Innovative Projects Realized

LadderSpike’s A Safe Step Up

Ladder Spike inc is a new Manufacturing start-up specializing in ladder safety equipment. The company was registered in February,2021, shortly after joining the Genesis Centre’s program called evolution. Through the program Dale Kean became my fist investor and now business partner, along with  finishing the program and securing a spot in the event called Pitch & Pick in April,2021. Since leaving the program, business and product development has been top priority, and with product development coming to an end , it is a key point in our plan to hire an intern to help plan, develop and execute a “Bring To Market Strategy” over the next 4 months, through internship. This will include business plan finalization, Build & launch website, Start Social media, Copy development, and to help develop strategic campaigns, based on an overall timeline to bring awareness to our new start-up and Product launch.  This project will provide a pathway for us to develop our market roadmap using innovative go-to-market strategies and marketing. 

Development of Culturally Appropriate Outreach Strategies

SmartIce is hosting an intern to help develop culturally appropriate outreach strategies as part of it’s ongoing mission. This position involves a high degree of responsibility and autonomy, working independently and as part of a multi-disciplinary, Pan-Canada team and invovles working with project staff and partners to plan and coordinate logistics for engagement with a broad range of stakeholders throughout Inuit Nunangat.

FusionHub Software Development

This project will entail the software development of FusionHub’s platform. FusionHub is an industrial asset maintenance tracking software empowered through cross-platform data interconnectivity, collaboration between maintainers, and predictive analytics.

Accelerating Packaging Machinery Design and Assembly

Edson designs and manufactures innovative machines used for case packaging of goods, food, pharmaceuticals, and other products into corrugated boxes. Machine steps include automatic feeding of the boxes, folding, adding the product, and closing the box top. Market pressures require client ability to swiftly change over to package a new product. Edson must also be able to rapid customize design and correctly manufacture for a potential new client machine sale. Towards this goal the project will create 3D solid part models and intelligent subassembly hierarchies. Mating points on parts will be identified geometric tolerancing analysis, and best assembly sequences will be documented. Modern Design for Manufactuability and Assembly (DFMA) methods, including Poka-Yoke, ergonomics, etc. will be emphasized. The success of the effort will be measured by internal video capture during actual assembly, time and error reduction, client feedback, etc.

Improving Organizational Capacity for Data-Driven Insights and Planning

Seafair is a strategic leadership and community investment company. As a local organization founded and operating in Newfoundland & Labrador, we employ individuals across the province in urban, rural and remote settings in the delivery of community, home and residential care; safety supply and services; consumer health services; and in community development and capacity building efforts. In addition to our operations in Newfoundland & Labrador, Seafair operates a growing skilled-care home care agency, Life Home Health, in Florida, and is engaged in work with several First Nations across Canada.

Across our companies we utilize various digital tools and technologies to serve our communities, employees and customers. This project will help us develop organization capacity to leverage the data within these systems, alongside external sources to better understand our customers, our business and market needs.

Mernini’s innovation-based digital marketing expansion

This project will seek to identify and implement a new digitalization strategy to optimize mernini online and retail sales. It will optimize its sales funnel management to activate dormant leads and customers and to generate more leads and sales.

Inventory of Models and Practice in Community Focused and Interdisciplinary Social Sciences and Humanities Research

What does Kmb look like in the social sciences and humanities? Processes that lead to impact start with the creation of new knowledge (output) meant to transform approaches and attitudes, build competency and/or new types of relationships (outcomes). (See e.g., Bailey & Phipps 2019 and Phipps et al. 2016). These changes, in turn, may lead to positive economic, social and/or environmental transformations, but whether this happens is largely out of the sphere of control of researchers. In the social sciences and humanities (SSH), Kmb presents particular challenges, including those rooted in perceptions and value judgements that are often prejudicial and inaccurate, such as those associated with the idea that studying humanities will give you a “Barista degree” or that SSH knowledge “really is just common sense”.
The objective is to build on a scoping review to make an inventory of approaches to community-focused SSH knowledge mobilisation and interdisciplinary collaborations in Canadian universities to identify (i) incentives and (ii) recognition and reward
processes as well as (iii) drivers and barriers to community-focused SSH knowledge mobilisation.

Characterization of Simple In Vivo Models of Charcot Marie Tooth (CMT) Disease

Modelis is a drug discovery platform company focused solely on rare, genetic diseases. Our unique approach combines genetically-engineered worms which are ‘avatars’ of human patients, with high-throughput drug screening. This results in a dramatically accelerated drug discovery process. Our platform is perfectly suited for genes that are evolutionarily and functionally conserved such as FIG4, and the related disorder Charcot-Marie-Tooth 4J (CMT4J). This project will focus on engineering and phenotyping worm ‘avatars’ for high-throughput drug screening and performing the drug screens in worms. The best candidate hits will further enter a preclinical pipeline using patients’ cells.

Circular Design with Local Marginalized Sewing Collective

The intern is undertaking a research project on sustainability in the textile industry, and how to make the process not linear, but rather circular, so we can consider what happens to clothing at the end of its life. This research will be useful and beneficial for the partner organization, as the organization has a social enterprise consisting of a group of women who sew as a form of income generation. This livelihood program is now seeking to expand its offering to include sustainability and will benefit from the knowledge produced in this research project. This research will also make their product offering to be unique and be competitive in the textile market, thus making their social enterprise an even more effective tool as a poverty reduction strategy.

Product development for academic and pre-clinical research electrodes

Neuraura Biotech Inc., (“Neuraura”) is a seed stage Calgary-based company focused on the field of neuroscience / neurotech, formed as a spin-out of the University of Calgary in 2017. Neuraura is commercializing its technology for a range of research and clinical applications. This project will build on initial pilot projects with contract research organizations and academic partners to build out a range of research electrodes for use in academic and preclinical research. The Intern will leverage Neuraura’s proprietary electrode technology to design, build and test a range of designs, working in collaboration with other team members, potential customers and suppliers.

Merchant Equities Capital Corp – Fall 2021

The chosen candidate will be working directly with Mr. Leslie, MECC’s principal, with respect to the various services MECC offers. They will help expedite the completion of MECC’s short-term and long-term objectives through a variety of responsibilities, and will have the opportunity to work in a fast paced and engaging environment. The candidate must conduct themselves in a professional manner as they will be working closely with executives from MECC’s many clients and business partners. The candidate will gain valuable experience through a first-hand look at how a business is run at the executive level.

Going Beyond Backlash: Mitigating Resistance to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Initiatives

Some may think that it is only members of underrepresented and marginalized groups who experience identity threat in an organization. However, members of traditionally well-represented groups can feel threatened by diversity, equity, and justice (DEI) initiatives, and this can result to backlash which could derail those efforts. Through a collaboration with Feminuity, a consulting firm dedicated to helping organizations with diversity, inclusion and equity, this project will examine how the identity threats of dominant-identity group members can be transformed from roadblocks to challenges that can also trigger learning and growth as they force us to go beyond who we think we are. As Canadian organizations increasingly implement DEI initiatives, this project will assist policy makers and organizations such as Feminuity who are interested in improving support for these initiatives to better understand how to transform resistance into support.