Innovative Projects Realized

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

31914 Completed Projects

3006
AB
5256
BC
878
MB
703
NL
913
SK
9488
ON
9949
QC
98
PE
629
NB
1215
NS

Projects by Category

L2M-L6: Smart Wearable Thermotherapy Device for Occupational Menstrual and Musculoskeletal Health Management

Our research-and-development-oriented product, BB+, is a compact, wearable heating device designed to help working women manage menstrual cramp and musculoskeletal pain discreetly during their workday. Roughly the size of a credit card, BB+ clips under clothing and delivers adjustable heat therapy within the 35–65°C therapeutic range through a carbon-fiber heating pad, with NFC-based temperature control via the phone’s volume buttons — no app required, no reaching for tactile buttons under clothing layers. Despite dysmenorrhea menstrual pain affecting up to 90% of women, 97% of workplaces offer no menstrual health accommodations, resulting in an average of 2.4 lost workdays per month and $1,300 in annual productivity loss per person. Current options, painkillers with long-term side effects, bulky heating pads that need stationary body with wall outlets, or transport of heavy power banks, fail to meet the needs of women in workplace settings. BB+ addresses this gap with a portable, drug-free, reusable solution featuring built-in safety controls to prevent toasted skin syndrome. The device is currently at TRL 3–4, with its technical design, electronics architecture, and user needs validated through a 50-person customer discovery survey. This project, conducted through the Lab2Market Launch program, focuses on transforming BB+ from a validated concept into a launch-ready venture over a 4-month period. We will build a complete business model with pricing strategy, finalize and lab-test a functional prototype, map the regulatory pathway for Health Canada medical device certification, develop an intellectual property protection plan, and create a go-to-market strategy targeting both direct consumer sales and corporate wellness programs. The expected outcome is an investor-ready venture package that positions BB+ for seed funding and commercial launch in the Canadian women’s health market, a segment within the broader $2.3 billion global pain management devices industry.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Denise Stilling

Student:

Partner:

North Forge

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Education; Management of companies and enterprises; Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

University of Regina

Program:

Business Strategy Internship

L2M-L6-AI-Powered Visual Monitoring for Real-Time Lean Construction Performance Measurement on Active Job Sites

VisioConTech is developing an AI-powered visual monitoring platform for construction sites that uses camera feeds and computer vision to automatically detect safety hazards, track work progress, and identify potential problems in real time. The system analyzes images from job site cameras using advanced object detection and intelligent reasoning to provide actionable alerts and reports to project managers and safety officers. For expected industry partners such as general contractors, construction managers, and infrastructure firms, this technology offers a practical way to improve on-site safety, reduce costly rework, and support better-informed decision-making without adding extra manual effort from field staff. Because the system is designed to run on-premise, sensitive project data stays on-site, addressing a key concern for construction firms handling proprietary designs and client information. The expected benefit to future partner organizations is a measurable reduction in safety incidents and project delays through early, automated detection of issues that currently rely on manual inspections, ultimately saving time and money while keeping workers safer.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Vicente Gonzalez-Moret

Student:

Partner:

Innovate Calgary

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

University of Alberta

Program:

Business Strategy Internship

Develop a Weight Distribution Sensor System Efficacy

This project aims to develop and validate an advanced transportation weight measurement system capable of accurately determining total load and load distribution across multiple support points in transportation platforms. Across transportation sectors, inaccurate weight estimation and load imbalance remain persistent challenges, leading to safety risks, reduced operational efficiency, increased fuel consumption, and accelerated structural wear. Existing methods are often based on static assumptions or indirect estimations, limiting their reliability under real operating conditions.
Safran Landing Systems (SLS), a leader in system design and measurement technologies, is looking to advance a high-precision load-sensing approach into a scalable transportation solution. The main challenge is to accurately measure load distribution in systems subject to nonlinear mechanical behaviour, including friction, hysteresis, and dynamic loading effects.
This project will design and experimentally validate a modular, sensing system that integrates pressure-based measurement with controlled actuation mechanisms to improve accuracy and repeatability. The system will be tested under representative loading scenarios to evaluate performance and robustness.
The anticipated outcomes include a validated prototype and calibration methodologies enabling accurate real-time load monitoring. The expected benefits are significant: improved operational safety through enhanced load awareness, reduced costs through optimized load management and maintenance, and improved energy efficiency leading to lower emissions. This project will strengthen the SLS position in intelligent transportation technologies and contribute to Canada’s leadership in advanced measurement and monitoring systems.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Eric Blaise

Student:

Partner:

Safran Landing Systems

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Manufacturing

University:

Centennial College of Applied Arts and Technology

Program:

Accelerate

Nonlinear and Linear Optical Characterization of Entangled Triplet States in Oligoacenes Using Ultrafast Laser Spectroscopy

Singlet fission (SF) in oligoacenes offers a transformative approach to quantum information science by generating entangled, spin-correlated triplet-pair states (CTPS) that can remain stable for room temperature quantum applications. To fully harness these states for technological use, it is critical to decode their complex dynamics. By employing ultrafast nonlinear optical characterization specifically the Z-scan technique, this research aims to map the nonlinear refractive and absorptive responses of oligoacenes under high-intensity laser excitation, expanding the current understanding of spin manifolds produced during the SF process. The study will investigate SF across diverse environments, including solutions, thin films, and heterostructures, to determine how different physical surroundings influence exciton behavior. Furthermore, the integration of polarization-dependent measurements will clarify how the inherent anisotropic nature of crystalline thin films dictates the decoherence and transport of spin information. This interdisciplinary effort, bridging synthetic organic chemistry with advanced ultrafast spectroscopy, establishes a robust academic framework for the exchange of specialized fabrication and characterization techniques between the participating institutions. By merging these fields to engineer materials for novel applications, the collaboration enhances collective research capacity and advances the global expertise essential for successfully integrating current semiconductor science with next-generation photonics and quantum technologies.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Karthik Shankar

Student:

Partner:

Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur

Discipline:

Physics

Sector:

Education

University:

University of Alberta

Program:

Globalink Research Award

Honouring the Waters: Indigenous-Led Insights on Marine Shipping and Community Sovereignty – Impacts of Vessel Traffic to fishing practices in K’omoks territory

The Clear Seas Indigenous Internship Program aims to provide support to First Nations, Métis, and Inuit communities across Canada by helping them build the necessary internal capacity to research and protect their territories through a re-imagined internship program. Clear Seas provides mentorship to the interns and uplifts existing internal capacity within Indigenous communities. The Clear Seas Internship Program is tackling the real-world impacts of marine shipping on Indigenous communities, with significant cultural, social, and economic consequences. While shipping is vital for trade and economic growth, it often disrupts marine ecosystems, interferes with traditional fishing and hunting practices, and undermines Indigenous governance structures. This project’s scope is to be a leader for more holistic, respectful, supportive, responsive, equitable, and inclusive relationships between Indigenous communities and marine ecospheres through co-produced research spaces. The research centres around the marine ecosphere as Clear Seas can leverage their vast network of marine-related industries and partners. The knowledge developed through these projects will inform future Clear Seas research and guide marine-related policy and strategies.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Eric Saczuk

Student:

Partner:

Clear Seas

Discipline:

Sociology

Sector:

Professional, scientific and technical services; Transportation and warehousing

University:

British Columbia Institute of Technology

Program:

Accelerate

L2M-L6-UPRO Soccer Launch

UPRO Soccer is a Canadian startup developing an AI-powered training app for youth soccer players that uses any smartphone camera to track movement and deliver personalized coaching feedback at home. This project supports UPRO’s preparation for its commercial launch by refining the app’s artificial intelligence system using real training data collected from over 200 young athletes across Canada, the United States, and Brazil. The intern, a PhD. candidate from the University of Manitoba will apply their expertise in exercise science and youth athletic development to improve the accuracy of the app’s movement tracking, build the framework that determines what feedback the app gives to players of different ages and skill levels, and confirm that the training content is appropriate and effective for kids aged 6 to 14. The expected benefit to UPRO is a scientifically validated, market-ready product that delivers reliable, age-appropriate coaching feedback to youth players, strengthening the company’s credibility with investors, club partners, and families ahead of launch.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Todd Duhamel

Student:

Partner:

North Forge

Discipline:

Life Sciences

Sector:

Education; Management of companies and enterprises; Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

University of Manitoba

Program:

Business Strategy Internship

Transformation and creation of engineered tobacco plants expressing a recombinant variant of ligand Protein A

Solar Grants Biotechnology (SGB), based in London, Ontario, focuses on producing various recombinant proteins using engineered tobacco plants as the production platform. Conventional use of stationary bioreactors (fermenters) growing bacterial, yeast, insect or mammalian cells to synthesize recombinant proteins often render the products prohibitively expensive, thus restricting usage and limiting their availability in the developing world. Those significant economic constraints can be alleviated by utilizing engineered photosynthesizing plants as scalable, cost-effective, ecologically friendly bioreactors, thus helping to establish ample supply, expand applications, and deliver novel products to markets. With this project SGB is inclined to develop novel plant bioreactor lines for production of several high-value recombinant proteins for use in biotechnology / pharmaceutical / textile industries.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Pieter Anborgh;Ishan Rastogi

Student:

Partner:

Solar Grants Biotechnology Inc.

Discipline:

Life Sciences

Sector:

Manufacturing

University:

Fanshawe College of Applied Arts and Technology

Program:

Business Strategy Internship

L2M–L6-Smart Helmet: An AI-Assistant for Preventing Accidents on Construction Sites

This project is about bringing a smart safety helmet to market that helps protect construction workers. The helmet uses built-in cameras and artificial intelligence to detect dangers around the worker and provide real-time alerts to prevent accidents. During this project, we will develop a clear plan to introduce the product, identify the right customers, and define pricing and partnerships. The expected benefit is that the innovation will be translated into a market-ready solution, enabling early adoption, business growth, and improved worker safety.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Qipei (Gavin) Mei

Student:

Partner:

Innovate Calgary

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

University of Alberta

Program:

Business Strategy Internship

L2M-L6-AI-Powered Microwave-Based Sensing Platform for Clot Formation Assessment

This project focuses on advancing an AI-powered microwave biosensing platform designed to analyze blood clot formation and hemocompatibility in a faster and more accessible way than current laboratory methods. The goal is to better understand how this technology can be developed into a practical product for use by biomaterial research labs, medical device companies, and clinical users. Through this project, key customer needs, product features, and commercialization pathways will be identified and refined. The expected benefit to Innovate Calgary is the advancement of a high-potential health technology toward market readiness, supporting the translation of university research into a commercially viable solution and strengthening the local innovation ecosystem.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Zahra Abbasi

Student:

Partner:

Innovate Calgary

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

University of Calgary

Program:

Business Strategy Internship

L2M-L6- Personalized Decision-Support AI Platform

The Dualchemy project proposes the development of a personalized decision-support platform to solve the information overload crisis in recruitment. It helps decision makers find high-quality candidates by empowering their judgment and applying their preferences to large candidate pools. By interacting directly with the decision maker, it bridges human expertise with the scalability of AI to identify the ideal candidate with mathematical precision and transparency. The core innovation is a preference elicitation approach that transforms the challenging task of screening thousands of candidates into a simple series of “A vs. B” choices. The primary objective of this project is to transition Dualchemy from a lab-validated prototype to a market-ready through a structured commercialization strategy.

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Faculty Supervisor:

James Wright

Student:

Partner:

Innovate Calgary

Discipline:

Computer science

Sector:

Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

University of Alberta

Program:

Business Strategy Internship

Business Retention & Expansion Coordinator

The anticipated social and economic benefits of the project for the partner organizations are by providing insights and recommendations based on survey findings to support local business growth, increase commercial occupancy of vacant buildings, and attract new businesses. As well as, contributing to the development of an action-oriented plan for the downtown areas of Arthur and Mount Forest and the creation of actionable recommendations to address identified business needs through the BR+E program.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Leith Deacon

Student:

Partner:

Township of Wellington North

Discipline:

Sociology

Sector:

Public administration

University:

University of Guelph

Program:

Accelerate

Developing a Workplace Culture Analysis & Dashboard for Guelph General Hospital

Guelph General Hospital uses surveys to understand staff experiences and perceptions related to patient safety, and uses this data to help improve workplace culture. The current system makes it hard to dig deeper into the data or track changes over time. This project aims to turn that data into clear, easy-to-use insights by building tools and dashboards that allow leaders to explore results by department, role, or other factors. By improving how the data is analyzed and shared, the hospital will be better equipped to make informed decisions and support both staff and patient care.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Daniel Gillis

Student:

Partner:

Guelph General Hospital

Discipline:

Mathematics

Sector:

Health and Related Sciences & Technology

University:

University of Guelph

Program:

Business Strategy Internship

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Mitacs — Return on Innovation

Mitacs is funded by the Government of Canada, the Government of Alberta, the Government of British Columbia, Research Manitoba, the Government of New Brunswick, the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, the Government of Nova Scotia, the Government of Ontario, Innovation PEI, the Government of Quebec, the Government of Saskatchewan, and the Government of Yukon.