Innovative Projects Realized

Cloud Services Integration Portals

BASE Engineering has a RESTful web API through which our customers’ data is provided through secured endpoints. Its automated test harness implements integration and system tests for each endpoint. It would be of tremendous value if we could gain assistance to expand our existing automated test harness to the new endpoints and complete our test coverage. We are also looking forward to having the future candidate participate in building the test harness and eventually automating it through our Continuous Deployment pipeline (CI/CD) to help us improve our automated tests and expand it so we can complete the testing coverage to all the endpoints used in our RESTful API.

Compliant Innovation for QiiQ

QiiQ Healthcare is building solutions to positively impact the speed, efficiency, and efficacy of clinical workflow – starting in the emergency department. This pursuit requires rapid innovation cycles that respect the constraints of regulatory compliance. This places an unfair disadvantage on small vendors who do not have large compliance and IP teams. As a small vendor, we need to understand the landscape so well that we can navigate those waters quickly and inexpensively. We must fulfill our duty to comply and inform. This includes executing the appropriate submissions where necessary.

The aim of this project is to help lay out the path forward, by both working with the team to put a compliance lens on our innovation strategy, and then ensure timely action on compliance as needed.

Étude pour la mise en service virtuelle de machine et pour la création de jumeaux numériques

Cette étude vise à explorer les possibilités offertes par la représentation d’une machine fabriquée par Premier Tech (VP-415) sous la forme d’un jumeau digital. Pour ce faire, on souhaite réaliser la modélisation partielle de la machine ciblée et définir les objectifs et les tâches en lien avec une mise en route typique. Le projet permettra également de recenser et d’évaluer les outils de développement pour assurer la continuité, la flexibilité et l’évolution du modèle virtuel pour des utilisations à diverses étapes du cycle de vie de la machine considérée. La modélisation complète de la machine avec tous ses sous-systèmes et la création de son jumeau digital suivra ultérieurement.

2 Billion Tree program

NBAPC will plant 10,537 trees and shrubs in 2024 along the Wolastoq and the Nashwaak River Watersheds. In year one, NBAPC will hire a staff member and begin preparation for planting in year two. In year two, they will plant a total of 10,537 trees and shrubs across five sites. Tree planting will be completed in Fall 2024, and NBAPC will complete monitoring and maintenance of planted sites for the duration of this agreement. This project will restore floodplain and riparian habitat in the watershed by planting the right trees in the right places. This will contribute to the recovery of multiple species at risk, further the implementation of the Wolastoq/St. John River Priority Threat Management assessment, enhance climate resiliency, reduce impacts of flooding, and build long-term planting capacity in the region.

Urgence Uptimum

Urgence Uptimum vise à révolutionner la gestion des tâches portuaires en développant une application Web mobile innovante mettant en relation les travailleurs et les répartiteurs. L’intégration d’un système d’acquisition et de vérification des accréditations des travailleurs optimisera le processus d’attribution des tâches dans le but de contrer la pénurie de main d’oeuvre en facilitant l’accessibilité au travail. L’objectif est qu’Urgence Uptimum devienne un outil incontournable dans la Vallée de la Transition Énergétique de la Filière Batterie de Bécancour.

Développement MLOps et Analyse de Données pour l’Optimisation des Bâtiments Multi-résidentiels Intelligents

Sentiom a comme mission d’effectuer la transformation numérique et de faciliter la transition énergétique de l’immobilier multi-résidentiel existant en bâtiments intelligents, durables et bienveillants.
Les défis actuellement vécus et que le stage permettra de répondre sont dans l’optimisation des processus grâce à des améliorations dans le déploiement des modèles, une gestion plus efficace des données et le développement de nouvelles avenues techniques (nouveaux algorithmes, solutions, etc.). Nous attendons du stagiaire qu’il apporte des contributions tangibles à nos projets en cours, en particulier en soutenant le développement d’algorithmes.

Feature Selection From Traffic Analysis For Computer Network Backdoor Detection

Attacks on computer networks happen every day, but many go undetected. Not all attacks succeed, but the ones that do often leave so called “back doors” behind that allow the attackers to easily gain access back into the computer network without having to attack it further. This project focuses on the use of mathematics and statistics to determine what features of network traffic (the data flowing on the wire between a computer network and the rest of the internet) can be used to determine if an unauthorized back door is present in a computer network. Determining these features is essential to being able to detect the presence of a back door, because the methods that are in place to do so require knowledge of what to look for before they can find it. TRTech, an industry R+D consortium, is sponsoring this project. The results will also be used to further improve the detection capabilities of Seccuris’s (Canada’s leading information assurance provider, and member of TRTech) network monitoring service.

First Nations Storytellers Business Development

The purpose of this internship is to develop and implement a group (Travel Trade & Corporate) business plan including but not limited to identifying tour operators who promote and bring group and fully independent travellers to the region, companies within New Brunswick who could benefit from FNS programming, supporting attendance at business to business marketplaces (or attending), ensuring marketing and support materials (digital and traditional) are developed and implemented, building relationships and negotiating contracts and ensuring experiences are developed that speak to the client’s needs (not developing but informing other FNS team members).

Measuring Social Impact

The project aims to enhance Veritree’s social impact by developing a partner engagement survey, integrating likert surveys and traditional metrics. The survey, covering needs, challenges, opportunities, and global trends, will be refined based on rapid likert survey landscape analysis and gap analysis. It will align with UN SDGs and evolving international development standards. Special attention will be given to indigenous engagement, ensuring their knowledge is recognized. The goal is to embed the survey in the Veritree app for global use in restoration projects, facilitating annual and periodic data collection to measure social change.

The impact of user and virtual agent dominance in collaborative work

Our research project aims to explore two interconnected objectives: understanding the impact of dominance in the collaboration between virtual assistants and human operators, and examining how an individual’s level of dominance affects their perception of a virtual assistant’s dominance during initial interactions. To achieve these goals, we will conduct a user study where participants, interacting with a virtual assistant for the first time, will perform tasks designed to foster collaboration. This approach will help us deepen our understanding of the psychological dynamics influencing these interactions and explore ways to leverage these insights to enhance virtual assistants’ design and functionality in collaborative settings.

Partnered health system innovation for people who use drugs

“Health System Innovation for People Who Use Drugs (PWUD)” is an implementation project that will help translate research into co-designed supports. This project is a collaboration between individuals with lived and living experience of currently illegal (i.e., non-alcohol, non-tobacco, non-cannabis) drug use and health system partners in Edmonton, AB – Boyle Street Community Services (BSCS) and the Inner City Health and Wellness Program (ICHWP). In 2023, BSCS and ICHWP collaborated to conduct a PWUD-administered survey of structurally vulnerable PWUD in central Edmonton. The survey data provides an assessment of PWUD health and social service needs in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and related health and social syndemics (e.g. houselessness, drug poisoning). Now what is needed is a process that aids the partners to co-design and prioritize implementation innovations. The Mitacs Elevate Fellowship will support Renée McBeth to coordinate a community-based research team in partnership with the Streetworks harm reduction program at BSCS. The research team will document PWUD-voiced priorities for improving available services and supports using sense-making methods (qualitative micro-narratives). Further, the team will host roundtables to develop recommendations from Indigenous PWUD and knowledge keepers with experience partnering with the health system. At each stage, we will identify community assets and strengths that can be mobilized to implement the proposed supports. The project will drive health system innovation and improve health by assisting the partner organizations and other health system actors to safely support PWUD partners and co-develop effective and inclusive responses to the opioid poisoning crisis.

Quantitative scanning electron microscopy characterization to determine if microfibrillated cellulose is considered a nanomaterial in food, food-contact and cosmetic regulations

The proposed project will use microfibrillated cellulose (MFC) from the University of Maine Process Development Center (UMaine MFC) as a reference material to develop a robust dispersion, sample preparation, image capture, and image analysis methodology to determine whether it is considered a nanomaterial under different regulatory frameworks. The methodology will employ scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and once a detailed standard operating procedure (SOP) is established, we will apply the approach to evaluate whether five industrial forms of MFC from Canadian manufacturers meet nanomaterial regulatory definitions. This work will allow Vireo Advisors Canada to develop an SOP to determine if industrial cellulose materials meet the regulatory definition of a nanomaterial in a number of jurisdictions and in turn what regulatory requirements are needed for the approval of these materials in different sectors. This is an essential step required for safety demonstration and regulatory approval of MFC not only in Canada but also in the US, EU and other markets. In the longer term, Vireo can apply the methodology developed in this project to other Canadian clients’ products to facilitate regulatory approvals and commercial adoption in Canada and other countries. This project will help promote safer and more sustainable material entry into the marketplace and help keep Canada competitive globally.