Innovative Projects Realized

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

13270 Completed Projects

1072
AB
2795
BC
430
MB
106
NF
348
SK
4184
ON
2671
QC
43
PE
209
NB
474
NS

Projects by Category

10%
Computer science
9%
Engineering
1%
Engineering - biomedical
4%
Engineering - chemical / biological

A participatory approach to redeveloping coach and volunteer online training modules: A Special Olympics context

“On-going coach and volunteer training are essential to providing high-quality, evidence-informed practices in sport settings. This study aims to extend Special Olympics Ontario and Special Olympics Canada’s online training platform for coaches and volunteers by working with athletes with intellectual disabilities, current Special Olympics coaches, and families of Special Olympics athletes. An iterative process will be used to understand how to best deliver and engage online users with the content, and how to adapt the knowledge to contexts across Canada, socioeconomic status, ages, abilities, genders, facilities, and other variable factors. The objective is to develop a working, sustainable online training platform for Special Olympics Ontario with later implementation to Special Olympics Canada, for all coach and volunteer training. As the researcher, this project will inform theory, practice, and knowledge translation gaps that currently exist in the field of disability and sport.”

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Faculty Supervisor:

Ann Fudge Schormans

Student:

Krystn Orr

Partner:

Special Olympics Canada

Discipline:

Social work

Sector:

Arts, entertainment and recreation

University:

McMaster University

Program:

Elevate

Next-Generation Precision Medicine Solutions – Diagnostics

As personalized medicine approaches aim to tailor treatments to individuals, improvements are needed in the detection of existing biomarkers and genomic, epigenomic, and proteomic changes that occur during disease development. This would have potential impact on medication selection and targeted therapy, reduce adverse effects, improve cost effectiveness, and shift the goal of medicine from reactive to preventative clinical decision making1. Liquid biopsies for cancer, in particular, have recently provided the advantage of early and easy screening but their use in replacing traditional methods of diagnosis needs to be validated before widespread adoption. The development of microfluidic approaches has greatly improved the sensitivity and specificity of single cell detection for many disease diagnoses. However, standardization and quality assurance need to be implemented to assure that assay performance is reproducible and robust. Within this proposal we are partnering with Cellular Analytics, a Toronto-based start-up company with a proprietary microfluidic platform (CytoFindTM) that detects protein expression on single cells. This technology will be used to develop and validate CytoFind as a diagnostic for two types of cancer and malignant pleural mesothelioma with the aim of improving clinical decision making and patient outcomes.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Shana Kelley;Stephane Angers

Student:

Bushra Tasadduq

Partner:

Cellular Analytics

Discipline:

Pharmacy / Pharmacology

Sector:

Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

University of Toronto

Program:

Accelerate

Canadian Zeolites for Integrated Desalination, Nutrient Recovery and Bioremediation

Natural Canadian zeolite is an attractive mineral for the restoration of lands disturbed by the extraction of natural resources such as metals, oil and gas. Dr. Wonjae Chang’s Environmental Engineering Lab developed a dualmineral prototype, using Canadian zeolites, for the desalination of potash brine-impacted water. Dr. Chang also demonstrated the significant accumulation of residual potassium in the mineral adsorbents following multiple desalination cycles for potash brine-impacted water. In collaboration with ZMM® Canada Minerals Crop. and using newly mined Canadian zeolite species, this research will further develop the mineral-based desalination cycles for potash brine as well as integrate them with nutrient recovery to assess the feasibility of using recovered nutrient-enriched minerals for the bioremediation of soils impacted by oil and gas production. Through this waste-to-valuables process using zeolites, potash mine waste products may ultimately be beneficial to oilfield soil remediation. This research will expand the life cycles, end-users and applicability of ZMM® zeolites for environmental technology.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Wonjae Chang

Student:

Brandon Stoner

Partner:

ZMM Canada Minerals Corp

Discipline:

Engineering - civil

Sector:

University:

University of Saskatchewan

Program:

Accelerate

Deep Language models for Visual analytics of diversity and inclusion

The project will build an Artificial Intelligence-powered Bias Detection tool to identify bias and discrimination faced by employees of a company. The tool will take in free-text content from employee surveys, internal reviews and social media, and produce a score indicating whether the author of the content is likely facing or exhibiting bias. Algorithms will be trained to recognize bias against women, ethnic & cultural minorities, LGBTQ2+ folks, individuals with disabilities, and other special groups. The tool will help companies in improving their diversity and inclusion practices, and investors in focussing their funds on companies with a strong diversity and inclusion record. The results of the project will help Diversio achieve and maintain world-class status in this emerging IT industry sector.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Evangelos Milios

Student:

Maksym Taranukhin

Partner:

Diversio

Discipline:

Computer science

Sector:

Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

Dalhousie University

Program:

Accelerate

Measuring up? Assessing approaches used to measure the effectiveness of protected areas at conserving biodiversity

The world is currently facing a biodiversity crisis driven by the loss and degradation of habitat resulting from the conversion of natural areas to agricultural land and urban development. To combat this biodiversity crisis, the government committed to Convention of Biological Diversity and national targets of protecting at least 17% of terrestrial land through network of protected areas. The goal of protected areas is to ensure that biodiversity is conserved, however, whether protected areas are effective at conserving biodiversity is debated. Part of this discrepancy may result from how effectiveness is defined and measured, and if the approaches used are appropriate. Working with the Nature Conservancy of Canada, our goal is to conduct an inventory of whether steps are being taken to monitor or measure the effectiveness of protected areas, preform a comprehensive review of the monitoring or measuring approaches used, and perform a critical assessment of these approaches to determine best practices.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Ryan Norris

Student:

Lisha Berzins

Partner:

Nature Conservancy Canada

Discipline:

Biology

Sector:

University:

University of Guelph

Program:

Accelerate

Engineering a new biosynthetic pathway for the production of minor cannabinoids

As one of the first countries to legalize cannabis, Canada is at the forefront of the cannabis research and technology. While there are a number of medical applications for Cannabis that have been used for a number of years, these treatments require patients to either smoke dried cannabis, or use cannabis extracts that can include a number of plant impurities and are mixtures of various cannabinoids compounds. Over 120 minor cannabinoids are produced by the cannabis plant, C. sativa. In order to advance the study of medical applications of cannabinoids, a robust method to produce pure, high quality minor cannabinoids is needed. The proposed research will work to develop a novel method for producing cannabinoids using biological synthesis in E. coli. The Ward Lab will engineer a number of strains optimized to produce a single minor cannabinoids at a time, and as E. coli does not normally produced these compounds, we will be able to recovery it at a high purity for pharmaceutical applications. This project is expected to establish a number of cannabinoids producing strains, perform strain optimization, and to provide information needed to enable the commercialization of the developed process.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Valerie Ward

Student:

Eric Blondeel

Partner:

Akseera Pharma Corp

Discipline:

Engineering - chemical / biological

Sector:

University:

University of Waterloo

Program:

Accelerate

BIM-based Seismic Performance Assessment of Buildings for Post-Earthquake Rehabilitation

As many of the existing buildings are reaching almost the end of their actual design life, new buildings are replacing them with more innovative and complicated technologies. At the same time, there are concerns and uncertainties about probabilistic structural failures and undesired structural system behaviors. The performance of these building under loads such as earthquakes and other natural disasters are of great interest. Therefore, seismic damage assessment of buildings for post-earthquake rehabilitation have received significant attention in the rcent times. It is important to improve the resilience of these buildings and minimize the loss due to natural hazards. The proposed study aims to improve existing seismic damage assessment of buildings and provide a mechanism for visualization of their performance and damage states based on the data from on-board instrumentation.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Ashutosh Bagchi

Student:

Sam Bahmanoo

Partner:

9420410 Canada Inc

Discipline:

Engineering - civil

Sector:

University:

Concordia University

Program:

Accelerate

Digitized neuroanatomical map of the human saphenous nerve

Overactive bladder (OAB) is an incurable, chronic medical condition that is characterized by symptoms of urgency, frequency, nocturia and urinary incontinence. It affects approximately 18% of adults and over 30% of the elderly population. Saphenous nerve stimulation is a novel therapy aimed at treating OAB patients. It offers an alternative to bladder medication, which can have severe side effects such as dry mouth, cognitive impairments and hypertension. And, unlike sacral nerve stimulation, this novel treatment can be delivered to patients in a noninvasive manner. Recent clinical trials show that saphenous nerve stimulation can effectively reduce OAB symptoms in patients (e.g., 75% response rate), but the findings suggest that more effective and consistent activation of the SAFN can further improve clinical outcomes. To this end, the goal of this project is to create a high-resolution digital map of the human SAFN that will, in turn, be used to implement highly realistic computational (finite element) models aimed at simulating innovative forms of peripheral nerve stimulation in humans.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Anne Agur

Student:

Michael Peng

Partner:

EBT Medical

Discipline:

Other

Sector:

Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

University of Toronto

Program:

Accelerate

Resili, a case study: An evaluation for improved user experience in DBT skills apps

This project seeks to build the body of academic understanding on how to effectively deliver a mental health skills-based intervention through a mobile app. The analysis will be done through retrospective and live analysis of the Resili app, a publicly available mHealth app which promotes strong mental health through the administration of a Dialectical Behaviour Therapy skills-based, self-taught curriculum. While there has been a recent flood of mental health apps, many have poor engagement rates, or administer interventions without a sound basis of evidence. Moreover, most apps which do deliver evidence-based interventions are rooted in protocolized treatments for populations with diagnosed mental illness. Resili’s DBT skills are evidence-based. This project will put academic rigour and field research into answering the question of how to create an engaging learning experience within a skills-based, rather than protocol-based mental health app for a general population, rather than a population with a specific diagnosis.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Howard Abrams

Student:

Xinxin Lena Zhao

Partner:

Supports Health

Discipline:

Other

Sector:

Health care and social assistance

University:

University of Toronto

Program:

Accelerate

Visual Analytics Methods to Support Sensemaking under Ambiguity in Avalanche Forecasting

Analysis of complex systems involves much more than what is evident in data alone. Background knowledge and experience are used to inform interpretation. Often this results in ambiguity, a state where multiple potential interpretations must be considered and evaluated. When analysis is shared these challenges are compounded by the complexity of communication. Ambiguity is common in avalanche forecasting. Simon Fraser University and Avalanche Canada are conducting research investigating how novel visual analytics methods can better address the ambiguities that avalanche forecasters face in their work. Drawing the domains visual analytics, human computer interaction, and complex systems engineering this research project will utilize a lab and field-based mixed methods approach to design, develop, and evaluate visual analytics technologies aimed to support reasoning under ambiguity in avalanche forecasting.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Lyn Bartram

Student:

Stan Nowak

Partner:

Avalanche Canada

Discipline:

Interactive arts and technology

Sector:

Arts, entertainment and recreation

University:

Simon Fraser University

Program:

Investigation of a Helical Pile Reinforced Railway Embankment over Soft Soils

To provide an economic solution to Canada’s ageing rail infrastructure, this project will investigate the use of helical piles in reinforcing railway embankments. This research will consist of the in-field monitoring of both test piles and a helical pile reinforced embankment. Prior to the embankment field investigation, test piles will be analyzed to provide a more accurate prediction of strength and failure mode for foundations using helical piles. The embankment will be monitored to compare its response to vibrations and settlement caused by train traffic before and after the installation of the piles. The project is supported by Almita Piling, who specializes in the design, fabrication, and installation of helical piles systems. Almita Piling will benefit from this project through the promotion of the use of helical piles as railway reinforcement.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Neil Hoult;Andy Take

Student:

Samuel Sherlock

Partner:

Almita Piling

Discipline:

Engineering - civil

Sector:

Manufacturing

University:

Queen's University

Program:

Accelerate

Understanding Empirical Risk Minimization via Information Theory

Deep neural network (DNN) is a class of machine learning algorithms which is inspired by biological neural networks. Learning with deep neural networks has enjoyed huge empirical success in recent years across a wide variety of tasks. Lately many researchers in machine learning society have become interested in the generalization mystery: why do overparameterized DNN perform well on previously unseen data, even though they have way more parameters than the number of training samples? The Information-theoretic approach for studying generalization is one the frameworks to answer this question. Although information-theoretic approach proves its applicability for several machine learning methods, it suffers from some shortcomings that have hindered progress towards the understanding generalization in DNN. In this project, we aim to improve the information-theoretic methods for generalization which let us find a promising answer to the question of why DNNs generalize well in practice.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Ashish Khisti

Student:

Mahdi Haghifam

Partner:

Element AI

Discipline:

Engineering - computer / electrical

Sector:

Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

University of Toronto

Program:

Accelerate

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