Innovative Projects Realized

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

13270 Completed Projects

1072
AB
2795
BC
430
MB
106
NF
348
SK
4184
ON
2671
QC
43
PE
209
NB
474
NS

Projects by Category

10%
Computer science
9%
Engineering
1%
Engineering - biomedical
4%
Engineering - chemical / biological

Prototype of a CHP system based on an upgraded gravity-feed wood-pellet furnaceintegrated with a steam-powered micro turbine for small- to mid-scale applications using CFD simulation…

Biomass combustion is used to generate combined heat and power (CHP). The combustion furnace of this study (WiseWay) has been providing heat in small scales using wood pellets. The target of this project, however, is to upgrade the stove’s design (for larger scale purposes and other biomass types) and integrate it with a steam microturbine (NextGrid). The resulting system is attractive to the environment and economy because it provides heat and electricity in one package, at a cheaper price compared with oil and gas, with less pollutants emitted. To meet this goal, computational and experimental investigations of the system will be carried out to develop a versatile combustion model based on solving the equations of flow and combustion. The model will then be used to upgrade the furnace. Our industrial partner will be able to deliver a more environmentally-friendly CHP system, which increases its competitiveness as an alternative to coal.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Dr. Stefan Cenkowski

Student:

Mohsen Akbarzadeh

Partner:

Myera Group Inc.

Discipline:

Engineering - chemical / biological

Sector:

Energy

University:

University of Manitoba

Program:

Elevate

Teachers’ reciprocal learning in transnational professional communities between Ontario and Shanghai secondary schools

The proposed research project investigates two transnational teacher communities between Ontario and Shanghai secondary schools. Teachers’ cross-cultural professional learning is the focus of the study. To understand how, why, and what teachers learn from each other, the project needs to collect data from both countries. While in China, data collection will be completed in two Shanghai sites. The data will include teacher professional development policies, Skype meeting accounts between sister schools, and teacher and principal interviews. Policy documents at both school level and municipal level will be collected. About ten educators, including teachers, principals, and vice principals, will be interviewed in each participating school. Data will be compared to that obtained from Canadian schools.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Dr. Michael Connelly

Student:

Xuefeng Huang

Partner:

Discipline:

Education

Sector:

University:

University of Toronto

Program:

Globalink Research Award

Dental Resin Composites based on Bile Acid Monomers

Current commercially available dental resin composites use the monomer BisGMA that uses a toxic bisphenol A (BPA) as the starting material, causing potential environmental and health problems. We aim at replacing BPA with bile acids, natural compounds in the new synthesis of new dental monomers. We are also making new inorganic fillers that provide the strength of the material. The latter is the area of expertise of our collaborators at Donghua University. In order to obtain a commercially viable composite, we will collaborate with the group of Prof Meifang Zhu to exchange knowledge to the mutual benefit of both groups. We will acquire some of their insight and expertise into the intricacies of dental filler synthesis and preparation. At the end of this project, we will have a commercialization-ready dental resin composite that is better than currently available commercial products, showing improved biocompatibility.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Julian Zhu

Student:

Eric Habib

Partner:

Discipline:

Chemistry

Sector:

University:

Université de Montréal

Program:

Globalink Research Award

Invasion process of the nonindigenous golden mussel, Limnoperna fortunei, in the South to North Water Diversion Project, China, and its impact on associated aquatic ecosystem health

The Central Route of South to North Water Diversion (SNWD) project in China aims at transferring water from Yangtze River Basin to Beijing and Tianjin via a 1276 km open water canal across China. This represents a great risk for the accepting water bodies to be biologically invaded. The home university, University of Windsor, has been involved in the International project assessing the bio-risk of the SNWD. The trip of the applicant student to China is to sample in the source water and canal, and learn environmental DNA technology in order to find out the invasion process of the golden mussel in SNDW and assess its impacts on associated aquatic ecosystem. He will cooperate with Dr. Aibin Zhan who has accumulated a huge database in golden mussel in the Chinese Academy of Sciences. This collaboration could lead to improvement of methodology for assessing invasive species risk of long distance water diversion in the home institute in Canada.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Dr. Doug Haffner

Student:

Zhiqiang (Dylan) Xia

Partner:

Discipline:

Environmental sciences

Sector:

University:

University of Windsor

Program:

Globalink Research Award

Distributed hybrid simulation test of typical high-speed railway construction in China

The proposed research project is to conduct remotely controlled experiment with the Central South University (CSU) in China to study the structural behaviour of typical concrete piers for high-speed railways. The student will be in China for the physical tests while command signals to run the experiment in China will be sent by a computer in Canada. Such an experiment shares the resources between the University of British Columbia and CSU. The project will first validate the control framework developed at UBC. Second, the experiment will show structural behaviour of a typical pier that is otherwise impossible to obtain without expensive shake-table testing. Third, the comparison between solid and hollow concrete piers is essential to understand the pros and cons of each design. With the results, accurate numerical models can be constructed and calibrated to conduct design optimization and cost-benefit study of future concrete piers for high-speed railways.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Dr. Tony Yang

Student:

Dorian Tung

Partner:

Discipline:

Engineering - civil

Sector:

University:

University of British Columbia

Program:

Globalink Research Award

Estimating Design Loads for Energy Infrastructure due to High Intensity Wind

The objectives of this project are to develop and validate numerical and analytical tools to evaluate the critical loads on energy infrastructures, focusing on transmission lines (TLs) and nuclear power plants (NPP) due to high intensity wind (HIW) in the form of tornadoes and downbursts. There is a clear lack of tools used to estimate the forces required for the design of energy infrastructures to resist HIW events. The new tools will assist the Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel (BLWTL), the industrial sponsor, to assist clients from the utility industry in Canada. Also, the tools are expected to have a strong market within the utility companies in other countries susceptible to HIW events such as USA, Australia, Asia and South Africa. The BLWTL is well known worldwide as the leader of wind engineering research and development, and knowledge transfer applications related to synoptic winds. This project will maintain the leadership of the organization and will enhance its reputation worldwide in this emerging area of HIW.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Ashraf El Damatty

Student:

Haitham Aboshosha

Partner:

Alan G. Davenport Wind Engineering Group

Discipline:

Engineering - civil

Sector:

Construction and infrastructure

University:

Western University

Program:

Accelerate

An innovative biosurgical approach to osteoarthritis treatment

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a growing burden in an aging society. There are few proven treatments and hence disability contributes to poor quality of life and direct/indirect costs to society. Hyaluronic acids have been show to improve OA symptoms but usually the onset is delayed by weeks. Corticosteroid therapy in contrast has a quick onset of action but is very brief in duration (only ~ 2 weeks). Hence, a novel combination of these therapies may offer patients improved symptoms relief and quality of life. Furthermore, OA symptoms include both increased pain and reduced mobility. Exercise has been shown to improve symptoms in OA however this also is fraught with worsening of pain. We propose a novel low impact exercise modality that improves balance and gait. This program of research should improve patient options and improve knowledge in OA management.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Robert Petrella

Student:

Erin Shellington

Partner:

Discipline:

Kinesiology

Sector:

Life sciences

University:

Western University

Program:

Accelerate

Acute Impact of an Extremely Low Frequency Magnetic Stimulus on Human Neurophysiological Function

Power-lines and electric appliances are the main sources of daily human exposure to power-frequency magnetic fields (MF, 60 Hz in North America). In order to protect the public and workers from potential adverse effects, international agencies publish MF exposure guidelines based on the “best estimate” available regarding the levels producing an acute biological effects in humans, which is called magnetophosphenes (flickering lights perceived eyes closed in the dark while exposed to a strong MF). Since 2005, we investigate power-frequency MF exposures and reported effects on human movement, memory, brain activity, postural control and magnetophosphenes. In this project, the interns will be involved in improving the characterization of visual (magnetophosphenes) and postural (standing balance) responses to high-level power-frequency MF exposure, providing insights into interaction mechanisms. These results will improve international guidelines protecting the public and workers from MF adverse effects, and will have potential for translational developments (diagnostic and therapeutic applications).

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Faculty Supervisor:

Alexandre Legros

Student:

Alicia Allen

Partner:

Hydro-Québec

Discipline:

Kinesiology

Sector:

Management of companies and enterprises

University:

Western University

Program:

Accelerate

Health economics and modeling collaboration between sanofi Pasteur and York: pertussis study

Pertussis, caused by the strict human pathogen B. pertussis or Bordetella parapertussis, is a highly contagious, potentially life-threatening respiratory tract illness when it occurs in unprotected infants. Despite the introduction of acellular pertussis (aP) vaccines and great initial success of the immunization program, pertussis outbreaks were reported in adolescents and adults in Canada since 1993. This trend was demonstrated as shift in pertussis epidemiology from infants and young children. Further, pertussis in children associated with adolescents or adults cases have been reported in developed countries, in which siblings and adults were identified as the main source for the transmission of pertussis to young unvaccinated infants. This project emerged from a successful collaboration between Sanofi Pasteur and York University’s Institute for Health Research/Laboratory for Industrial and Applied Mathematics in developing and testing an age-structure and cost-effective economic models to understand the introduction of different aP vaccine (booster) recommendations (for <65 years old and >=65) on the transmission dynamics of B. pertussis, and cost-effectives in Canada.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Jianhong Wu

Student:

Hossein ZivariPiran

Partner:

Sanofi Pasteur

Discipline:

Mathematics

Sector:

Pharmaceuticals

University:

York University

Program:

Accelerate

Exploring the potential synergistic cooperation between cellulase enzymes and lignin biocatalysts screened from a proprietary environmental DNA platform for deconstructing lignocellulosic biomass

MetaMixis, Inc., is a Canadain company undertaking a global effort dedicated to decreasing our reliance on petrochemicals by transitioning to engineered microbial processes or biocatalysts for the production of sustainable products. In the past few years MetaMixis has successfully developed a functional screen to recover metagenomic scaffolds sourced from various proprietary bacterial communities. They have used this technique to identify and, eventually, isolate novel lignin degrading biocatalysts (LDB) (lignin plays a key role in limiting the effective deconstruction of biomass to fermentable sugars). However, the potential application of these LDB need to be further assessed. Our FPB/Bioenergy group in UBC has been involved in over two decades of research, in collaboration with the world’s biggest enzyme company Novozymes, to develop and customize the “enzyme cocktails” for efficient deconstruction of various industrial-relevant lignocellulosic substrates. Thus, FPB could help MetaMixis to explore the potential of these LDB in the biomass bioconversion process.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Dr. Jack (John) Saddler

Student:

Jinguang Hu

Partner:

MetaMixis Inc.

Discipline:

Forestry

Sector:

Life sciences

University:

University of British Columbia

Program:

Elevate

Investigating the Implementation of Machine Learning Algorithms on Adiabatic Quantum Solvers

Machine learning is an active field of research and development to provide tools and technologies for finding significant patterns in data. Behind every face detection and face recognition software in digital cameras or social network websites a constantly under-development machine learning algorithm is working. Nowadays in any practical applications of machine learning we have to analyze huge amounts of data. Using classical approaches to train machine learning algorithms for some classes of algorithms is either very slow, requiring a lot of computing resources, or inefficient. Quantum computers are promising candidates to deal with computationally difficult problems, which makes development and study of quantum algorithms inevitable. I propose two promising machine learning algorithms that can be developed by drawing on the expertise 1QB Information Technologies has in the development of such algorithms for adiabatic quantum computers, which will speed up the training process in the current version of adiabatic quantum computers, developed by D-Wave Systems Inc.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Dr. Mark Schmidt

Student:

Hamed Karimi

Partner:

1QB Information Technologies Inc.

Discipline:

Finance

Sector:

Information and communications technologies

University:

University of British Columbia

Program:

Elevate

Methods to improve high-resolution airborne thermal infrared (TIR) imagery in support ofurban waste heat mapping, monitoring and metrics

This proposal builds on 4 years of research in the award winning HEAT (Heat Energy Assessment Technologies) project. Every year, billions of GJ of wasted heat leave millions of buildings in thousands of cities world-wide. In an effort to support urban energy efficiency, this research proposes four novel image post-processing techniques to improve/ verify the geometry, radiometry and the processing of large volumes of high-resolution airborne thermal infrared (TIR) imagery. Results are expected to enable more accurate urban waste heat mapping and refined waste heat metrics. Analysis will take place on 825km2 of TABI-1800 airborne TIR data acquired at night (2012) over the city of Calgary, Alberta. The planned benefit to Uncommon Innovation (the Partner) is the opportunity to commercialize these improved HEAT products as green web services, which are increasingly being requested by municipalities, utilities, and Realtors to support urban energy efficiency, low carbon living and green buildings worldwide.

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Faculty Supervisor:

Geoffrey Hay

Student:

Mir Mustafizur Rahman

Partner:

Uncommon Innovation

Discipline:

Geography / Geology / Earth science

Sector:

Energy

University:

University of Calgary

Program:

Elevate

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