Innovative Projects Realized

Explore thousands of successful projects resulting from collaboration between organizations and post-secondary talent.

31620 Completed Projects

2978
AB
5221
BC
856
MB
696
NL
899
SK
9419
ON
9858
QC
98
PE
619
NB
1192
NS

Projects by Category

Graphene-based Corrosion Protective Coatings

Globally, all small and large industrial operations pay high and increasing costs to compensate for the damage and losses caused by corrosion. Based on the statistics, in Canada, various industries spend more than $80 billion per year collectively to cover the direct and indirect costs of corrosion. Annually, hundreds of people are injured or killed due to accidents caused by corrosion damage to industrial equipment. The central theme of this research proposal is to design a new generation of graphene-based corrosion protective coatings for metallic surfaces with complex shapes. This research program specifically targets the conversion of Albany Pure Graphite powder to advanced graphene-based nanostructures such as graphene, graphene oxide (GO), and reduced graphene oxide (rGO) via a novel chemical/electrochemical technique. The graphene synthesis technology will allow ZEN to convert its Albany Pure Graphite to value-added graphene at a large scale. The success of this project will lead to new protective coating technologies, Which has the potential to save billions of dollars for Canadian industries by reducing corrosion-induced material damage. The development of graphene-based coatings with corrosion inhibition properties will also result in positive environmental impacts, as durable protective coatings will prevent the leakage of hazardous chemicals into the environment.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Mohammad Arjmand

Student:

Partner:

ZEN Graphene

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Manufacturing; Mining

University:

The University of British Columbia - Okanagan

Program:

Elevate

Understanding the impact of COVID-19 on quality of life in families of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder in British Columbia

The purpose of this research project is to understand how families of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in British Columbia can be best supported during COVID-19 and in similar pandemics. This will be accomplished by surveying parents and assessing how their child/ren and family have functioned during the current or Phase 1 of the COVID-19 pandemic, including their access to government services and supports. Their degree of satisfaction with government policies, specific to families affected by ASD, in the midst of the pandemic, will be assessed. Another goal of this research is to identify specific child and family characteristics, as well as service usage patterns, that are linked to family quality of life outcomes. The partner organization will benefit by having an objective assessment of the impact of COVID-19 on families affected by ASD, based on rigorous research, that will inform recommendations that can be shared with government.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Grace Iarocci;Elina Birmingham

Student:

Partner:

ACT-Autism Community Training

Discipline:

Sociology

Sector:

Health and Related Sciences & Technology

University:

Simon Fraser University

Program:

Accelerate

Design, Development, and Control of the Battery Management Systems (BMS) for Off-road Vehicles Built by Dumur Industries

The objective is to design, develop, and test the power system in a next-generation rough-terrain utility vehicle developed by Dumur Industries, with particular focus on the battery used and its own power management system. The vehicle propulsion is via tank-type tracks that transmit power from the front to the back wheels via continuous chain-type tracks.
The vehicle runs on a Diesel Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) connected to a generator. The generator provides a high-voltage (HV) DC link to the battery bank and also to two Electro Motors (EM) driving the two front wheels, via multiple converters, independently. Independent control of these EMs can generate turning maneuvers along with straight-line motion.
In this context, the following sub-projects will be carried out:
• Design and development of the battery system and its connection to the ICE + generator and the Motors.
• Design, development, and testing of the internal BMS and external BTMS system.
• Development of a predictive maintenance algorithm for the BMS/BTMS.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Mehran Mehrandezh

Student:

Partner:

Dumur Industries

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Manufacturing

University:

University of Regina

Program:

Accelerate

GDNF-based therapy for Hirschsprung disease

Hirschsprung disease (HSCR) is a deadly birth defect affecting 1/5000 children. These children are missing innervation from the enteric nervous system (ENS), resulting in severe constipation and a high risk of bacterial translocation into blood causing premature death. Surgery to remove ENS-devoid bowel is generally life-saving but many children with HSCR continue to have severe problems after surgery. Ideally, a “regenerative medicine” approach that causes the ENS to form in post-natal aganglionic bowel would prevent the need for surgery.
This projects builds on our amazing discovery that postnatal administration of the GDNF protein, which normally stimulates ENS formation during prenatal development, prolongs survival of HSCR mouse models by inducing the formation of a new ENS. Yet, some mice are less responsive than others, suggesting that there is room for improvement. The goal of this project is to identify new molecules that could improve GDNF-based therapy. Identifying the optimal conditions in mice is key before embarking on human clinical trials, which is the goal of our collaboration with Aligo Innovation.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Nicolas Pilon

Student:

Partner:

Neurenati Therapeutics

Discipline:

Life Sciences

Sector:

Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

Université du Québec à Montréal

Program:

Accelerate

A rational data-driven probabilistic approach for assessing the condition and performance of RC structures

A variety of alternative strategies have been developed for increasing the service life of reinforced concrete structures exposed to corrosive environments. An optimum design or repair strategy requires not only an estimate of upfront costs, but also the means to compare all associated costs against the potential extension to the life of the structure. Unfortunately, however, current asset management practice, which is typically based on tacit or implicit methods for asset condition assessment, performance prediction and management is no longer enough. The objective of this research project is to develop practical life cycle deterioration models that use measured field data to assess the current condition of existing RC structures and to predict the future performance of various repair or rehab strategies on the remaining useful life of these structures. Finite element analysis, experimental and analytical programs together with a field study will be carried out to achieve the objectives of this research.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Mohamed Boulfiza

Student:

Partner:

Zacaruk Consulting Inc.

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Construction and infrastructure

University:

University of Saskatchewan

Program:

Accelerate

Prédicteurs de la performance des jeunes lanceurs âgés de 10-18 ans : comparaison entre les athlètes masculins et féminins

Le baseball au Québec est pratiqué par 33 000 joueurs et joueuses à travers la province. La fédération de baseball Québec est celle qui régit la pratique du sport dans la province. Le projet de recherche sur les facteurs individuels de la performance chez les jeunes garçons et les jeunes filles permettra d’assurer le développement et l’encadrement des athlètes dès leur début de la pratique du baseball jusqu’au plus haut niveau de jeu et ainsi, leur permettre d’atteindre leurs objectifs dans leur sport de façon sécuritaire. La création d’une banque de données et d’un modèle explicatif des phases de développement des joueurs selon les catégories d’âge et les facteurs de performance sera possible grâce aux résultats du projet. C’est l’ensemble du Baseball au Québec qui pourra en bénéficier et ainsi d’assurer la programmation de la fédération dans les années à venir.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Martin Descarreaux

Student:

Partner:

Baseball 360 Trois-Rivières

Discipline:

Life Sciences

Sector:

Health and Related Sciences & Technology

University:

Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières

Program:

Accelerate

Collaborative Book Creation – Foundation HCI Research for Kibooco

Relatively few interactive narrative-based systems support storytelling as an activity that takes place
between children and their parents or guardians. This project is the initial foundation HCI research to
explore and prototype tools and methodologies as contribution to the development of an innovative
collaborative online storytelling application – The Kids Book Company. This is an online hub for kids
aged 5 – 10 to build and publish their own books. Based on an engaging, easy to use interactive
platform, kids choose from a variety of templates and themes to write, illustrate and customize
stories. Using innovative new creative interaction styles, children will be able to harness their
creativity and imagination while taking pride in their own creations. Fusing the endless possibilities of
technology with the enduring sentimentality and timeless traditions of storytelling and books,
Kibooco will delight both parents and children alike.

View Full Project Description
Faculty Supervisor:

Alissa Antle

Student:

Partner:

Kibooco

Discipline:

Computer science

Sector:

Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

Simon Fraser University

Program:

Accelerate

Semantic Search and Visualisation using Machine Learning and Natural Language Processing

This project tackles the issue of knowledge incompleteness and lack of domain coverage in resume and job posting matching caused by the exploitation of domain-general resources. A variety of co-operative semantic/ontological resources will be used to filter out irrelevant resumes. A two-way (candidate to job and job to candidate) semantic-based automatic suitability ranking is proposed. The suitability is determined by the semantic distance of resumes and job postings, evaluated by their word embeddings. An efficient semantic space created through the Convolutional and Recurrent Neural Networks will be utilized with different word embedding mechanisms along with different classification methods. The project also investigates the potential of knowledge graphs in illustrating inconsistencies between the resumes and job postings. This study develops an automatic system capable of precisely detecting, extracting, and visualizing the resume and job posting’s relevant skills as well as the implicitly encoded semantic dimensions of applicant resumes.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Behrouz Far

Student:

Partner:

HireGround Software Solutions

Discipline:

Computer science

Sector:

Administrative and support, waste management and remediation services

University:

University of Calgary

Program:

Accelerate

Activités de croisières sur le Saint-Laurent : Perception et modélisation des impacts potentiels dans la logistique des transports

La croissance de l’industrie des croisières s’est appuyée ces dernières années sur des navires de plus en plus grands, avec une capacité de plusieurs milliers de passagers. La présence de ces navires modifie l’environnement quotidien des résidents qui les reçoivent. Ces résidents sont une composante fondamentale de l’attractivité des destinations touristiques et la prise en compte de leur perception est essentielle afin d’assurer un développement durable et équitable du milieu de vie des résidents et de l’industrie touristique. Cette recherche vise ainsi à identifier les perceptions des résidents à l’égard de la présence des bateaux de croisières dans leur environnement quotidien. Des résidents de Québec, ville qui a vu croitre l’industrie de façon marquante, seront invités à identifier, classer et localiser les impacts sociaux et environnementaux perçus. Pour le Port de Québec, partenaire de la recherche, les résultats permettront de poursuivre sa mise en œuvre des bonnes pratiques en matière de cohabitation ville-port.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Pascale Marcotte;Laurent Bourdeau

Student:

Partner:

Port de Québec

Discipline:

Sociology

Sector:

Transportation and warehousing

University:

Université Laval

Program:

Accelerate

The Fluid Dynamics of Flow Control Devices

As increasing international competition and environmental pressures, Canadian oil sands producers must develop new technologies to more competitively deliver their product to market that have lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Flow Control Devices (FCDs) are one such technology. These devices are placed in the injection and production wells and enable more efficient access to the reservoir. The result is improved economics and thermal efficiency which directly is tied to GHG emissions. At this point, the design of FCDs is hit and miss with some working well and others showing poor performance. Thus, there is a gap for optimal design of these devices. The objective of this project is to optimally design FCDs using detailed computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modelling. This involves fundamental fluid dynamics, multiphase (emulsion) and gas flow, potential heat transfer, and advanced design so that flow regime can be used in and of itself to optimally control the flow into and out of the reservoir. We will use CFD together with observations from existing experiments for validation as well as adaptive design to optimize the performance of the devices.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Ian Donald Gates

Student:

Partner:

FET-Variperm

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Manufacturing; Mining; Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

University of Calgary

Program:

Accelerate

Mobilizing the beneficial microbiome of Ontario wheat against Fusarium

Scientists have been interested in the effects that microorganisms have on their host plants for over a century, however, recently researchers have been able to better tackle these questions with the advent of new technology. In particular, beneficial microorganisms associated with roots can increase crop resiliency against disease, pests and extreme weather events, making this avenue of research important for the protection of crops from climate change. Here we focus on identifying microorganisms and their communities, including an understudied group called protists, that will act as early diagnostic tools for farmers in defence against Fusarium head blight and root rot, which are widespread and common fungal diseases in Canada. In addition, we will test whether we can improve the outcome of wheat grown on diseased plants, soil and crop residue by applying a fungal eating protist isolated from disease resistant soils.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Kari Dunfield

Student:

Partner:

Syngenta Canada Inc.

Discipline:

Life Sciences

Sector:

Agriculture and Food; Environmental Science and Technology; Biotechnology

University:

University of Guelph

Program:

Accelerate

Characterization of aerosols generated by various dental procedures

Dental procedures generate a large quantity of airborne droplets. With the concern that COVID-19 transmits through respiratory droplets, dental personnel are at high risk of being exposed to the virus if an asymptomatic patient comes to their clinic. However, limited studies have been performed on the characterization of aerosols generated during dental procedures, how far these aerosols may travel in the clinic, and if they accumulate during the day.
This lack of information leaves dental regulators to give guidelines to their members without having enough information to make appropriate decision for personnel and patient protection, as well as disinfection procedures.
The objective of the study is the characterize aerosols generated by various dental procedures. The study will also look at how far these particles travel inside a dental clinic and if there is a risk of accumulation during the day.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Bernadette Quémerais;Paul Major

Student:

Partner:

Alberta Dental Association and College

Discipline:

Life Sciences

Sector:

Other services (except public administration)

University:

University of Alberta

Program:

Accelerate

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Mitacs — Return on Innovation

Mitacs is funded by the Government of Canada, the Government of Alberta, the Government of British Columbia, Research Manitoba, the Government of New Brunswick, the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, the Government of Nova Scotia, the Government of Ontario, Innovation PEI, the Government of Quebec, the Government of Saskatchewan, and the Government of Yukon.