Innovative Projects Realized

GoodLocal Student Internship (Creative Communications/Marketing Specialist & Digital/Ecommerce Specialist)

The Intern will be working in a Marketing/E-commerce Specialist role. This position will include devleoping social media content and delivering it in an engaging way. The intern will also be working on a business case that addresses the question why local. The intern will benefit the partner organization by bringing them creative content ideas.

Virtual Learning Library Internship at SOGC

The virtual library intern will work with the supervisor and the Director of Education and Accreditation to develop a virtual library of virtual teaching resources and materials, including recommending a platform for hosting and creating the infrastructure that meets privacy requirements. The intern will also seek, collect and categorize the virtual materials, ensuring that they are organized and searchable. The intern will also provide advice about how to use technology in an innovative way to improve medical student and resident education.
The internship will provide the SOGC organization with a virtual educational library, including the background research and design and links to the SOGC relevant programs, activities and guidelines.

Antimicrobial and Antibiofilm Mechanisms of Silver-oxysalt Based Wound Care Products

Infection causing bacteria often grow as a community called a biofilm, which once formed becomes protected from the outside environment. In the context of a human infection, this means a biofilm is more resistant to both the immune system and external interventions such as antibiotics. For this reason, biofilms are proposed to be the link between acute and chronic infection. Focusing on the role biofilms play in chronic wound infection, this project will evaluate the role different silver formulations play in preventing or reducing biofilm formation. Exciton Technologies Inc. produces a wound care product with highly oxidized silver species that are more reactive and effective against bacteria than silver species found in other products. Understanding the interaction with biofilm forming bacteria will lead to the production of a low-cost and effective treatment for patients suffering from chronic wounds inflicted by microbial biofilm population and improve patient care.

Business Development/Marketing Specialist – Ekidna Sensing

Ekidna Sensing is in a growth stage and looking out to build marketing model for the future growth that will be established during this covid period replacing the traditional methods in handling the business. The internship will involve collaborating on building the sales/marketing model in the context of COVID19. This could include activities such as improving our target lead list, building sales assets, understanding customer needs from pilot trial data, developing marketing plans to reach the targets, and iterating on these aspects as Ekidna grows. May also be required to measure, analyze, and scope the effectiveness of various sales/marketing aspects.

Mitacs BSI – Cadence Final Document Services

By helping Cadence to digitize the final document process, the intern will contribute to making it easier for Canadians to complete the administrative tasks that come after the death of a loved one. The digital, ‘tell-us-once’ approach will allow users to complete the required paperwork quickly and entirely online, permitting them to grieve wholeheartedly, maintain physical distancing, stay safe from COVID-19 and help ‘flatten the curve’. By simplifying this process, the solution will alleviate distress and anxiety in the bereavement period. Errors, delays, miscommunications and omissions that can lead to financial losses and legal challenges will be prevented.

The goal is to have this software integrate with government IT systems, enabling secure and seamless data transfer. During COVID-19, the federal system is facing increased demands due to the large number of Canadians receiving financial assistance and benefits. By digitizing the submission process for federal forms at the end-of-life, our solution will overcome the limitations posed by paper forms and mail, thereby reducing the workload of employees and improving efficiencies at the government level. Further, it will support the Canadian government in its goal to modernize service delivery and promote a robust digital economy.

Virtual Innovation Hub Development

Mitacs is launching the Business Strategy Internship (BSI) program in collaboration with Canadian business schools. BSI is a 16-week internship program that will offer undergraduate and graduate students the opportunity to build a strategic project in alliance with a business or non-profit (NFP) in Canada. The award will offer $10,000 to interested students who are designing a project designed to help the company restore or change business operations in a new economic climate. Throughout the initiative, Mitacs offers online career development resources for students. This exposure to a business internship at a Canadian company is an efficient way to supplement academic programming in order to improve the practical skills necessary for the future economy of Canada.

Desjardins

Les activités prévues dans le cadre du présent stage de stratégie d’entreprise Mitacs s’inscrivent dans la volonté d’optimisation et de perfectionnement des modèles d’apprentissage machine supervisé actuellement utilisés par l’organisation afin de pouvoir maximiser la valeur et d’accroître l’activité de l’organisation. Plus précisément, il s’agit d’identifier comment il serait possible d’améliorer les performances prédictives des modèles de « gradient boosting », en profitant notamment de leur processus itératif. En effet, l’objectif des modèles de « gradient boosting » et de pouvoir fournir une prédiction fondée sur l’ensemble des prédictions venant de modèles appelés « apprenants faibles » et qui permettent d’optimiser une certaine fonction de perte de façon itérative. Ainsi, il serait pertinent d’obtenir un code python permettant de sélectionner de manière plus optimale le meilleur « apprenant faible » possible à chaque itération du modèle de « gradient boosting » afin d’améliorer la prédiction globale du modèle. De plus, puisque les modèles « apprenants faibles » possèdent aussi des hyperparamètres, ceux-ci pourraient être sélectionnés de façon plus optimale à chaque itération. Les modèles de « gradient boosting » ayant la particularité de produire du surapprentissage des données d’entrainement,

Flair Stratégie Inc. – Isabelle Séguin-Zilio

Sous la supervision du stratège SEO principal, la candidate aura comme objectif principal d’identifier des solutions tangibles pour des petites et moyennes entreprises en matière de référencement organique principalement sur les moteurs de recherche Google et Bing. À titre d’exemple, via des méthodologies et outils technologiques en SEO, la candidate aidera les entreprises à augmenter leur visibilité local sur des mots-clés importants, ce qui contribuera à la croissance commerciale des entreprises sur le web. La candidate fera également des documents de recommandations avec un calendrier des activités étalé sur plusieurs semaines afin de rencontrer les objectifs d’affaires et de marketing numérique.

UCalgary Law Innovation Internship with Ackah Business Immigration Law – Innovative Legal Service Delivery in Immigration Law

Ackah Business Immigration Law has partnered with the University of Calgary to engage a UCalgary Law Innovation Intern in research, information gathering, analysis and reporting in a number of aspects of law, immigration and business. The intern will have the opportunity to develop the skills necessary to deliver accurate and timely reports and recommendations that integrate the law and regulation, the practical delivery of legal services to a client and the business impact of doing so efficiently.

UCalgary Law Innovation Internship with Simplex Legal – New legal service delivery for a post-COVID legal profession

Simplex Legal has partnered with the University of Calgary to engage a UCalgary Law Innovation Intern to design a technology that is accessible, customer centric and cost effective which brings efficiencies in management while adequately protecting the intellectual property of the company’s clients. Simplex Legal is in the business of changing the way legal services are delivered with new and innovative solutions in the profession. The innovation intern will be a critical contributor to the team conducting research into protection of intellectual property for new software development and will be involved with the legal team in terms of designing corporate structure and technology licensing, and providing insights into a broader commercialization plan to roll product out nationally.

UCalgary Law Innovation Internship with Athennian – Innovative Legal Service Delivery

Athennian has partnered with the University of Calgary to engage a UCalgary Law Innovation Intern in data migration, document automation and research to support customer success in the legal profession. Athennian sees evidence that the business of legal is changing, and thus the talent that executes legal requires a change as well. Lawyers and other legal professionals are adapting to the changing market requirements that are being placed on them, this includes: leveraging technology, organizing data and finding new ways to engage legal customers and users. The UCalgary Law Innovation intern will have an opportunity to gain knowledge and skills to support future success in the profession.

UCalgary Law Innovation Internship with Donna Purcell QC Law – Integration of Digital Technology for Legal Practice

Donna Purcell QC Law has partnered with the University of Calgary to engage a UCalgary Law Innovation Intern in actively advance DPQC Law’s objective of establishing a law firm of the future, through the ongoing use and integration of digital technology into the daily practice of law. The intern will engage in project management and hands on adaptation of precedents into automated digital documents using cloud-based file management and document automation, provide research and formal opinions on new and innovative technology that may be integrated into the firm’s digital practice, and assist lawyers and staff in the use of digital technology in their daily practice in order to ensure continuity of client service responding to the current pandemic and into the future.