Innovative Projects Realized

L2M Launch / Qc Fall 2025 / Flexible Intra-Oral Device for Continuous Salivary Biomarkers Monitoring to Diagnose Sleep Disorders

Sleep disorders like insomnia and circadian rhythm disruptions affect millions, leading to health problems such as fatigue, difficulty to concentrate, depression, various ailments including heart disease and cancer. Diagnosing these issues is challenging because current methods, such as overnight lab tests, are expensive, uncomfortable, and often unable to accurately perform real-time measurements. Wearable devices help, but mostly track movement or heart rate, missing key hormonal clues, such as melatonin levels, which are critical for pinpointing sleep disorders. There is a clinical need for a better way to monitor the individual fluctuations of hormones or biomarkers at home, without invasive lab tests. Our solution is a smart intra-oral device with a built-in biosensor that tracks melatonin levels in saliva in real-time. Because it can be wireless, will allow patients to sleep normally in the comfort of their home while collecting data. Clinicians can use this information to accurately diagnose sleep disorders and personalize treatments, like adjusting the timing of their administration and of their amount (i.e. of melatonin supplements or light therapy timing). This could reduce misdiagnoses, increase efficiency of care, and improve outcomes. We have developed a lab bench-top prototype and are currently testing its various components, which will be further miniaturized to be integrated into the device. The Lab2Market program will help us understand market needs, refine our business model towards bringing this product to the people who need it most, whether through clinics, wellness centres, or direct sales.

L2M Launch / Qc Fall 2025 / Empowering Social Workers Through Smart Technology

A survey conducted in 2024 revealed that up to 16% of Quebec’s social workers are considering leaving their profession due to cumbersome administrative tasks and intense workloads. Many of the social workers must conduct home visits as part of their job which sometimes can be challenging and risky, especially when dealing with abuse, addiction, homelessness and mental health support situations.
The loss of social workers could have devastating consequences, leaving vulnerable populations without critical support and putting additional strain on healthcare, social services, and public safety. As a society, we cannot afford to lose social workers, which is why we aim to conduct research and validate our business idea by understanding the reasons behind their decision to leave the profession.
Our proposed solution is to create a mobile and web application designed to enhance the safety during home visits and increase efficiency of social workers on their daily work activities. By leveraging AI and real-time monitoring, we aim to reduce risks, improve reporting accuracy, and provide immediate support when needed.
Our platform offers proactive protection through features such as a one-tap emergency panic button (SOS), live location tracking, and pre-visit risk assessments, ensuring social workers feel secure before and during their visits. Additionally, AI-powered incident reporting, emotional state real-time detection, and automatic voice & video recording with secure cloud storage streamline documentation, will reduce administrative burdens.
Unlike traditional reporting systems, our solution integrates real-time safety measures with AI-driven insights, allowing agencies to detect patterns, allocate resources effectively, and ultimately prevent dangerous situations before they escalate.
By providing data-driven reports and a peer-support network, our application not only improves safety but also enhances overall job satisfaction, helping retain social workers in a field where burnout and high turnover are growing concerns.

L2M Launch / Qc Fall 2025 / Autonomous lawn care for precise, sustainable upkeep with minimal labor on large or restricted lands

EdgeStar AI is building an all-in-one autonomous lawn care robot designed to handle every major task needed to maintain large residential and commercial lawns. Unlike current robotic mowers that only cut grass, our robot can mow, weed, edge, and manage the full lawn maintenance process without any human involvement. It is fully electric, uses AI for intelligent decision-making, and is built to handle large properties where manual maintenance is time-consuming and expensive.

The goal of this project is to further develop and refine the prototype so it’s ready for real-world deployment. Our current pilot has proven the system works, and we are now adding new features like dynamic obstacle avoidance and smart path planning. During this project, we’ll continue testing and improving the robot’s reliability, safety, and performance.

The benefit to our partner organization is early access to groundbreaking technology that will lower landscaping costs, reduce reliance on labor, and support a more sustainable, eco-friendly approach to lawn care. It will also allow them to differentiate themselves by adopting automation and clean technology early. Through this collaboration, they’ll have the chance to provide real-world feedback that shapes the final product before its full commercial launch.

In the long term, this innovation has the potential to transform how large lawns are managed across Canada and beyond, making lawn care smarter, greener, and far more efficient.

L2M – AutoSAR: Autonomous UAV Search and Rescue Using Deep Learning for Emergency Response in Remote and Infrastructure-Free Regions.

In remote and rural regions, where communication infrastructure is sparse and GPS is unreliable, emergency Search and Rescue (SAR) operations should be fast, reliable, and cost-effective. Existing technologies, such as thermal imaging and mobile-based systems like Cellular Airborne Sensor for Search and Rescue (CASSAR), depend on costly sensors, human interpretation, or the presence of a mobile device, which limits their effectiveness in many real-world scenarios. The AutoSAR solution is designed to fill this critical gap. AutoSAR is an autonomous UAV-based search and rescue system for emergency response in infrastructure-free regions. The UAV emits and receives its own signals to detect and localize individuals in distress, eliminating reliance on GPS, networks, or external sensors. By leveraging deep learning, AutoSAR estimates position and velocity from reflected signals in real time, enabling rapid, intelligent rescue missions in rural areas such as mining sites, wilderness trails, and northern communities. This technology addresses a national public safety need by offering a scalable, cost-effective, infrastructure-independent SAR solution.

Anthropology, social media management, analysis and the development of strategy

This project uses approaches from anthropology, such as corporate ethnography, to guide the development of strategies for corporate social media management and analysis. Durable strategies and processes can be leveraged by Treefrog to help build a social media management and analysis department, increasing research and development capacity and sales. Through close collaboration with the programming team at Treefrog, the results of this research will be built into a novel and comprehensive business software platform called Mergini. Mergini is a vanguard management tool that incorporates internal (time tracking, project management, wikis, company news and insights, and information on internal processes) and external (Basecamp, Salesforce, social media insights and management,
and search engine optimization insights about the corporate website) into one dashboard. Treefrog aims to revolutionize business management with Mergini and the current project will be integral.

Designing Social Games to Maximize Engagement and Healthy

IgnitePlay is developing a social media package which will make healthier living more fun and easier. An

important component of this package is a social game and reward system that encourages users to make

changes in their lifestyle. This project will involve the development of a game design (in terms of a

prototype or series of prototypes) which will help:

1. attract and engage users,

2. promote virality (spread to other users),

3. promote stickiness (ability to sustain users),

4. provide incentives for people to engage in healthier behaviours, and

5. foster a sense of community

This design will be validated through user feedback. The outcome will be a design document for the final

production of the game that will be developed and published by IgnitePlay.

L2M – MaaTRx

MaaTRx is a real-time decision support platform for drug shortages: it allows users to proactively assess risks, collaborate across the supply chain, and plan strategic responses. With a 15% rise in Canadian drug shortages and over 3,000 reported shortages, MaaTRx is built to close this gap. Backed by decades of research, national grants and technical founders with expertise in drug policy and health systems, we are an early-warning platform for health leaders. Our platform integrates a predictive model built on a multi-source data with a clinician-scored triage system to prioritize drugs at highest shortage risk and clinical importance. We are expanding this core engine with new products: a supply matchmaker for inventory coordination, an AI-powered response generator and a collaborative hub for supply chain decision-making. Our value proposition is clear: drug shortages are recognized as a national security concern in countries like the US, highlighting the urgency of our solution.

L2M – Betavoltaic Power Sources: Early Market Adopters

Betavoltaic power sources harvest the energy of radioisotopes to generate electricity. These devices offer a solution to the limitations of traditional lithium-ion batteries. They can provide uninterrupted and long-lasting power for critical systems such as subcutaneous medical implants, remote sensors for water supply lines, and monitoring systems for defence. Betavoltaic batteries transform recycled radioactive waste into clean, long-lasting energy to power critical modern technologies.

Development of a Socioeconomic Index to Assess Social Impact at Restoration Sites

This project, in partnership with Veritree, aims to develop a standardized socioeconomic index to assess the social impact of ecological restoration projects in regions such as East Africa, Brazil, and Senegal. While environmental outcomes of restoration are well-documented, the social benefits, such as improvements in wellbeing, livelihoods, and community resilience, are often harder to measure. Using frameworks like Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and international standards such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and the Global Flourishing Study (GFS), the project will design and test a survey-based index to quantify community-level impacts. The resulting index will support Veritree and its partners to better understand and communicate how restoration efforts contribute to human flourishing alongside ecosystem recovery.

L2M Validation / Qc Automne 2025 / AuthoMate

Les organisations canadiennes des secteurs financier, santé et cloud subissent d’énormes pertes économiques dues aux limitations des systèmes de contrôle d’accès actuels qui présentent des insuffisances majeures : incapacité à gérer simultanément les contraintes temporelles, historiques et contextuelles, vulnérabilités aux erreurs de configuration causant des violations de données (coûtant 6,32 M$ CAD par incident), et complexités opérationnelles retardant le déploiement de politiques de sécurité. AuthoMate révolutionne la sécurité par une approche fondée sur des automates paramétriques, garantissant la cohérence et l’absence de conflits entre politiques de sécurité, éliminant les failles par vérification formelle avant déploiement, et facilitant l’adoption grâce à un langage dédié intuitif avec intégration transparente Apache. L’objectif principal consiste à réaliser une étude de marché approfondie dans les secteurs cibles pour valider le potentiel commercial d’AuthoMate. Guidé par la méthodologie Lab2Market sur 4 mois, je mènerai des entretiens avec les responsables sécurité, quantifiera la volonté de payer, identifiera les freins à l’adoption, et développerai un modèle d’affaires viable incluant la définition des segments clients prioritaires et l’établissement de lettres d’intérêt pour des pilotes. Cette validation marché contribuera à renforcer la souveraineté numérique canadienne en réduisant la dépendance aux solutions américaines établies, positionnant le Canada parmi les leaders mondiaux en cybersécurité basée sur les méthodes formelles, tout en créant un écosystème d’innovation favorisant l’embauche de personnel hautement qualifié spécialisé en cybersécurité et générant des retombées économiques durables pour l’économie canadienne.

Emerging Technologies, Grey Zone Conflicts and Navigating Global Uncertainty

New and emerging technologies – most notably lethal autonomous weapons and the weaponization of outer space – are not only transforming how warfare is or could be conducted in the future, but pose a profound threat to international peace and security. Indeed, the technological arms race has become a defining feature of the growing rivalry among the world’s great powers. How – or whether – humanity governs these technologies has tremendous implications for both the protection of civilians and the future of a rules-based international order.

Project Ploughshares is seeking two Mitacs interns to support the organization’s work in two key areas of research: 1) Security, Environment, and Public Awareness: Engaging Canadians in the Grey Zone; and 2) Canada’s Leadership in a Complex World: Navigating Global Uncertainty with the Rise of Emerging Technologies. The key objectives are (1) a detailed understanding of the rapidly changing nature of conflict as a result of technological innovations, and their impacts on civilians; and (2) identify opportunities for Canada and other middle powers to lead in international arms control fora.

The project is a continuation of the previous project “Emerging Military Technologies and Outer Space Governance” that was funded in 2024 (IT42846).

L2M Validation / Qc Automne 2025 / Développement de panneau composite à base de chènevotte

L’objectif principal de ce projet est que le stagiaire réalise une étude de marché approfondie dans le(s) secteur des matériaux de construction durable pour les applications potentielles de panneaux de construction biosourcé à base de chènevotte. Grâce à ce projet, le stagiaire interagira avec les principaux acteurs de l’industrie pour évaluer le potentiel du marché. Les informations recueillies lors de cet exercice seront utilisées pour présenter un modèle d’affaire potentiel et une analyse de marché approfondie afin de déterminer la voie à suivre pour le développement commercial du projet.