Innovative Projects Realized

Intelligent Revenue Management: Automated Insights for the Transportation Industry with applied machine learning.

Business Case / Problem:
The travel industry is increasingly competitive, requiring innovative approaches to pricing, distribution, and strategic planning. This business case proposes an development of a machine learning (ML), or equivalent module to specifically analyze two types of telemetry data: pricing, booking across multiple distribution channels. By leveraging this data, the module will provide actionable insights for dynamic pricing models, automated channel rule management, and performance summaries, driving revenue optimization and competitive advantage. With this data our goal is to produce curated insights informing our customers and enabling rule based decision making in real-time.
Without such ML and data mining, study of this volume of data is impossible without slow and complex human involvement.

Opportunity:
Our platform’s wealth of historical pricing and booking data is a goldmine for optimizing revenue strategies in the travel sector. The opportunity lies in harnessing this data to:

Solution:
Refine dynamic pricing models, ensuring competitive and attractive pricing for users.
Automate distribution channel management, optimizing channel performance and profitability.
Generate comprehensive implementation summaries, providing clear insights into the effectiveness of adopted strategies on a monthly, quarterly, and annual basis.

Hyper Hippo Vector Art Asset Tool

Existing AI image tools are set up to work primarily with images in a pixel-based format (e.g. with a jpeg, png, or gif file representation). However, most games make use of vector art. The important unique aspect of vector art is that it can scale up or down as needed without a loss of resolution, which is not true for pixel-based formats. In this work, we will collaborate with artists at Hyper Hippo Entertainment to develop a variant of existing AI models within a tool that can take in sketches and return vector art. This will allow the artists to more quickly create and iterate on the vector art they need.

Design Journey Dashboard: A Web Tool to Support Teaching Design Thinking

Design skills are increasingly recognized as a core competency for software professionals. Unfortunately, these skills are difficult to teach because design requires freedom and open-ended thinking, but new designers require a structured process to keep them from being overwhelmed by possibilities. Students need clearly communicated expectations and an easy way of tracking responsibilities to keep their team on track. Teachers need the capabilities of monitoring progress and giving timely feedback. This project will realize a vision for a Design Journey Dashboard specifically designed to give project teams and their teachers an overview of the process in a Web App. STaBL Foundation will use this tool to support Design Thinking workshops and summer camps allowing it to scale up its teaching of design within an outreach program which currently introduces thousands of children to coding in Canada and around the world.

One strategy recommended for making software education pathways more attractive to women students is to connect it to real-world social, health and environmental problems. Building design into coding outreach will allow us to make this connection. For example, we have used screening for Parkinson’s Disease as an experiential learning challenge in summer camps.

Improving health and healthcare for adults with neurodevelopmental disabilities

CAMH is Canada’s largest mental health hospital and is also one of the world’s leading research centres in the field of mental health. The organization conducts groundbreaking research, provides training to health care professionals and scientists, develops health promotion and prevention strategies, and advocates for public policy change. More specifically, the Azrieli Adult Neurodevelopmental Centre, aims to recognize the mental health issues experienced by, and the brain health of, adults with neurodevelopmental disabilities (NDD) and their families through research, clinical innovation, education and training, and knowledge exchange. Currently, there is limited information on effective models of care to support the mental health of individuals with neurodevelopmental disabilities and their families and how to effectively educate individuals, families and providers on strategies to improve their mental health. This project will help to improve the health and healthcare of people with NDD and their families though: (1) collecting and analyzing data to better understand the healthcare needs and service use experiences of people with NDD and their families; (2) evaluating and refining virtual programming to improve the health of people with NDD and their families; (3) using innovative strategies to share health knowledge with people with NDD and their families and evaluate which strategies are most effective.

Cytotoxicity analysis of novel monoclonal antibodies targeting SSAT-1

Cancer is one of the leading causes of death worldwide with approximately 8 million deaths in 2010. Most cancer treatments lack specificity and affect the whole body, with toxic effects on both cancerous and normal cells. The cytotoxic effect of a new therapy developed by Biomark Technologies, Inc. targeting cancer cells will be assessed. Biomark Technologies Inc. has found that the expression levels of the gene coding for the protein SSAT 1 is upregulated in cancer cells. The inhibition of this protein is detrimental for the survival of cancer cells, making it an attractive target for cancer treatment. In this proposal we aim to determine the cytotoxic effects in cancer cells when the target is neutralized

Technology and AI innovation implementation through Co-op partnership to improve company and client efficiency and productivity

Marketing Kitchen Inc. is developing a comprehensive Project Management Console to streamline workflows, improve communication across departments, and enhance client interactions through automation and real-time project tracking.

Hepatic encephalopathy outpatient quality metrics

Hepatic encephalopathy is a major cause of morbidity and mortality. As an initial part of her thesis, the intern will contribute to determining priorities for the development of an outpatient cirrhosis database inclusive of hepatic encephalopathy quality measures. The findings will be disseminated through the intern’s thesis, peer-reviewed publications, and conference presentations, contributing to the improvement of cirrhosis care.

Enhancing Ethical AI Engagement: Revising Public Consultation Frameworks and Annual Review Processes for Responsible AI Practices

This project aims to enhance TELUS’s Responsible AI (RAI) survey, which is designed to gather public insights on key AI ethics principles like fairness, privacy, and transparency. The goal is twofold: (1) to update the RAI survey so that it better captures the evolving values and concerns of Canadians regarding AI technologies, and (2) to develop a formalized annual review process to ensure the survey remains relevant and responsive over time. This new review framework will guide regular updates to the survey, allowing TELUS to address emerging ethical issues as AI evolves and to continuously align its practices with societal values.

The formalized review process will include clear guidelines and structured steps for revisiting core ethical topics each year. This will ensure that TELUS can maintain trust and transparency with the public, as the survey will consistently reflect real-time public sentiment, particularly from underrepresented groups. The survey’s focus on inclusivity will help TELUS better understand and respond to diverse perspectives, promoting fairness and accountability in AI practices.

By refining the survey and implementing a robust review cycle, TELUS can pioneer a model for ethical AI governance that adapts to both technological advances and shifting public expectations. This proactive approach will not only help TELUS maintain leadership in AI ethics but also set a standard for responsible AI development in Canada. Ultimately, the project supports TELUS’s commitment to building a safer, more inclusive digital environment by ensuring that AI practices are continuously assessed, transparent, and aligned with public values. The insights gained through this work will inform TELUS’s AI strategy, helping the company to better serve its customers and contribute positively to the broader AI landscape in Canada.

Japan Society for the Promotion of Science

This study is part of a larger project on gender and national security based on cross-country comparisons of feminist national security, led by Dr. Veronica Kitchen (University of Waterloo) and Dr. Tanya Narozhna (University of Winnipeg). It aims to explore Japan’s approach to pursuing feminist foreign policies and identifying areas where national security can incorporate feminist visions of security. Given the focus of national security on the state, it is not surprising that the engagement between feminist foreign policies and national security policies are limited or nonexistent. However, taking Japan as an emerging leader in gender equality, the project’s objective is to investigate Japan’s women peace and security, national security, and feminist foreign policy to find areas where engagement with feminist national security policy is possible. The project will utilize literature reviews of government documents and interviews with experts, and military personnel to enhance our understanding of Japan’s approach to gender and national security. This project will benefit both the host and home institution as it allows for an expansion into Asia for the larger cross-country study, and through the experties of Dr. Masayuki Tadokoro (International University of Japan), a discourse on feminist security policies within Japan will be enhanced.

Chemical Remediation and Valorization of the Electrical Insulating Gas Sulfur Hexafluoride, the Most Potent Greenhouse Gas

THIS IS A GENERIC TEXT PUT IN PLACE AS THERE WAS NO PROJECT OVERVIEW

Development of theranostic gold nanorods as new cancer therapeutics

SONA Nanotech is a world leader in the manufacturing of gold nanoparticles and applications thereof. Currently SONA has an anti-cancer technology that gently heats tumors from the inside using gold nanoparticles. The anti-cancer effect comes by virtue of cancerous cells being more susceptible to heat-induced death than healthy cells. Currently, SONA Nanotech’s gold nanoparticles require injection directly into tumors to guarantee a proper concentration of particles. In the proposed research we aim to manufacture the next generation of SONA Nanotech’s anti-cancer treatment that enables this technology to be used intravenously. Furthermore, we aim to enable tracking of these particles in the body by incorporation of radiopharmaceuticals.

Using next generation sequencing to explore the taxonomic identity of a potentially new invasive Magnolia tree in Canada

The Royal Botanical Gardens (RBG) in Hamilton, Ontario, face a challenge as Magnolia seedlings have been escaping from their arboretum and naturalizing in nearby forested ravines over the past 12–14 years. Although RBG staff suspect these populations stem from Magnolia kobus, the presence of various cultivars and hybrids complicates identification through morphological observation alone. To address this, the project will use advanced next-generation DNA sequencing to accurately identify the taxonomic origin of the escaped populations and trace them back to specific trees in the arboretum. Identifying the source will allow RBG to manage and control these populations effectively, while preserving as much of their valuable horticultural Magnolia collection which includes trees that have been growing for over 80 years, and are very difficult to replace. This project will help RBG balance ecological conservation with the careful curation of its Magnolia collection, a key attraction for visitors during the spring season.