Innovative Projects Realized

Accelerated shelf-life testing of snack foods

This MITACS supported collaborative project with Lassonde Inc., was to develop a tool for shelf-life prediction of packaged snack foods by obtaining data under accelerated testing conditions. The gathering of data involves holding the pre-packaged snack bars (provided by the company) at different elevated temperatures for selected times. The product quality during storage is periodically evaluated in order to pick-up appropriate indicator(s) which can potentially be modeled based on some established kinetic theory to be able to predict shelf-life at lower (room) temperature conditions. Quality parameters planned to be studied include: appearance (colorimeter), hardness & chewiness (texture meter), water activity, TSS, pH, acidity, volatile profile, and others like peroxide value as found appropriate. Sensory testing will also be done with support from the company staff. Selected kinetic models will be tested with the data for suitability. Since storage stability of dehydrated products depend deeply on moisture sorption isotherms (MSI), the MSI of the snack foods will also be evaluated. It is hoped that the study will yield meaningful parameters for shelf-life predictions.

Amplifying Indigenous Voices: A Comparative Analysis of Indigenous Publishing Initiatives in Canada and Australia

The research hopes to improve the ways that institutions and organizations in Canada can support Indigenous literature, through a comparison of initiatives in Canada and Australia designed for Indigenous creatives in the publishing industry. The project involves two phases. First, initiatives on websites of publishing institutions/organizations in Canada and Australia will be recorded to create an inventory. Second, interviews with key informants from the institutions/organizations will be conducted to provide a richer picture of the data. The Indigenous Editors Association (IEA) is the industry partner for this project, and the executive director of the IEA, Nadine Ryan, will be the industry supervisor. In supporting the intern’s project, the IEA will benefit through the work completed on their Digital Strategies Project whose research overlaps with the intern’s first project phase.

Program development and best practices research

The 2023 intern will support, enhance and build on the work that is being done at NPDWC. The intern will document work and create how to manuals for the community oven coordinator, drop in , and Street Festival. Future interns work will include:
• Developing materials that can be used to support and enhance the work that is being done.
• Documenting the programs and creating operations manuals
• Examining the changes and work to date to assess their effectiveness – program evaluations
• Engaging in a series of best practices research, comparing NPDWC programs and activities to comparable programs in other jurisdictions
• making recommnendations on best practices to inform the continued program development and implementation at NPDWC.
• Engaging in inter-organizational networking and information sharing
• Making recommendations on further program changes
• Supporting the ongoing work of the NPDWC

Youth Recreational Coordinator

The Daniel McIntyre/St. Matthews Community Association (DMSMCA) is a community-driven not-for-profit
Neighbourhood Renewal Corporation that serves the Daniel McIntyre and St. Matthews (DM/SM) neighbourhoods in Winnipeg’s West End.
Their mission is to empower the communities of DM/SM to achieve
social, cultural, economic, and environmental well-being. The DMSMCA vision is for their community to be stable, healthy and safe. A neighbourhood that is diverse, welcoming, vibrant, clean and self-reliant.
Through this project, DMSMCA hopes to promote reconciliation by providing opportunities for Indigenous and non-Indigenous youth to come together and participate in community-based programming.
Through this project, the youth recreational coordinator will bring members of our diverse community together, allowing
them to share experiences and cultural knowledge, leading to an increased understanding of other cultures and viewpoints, an important foundation for building relationships and strengthening social support networks.

Project Intern at Adwow

Adwow Marketing Inc. (a AI-powered marketing start-up) is seeking expertise of an intern who has background in Digital Marketing and Analytics. The collaboration with MITACS will provide Adwow with access to valuable resources and expertise that can help Adwow strengthen its unique selling proposition and develop an effective go-to-market strategy.

BSI Internship – Shashwat Shah – Full-Stack Development

The proposed project is to leverage open-source technologies and a the Rust multi-paradigm programming language to create a Spreadsheet API that builds easy-to-use financial models. The financial modeling innovations achieved throughout this stage of the project will be incorporated into the user interface of a client-facing web application. These improvements will allow the user to generate more complex financial models that match maturity and growing complexity of a company’s financials.

Development of calculation tools for self-supporting steel structures

Crane structures are used to lift heavy equipment, goods or machinery. While different crane types exist, an overhead crane is primarily used in industrial facilities. The overhead crane structure comprises the following essential components: crane bridge, rails, crane runway girders, crane supporting columns, bracing system and crane foundations. Different types of loads need to be considered when designing crane-supporting structures. These include vertical reactions from the crane bridge/girder and the vertical impact load due to the crane’s movement. In addition, lateral and longitudinal forces are imposed on the crane-supporting structures and must be considered in the design.
The objectives of this Mitacs project are: (1) To develop a calculation tool for designing exterior free-standing support structures for an overhead crane, and (2) To develop a calculation tool for designing interior free-standing structures to support overhead crane. Thus, using the calculation tool developed for designing industrial supporting structures, the company will be will be able to grow its business .

Social Finance and the Circular Food Economy – HEC Montréal

This project will support Propel Impact in engaging and building relationships with organizations working in the Social Economy and Social Finance sectors in Quebec.

Analyse de données pour l’application de stratégie de découvrabilité dans les arts et la culture

Face au développement du numérique, les industries culturelles ont subi depuis presque deux décennies d’importantes mutations bouleversant tous les aspects de la chaîne de valeur et remettant en perspective les pratiques d’affaires des maillons qui la composent.

Plus que jamais, le secteurs culturel québécois doit se mobiliser en développant des stratégies – pour atteindre les bons publics et sur les bons canaux – favorisant la découvrabilité sur le numérique. On constate cependant que, bien que certains secteurs aient déjà largement entamé leur transformation numérique, d’autres peinent encore à effectuer cette transition. La crise de la COVID-19, situation inédite, a cependant été l’occasion d’accélérer cette transition et l’on a vu de nouvelles façons de créer et de nouvelles plateformes de diffusion émerger ainsi qu’un intérêt accru pour les stratégies numériques afin de rendre visible et faire la promotion des contenus culturels.

Le présent projet s’inscrit ainsi dans une démarche collaborative visant à structurer, optimiser et pérenniser l’exploitation des données sur les publics de la culture ainsi que développer et mettre en œuvre des stratégies numériques pour répondre aux objectifs de découvrabilité et de relance du secteur.

African Nova Scotian (ANS) Social Innovation Opportunities Lab

Over the past 30 years, there has been no statistical change in the gap between the unemployment rates of African Nova Scotians and the provincial average. In early 2019, the Nova Scotia Government funded a Social Innovation Lab led by One North End to develop innovative solutions to address this long-standing issue.
African Nova Scotians make up the largest racially visible group in Nova Scotia. According to the 2016 National Household Survey, 21,915 African Nova Scotians represent 37% of the racially visible population (Statistics Canada, 2016).
Over the past several months, the ANS Lab team has gained traction in identifying ways to improve employment levels. This concerted effort has already demonstrated impact by establishing an informal job matching portal with ANS youth and employers. In addition, through a collective impact approach, the team has identified solutions that can make a real statistical change.
The project will help develop African Nova Scotian youth skills and support them in navigating existing employment services and the job market.

BSI Project – Market Study for European Expansion

Currently RAP focuses the majority of its sales in Atlantic Canada and the New England States regions. However, lobster fishing is done in so many other parts of the world and RAP is looking to make its way to the European market. Before RAP attempts to enter the European market, a market study must be conducted in order to have a successful entry. Currently, RAP cannot expend the manpower to conduct this study thoroughly to its full potential which is why we thought this would be a great opportunity for a student. This project will help RAP by providing all the necessary information required for a successful market entry into Europe such as product differences and requirements, potential distributors, various contacts in the commercial fishing industry, etc. This study is crucial as you only really get one chance to make a good impression with fishermen when it comes to new products and RAP wants to make sure it’s done right.

Development of simulation program for industry with AR/VR

There is a growing demand for training simulation programs using Augmented/Virtual Reality (AR/VR) in various industries such as nursing and construction worldwide due to safety and high cost issues. Additionally, the need for collaboration among workers within a country or across multiple countries for practical training and education is expanding in certain industries. However, there are differences in the technological issues required for software due to the cultural awareness of workers and the situation of each country’s industry. Furthermore, there are differences between clinical situations and simulations since simulations can only perform based on registered objects and scenarios. Therefore, this training aims to develop and research new forms of AR/VR training simulation technology and programs required for specific industries (e.g. nursing, construction) through joint research with Korea and Canada. Specifically, element technology will be developed so that objects/spaces in real space can be reflected in real-time training simulations through virtualization based on deep learning. In addition, new AR/VR training interaction methods required for specific industries will be developed by analyzing the user’s multimodal inputs (hand gestures, speech, etc.).