment par la vitesse des ondes de cisaillement

Pour certains types de sols contamines, en particulier dans les cas de contamination mixte, leur encapsulation par stabilisation/solidification au ciment s’avere une approche pratique. L’evolution de l’etude des differentes deformations de ces materiaux est importante autant du point de vue mecanique (par exemple temps de durcissement, evolution des resistances) que du point de vue environnemental (par exemple la lixiviation qui est !”extraction des elements solubles grace a un solvant comme l’eau , la conductivite hydraulique). Le suivi du durcissement des sols SIS peut s’effectuer typiquement par des essais mecaniques, comme par exemple des essais au rheometre avant le durcissement et des essais destructifs sur les SIS durcis. Ces approches necessitent toutefois de recourir a des specimens distincts a differents stades de !’evolution des sols SIS. Le projet consiste a examiner les implications du suivi des sols contamines SIS au ciment par une methode non destructive et non intrusive basee sur la vitesse de propagation des ondes de cisaillement (Vs). Le projet sera base sur une revue de la litterature qui tirera profit des efforts experimentaux existants orientes vers les mesures de Vs dans les materiaux cimentaires ou bitumineux, frais et durcis.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Yannic Ethier;Jean-Sébastien Dubé

Student:

Partner:

Pangeos

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

École de technologie supérieure

Program:

Accelerate

Battery Management System for Lithium Polymer and Solid-State Batteries

Energy storage systems (ESS) are vital components in the power grid to ensure the reliable performance of the power grid integrated a considerable amount of renewable energy resources (DER). ESSs are employed to compensate for the unexpected changes in DERs and shift load during peak hours. ESSs are complex structures consisting of several series and parallel connected battery cells. Battery cells may have different characteristics due to the ambient temperature and aging differences. As a result, the operation limits of each battery cell vary. A battery management system (BMS) is responsible for assuring the safe operation of the battery cells in different operating conditions. The design of the battery management system is required to accommodate various types of cell chemistries. In this project, we develop an efficient and accurate battery management system for state-of-art battery chemistries, such as Solid-State batteries, to facilitate the adaptation of different battery cell chemistries in ESSs.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Benoit Boulet

Student:

Partner:

Hydro-Quebec

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Utilities

University:

McGill University

Program:

Accelerate

Structural Geology and Controls on Gold Mineralization, Ormaque Deposit, Abitibi Subprovince, Val d’Or Quebec

The MSc student will determine the factors determining the distribution of gold at the Ormaque gold project, near Val d’Or Quebec. This will be accomplished by examination of drill core, and mapping of underground exposure when available, at the Ormaque site during two summer field seasons. Samples collected in the field will be returned to Laurentian University and examined using petrographic and scanning electron microscopes and a laser-ablation induced-coupled mass spectrometer instrument. This data will be used to characterize the deposit and prepare a geological map and cross sections focused on the structural geologic framework of the deposit. The partner Eldorado Gold will benefit from this research through an improved understanding of the distribution of gold within the Ormaque deposit and the geological events which resulted in this distribution. This will help the partner in defining better the deposit and in their wider exploration efforts in the Val D’Or district.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Ross Sherlock

Student:

Partner:

Eldorado Gold

Discipline:

Earth science

Sector:

Natural Resources; Mining; Technology

University:

Laurentian University

Program:

Accelerate

Low Hopes, Bad Democracy? A Tale of Unexpected Winners and Losers

A great amount of research has noted the existence of a gap between winners and losers in relation to satisfaction with democracy (SWD). As stated by Craig et al. (2006, 579), “winners and losers do not always respond with equal enthusiasm either to the election outcome, or to the institutions and processes through which that outcome was rendered.” One aspect of the winner–loser gap that has been overlooked is the impact of citizens’ expectations and the strength of these expectations on their level of satisfaction with democracy. More precisely, what can we expect from unexpected winners and losers? Are individuals on the losing side less dissatisfied when they recognize their favourite party was likely to be defeated at the polls? Does experiencing a surprise victory leads to a boost in SWD? Leiter et al. (2020) have claimed that “when faced with a reality that does not comport to their established beliefs, citizens may react quite negatively—an increasingly concerning phenomenon in modern democracies.” However, the potential association between (unfulfilled) expectations and attitudes towards democracy has been given almost no attention (but see Umit 2020).

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Faculty Supervisor:

Ruth Dassonneville

Student:

Partner:

Sciences Po

Discipline:

Sociology

Sector:

Education

University:

Université de Montréal

Program:

Globalink Research Award