Innovative Projects Realized

Online peer-to-peer healthcare platform – informal caregivers

Develop a recommendation for several elements of Synergiq’s go-to-market strategy/marketing plan for their online peer-to-peer healthcare platform. This particular project is an online peer-to-peer community for informal caregivers – especially those who are supporting loved ones who are suffering from a serious illness or palliative condition. The intern will employ artificial intelligence techniques to discover insights on healthcare-related topics, customers, potential partners and competitors/substitutes from publicly available data. The methodology also involves secondary research, key themes and whitespace assessment, pricing, and market segmentation. The expected outcome is a set of recommendations focused on a go-to-market strategy, channels, pricing, potential customers and partners, features and health topics that the platform should include.

Black Rose Waterproofing Internship

I will be working directly with the president of the company for the duration of the internship. With Black Rose Waterproofing being a start-up, I will get the rare opportunity of getting experience on all aspects of business strategy (finance, accounting, operations, in-depth view of running a company) and will get to see my work and decisions make a significant impact on the success of the company. Some contributions I can add include, but are not limited to, using my connections from my previous work experience to source work for the company, utilizing my experience in the sector to help forecast an accurate amount of work, and employing my business knowledge to assist with the financial planning and accounting for the business.

Just Governance after COVID19

Just Governance Group is a multinational and multidisciplinary network of professionals who support the development of just societies through our contribution to initiatives related to good governance. We bring together specialists from various countries in the Americas and other regions affected by conflict or are in transition. Our team provides consulting services to multilateral organizations, development cooperation agencies, and national institutions. We discuss a range of democratic governance topics such as: Human Rights, Justice Reform, Gender Equality, Democratic Development, Conflict, Peace. We use our consulting initiatives as a basis for reflection and comparative analysis to talk about the topics of governance and development practice in our knowledge publications. As a private company incorporated under the federal law in Canada, we identify as an innovative social enterprise operating within the network and learning business models.

Just Governance Group activities typically involve significant global field work, supported by an operations office in Ottawa. However, the COVID19 pandemic has caused the suspension of international field work and a shift to work-from-home for the Ottawa office.

Myrn Eldercare Consulting – Marketing, Sales

The key strategic activities will include market research, developing a go to market strategy as well as implementing business analytics to support the growth of the business. The internship will provide detailed information on what aging Calgarians want/need to age safely at home. It will provide additional insight on how to help improve the care of our aging population and ways to improve access to products and services.
The sector is facing a growing challenge of providing care to elders is a fast/accessible way. The internship will help change this.

Silica Breccia Supplementary Cement Material Key Properties

The project is focusing on developing a silica breccia product having a superior reactivity that allows this product

to be used widely as an alternative supplementary cementing material in cement mixtures. The new developed

silica breccia product will be tested for effectiveness as a supplementary cementing material based on the

Canadian Standard Association (CSA) test methods prior to acceptance. Tests on other common

supplementary cementing material such as fly ash, silica fume, and metakaolin will also be conducted on

counterpart specimens for comparison. The partner organization will gain valuable insight about the

performance of different silica breccia genesis in cement mixtures. The project will aid the partner organization

to optimize their product development processes and help them achieve their business goals

Goodlawyer – Growth Manager

The Growth Manager (intern position) would be part of Goodlawyer’s efforts to adapt our marketing strategy to a pandemic-affected world. There are two overarching elements to this work: understanding how demand for legal services has shifted, and how to adapt in response. We understand that there is increased demand for certain legal services. For example, demand for employment law services has increased as a result of the current pandemic. The intern’s responsibilities will include analyzing search data to identify and predict these shifting consumer preferences, as well as developing a strategy to help position Goodlawyer to take advantage of such a shift. Partnerships will also be part of our growth strategy. The intern will be tasked with identifying the right partners and helping us build strong, mutually-beneficial relationships.

The Children’s Link Sociery – HR Project Lead

This is an opportunity for The Children’s Link to further expand our ability to support children and families through early prevention and intervention with the entire family. Alberta children and youth aged 0-21 years and their families will have equitable access to services that support child safety, well-being and development, and caregiver capacity and support. We are looking to develop a fee for service for some of our programs and need some strategic thinking and vision to support this. We recognize the need to expand as there is no agency offering services like ours in Canada. We believe this is the time to incorporate a hybrid business model and engender revenue as a social enterprise and/or fee for service at the same time, maintain grants and donations. The objective is to recognize other revenue sources such as membership, Workshop training etc. that is sustainable in long run and aligns internally and externally for a sturdy brand equity.

Primeau Inc. – Executive Apprentice

For IMPACT SOCIETY: Analysis on current revenue sources and development of the business processes required to be a more sustainable organization. Focus will be on the development of the plans and implementation of key activities to expand the organizations reach and grow the fee for service aspect of the cause. For GoodPin the strategic analysis will focus on refining the sales cycle, onboarding, and implementation of the platform for corporate clients. The intern will contribute key growth and sustainability plans and supports for both Goodpin and IMPACT SOCIETY which in turn will benefit Canadian Youth through the work of IMPACT, and support a variety of charities and causes across the country through the Goodpin clients.

Product Strategy

The proposed business strategy internship involves working closely with the founders of Fairom (www.fairom.com Canadian financial technology company) to map the current landscape of products / technology used in financial services firms, primarily banks, insurance, hedge funds/ money managers for derivative transaction processing and trade life cycle management. It further involves researching the feasibility of blockchain technology in derivative life cycle management where distributed ledger technology (DLT) could be efficiently used to reduce manual processes and introduce a more technology efficient and cost-effective process flow. The internship provides an opportunity to wear multiple hats and take a deep dive into distributed ledger technology and its applications in financial services. The project is expected to produce significant inputs to the product strategy at Fairom. Based on the market study, Fairom’s platform will be enhanced to address the most relevant and cost intensive challenges of the derivatives market participants. The project is further expected to identify business opportunities in related areas like confirmation and trade settlement operations, collateral management and regulatory reporting areas.

Mitacs Intern at Spiridon Technologies

The technology landscape has changed as a result of the ongoing pandemic. Spiridon must analyze the current market to determine whether acquisition opportunities exist and must evaluate the performance of previous acquisition targets. The overall goal of redefining Spiridon Technologies strategy for business acquisition will be accomplished in two steps. The first step revolves around the analysis and forecasting of the performance of M&A targets. This step involves an evaluation to determine which targets will prevail in a post-COVID environment. In addition to assessing the resilience of M&A targets, the first step will also incorporate market and industry research. The bulk of the research will be focused on the technology sector. The second step revolves around the identification of new business opportunities. COVID-19 has produced various opportunities for technology firms to serve, whether it be a new market or an existing market that has been impacted negatively. The identification of new business opportunities will comprise of financial modelling and an analysis to determine both business implications and possibilities for growth. As a consolidator of North American technology companies, Spiridon Technologies has the opportunity to serve new or existing markets that have been impacted by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Revision of Socio-Spatial Conceptions for Designing Public Spaces and Built Environments in Post Pandemic Alberta – Year two

This design research project explores existing and ongoing perspectives on (post) pandemic conceptions in built environment settings in Alberta, from an architectural design perspective. The results will add to the scholarly research on sustainable design of “public spaces” to support (post) COVID-19 period health concerns and recommendations, thereby contributing to the development of healthier design and more equitable, sustainable communities in Alberta. The COVID-19 pandemic has generated a global public health crisis, which is coupled with the “new normal” of social distancing guidelines and health measures. The project suggests that this new normal, instituted to manage the spread of COVID-19, will generate new socio-spatial conceptions in post-pandemic design. This project invokes theory and practice, conducting design research that will be applicable to Manasc Isaac Architects’ recent and upcoming public space design projects, which include designs, renovations, and programming of congregate public space (spaces where people gather, e.g., institutional learning, cultural, and/or theatre space) in Alberta. In sum, this design research project will include a referential framework and develop in-depth case studies to create healthy built environments that represent the required synergy between sustainable design practice and post-pandemic public health needs, critical to re-visioning, re-designing, and re-programming congregate public spaces.

Revision of Socio-Spatial Conceptions for Designing Public Spaces and Built Environments in Post Pandemic Alberta

This design research project explores existing and ongoing perspectives on (post) pandemic conceptions in built environment settings in Alberta, from an architectural design perspective. The results will add to the scholarly research on sustainable design of “public spaces” to support (post) COVID-19 period health concerns and recommendations, thereby contributing to the development of healthier design and more equitable, sustainable communities in Alberta. The COVID-19 pandemic has generated a global public health crisis, which is coupled with the “new normal” of social distancing guidelines and health measures. The project suggests that this new normal, instituted to manage the spread of COVID-19, will generate new socio-spatial conceptions in post-pandemic design. This project invokes theory and practice, conducting design research that will be applicable to Manasc Isaac Architects’ recent and upcoming public space design projects, which include designs, renovations, and programming of congregate public space (spaces where people gather, e.g., institutional learning, cultural, and/or theatre space) in Alberta. In sum, this design research project will include a referential framework and develop in-depth case studies to create healthy built environments that represent the required synergy between sustainable design practice and post-pandemic public health needs, critical to re-visioning, re-designing, and re-programming congregate public spaces.