Innovative Projects Realized

Scaling Impact of the Guided Hands Assistive Device for People with Hand Disabilities in Education

Guided Hands® is an award-winning assistive device that helps individuals with hand disabilities write, paint, draw, and use iPads to communicate independently. Designed for people with Cerebral Palsy, spinal cord injuries, and other neurological conditions, the device is currently used by over 4,750 children and adults with disabilities worldwide.

Through this project, we aim to expand the reach of Guided Hands® by hiring a Commercialization Research Assistant to develop a strategic plan for scaling sales in primary markets, United States and Canada.

During the summer internship, the intern will play a critical role in our international expansion strategy, conducting market research to analyze the competitive landscape, regulatory requirements, and potential reimbursement pathways. A key focus will be integrating Guided Hands® into schools for children with Cerebral Palsy, ensuring students can develop essential communication and learning skills. However, the intern will also explore new customer segments such as aging populations, stroke rehabilitation programs, and workplace accessibility initiatives.

To gain valuable market insights, the intern will conduct direct outreach with healthcare professionals, educators, and individuals in the disability community. These conversations will help shape a targeted sales and distribution strategy, identifying key stakeholders, potential partnerships, and the best channels to bring Guided Hands® to more users and improve their quality of life.

Optimization of the scale up of biomaterial ink production and biological quality control processes

The intern selected for this project will aid in the scale up of inks containing biological materials to be commercialized by Tessella Biosciences for use in research targeting modelling of tissues and regenerative medicine. The intern will focus on process development and optimization, and on the establishment of quality control benchmarks and standard operating procedures. In addition, the intern will be exposed to business development and management strategies in the fast paced environment of a start up.

Enhancing Digital Engagement in AI Music Innovation: A Collaborative Social Media Strategy Internship

Staccato AI is advancing Canada’s music technology sector by funding a project that leverages artificial intelligence to support creative music production. In collaboration with a McMaster University intern, the project will implement a strategic social media campaign designed to boost Staccato AI’s online presence and foster community engagement among music creators.

developing an AI-powered junior lawyer platform to help legal professionals

This project focuses on improving an AI-powered legal assistant platform that helps lawyers with legal research and document generation. A graduate student will work on training and fine-tuning the AI to enhance its accuracy and efficiency. The expected benefit to the company is a more advanced and scalable system that can support more users and helping the business expand.

Developing an AI-powered financial advice & education platform.

FriedmannAI is developing an intuitive, AI-powered platform designed to provide personalized, unbiased, and affordable financial advice to all Canadians. By leveraging advanced artificial intelligence technologies, this platform will help Canadians better manage their finances, improve their financial literacy, and achieve their personal financial goals without the sales pressure common in traditional financial services. Successful completion of this project will enable FriedmannAI to scale its platform across Canada, greatly expanding access to objective financial guidance, and positioning FriedmannAI as a leader in accessible and personalized AI-driven financial advice.

Practicum Onboarding Program

To create an innovative onboarding program for Co-op students and future employees.

Strategic Business Analysis for Operational Efficiency and Growth at LOJEL

This project is a five-month internship where an intern will work with LOJEL to review its sales data, market trends, and business operations. The intern will create simple tools to track important performance indicators and find ways to cut costs and improve processes. By doing this, the project will help LOJEL operate more efficiently, make better decisions, and grow in a competitive market.

Development and testing of an on-line video game to teach second languages

Copernicus Studios Inc. (CSI; Halifax, NS) is developing LANGA – disruptive LANguage GAming software to help people learn new languages. LANGA uses advanced speech recognition and high-end animation to create a unique and engaging gaming experience. However, LANGA is more than just flash – it has been developed in partnership with the NeuroCognitive Imaging Lab (NCIL) at Dalhousie University. This industrial-academic partnership was forged to ensure that the training programs are informed by research in second language learning, and that LANGA’s effectiveness has been validated in the lab. At present we have developed a proof-of-concept prototype and demonstrated that it is effective in teaching people basic vocabulary in a new language. This Mitacs Accelerate cluster will support three interns — with backgrounds in linguistics, cognitive neuroscience, and computer science — to conduct the additional research and development needed to make LANGA more comprehensive, effective, and market-ready

Metabolic imaging with deuterated Glucose

CO2-Absorption in Columns with Structured Packings

Investigation of a newly developed aluminum alloy processed by laser powder bed fusion

McGill Queen’s University Press, Summer 2025 Internship

Conversion of backlist ebooks into accessible versions to be in line with new European accessibility legislation
– Conversion to accessible ebooks includes basic data entry, language tagging, alt text
– Helping to make a plan for the conversion of backlist titles
– Finding ways to make the process more efficient
– Helping to supervise student workers involved in the conversion task