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 spatial and temporal distribution of snow for climate change impacts and its influence on wildlife habitat selection

Annual snowpack data is typically summarized at a regional scale and used to make forecasts for spring melt conditions and flooding. However the spatial pattern of snow, its accumulation and melting across the land base, also directly influences the movement and habitat selection for many wildlife species which in turn impacts forest harvesting and resource management decisions. By examining the spatial distribution of snow on a finer scale using remote sensing, and incorporating existing wildlife data, better models can be created for wildlife habitat management and climate change impacts. Such data and modelling becomes a valuable service opportunity for SGS to use in the creation of partnerships for forest harvesting, wildlife management, conservation, tourism, and heritage projects. It also becomes the leverage for climate change adaptation projects, which will influence future economic opportunities. Our goal is to incorporate this new data and analyses into our website services to inform strategic and decision-making processes.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Nicholas Coops

Student:

Partner:

St’át’imc Government Services

Discipline:

Earth science

Sector:

Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

The University of British Columbia

Program:

Accelerate

Understanding the Mechanisms of Serotype Replacement in Vaccine-Preventable Diseases

diseases, there are a number of different serotypes that can cause infection. The vaccine is often targeted towards one or some of the serotypes. There is accumulating evidence that when serotype-specific vaccines are used, other non-vaccine serotypes may gain a competitive advantage and spread in larger magnitudes. This has raised the concern of serotype replacement when vaccination is used against a single or several serotypes of a disease. In other words, serotypes that not targeted by the vaccine are able to able to fill the ecological niche left open by the vaccine-targeted serotypes. There have been many studies to illustrate the concept of serotype replacement, but none has so far investigated possible mechanisms of serotype replacement. To this end, we propose a mathematical and computation model to
elucidate the underlying mechanisms of serotype replacement

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Faculty Supervisor:

Seyed Moghadas

Student:

Partner:

Universidade Federal Fluminense

Discipline:

Mathematics

Sector:

Education

University:

York University

Program:

Globalink Research Award

Heap leaching of refractory gold ore by integrating enhanced bio-oxidation of pyrite and chloride-based gold leaching

Gold occurs in association with pyrite and arsenopyrite in the Carlin-type gold deposit, with little gold being contained in carbonaceous materials. Extracting this gold requires pretreatment, such as pressure oxidation or roasting, to remove carbonaceous materials and sulphides, followed by the application of alkali cyanide or thiosulphate solution to leach gold. These processes are energy-intensive and may generate potentially harmful substances to the environment. With decreasing ore grade and more stringent environmental regulations, these processes may become financially and environmentally unviable. The proposed research project aims to develop a heap leaching process as an alternative to treat this type of refractory gold ore. This process involves bio-oxidation of pyrite as pretreatment to expose gold, followed by chloride-based leaching of gold. This project will bring both economic and environmental benefits to Barrick, given that the proposed process involves neither energy-intensive unit operations nor chemicals of significant environment concern.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Wenying Liu

Student:

Partner:

Barrick Gold Corporation (Toronto, ON)

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Mining

University:

The University of British Columbia

Program:

Accelerate

Catalysts for natural products epoxidation

The present project consists of developing new catalysts for the epoxidation of natural products. Those catalysts will be titanium and molybdenum, two well known metals for this reaction, on well defined porous silica supports. Solid catalysts are favoured in industries because they are easy to produce at low cost and easy to separate from the reaction medium. Finally, they can be reused several times. The current project consists of developing an easy strategy to prepare titanium and molybdenum catalysts by direct wet impregnation of the support with the metal precursor. The amount of metal and its coordination on the support are crucial for the activity of the catalysts. To have a better understanding of the catalysts activity, electronic microscopy of the surface will be performed to determine the active phases for each supported metal. The epoxidation reaction in carried out in liquid phase. The yield of epoxides by these two catalysts will be at least 65%.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Serge Kaliaguine

Student:

Partner:

Fudan University

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Education

University:

Université Laval

Program:

Globalink Research Award

Multi-dimensional wellbeing: Examining how financial, social, health, and environmental factors interactively determine subjective wellbeing

Maintaining a high level of subjective wellbeing (SWB) is critical to a happy and productive life. To achieve happiness, it is important to know what factors determine SWB. So far, a number of factors have been identified, including income, social relationships, physical health, and the environment. However, it is currently unknown how these factors interact with each other to influence SWB. The goal of the project is to develop an online survey to launch in Vancouver and Kelowna, BC. The survey will collect self-reports on financial stress, social relationships, perceived health, perceptions of the environment, affect, and life satisfaction. In collaboration with Balance Well-Being Centre Inc., this project will provide new insights on how various factors interactively predict SWB, and also create a comprehensive assessment tool to measure SWB. The findings of the project will help inform current practices and design solutions to improve SWB.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Jiaying Zhao

Student:

Partner:

Balance Well-Being Centre Inc

Discipline:

Sociology

Sector:

Other services (except public administration)

University:

The University of British Columbia

Program:

Accelerate

Integration and Application of Microlens Arrays within Heads-Up Displays

Recon Instruments Inc. is a Canadian company, founded in 2008, that is based out of Vancouver, BC. Recon develops technologies to incorporate displays into eyewear. The company recently released a Heads-Up Display for snowboarding goggles and they have had great success with it. They have sold more than 40,000 of the units. The proposed project will leverage this success and develop new technologies to extend the functionality of Recon’s displays. Fully integrated Heads-Up Displays will be developed through the course of the project for use in personal eyewear, such as eyeglasses and sunglasses. The developed technologies will be major advancements for this emerging market sector—and Recon is looking forward to continued success through the project.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Jonathan Holzman

Student:

Partner:

Recon Instruments Inc

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Manufacturing

University:

University of British Columbia - Okanagan

Program:

Accelerate

Generating Insight for Continuing Care through Exploration of RAI-MDS Data with Data Analytics and Computational Mode

The Resident Assessment Instrument Minimum Data Set (RAI-MDS) is used by health authorities for collecting information about individuals in continuing care facilities. Collected quarterly, RAI-MDS records contain more than 500 data elements, including cognition, psychosocial well-being, health conditions, communication, physical function, and activity patterns. Because of this it has great potential for providing an incomparable quantitative view on the lives of the oldest and most vulnerable Canadians. This research will focus on applying Big Data methods and modelling to RAI-MDS data, using visual analytics to enable exploration of the data. This will include IBM’s Watson, a group of powerful computing systems capable of searching vast amounts of information and performing multiple forms of data analysis. The methodology and tools resulting from this research will allow health authorities, residential care facilities, and other stakeholders to ask powerful questions about critical topics, such as how to allocate resources in order to best help residents.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Uwe Glasser

Student:

Partner:

IBM Canada Ltd (Ottawa, ON)

Discipline:

Computer science

Sector:

Information and cultural industries; Manufacturing; Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

Simon Fraser University

Program:

Accelerate

Power Flow control in HVDC Grid and its effect on the system stability of underlying AC network

The share of Renewable Energy (RE) resources in overall power generation has grown over the years. Since these RE resources are located at places which are away (off-shore, desert) from the load centres, efficient and reliable power transmission to load centres is extremely important. High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) transmission has evolved as the preferred efficient way to transmit large amount of power over long distances. It is proposed to interconnect HVDC transmission networks to form a HVDC grid for increasing efficiency and reliability. Since HVDC transmission is controlled by fast acting power electronic controls which have much faster response than conventional ac control, it becomes extremely important to study the effect of HVDC controls on power transfer with interconnected AC power systems so that both the systems operate in a robust stable condition. This project studies the effect of electro-mechanical oscillations due to power flow control on HVDC grid and its effect the stability of interconnected AC system.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Aniruddha Gole

Student:

Partner:

Electranix Corporation

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

University of Manitoba

Program:

Accelerate

Developmental Disability, Independent Facilitation, and Citizenship

Increasingly, organizations supporting people with disabilities, like Facilitation Wellington Dufferin (FWD), describe their activities in terms of citizenship goals, e.g., promotion of social inclusion, control over one’s own life, and access to natural supports. Key concepts such as citizenship and inclusion are philosophically disputed, raising a “measurement problem”—what would even count as evidence of success? The intern will distill the citizenship concepts embedded in FWD’s practice, locate them in the relevant theoretical literature, and suggest practical mechanisms for their measurement. Since communication is essential to controlling one’s own life, a second part of the project will involve designing a communication-support capacity-building project, including a best practices guide. The benefits to FWD include improved: understanding of citizenship; ability to measure their success; positioning for future advocacy; and access to expertise in designing the capacity-building project. The project will offer the intern experience in an applied research setting.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Chris Lowry

Student:

Partner:

Facilitation Wellington Dufferin

Discipline:

Sociology

Sector:

Health and Related Sciences & Technology

University:

University of Waterloo

Program:

Accelerate

Effet d’une deuxième fertilisation avec boues de chaux et biosolides papetiers sur la croissance du peuplier hybride dans le Sud du Québec, et interaction avec la végétation compétitrice

Ce projet de recherche est mené en Estrie sur des plantations de peupliers hybrides, une espèce d’arbre à croissance rapide fort intéressante pour l’industrie forestière, particulièrement depuis que le Québec s’oriente vers une intensification de la sylviculture. Parallèlement, une nouvelle loi devrait prochainement interdire l’enfouissement des matières résiduelles organiques; il devient donc primordial de trouver des moyens alternatifs d’en disposer. En agriculture, il est courant d’utiliser ces matières résiduelles fertilisantes (MRF), riches en éléments nutritifs, afin d’améliorer les sols et d’augmenter la productivité des cultures. Cette tendance n’est pas encore implantée en foresterie, mais elle pourrait faire d’une pierre, deux coups en contribuant à fertiliser les plantations de peupliers hybrides et à valoriser les MRF. En évaluant l’effet des MRF sur la fertilité du sol et sur la croissance du peuplier hybride, ce projet viendra combler un criant besoin de connaissances exprimé par le partenaire industriel.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Nicolas Bélanger

Student:

Partner:

Domtar (Windsor, QC)

Discipline:

Life Sciences

Sector:

Agriculture; Manufacturing

University:

Télé-Université

Program:

Accelerate

Development of Tissue-Based Biomarker Panels for Breast Cancer Treatment

Le cancer du sein touche une femme sur 9 au cours de sa vie en Amérique du Nord. Il s’agit d’une maladie hétérogène et il est important d’adapter les traitements au profil biologique de la tumeur. Le but de ce projet est de développer une méthode d’analyse d’échantillons de tumeurs mammaires basée sur 300 marqueurs analysés de façon simultanée afin de faciliter la classification des tumeurs et le choix thérapeutique. L’avantage principal retiré de ce projet sera d’identifier et de tester ces marqueurs, permettant de développer cette méthode dans le futur pour application en clinique.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Sylvie Mader

Student:

Partner:

Caprion Proteomics Inc

Discipline:

Life Sciences

Sector:

Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

Université de Montréal

Program:

Accelerate

The effect of silica nanoparticles on colloidal stability of tannins

The use of water sources with high silica concentration has proven to be a major challenge for the operation of steam boilers. Despite advances in conventional technologies, high silica water (>150 mg/L) continues to have a major impact on the operation and efficiency of boilers mainly due to silica deposit, which reduces heat transfer.
This project will investigate the behavior of tannins as a function of colloidal silica concentration, pH, and salt concentration, using photometric dispersion analyzer (PDA) and dynamic light scattering (DLS). Field results show that tannin chemistry has changed the way steam boiler systems operate resulting in a higher efficiency and giving a significant cost reduction for low-pressure boilers (<300 psi). In addition, operational data support that the green tannin chemistry performs in silica levels well above any established industry guidelines, while reducing the environmental footprint of the industry. This work provides a new model for how high silica water can be treated in the future.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Theo van de Ven

Student:

Partner:

Technologies propres TGWT inc

Discipline:

Earth science

Sector:

Clean Technology; Nanotechnology; Natural Resources

University:

McGill University

Program:

Accelerate