Innovative Projects Realized

Marketing Research of Post-Industrial Volcanized Rubber Powder

The project is conducting a market study on the uses of high-quality reprocessed rubber powder, produced from post-industrial rubber products. This includes evaluating pros and cons of reprocessing post-consumer and post-industrial rubber products. This project delivers a better understanding of the market environment, market size, price structure, potential customer, and competition for the company. Galemco benefits from a deeper understanding of the potential of this market, which will help it decide whether and where to invest and develop such opportunities in Canada.

Accelerator Development Associate

The Business Strategy Internship project will help the UAlberta Health Accelerator in refining its business strategy and improving its operational procedures. It will also help the student gain project management, business planning and strategy building skills.

Hannah Hayworth-Prompt Health

When Covid19 hit, Prompt health Inc. was forced to delay the launch of our service as many of our target clientele had closed their doors. Now that businesses have begun to reopen, we’re facing changes in the way we reach our clients. Since face to face marketing has become increasingly difficult, we will need to develop a new strategy that revolves around digital marketing and reaching new clients online. The internship will allow us to utilize young talent to develop, implement and maintain a virtual presence as we prepare to launch in September 2020. Gaining the help of a student is integral to a successful launch as we currently have a limited team.

Analysis of Marketing and Branding Strategies of Hawkins & Co. Accounting; Suggesting a new way Forward

The intern would undertake research and implementation activities for Hawkins and Co. Accounting, a local accounting firm based in Windsor, ON. The organization has been operating successfully for the last seven years until COVID hit, and the economy started slowing down. With this new external factor impacting their business, Hawkins realized that online presence has become more important than ever. Where the firm previously depended mostly on its goodwill and word-of-mouth, they recognized the importance of digital media and branding. The goal is to revamp the brand elements and reach as many potential clients as possible. Therefore, the project aims to analyze the problem in detail, develop marketing strategies, and implement campaigns to achieve the marketing goal.

Marketing Strategy Intern at CANImmunize

CANImmunize provides software solutions that improve how immunization programs connect with the people they protect with digital tools that are designed to help public health authorities, organizations and individuals digitally store, manage and track vaccinations. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for digital immunization tracking systems to support the roll-out of a COVID-19 vaccine. To prepare for what will be the most complex health intervention in history, CANImmunize is working with partners and participating in several pilot projects where we will test and validate various features and functionalities of our technology in conjunction with the 2020-21 flu season. If these features are successfully validated, they will be incorporated into our production versions in anticipation of a COVID-19 vaccine. Given the influx of new projects related to the fight against COVID-19, we are looking for an intern to help us promote this work and formalize a new market segment for our business. An intern would be hugely beneficial to our business success by attracting new customers and making our existing customers aware of our new product offerings. Tasks include designing a marketing plan, identifying channels and materials for promotion, and communicating design updates or new materials with user.

Marketing Community Manager

Apologue is a coaching company focusing on personal development workshops to help students in their personal and professional lives. With the COVID-19 pandemic, we have been unable to secure in person workshops and have resorted to online workshops which do not convert well. An intern could help with coming up with creative ways to reach more students effectively and improve our current coaching systems.

– Manage social media platforms and grow its community through content creation
– Create and develop journaling app for our coaching program
– Participate in strategy sessions to grow community and increase signups
– Support and assist in ad hoc tasks

Xenia Ai/Pricepoint

Since 2018, Xenia has been working on a new product – Pricepoint. Pricepoint is a fully automated revenue management system for small and mid-sized, independent hotels, and hostels. It uses artificial intelligence to derive demand forecasts and at any moment provide hotels with the most optimal price which has the highest probability of increasing the hotel’s overall revenues. Pricepoint fully automatically manages hotel’s prices on online sales platforms at a fraction of the cost of a revenue manager. The intern will validate the product-market fit by developing the first cohort of paying customers.

Integration of molecular tools with technological evaluation to improve the performance of starter cultures for yogourt

Yogourt demand has increased significantly over the past decade, accompanied by a fast-paced diversification in types of product, requiring specialized processes. The challenge faced by Lactalis Canada is to continually adapt the fermentation process to obtain consistent and optimum quality, shelf-life and sensory profile using the cooperation of living microorganisms as starters in milk which already contains a variable microbiome. In order to meet this challenge, molecular tools are urgently needed to improve the process of starter production and monitor the performance of starters during milk fermentation. The collaboration with the University of Guelph will provide the expertise to develop these tools and evaluate the genetic and metabolic compatibility of specific strains for predictable yogourt characteristics. This project will expand understanding of bacterial interactions during milk fermentation and their impact on the flavour profile of fermented milk. The results will be used to improve the yield and sensory profile of yogourt produced by Lactalis Canada.

Determining recreation and protection values of old growth forests on Vancouver Island

Old growth forests provide many values to society including recreation and the enjoyment of knowing these magnificent forests exist for wildlife and future generations. Ancient Forest Alliance has set out to better communicate the diverse values of intact old growth forests, so they are not undervalued and over-logged. To provide data that AFA needs, this study will survey Vancouver Island residents to determine the value they have for old growth protection and recreation in old growth forests. The survey will ask respondents to choose between alternate scenarios which have different levels of how much timber is harvested, how many recreational facilities exist, how much old growth forest is protected and how much that scenario might cost taxpayers. Researchers will analyze the survey results to estimate the value Vancouver Island residents have for recreation in, and protection of old growth forests on Vancouver Island.

Understanding the Operational, Human, and Policy Implications for a Roadmap to Canada’s Next Generation 9-1-1 Services

The project will create a research-based strategic plan and roadmap that describes when and how to best introduce NG-911 services in British Columbia. The research needs to consider the unique BC context including review of current legislation, our emergency response structures and practices, current technologies, societal expectations and political norms. The work also needs to consider global trends and developments in emergency communications from industry, government and emergency response agency perspectives and identify the implications in BC.

Development of an efficient coding for CDMA-based passive RFID tags

Radio frequency identification (RFID) is a technology that uses radio frequency to identify and track tags attached to objects. This technology is employed in different industries such as asset tracking, supply chain management, ID badging, etc. Current solutions for object tracking have limited precision, suffer from low performance, and are expensive and complex. In this project, by implementing a technology called code division multiple access (CDMA), we improve the RFID system performance significantly. The Aveer CDMA-based RFID system with passive, small, and low-cost tags is able to perform real-time 3-dimensional tracking with micrometer accuracy. These capabilities make Aveer tags applicable to many other technologies such as automation and robotics (e.g., monitoring robotic arms movements that can improve product quality and reduce production cycle time), motion capture (e.g., placing small tags on actors and capture real-time motion with high accuracy), etc.

Assessing COVID-19 Impacts on Urban Travel and Activity Patterns Employing Cellphone Travel Data

COVID-19 impacts on travel are unprecedented, affecting virus-spread, transportation services delivery, and how people will eventually safely participate in economic, educational and social activities. These impacts vary substantially across neighbourhoods, often worsening existing inequities in Canadian cities. This project will accelerate research for deriving insights about COVID-19 from TELUS network location data. Specifically, it will develop new methods to use cellphone traces to measure, model, and evaluate our response to COVID-19’s disruption of daily activity/travel participation. The end product will be the largest mobility dataset ever created for use by Canadian transport researchers. This dataset, and associated modelling processes, will be a significant knowledge asset in Canada’s understanding of and response to the COVID-19 outbreak, and will be used to investigate COVID-19-related disruptions to travel and activity participation in the Greater Toronto Area. Special attention will be paid to the impacts on food accessibility, in-store shopping and online food deliveries.