Innovative Projects Realized

Development and testing the go-to-market (GTM) strategy for the on-device streaming voice AI generator

Picovoice has recently released Orca Streaming Text-to-Speech, on-device streaming voice generator – enabling developers to add voice to their applications without sacrificing privacy, accuracy, or user experience. Currently, there is no direct competition, but alternatives. The intern will be responsible for developing and testing business development and go-to-market strategy with vertical-specific value propositions and messaging.

Text-to-Speech is a generative AI product and an emerging market after the introduction of Local Language Models (LLMs). Text-to-Speech (TTS) technology converts written text into spoken words. Behind the scenes, TTS engines process and synthesize speech in chunks to turn them into audio humans can listen to. Processing in chunks requires developers to design and set up their products to feed TTS manageable text segments. Since an LLM generates text in a stream, akin to a person typing out a message while TTS waits for the full text or a segment of text to process before starting the speech synthesis, we encounter a challenge: a delay between the text generation and the spoken output, disrupting the flow of real-time interactions between machines and humans.
Orca Streaming Text-to-Speech, built for the LLM-era, processes streaming text input on-device offering low-latency and privacy.

Modular Front-End Enhancement – Mohammad Mohammadifar

MedMe Health, a leader in pharmacy software solutions, is embarking on an innovative project to enhance its platform’s front-end architecture and optimize key functionalities, particularly the appointment scheduling system. As the healthcare industry faces increasing demands for efficient, scalable, and user-friendly digital solutions, MedMe’s platform must evolve to maintain its competitive edge and continue providing high-quality, patient-centric services.

This project will involve two main objectives over the course of eight months. The first objective is to develop a more modular and scalable front-end architecture. This improvement will make it easier to integrate new features, maintain the software, and support the platform’s growing user base. The second objective involves optimizing the performance of the appointment scheduling system, ensuring that it remains responsive and reliable, even under high user loads. These enhancements will lead to a more streamlined experience for both healthcare providers and patients, facilitating better access to care and improving overall satisfaction. These enhancements are critical for supporting high volumes of interactions and ensuring the platform can handle complex clinical workflows without compromising speed or reliability.

Intern Mohammad Mohammadifar will play a central role in these developments, gaining hands-on experience in cutting-edge technologies and software engineering practices under the guidance of senior engineers at MedMe Health. This collaboration not only aligns with MedMe’s mission to transform pharmacies into comprehensive healthcare hubs but also supports broader healthcare accessibility and efficiency goals. By advancing digital healthcare solutions, this project will contribute to better patient outcomes and streamlined pharmacy operations across Canada and beyond.

Makerspace YK – Membership Management and Security

Makerspace YK (MSYK) is a non-profit makerspace in Yellowknife NT, in its first two years of operation. MSYK’s. The challenge for the organization is their current membership management process that utilizes a combination of different existing applications as well as manual administrative time to operate. This inefficiency along with the limitations of staff capacity to manage members, has resulted in slow uptake of memberships. The improvement priority and solution that would address this challenge is to set up an automated membership management system. This innovation will support the expansion of the MSYK community by developing a solution to integrate their website, membership database, user data tracking, training resources and tracking, payments, scheduling and bookings and tool lockouts. This will also enable 24-hour access to the facility for members, which will help the organization build a more stable member revenue stream as well as increased community impact. This solution will mainly require software development expertise, though expertise in web development and service design may support this development and integration of this solution as well.
The overall goal of this project is to develop a software solution that enables automated membership management and facility access.

Innovating Auction Inspections: Develop A Strategic and Viable Approach to Logistical Efficiency and Growth

This project leverages an innovative approach to optimize CarInspect’s vehicle inspection logistics, streamlining processes, reducing costs, and developing a scalable model to meet new client demands and set a new industry standard.

Enhancing Concussion Assessment Accuracy Using Kinarm Robotic Platform: A Statistical Approach to Evaluating Neurological Deficits in Athletes

The project aims to improve how concussions in athletes are detected by using the Kinarm robotic platform, which measures sensory, motor, and cognitive functions. By analyzing data from healthy and concussed athletes, the project will develop a more accurate method for identifying neurological issues after a concussion. This will help the partner organization enhance athlete safety, reduce the risk of repeated injuries, and potentially expand the use of Kinarm technology in sports-related concussion assessments both in Canada and internationally.

Development of STAT inhibitors as Cancer therapeutics

The aim of the project is to develop molecules capable of treating cancer. Currently, chemotherapeutics used in the clinic kill cancer as well as healthy cells; this broad mechanism of action results in high toxicity to the patient. In contrast, our approach is to generate a targeted therapeutic that will work against STAT5, a specific protein which is overexpressed in breast cancer. This approach will limit the toxicity associated with currently used treatments. This goal will be achieved in two steps: one, to map out the interactions required to inhibit STAT5; two, to use the knowledge generated in the previous step in order to synthesize a targeted therapeutic agent. New, targeted therapeutic agents are necessary in the clinic to reduce the toxicity currently experienced by patients. This project aims to help society by generating lower toxicity anti-cancer agents.

Pender Island Cetacean Research

Boundary Pass is a critical foraging habitat for Southern Resident killer whales, West Coast Transient (Bigg’s) killer whales, and humpback whales, but high vessel traffic in the shipping lanes put whales at risk of disturbance from underwater noise and vessel proximity. Since 2019, Transport Canada has implemented two seasonal Interim Sanctuary Zones (ISZ) for whales to reduce the impacts of vessel in their habitat.
This project will assess the effectiveness of the ISZ adjacent to Pender Island, BC. The proposed approach is to detail the spatial use of vessels and cetaceans around Pender Island through land-based observations by a dedicated observer at a vantage point overlooking the ISZ. The observer will monitor the ISZ and document any boat infractions. Land-based whale sightings will focus on killer whales and humpback whales, but sightings of all species will be recorded.
This project will help build the whale observation database for SIMRES, provide Raincoast with scientific evidence on the efficacy of ISZs at reducing vessel disturbances to cetaceans, and contribute to the overall knowledge of whale presence and movement in Boundary Pass. This project will build on the continued whale and vessel monitoring at a vantage point overlooking the Saturna ISZ.

Bubble coalescence in Ionic Liquid

This project aims to explore the coalescence of gas bubbles in ionic liquids which are potential electrolytes for fuel cells. This research will be conducted under the guidance of experts from the University of Waterloo in Canada and TU Delft in The Netherlands. By joining the Mitacs Globalink program, the researcher hopes to use advanced tools and collaborate with leading scientists to better understand this process. The findings could lead to significant advancements in the field of renewable energy and clean technology. Both institutions expect to benefit from shared knowledge, resources, and the potential for groundbreaking discoveries in renewable energy.

Déconnecter du pilote automatique pour prendre soin de sa santé psychologique au travail

Pour venir répondre aux problématiques vécues dans le milieu de la santé (p. ex., détresse, épuisement professionnel, stress), le présent projet de recherche vise à tester l’efficacité d’une intervention basée sur la pleine conscience et d’une intervention d’écoute de musique. Grâce à la collaboration avec le Centre d’expertise en santé de Sherbrooke (CESS), un diffuseur du savoir en matière de santé et proposant des solutions innovantes et adaptées à la réalité et aux besoins du secteur de la santé et des services sociaux, il sera possible de créer deux nouveaux outils d’intervention pour soutenir la santé psychologique au
travail des personnes travaillant dans le milieu de la santé, et ainsi répondre à la visée de cette organisation. Cette dernière bénéficiera des meilleures pratiques et connaissances grâce à un partenariat avec une doctorante en psychologie du travail et des organisations.

Development of a Green Process for the Recycling and Upcycling of Post-consumer Non-Compostable Polyester (PET) Material

The University of New Brunswick (UNB – Canada) welcomes a student intern from King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi (KMUTT – Thailand) to investigate chemical technologies for recycling waste plastics. The recycling of post-consumer non-compostable materials (e.g., polyester) have been identified as the next frontier to decrease solid waste. Around the world, societies struggle with the disposal of polyester – otherwise known as polyethylene terephthalate (PET) – materials used in textiles and single-use bottles (e.g., water/soda pop bottles). Using a hydrolytic chemical process, polyester can be recycled back into its initial monomer building blocks, terephthalic acid and ethylene glycol, and then reassembled into pure polyester. However, these hydrolytic processes are often problematic because of costs associated with heavy use of mineral acids and bases (e.g., sulfuric acid and sodium hydroxide) and extreme reaction conditions (>250°C, >2 MPa). This project aims to develop and evaluate innovative catalysts and strategies for the hydrolysis of polyester. The results from this project will reveal significant improvements that can be made in the PET hydrolysis process to increase the economic rationale of recycling. As a collaborative project, this project aims to strengthen the existing relationship between the two Universities.

In vivo testing of LNP-mRNA therapeutics in an animal model of Gaucher Disease

Brain disorders affect 10% of Canadians, however few treatment options exist for these devastating diseases. We have extensive understanding of their causes, but translation to treatment has been difficult. For example, many natural proteins have been identified to hold significant therapeutic promise, but getting these proteins to the brain has been a longstanding challenge. Our group has developed a technology that empowers the brain to produce its own therapeutic proteins over days to weeks. Using a technology similar to the COVID vaccine (combining lipid nanoparticles (LNP) and messenger RNA (mRNA)), we propose to transform brain cells into factories for the production of the protein deficient in Gaucher Disease (GD), in order to improve treatment strategies for the neurological manifestations of this disorder and provide proofof- concept for our strategy. By demonstrating the efficacy of this treatment in animal models, we hope to support its development for a multitude of brain disorders.

Efficacy of prescribed fire for shrub control in Saskatchewan cattle pastures

Woody plant encroachment is a significant problem for many Western Canadian ranchers. Prescribed fire is often promoted as a tool to manage woody plants, but has not been extensively tested in western Canada. This project will test and monitor the efficacy of prescribed fire on a working cattle ranch. A PDF will plan a prescribed fire to be implemented with the assistance of the partner organization, Meewasin Valley Authority (Canadian Prairies Prescribed Fire Exchange), and will monitor woody plant survival post-fire.