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

Assessing the viability of using tiny homes to address housing insecurity in the Region of Waterloo

This research will use a test site to define best practices for siting, management, planning, and construction of Tiny Homes for the homeless, through a comprehensive review of existing precedents. In order to do this, the research responds to four questions about ‘Tiny Home’ communities for people experiencing homelessness. 1) Where should these communities be located in the urban region? 2) How should this housing be governed, managed, and maintained and by whom? 3) How should these homes be sited and serviced; what should be included in a self-contained unit, and what services should be shared between units to create a productive housing community? 4) How should this housing be manufactured to maximize social, environmental, and economic benefits?

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Faculty Supervisor:

Adrian Blackwell;Martine August;John McMinn;John McMinn;Martine August;Adrian Blackwell

Student:

Partner:

Brian Isherwood and Associates Ltd;Z-Modular Canada Inc.

Discipline:

Sociology

Sector:

Manufacturing; Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

University of Waterloo

Program:

Accelerate

Doepker Efficiency Strategy

Update engineering and process documentation for new product line (learn regulations, processes/procedures, engineering design standards, work in CAD and SolidWorks, assist in creating drawings, learn ERP systems, resolve on-floor production issues).

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Faculty Supervisor:

Reza Fotouhi

Student:

Partner:

Doepker Industries Ltd.

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Manufacturing

University:

University of Saskatchewan

Program:

Business Strategy Internship

Doepker Efficiency Strategy

Update engineering and process documentation for new product line (learn regulations, processes/procedures, engineering design standards, work in CAD and SolidWorks, assist in creating drawings, learn ERP systems, resolve on-floor production issues.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Reza Fotouhi

Student:

Partner:

Doepker Industries Ltd.

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Manufacturing

University:

University of Saskatchewan

Program:

Business Strategy Internship

A “Right to Food” Framework for Tackling Food Waste and Achieving a Just Circular Food Economy in Vancouver, British Columbia

In Canada over 35 million metric tonnes of food is wasted and lost, which costs an estimated C$49.5 billion annually. Food loss and waste has negative consequences for environmental sustainability, the economy, and social welfare. Most research on this issue focuses on solutions that target retail and consumer waste reduction such as redistribution of ‘ugly’ produce to food banks. Solutions that do not address the root causes of food waste limit our ability to implement effective strategies to reducing food insecurity. This research will identify gaps in current food system design that allow food to be wasted and explore innovative solutions which center justice, equity, and the right to food. In partnership with the Vancouver Economic Commission, the research will propose ideas for reducing food waste in the local food system. This will provide insight into the limits and opportunities to implement an equitable circular food economy in Greater Vancouver.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Tammara Soma

Student:

Partner:

Vancouver Economic Commission

Discipline:

Sociology

Sector:

Public administration

University:

Simon Fraser University

Program:

Accelerate

NEEDS SWIS Program

The focus of the NEEDS SWIS program is to provide services and supports for newcomer children and youth just arriving in Winnipeg between the first 12-18 months of the arrival. This program is a way of helping these children, youths, and their respective families to integrate into their new community. One-on-one mentorship activities are provided to children and youths during their settlement experience with trained and monitored volunteer mentors. Pro-social skill development and wellness programming for participants alongside base services and finally, relevant and timely referrals for participants to community resources are also provided. SWIS staffs work with school staffs to deliver additional orientation programming to recently arrived newcomer children and youth. SWIS staff are also responsible for ensuring that individuals are connected to existing resources to increase the overall wellbeing of each family. These services will help NEEDS INC and all the staffs to build very strong relationships with clients.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Andrea Rounce

Student:

Partner:

Newcomers Employment and Education Development Services

Discipline:

Sociology

Sector:

Education

University:

University of Manitoba

Program:

Business Strategy Internship

Asper School of Business – PolySense Inc.

Summer Co-Op position as a Business Management Associate at PolySense Solutions Inc. The Participant will aid the development and implementation of Human Resources policies and procedures, government funding research, tax research and analysis, sales and marketing campaigns, and competitive analysis.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Subbu Sivaramakrishnan;Kelly Mahoney

Student:

Partner:

PolySense

Discipline:

Business

Sector:

Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

University of Manitoba

Program:

Business Strategy Internship

Gamifying Engagement: Adding game elements to the community planning process

Local governments face many challenges when engaging the public in community planning—COVID-19 has forced almost all engagement to online platforms, it can be hard to reach a diversity of community members, and those who are engaged may feel engagement or ‘Zoom’ fatigue. With these challenges in mind, how can local governments facilitate meaningful civic engagement? Many researchers and practitioners are increasingly looking towards gamification. Gamification is a process that includes the use of game design elements and holds the potential to increase the quality and quantity of engagement in local civic processes. This research will explore how gameplay elements and ideas may facilitate more meaningful local civic engagement in British Columbia.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Maged Senbel

Student:

Partner:

Modus Planning, Design and Engagement Inc

Discipline:

Sociology

Sector:

Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

The University of British Columbia

Program:

Accelerate

Autonomous Energy System; Scalable, Flexible, Light and Low Cost – part 2

Nowadays the most rewarding aspect of engineering is to create solutions to the needs of society in a natural and resource efficient manner, therefore we must come up with more innovative and resource efficient solutions. One such solution can be a novel scalable autonomous energy system, which integrates Organic (polymer) based photovoltaics (OPVs), high density Polymer Energy Storage (PES) devices, and their Integrated Circuit (IC) interface all as a System-in-Package unit. OPV and PES cells are thin, light, and flexible technologies that have the potential to be used for such energy system at low cost. The IC interface manages charging of PES cells from the harvesting energy provided by OPV cells and regulates such power for the target applications. For the scalability of the system, the configuration of the cells (both OPV and PES) will be optimized using statistical analysis based on experimental results and characterization of the cells.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Bozena Kaminska

Student:

Partner:

BC Hydro (Vancouver, BC)

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Utilities

University:

Simon Fraser University

Program:

Accelerate

Advanced Analytics and Research Lab – Summer Analyst

The partner organization, Advanced Analytics and Research Lab (AAARL) is an affordable analytics services, solutions and consulting company based out of Canada. The organization focuses primarily on helping companies leverage data and technology to supercharge their day-to-day operations and achieve their business goals. The project to be completed with this organization will allow for the opportunity to learn about the operations and skills needed for business success, and significance of data analytics in the business realm. This internship will provide many training and learning opportunities for me, which include the use of analytical software, coding, automation, predictive analytics and many more technical activities. In addition, I will have to opportunity the learn about internal business structures such as business strategy development, while interacting and working with external clients in projects. While this experience will be extremely educational for myself and my growing career, it will also provide support to AAARL’s teams in day-to-day responsibilities and operations.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Gregory Zaric

Student:

Partner:

Advanced Analytics and Research Lab

Discipline:

Business

Sector:

Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

The University of Western Ontario

Program:

Business Strategy Internship

Rolling the Dice with Spice: The Complexity of Ethnic Minority Livelihoods in Yunnan’s Mountainous Bor

Many ethnic minorities in the southern mountainous region of Yunnan Province, China are being increasingly marginalized by ill-informed policies implemented by lowland-based, ethnic-majority officials, aiming to intensify socio-economic integration, promote agricultural intensification, and promote cash cropping, and restrict natural resource access. In the Yunnan borderlands and the site for my intended study, many sizeable extractive industries, infrastructure, hydropower, and tourism projects, mean that lowland state policies are rapidly expanding state control and direction over once isolated upland communities. Upland ethnic minority farmers in the Southern Yunnan borderlands are increasingly needing to find sources of cash due to increased state enthusiasm for market integration, especially state programmes encouraging farmers to rely on expensive hybrid rice and corn, which must be bought yearly with agro-chemical inputs. Black cardamom remains a popular crop due to farmers’ traditional economic knowledge, access to forest resources, and trusted trading networks. However, extreme weather events and environmental governance projects are thwarting this livelihood strategy.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Sarah Turner

Student:

Partner:

Yunnan University

Discipline:

Sociology

Sector:

Agriculture and Food; Sustainability & the Environment; Forestry

University:

McGill University

Program:

Globalink Research Award

Co-Op Summer Analyst

As a sector-agnostic investment bank, Gravitas Securities is a major provider of early-stage capital to companies. An intern helps directly with the origination and execution of key transactions and provides early-stage capital to these companies as they scale and become the dominant players in their space. At Gravitas Securities, we are largely focused on the origination and execution of deals across various key verticals including the technology, healthcare, and consumer sectors. The intern’s key responsibilities will ensure that our team is able to execute this mandate.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Robert Helsley

Student:

Partner:

Gravitas Securities

Discipline:

Business

Sector:

Finance and Insurance

University:

The University of British Columbia

Program:

Business Strategy Internship

Investment Banking Summer Analyst

As a sector-agnostic investment bank, Gravitas Securities is a major provider of early-stage capital to companies. The intern will be asked to produce a final deliverable in PowerPoint format that will be presented to the Gravitas Securities team. This final deliverable will involve a PowerPoint presentation over 25 minutes where the intern will speak about a) the key skills gained during the internship, b) the breadth of transactions and industries worked on, c) the deliverables the student had an opportunity to work on and d) key insights gained about the investment banking sector. This is a great moment for the intern to recap the skills and experience gained during the summer. Attending this presentation will be members of the core investment banking team. This final deliverable will be instrumental in reflecting on how the intern assisted with pivoting Gravitas business model to better serving our customers during COVID-19.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Robert Helsley

Student:

Partner:

Gravitas Securities

Discipline:

Business

Sector:

Finance and Insurance

University:

The University of British Columbia

Program:

Business Strategy Internship