Applied Research Projects
Recent Projects
Innovative Approaches to Sociodemographic Data Collection in the Child-care Sector
Funder: City of Toronto
Toronto Children's Services promotes access to early learning and child-care services to meet the diverse needs of families and children. It has partnered with Barbara Pytka, Professor, School of Early Childhood Education, to research methods to facilitate the collection of sociodemographic information about those who use licensed group centres and home child care. Identifying best practices to collect high quality data will ultimately enable a fulsome understanding of which families are accessing child care, who benefits from the Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care agreement and who is being left behind. The anticipated results of this project will lay the groundwork to advance equity in the sector.
Real Time Control and Alarm System of PEM Fuel Cell
Funder: SIRF
Rechargeable battery manufacturer eV Fern Ltd., which is based in Oshawa about 60 kilometers east of Toronto, wants to develop initiatives to save electricity and reduce greenhouse gas emissions with renewable solar and wind energy. The company is interested in exploring Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells (PEMFC), which use hydrogen fuel and oxygen from the air to produce electricity. However, the use of PEMs has been problematic due to proton dryness and a depletion of the catalyst layer, the electrochemical part of the structure. They have partnered with Muthanna Al-Khishali, Professor, School of Software Design and Data Science to address the challenges in developing clean and efficient power. The research team for this Seneca Social Innovation Research Fund project will design a simulator system to bypass the obstacles.
Automation of model training and evaluation process for predicting equipment downtime
Funder: NSERC - ATRP
TGT Solutions Inc., based in Stratford, about 150 kilometres west of Toronto, specializes in technology-driven solutions, offering highly specialized products and services. The company wants to develop an AI-based solution for manufacturing companies to analyze large datasets, from sources such as production equipment and quality records, typically generated on production floors. The company is partnering with Dr. Uzair Ahmad, Professor, School of Software Design & Data Science, and a team of student researchers on the project, focusing on predicting equipment downtime. The research team will utilize datasets provided by Memex, TGT’s partner company, and a low-code/no-code AI platform called mlOS, provided by Braintoy.
Projects
- Business and Finance
- Design and Animation
- Health & Behavioural Sciences
- Engineering
- Life Sciences
- Software and Data Sciences
| Project Name | Funder | Award Year | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feasibility of Micro-Insurance for Urban Agriculture | AgriRisk Initiatives Micro-grants | 2023 | As the benefits and advantages of urban farming in Canada become increasingly clear, so do the various risks facing farmers and producers who seek to create and develop their own urban agriculture businesses (e.g., municipal policies, lack of financial support, etc.). Dr. West Suhanic, Professor, School of Financial and Accounting Services, is leading a team of student researchers investigating how to mitigate such risks through the creation of business models for the provisioning of microinsurance to economically vulnerable groups like urban farmers. This project aims to create the case that a micro-insurance product for urban farmers is feasible and, with this reduced risk, facilitate the creation of a microinsurance product by providing this information to insurance providers. |
| Building Community Food Resilience through Urban Agriculture | Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) – College and Community Innovation program – College and Community Social Innovation Fund (CCSIF) | 2021-2024 | Urban agriculture plays an important role in providing ecological services to the urban environment. As post-pandemic recovery efforts continue in Canada and globally, it will continue to play a pivotal role. Growing food in cities improves air quality, reduces heat island effect, creates habitat for pollinators and increases access to nature for residents in high-density neighborhoods. Small-scale urban farmers are eager to create new enterprises in order to broaden economic opportunities and help address food insecurity in their communities via enhanced crop productivity. However, they face daunting challenges to growth, including a lack of access to growing space, capital and scale-appropriate knowledge for production and business planning. Research, training programs and financing opportunities do exist in Canada, but they have been developed for rural farmers and do not address the unique circumstances of entrepreneurs growing food in cities. Greenest City and Toronto Urban Growers are partnering with Seneca's School of Accounting and Financial Services to develop the first urban farmer-focused business best practices, through a combination of current practices, urban considerations, agricultural knowledge and business model analysis. Led by Seneca Professor, West Suhanic, and a team of Research Assistants, a plan will be developed, implemented, and piloted through a series of research-guided training programs to assist interested urban farmers to create their own urban agriculture enterprises. This Urban Agriculture Enterprise Support Program will incorporate training, longer term mentorship and microfinancing with terms designed to be accessible to a wide range of potential urban farmers. The efficacy of the training program will be studied and evaluated through the successful ability of the farmers to start their enterprise and their satisfaction with the knowledge gained. It is anticipated that the results of the study will be presented at national conferences and if successful, these training modules will be packaged to be implemented in communities across Canada. |
| Smart Project Performance Management - Infrastructure Industry Operations Excellence through Machine Learning |
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) – College and Community Innovation Program – Engage Grants for colleges Ontario Centre of Innovation (OCI) – Voucher for Innovation and Productivity (VIP) |
2022-2023 | Toronto-based Audiit Business Solutions Corp. provides data-oriented project management solutions for companies. The Audiit Platform is software for strategic data governance and project performance management. It provides ongoing decision-making support, performance improvements and offers schedule/cost control to customers with complex projects. Audiit works with high-profile clients in the infrastructure sector, including Bruce Power, Ontario Power Generation, Aecon Group Inc. and the K-Line Group of Companies. The technology that drives Audiit Platform utilizes Audiit Trail, which provides a complete history of events during projects for ongoing analysis. The data collection an opportunity to use advanced analytical techniques such as machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence of which there has been notably slow uptake in the industry. Audiit is collaborating with Seneca's School of Software Design & Data Science to identify, validate, and implement ML models that can provide performance improvements for their customers. Led by Reid Kerr, Professor, School of Software Design & Data, student research assistants will find and test ML algorithms on both sample and real data provided by Audiit's clients, to discover which methods work best. Audiit will use the results on the platform, to give their customers the most advanced ML-backed data analysis on the market. |
| Regulatory Analysis of a Fintech Application for Financial Literacy |
Mitacs – Business Strategy Internship |
2022 | Debican is a Canadian startup whose mission is to prepare youth for future financial planning. Through the app,youth will learn a series of money management strategies. Under parental control, Debican will give youth their own debit cards to shop in the Debican city marketplace where they will learn to manage their money by earning, saving, donating, and spending wisely. The financial regulations surrounding creating a digital, real-money marketplace, particularly one that allows youth to participate, are complex. Debican is collaborating with Seneca’s School of Accounting and Financial Services to analyze financial regulations in Canada for youth, as well as the regulations imposed on fintech companies such as Debican. Furthermore, the requirements and steps towards enabling the usage of prepaid cards and working with banks need some effort to elucidate. Under guidance of the academic and industry leads, the intern will research regulations relevant to Debican’s business model to create reports and projections that will provide Debican with a roadmap that demonstrates successful financial partner strategy and analysis. This project will help Debican successfully set up their platform to align with appropriate regulations. It also has the potential to help thousands of youths across Canada practice proactive financial planning for the future. |
| Designing and optimizing a net zero vertical farm | Mitacs – Business Strategy Internship | 2022 | Vertical farming is an emerging industry that is driven by the intersection of rising food prices, climate volatility and reduced technology costs. However, there are two major barriers to the widespread adoption and long-term viability of vertical farming among prospective entrepreneurs, farmers and food businesses: high capital costs associated with turn-key vertical farm systems and limitations to the diversity of crops that have been cultivated. Boreal Greens, a Canadian Ag-Tech innovation company, is developing and prototyping a mid-market, Canadian-made, vertical farming solution with communities and smallholder farmers in mind. In order to design their product to address the two major barriers in the field, Boreal Greens is partnering with Seneca’s School of Accounting & Financial Services to answer two important questions: 1) Given the current landscape of Canadian food prices, which crops are most profitable and applicable for cultivation in vertical farms, and 2) What equipment is currently best practice or emerging in the industry to reduce labour and time-intensive tasks? This research will have the prospective intern working closely with academic lead Professor West Suhanic and Boreal Greens President Brandon Hebor to answer these questions through investigation into a range of market conditions, pricing information, technology scans and business projections. The intern will produce reports and recommendations on both crop opportunities for vertical farm operations and opportunities for adoption of cost-conscious equipment and automation that can help vertical farms operate more efficiently. |
| Effie Canada “Alchemy of Effectiveness Report - A Focus on Canada” | Mitacs Business Strategy Internship | 2022 | Founded in 1905, the Institute of Canadian Agencies (ICA) is the not-for-profit association for Canadian advertising, marketing, media and public relations agencies. ICA’s mission is to amplify, protect and transform the agency sector through advocacy, awards, community, consultancy, insight, networking, research and training. Its membership and board of directors represent some of the most recognized and influential businesses in our industry, both in Canada and internationally. One of the challenges Canadian communication agencies are facing is a lack of data and analysis on advertising effectiveness for the national market. All too often, ICA members have had to look at insights from elsewhere to inform their decisions. In order to address this gap, the ICA has embarked on a long-term program of data gathering to build the country’s first bank of knowledge and insights on and for the Canadian marketer. The database covers a comprehensive range of advertising campaign inputs (such as business context, campaign objectives, media budget and media channels) and outcomes. The ICA’s Alchemy of Effectiveness database will drive greater effectiveness and spotlight the world-class expertise that resides in Canada. It will also serve to prove that marketing can provide significant value for long-term growth and innovation. The ICA is partnering with Seneca on the report to support the Effie Awards Canada launch. Xiomara Velasquez, a recent graduate of the Marketing Management graduate certificate program, under the guidance of Jason Dojc, Professor, School of Marketing, will work with the ICA to leverage the data and provide insights into advertising campaign effectiveness across the industry. |
| Development of best-practices and outlook in risk-management/compliance frameworks for improving employee relocation outcome | Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) – College and Community Innovation Program – Engage Grants for colleges | 2019 | The Canadian Employee Relocation Council (CERC) is Canada’s leading authority on employee relocation. Established in 1982, CERC is a membership organization whose goal is to provide leadership, services and assistance to members enabling them to effectively serve relocated families by addressing issues that impact workforce mobility both domestically and internationally. CERC is collaborating with Seneca researchers to develop global mobility, risk-control frameworks. The result will be a series of recommendations, best-practices, and information resources which CERC can provide to its members, enabling its member companies to develop internal, risk-control frameworks for moving employees between countries. Seneca will draw on the expertise of student Research Assistants in Seneca’s School of Leadership and Human Resources under the guidance of Professor Cal Barber to understand existing global mobility and risk-control frameworks. This information will then be used to develop resources around the wide variety of regulatory hurdles associated with global mobility, such as tax, immigration, data privacy, and country-specific employment regulations, and identify upcoming trends in these regulatory areas. CERC will utilize the results to assist its members in developing compliance-oriented, risk-control frameworks to reduce the complexity of employee relocation and avoid unnecessary penalties associated with non-compliance. |
| Development of an algorithm for cash flow optimization | Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) – College and Community Innovation Program – Engage Grants for colleges and Ontario Centre of Innovation (OCI) – Voucher for Innovation and Productivity (VIP) | 2018 | Toronto-based Pungle Inc., enables its customers to deliver real-time electronic, business payments. This applied research collaboration with Seneca will develop a cash-flow optimization service for Pungle users. This new service, which will be seamlessly integrated into the Pungle platform, will utilize user-specific transactional data to predict the optimal discounts required to ensure timely invoice payments. By integrating this value-added feature, Pungle will increase customer retention and provide a competitive advantage over other real-time payment businesses. Pungle will engage with Professor Ramy Taraboulsi, supported by two Research Assistants from Seneca's School of School of Accounting and Financial Services and two from our School of Information and Communications Technology. The developed software will enhance Pungle's ability to capture the Canadian marketplace, helping SMEs to improve their businesses and better control cash flows. The resulting growth of the company will lead to dozens of new software development and financial services jobs in the next three to five years. |
| Life insurance industry national compliance regulatory requirements and analysis of future direction for integration with compliance tracking platform | Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) – College and Community Innovation Program – Engage Grants for colleges | 2018 | VigilantCS is a provider of intelligent, cloud-based, staff-conduct risk platforms for the financial securities industry. Their software solutions lower compliance-related costs by providing best practices, tracking current issues, and mitigating future challenges. Their product, the VCSOpen Staff Compliance Platform provides the industry with comprehensive functionality to manage the compliance needs of registered securities staff through a single, staff-facing portal. VigilantCS has identified the life insurance industry as their next target market, as compliance oversight provides significant opportunity to improve operational efficiency, lower costs, and reduce risk. VigilantCS is collaborating with Rohan Singh, Professor in the School of Accounting and Financial Services and student Research Assistants to research the life insurance industry regulatory environment, assess current and future needs and concern, create validated use-cases for a variety of users, and map regulatory information and risks to each case. The outputs from the project are the best practices and future outlook for regulations and compliance in the life insurance industry and will enable VigilantCS to access new markets for their VCSOpen product. |
| Project Name | Funder | Award Year | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| Medical Confidence Phase 2 Mental Health App Design | Ontario Centre of Innovation (OCI) – College Voucher for Technology Adoption (CVTA) | 2019 | Medical Confidence is a Canadian health-care navigation provider based in Richmond Hill, Ont., and works in partnership with individuals, physician specialists and family practitioners. Medical Confidence’s mission is to empower health-care consumers so that individuals have information and access to physician specialists to meet their needs — when they need it the most. Seneca has had the pleasure of working with Medical Confidence on two technology related projects; and this most recent OCE College Voucher for Technology Adoption project focused on adoption of a mental health navigation app being developed for millennials. This project evolved out of Seneca’s GRA610 Design for Social Change course (in the Graphic Design advanced diploma program). The objective of the phase 1 project was to update the design of Medical Confidence's beta app of their Mental Health Navigation tool to help Gen Z students manage their depression and anxiety. The funded portion of this project, phase 2, seeks to take the information from phase 1 and develop a non-coded working demo of the app. The demo aims to provide a cross section of its proposed capabilities, which focus on mood, health and lifestyle modules to test different design interactions and associated features. Led by Professor Irene Chong, five Graphic Design students and one student from the Interactive Media Design diploma program developed the proof of concept app, which will be used to take to industry to gain the financial support needed to establish clinical support in order to develop this very critical application platform which will assist individuals in the millennial cohorts with finding mental health care and providing mental health and wellness support, e-therapy and guided self-help. |
| User experience (UX) and user interface (UI) design for complex legal search engine | Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) – College and Community Innovation Program – Engage Grants for colleges | 2018 | Loom Analytics is a Toronto based legal-tech company. Loom has built a SaaS legal analytics system that provides a graphical and tabular representation of data embedded in court decisions. Loom’s system is a data-driven legal research assistant that finds, classifies, and sorts case law for you, making the process of case law research smarter, faster, and more robust. Using a combination of legal analysis and machine learning, Loom provides hard numbers on case law: win/loss rates, judge ruling histories, litigation trends over time. Through this project, Loom Analysis will collaborate with Sean Guadron and student research assistants from Seneca’s School Creative Arts and Animation (CAA) to simplify Loom’s complex legal search engine, while improving and maintaining its advanced features. Implementation of a new user experience (UX) and user interface (UI) design, based on client/user feedback, will make it more intuitive and user friendly, something demanded by its current and potential customers. |
| Project Name | Funder | Award Year | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| Innovative Approaches to Sociodemographic Data Collection in the Child-care Sector | City of Toronto | 2023 | Toronto Children's Services promotes access to early learning and child-care services to meet the diverse needs of families and children. It has partnered with Barbara Pytka, Professor, School of Early Childhood Education, to research methods to facilitate the collection of sociodemographic information about those who use licensed group centres and home child care. Identifying best practices to collect high quality data will ultimately enable a fulsome understanding of which families are accessing child care, who benefits from the Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care agreement and who is being left behind. The anticipated results of this project will lay the groundwork to advance equity in the sector. |
| Identifying Best Practices in Long Term Care Homes to Address Resident Loneliness and Isolation | Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) – Mobilize | 2023 | Unionville Home Society (UHS) provides quality care and services including housing and long-term care for older adults living in York Region. UHS has partnered with Seneca Polytechnic Professors Blerina Mehmeti and Caroline Grammer, Child Youth Care, to develop a comprehensive literature review of existing models of care that successfully engage all their residents in their lived environments. This review will include therapeutic individual and group programming, alternative ways to increase the independence and involvement of each resident in their activities of daily living, foster emotional and spiritual engagement in the UHS long-term care setting and decrease the three plagues of aging – loneliness, boredom and helplessness. The results will inform the development of specific programs and environmental support tailored to UHS’s long-term care population. |
| Digitizing Data Collection at Syme-Woolner Family Center | Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) – College and Community Innovation Program – Mobilize | 2023 | Syme Woolner Neighbourhood & Family Centre, a Toronto-based organization provides services such as a food bank, a 7 day hot meal program, clothing bank, children’s after school program, summer camp, Early Year Programming, and support in accessing and referral to multiple services, wants to track program usage, while protecting privacy. Innovate Cities, a Toronto-based IT service and consulting nonprofit, aims to use data and technology to improve the quality of life. The two organizations have collaborated to come up with a platform to protect information in such a way that it can be used for quality measurements, internal and provincial reporting. Ayesha Manzer, Professor, School of Software Design & Data Science, will lead a research team to create a system to collect and store the information, while letting clients use a barrier-free sign-in process. That system will then be integrated with the platform to have a resource that nonprofits can use to track activity while protecting privacy. |
| Measurement of Joyi on Mood and State of Mind | Seneca Mobilize | 2022 | Colorful Zone specializes in developing products that promote users’ mental health education and mental wellbeing. The Toronto-based company is partnering with Dr. Mark Tucci, Professor, School of Public Safety and Behavioural Studies, and a team of student researchers to perform testing and validation of their new mental health app, ‘Joyi’. The project will use validated measures of mood and state of mind in the form of user-friendly surveys to assess changes in participants’ mental well-being before and after using the app. The project aims to provide the partner with guidance on how the Joyi app treats its mood and well-being implementation, to provide research-backed mood support to its customers. |
Exploring the Experiences of Front-line Home Health Care Workers Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Phenomenological Inquiry |
Seneca Applied Research Fund (ARF) | 2022 | Community & Home Assistance to Seniors (CHATS) is a not-for-profit organization that provides services for older adults and caregivers living and working in York Region and South Simcoe. CHATS, based in Aurora, about 35 km north of Toronto, relies heavily on the support of front-line workers (FLWs) to provide vital services to individuals living with chronic health conditions, aging needs and/or disabilities. The COVID-19 pandemic put a significant strain on health-care providers, who were already dealing with funding and staffing issues. CHATS is partnering with Alla Yakerson, Professor, School of Health Sciences, to conduct an interview-based study to improve worker satisfaction amongst FLWs. Ideally, the results will lead to the development of techniques to increase retention and recruitment. |
| Minimizing Mental Health Impact of Burnout and Vicarious Trauma on Front-line Workers of the Residential Care Agencies | Mitacs -MHRC Partnership | 2022 | The Ontario Association of Residences Treating Youth (OARTY) is a provincial association of private residential services. OARTY members provide support to individuals requiring temporary, short or long-term residential care, including those impacted by abuse and neglect and those with developmental challenges, among others. Currently, OARTY and its members face a high staff turnover. While there are many contributing factors, like limited financial resources and shift work, burnout and vicarious trauma are two of the major causes. The mental health implications related to burnout and vicarious trauma are felt by both the staff who resign from the workplace, but also by those in their care, as losing staff has a significant negative impact on their overall treatment. OARTY is partnering with Seneca Professor Enza Badolato and Research Assistant Selvini Devasagayam, to identify strategies that, when implemented by OARTY and its members, will help minimize the negative impacts of burnout and vicarious trauma. |
| Exploring the Impact of De-escalation Training on Recruit Officers’ Tactical Decision Making During Crisis Encounters. | Seneca Applied Research Fund (ARF) | 2021 | Seneca's Bachelors of Crime and Intelligence Analysis (BCIA) program has forged a unique relationship with the Ontario Police College (OPC) to measure the impact of deescalation training on police recruits’ tactical decision-making during crisis encounters. The Ministry of Community Safety and Corrections has prioritized deescalation training for all officers and OPC has introduced a preliminary model into its training practices. Techniques focus on increasing time and space to mitigate effects of psychophysiological arousal (increased heart rate and blood pressure, etc.) and increase tactical flexibility and decision-making, such as increased two way communication versus one way communication, and transition to less lethal force options. The aim of the research is to identify effective de-escalation tactics to build into standardized training delivered by Provincial Use of Force Trainers. BCIA students’ researchers are fully integrated into the project and will assist with research design, data collection, analysis, report writing and delivery of findings to senior OPC administrators. |
| Anti-Demodex wipes development | Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) – College and Community Innovation Program – Engage Grants for colleges | 2021 | I-MED Pharma Inc. (I-MED Pharma) provides innovative ocular surface disease (OSD) solutions to the global optometry and ophthalmology community-based care sectors. With a focus on research, I-MED Pharma's vision is to be the leading dry eye and OSD company in the world. Currently, they offer a complete range of OSD products, including diagnostic tools, artificial tears, ocular hygiene cleansers and therapeutic accessories. The Demodex mite, which can cause Dry Eye Disease and other ailments, can be maintained at a harmless level using some natural products. However, recently, a controversial study suggested that tea tree oil (TTO) could be harmful to eye gland cell line in vitro. I-MED Pharma will collaborate with Seneca's School of Biological Sciences & Applied Chemistry to develop an eye wipe formulation with an active ingredient that limits proliferation of Demodex mites without irritating the eye. Led by Sonal Kamath and Sharon Robertson, professors from the school, student Research Assistants from Seneca’s Cosmetic Science graduate certificate program will apply their academic knowledge and skills, while developing practical experience in formulation and evaluating product efficacy, to create a prototype formulation of a TTO-free wipe designed to be effective against Demodex mites that does not cause irritation to the eye. This new formulation will reinforce I-MED's position in the global market as a leader in dry eye care and eye hygiene. |
| Coping with Crisis: Senior newcomers during COVID-19 | Seneca Applied Research Fund (ARF) | 2020 | The COVID-19 global pandemic brought to light many of our social inequities and revealed the fault lines present in our cities and communities. Among the most vulnerable populations were seniors. Death tolls in long-term care homes surged, community groups closed, and many seniors went through a period of isolation and chaos. In this applied research project, Seneca is partnering with a community organization that serves the needs of immigrant seniors. Working in close collaboration with the Afghan Women’s Organization Refugee & Immigrant Services, the Intercultural Iranian Canadian Resource Centre contributes to building strong communities by supporting urban newcomer communities. This project will explore the ways seniors within this community coped, and what their needs were during the COVID-related lockdown of 2020. This applied research project will offer ways the organization can transform to better serve the needs of this population at times of disruption and crisis. |
| Interactions among cricket frass-based soil amendments, biological control agents, and mycorrhizae in organic soil | Seneca Applied Research Fund (ARF) | 2020 | This research project is aimed at characterizing the interactions among different biologically-based soil inputs in organic agricultural and horticultural ecosystems. Aspire Food Group (AFG) aims to meet public demand for sustainable and nutritious protein sources through its production of cricket protein powder. Cricket frass, an important by-product of the cricket protein powder production operations, is considered an effective, organically acceptable, soil-applied plant fertilizer product. No formal research has been conducted to investigate the interactions among cricket frass soil amendments, soil-applied biological control agents like entomopathogenic nematodes, and plant-fungal associations, such as mycorrhizae. This project will aim to describe and identify potential synergies or antagonisms among these various organic soil inputs. The results of this research will provide AFG and, ultimately, its clients, with valuable information supporting the successful application of its cricket frass products in complex, biologically active organic soils. |
| Enhancing Language and Learning Development for Children with Disabilities Living in Rural and Remote Communities, using an Interactive Web-Based Assistive Communication Platform | Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) – College and Community Innovation program – College and Community Social Innovation Fund (CCSIF) | 2020 | According to Statistics Canada there are an estimated 75,000 Canadian school-age children living with speech and language delays. Moreover, 51.5 per cent of them had unmet or partially met needs with regards to access to assistive technology, demonstrated to impact development and social and well-being outcomes. Children with complex communication needs living in remote and rural regions, and Indigenous communities in Canada face significantly disproportionate access to assistive technologies. Approximately one in five Canadians live in rural and isolated areas and this includes a significant number of children and youth who lack access to Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) systems due to an insufficient level of required support and services from qualified clinicians. While service provider capacity is a longstanding concern, there are also other systemic issues that impact the quality of such services: long waitlists for assessments, lack of trained staff, and communication or procedural barriers across the circle of care between families and professionals within and across the education and community-support sectors. Linggo is a Toronto-based company that developed a novel AAC system to assist individuals with complex communication needs. It has partnered with Seneca’s Professors Mark Tucci and Catherine Leung to expand the functionality of Linggo AAC to transform it into an AAC Virtual Care platform that can be deployed into rural and remote regions. In the first phase of the project, Seneca and Linggo teams will build a Training Portal and develop a comprehensive set of training videos. In the next step, the platform will be deployed in various communities across Canada where the system’s efficacy will be evaluated. The goal is to demonstrate that by providing training, access to tools, and provisions for remote consultations to a child’s circle of care, we can significantly mitigate challenges that rural and remote communities face in providing the highest quality of care to citizens; and advancing children’s speech and language development and associated social and well-being outcomes. This applied research project is supported through NSERC College and Community Social Innovation Fund (CCSIF) grant. |
| LINGGO: An Augmentative and Alternative Communication System (AAC) for Non-Verbal Individuals | Centre for Aging + Brain Health Innovation (CABHI) – Spark+ Program | 2020 | People with various conditions that affect their ability to speak (e.g. dementia, Alzheimer's and stroke) require assistive technologies such as augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) systems, to communicate daily with their caregivers, and participate in community activities. Communication partners in a patient’s circle of care (caregivers, guardians and support workers, etc.) require training and instruction on how to effectively use the Linggo AAC system, to support the individual with limited speech in their daily life. Linggo is a Toronto-based company that developed a novel AAC system to assist individuals with complex communication needs. The company has partnered with Bethany Kopel, Professor, and her team of Research Assistants from Seneca’s Behavioural Sciences diploma program, to develop and assess video training content for Linggo AAC. The goal is to demonstrate that the provision of video-based training to communication partners (primary caregivers/individuals in the circle-of-care) will significantly improve the functional communication of non-verbal individuals. The project also anticipates that social engagement and overall well-being of users will also be significantly improved, and reduce challenging behaviour in the inter-personal and/or interprofessional relationships in the circle of care due to the developing presence of functional communication through the use of the Linggo AAC system. |
| Elevating the Voices of Children and Youth in Care | Seneca Applied Research Fund (ARF) | 2019 | A research team from Seneca’s School of Community Services, Child & Youth Care advanced diploma program worked in collaboration with Jen’s Place, a residential program in Alliston, Ont. Jen’s Place provides quality care in a nurturing therapeutic environment for female youth ages 11 to 18. This project was a descriptive study and document analysis designed to assess how well the voices of young people in care are heard in the planning, implementation and ongoing service delivery of their care plan as outlined by the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services. This project surveyed young people in care, frontline workers and managers/operators at a variety of residential care programs. The goal of the research is to improve the tools and processes in residential care to ensure that young people are aware of these tools and are given every opportunity to utilize these tools in order to maximize their voice. |
| The Development, Implementation and Evaluation of an Online Gambling Self-Help Tutorial with Ontario Postsecondary Students | Seneca Applied Research Fund (ARF) | 2019 | Ontario is undergoing a major expansion of gambling and gaming opportunities in casinos and online. Young adults in the postsecondary environment are at higher risk of becoming involved with gambling due to social influences that entice young people to play. Health concerns associated with excessive gambling include debt, disruptions in psychosocial functioning, depression and suicide. Seneca in collaboration with the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) are designing, implementing and evaluating a self-help tutorial for postsecondary students to teach students about the fallacies of gambling. |
| Best Practice Guidelines for Pet Loss Support | Seneca Applied Research Fund (ARF) | 2019 | VCA Animal Hospital originated from a small group of hospitals in Calgary back in 1981. Since, VCA has grown and developed into Canada's largest network of animal hospitals. VCA serves pet parents across British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario and Quebec. Their hospitals are committed to caring for our life's greatest animal companions. VCA understands that the staff working in the animal care industry do not receive formalized training on supporting clients and themselves in the context of pet loss. Clients, however, expect that their loss will be understood, and care will be provided accordingly. As a focused measure, VCA is collaborating with Seneca to develop Best Practice Guidelines that will address both inter-related issues discussed above. When staff are equipped, they are more likely to provide clients with meaningful care thus ensure everyone’s needs are being met. The major outcome of this project will a Pet Loss Best Practice Guidelines report, which will become the basis of an end-of-project training with VCA staff. The project is led by Seneca Professor Angie Arora of the Social Service Worker – Immigrants and Refugees diploma program and Professor Kirsti Clarida, Co-ordinator from Seneca’s Veterinary Technician diploma program. The Guidelines will be presented to industry stakeholders and then applied to case studies in order to improve the capacity of VCA staff to adequately care for the emotional needs of their clients while still working within their professional roles. The research will employ two Research Assistants from Seneca’s Veterinary Technician diploma program and will consist of an online survey that will be created through a platform licensed by Seneca and supported by Seneca’s Centre for Institutional Data and Enterprise Analytics (C-IDEA). The data from this survey will be analyzed and then inform the development of the best practice guidelines with input and collaboration from experts. The value realized through this project will be practical resiliency skills acquisition, which are considered to be a key support in caregiver compassion fatigue. The more equipped staff feel in responding to clients in grief, the less likely they are to experience burnout. When staff are equipped, they are more likely to provide clients with meaningful care thus ensuring everyone’s needs, and their own, are being met. |
| WeShare Housing Preliminary Research Project | Seneca Applied Research Fund (ARF) | 2018 | Neighbourlink North York was founded in 1994 in the Willowdale area of Toronto, to serve its residents. The primary motivation was the concern about the growing numbers of people, especially seniors, who were living in isolation and poverty. The NLNY mandate is to foster a support network that helps to build stronger communities and enrich the quality of life of its constituents. In order to achieve these goals, NeighbourLink North York offers many free, short-term, non-emergency services such as: at-home services, transportation, food security support, professional services and many more. One of the recent Neighbourlink initiatives is the WeShare Housing concept. WeShare Housing is a way to help home-owning seniors live in their homes longer by renting space to a single parent family for a reduced rate, in exchange for assistance with chores and companionship. The initiative seeks to bring seniors who need support to continue living in their homes, together with sole support mothers, who need an affordable place to live to provide companionship and practical support that is mutually beneficial. NeighbourLink is partnering with Professor Jane Haddad from Seneca’s Leadership and Human Resources program, to conduct a preliminary research into the feasibility and success factors of the WeShare Housing idea. The findings will be used to plan and execute the pilot project. |
| Mobile app for Lingo Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) system | Centre for Aging + Brain Health Innovation (CABHI) – Spark Program | 2018 | Individuals with severe speech-language impairments due to: autism, global developmental delays, Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) or other neurodegenerative conditions, often need an Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) system to compensate for their challenges with communication. GTA-based Lingo Inc. has developed an AAC system designed to help non-verbal individuals communicate with others throughout their daily lives using a picture/written software system. The company has partnered with Professor Peter McIntyre from Seneca’s School of Information and Communication Technology, to develop a mobile app that will allow for quick word retrieval, ease of learning and progress tracking within the individual's circle of care. Once the app is developed it will be used for clinical testing of the AAC in which the Lingo team will collect data to demonstrate the clinical utility of the product. |
| Project Name | Funder | Award Year | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| Real Time Control and Alarm System of PEM Fuel Cell | Seneca Social Innovation Research Fund (SIRF) | 2023 | Rechargeable battery manufacturer eV Fern Ltd., which is based in Oshawa about 60 kilometers east of Toronto, wants to develop initiatives to save electricity and reduce greenhouse gas emissions with renewable solar and wind energy. The company is interested in exploring Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells (PEMFC), which use hydrogen fuel and oxygen from the air to produce electricity. However, the use of PEMs has been problematic due to proton dryness and a depletion of the catalyst layer, the electrochemical part of the structure. They have partnered with Muthanna Al-Khishali, Professor, School of Software Design and Data Science to address the challenges in developing clean and efficient power. The research team for this Seneca Social Innovation Research Fund project will design a simulator system to bypass the obstacles. |
| Data Analysis and Algorithm Development to Optimize Energy Storage Installation Size | Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) – College and Community Innovation Program – Engage Grants for colleges | 2020 | TROES Corp. (TROES) is a company based in Markham, Ont. that designs, manufactures and sells battery energy storage systems. The design of custom systems is a complex multi-variable process that combines historical data with electricity pricing, weather and location limitations, and client payback period calculations. The latter is currently a bottleneck in the industry, as creating an optimal design is important to proper system functioning and efficiency of the payback period for the client. TROES will collaborate with Seneca's School of Environmental & Civil Engineering Technology to enable the development of a fast and accurate software solution to support energy storage system design. Specifically, a partially automated design will enable TROES and the industry to increase the throughput of system design to assist project engineers in providing customized, appropriate battery energy storage systems for their situations. This will help to grow the sector to meet the rising demand and meet the challenge of energy security. |
| Development of a pH adjustment system for monitoring genotoxic and contaminates of concern in drinking waters and wastewaters | Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) – College and Community Innovation Program – Engage Plus Grants for colleges and Ontario Centre of Innovation (OCI) – Voucher for Innovation and Productivity (VIP) | 2020 | Environmental Bio-Detection Products Inc. (EBPI) is a Mississauga-based biotechnology company specializing in the development and manufacture of biological testing kits for a variety of cellular metabolism byproducts in environmental samples. Seneca collaborated with EBPI on a NSERC Engage for Colleges grant, completed in January 2020. As a follow on to the existing prototype, EBPI is continuing the collaboration with Seneca and Professor Kyle Valdock from Seneca’s School of Electronics & Mechanical Engineering Technology to optimize the design of the prototype unit developed in the Engage for Colleges project. This project aims to adjust the existing pumps, PLC coding as well as address potential concerns for leakage of water flowing through the system. In addition, EBPI would like to investigate alternatives to the existing filter for the system. The present system provides a flow rate of 20ml to 50ml/min to a 47mm SPE filter. It would be far more advantageous and cost effective for EBPI to develop a reusable or a disposable holder for the smaller (5.5, 7, 10 mm) SPE filters. In order to do this, a new filter housing will be developed and the flow range of the unit may need to be widened. |
| Development of a small-sized commercial-grade automated vegetable slicer for low-footprint kitchens | Ontario Centre of Innovation (OCI) – College Voucher for Technology Adoption (CVTA) | 2020 | Restaurants are a type of business that survive on narrow margins, and any space saved in the kitchen can translate into reduced rental costs, additional seating space or space to increase volume-output of high-margin menu items. Sigma Six Contracting partnered with Seneca’s School of Electronics & Mechanical Engineering Technology to develop a solution for a small-footprint, automated fresh vegetable preparation device, which can maintain the high quality of freshly chopped vegetables needed for fresh sandwiches, salads or other raw-vegetable dishes while saving small restaurants on square footage. The Seneca team used their skills in electromechanical systems, advanced food technology regulations, and mechanical design, to create a validated, comprehensive 3D design of the prototype device. Sigma Six is currently working with a dedicated team to build the prototype and bring this product to market in Ontario; and hopes that this will be the first in a wide range of small-footprint commercial kitchen automation machines to meet a market niche of food preparation machines that produce fresh, ready-to-eat food for commercial-grade purposes. |
| Development of a modular, universal retrofit system for autonomous control of robotic wet/dry cleaners | Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) – College and Community Innovation Program – Engage Grants for colleges and Ontario Centre of Innovation (OCI) – College Voucher for Technology Adoption (CVTA) | 2019 | Cyberworks Robotics (Cyberworks) is a leader in a new wave of innovations in autonomous navigation. They are leaders in developing low-cost add-on autonomous navigation system kits for wet and dry industrial floor cleaners in use today. Through this collaboration with the School of Electronics & Mechanical Engineering Technology at Seneca, Cyberworks is understanding the design parameters most important to the hardware in their autonomous navigation system kits and are designing a modular and flexible kit design compatible with multiple other floor cleaning models. With a generous donation of a Tennant T7 floor-cleaning machine provided by Seneca Facilities for the project, the Seneca team created a new, functional design capable of being modularly implemented on the T7 and other units. This design was also prototyped and installed on the T7 by the Seneca team. Cyberworks is currently in the process of testing and modifying this prototype with the aim to launch a number of new retrofit offerings to expand their customer base. The Principal Investigator on this project is Ali Taha and Alex Sochaniwskyj is Co-Investigator. |
| Heat Pump and Photovoltaic Panels life cycle effect on Energy Models | Seneca Applied Research Fund (ARF) | 2019 | The International Energy Research Centre (IERC) is a non-profit, industry-led collaborative research center in the field of integrated sustainable energy systems. IERC is jointly funded by the Irish government and industry members. The IERC delivers world leading collaborative research to meet global societal needs for secure, affordable and sustainable energy services. It enables partners to develop new products and services that will ensure real energy demand reductions across society. There is often a mismatch between sustainable energy systems design intent and the actual performance of buildings services and equipment. This performance gap can occur both in service delivery, i.e. failure to maintain design conditions, and in energy consumption or provision. This has always been an issue in the efficient operation of buildings, but is even more pronounced in high performance, next generation buildings with photovoltaics and heat pump systems. Present models and data sets extract operational characteristics from limited input information. IERC is collaborating with Seneca’s School of Electronics & Mechanical Engineering Technology to assess and present energy modeling software to identify the sources of mismatch between the design intent and actual building performance. Armed with that information, it will enable partners such as building managers and designers to build more reliable energy models that can ensure real energy savings. In this project, Seneca will assess the reliability of energy models and identify discrepancies. With this new information, new dynamic models can be developed in a cost-effective way, and provide a reporting methodology that is rigorous and able to be interpreted to support business and operational improvements. The Principal Investigator on this project is Filimon Tsionas and Kyle Valdock is Co-Investigator. |
| Development of a Turn-Key Solution Monitoring of Drinking Waters for Genotoxicity (Genetic Toxicity) | Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) – College and Community Innovation Program – Engage Grants for colleges | 2019 | EBPI is a world leader in the development and application of bacterial based assays for the detection of toxicity, genotoxicity and mutagenicity (Biotoxicity.com) based out of Burlington Ontario. EBPI’s bacterial based genetic toxicity assays have been used to identify environmental concerns from the bottom of our oceans (Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill), land (soil and water studies), air (air particulate studies) and into outer space (mutagenicity testing on the International Space Station). EBPI kits and services are designed to measure “mixture effects” on biological response systems which current analytical techniques are unable to measure. EBPI currently sells their products and services globally to academic institutions, government regulators and private industry. The objective of this collaboration with Seneca is to design, build and test a functional prototype of a "turn-key" system to adjust pH prior to sample loading onto SPE filter systems allowing researchers and regulators a turn-key solution for measuring genetic toxicity effects of both drinking waters and waste-waters. Professor Kyle Valdock will lead the project, supported by a student Research Assistant (RA) from Seneca's School of Electronics and Mechanical Engineering Technology (SEMET). The RA will apply theoretical knowledge and skills, while developing hands on experience in the development and optimization of process control for water treatment. A complete system for high-flow water testing will allow for a better picture of complete water samples as the system will allow collection over a period of time (up to 48 hours) versus current "grab sample" techniques, which only provide a snapshot. If successful, the system resulting from this research project will allow municipalities an easy to implement solution to monitoring drinking water and will help to assist in EBPI’s Canadian exports help support Canada's reputation in the drinking water technology field and provide jobs in southern Ontario to manufacture systems and analyze concentrated drinking waters. |
| Eco-Friendly, Automatic Equine Water Trough System | Seneca Applied Research Fund (ARF) | 2018 | Lenka Equestrian Centre (LEC) is a premier equestrian facility located in Campbellville, Ontario. LEC offers horseback riding lessons, coaching, boarding, training, and sales. A challenge faced by Lenka and other small-scale horse farms is that during the cold winters the drinking water provided to the horses in their troughs freezes quickly, preventing the animals from drinking. During some cold weather, the farm is required to replace the water in a large trough multiple times per day. Solutions such as floating heaters exist for preventing ice formation on the surface of the water, but these require electrical power available at the site of the water trough. Similar to other small-scale horse farms, LEC leases the land that the farm is located on, so providing plumbing or electricity at the paddock, which can often be hundreds of meters from the other buildings on the farm, is an unaffordable leasehold improvement. LEC is working in collaboration with Professor Agnieszka Stopka, part-time faculty at Seneca School of Electronics and Mechanical Engineering Technology (SEMET), to develop a working prototype of a standalone horse water trough that is powered by renewable energy and will prevent water from freezing in typical cold winter temperatures. This trough will utilize solar energy, insulation, and a circulation mechanism to ensure access to water year-round. While the farmers will still need to refill the trough, this prototype will remove the problem of water freezing, allowing the farm owners to operate their business and not focus on the delivery of water during the coldest weather. The design resulting from this project will be applicable not just to the many small-scale horse farms across Canada, but also to any similar-sized farms raising other animals as well. |
| Project Name | Funder | Award Year | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| Investigating the Effects of Fungal Extracts on a Brain-in-a-Dish Model of Depression | NSERC-SCILS |
2023 | Retagen Inc., a Toronto-based life sciences company, is collaborating with Seneca Innovation and the Seneca Centre for Innovation in Life Sciences (SCILS) to conduct research to test certain fungal extracts on brain-in-a-dish models developed by the company. Dr. Frank Merante, Professor, School of Biological Sciences and Applied Chemistry, and a team of student researchers will work with the company to develop and validate experimental methods, which simulate depression in a model and can be used to reliably test substances. The aim of the study is to confirm the strength of Retagen’s technology in creating custom tissue culture assays that can be used broadly and for neurobiology or neurological conditions and testing. Retagen’s technology and the resulting data could reduce the cost and time to market impactful treatments by accelerating early drug discovery and development processes. In addition, the company’s use of flexible, cell-type agnostic and scalable non-animal models have the potential to improve people’s lives and reduce animal cruelty. Equity-deserving and vulnerable populations, as well as the broader society stand to benefit from the project, which is advancing potential treatments for depression. |
| Second Harvest – Natural Cosmetics | NSERC-SCILS | 2023 | Colour Lounge Inc. specializes in developing clean and sustainable skincare products made from plant-based ingredients sourced in Canada. The company based in Kingsville, about 360 kilometres southwest of Toronto, is partnering with Sonal Kamath, Professor, School of Biological Sciences & Applied Chemistry, and a team of student researchers to develop a toner, a moisturizer, and a cleanser as part of a new cosmetic line dubbed Harvest Moon. The Colour Lounge Harvest Moon line could be used as a focal point to enable conversations around initiating circular economy processes and the economic feasibility of agriculture waste reuse in southern Ontario. |
| Facial Cosmetic Development | Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) – College and Community Innovation Program – Innovation Enhancement (IE) grants SCILS | 2023 | Cela by Celine Tadrissi is a line of Canadian-made beauty and wellness products. Cela partnered with Seneca Polytechnic Professor Sonal Kamath, School of Biological Sciences and Applied Chemistry, to develop new formulations for facial cosmetics with Canadian ingredients. The result should lead to new cosmetic supply chains and increased visibility for Canadian-made skin-care products. |
| Analysis of rheological parameters affecting long-term stability of product formulations | Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) – College and Community Innovation Program – Innovation Enhancement (IE) grants | 2023 | Vive Crop Protection is a Toronto-based chemical manufacturing company aimed at developing products and technologies to increase greater return-on-investment, efficiency and stability for farmers and growers. Vive Crop Protection will be partnering with Dr. Barkev Keoshkerian, Professor, School of Biological Sciences & Applied Chemistry, to explore factors that may be contributing to instability in the company’s agricultural formulations (e.g., insecticides, herbicides, fertilizers, etc.). Ideally, results from this project will identify specific physical-chemical parameters (i.e., rheology, particle size, etc.) that define certain limits that should be maintained to inform product formulation processes. |
| Protein Sample Preparation for Cryo-EM | Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) – College and Community Innovation Program – Innovation Enhancement (IE) grants | 2023 | Neoglacia Inc. creates a platform for preparing protein samples for cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM), which provides extremely high-resolution images. The Markham-based startup builds automated workflows to quickly get proteins ready for cryo-EM. The company is collaborating with Seneca’s Centre for Innovation in Life Sciences (SCILS) to create samples of specific proteins for use in the development and benchmarking of their technology. Frank Merante, Principal Scientist, SCILS, and Professor, School of Biological Sciences & Applied Chemistry, will lead a team of research assistants in purification and preparation experiments of proteins that present challenges for cryo-EM |
| Production of Nutraceutical in Yeast | Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) – College and Community Innovation Program – Innovation Enhancement (IE) grants | 2022 | Wellesley Therapeutics seeks to maximize the utility of well-known medicinal substances through the development of innovative products. The Toronto-based pharmaceutical company is partnering with Dr. Frank Merante, Professor, School of Biological Sciences & Applied Chemistry, and a team of student researchers to explore methods of producing and optimizing the production of nutraceutical in genetically engineered yeast. Nutraceutical is known to repair joints, relieve inflammation and improve longevity; as such, the goal of the project is to engineer yeast to determine if an easily produced, non-animal source of nutraceutical is feasible. |
| Evaluating the Efficacy of IMED I-LID ’N LASH® HOCl Cleansing Spray | Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) – College and Community Innovation Program – Innovation Enhancement (IE) grants | 2022 | I-MED Pharma specializes in dry eye diagnosis and management. The Montreal-based company is collaborating with Dr. Frank Merante, Professor, School of Biological Sciences & Applied Chemistry, and a team of student researchers to evaluate and demonstrate the efficacy of a spray made with hypochlorous acid, a cleansing solution, to relieve dry eye symptoms. |
| Extraction of Oil from Sea Buckthorn Berries | Mitacs - Business Strategy Internship | 2022 | Baylis Farms (Baylis), located in Smiths Falls, Ont. has successfully planted 3,000 to 4,000 sea buckthorn shrubs on nine acres. Seeking recognition as a certified organic raw material supplier of sea buckthorn oil, Baylis has contacted Seneca’s School of Biological Science and Applied Chemistry to investigate and optimize their existing pulping process to develop a cost-effective process for the extraction of oil from the berry juice. This valuable natural ingredient has strong market demand in the cosmetic industry. Loaded with antioxidants, the oil from the berry is an appealing ingredient for anti-aging and anti-wrinkle products. The project will consist of two primary objectives. First, it will seek to improve the pulping process to obtain a cost-effective, high throughput process; secondly, it will seek to investigate alternative oil extraction processes. The method used for the execution of the project will be a combination of specific types of known and/or newly investigated technologies. The expected project deliverables are two new processes for Baylis Farms. These combined processes will support Baylis in converting their primary harvesting business to include distribution of the berry oil to raw material suppliers in the cosmetic industry as well as other distributors working with naturopathic product manufacturers. |
| Practitioner Network and Nutraceutical Manufacturing Optimization | Mitacs Business Strategy Internship | 2022 | Bird&Be is a fertility startup that is committed to helping families experiencing fertility issues navigate the journey to parenthood using products backed by science. Their nutraceutical products were formulated by fertility naturopaths and are specifically designed for people at the preconception stage (as well as the pregnancy and postpartum stages) to give them optimal doses of essential nutrients and antioxidants to support fertility. Bird&Be is partnering with Seneca to expedite product launch and manufacturing scale-up. The intern on this project will research vendors, secure ingredients for a solid supply chain, ensure proper planning for the orders, report packaging and regulatory needs, outline claims for website and submit for certifications to support marketing where possible. The Bird&Be products researched here will provide fast and accessible fertility care for Canadians. |
| Seneca Centre for Innovation in Life Sciences (SCILS) | Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) – College and Community Innovation Program – Build Innovation Enhancement | 2022 | The Seneca Centre for Innovation in Life Sciences (SCILS) seeks to enable industry-academic partnerships to further develop, enhance and validate life sciences technologies and products in the areas of diagnostics and cosmetics for small to medium enterprises (SMEs) in Ontario. As an integral component of the life sciences innovation ecosystem, through partnerships with regional innovation centres, incubators, and industry associations, SCILS will connect SMEs with Seneca faculty and students to collaborate on applied research projects. Further, SCILS will strengthen regional networks of life sciences organizations by hosting or co-hosting networking meetings, industry round-tables and workshops and disseminating research findings at seminars and conferences. Funding for SCILS through the NSERC CCI-IE program will help Seneca build the sustainable capacity that is necessary to meet the growing regional demand for applied research in the life sciences field. It will allow Seneca to commit the funding required to hire new research faculty and increase the number of existing faculty engaging in applied research and it will propel Seneca to dedicate more space specifically for life sciences and applied research activities. SCILS serves one of Seneca's key research priority areas and addresses several of Seneca's strategic goals, including the provision of experiential learning opportunities for students to develop high-demand skills, knowledge and experience and transition seamlessly into the workforce. Ultimately, through its focus on life sciences talent and investment in research and development, SCILS will play a significant role in the growth of the life sciences sector in Ontario, enabling early-stage diagnostics and cosmetics companies to reach commercialization and scale their businesses. |
| Citrus Crop Impacting Agents – Rapid Point of Source Isothermal Molecular Detection Strategies by Isothermal Loop-Mediated Amplification | Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) – College and Community Innovation Program – Innovation Enhancement (IE) grants | 2022 | The U.S. citrus industry loses about $1 billion annually due to Candidatus liberibacter asiaticus, also known as Huanglongbing (HLB). It can ruin crop yields and hurt up to 5,000 industry-associated jobs every growing season. In addition, these pathogens are capable of spreading to other citrus crops, making it an emerging global problem. This project will develop rapid, crop-side, point-of-source detection tests for citrus crop pathogens, in order to minimize damage, reduce costs and enable control measures. It aims to develop a panel of point-of-source, Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification (LAMP) detection tests for the most damaging bacterial and fungal agents that affect the U.S. citrus crop industry. There is rapid growth in this market. |
| Companion planting in vertical farming: Optimizing nutrition and growth in non-ideal growth conditions | Mitacs Accelerate and Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) – College and Community Innovation program – Applied Research and Development 2 (ARD2) grants | 2022 | Just Vertical builds, sells and supports indoor garden and farming modules. Indoor vertical farming is becoming more popular but is currently limited by the varieties that can be grown and the nutritional density of those crops. Building on the first research project “Improving Harvestable Yields and Antioxidant, Vitamin and Mineral Contents in Hydroponically Grown Basil and Mint using Indoor Vertical Gardens” between Just Vertical and Seneca in 2020, this project will produce recipes to effectively grow a variety of nutritious, high-yielding crops in a hydroponic gardening unit called the AEVA. The Seneca research team will develop methods for crop nutrient analysis, perform chemical analyses and make recommendations to Just Vertical. The project will also evaluate how common growing mistakes can affect flavour, nutrition and crop yield. The information will be used to create proprietary growth recipes, which will give Just Vertical a competitive edge to attract new customers and market share. |
| igY Antibody Fractionation and Enrichment from Ostrich Egg Yolk for Cosmeceutical and Immunodiagnostic Applications | Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) – College and Community Innovation Program – Innovation Enhancement (IE) grants | 2021 | This project will explore whether a protein found egg yolk can be used for pharmaceutical cosmetic products. Bryan Chalk and frank Merante will work with Ostrich Land to research the immunoglobulin Y antibody. They will do a pilot test to see if the proteins can be extracted and enriched to develop products. If successful, scale-up procedures will be developed in the future to meet industry needs. |
| Ideal growth conditions for optimal nutrient content and yield in companion crops grown in vertical farming | Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) – College and Community Innovation Program – Innovation Enhancement (IE) grants | 2021 | Just Vertical Incorporated is an indoor, vertical farming company located in Toronto that builds, sells and supports indoor growing gardens and farming modules. Just Vertical is continually investigating ways to assist their customers to increase yield, water efficiency and nutrient content of their grown crops. Indoor vertical farming is becoming more popular but is currently limited by the inability to grow a variety of nutritionally dense crops, which are staples to a healthy diet. Building on the first collaborative research project between Just Vertical and Seneca in 2020, the company is collaborating again with Seneca's School of Biological Sciences & Applied Chemistry to enable growers to effectively produce nutritious, high-yielding crops under conditions optimized to grow of a variety of crops at the same time. The Seneca research team of Principal Investigators and Research Assistants will develop methods for crop nutrient analysis, perform chemical analyses and data collection and make recommendations to Just Vertical on optimizing food growth and nutrition. The project aims to develop recipes for optimal crop growth and yield, while trying to understand how common growing mistakes can affect output, with these results empowering Just Vertical customers to grow healthy food for their families. The proprietary and customized recipes developed in this project will give Just Vertical an edge over their competitors, leading to an increase in customers and market share. |
| Quality management system for medical device | Mitacs Business Strategy Internship | 2021 | According to the World Health Organization, one in six people worldwide have had a stroke. Two out of three survive, but up to 85 per cent suffer from paralysis and only five per cent fully recover. This is one of the reasons why the global rehabilitation equipment market is projected to reach $16.6 billion USD by 2025, as published in Markets and Markets, Rehabilitation Equipment Market – Global Forecast to 2025 (2020). However, in this huge market, there are almost no tools to help in case of large paralysis. VIBRAINT Inc., an Ontario corporation, is developing a rehabilitation robotics device named VIBRAINT RehUp, incorporating a brain-computer interface (BCI) and purposed to help people living with this paralysis in regaining motion. BCI helps the largely paralyzed and also provides opportunities for personalization, including at-home rehabilitation starting from the second to third day after a stroke, when it is the most effective. VIBRAINT RehUp was successfully clinically piloted and is now being prepared for industrial manufacturing. Through this Mitacs Business Strategy Internship funding, VIBRAINT, with Shaw Quality, the consultant firm that VIBRAINT has hired to help with developing the Quality Management System (QMS), will work with Seneca's School of Biological Sciences & Applied Chemistry. Two students from the Pharmaceutical Regulatory Affairs & Quality Operations graduate certificate program, under the supervision of Greg Staios, a professor in the school, will work on developing QMS documents describing design, manufacturing and handling processes and risks from templates pre-developed by Shaw Quality, in co-ordination with VIBRAINT professionals. |
| Ostrich oil infused eczema cream | Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) – College and Community Innovation Program – Innovation Enhancement (IE) grants | 2021 | Ostrich Land, a family owned and operated farm located in Niagara Region, is dedicated to providing education and healthy products. Through its Power of Ostrich arm, Yelena Anikeyeva, Founder and CEO, has reached out to Seneca’s School of Biological Sciences & Applied Chemistry, specifically our Cosmetic Science graduate certificate program, to collaborate in the design and formulation of an eczema cream in which one of the core actives is ostrich yolk and/or oil. Ostriches, having the most powerful immune system of any land animal, makes its oil the perfect product for aching joints, tattoo care, age control oil and stretch marks. Ostrich oil also has a smaller molecular makeup than emu oil making it transdermal. Sonal Kamath, Professor, School of Biological Sciences & Applied Chemistry, will lead the project, providing guidance and support to a Cosmetic Science work-integrated learning student working full time as a research assistant for the project. The resulting prototype cream from this project will be a critical addition, to what hopes to be, a line of natural cosmetics ostrich oil and yolk focused products for Ostrich Land (Power of Ostrich). |
| Investigation and development of a Canadian, Indigenous and bio-based formulated cosmetic mist face primer | Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) – College and Community Innovation Program – Engage Grants for colleges | 2021 | Cheekbone Beauty Cosmetics Inc. (Cheekbone) is an Indigenous-owned and founded, digitally native, Canadian cosmetics company established in 2016. Based in St. Catharines, Ont., Cheekbone is known for creating high-quality, cruelty-free colour cosmetics such as liquid lipsticks and complexion products. Cheekbone will collaborate with Seneca's School of Biological Sciences & Applied Chemistry, specifically faculty and students in the Cosmetic Science graduate certificate program, to develop a mist formulation for a face primer, which will be optimized for manufacturing scale-up and commercialized by Cheekbone. The team will source recyclable atomizer packaging. The primer mist will contain Canadian-sourced, bio-based raw materials used in traditional, Indigenous medicine. The results of this project will enable Cheekbone to expand their product line, adapt to industry trends and meet customer needs for eco-friendly, "mindful" beauty products. Cheekbone will continue to manufacture their products in Canada, and this project has the potential to showcase Canadian-sourced cosmetic ingredients to a global market. |
| Canadian Skincare Development | Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) – College and Community Innovation Program – Innovation Enhancement (IE) grants – Seneca Centre for Innovation in Life Sciences (SCILS) | 2021 | Hammam Spa by Céla (Céla), with locations in Toronto and North York, was founded by Celine Tadrissi in 2004. It has grown to become the largest independently run spa in Canada, winning numerous national and international awards. In 2018, Céla established their house-brand product line, inspired by quality natural ingredients found in Canada. Today, Céla is proudly the first Canadian luxury clean skincare line and is carried in retailers globally. However, seeking Canadian-made materials and mitigating supply chain issues remains a challenge for Céla. In Canada, most raw material supplies for skincare products are imported, and formulation and manufacturing activities are generally outsourced. As a result, Céla is limited in the variety of skincare products it can make, while meeting customer demands for an end-to-end Canadian supply chain. Therefore, Céla is collaborating with Seneca’s School of Biological Sciences & Applied Chemistry (BSAC) to evaluate new Canadian-made raw materials and prepare formulations with beneficial anti-aging and antioxidant properties, for use in the company’s branded skincare products. In the course of the proposed project, under the leadership of Sonal Kamath, a professor in the school, a student Research Assistant from BSAC’s Cosmetic Science graduate certificate program will carry out the raw materials review, sourcing and formulation development. Working with Seneca’s research team, Céla will be able to develop effective new products that meet consumer demands for Canadian-made, sustainable materials, while remaining cost effective, resulting in viable margins for production and manufacturing. |
| Multiplexed Lateral Flow Device Development for Point-of-Use Food Safety and WaterQuality Assessment | Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) – College and Community Innovation Program – Innovation Enhancement (IE) grants – Seneca Centre for Innovation in Life Sciences (SCILS) | 2021 | Immunodiagnostic based lateral flow (LAF) devices are rapidly gaining acceptance for point-of-use applications, best exemplified by the current need to test for SARS-COV2 at various centres including airports, senior residences and work environments. LAF enables rapid qualitative assessments for the presence of immunoreactive material and can be completed in as little as 10 minutes without the need for extensive instrumentation or expertise. Excellent examples of readily implementable, direct to consumer LAF devices include pregnancy, ovulation and HIV test kits available over the counter at many pharmacies. If a more quantitative assessment is necessary, the same device can be used in conjunction with a suitable reader to permit quantitative outputs. The aim of the current collaboration with Selene Biosystems will be to develop multiplexed, qualitative and quantitative, immunodiagnostic tests based on a LAF format for the testing of common food-borne, waterborne and environmental pathogens. Integral to this is the development of a suitable hand-held device that can permit the concentration and delivery of the sample to the LAF device in a simple and instrumentation free manner suitable for point-of-use testing. The Principal Investigators for the project are both professors in Seneca’s School of Biological Sciences & Applied Chemistry, Dr. Frank Merante and Bryan Chalk. |
Rapid biochemical testing of companion animal urine metabolic markers |
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) – College and Community Innovation Program – Innovation Enhancement (IE) grants – Seneca Centre for Innovation in Life Sciences (SCILS) |
2021 | Evik Diagnostics, an Ottawa-based International Organization for Standardization (ISO) certified company, custom formulates and manufactures lyophilized/freeze-dried reagents for Canadian and U.S. companies. Even though the company offers unprecedented expertise for the development, optimization and validation of Single-Assay lyophilized beads, they are interested in expanding product offerings to testing assays in the area of veterinary practice. The main goal of this collaborative project with Seneca is to develop complement assays for existing tests in development already at Evik Diagnostics. Led by Dr. Paul O’Brien and Dr. Frank Merante, both professors in Seneca’s School of Biological Sciences & Applied Chemistry, Seneca’s team will work to develop assays for detection of leucocytes, ketones and hemoglobin/blood/red blood cells in dog urine as well as test the existing protein, glucose and pH assays currently in development at Evik Diagnostics. Moreover, this is an interdisciplinary project that involves the expertise from Seneca’s Veterinary Technician diploma program, including Kirsti Clarida, Program Co-ordinator, Dr. Stephanie Black, Professor and Veterinarian, and a student Research Assistant from the program, to test the developed assays and ensure validated results. Evik Diagnostics will benefit from the Seneca collaboration through the development and expansion of their suite of shelf-stabilized veterinary diagnostic products. |
The Evaluation of Recombinant Proteins and Derivatives Thereof in Pichia |
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) – College and Community Innovation Program – Innovation Enhancement (IE) grants – Seneca Centre for Innovation in Life Sciences (SCILS) |
2021 | Kenota Health (Kitchener, Ont.) has developed a complete sample-to-result antibody/allergy testing system for point-of-care medical diagnostics. Kenota’s technology fully integrates blood collection, purification and quantitative analyte analysis with an intuitive easy-to-use interface. Currently, 2.5 million Canadians suffer from allergies each year, causing rapid and reliable testing to be in demand. Accurate and minimally invasive tests also improve patient and physician experience. Kenota is looking to collaborate with Seneca’s School of Biological Sciences & Applied Chemistry, led by Dr. Frank Merante, a professor in the school, to express recombinant proteins in yeast. The proposed research work will facilitate the production of cost-effective allergy tests and assist Kenota with the launch its new point-of-care system. It is compact, provides better diagnostic information for the physician and requires only one visit by the patient. |
Investigation of alternate acrylic monomers |
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) – College and Community Innovation Program – Innovation Enhancement (IE) grants – Seneca Centre for Innovation in Life Sciences (SCILS) |
2021 | Jessica Nails and Beauty Supplies (JNBS), located in Toronto, is one of Canada’s largest suppliers of nail and beauty products, serving nail salons, beauty parlours, and independent nail and beauty technicians. The pandemic has created a major shift in the JNBS customer base, from approximately 85 per cent business-to-business and 15 per cent business-to-consumer to now about 85 per cent B2C and 15 per cent B2B. Consumers are not trained professionals in the safe use of nail and beauty acrylic products. The shift in consumer utilization of these products, which are known to be potentially hazardous if misused over the near and long term, is a significant concern for ongoing consumer in-home use. The average consumer does not have the training or capacity to handle and store these acrylic products safely. Since there are known evidence-based health and wellness impacts associated with misuse and over-exposure to these products, creating a healthier and safer alternative for consumers can ensure a viable future for this dynamic market shift to consumer in-home use, as well as presenting a viable new business venture for JNBS. Principal Investigator, Barkev Keoshkerian, and Co-Investigator, Sharon Robertson, both professors in Seneca’s School of Biological Sciences & Applied Chemistry, will investigate safer alternatives to ethyl methacrylate (EMA) acrylic nail treatments, including alternative acrylic compounds, water dispersible polymers and film-forming biological polymers. Once a suitable alternate raw material has been identified, the Seneca team will formulate the acyclic polymer and test for performance. |
Improvement in chemistry and process optimization for polyester-based thermal insulation material |
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) – College and Community Innovation Program – Innovation Enhancement (IE) grants – Seneca Centre for Innovation in Life Sciences (SCILS) |
2021 | The mission of VivaVax, with its branding name in the materials sector as Spectral Materials, is to generate functional coatings through polymerization that allows for efficient thermal stability against heat shocks on a substrate such as a glass vial. Along with this primary goal, VivaVax also seeks to maintain properties such as high durability, longer shelf-life, non-toxic and overall environmentally conscious. One of the important applications of VivaVax’s thermal insulation material could be in extending vaccine lifetime during its transportation journey. VivaVax is collaborating with Seneca’s School of Biological Sciences & Applied Chemistry to formulate coatings for vials to increase the thermal properties and ensure stability of vaccines for storage and transportation especially for extensive non-refrigerated travel time. The goal is to create simple, self-organizing cross-linking networks that essentially become a clear thermal barrier coating with nano-sized polyester particles. Led by Dr. Hla Wynn, Dr. Frank Merante and Barkev Keoshkerian, all professors in the school, a team of research assistants will test the insulative effects of the thermal barrier on the glass vials. The successful development of a thermal barrier will be beneficial for next generation coatings for COVID-19 vaccines, which is essentially a product to preserve medical content through thermal stability for storage and transportation. The current vial conditions for transporting COVID-19 vaccines are not thermally stable nor suitable for any sudden thermal shocks that may occur. |
Haircare Concentrate Conditioning Mask |
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) – College and Community Innovation Program – Innovation Enhancement (IE) grants – Seneca Centre for Innovation in Life Sciences (SCILS) |
2021 | Everist Inc. is a venture-backed beauty essentials startup whose core business activity consists of a line of zero-waste, clean beauty products. Their mission — to make eco easy for everyone. To start, they are developing a high-performance haircare line, which is plant-based and free-from petrochemicals, parabens, sulfates, phthalates, silicones, dyes, synthetic fragrances and preservatives, as well as no single-use plastic. They believe that sustainability is the future, and that the beauty industry needs significant innovation to both provide alternatives to single-use plastic and reduce the carbon and chemical preservative impact of manufacturing and distributing product lines made primarily of water. Everist will collaborate with Seneca’s School of Biological Sciences & Applied Chemistry, Cosmetic Science graduate certificate program to develop additional products within their patent-pending waterless haircare paste innovation. The project, led by Sharon Robertson, a professor in the school, will develop a conditioning hair mask(s) that is suitable for diverse hair types, as well as additional support data on their patent-pending waterless paste concept for hair and body. Ms. Robertson will guide three Research Assistants studying in Seneca’s Cosmetic Science program. The resulting conditioning hair mask formulation from this project will play a pivotal role in the company's growth. It will lay the groundwork for the company’s new product pipeline to serve people of all ethnic backgrounds and uncover the cleanest, ethically sourced ingredients to deliver high-performance results that people will use in their everyday lives. |
| Exploring the properties of natural compounds produced by marine and freshwater organisms for using it to develop new UV filters for use in cosmetic products | Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) – College and Community Innovation Program – Engage Grants for colleges and Ontario Centre of Innovation (OCI) – College Voucher for Technology Adoption (CVTA) | 2020 | Canadian owned, Acanthus Research Inc., founded in 2008, is an organic synthesis and analytical laboratory facility located in Mississauga, Ont., specializing in synthesis and sales of high-quality reference standards for pharmaceutical and related industries. Acanthus Research is developing new UV filters for use in cosmetic products. These nature-inspired UV-protective compounds may eventually replace currently used chemicals that pose serious safety concerns for human health and the environment. This project involves investigation of the toxicity of several derivatives of natural compounds produced by marine and freshwater organisms and their effectiveness in protecting against harmful UV radiation and free-radical mediated skin photo-ageing. Collaborating with Maryna Premyslova, Professor, Seneca’s School of Biological Sciences & Applied Chemistry, the study will provide scientific data, enabling Acanthus to make key decisions about their strategy for product formulation, development, and commercialization. The prevalence of skin cancer and the threat of photo-aging is driving growth in the global market for sun protection products, which is predicted to reach over $11.1 billion this year. It is generally accepted that growth in the coming years will be driven by the development of more effective sun care and anti-aging active ingredients. Toxicity and efficacy data, together with the results of in-house stability studies and formulation development will put Acanthus in an excellent position to seek additional grants or partners for commercialization. This will lead to local job creation and economic growth for the company. |
| Therapeutic efficacy of tryptamine analogues in a PC12 Cell as a model of depression via assessment of neurite outgrowth and enhanced cellular viability | Mitacs Accelerate | 2020 | There is a growing body of evidence that certain combinations of bioactives derived from natural source products may have potent effect on neuritogenesis and foster neuronal cell viability. The effect of neuron plasticity suggests there are potential treatments of major neurodegenerative and psychiatric conditions. In this project, we are proposing to use a robust in vitro cell model to test an array of bioactive compounds and combinations in collaboration with Seneca's School of Biological Sciences & Applied Chemistry to assess the impact of these combinations on neurogenesis, neuritogenesis and cell viability, among other measures proposed by the research team. We will determine which combinations provide the greatest effects in cell culture, which will guide Diamond Therapeutics in further studies for developing new therapeutics for potential treatments of these conditions. |
| Non-organic Solvent Method of Extracting N-Acetyl Glucosamine from a Fermentation Broth | Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) – College and Community Innovation Program – Engage Grants for colleges | 2020 | Wellesley Therapeutics Inc., is a Toronto-based pharmaceutical company, currently marketing two GlcNAc (GlcNAc) containing products under the trade name Ultimate Glucosamine® and Villicote®. Wellesley’s current purification process for GlcNAc requires the use of a multistep, organic solvent based, extraction and precipitation methodology. This method is costly, has negative effects on the environment and has safety concerns - expensive explosion proof processing is required. Wellesley is collaborating with Seneca’s School of Biological Sciences and Applied Chemistry (BSAC) to adopt a new green chemistry approach to product recovery and purification. This approach will incorporate the physical solubility properties of GlcNAc to eliminate the need for organic solvent associated precipitation. Wellesley is engaged in the clinical development of GlcNAc for multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy and Parkinson’s disease. Claims for the treatment of these indications will require Wellesley to file a new drug application, requiring a detailed description of physical and chemical manufacturing processes and controls for production. The experimental work carried out at Seneca will translate to inform a detailed description and rationale for the intended commercial production methods to meet the new drug application requirements. |
| Development of a hard surface anti-microbial film/coating | Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) – College and Community Innovation Program – Innovation Enhancement (IE) grants – Seneca Centre for Innovation in Life Sciences (SCILS) | 2020 | Giftgowns, a Toronto company, has collaborated on R&D projects with Seneca to formulate and develop an anti-bacterial prototype spray for porous surfaces, using the concept of encapsulation of essential oils in nanoparticles (EOiP). The proposed project under Seneca’s Centre for Innovation in Life Sciences (SCILS), will look to modify the existing spray formulation so that, once sprayed, a quick drying film or coating will be left behind for as an anti-bacterial hard surface application. The project will be led by Professor Barkev Keoshkerian and Professor David Zwick, in addition to two recent graduates from Seneca’s Biotechnology – Advanced diploma program. If the development of the hard surface anti-microbial film/coating is successful, this would provide broad-spectrum protection against microorganisms — not just through a barrier — but also through a long-acting viricidal and bactericidal effect. Once the spray is applied, the surface will be decontaminated and remain in a protected state for a prolonged period, even after repeated contacts with an undesirable agent, such as COVID-19. |
| Improving Harvestable Yields and Antioxidant, Vitamin and Mineral Contents in Hydroponically Grown Basil and Mint using Indoor Vertical Gardens | Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) – College and Community Innovation Program – Engage Grants for colleges | 2020 | Just Vertical is an indoor, vertical farming company, located in Toronto, that builds, sells and supports indoor growing gardens and farming modules. Just Vertical blends the plant science of indoor vertical hydroponic farming with the modern design elements of furniture. Their patented irrigation and growing systems are highly scalable and provide the opportunity to carefully manage growth parameters to produce specialty crops with higher yields, enhance nutrient content and higher levels of antioxidants. Just Vertical is collaborating with Seneca’s School of Biological Sciences & Applied Chemistry to develop a series of evidence-backed “lighting recipes” (indoor light intensity and frequency), which Just Vertical can provide directly to its customers to increase the yield and nutrient content of their food compared to crops grown under standard conditions. Just Vertical will implement the “lighting recipes” developed during this project rapidly; and can be provided to existing customers or used as a marketing tool to attract new customers including commercial indoor farmers. Just Vertical’s improvement of harvestable yields and nutrient content, will also provide a more valuable product to large grocery, distribution and institutional partners in Canada, opening a new market for Just Vertical nation-wide. The Principal Investigators on this project are Jamie Côté and George Clark. |
| Recombinant protein production in prokaryotic and eukaryotic heterologous hosts for serological assays for COVID-19 | Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) – College and Community Innovation Program – Applied Research Rapid Response to COVID-19 | 2020 | Kenota Health (Kitchener, Ont.) has developed a complete sample-to-result lateral flow immunoassay testing system for point-of-care medical diagnostics. Kenota’s technology fully integrates blood collection, purification and quantitative analyte analysis with an intuitive easy-to-use interface. To support the current COVID-19 outbreak, Kenota has designed IgG and IgM antibody tests that can determine an individual’s exposure to COVID-19 in 10 minutes. Kenota is collaborating with Seneca’s School of Biological Sciences & Applied Chemistry, led by Principal Investigator Dr. Frank Merante and Co-Investigator Byran Chalk, to develop the processes and procedures for efficacious COVID-19 recombinant protein production that can be brought in-house at Kenota. Currently, the externally produced protein has limited availability and long lead times. In order for the business to scale properly, while keeping testing costs low, providing a reliable, high quality and local supply of proteins is essential. The proposed project, engaging recent graduates from Seneca’s Biotechnology – Advanced diploma program, aims to lower the cost of testing and minimize the possibility of raw material shortages. Furthermore, the rapid result turnaround time of the existing Kenota test will provide some certainty for asymptomatic individuals working on the frontlines and help society and economies return to a functioning state with the least risk possible. |
| In Vitro Characterization and Testing of a New Antibiotic for the Treatment of Antibiotic Resistant Priority Pathogens | Ontario Centre of Innovation (OCI) – College Voucher for Technology Adoption (CVTA) | 2020 | Trueman Therapeutics Corporation is a pre-clinical stage pharmaceutical corporation researching, isolating and characterizing antibiotics for the treatment of antibiotic resistant Enterobacteriaceae infection. The World Health Organization, Centre for Disease Control and the Public Health Agency of Canada have indicated that there is an urgent need for the research and development of new antibiotics with an impact against specific priority pathogens. Trueman Therapeutics Corporation aims to serve this need by bringing to market a new potential broad-spectrum antibiotic with the ability to treat these priority pathogens. Trueman Therapeutics is collaborating with Seneca’s School of Biological Sciences & Applied Chemistry to identify, isolate and test the antibiotic performance of an antibiotic from a previously unstudied source. The researchers will use their expertise in biotechnology and biochemical methods to test and isolate the potential antibiotic compound, providing Trueman Therapeutics with enough information to move to the next stage of their company’s strategic roadmap in this area. The Principal Investigator on this project is Dr. Frank Merante. |
| Aerogel Thermal Barrier Structures via Micelle Templating | Ontario Centre of Innovation (OCI) – College Voucher for Technology Adoption (CVTA) | 2020 | Vivavax, is creating new technologies that protect sensitive medicines during transport, and formulations that enhance drug stability and subsequent point-of-use efficacy. The World Health Organization estimates that 50 per cent of vaccines are wasted globally, and up to 70 per cent in developing regions. Vivavax will collaborate with Seneca’s School of Biological Sciences & Applied Chemistry to explore using templating agents to create novel thermal materials and evaluate their behavior as potential thermal barriers in coatings for glass surfaces. This research could potentially improve VivaShield™ — Vivavax’s existing coating for glass surfaces which currently enhances the durability of glass vials and protects their drug contents from undesirable thermal conductance (heat) during transport and storage. In parallel to the investigation of new nano-sized coatings, the Seneca team will also investigate the use of microorganisms as potential metrics for the thermal barrier efficacy for both the existing Vivavax coatings and newly developed coating systems. These developments will be evaluated using custom designed bioassays to mimic both attenuated-type, as well as split-subunit-type vaccines. The project is led by Professor James Mayo, Professor Frank Merante and Professor Barkev Keoshkerian; and student Research Assistants (RAs) from Seneca’s Biotechnology – Advanced diploma program. On both the provincial level and globally, Vivavax expects to see and contribute to changes in the cold supply chain operations for heat-sensitive medicines such as vaccines and biologics. Over the long term, Vivavax innovations have the potential to significantly impact cost savings to health-care systems, reimbursement agencies, pharmaceutical companies, hospitals and patients/caregivers. |
| Nano-Particle based thermal barriers for the stabilization of proteinaceous and pharmaceutical containers | Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) – College and Community Innovation Program – Engage Grants for colleges | 2020 | VivaVax is creating new technologies that protect sensitive medicines during transport, and formulations that enhance drug delivery into the body. The World Health Organization estimates that 50 per cent of vaccines are wasted globally, and up to 70 per cent in developing regions. VivaVax is collaborate with Seneca’s School of Biological Sciences & Applied Chemistry to reduce vaccine wastage by creating next-generation thermal-barriers for vaccine containers through the development of a novel pore-generation technique within polymer films. The project is led by Professor James Mayo, Professor Frank Merante and Professor Barkev Keoshkerian and student Research Assistants (RAs) from Seneca’s Biotechnology – Advanced diploma program. Improvements developed during the course of the project will allow the company to add product lines within its current target market in 2020. Enhancing VivaVax’s technology will allow the company to develop two to three new product lines within two years of product development. |
| The development of an antimicrobial coating for fabric and surfaces | Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) – College and Community Innovation program – Applied Research and Development (ARD) grants | 2019 | Giftgowns, a Toronto-based company, manufactures and sells comfortable, stylized hospital gowns for consumers to bring with them to the hospital or give as a gift to friends or loved ones staying in the hospital. Giftgowns approached Seneca’s School of Biological Sciences & Applied Chemistry to help them solve the challenge of providing anti-bacterial properties to their gowns. Seneca and Giftgowns collaborated with joint funding from NSERC Engage for Colleges as well as an Ontario Centres of Excellence College for Technology Adoption to develop an anti-bacterial prototype spray, which was developed from the encapsulation of essential oils (EO), specifically thymol (a major component of oregano essential oils) into nano-particles. In this follow-up applied research project, two research assistants (RAs) from Seneca’s Biotechnology – Advanced diploma program, under the supervision of Professor Barkev Keoshkerian and Professor Frank Merante, sought to investigate the efficacy of other essential oils, as well as other experimental extracts, to determine an array of effective and persistent anti-microbial properties from extracts studied. This project was designed with the purpose of developing a simple, scalable and cost efficient nanofabricated-particle that can function as an anti-microbial carrier and controlled release vehicle using sustainable, eco-friendly, anti-microbial materials. This product, and the processes needed to manufacture and apply it, will be a new, enhanced offering for Giftgowns. |
| Testing of a prototype antimicrobial spray | Ontario Centre of Innovation (OCI) – College Voucher for Technology Adoption (CVTA) | 2019 | Giftgowns, a Toronto-based startup company, manufactures and sells comfortable, stylized hospital and maternity gowns for consumers to bring with them to the hospital or give as a gift to friends or loved ones staying in the hospital. In 2020, Giftgowns also launched face masks to help customers stay safe during the pandemic. The hospital and maternity gowns are popular, however, unlike the standard issue, utilitarian “blue hospital gowns”, which are washed and sterilized every day; hospitals will not wash a patient’s personal items. Since Giftgowns’ gowns are washed by family and friends (thus less frequently), there is the potential to increase the risk of hospital-acquired infections, especially during transportation. The focus for this second collaboration with Giftgowns included modification to the existing spray in an effort to increase anti-bacterial properties and to perform a series of tests to determine the stability of the spray, including its efficacy after washing a garment/hospital gown once sprayed. This second collaboration, led by Professor Barkev Keoshkerian and Professor Frank Merante, and two students from Seneca’s Biotechnology – Advanced diploma program, who sought to screen and optimize the particles with bioactive compounds so that they withstand the “worst-case scenario” by spiking the spray with a high concentration of bacterial cultures and testing for reproducibility; and for the ability to maintain its antimicrobial properties after washing. The specific technology adoption for this project was the nano-particle creation. The small particles and assessment of their efficacy to keep a surface free and protected from harmful microbes for a long period of time were the primary outcomes of interest. |
| Cosmetics redesigned for eyes that will not exacerbate ocular surface disease | Ontario Centre of Innovation (OCI) – College Strategic Sector/Cluster/Technology Platform (CSSCTP) | 2019 | Quenchology Cosmetics Inc. is a Canadian based cosmetics company that redesigns cosmetics with ocular surface health at the forefront. Quenchology sources raw material and manufactures their own products in house. Quenchology is collaborating with Professor Ivana Knezevic and research assistants from Seneca’s School of Biological Science and Applied Chemistry, specifically in the Cosmetics Science Grad Certificate program, to develop a mascara and liquid eyeliner, in black colour, which will be the start of thoughtful line of beautifying cosmetics and skincare with ocular surface health as the primary goal. The proof of concept products developed in this project will be the first in a larger line of makeup and skin care products planned by Quenchology Cosmetics. |
| Rapid Quality Control Test for the Presence of Glucoamylase | Ontario Centre of Innovation (OCI) – College Strategic Sector/Cluster/Technology Platform (CSSCTP) | 2019 | Selene Biosystems Inc. (Selene) specializes in the design and manufacture of rapid lateral flow assays targeting diverse fields such as industrial bakeries, crop quality control, and medical diagnostics. Selene is collaborating with Professor Frank Merante and research assistants from Seneca’s School of Biological Sciences and Applied Chemistry to conduct research on a contaminating yeast in the brewing process that releases a highly undesirable enzyme capable of further fermenting the beer following packaging. The presence of this post-packaging fermentation can cause bottle or can rupture and/or produce an undesirable aftertaste in the finished product. The early detection of the contaminating yeast, via the detection of a specifically produced enzyme called glucoamylase is highly desirable by the brewing industry as contaminated pitching stocks of brewing yeasts can be identified early before they are used for large scale beer fermentation. Also important is the testing of finished products to ensure the absence of the glucoamylase enzyme contaminant. This will result in tight quality control procedures and ensure safety of finished products. The results from this project will result in a new test product for Selene, which fits into their existing set of diagnostic assay product offerings. |
| Development and optimization of downstream process for recovery of natural aldehydes from fermentation median | Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) – College and Community Innovation Program – Engage Grants for colleges | 2019 | Ardra Inc. is a biotechnology company that manufactures high-purity, non-toxic, natural ingredients, which are suitable for use in natural flavours, perfumery and cosmetics formulations. Ardra's products, produced using fermentation of natural sugars, offer significant cost and sustainability advantages over traditional plant-based extractions. Additionally, since the products do not rely on botanical raw material, their supply is stable and devoid of seasonal variations. One of the challenges with fermentation-based production of natural ingredients is their isolation from the fermentation broth, and following purification to meet industry standards. To solve this challenge, Ardra is collaborating with Professors Jamie Cote and Barkev Keoshkerian, from Seneca’s School of Biological Sciences and Applied Chemistry (SBSAC). Along with their research assistants from SBSAC, Professors Cote and Keoshkerian have been working closely with Ardra to understand the existing purification process, and design and optimize new purification processeses that will further reduce production cost, and also provide a higher-purity product.. This resulting process will be directly adopted by Ardra, thereby providing immediate benefit to the company. |
| Alternative reagent formulations enhancing room temperature stability for high sensitivity/specificity immunoassays | Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) – College and Community Innovation Program – Engage Grants for colleges | 2019 | ChipCare is a Toronto-based company developing a highly versatile point-of-care (POC) diagnostics platform which will enable an unparalleled sample-to-action workflow in the clinic. The analyzer utilizes a patented approach for analyte detection and can perform multiple key assay formats including cell surface markers, proteins and nucleic acids. ChipCare is collaborating with Dr. Frank Merante and research assistants from Seneca’s School of Biological Science and Applied Chemistry to optimize the performance and extend the shelf-life of key components contained within single-use microfluidic cartridges. Successful completion of this project will enable ChipCare to distribute their diagnostic tests without the need for refrigeration during shipping or storage, enabling physicians to easily implement true test-and-treat options for their patients, significantly enhancing the overall quality of care. The platform and assays ChipCare is developing will improve access to affordable diagnostics, benefitting urban, rural, and remote communities. |
| Immunodiagnostics and Microfluidics Point–of–Care Testing | Ontario Centre of Innovation (OCI) – College Strategic Sector/Cluster/Technology Platform (CSSCTP) | 2019 | ChipCare Corporation is currently developing a versatile diagnostic platform, comprising a benchtop device with interchangeable cartridges capable of running molecular diagnostics, immunoassays, and cell quantification assays for testing at the point-of-care. ChipCare is collaborating in this second project with Seneca under the guidance of Dr. Frank Merante and Professor Jim Cooper and research assistants from Seneca’s School of Biological Science and Applied Chemistry. The goal of the collaboration is to identify and source high-performance antibody conjugates, optimize on-cartridge performance, and incorporate novel mechanisms of blood processing in order to enhance the capabilities of ChipCare’s platform technology. |
| Development of Taq Stabilization Excipients and Bst DNA Polymerase | Ontario Centre of Innovation (OCI) – College Strategic Sector/Cluster/Technology Platform (CSSCTP) | 2018 | Evik Diagnostics Corp. www.evikdiagnostics.com, specializing in providing solution to room stabilized enzyme and reagents, wishes to capitalize and penetrate the progressively growing market demand for isothermal associated and polymerase chain reaction based diagnostic reagents. Evik is collaborating for a third time with Dr. Frank Merante and research assistants from Seneca’s School of Biological Science and Applied Chemistry to continue to develop and expand custom excipient and excipient-blends, enabling the diversification of enzymes and associated reagents that can be provided as ready-to-use, room stable kit friendly products. The molecular and associated diagnostics industry is poised to be one of the strongest growing sectors in the Point-of-Care (POC) markets. The continued development of excipient stabilized enzymes, reagents and kits, will be integral to the success of this industry. The availability of room temperature stable components, which includes enzymes, oligonucleotides, co-factors and buffer components will enable Evik to continue to be at the forefront of the industry as a result of its collaboration with Seneca. |
| Validation of Bioinformatically Guided Supplement Design Paradigm & In vitro Efficacy Testing via a Cultured Keratinocyte Stem Cell Culture | Ontario Centre of Innovation (OCI) – College Strategic Sector/Cluster/Technology Platform (CSSCTP) | 2018 | Mitronite, a Toronto based company, is a health science and sports nutrition supplement supplier. Their business strategy is based on the development of scientifically validated health supplements utilizing an evidence fostered development processes. Mitronite is collaborating with Dr. Frank Merante and research assistants from Seneca’s School of Biological Science and Applied Chemistry to formulate, validate and expand their current product menu of mitochondria targeted athletic support supplements. Mitronite, a Health Canada approved formulation (NPN 80070757 ) represents the flagship product whose performance claims were validated by a combination of in vivo (athlete studies) and in vitro (cultured muscle cells) procedures assessing mitochondrial performance, athletic performance and post-exercise recovery. Menu expansion products include Mitronite-PLUS formulations and two novel amino acid formulations for skin health and muscle augmentation derived from a tripartite collaboration among Faculty, Industry and Seneca’s Post-Graduate Bioinformatics Independent Group Project students. |
| Formulation of cosmetics incorporating GlycolastinTM as the active ingredient | Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) – College and Community Innovation Program – Engage Grants for colleges and Ontario Centre of Innovation (OCI) – Voucher for Innovation and Productivity (VIP) | 2018 | Sussex Research Laboratories Inc. is a specialty chemicals company in Ottawa, Ontario with expertise in synthesis and characterization of carbohydrate-based systems and stable isotope-labeled molecules. Sussex recently discovered that their proprietary glycopeptide GlycolastinTM has anti-aging and anti-wrinkle properties; this presents an opportunity to expand into the cosmetics market. Sussex is collaborating with Professor Sharon Robertson and research assistants from the Cosmetics Science Graduate Certificate program to develop cosmetic formulations of an eye cream, face cream, and facial serum incorporating GlycolastinTM. These new formulations will enable Sussex to enter the cosmetics market and, through initial licensing deals, the company will be able to fund the development of further cosmeceutical actives and become an established brand in the cosmetics marketplace. |
| Production of a Recombinant Improved Bacillus stearothermophilus DNA Polymerase for DASL Isothermal Amplification | Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) – College and Community Innovation Program – Engage Grants for colleges | 2018 | Custom Biologics, an established developer of bioanalytical assays, has in-licensed a patented, isothermal, nucleic acid amplification and detection technology from GeneBio Systems Inc. The technology, known as DASL RAPID, is a rapid, sensitive and specific molecular test platform requiring the use of DNA polymerase enzymes. Custom Biologics is collaborating with Dr. Frank Merante and research assistants from Seneca’s School of Biological Science and Applied Chemistry to develop, utilizing protein engineering and recombinant expression technology, a more efficient Bacillus stearothermophilus (Bst) DNA polymerase, to replace the expensive, inefficient, generic enzyme currently used in Custom Biologic's DASL RAPID tests. The result will be an optimized technology platform, which will increase test speed, sensitivity and cost profile. |
| Stabilization of Amplification Associated Enzymes & Reagents Associated with Point of Care Testing | Ontario Centre of Innovation (OCI) – College Voucher for Technology Adoption (CVTA) | 2018 | Ottawa-based Evik Diagnostics provides complete design and development services for new diagnostic products, and continuously look to increase the products and services that they can offer. To this end, Evik has collaborated with Dr. Frank Merante and student research assistants from Seneca’s School of Biological Sciences and Applied Chemistry (BSAC) on further development of a custom excipient and excipient-blends to stabilize enzyme and reagents for rapid-point-of-source diagnostic testing. Current undertakings include research into the use of excipient stabilized nucleic acid thermostable amplification enzymes. This study greatly complements Evik’s primary business unit enabling the expansion of enzymes and associated reagents that can be provided as ready-to-use, room stable kit friendly products. |
| Helicobacter pylori Nucleic Acid Detection from Gastric Matrix – Clinical Diagnostics Primer Set Development and Optimization | Ontario Centre of Innovation (OCI) – College Voucher for Technology Adoption (CVTA) | 2018 | Spartan Bioscience Inc. in Ottawa Ontario is a leading biotechnology company, which develops point-of-care medical device platform and associated molecular tests for DNA-based diagnostics including pharmacogenomics and infectious disease tests. Spartan is collaborating with Dr. Frank Merante and research assistants from Seneca’s School of Biological Science and Applied Chemistry to design an accurate, sensitive and fast method to detect the presence of Helicobacter pylori using state-of-the art bioinformatics derived design and testing using molecular tools. H. pylori is associated with gastrointestinal diseases, such as chronic active gastritis, peptic ulcer and often, most importantly gastric adenocarcinoma. Commonly, non-specific tests of low clinical specificity are utilized, such as the presence of urease activity in the gastric tract, or highly invasive testing using gastric mucosa biopsy. A rapid, accurate, non-invasive, immediately deployable molecular test enables clinically actionable results and treatment while the patient is at the physician’s office or testing facility. |
| Development of an effective and ecofriendly antimicrobial fabric using herbal nanoparticles | Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) – College and Community Innovation Program – Engage Grants for colleges | 2018 | Giftgowns, a Toronto, Ontario based company, manufactures and sells comfortable, stylized hospital gowns for consumers to bring with them to the hospital or give as a gift to friends or loved ones staying in the hospital. Giftgowns is collaborating with Dr. Siyam Subair and Professor Barkev Keoshkerian and research assistants from Seneca's School of Biological Sciences and Applied Chemistry (BSAC) to develop an antimicrobial fabric treatment using nanotechnology to encapsulate naturally sourced herbal extracts, or more specifically, nanoencapuslated essential oils (EO). The resulting product will be an environmentally conscientious, antimicrobial hospital gown, suited to medical environments that will make Giftgowns a market leader. Current competitors to Giftgowns do not carry products with antimicrobial properties. |
| The Investigation of the Effectiveness of RealAtoms Model Kits | Ontario Centre of Innovation (OCI) – College Voucher for Technology Adoption (CVTA) | 2018 | RealAtoms, an Etobicoke-based company, has produced the first and only molecular model kit designed to accurately demonstrate chemical reactions. RealAtoms’ models use magnets, allowing users to seamlessly change the models’ structures and geometries without having to pull apart balls and sticks. This model mimics the way molecules behave in real life, preventing common misconceptions perpetuated by conventional molecular models. RealAtoms is collaborating with Dr. Lesley Rutledge and student researcher Vimanda Chow from Seneca’s School of Biological Science and Applied Chemistry to research the benefits the molecular model kits play in improving students’ understanding of chemical structures and reactions. The results of this study will measure the effectiveness of RealAtoms’ model kits against other commercially available kits; and will ultimately be used to make design improvements to the models, improve the instruction guide that teaches students how to use the product, and optimize RealAtoms’ marketing strategy. |
| Custom Cosmeceutical Formulation Exhibiting Anti-Aging and UV Protective Properties | Ontario Centre of Innovation (OCI) – College Voucher for Technology Adoption (CVTA) | 2017 | Starlight MedSpa, a Vaughan, Ontario based company, is a medical spa specializing in permanent hair removal and fostering efficacious skincare. Starlight is collaborating with Dr. Frank Merante and student research assistants from Seneca’s School of Biological Science and Applied Chemistry to develop an efficacious custom cosmeceutical formulation, enabling Starlight to fulfill an unmeet need in their product pipeline and proprietary menu offering. The main properties of the product formulation are protection from damaging UV light, readily utilizable antioxidants, and potent anti-aging, skin repair components. While many cosmeceutical compositions provide one level of efficacy, the blended formulation resulting from this collaboration will provide a broad range of desirable effects and components in a single composition enabling Starlight to expand their menu offering and increase their marketplace competiveness. |
| Discovery of best stabilizing agents for lyophilized enzyme and antibody reagents in long-term room temperature storage conditions | Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) – College and Community Innovation Program – Engage Grants for colleges | 2017 | Ottawa-based Evik Diagnostics manufactures lyophilized/freeze-dried reagents for a large US environmental testing company. They are now ramping up pilot manufacturing to support entry to other export markets, including Canada. Through this project, Evik will collaborate with Dr. Frank Merante and student research assistants from Seneca’s School of Biological Sciences and Applied Chemistry (BSAC) to develop of a point-of-use immunoassay employing reagents with an extended shelf life at room temperature that will complement the existing Evik product pipeline. The research focus will be on investigating novel ways to create prolonged stability through the introduction of excipients to the base reagents, and will concurrently provide the opportunity to enhance enzymatic activity and associated assay performance. |
| A non-invasive Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) molecular diagnostic procedure to detect Helicobacter Pylori | Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) – College and Community Innovation Program – Engage Grants for colleges | 2017 | Spartan Bioscience is a leading biotechnology company located in Ottawa, ON, which develops point-of-care medical device platforms for DNA diagnostics. Through this collaboration with Dr. Frank Merante from Seneca’s School of Biological Sciences and Applied Chemistry, Spartan will expand their product offering to include a non-invasive test for H. Pylori, the cause of 60% of all stomach cancers, and the third leading cause of cancer death in China. Spartan will sell this new diagnostic test into China, opening up a new international market for the company. |
| Project Name | Funder | Award Year | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| Automation of model training and evaluation process for predicting equipment downtime | Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) – College and Community Innovation Program – Applied Research and Technology Partnership (ARTP) | 2023 | TGT Solutions Inc., based in Stratford, about 150 kilometres west of Toronto, specializes in technology-driven solutions, offering highly specialized products and services. The company wants to develop an AI-based solution for manufacturing companies to analyze large datasets, from sources such as production equipment and quality records, typically generated on production floors. The company is partnering with Dr. Uzair Ahmad, Professor, School of Software Design & Data Science, and a team of student researchers on the project, focusing on predicting equipment downtime. The research team will utilize datasets provided by Memex, TGT’s partner company, and a low-code/no-code AI platform called mlOS, provided by Braintoy. |
| Investigation into data privacy and confidentiality when using GPT | Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) – Applied Research and Technology Partnership grant | 2023 | The CAA Club Group of Companies provides roadside assistance insurance and travel services to more than 2.3 million members of the Canadian Automobile Association (CAA) in Manitoba and the south central region of Ontario. It’s working with Mark Buchner, Professor, School of Information Technology & Security and researchers to explore how AI programs like ChatGPT could lead to the misuse of private information. The team will examine and test Open AI, the research and commercial AI applications company behind ChatGPT, Microsoft Azure, a cloud computing service and other vendors to understand systems architecture and security measures by analyzing risk and how to mitigate potential problems. The goal is to provide recommendations to safeguard sensitive information and prevent intellectual property leaks and threats. The research is being done with a Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada – Applied Research and Technology Partnership grant. |
| Front-end development for AI-based spectrum analyser for Software Defined | Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) – College and Community Innovation program – Applied Partnership and Technology Partnership (ARTP) grants | 2023 | Qoherent develops intelligent radio technologies. It integrates machine learning-based signal processing into software-defined radios to build adaptive radiofrequency communications and sensing systems. The company is based in the GTA and is partnering with Riyadh Al Essawi, Professor, School of Software Design & Data Science. They will develop a user interface for an AI-based Software-Defined Radio (SDR) spectrum analyzer. The aim is to have a product that can receive and classify signals from an SDR in real time then highlight detected signals visually in a user interface. |
| Development of a Data Lake for Andorix smart building platform | Mitacs Accelerate Others: Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) – Applied Research and Development Grant (ARD)
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2023 | Andorix is a Toronto-based digital infrastructure company that focuses on commercial real estate. It helps customers modernize properties, improve building efficiency, and reduce operating costs. It provides data connectivity solutions for systems such as air quality control, occupancy sensing and smart lighting. It is partnering with Mark Buchner, Professor, School of Information Technology Administration & Security, to develop a data lake, a centralized repository. The ability to store large amounts of information will enable it to run analytics or use machine learning to provide insights into building operations. |
| Development of ShiftPay payment system portal | Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) - Mobilize | 2023 | CPOS Inc. is an Ottawa-based tech company that has been helping small and mid-sized businesses streamline their technology and operations for over a decade. Run by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs their top-of-the-line customer service, dedicated software development team, and key understanding of the industry have made them an industry leader in online ordering, independent invoicing software, and bricks-to-click payment processing systems. CPOS is constantly looking at more efficient and effective technology solutions to aid small and medium-sized business owners. Their latest innovation in this area includes the launch of ShiftPay, which will initially be aimed at the hospitality industry. This first-to-market software will aim to tackle the current widespread labor challenges faced by today's hospitality industry, enabling employers to pay out employees' wages and tips daily. Miles McDonald, Professor, School of Software Design & Data Science, will lead research assistants in a project to test ShiftPay’s feasibility and develop a prototype of the software. ShiftPay is expected to be a game changer for the hospitality industry, enabling businesses to immediately pay employees in government-issued currency or cryptocurrency. |
| Predictive analytics for repayment probability forecasting in debt collection | Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) – Applied Research and Technology Partnership grants (ARTPs) | 2023 | s2h Business Information Systems Corp. is a Fintech innovation and technology service company based in Markham, about 30 kilometers north of Toronto. It works with clients such as startups, retail, and financial services. One of its software solutions is D2R-Collect, which helps collection agencies, financial institutions and accounts receivable departments streamline the debt recovery and collection process. The company is partnering with Seneca to expand the product’s functionality. Mariam Daoud, Professor, School of Software Design & Data Science, and researchers will work with artificial intelligence tools to build and evaluate predictive analytical models to improve D2R-Collect. |
| Extending RegAI platform functionality using GPT-3.5 (ChatGPT) technology | Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) – College and Community Innovation Program – Applied Research and Technology Partnership (ARTP) | 2023 | Greater Toronto Area-based Oppos offers cybersecurity products and services such as audit and compliance preparation, policy creation, security assessments and vulnerability testing. While security surveys are widely used to ensure businesses meet baseline requirements, completing them can be challenging, especially for small- and medium-sized businesses. Oppos has developed an artificial intelligence (AI) application called RegAI, which reduces the cost and simplifies the process. Oppos has partnered with Mark Buchner, Professor, School of Information Technology Administration & Security, to enhance the functionality of the product, using the latest AI chatbot technology. |
| Content-based Tag Recommendation for Sector-Specific News Articles | Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) – Applied Research and Technology Partnership grants (ARTPs) | 2022-2023 |
Kaitongo Inc. provides industry-focused market insights using a contextual customer intelligence platform that leverages artificial intelligence (AI) technology. The Toronto-based company helps firms proactively connect with potential clients and build relationships. Kaitongo partnered with Vida Movahedi, Professor, School of Software Design & Data Science, and her research team to develop AI- and machine learning-based solutions to automate and support some of the work done by their analyst team. The result should lead to operating cost savings and enable the business to grow more quickly. |
| Smart Project Performance Management - Infrastructure Industry Operations Excellence through Machine Learning | Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) – College and Community Innovation Program – Engage Grants for colleges
Ontario Centre of Innovation (OCI) – Voucher for Innovation and Productivity (VIP) |
2022-2023 | Toronto-based Audiit Business Solutions Corp. provides data-oriented project management solutions for companies. The Audiit Platform is software for strategic data governance and project performance management. It provides ongoing decision-making support, performance improvements and offers schedule/cost control to customers with complex projects. Audiit works with high-profile clients in the infrastructure sector, including Bruce Power, Ontario Power Generation, Aecon Group Inc. and the K-Line Group of Companies. The technology that drives Audiit Platform utilizes Audiit Trail, which provides a complete history of events during projects for ongoing analysis. The data collection an opportunity to use advanced analytical techniques such as machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence of which there has been notably slow uptake in the industry. Audiit is collaborating with Seneca's School of Software Design & Data Science to identify, validate, and implement ML models that can provide performance improvements for their customers. Led by Reid Kerr, Professor, School of Software Design & Data, student research assistants will find and test ML algorithms on both sample and real data provided by Audiit's clients, to discover which methods work best. Audiit will use the results on the platform, to give their customers the most advanced ML-backed data analysis on the market. |
| Production of Nutraceutical in Yeast | Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) – College and Community Innovation Program – Innovation Enhancement (IE) grants | 2022 | Wellesley Therapeutics seeks to maximize the utility of well-known medicinal substances through the development of innovative products. The Toronto-based pharmaceutical company is partnering with Dr. Frank Merante, Professor, School of Biological Sciences & Applied Chemistry, and a team of student researchers to explore methods of producing and optimizing the production of nutraceutical in genetically engineered yeast. Nutraceutical is known to repair joints, relieve inflammation and improve longevity; as such, the goal of the project is to engineer yeast to determine if an easily produced, non-animal source of nutraceutical is feasible. |
| Digital Marketplace for Affordable Housing Supply | Mitacs – Business Strategy Internship | 2022 | Garrison Logic Inc. is a software development company with a focus on building property-technology solutions to revolutionize real estate development, operation, and transaction processes. Recognizing that inefficiencies in the housing sector are contributing to the housing affordability crisis, Garrison intends to address several related problems. These include insufficient housing supply, slow and challenging entitlement processes for real estate developments and the inability for smaller developers to scale through the development of a research-backed digital platform. One area that Garrison has identified as a first target of real estate process improvement is as-of-right redevelopments. These developments, which are governed by the notion that the owner has the right to redevelop on their property as they wish as long as it is done within regulations, are often overlooked yet have the ability to add to the “missing middle” of the urban landscape. Proposed improvements to the current system include an automated and comprehensive tool that identifies properties with as-of-right redevelopment potentials; connects the community to share project intelligence and connects owners of as-of-right projects to appropriate financing products. Garrison sees a solution to these issues as a major opportunity to improve some housing inefficiencies and create an opportunity for business expansion. Garrison is partnering with Seneca in the design, development, and prototyping stages of the project. The selected intern will engage in brainstorming sessions and iterative design and develop a no-code Minimal Viable Product (MVP) on glide for user validation purposes. The proposed solution will be developed into an MVP and be tested as part of this project and is subjected to changes upon receiving feedbacks from the interviewees. The ultimate output from this project will provide the basis for the refinement, development, and commercialization of the platform to help alleviate some of the issues causing the housing affordability crisis for select Canadians. |
| Data Analytics and Communication Services for Career Services Professionals | Mitacs – Business Strategy Internship | 2022 | Skill Squirrel has developed a platform that is designed to help people changing careers access relevant services. It offers purposeful matchmaking between job seekers, learners, trainers and employers, while also reducing the workload of career service organizations (CSOs) and professionals that offer job search assistance, education recommendations and training programs. Through this Mitacs internship, Skill Squirrel wishes to enhance its Early Adopter Program (EAP), so CSOs can achieve a better understanding of their client’s needs and achievements. The main goal is to update the existing Skill Squirrel platform with new features such as a data dashboard and user-to-user communication services. The enhancement will support small, private and public career and education service providers, who rely heavily on government funding, which is often not paid until a job seeker has been employed for one year. Affordable access to tools like chat and other customer support services, is expected to sustain small organizations, improve client communication and help Canadians find and keep jobs. |
| Advanced Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Data Analysis and Performance Predictor Using Edge Computing | Mitacs Accelerate | 2022 | Voltaire Power is a privately held Canadian company that has developed algorithms and a distinctive coding system to predict electricity production of solar photovoltaic (PV) systems using PV power-plant design and environmental conditions as inputs. Currently, PV power-plant owners and operators are able to measure solar system performance; however, the full potential of the PV power plant may not be realized without accurately measuring solar irradiation, both diffuse and direct, combined with other environmental data. This project between Voltaire Power and Seneca Innovation focuses on giving commercial or industrial property (i.e. non-solar professional) owners and facilities managers the ability to accurately calculate the predicted output of a solar plant and compare it to what the plant is actually producing. The comparison will give people a way to monitor for, pick up on and rectify issues with their solar plant, ensuring a return on investment. The predictive comparative outputs will be created with external sensors in the solar plant that communicate with a mini-computer to process the data. Finally, the information will be sent to a cloud service for data storage, analysis and display. |
| Computer-assisted Strategies for Long-form Text Reading | Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) – College and Community Innovation program – Applied Research and Development (ARD) grants | 2021 | Located in Toronto, Quillsoft Ltd. is a leader in assistive technology software that helps people read and write. Founded by Dr. Fraser Shein in 2000, in partnership with Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital, Quillsoft's products, including WordQ, are used by more than 2.5 million end users, primarily in the education field. While WordQ and other competing solutions primarily focus on writing, Quillsoft consistently hears from educators that students struggle with text comprehension. As a result, teachers have repeatedly requested a true comprehension solution at the discourse level (i.e. understanding cause-and-effect, argumentation, etc.) Quillsoft sees a business opportunity in developing a text comprehension technology that would address this market need. The key characteristic of this solution is its broad range of tools that support various active reading strategies, making it truly unique. With its ability to extract, group/cluster, organize and visualize key concepts, this goes beyond facilitating copying, paraphrasing and referencing text that the student may or may not understand. Building on the previous collaboration with Seneca, Quillsoft is partnering again with Asma Paracha, Professor, School of Software Design & Data Science, and her team to advance the technology to the point where the software can be deployed (Alpha-release) to a select number of outside users for early testing and feedback. Once fully developed, this new and unique text comprehension solution will enable Quillsoft to increase and diversify its revenue stream and increase market penetration. |
| Development of decentralized applications (dapps) and smart contract based governance workflows for digital agriculture analytics | Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) – College and Community Innovation Program – Engage Grants for colleges | 2021 | Sightline Innovation (SI) is a privately held Canadian company with patented, DataTrust technology and an applied artificial intelligence platform that enables enterprises to control access to their data, derive value from data and gain better insight from existing data sources in real-time, across multiple business units. The field of digital agriculture (the use of electronic data to support the agriculture supply chain) has recently produced a number of imperfect, data-backed solutions to reducing costs and improving agricultural yields and disease resistance. However, concerns about intellectual property (IP) and data ownership confound collaboration between companies, academics and farms. SI will partner with Seneca's School of Software Design & Data Science to develop tools, which will facilitate collaborative, digital agriculture projects, by developing a blockchain-based governance structure to fund, manage, monetize, license and distribute value to digital agriculture stakeholders, while protecting their data and IP. Led by Tanvir Alam, a professor in the school, student Research Assistants from Seneca's Honours Bachelor of Data Science and Analytics degree program will apply their academic knowledge and skills to understand the digital agriculture field and develop a blockchain-backed access system to integrate with SI’s Datatrust platform (DTaaS). Ultimately, SI will utilize the system developed in the course of this project to attract customers and enable use of DTaaS in the digital agriculture field. |
Developing a deep-learning volunteer computing platform |
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) – College and Community Innovation Program – Engage Grants for colleges |
2021 | Established in 2017, Featuremine Corporation, is a Toronto-based financial technology company developing flexible digital tools utilizing the power of Machine Learning (ML). The company provides a comprehensive ecosystem for quantitative research and trading, enabling competitive efficiencies with deployment of Artificial Intelligence (AI) concepts into investment strategies. One of the barriers to market adoption of such tools that the company identified is the computing cost required to support ML-enabled products. As it is typical for AI-based solutions, algorithm training requires substantive computing power, making the development, deployment and operational maintenance of such products very costly, and increasingly prohibitive for new entrants and small-medium-enterprises (SMEs) in this market segment. In order to reduce this barrier, Featuremine is partnering with Mark Shtern, Professor, Seneca’s School of Information Technology Administration & Security, to research and develop a secure volatile computing framework that will enable the development and commercialization of Featuremine’s new Deep Learning product for financial markets. |
| Development of a universal medical form reader | Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) – College and Community Innovation Program – Engage Grants for colleges | 2021 | Founded in 1994 and based in Markham, Ont., York Card Technology Inc. is a digital health service provider operating under the name YMS. The company supplies Ontario health-care practitioners with the Electronic Medical Record (EMR) software applications required to bill, schedule and manage patient information electronically. YMS faces an automation challenge connected to creating and processing various forms used by medical professionals. The process for adding forms that are new to the YMS system is entirely manual and often takes days to complete, which negatively impacts the company's profitability. In order to address this challenge, YMS is partnering with Mufleh Al-Shatnawi, Professor, School of Software Design & Data Science, to develop a software solution to automate the process of new form digitization. The resulting proof-of-concept Universal Form Reader (UFR) will analyze new Portable Document Format (PDF) forms and extract attributes and keywords, such as patient name, age, etc. The UFR will have a significant impact on YMS' bottom line and, equally important, it will pave the way for advanced research and development activities supporting cost reduction and proactive patient care opportunities. |
| Robotic Process Automation of Workflows | Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) – College and Community Innovation Program – Engage Grants for colleges | 2021 | NTG Clarity Networks Inc. (NTG), founded in 1992 (Markham, Ont.), is a publicly traded software company offering products and solutions to telecom services providers, enterprises and governments. One of their products, "Smart2Go", is a comprehensive, digital workflow and application builder, which allows companies to build their own applications, workflow process and business rules using a simple drag and drop interface without the need to write any code. NTG's long-term goal is to extend Smart2Go's functionality by leveraging patterns existing in workflows and the form builder to predict potential process bottlenecks and inefficiencies. The underlying objective is to enhance the customer experience and shorten development cycles. The company views this as an important business opportunity that will allow them to increase their revenue and market adoption of Smart2Go. To that end, NTG is partnering with Seneca to develop the digital architectural design for this novel solution. |
| The Shopping Buddy App | Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) – College and Community Innovation Program – Engage Grants for colleges | 2021 | AbleDocs Inc., based in Oakville, Ont., is currently the global leader in document accessibility products and services for persons with print disabilities. They wish to broaden their market reach by addressing the everyday needs for persons with low-vision. In the case of this collaboration with Seneca, they are targeting digital accessibility in the context of the in-store shopping experience. AbleDocs' challenge in addressing this market need is to adapt their text accessibility technology to make retail and product information immediately accessible, in-store. The intention of the proposed collaboration between AbleDocs and Seneca is to develop an app, which can transform product packaging text into a barrier-free and accessible interface. Tanvir Alam, Professor, Seneca's School of Software Design & Data Science, will co-lead the project with Monica Fontana, Professor, Seneca's School of Creative Arts & Animation. The proposed Shopping Buddy app will work as a retail ecosystem bringing together content from manufacturers, distributors, retailers and consumer entities. This project is important to AbleDocs as its mission is to give access to all people with print disabilities throughout the world. The project will also provide an excellent experiential learning opportunity for the research assistants; they will develop a fundamental understanding of technology requirements for accessibility and inclusivity in design, visual and user experience. The resulting app and partnerships, which will follow the development of the initial prototype, will enable a worldwide virtuous cycle of inclusion within the retail environment. |
| Facilitating text comprehension of long-form text | Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) - Engage Plus grant program | 2021 | Located in Toronto, Quillsoft Ltd. is a leader in assistive technology software advancing literacy skills — helping people read and write. Founded by Dr. Fraser Shein in 2000, in partnership with Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital, Quillsoft’s products, including WordQ, are used by more than 2.5 million end-users, primarily in the education field. To that end, Quillsoft sees a business opportunity in developing long-form text comprehension technology to include in the next generation of its products. Building on a previous collaboration with Seneca, Quillsoft is partnering with Asma Paracha, Professor, School of Software Design & Data Science, to develop a proof-of-concept solution that provides readers with insight into multi-level relationships between concepts contained in long-form texts. Once fully developed, this new and unique text comprehension solution will enable Quillsoft to increase and diversify its revenue stream and increase market penetration. Quillsoft is planning to include such technology in the next generation of its products, scheduled for market release in 2022. |
| Machine learning and blockchain-backed optimized assignment matching system developed for Personal Support Workers (PSWs) in Ontario. | Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) – College and Community Innovation Program – Applied Research Rapid Response to COVID-19 |
2020 | TriNetra Systems Inc. (TriNetra) is an agile and fast-growing enterprise software development company specializing in IT-business alignment for service-oriented architectures, with clients like eHealth Ontario, Cigna and Element Fleet. TriNetra along with their blockchain-focused startup OctoChain Inc. (OctoChain) develops tools and solutions to aid in establishing a system of trust and transparency in the health-care human resources and staffing solution sectors. The system uses blockchain technology as a fast, easy and reliable way to confirm credentials of health-care professionals. TriNetra and OctoChain have been collaborating with ConnexHealth Inc., a health-care technology company offering an online portal that connects health-care users with professional health-care providers. Collaborating with TriNetra and ConnexHealth along with community, government and hospital stakeholders, Seneca’s researchers from the School of Software Design & Data Science are actively developing and piloting a solution to extend the features of the blockchain-based platform to also include machine learning/artificial intelligence (ML/AI) capabilities. The newly developed system aims to match candidate health-care professionals to job assignments based on their entire professional profile, including certifications, training, geography, work history and availability. The overall goal of the system is to address a vastly changed PSW market and the constraints caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. For hospitals and long-term care homes, the system attempts to improve efficiencies and reduce risks. For individual PSWs, the system aims to empower, efficiently mobilize and sustainably deploy them within Ontario’s health-care industry. |
| Using TensorFlow for Analysis, Learning and Optimization of Net-Zero Homes Energy Dat | Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) – College and Community Innovation Program – Engage Grants for colleges |
2020 | Markham’s I-EMS Group provides an energy management system (EMS) as a coherent solution for the distributed energy market, utilizing cutting-edge technologies in forecasting, network analysis and energy trade. Their solution helps energy providers and net-zero energy homeowners make the most from the energy generated by optimizing the use of energy in their own home and the value of the surplus for the distributed market. I-EMS Group collaborated with Nooshin Beheshti, Professor, and a student research assistant from Seneca’s School of Information Technology Administration & Security to design, develop and test Artificial Intelligence-based algorithms and data mining methods. The team developed Artificial Neural Network (ANN) modules using case study data from New York and Los Angeles homes. The project successfully developed the ANN modules for I-EMS that can successfully predict Solar Photovoltaic generation and Electric Load for the company to implement into new energy profile optimization modules, advancing the company’s innovative market offerings. I-EMS Group and Seneca have co-applied for funding to implement this new innovation on Seneca’s new award winning Centre for Innovation, Technology & Entrepreneurship building on Newnham Campus in 2021. This project is a prime example of how Seneca Innovation’s Applied Research partnerships advance local companies — impacting self-monitoring, analysis, and reporting technology (SMART) Greener cities. |
| Development of Drone-based Inventory Auditing System | Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) – College and Community Innovation Program – Engage Grants for colleges | 2020 | Founded in 1996, Magic Information Systems Inc. (MIS) is a Toronto-based software developer specializing in integrated management information systems aimed at improving operational efficiencies for their users. They offer a broad range of solutions including their flagship product, “eWholesale”, a comprehensive Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software. This modular and highly flexible solution helps companies to monitor all aspects of their operations, from order entry, to purchasing, to inventory control, to accounting and payroll. Their clients are mostly small and midsize businesses — namely wholesalers, exporters and importers, distributors and light manufacturers. The common thread for these companies is that warehouse operations are a vital part of their businesses. One of the most challenging, and costly, aspects of running a large warehouse is maintaining accurate information about stock quantity and location of inventory. MIS sees this as an opportunity to provide a value-added offering to its customers, and to generate additional revenue. MIS partnered with Seneca to build a proof-of-concept automated inventory audit system using drones, as an alternative to the manual approach to inventory management. Once this R&D undertaking is complete and the design and technical challenges are resolved, the new drone-based inventory auditing solution aims to provide MIS clients with significant operating cost savings, allowing the company to increase and diversify its revenue stream and increase overall market penetration. The proposed technology is applicable across many industries, has no inherent geographic limits, and as such, has the potential of being successful globally resulting in new, high paying jobs in the sector. |
| Developing a deep-learning volunteer computing platform | Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) – College and Community Innovation Program – Engage Grants for colleges | 2020 | Established in 2017, Featuremine Corporation is a Toronto-based Artificial Intelligence (AI) software developer of flexible tools for financial companies. The company provides a comprehensive ecosystem for quantitative financial research, Machine Learning (ML) and algorithmic trading, helping players in the financial sector, such as market makers and hedge funds, with deployment of AI/ML concepts into operational workflows. One of the barriers that the company identified, and which may limit market adoption of such products, is the computing cost of operationalizing these analytic concepts. As it is typical for AI-based solutions, algorithm training often requires substantive computing power, making it very costly, and prohibitive for smaller players to enter and/or operate in this market segment. In order to reduce this barrier, Featuremine is partnering with Seneca to research and develop a secure distributed volunteer computing framework that will enable development and commercialization of their new Deep Learning product for financial markets. |
| Development of knowledge base for contextualized recommendation engine for the 'Your Doctor Online' telehealth platform | Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) – College and Community Innovation Program – Engage Grants for colleges | 2020 | Founded in 2016 and based in Mississauga, Ont., HealthATech Solutions Inc., owns and operates a website called yourdoctorsonline.com (or YDO). The platform allows users to access accredited health-care professionals 24-7 to consult with a clinician about their health concerns. A typical doctor’s session involves parallel text-based chats, during which the doctor interacts with several users. This model requires the doctor to spend time typing responses while keeping track of each conversation, which has a significant negative impact on clinician productivity. The company identified this as one of the main barriers to YDO’s profitability, revenue growth and market adoption. To overcome this barrier, the company needs a solution that will minimize the time doctors spend typing, while providing high-quality standard of care communication, consultation and clinical record keeping. More specifically, the company aims to build a Phrase Recommendation (PR) engine to suggest a set of phrases or sentences applicable to the topic and the context of the conversation. The first step in developing such a tool is to build a knowledge-base (or ontology), where the existing YDO data, with over 300,000 conversations on topics ranging from child health, conception, pregnancy, and other leading consultation domains — will be clustered and classified (labelled). HealthATech is partnering with Seneca to use Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning techniques with the goal of building a knowledge-base to enable further development of the YDO PR engine. |
| Next Generation candidate screening and assessment platform featuring psychological profiling though gamification | Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) – College and Community Innovation Program – Engage Grants for colleges and Mitacs Accelerate | 2020 | This project is the first step to providing Thinking North's Purple Squirrel recruitment platform to go beyond traditional matching with a novel, data-backed holistic candidate matching process. To provide a robust system, Thinking North is collaborating with Seneca's School of Software Design & Data Science to use advanced artificial intelligence and gamification techniques to combine "psychology" and "gamification," known as "psychification," to enhance the screening aspect for a recruitment process. Psychification builds on the data at Thinking North to create a gamified, interactive way to assess how motivated candidates are for open positions within select technology industries. This psychification and screening platform will benefit companies that are challenged by the need for speed and accuracy in recruiting. Specifically, the project is addressing the emerging gig economy where staffing for projects and shorter commitments calls for an even more effective process than before. |
| Development of Machine Learning-Based Tools for Clausehound Platform | Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) – College and Community Innovation program – Applied Research and Development (ARD) grants | 2020 | Toronto-based Clausehound Inc. supplies business law training, tools and curriculum to educational organizations: universities, colleges, incubators and accelerators. Clausehound helps its customers, which also include lawyers and entrepreneurs, to create customized contracts, allowing them to effectively and efficiently identify and resolve problems during contract drafting and negotiation. Fast and automatic processing (indexing) of legal documentation (contracts, textbooks, etc.) to identify, categorize and analyze clause language and clause explanations is the essence of Clausehound's business. The company is partnering with Seneca to develop a new Natural Language Processing, clause-matching software that will provide automatic linking of clause segments with legal commentary. By automating the matching process, Clausehound will be able to ingest new legal documents, texts and commentaries at higher speed, with better accuracy and at much lower cost, compared to manual approaches. This will remove a significant barrier to growth, currently faced by the company. Upon completion of the project, Clausehound will be able to accelerate market adoption of "private library postings". This new platform feature allows organizations to post private libraries of contract terms, creating a portal specific to the client. |
| Incremental Video Categorization Using Audio and Video Features | Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) – College and Community Innovation program – Applied Research and Development (ARD) grants and SOSCIP | 2020 | Incorporated by seasoned media executives Tessa Sproule and Katie MacGuire in 2014, Vubble is a media and education technology company that builds and offers innovative solutions for trustworthy digital video curation, assessment, and distribution. Vubble has a team of editors, journalists and teachers who curate quality online video content. Curators select the best, most informative videos; and assess their veracity using the Vubble Credibility Meter, which Vubble developed at MIT, in collaboration with the Nieman Journalism Lab, in February 2017. Vubble’s editors add structured data to each video, through their “data labelling” process — tagging content using their taxonomy, which includes categories such as “topic”, “tone” and “grade level”. Categorization and assignment of textual labels to the videos takes valuable time and limits the number of videos an editor can process in a day. This manual process is a hindrance to Vubble’s ability to scale its operations to meet the increasing needs of its current customers and grow its customer base. Vubble is partnering with Seneca to develop and implement an automatic system, customized for video editors/curators, to categorize video material based on both visual and audio cues. Implementation of the system will enable Vubble to increase its productivity and address existing and new market demand, ultimately enabling the scaling of its business. Vubble is partnering with Seneca on a third project to develop and implement an automatic system, customized for video curators, to categorize video material based on both visual and audio cues. Led by Professor Vida Movahedi and supported by students from Seneca’s School of School of Software Design & Data Science, the team will work to develop a solution which will have capabilities for multi-label classification and incremental learning, thus enabling it to adapt and improve over time. Implementation of such system will enable the company to increase its productivity and address existing and new market demand, ultimately enabling its business to scale. By developing automated categorization tools, Vubble will be able to process significantly more content in a comparable time, while maintaining system accuracy and relevance, and without significant increase in operational costs. |
| Building Systems Operational Dashboard and Analysis | Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) – College and Community Innovation Program – Engage Grants for colleges and Mitacs Accelerate | Mircom is a Canadian company that operates as a global player in the building solutions sector and is the largest independent fire alarm system manufacturer in North America. Mircom has large a repository of transactional data originating from its in-house enterprise-wide system. This data has been key for operational development projects and pricing of Mircom products. However, current data analysis involves substantial manual configuration and data management where the extraction of data and custom creation of spreadsheets results in delays and unoptimized pricing and forecasting of new and existing products. Mircom’s collaboration with Seneca’s School of Software Design & Data Science seeks to create new knowledge systems and tools that can be scaled to the company’s manufacturing and supply chain operations. Moreover, outcomes of the project will include system design and documentation of the data architecture, and machine learning tools to support advanced analytics and forecasting using data collected internally and externally. The results of this project will boost the competitiveness of Mircom in global markets by using data effectively to improve operating margins. By implementing the tools developed, Mircom anticipates pricing reductions to enable a competitive edge in the important U.S. and Canadian markets. |
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| Decreasing barriers faced by low income communities through the development of innovative online assistance system for tax filing | Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) – College and Community Innovation program – College and Community Social Innovation Fund (CCSIF) | 2020 | Income tax filing establishes eligibility for low-income Canadians to access income benefit programs. However, many individuals living within low-income brackets do not file personal tax returns due to service costs and the complexity of the process. There are community-based organizations that run free tax-filing assistance programs staffed by volunteers that provide coordination and tax expertise to help Canadians in this position confidently file their returns. However, these programs are in-person services only, making them inaccessible to people with mobility issues or those in remote communities where there is no local organization providing the service. Naturally, public health restrictions in the spring of 2020 precluded citizens’ ability to access these in-person services. In this interdisciplinary three-year project, Seneca researchers in the School of International Business & Management and School of Information Technology Administration & Security will collaborate with Prosper Canada to develop a new service with an online communications tool to support community organizations across Canada in delivering this needed tax-filing assistance to people living on low income. Consulting closely with community organizations, volunteers, and tax experts to create this new virtual service and tool, the project aims to ensure that a virtual tax preparation platform directly supports the organizations that deliver this free tax-filing assistance. This virtual service and supporting tool are a social innovation that will enable effective support of individuals living on low incomes to confidently file taxes, while also enhancing the ability of front-line community organizations in their delivery of this tax-filing assistance. As part of the proposed project, the new virtual service and tool will be piloted in communities to study its effects on improving access and reducing the burden on the organizations delivering the tax programs. The results from this study will be presented at major conferences, provided as webinars, and the final report will be available on Prosper Canada’s website. Additionally, once pilot implementations of the service and tools are completed, Prosper Canada intends to work with their network of community organizations across Canada to further implement the innovation to benefit Canadians across the country. The Principal Investigators on this project are Varinder Gill and Lisa Li. |
| Research on software-aided long-form text comprehension | Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) – College and Community Innovation Program – Engage Grants for colleges | 2020 | Located in Toronto, Quillsoft Ltd. is a leader in assistive technology software advancing literacy skills — helping people read and write. Founded by Dr. Fraser Shein in 2000, in partnership with Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital, Quillsoft’s products, including WordQ, are used by over 2.5 million end-users, primarily in the education field. While WordQ, and other competing solutions primarily focus on writing, Quillsoft consistently hears from educators that students can continue to struggle with text comprehension. One of the most common complaints, from writing centres at colleges and universities, is that students can lack the capacity to properly understand relatively simple assignment questions. Teachers have consistently requested a true comprehension solution at the discourse level (e.g., understanding cause-and-effect, argumentation, etc.). Quillsoft sees a business opportunity in developing text comprehension technology and is planning to include such technology in the next generation of its products, scheduled for market release in 2022. Quillsoft is partnering with Seneca to build a proof-of-concept addition to its technology for a visualization tool that will provide readers with insight into multi-level relationships between concepts contained in long-format texts. Once fully developed, this new and unique text comprehension solution will enable Quillsoft to increase and diversify its revenue stream and increase global market penetration. |
| Categorization of videos using audio and text features | Ontario Centre of Innovation (OCI) – College Voucher for Technology Adoption (CVTA) | 2019 | Vubble, a Toronto-based media tech company, builds solutions for trustworthy digital video distribution and curation. The media tech company has a groundbreaking platform that curates, assesses and distributes personalized video content, using AI technology and human curation. In the second collaboration with Vubble, through an OCE College Voucher for Technology Adoption (CVTA), led by Professor Vida Movahedi from Seneca’s School of School of Software Design & Data Science, the Seneca team will focus on developing automated categorization of videos based on audio features. The Seneca research team will develop a proof-of-concept method for using audio feature vectors based on the frequency of keywords detected in transcribed audio. |
| Dynamic tagging of website content | Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) – College and Community Innovation Program – Engage Grants for colleges | 2019 | Toronto-based HVR Technologies has developed a platform that brings social communication to web surfing. Using their technology, users can leave notes overlaid on any website directly in the browser window. They can also share notes, create groups, share and reply to comments, follow other users and check their social feeds of shared items. HVR’s technology allows users to tag web pages or their elements (text, photos, video, etc.), however these tags often become obsolete when content is moved from one web location to another, as is common for websites to regularly update content to refresh user experience. The success of the HVR platform depends on significant enrolment and retention of users — obsolete tags are disruptive to user experience and satisfaction, so resolving this problem is important to HVR’s success. HVR partnered with Seneca to develop a method for dynamic content tagging to address this problem. The main technical challenge lies in finding an effective way for tracking the changes to the web content. Upon project completion, HVR aims to significantly expand the functionality and robustness of their platform, accelerating its market adoption. It will allow HVR to establish itself as a market leader providing social communication solutions for web browsing. This first-to-market position will create a significant advantage, enabling HVR to engage a broad range of business partners in the area of web marketing, to generate revenue. Currently, this market in Canada is dominated by big, U.S. companies. Successful market adoption of the HVR platform will help in establishing a Canadian presence in this industry. The technology has no inherent geographic limits and has the potential of being successful globally resulting in new, high paying jobs, helping to keep Canadian talent in Canada. |
| Transition from Angular 1 to Angular 7 platform for an Innovative Enterprise Software | Ontario Centre of Innovation (OCI) – College Voucher for Technology Adoption (CVTA) | 2019 | Bitnobi is a privacy protected, data-sharing platform that allows a data provider to set the rules of engagement for end-user data queries. This enterprise software acts as an interface between a data provider and end-users in order to provide a more efficient way of interacting with data sources without giving raw data or making copies. In collaboration with Seneca’s School of Information Communications Technology, under the supervision of Dr. Mark Shtern, two senior year research assistants will transition, Bitnobi’s current interface is powered by Angular 1 to Angular 7. This transition will make it easier for the Bitnobi development team to use different user interface objects depending on the user application. Deliverables include: (a) mapping software code that pertains to each user interface object; (b) transition of Bitnobi’s interface from Angular 1 to Angular 7; and (c) documentation of each new javascript module. |
| Data flow analytics to improve quality of seed-to-sale cannabis tracking | Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) – College and Community Innovation Program – Engage Grants for colleges | 2019 | Ample Organics is a world-leading cannabis technology provider. Today, their seed to sale tracking and reporting software is available on four continents and is used by seventy percent of Canada’s cannabis licence holders. This comprehensive solution enables licence holders to meet regulatory requirements, tracking data about every gram produced. With continually evolving regulations, Ample Organics has identified a need for improved data collection and management. Through this collaboration, Ample Organics will understand what data is necessary to support the production of cannabis products. Seneca will facilitate this by evaluating data flow in place at cannabis facilities and recommending an optimized data collection procedure to be considered for Ample Organics’ new software modules. The results of this project will enable Ample Organics to build an advanced analytics product supporting licence holders’ quality control and reporting capabilities. Improving data collection at cannabis facilities requires identifying the differences between the current state of data collection and what Ample Organics’ current products support. The Seneca team will expand on what data can be collected at cannabis facilities by understanding which data is important to collect. The project will result in formal data flow diagrams describing the current status of collected data, the creation of an optimized cannabis tracking data process flow to track all required variables needed for quality control, and building a software demonstration to visualize the data structure. |
| Medical Diagnostic Data Ingestion Optimization | Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) – College and Community Innovation program - Industrial Research Chairs for Colleges (IRCC) grants | 2019 | TeleMED Diagnostic Management Inc., founded in 2000, is a Toronto-based medical data management company that designs, builds and implements customized, electronic solutions for managing and sharing electrocardiogram (ECG) and other medical test data for the medical diagnostics industry. TeleMED’s solutions utilize cloud technology and feature leading-edge functionality for privacy protection, customized report generation and quality assurance monitoring. TeleMED's technology solutions have been commercially available for more than fifteen years, with their major customers being Canadian pathology laboratory networks. TeleMED’s ViTELflo platform provides labs and clinicians with a vendor and network agnostic single-platform management of data that streamlines operations with up to a 40% increase in productivity. TeleMED is collaborating with Professor Chris Tyler, NSERC Industrial Research Chair for Colleges (IRCC), and student Research Assistants from Seneca’s School of Information and Communications Technology to develop a validated ingestion tool for accepting a new file format of cardiology tests that will allow TeleMED to expand the services it offers its customers. Through the proposed collaborative applied research project, Seneca will develop new technology with TeleMED that will accept and convert all DICOM reports, from any medical diagnostic equipment, to a format that can be read and integrated into TeleMED's existing ViTELflo cardiology data management system. This project will enable TeleMED to continue to grow its business by adapting their software platform to accommodate the emerging DICOM medical diagnostics industry standard data file type, while maintaining a system that provides an efficient way for clinicians and their patients to access medical data. |
| AI/ Deep Learning to support marketing and sales information systems related to liquor | Ontario Centre of Innovation (OCI) – College Voucher for Technology Adoption (CVTA) | 2019 | Ample Organics is the leading cannabis software technology provider in Canada, dedicated to assisting licensed cannabis producers in their tracking of cannabis from seed-to-sale. In 2018, the company acquired Last Call Analytics, a retail data visualization platform designed to service the beverage alcohol industry. With this acquisition, Ample Organics is expanding to support liquor producers and distributors, as there is an opportunity to improve the sales of products by understanding their placement on store shelves. Ample Organics is currently collaborating with Seneca to develop a deep learning solution to support marketing and sales information systems regarding liquor. This applied research will utilize a computer vision system that will analyze a series of photos of liquor store shelves with a wide range of liquor bottles. The vision system will extract the count and identity of bottles on the shelves, to provide information on their shelf location and their neighbouring products, and to supplement the metadata in the photos of geolocation, time, and date. This is Seneca’s second project with Ample Organics, which will engage Professor Mark Buchner from the School of Information and Computer Technology as Principal Investigator to lead a group of student Research Assistants to use their expertise to solve this challenge. It is expected that many pictures of liquor store shelves will be taken to generate an algorithm capable of choosing and separating, counting and identifying, the liquor/wine bottles on the shelves from each other. For Ample Organics, this business opportunity to support the liquor distribution industry represents a pivotal step to broaden their goals as a company. |
| Cardiology laboratory test data-transfer system and clinician-validated viewing platform | Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) – College and Community Innovation program – Applied Research and Development (ARD) grants | 2019 | Founded in 2000, TeleMED Diagnostic Management Inc. is an Ontario-based medical data management company that designs, builds, and implements customized, electronic solutions for managing and sharing ECG and other vital-sign test data. TeleMED’s solutions utilize cloud technology and feature leading-edge functionality for privacy protection, customized report generation and quality assurance monitoring. TeleMED’s current solution, ViTELflo, for managing cardiology tests, is used by 70 percent of Canadian pathology laboratory networks and decreases clinician time by 15 minutes per test through short loading times, streamlined mark up and analysis, and report generation. Following on our previous collaboration funded by NSERC, TeleMED is working with Professor Catherine Leung and student Research Assistants from Seneca’s School of Information and Communications Technology to expand the types of tests that are compatible with ViTELflo to include image-based diagnostics. The challenge is not simply to develop an image-viewer, but to create an image viewer with tools and manipulators, annotation capabilities, and reporting tools that support the workflow of the clinician. With this primary goal in mind, the Seneca team will be developing and applying methods to reduce loading and latency times for very large file sizes, and examine the potential for tablet support to provide clinicians more flexibility in where and when they review diagnostic tests. With the ability to quickly and seamlessly load image- and non-image-based diagnostics data, TeleMED will be able to expand its client services, attract new clients, and provide clinicians with better and faster access to medical diagnostics data. |
| Development of Alteeve ScanCoreAI Decision Engine | Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) – College and Community Innovation program - Industrial Research Chairs for Colleges (IRCC) grants and Ontario Centre of Innovation (OCI) – College Voucher for Technology Adoption (CVTA) | 2019 | Alteeve is a Toronto-based developer of high-availability clusters for enterprise computing. Their Anvil! Platform, driven by their Intelligent Availability software, is designed to operate autonomously providing complete redundancy and fault-tolerance that can survive single hardware failure without interruption, achieving >99.9999% of historical uptime across all of its deployments. Alteeve has partnered with Seneca to develop an AI-based version of the Anvil’s decision engine, ScanCore. The current decision engine uses hardcoded heuristic algorithms to determine the best course of action in order to keep the system up and running. The downside of such approach is that it may not be able to effectively deal with scenarios when a sequence of, never seen before, rare events occurs. In order to provide a solution to this type of situations, Alteeve decided to engage Professor Chris Tyler and Dr. Allan Randall to collaborate on development of the ScanCoreAI. In this project the Seneca team will use Anvil’s SimEngine, a simulation software developed by Professor Tyler’s team in the previous Alteeve-Seneca collaboration. It will be used to simulate behaviour of the system under various conditions, to generate massive amounts of data. Subsequently this dataset will be used to develop Machine Learning algorithms for the ScanCoreAI. Once the project is completed, it will provide Alteeve with a robust improvement for their high-availability Anvil! Platform. |
| Method of implementation of internet-of-things compatible blockchain for supply-chain application | Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) – College and Community Innovation Program – Engage Grants for colleges | 2019 | Agile Blockchain Corporation is Toronto-based company that provides management solutions to food and manufacturing supply chains to generate a connected marketplace in a globalized world. Their supply chain process will enable the consumers to track product information, such as its origins and journey. Users will get access to vital information, which will facilitate to the consumers to be able verify certifications and product labels that are displayed on retailer shelves. Agile Blockchain Corp. approached Seneca to understand, develop, and optimize the novel blockchain architecture to create a proof-of-concept implementation. Currently, Agile is working with Professor Tanvir Alam and two student Research Assistants of Seneca's School of Information Technology Administration & Security to develop a transparent supply chain solution and asset management software platform, with the purpose to optimize process and workflow to any segment of the supply chain. The advantage of Agile's solution is that it is built on blockchain technology to enable distributed ledger immutability and non-repudiation of transaction and tracking data. This new solution will allow Agile to get a new product into the market, as well as facilitate the commercialization process in Canada's supply chains for a high-data volume solution, bringing a high impact to the multi-billion-dollar blockchain technology market. |
| TeamWorks TAVI Project | FedDev Health Ecosphere. | 2018 | Founded by Dr. Sylvain Plante, an interventional cardiologist at Southlake Regional Health Centre (Newmarket, Ontario), Inideo Inc. offers a suite of cardiac specific patient information flow and electronic medical records applications. The software has a significant impact on healthcare by enabling time and costs savings through workflow efficiency. In order to expand their product offering, Inideo and Southlake partnered with Professor Asma Paracha and student research assistants from Seneca’s School of Information and Communications Technology to develop new modules to handle patient information flow related to a novel surgical procedure: transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI). The project requires the research team to assess the workflow needs of TAVI procedures, adapt existing databases and create a useful web-interface and reporting system. |
| Increasing Accuracy of Text Extraction for a Single Category (Website Privacy Policy) of Legal Documents | Ontario Centre of Innovation (OCI) – College Voucher for Technology Adoption (CVTA) | 2018 | Clausehound Inc. supplies business law training tools and curriculum to educational organizations including colleges, universities and startup services organizations. Clausehound's automations in contract drafting makes negotiation easier, and Clausehound collects "deal points" into inventory, to benefit deal negotiators on their current and future negotiations. Clausehound’s products are currently in-market and are generating revenues; however, improving the accuracy at which information is retrieved from their internally-developed legal knowledge repository, and routed to users for review and drafting, is crucial for the growth of their customer base. Building on a previous applied research project with Seneca, Clausehound is collaborating with Prof. Tanvir Alam to develop machine learning algorithms that will maximize the accuracy of text extraction and comparison from a single category of legal documents (website privacy policies) where a significant amount of data is available to train the algorithms. |
| Advancing Video Categorization | Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) – College and Community Innovation Program – Engage Grants for colleges, Ontario Centre of Innovation (OCI) – Voucher for Innovation and Productivity (VIP), and SOSCIP. | 2018 | Vubble, a Toronto-based media tech company, builds solutions for trustworthy digital video distribution and curation. The need for automation of video curation is prevalent, as video is quickly becoming the world’s dominant form of media consumption. Using a combination of algorithms and human curators, Vubble searches the internet to locate video content of interest to its users. Vubble has experienced significant year-over-year growth since incorporation, with an expanding customer base in the education and media spaces. Vubble is collaborating with Dr. Vida Movahedi and student research assistants from Seneca’s School of Information and Communications Technology to develop a machine-learning algorithm that will automatically output highly probable categories for videos. With this algorithm implemented into the Vubble workflow, they will be able to better address customer demand, while increasing their productivity and competitiveness. |
| Development of Human Body Measurement workflow for 3D Scanning System | Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) – College and Community Innovation program - Industrial Research Chairs for Colleges (IRCC) grants and Ontario Centre of Innovation (OCI) – College Voucher for Technology Adoption (CVTA) | 2018 | Perfitt Inc. is a Canadian company that is developing a photogrammetry system for fashion applications. Building upon previous research collaboration with Seneca, Perfitt aims to quickly and unobtrusively obtain a 3D model of a human subject using multiple cameras and photogrammetry techniques. The resulting model is then analyzed to obtain measurements for bespoke clothing production and off-the-shelf clothing size recommendations. Taking body measurements for bespoke garments is a complex task that requires a lot of skill and experience. Being able to translate that skill into the controlling software is critical to the market success of the proposed system. To solve this challenge, Perfitt turned to Seneca to leverage the expertise of Professors Philip Sparks (School of Fashion), and Chris Tyler (School of Software Development and Data Science), along with student Research Assistants: Tia McQuaid (School of Fashion), and Josue Quilon Barros (School of Software Development and Data Science). A group of over 20 subjects with different body shapes and skin tones, were recruited with the purpose to perform 3D body scanning and to take detailed traditional, hand measurements. The data obtained through this process was then used to develop algorithms taking digital measurements off the 3D model, and to calibrate them for accuracy. The incorporation of the automatic human body measurement capabilities into the 3D scanning system, is a significant step for Perfitt in its efforts to build a comprehensive solution for the fashion industry. |
| Personalized real-time location-based service recommendation | Ontario Centre of Innovation (OCI) – College Voucher for Technology Adoption (CVTA) | 2018 | Wazzio, established in 2013, is a technology company that has been offering value-added services to IT resellers that augment their product portfolios. In 2017, Wazzio identified an underserved market with high growth potential, spurring the development of the Rylli app platform, connecting customers to service providers. Launched in 2018, Rylli targets two audiences: service providers with immediate availability and busy people who need to access various services instantly. At its core is a realization that, very often, people need access specific service(s) immediately and do not want to — or cannot afford to — spend a lot of time researching potential providers only to discover that the provider’s next availability is weeks away. Since the key concept behind the app is on-demand access to services, Rylli’s core driver is a real-time recommendation engine that will present consumers with a list of relevant service providers who have availability at the time of search. Wazzio will engage with Dr. Mariam Daoud, from Seneca’s School of ICT, to develop customized data mining algorithms for this engine to enhance their existing platform. Seneca’s team will research various techniques to reveal individual and group patterns and purchasing tendencies, which in combination with other information will be used as a basis for generating accurate recommendations, specific for each consumer. Receiving meaningful, accurate service suggestions will have a significant, positive impact on Rylli consumers’ experience and perception of the app, leading subsequently to higher customer satisfaction, customer retention, positive app reviews, more subscribers and ultimately revenue growth for Wazzio. |
| Utilizing Machine Learning Techniques to Understand Connectivity and Usage Patterns for Improved Online Contact Search | Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) – College and Community Innovation Program – Engage Grants for colleges and Ontario Centre of Innovation (OCI) – Voucher for Innovation and Productivity (VIP) | 2017 | The Networking Effect (TNE) is an all-in-one e-tool that supports connectivity and the building of business relationships. It lets individuals and organizations develop, grow and manage their business network quickly and easily. More than just a database of business cards, TNE’s goal is to go beyond traditional services such as LinkedIn with a much stronger focus on business, and even personal, interests and goals. TNE is collaborating with Dr. Allan Randall from Seneca’s School of Information and Communication Technology, who will utilize machine learning techniques and principles to add intelligence to the search capability of the existing TNE platform. This intelligence will drive better connections, and significantly differentiate TNE from other products on the market. |
| Improving online learning accessibility | Ontario Centre of Innovation (OCI) – Voucher for Innovation and Productivity (VIP) | 2016 | Blindside Networks provides the BigBlueButton platform, an open source web conferencing system for distance education. Blindside has partnered with Seneca since 2011, to enhance their BigBlueButton platform. Blindside is collaborating with Professor Fardad Soleimanloo and his students from Seneca’s School of Information and Communication Technologies to ensure the HTML5 client for BigBlueButton meets the accessibility needs for all students. For example, a deaf student requires live captioning capabilities; a blind student requires all text is available to a screen reader. HTML5 support for mobile browsers is still emerging and is not fully adhering to the standards defined in Web Accessibility Initiative Accessible Rich Internet Applications (WAI-ARIA). The Seneca team is using its deep expertise in web technologies to develop a WAI-ARIA compliant HTML5 client for BigBlueButton. |
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