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

Product Distribution to Plants

This project will develop a mathematical model and computer tools that will help with the distribution of products harvested in cutblocks to plants, so as to minimize transportation expenses and the cost of moving forestry equipment. This model will consider the possibility of backhauls, which reduces empty-load transportation. Constraints will include the offer from cutblocks by period and by product, as well as the demand from plants by period and by product. The model will take into account travel distances between each starting point and each destination. It will be solved with a linear integer programming software, and the tools developed will be integrated into the industrial partner's existing software programs.

View Full Project Description
Faculty Supervisor:

Dr. Bernard Gendron

Student:

Géraldine Gemieux

Partner:

FPInnovations

Discipline:

Computer science

Sector:

Automotive and transportation

University:

Program:

Accelerate

Exploring 100 Years of BC’s History through the Times Colonist

This project will consist of searching the Times Colonist card catalogue and index to select appropriate dates in BC history, researching the historical context of these topics and writing research reports to assist the Times Colonist newspaper with commemorating its 150th anniversary in 2008.

View Full Project Description
Faculty Supervisor:

M. John Lutz

Student:

Andrei Bondoreff

Partner:

Victoria Times Colonist

Discipline:

History

Sector:

Media and communications

University:

University of Victoria

Program:

Accelerate

Estimation of required efforts for information technology projects

The general objective of this research project is to enable a consulting firm to produce more accurate estimates for information technology (IT) projects. More specifically, the general objective consists of two sub-objectives, namely to: (1) determine the causes of estimation errors in the needs-analysis phase of IT projects; and (2) use new tools to correct such causes of error, thereby reducing the gap between current estimates and accurate appraisals. Since the ability to estimate IT projects is a vital function for the consulting firm, enhancing this ability will help the firm scope projects more accurately and improve profit margins. Following this research initiative, the consulting firm will enjoy a better understanding of estimation techniques and be endowed with more effective tools to carry out estimates on future projects.

View Full Project Description
Faculty Supervisor:

Dr. Benoit Aubert

Student:

Philippe Rousseau

Partner:

Alogient Inc.

Discipline:

Business

Sector:

Information and communications technologies

University:

HEC Montréal

Program:

Accelerate

Designing a Multimodal Transportation Network

This project will develop a mathematical model and computer tools that will minimize transportation and infrastructure costs related to the forest road network, in order to ensure the transport of wood products to receiving plants. The model will consider several decision levels, including the location of transfer yards and the choice of mode of transportation. Constraints will include the storage capacity of terminals and transportation units, and the model will take into account travel distances as well as transportation and handling costs. The model will be solved with a linear integer programming software, and the tools developed will be integrated into the industrial partner's existing software programs.

View Full Project Description
Faculty Supervisor:

Dr. Bernard Gendron

Student:

Nicola Grenon

Partner:

FPInnovations

Discipline:

Computer science

Sector:

Automotive and transportation

University:

Université de Montréal

Program:

Accelerate

Clarifying the Concept and Measurement of School Climate

The condition of school facilities is an important, manageable determinant of teaching and learning outcomes. Recent research suggests that the effects of facility conditions on learning outcomes are mediated through “school climate”. However, for both scientific research and practical purposes, the understanding of what “school climate” means and how it is measured is unhelpfully vague. This project, in partnership with Ameresco, an independent energy solutions company delivering long-term customer value through innovative systems, strategies and technologies, will take stock of the current definitions and measures of “school climate” and attempt to construct a sophisticated, defensible understanding of how the concept should be understood and measured. This result is a necessary step in clarifying how school facilities should be renewed in order to advance the educational mission.

View Full Project Description
Faculty Supervisor:

Dr. Lance W. Roberts

Student:

Kaeleigh Schroeder

Partner:

Ameresco Canada

Discipline:

Sociology

Sector:

Environmental industry

University:

University of Manitoba

Program:

Accelerate

Animal Feed Quality at the Vancouver Aquarium – Optimization of Incoming Feed Quality and Maintenance of Feed Quality throughout Storage

The project will be focusing on the safety issues and quality control of the feed in Vancouver Aquarium. By applying a survey at the very beginning, a general knowledge of the whole handling chain procedure will be generated. The survey will be carried out by means of questionnaire, field investigation and sampling and will be concentrated on feed purchasing, receiving, handling, preparing through to feeding the animal. Based on the information gained, the critical points with respect to maintaining optimal feed quality will be identified and feed handling procedures will be altered as appropriate. Some laboratory tests will be performed to objectively measure the impact of altering procedures at these critical points. The tests will likely include measuring rancidity and one or two relevant vitamins. Finally, a set of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) will be written and Aquarium personnel will be trained to both perform the procedures and write new SOPs as needed once the project is complete.

View Full Project Description
Faculty Supervisor:

Dr. David Kitts

Student:

Weijia Bo

Partner:

Vancouver Aquarium

Discipline:

Resources and environmental management

Sector:

Fisheries and wildlife

University:

University of British Columbia

Program:

Accelerate

Web Page Recommender System

The internship involves research into technology that can recommend web sites to a user. The user indicates web sites they like, and the recommender engine suggests pages with related content, or which people similar to the user liked. A recommender technology has been in development at Worio, a search engine company. What is proposed here are three machine learning projects that extend the recommender technology. First, learning a more sophisticated model of each user, by looking at all activity a user does, rather than just indicating preference. Second, selecting pages to recommend which maximizes what the system learns about the user (for instance, adding a few popular political sites to see if they visit them). Third, developing an interface that allows users to “train” the system by giving more direct and detailed feedback, so that, for example, they have the option saying they generally prefer political comedy sites to other comedy sites.

View Full Project Description
Faculty Supervisor:

Dr. Nando de Freitas

Student:

Eric Brochu

Partner:

Worio

Discipline:

Computer science

Sector:

Information and communications technologies

University:

University of British Columbia

Program:

Accelerate

Video Motion Detection and Tracking for Surveillance Applications

Surveillance is a growing need for many companies and organizations. The need to keep certain assets protected from theft, vandalism and other mischievous deeds is important to the well being of any organization. However, most places that require a security system have many cameras and areas that need to be monitored all at once. An autonomous system that automatically detects motion and can follow motion of interest can help alert the appropriate people that there is interesting activities occurring in certain cameras or areas. This project with ICX Technologies, a leader in the development and integration of advanced sensor technologies, will be divided into two phases. The first phase is the video motion detector. This module will sit on the client side of a decoded video stream and draw bounding boxes around what objects in the camera view are moving. Outdoor cameras will be used in this project and image shaking occurs in high zoom situations. To counter this, there will also be a picture stabilizer implemented. The object that is found moving will then be classified as human, vehicle or other and will also be tracked to its global position. This helps identify motion in secured sites without needing a human to constantly monitor the cameras. The second phase of the project is the automatic tracker. This option would allow a human controller to click one of the bounding boxes around an object discovered by the video motion detector. Once the object has been selected, the pan tilt zoom camera would automatically zoom into that target and follow it, keeping it in the center of its field of view. This allows a person (or object) moving through the scene to be followed without manual camera control in order to observe its behaviour.

View Full Project Description
Faculty Supervisor:

Dr. Alexandra Branzan Albu

Student:

Joey Quevillon

Partner:

ICX Technologies

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Information and communications technologies

University:

University of Victoria

Program:

Accelerate

Structural Variations in Human Genomes Using High Throughput Short read technology

This internship will be developing tools and solving algorithmic problems related to short read technologies (the new technologies of sequencing the human genome). The problem being solved will help the biology and molecular biology researchers to use these new tools to find variations between different individuals. This will be very important step in realizing the personalized genomics dream.

View Full Project Description
Faculty Supervisor:

Dr. Cenk Sahinalp

Student:

Fereydoun Hormozdiari

Partner:

BC Cancer Agency

Discipline:

Computer science

Sector:

Life sciences

University:

Simon Fraser University

Program:

Accelerate

Robust Efficient Estimation of Energy Use

Predicting hourly building energy use from environmental input variables can help to increase energy efficiency of buildings, and so contribute to global sustainability. Small Energy Group, a Vancouver-based energy management software company has been working on this challenging prediction problem. Small Energy Group has collected energy data on particular buildings so that the building owners and managers can identify ways to lower their energy consumption. The goal of this MITACS ACCELERATE internship is to provide managers with a “typical energy use curve” based on building type and meteorological input. A typical curve cannot be described by standard statistical methods such as linear regression. Therefore, the internship will develop flexible methods based on a technique called smoothing. Methods must take into account unusual values of energy use, identify which unusual values arise from a malfunction in measurement and which arise because of unusually high energy use.This project is in partnership with the National Institute for Complex Data Structures.

View Full Project Description
Faculty Supervisor:

Dr. Nancy Heckman

Student:

Camila Pedroso Estevam de Souza

Partner:

Small Energy Group

Discipline:

Statistics / Actuarial sciences

Sector:

Energy

University:

University of British Columbia

Program:

Accelerate

Performance Metrics/Leadership Development Analysis

This internship will assist in the development of a diverse generational employee survey towards leadership development and workplace goal alignment. Initial baseline measurements will be obtained from Watson Wyatt, who have worked with BC Hydro since 2002 to develop, deliver and analyze the annual employee survey and results. The main objective of the research is to understand the perspectives and gauge the level of engagement of the workforce of BC Hydro. It will provide employees with a safe opportunity to openly and candidly voice their opinions and concerns as well as providing managers with a framework to engage and enable their employees. The leadership development analysis will allow BC Hydro to measure their progress and identify areas on which action is required for improvement. The analysis also supports BC Hydro’s long-term goal of becoming a top employer for future generations.

View Full Project Description
Faculty Supervisor:

Dr. Ginger Grant

Student:

Kim Jang & Carolyn Rush

Partner:

BC Hydro

Discipline:

Interactive arts and technology

Sector:

Finance, insurance and business

University:

Simon Fraser University

Program:

Accelerate

Design and synthesis of co-polymers for novel photo/electrochromic hybrid materials

SWITCH Materials is developing a revolutionary new type of film for application in SMART window technology. The proposed SWITCH film will allow windows to automatically darken when exposed to sunlight, blocking harmful Ultra Violet and Infrared Radiation and improving occupancy comfort while also providing the user the ability to, at the flick of a switch, “clear” or “bleach” the windows on lowlight days to allow natural day light through the window. This dynamic glazing technology allows for a reduction in heating and cooling loads on buildings, thereby lowering operating expenses for the building owner and subsequently reducing green house gas emissions.

View Full Project Description
Faculty Supervisor:

Dr. Neil Branda

Student:

Bronwyn Gillon

Partner:

SWITCH Materials

Discipline:

Chemistry

Sector:

Alternative energy

University:

Simon Fraser University

Program:

Accelerate

Previous
1…445446447448449450451…1,106
Next

Join a thriving innovation ecosystem.

Subscribe to our newsletter now!

Subscribe