The innovation and research products, services and processes crowded the college’s Student Commons, and the Gymnasium on April 13 where the students were demonstrating their ideas, accompanied with models, mainly to the judges.
The research and innovation strategies were ensured by the college with industries, institutions and community partners throughout the city.
Doug Wotherspoon, vice president of innovation and strategy, believes that at the college, hopes and dreams turn into a lifelong success and the applied research is at the heart of this strategic plan.
“The soft skills are some of the most important skills, and they get developed and really nurtured and matured through applied research, and efforts around are really solving problems whether be community association or businesses of all kinds and shapes,” he said.
The theme for this year’s research showcase was RE/ACTION or Research in Action. The faculty has been doing it for many years.
Cristina Holguin-Pando, the director of applied research and innovation, entrepreneurship, says that applied research showcase is a refresh showcase.
The college ensures that the applied research make academic experience of students to become a journey of personal discovery.
“Perhaps most importantly, students’ participation in applied research can be a transformative and professional experience for them and has the potential to change the future of their careers,” Holguin-Pando said.
Three of the projects were considered as winning projects in the event: pressure tube measuring device with the partnership of Canadian Nuclear Laboratories; their goal is to develop a system to measure segment of decommissioned pressure tube, a hydroponic living wall project that emphasises on automation and deficiency, with partnership of the Algonquin’s horticultural industries program, and Cerberus Explosive Ordnance Disposal tool devised for safe excavation and extraction of explosive devices, with the medical engineering partnership.
According to Wotherspoon, the vice president of innovation and strategy, the industries working with the students and the faculty can both be exhilarating and probably a little patience-wearing, and the time and care they find to really work with them to advance both themselves and the students, is a gift they are giving the college and students.
“We know that we can work with industry, especially small and medium sized enterprises that often times don’t have the resources that they require easily as large organizations to really move and innovate their thinking and their product further along, and that type of coordinated effort benefits obviously our students, our industries and ultimately couldn’t be done without the partnership of groups,” Wotherspoon said.
Students often times do research outside of the class hours. This is done as an extra work but it can guarantee them that it will pay off for them and their colleagues in the long terms.
Terri Storey, a CEO of Snapclarity– an application for mental health issues among youth, believes that entrepreneurs as innovators are agile. They move fast and they can move faster than bigger and larger industries.
“I think what’s cool about being an entrepreneur is a start-up community,” she said.
Overall the innovations included research from 12 different programs of study, tackled by over 250 students, with over 75 exhibits.
Some of the other research projects included search for the perfect cup of coffee that was based on a machine deciding which coffee has a better brand value, a biofidelic ear canal test rig with blast pressure sensors to test the efficacy of ear protection equipment from shockwave damage caused by concussive blasts, and an integrated solar technology for construction purposes and scalable building product in solar panels for use in homes and commercial buildings that seek a net-zero efficiency.