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Business: Gordon Wood Optical          Industry: Retail Trade           Owner: Kam Tung Ip                  

Located In: Richmond Hill, ON             Employees: 3 (including 2 registered opticians)

Sponsoring Business Organization: Richmond Hill Small Business Enterprise Centre (SBEC)

Academic Partner: OCAD U

Gordon Wood Optical is listed as a health care provider, offering both optical services and eyewear products. The business fulfils almost all of its operations in their store, where they perform eye exams, frame adjustments and repairs, and sell a diverse, unique collection of eyewear products. Kam has aspirations to expand her clientele, target more new families and households, expand to multiple locations and eventually to introduce her own line of eyewear products.

Challenges: The business is experiencing a loss of customer loyalty, due to multiple factors: access to cheaper alternatives and cost restrictions, an excess of competition, alternatives with more convenient locations. Kam feels that budgeting and investment strategies are also a challenge for the business – prioritizing the order and degree to which investments are made.

Opportunities: Kam has indicated that there is a large amount of housing development in Richmond Hill, which may present opportunities for an influx of target customers and clientele. Kam has indicated that content creation and online marketing could be a full-time job on its own, and it would be ideal for her to hire someone for this role.

Industry: Food

Owner: Shifa Begmohamed

Located In: Richmond Hill, ON 

Employees: 1

Sponsoring Business Organization: Richmond Hill Small Business Enterprise Centre (SBEC) 

Academic Partner: OCAD U 

Description:

Dear Snackers is a socially- and sustainably-conscious snack food company. They offer a line of nutritious and delicious easy-snacking puffs called makhana, also known as popped water lily seeds. Their three distinct flavours – Golden Turmeric, Sweet + Salty, and BBQ – can be found on the dearsnackers.com website, e-commerce platforms such as well.ca and amazon.ca, as well as in Ontario retail stores.

Dear Snackers products are cultivated with compassion. Partnering directly with farmers in Bihar, India, Shifa supports sustainable food systems and traditional agriculture, in turn stimulating the economies of both her native and adopted lands.

Challenges: 

The brand aspires for her products to be synonymous with health foods. Her vision is for Dear Snackers to have a strong presence in big box retailers such as Walmart, Costco, Shoppers Drug Mart, etc., and ultimately aspires to expand into the US market.

Opportunities: 

Dear Snackers has a unique opportunity to be one of the first in the makhana snack food space. Shifa acknowledges that makhana is an ingredient less commonly known to North American consumers, and that an important part of her success will come from an innovative approach to educating the market on its many benefits. Shifa would like to be able to build or have access to a marketing team, brand managers, and designers who can help her succeed and realize her vision.

Insights:  

Shifa could benefit profoundly from direct business support to develop effective and resilient solutions and strategies. As a whole, she would like to focus on creating a holistic and powerful business model, execution plan, and marketing strategy. Specifically, capital support or human talent would elevate Dear Snackers significantly in building the brand both online and offline.

Industry: Pets 

Owner: Zach Sheng (Co-founder), Senia Wang (Co-founder)  

Located In: Richmond Hill, ON  

Employees: 3 

Sponsoring Business Organization: Richmond Hill Small Business Enterprise Centre (SBEC)  

Academic Partner: OCAD U  

Description: 

Charmy Pet sells and produces high-quality, natural pet treats and chews, tailored to each pets health and dietary needs. 

Charmy Pet helps pets live longer, healthier, and happier lives, through highly customizable pet food products that provide the health and nutritional requirements of every pet. Their goal is to Educate people about the benefits of a natural diet and the link to their pets health and life expectancy. They also care about creating a community of owners, pets and businesses that care about providing the best quality of food and care for the animals. 

Challenges:  

A small team makes it hard to expand the business since they are mostly focused on sustaining the current business operations. Their low engagement on social media seems to indicate the need to improve their marketing strategy or content.  

Opportunities:  

Limited financial support, and lack of resources in this topic, having to resort to kick starting their new products. 

Insights:   

Financial support. An infusion of capital would help fund the new product lineup, as well as any tech/platform improvements. Human resources could help delegate and distribute the workload, monitor social media, create more content and attend to customer feedback, deal with supply chain issues and driving sales. 

Industry: Environmental, Urban Planning  

Located In: Toronto 

Sponsoring Business Organization: City of Toronto  

Academic Partner: Toronto Metropolitan University   

Description: 

Local and Provincial agencies are constantly shaping the built environment to connect people and places more efficiently through the development and expansion of linear infrastructure such as roads, bridges, tunnels, underpasses, overpasses, transit networks, rail corridors, among others. In the attempt to provide greater connectivity, faster or more reliable mobility networks through the construction of this infrastructure, inadvertent negative impacts on the public realm are often overlooked and underestimated. These secondary effects may pose risks on the safety and perception of safety at certain vulnerable locations that may become susceptible to gender based violence, vandalism, assaults, robberies, and other unsafe actions. How does environmental design impact the safety of public spaces and the built environment in Toronto’s vulnerable communities? 

Industry: Health, Manufacturing

Academic Partner:Technology Access Centre in Bio-Innovation (CAT-B) – College La Cité 

Located In: Ottawa 

Description:

Company has worked for several years with La Cité to develop a blood collection tube for cell free DNA.  Development was completed late in 2019 but further work was interrupted by the Covid 19 pandemic.  Recently, a European company has shown interest in the product and has identified a potentially large customer.  The plan is to develop a small-scale GMP manufacturing capability for the solution at La Cité.  The solution will be shipped to a European company that will add a precise volume of the solution into a blood tube that they currently manufacture. 

The manufacture of the solution will be expanded from laboratory scale (<500 mL) to small industrial scale (5,000 mL].  In the process, appropriate Quality Control procedures will be put into place and a Standard Operating Protocol will be developed.

Industry: Food

Academic Partner:Technology Access Centre in Bio-Innovation (CAT-B) – College La Cité 

Located In: Ottawa

Description:

Company is a beekeeping farm located in Vankleek Hill, Ontario, that owns a license to sell honey nationally. The business wants to expand their markets by producing therapeutics products, such as infusions and oxymel. Oxymel is a medicinal drink made of honey, vinegar and herbs. The purpose of this project is to support the company in the production of oxymel, focusing on formulation, nutritional value and self-life.

Industry: Cannabis

Academic Partner:Technology Access Centre in Bio-Innovation (CAT-B) – College La Cité 

Located In: Ottawa

Description:

Studies on cannabis are increasing rapidly and it is sometimes not quite clear the positive impact on human health. One compound produced by the plant, the CBD, seems very promising. The goal of the study is to identify the myth and reality about this molecule. CATB will provide a report based on peer review publication, clinical trial results and patents to the company on these topics:

1. CBD used for clarity of mind and sleep
2. CBD for anxiety, stress, PTSD
3. CBD and pain relief
4. CBD and exercise

Industry: Environment 

Academic Partner:Centre for Advancement of Water and Wastewater Technologies (CAWT) – Fleming College

Located In: Lindsay

Description:

A local non-profit has concerns related to the quality and treatment of a water body. They will work with CAWT to determine the effectiveness of using calcium peroxide (or other possible chemical solutions) to improve oxygen levels within Swan Lake.

Industry: Auto

Academic Partner:Energy & Power Innovation Centre (EPIC) – Mohawk College

Located In: Hamilton

Description:

Company aims to monitor and track in real-time functionality safety and associated data collection of equipment as well as verify carbon footprint reductions to calculate accurate accruement of carbon credits from the already deployed hydrogen units installed in transportation trucks. These units aim to increase fuel efficiency as the hydrogen is mixed in the traditional combustion engine process. This project will support the initial data acquisition, transmission, storage, and visualization framework required to later test and implement the platform as part of an additional project in the near future (2-3 months).

Industry: Environment

Academic Partner:Centre for Advancement of Water and Wastewater Technologies (CAWT) – Fleming College

Located In: Lindsay

Description:

Company has developed an innovative material for contaminant removal in water and wastewater. To explore market opportunities, working with Fleming College’s Centre for Advancement of Water and Wastewater Technologies (CAWT), a series of bench scale experiments will be performed. Company is primarily interested in removal and reduction of chlorine as well as salt. To determine removal efficiencies, and market potential, bench scale testing will be performed using varying configurations (layers) of company’s innovative material, under varying concentration of chlorine and salt. The results of these experiments will provide the company with the third-party data they need to support future market opportunities.

Industry: Auto, Computer Science

Academic Partner:Energy & Power Innovation Centre (EPIC) – Mohawk College

Located In: Hamilton

Description:

Continue the proof of concept of a Data Analytics platform for elevator car performance monitoring. The proposed project will expand the proof of concept from local to remote operation of the existing system; it will prepare the existing data acquisition equipment to send information to the cloud under different operating modes (e.g., WiFi, Wired Ethernet, cellular communication). At the end of the project, the remote platform will be ready to be deployed to approximately six (6) elevators across different jurisdictions where the team will retrieve data to further fine tune the data acquisition, analysis and visualization.

Industry: Manufacturing

Academic Partner:Lambton Manufacturing Innovation Centre (LMIC) – Lambton College

Located In: Sarnia

Description:

The purpose of this project is to grow viral spike protein that can be used in rapid antigen testing from a plant. Company has worked with many partners to develop a strain of plant to produce the covid spike protein for antigen testing. The team will need to run fermentations with varying conditions, then separate and purify the spike protein to maximize production. The goal of this project is to scale up production of spike protein through plant growth.

Industry: Agriculture

Academic Partner:Lambton Manufacturing Innovation Centre (LMIC) – Lambton College

Located In: Sarnia

Description:

The purpose of the second project is to modify an existing plant growing and test this system as a seedling starter by transplanting produced seedlings into traditional soil pots. Variations of substrate size, initial substrate moisture, and transplanting timing will be done to optimize the process. The goal of this project is to be able to allow the company to add this function to their prototype for an increased marketability.

Industry: Manufacturing

Academic Partner:Lambton Manufacturing Innovation Centre (LMIC) – Lambton College

Located In: Sarnia

Description:

A Canadian owned and operated technology company based in Sarnia, Ontario has extensive hands-on experience in field applications and is relentlessly passionate about research, design, and custom manufacturing. They are introducing new innovative technologies that enhance safety and efficiency to petrochemical facilities and power plants across the globe. This project with LMIC will utilize 3D models of two of their products to be able to expedite manufacturing process helping with accuracy and efficiency. This will increase sales and revenue.

Industry: Manufacturing

Academic Partner:Lambton Manufacturing Innovation Centre (LMIC) – Lambton College

Located In: Sarnia

Description:

Company’s patented testing tool will change the way people perform pipe alterations and tie-ins. This means increased cost savings, reduction in water usage, and enhanced safety. Utilizing 3D models of their tools developed by LMIC, company will be able to expedite manufacturing process helping with accuracy and efficiency. This will increase sales and revenue.

Industry: Cannabis

Academic Partner: Centre for Natural Products and Medical Cannabis (NPMC)  – Loyalist College

Located In: Belleville

Description: 

The innovation challenge for the company is the creation of a reliable and standardized synergistic blend of Cannabidiol, Cannabigerol and the specific terpenes of Beta-caryophyllene, Humulene and Linalool. A synergistic blend of varying doses could then be used in compounding a topical treatment for patients. The new market for topical products made with cannabis is growing quickly. Products that are of interest for everyday prevention and relief of symptoms due to chronic illness have many professionals in integrative healthcare fields interested in product referrals for their patients.

Industry: Cannabis 

Academic Partner: Centre for Natural Products and Medical Cannabis (NPMC)  – Loyalist College 

Located In: Belleville 

 Description: 

Company is looking to establish SOP’s defining procedures for the drying and milling of cannabis to be used as input material for their pre-roll automation system utilized by their Cannabis customers in North America. Company can provide a desktop feed system to test finished milled material. Particle size distribution, moisture content and bulk density of the milled material should be considered.  The properties of dry milled input material is critical for efficient and problem free production of pre-rolls. Customers using the system who adopt these universal SOP’s will see consistent product flowability and auger feed system handling, reduced residue buildup, consistent dose based on individual recipes, increased throughput and consistent pre-roll quality. 

Industry: Public Administration  

Located In: Toronto 

Sponsoring Business Organization: City of Toronto  

Academic Partner: Toronto Metropolitan University, Centennial College 

Description: 

Vulnerable populations, such as those without financial resources and social networks, are typically the most hard-hit when disaster strikes. The City of Toronto manages the Emergency Social Services program to provide for residents who are unable to provide for themselves when their typical resources are not available. Generally, this includes those unable to remain in their residences due to a hazard event, but could also include those required to stay at home under order from an emergency services organization, or those required to quarantine or isolate due to a pandemic. Issues of homelessness not caused by an emergency event are outside the scope of this question. 

What percentage of the population is considered vulnerable by emergency management standards? What percentage of the population would be considered self-sufficient and what personal emergency preparedness planning would they need to undertake to remain so? What is the City of Toronto’s capacity to provide for those made vulnerable by an emergency currently, and what percentage should future resources be allocated for? 

Industry: Public Administration, Tech

Located In: Toronto

Sponsoring Business Organization: City of Toronto 

Academic Partner: Toronto Metropolitan University

Description:

Inequitable access to essential digital services, goods, and resources has placed distinct communities at risk. The consequences of lack of access include: an inability to maintain the basic activities of daily living, to meaningfully participate in civic life, and to pursue a better life for oneself. Access to digital resources and connectivity is not evenly distributed in Toronto, with certain groups being vulnerable and therefore negatively impacted by digital equity issues. What role(s) can the City of Toronto play in the delivery of essential digital services to equity deserving and distinct populations?

Industry: Health

Academic Partner:Technology Access Centre in Bio-Innovation (CAT-B) – College La Cité 

Located In: Ottawa

Description:

The goal is to encapsulate a specific drug compound to enable an extended release for the use in in vitro and in vivo studies. Main objectives are to 1) Use an established protocol to generate the encapsulated microsphere 2) In vitro growth assessment of the encapsulated compound in cell lines 3) Quality control of the encapsulated microspheres by HPLC. Company will be provided an optimized protocol for the drug encapsulation

Industry: Environment

Academic Partner:Bio-Industrial Process Research Centre (BPRC), Lambton College
Located In: Sarnia

Description:
The company’s mission is to terraform our own planet by providing interconnected solutions to food waste, soil degradation and climate change. Company is currently using invertebrates and other technology to transform food waste to compost and seek to increase the value of this compost by producing next generation and renewable agricultural inputs that increase yield, enhance plant resistance to pests and sequester carbon.

BPRC will determine the effect of renewable agricultural inputs alone and in formulated combinations, on seed germination and seedling development. At project’s end, this knowledge will be delivered to the company to inform their next steps.

Industry: Environment

Academic Partner:Bio-Industrial Process Research Centre (BPRC), Lambton College

Located In: Sarnia

Description:
The purpose of the project is to run trials on the prototype developed for the treatment of pharmaceuticals using ozone saturation. Variations of flowrates, residence time, and dosing will be done to optimize the process. The goal of this project is to be able to allow the company to add this function to their prototype for increased marketability and to solve a major problem in the wastewater treatment area.

Business: Nerpys

Industry: Food

Owner: Michael Burgess

Located In: Richmond Hill, ON 

Employees: 1

Sponsoring Business Organization: Richmond Hill Small Business Enterprise Centre (SBEC) 

Academic Partner: OCAD U 

Description:

Nerpys is an award winning line of delicious and flavourful hot sauces, seasoning rubs, and marinades which provide his customers with a unique culinary experience. Nerpys offers a variety of hot pepper sauces, jerk seasoning, curry marinade, BBQ sauce, as well as scotch bonnet pepper seeds and flakes – a highly flavourful pepper, and a staple in Jamaican cuisine. Nerpys has also introduced coffee to their brand, and has goals to expand into this industry. The products are made from all natural ingredient products can be found through their websitenerpys.ca, and in a wide variety of retail stores across Ontario.

Challenges: 

Nerpys was founded from a passion for a “good plate of food”. Michael recognized a gap in available products in Canada that brought justice to the Jamaican food palette. In 2009, he began innovating recipes, committed to realizing his vision. Michael continues innovating towards his aspirations to increase presence online and in store, reaching consumers globally.

The following are some particular challenge areas: 

●  Not being able to incorporate a big scale distribution channel.

●  Unable to get into bigger online platforms like Amazon.

●  Risk of not acquiring new customers due to lack of events and interaction.

●  Risk of losing retail partners because of insufficiency of sales representatives.

●  Losing onlines sales due to shipping process and cost.

Opportunities: 

Nerpys recognizes an opportunity in the market – there is a vibrant and growing demand for great tasting, spicy food among todays diverse communities.

There are currently no employees, the owner is in charge of R&D and distribution. There are occasional part times and volunteers for farmers markets and events. Production is outsourced.

Insights:  

There is room to improve the branding and marketing strategy, and develop strategy and branding for launching new products. Sales and distribution team could use more support. Nerpys could benefit from human resources in the sales department to expand to Ontario and outside the province.

Support is needed from a creative team to manage new content and social media exposure.

Nerpys could benefit from capital for advertising.

Industry: Healthcare

Owner: Walid Mowaswes

Located In: Richmond Hill, ON 

Employees: 10

Sponsoring Business Organization: Richmond Hill Small Business Enterprise Centre (SBEC) 

Academic Partner: OCAD U  

Description:

Pharma Guide offers software modules and services to help pharmacy owners and pharmacists be efficient and compliant with regulatory standards. Their goal is to support pharmacies in the journey to becoming digitally driven, and optimize patient outcomes.

Challenges: 

Ensuring they are up-to-date with regulatory standards. 

Opportunities: 

Opportunities to use machine learning to help pharmacists determine supply chain and inventory shortages more proactively, allowing them to find alternative medications for patients earlier.

Insights:  

Bridging the gap between physician and pharmacist allows physicians to understand medication adherence. Human-centered design is important for gaining critical feedback and test-driving the software.

Industry: Health

Owner: Mike Manserra

Located In: Richmond Hill, ON 

Employees: 2

Sponsoring Business Organization: Richmond Hill Small Business Enterprise Centre (SBEC) 

Academic Partner: OCAD U 

Description:

HearBliss offers high quality noise canceling earplugs that are customized to fit womens ear canal. The business was inspired by their personal struggle for finding the right earplug as a woman and they envision to create hearing related products that are inclusive in nature for people with disabilities as well. They want to create a full slate of products that are related to hearing for various activities like swimming, music, etc.

Challenges: 

The business is losing out on existing customers and money in freight charges due to Covid.

Opportunities: 

They can focus on customers with disabilities to develop better and inclusive products. For Mike, outreach is an obstacle but he indicated that social media platforms and influencers can become a great source for marketing the product.

Insights:  

HearBliss could benefit from R&D for a new product, repository of marketing resources, better integration with local manufacturers. Product Design researchers can surely help Mike out with R&D, better marketing strategists or softwares or training can guide him in 360 branding.

Maybe higher tax refunds can be an incentive for local manufacturers to team up with local businesses.

Industry: Appliances

Owner: Paul Reeves

Located In: Richmond Hill, ON 

Employees: 1

Sponsoring Business Organization: Richmond Hill Small Business Enterprise Centre (SBEC) 

Academic Partner: OCAD U  

Description:

Refresh Fans produces high-quality HVLS (high-volume, low speed) fans for industrial, agricultural, and manufacturing settings.

Challenges: 

To grow the infusion of high-quality HLVS fans in workspaces throughout the country, which improves the quality of life of workers, animals, and offers improved energy efficiency and sustainability. Balancing the budget long-term. bringing more manufacturing operations into southern Ontario, and growing the business into new markets such as restaurants. 

Opportunities: 

There is a severe financial situation. The Pandemic, and the ineligibility for government assistance put refresh fans in a difficult position since many of their major clients (manufacturers + suppliers) had to shut down intermittently due to the pandemic. Continuing to access the “wealth of talent” in the GTA to bring manufacturing operations into Ontario, and grow their business through an expected increase in the number of warehouse operations.

Insights:  

Marketing. How to spread awareness and education about the benefits of HSLV fans to a broader audience. Establishing a brand identity. Paul would be able to re-hire many employees that had to be let go due to the pandemic. He also indicated a desire to bring all manufacturing operations into Ontario.

Industry: Art

Owner: Julia Wehkamp and Amanda Dunn

Located In: Richmond Hill, ON 

Employees: 4

Sponsoring Business Organization: Richmond Hill Small Business Enterprise Centre (SBEC) 

Academic Partner: OCAD U  

Description:

One Art Nation provides high-quality resources and programs to educate people on the process of buying and selling art. Their resources apply to all, including first time buyers, those with established collections, or professional advisors.

Challenges: 

The business was created to empower and captivate collectors and professionals by providing high-quality online art education through art experts around the world.​ Their aspirations are to become recognized as the “go to” resource for all aspects of art collecting. Their service relies on their network of industry experts for content, so One Art Nation is looking to support their current experts while expanding their network to new experts.

Opportunities: 

COVID-19 has disrupted networking and exposure generally gained through in-person art fairs and events, and has led to many experiencing online fatigue.

Additionally, Julia and Amanda feel they are facing obstacles in getting out of the start up phase. They have a small team, meaning they each have to take on many roles and positions.

Establishing more local partnerships and relationships may present opportunities to expand the business, especially in the Canadian market. Opportunities identified by One Art Nation are increasing digital marketing and content creation, as well as reach through enhanced partnerships and online presence. 

Insights:  

They could benefit from SEO/SEM expertise, since they rely heavily on search engines for customer acquisition. Capital would help Julia and Amanda to set up SEO and the type of automated tech they envision for their site. They would benefit as well from business mentors, which they do not currently have but have had in the past.

Industry: Business Management

Owner: Matt Foran & Vanessa Dunn

Located In: Richmond Hill, ON 

Employees: 11

Sponsoring Business Organization: Richmond Hill Small Business Enterprise Centre (SBEC) 

Academic Partner: OCAD U 

Description:

SaaS Workforce management tool that assesses employees in a business and recommends appropriate up-skilling areas.

Challenges: 

The business aims to create a comprehensive assessment tool for employees to recognise their potential and have transferable skill sets for their future. They aspire to be the pioneer in the measure of Adaptability Quotion (AQ) in the industry. They want to spread their business in international markets. They are struggling to validate the product and acquire new clients because they are in a pre-revenue phase. Due to covid, a lot of companies are looking to create areas of transformation. 

Opportunities: 

Workforce assessment tools are going to be the future of changing organizational roles. The upcoming launch in spring is their opportunity to showcase their work.

Insights:  

They need financial capital. Better UX/UI of their product. Need to spread the word about their business through marketing. UX/UI designers can help them build better products as well as websites. The government grants and BIA affiliation can help them do more R&D and keep the company afloat. An appropriate marketing plan and channel for reaching new customers.

Industry: Business Management

Owner: Matt Foran & Vanessa Dunn

Located In: Richmond Hill, ON 

Employees: 2-10

Sponsoring Business Organization: Richmond Hill Small Business Enterprise Centre (SBEC) 

Academic Partner: OCAD U 

Description:

They provide eLearning services for academic institutes as well as corporate organizations. Simple Movement aims to develop custom eCourses or build upon existing in-class experiences for academic setting. They are also working to customize a Learning Management System (LMS) and training the staff and management for navigation and maintenance in a corporate setting.

Challenges: 

They are trying to expand their client based Canada wide as well as international as compared to current which is dominated by clients only based in Ontario. They also want to create and design a service which can be sold or subscribed by their customers. They are trying to grow their business in terms of bringing new customers on board and they aspire to keep adding new services to expand their reach to potential clients.

Opportunities: 

Expanding their business and reaching out more clients is the biggest barrier. Another area that they struggle with is no feedback from their clients which could help them for future projects. Lack of capital to invest in marketing strategies and hiring permanent staff.

Conferences were a good opportunity to reach out to new potential clients but it has stopped due to the pandemic. Currently in the process of hiring 2 permanent staff members which would help them to distribute work and focus on brining more clients.

Insights:  

Capital and a strategy to expand and reach out to more potential clients would help Vanessa the most. Permanent staff and eLearning accessibility department to design, manage and plan their projects. Access to more cliental network would help, as well as more collaboration with colleges/universities.

Industry: Food

Academic Partner:Bio-Industrial Process Research Centre (BPRC), Lambton College

Located In: Sarnia

Description:

Goal is to optimize fermentation parameters for microbial production of heme, a non-animal based flavour ingredient used in food applications.  BPRC will provide knowledge to private sector partner on improved fermentation parameters for growing heme producing bacterium and for isolating the targeted heme end product.

Industry: Agriculture

Academic Partner:Bio-Industrial Process Research Centre (BPRC), Lambton College

Located In: Sarnia

Description:

Company researchers have recently demonstrated improvement of agricultural soil productivity through manipulation of soil microbes as well as potential mechanisms of action via natural antibiotic production. At this point, the identity and quantity of the antibiotics is unknown, thus representing a barrier to their goal of commercializing new bioproducts for use in sustainable and regenerative agricultural applications. BPRC will analyze fermentation broth generated by experimental fermentations completed at the company for antibiotics via HPLC and GC. Data on the identity and quantity of antibiotics produced under different fermentation conditions will be provided.

Industry: Management

Owner: Bob Wiele

Located In: Richmond Hill, ON 

Employees: 2-50

Sponsoring Business Organization: Richmond Hill Small Business Enterprise Centre (SBEC) 

Academic Partner: OCAD U 

Description:

They offer the only all-in-one psychometric, team building tool, and application framework out there.

They help teams speak the same “language” and understand why certain team members may be better suited to different tasks, as well as how to improve team dynamics and efficiency. 

Challenges: 

One Smart Worlds mission is to lower communication barriers and unify teams in an effort to boost productivity and drive positive business outcomes. To merge the existing methodologies of the business into a tech, educational or publishing company — thus expanding the reach of their unique value proposition.

Opportunities: 

Access to capital for scaling and expanding the current business offering. Opportunities for industry-wide adoption exist, on par with Myers Briggs and other widely adopted scales of communication and measurement. Introducing channel partners such as educational institutions who would be ideally suited for volume-licensing opportunities.

Insights:  

Access to labour and financial resources. Injections of capital would be leveraged for further digitization of the current methods and materials, which would in turn allow for easier distribution and dissemination, thus driving growth.

Industry: Creative

Owner: Daniel Tika (COO) & Shavae Foote (CEO)

Located In: Richmond Hill, ON 

Employees: 

Sponsoring Business Organization: Richmond Hill Small Business Enterprise Centre (SBEC) 

Academic Partner: OCAD U 

Description:

Sequence 21 produces high quality media productions and customizable films.

Challenges: 

Produce media for customers, taking in consideration their creative ideas while providing opportunities for young film enthusiasts who are just starting their careers. To establish a studio place to make in house productions. Expand their customer and industry professionals network. Grow their training and education program to help young filmmakers enter the film industry. 

Opportunities: 

The biggest barrier the business faces is its high start-up cost and the lack of financial and personnel resources. Expand their customer portfolio through partnerships with small businesses. Focus on content retainers as a way to increase ongoing revenue.

Insights:  

Financial support to acquire more assets and a physical location. Opportunity to expand their network inside the industry. A strategic design team may help them to reach a higher audience through specific marketing strategies and, therefore, increase their clientele. More revenue would allow the acquisition of assets and personnel which, in return, would lead to a higher offering of services.

Industry: Management

Owner: Aneela Zaib

Located In: Richmond Hill, ON 

Employees: 40

Sponsoring Business Organization: Richmond Hill Small Business Enterprise Centre (SBEC) 

Academic Partner: OCAD U 

Description:

emergiTEL is a Canadian Recruiting, Managed Services, and HR Solutions company. They service enterprise, small businesses, start-ups, and a portfolio of different accounts based on permanent or temporary contracts, all across Canada.

Challenges: 

emergiTELs vision is to be the leader in innovative recruitment and HR Solutions across all industries. Applying a human-centred approach, they take pride to establish and maintain their position as a partner to their clients and candidates. For their clients, their mission is to leverage the expertise of emergiTEL for the benefit of client productivity. Their mission to their candidates is to facilitate their career growth and satisfaction. Aneela aspires to expand to new markets and be a leader in the recruitment and HR Solutions space. In the short term, she would like to become the go-to business in this space across Canada, and in the long term, globally. She has personal aspirations to become an expert in this field and become self-published.

Opportunities: 

COVID-19 has been a barrier to in-person meetings, which has been a challenge to maintain their personal and human-centred approach. To stay competitive, Aneela also feels they must increase automation in order to compete with larger agencies, without compromising on their human-centred value.

emergiTEL would like to improve their rating and reviews on Glassdoor. There is an opportunity here for investigating the internal organizational environment, and innovating within company culture and leadership. There are opportunities within globalization and remote work for their internal operations – they have implemented a hybrid work environment and Aneela plans to continue evolving and adapting. Another opportunity identified is the great resignation. Their dedication to candidate career satisfaction could be a great fit between market need and their value proposition. Along these lines, their Talent Care department and focus is a component of their business that Aneela has identified as a competitive advantage/differentiator.

Insights:  

Aneela has indicated that marketing is a major opportunity area for emergiTEL in order to increase their online presence and customer awareness, to ultimately realize her vision. She has recently contracted marketing professionals to help close some of the gaps they are experiencing, but may need more support in terms of a marketing strategy which includes short and long term planning.

Aneela also indicated that grants and government-led programs would benefit her business to facilitate international expansion. Capital would allow emergiTEL to invest more meaningfully in a marketing agency or staff to develop a robust marketing strategy. It may also allow them to automate aspects of their operations (i.e., creating resumes/profiles that “match” candidates/roles based on key words). They may need the support of an internal organizational culture audit and change initiatives to improve their own employee satisfaction.

Industry: Manufacturing

Owner: Peter Lau

Located In: Richmond Hill, ON 

Employees: 2

Sponsoring Business Organization: Richmond Hill Small Business Enterprise Centre (SBEC) 

Academic Partner: OCAD U 

Description:

Maker Wiz leverages creativity and technology to inspire a new generation of creators. The business offers an integrated approach to 3D printing including lessons, boot camps, equipment and supply sales and service.

Challenges: 

The owner has a background in education and is a steadfast believer that teaching kids how to use technology for expression is a necessity for their well being and future employment prospects. This business owner aspires to expand access to 3D printing technologies to children whether through opening additional locations, collaborating with others on an accessible maker space or directly leasing equipment to schools and institutions. 

Opportunities: 

Access to capital combined with high costs of commercial rents. Expanding the domestic commercial prototyping and 3D printing on demand side of the business, given increased logistics costs and trade tensions.

Insights:  

Access to capital and market research assistance. Increased collaboration with local schools and community outreach programs in addition to infusions of capital would allow this business to make 3D printing more accessible to underserved communities.

Industry: Manufacturing

Owner: Andy Wu

Located In: Richmond Hill, ON 

Employees: 2

Sponsoring Business Organization: Richmond Hill Small Business Enterprise Centre (SBEC) 

Academic Partner: OCAD U 

Description:

They design, manufacture, distribute and retail a premium line of high quality dash-cams for consumer and commercial markets.

Challenges: 

Insurance fault determination can have lasting impacts on insurance premiums. To protect financial interests of its customers, RSC Labs products deliver reliability and assurance. RSC Labs aspires to be the Canadian leader in the dash-cam space, a premium alternative to low quality dash-cams that are currently sold.

Opportunities: 

The fluctuations in the exchange rate have serious impacts on RSC Labs margins. Increasing logistics costs have also created a serious impact on its profitability. Focusing on direct to consumer sales rather than relying on third-party retailers for sales.

Insights:  

Assistance with forming partnerships with insurance companies, incentivising the use of dash-cams through premium discounts. Assistance with accelerating a direct-to-consumer business, improving terms with big box retailers and lastly, protection from currency fluctuations.

Industry: Public Administration, Urban Studies 

Located In: Toronto 

Sponsoring Business Organization: City of Toronto  

Academic Partner: University of Toronto 

Description: 

Technology has dramatically increased our ability to collect data, especially using sensor devices and the internet. The City collects the public’s data through the delivery of City services. As technology is increasingly used to deliver City services, our collection and management of information will continue to grow. We understand how important this information is and have a privacy program in place to review how and when we collect, manage, use, and protect it. The increasing use of digital infrastructure allows the City to generate, collect, receive, catalogue, process and share lots of data, all of which is of high value. 

Data is a valuable asset to the public. It’s also key to making decisions more democratically, promoting innovation, achieving improvements to public services, and empowering residents. 

How can the data that is being collected by the City be used, managed and shared in an innovative way that benefits the community, leads to improved decision-making, and ensures trust in government? 

Industry: Urban Planning, Economics

Located In: Toronto

Sponsoring Business Organization: City of Toronto 

Academic Partner: University of Toronto

Description:

Creative spaces need to be seen as a public asset and a public good. Cultural infrastructure which allows public participation in dance, theatre, music, visual arts, and media arts, and also provides stability to not-for-profit organizations and for-profit creative entrepreneurs (craft studios, fashion design, graphic design, book publishing, music production, etc.) is essential to a vibrant city. We are increasingly facing a major space crisis. How can we make the argument that investing in cultural spaces – as we do public libraries and public swimming pools – is of public benefit to all communities.

Industry: Food

Academic Partner:Food Innovation and Research Studio (FIRSt) – George Brown College

Located In: Toronto

Description:

Company produces and sells 4 SKUs of loose leaf tea blends with detoxing, cleansing, slimming, and immune boosting claims. Company has included numerous active ingredients in the tea blends and is seeking assistance to reconfirm claims linking the ingredients to the claims, some of which will be presented as marketing claims and others supporting Natural Health Product (NHP) claims. Company intends to use this information to inform the formulation of the tea blends and qualify the desired claims with backing data.

COVID-19 has accelerated the adoption of teleworking practices in both the private and public sector across different industries. Many organizations will continue to implement teleworking post-pandemic and will be looking for guidance as teleworking represents a major potential cost reduction for employers and potential environmental benefits for cities.

This study will evaluate the GHG emission impacts of people working from home instead of at a commercial office/workplace. A major barrier to adopting teleworking practices in organizations is the lack of empirical data regarding employee performance. As such, employee performance while teleworking will also be evaluated as part of this study to increase the likelihood of achieving environmental benefits identified from teleworking.

The findings from the study will be communicated with recommended action to employers and other key stakeholders involved in teleworking to support effective teleworking practices and to ensure the persistence of environmental benefits such as GHG emission reduction in the long term.

The City of Toronto, along with cities across Canada and the world, are grappling with the transformation that may occur as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Many of the emerging trends are likely to continue past the COVID-19 era and likely to transform organizations, employees, workplace and their surroundings. Depending on the permanence of some of the changes we are seeing as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, there are possible, probable and preferable futures over the next three to five years.

This research project will identify key trends and alternative scenarios that may impact and disrupt the Toronto to facilitate strategic conversations about potential interventions that may be needed related to employment, skills, sectors, and development.

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the City has taken steps to help ensure low-income communities can access the internet. Access to quality internet is crucial for residents to participate in online schooling and to access public health and other essential government services.

A better understanding of the digital divide is necessary to identify where resources are needed the most, and to help create longer-term solutions. This research project aims to use surveys and data analysis to help the City better understand which communities and demographics are underserved by digital infrastructure, and the reasons why they are underserved. Research analysis will include recommendations such as policy changes or investments that will improve digital access.

Air pollution and climate change are inextricably linked. This project will identify sources of air pollution within Toronto that may result from changes in transportation patterns, energy use, employment and industrial operations before, during, and after the pandemic.

This information will aid in the analysis of ongoing work being undertaken under TransformTO, the City’s Climate Change Action Plan, specifically as it pertains co-benefit analysis of air quality and resulting health impacts when undertaking greenhouse gas mitigation action.

On average, 15.9 per cent of working-age adults in Ontario do not file taxes and a third of social assistance recipients in Ontario do not file taxes. Seniors also face struggles with tax filing especially when transitioning from Ontario Works (OW)/ Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) to CPP/OAS/GIS.

By not filing their income taxes, vulnerable residents are not accessing lucrative income tax benefits and are also not able to access means-tested housing and child care fee subsidies as examples. As a result, this impedes economic and social objectives and creates challenges for a recovery from COVID-19 and with achieving the City of Toronto’s Poverty Reduction Strategy.

Jurisdictional scans, surveys, key informant interviews, and data analysis is being undertaken to better understand the gaps, barriers and challenges facing low-income Torontonians in filing taxes, and approaches that are working to improve tax filing in other jurisdictions. A findings report that includes recommendations to improve income tax filing rates in Toronto will be developed.

Industry: Food

Academic Partner:Food Innovation and Research Studio (FIRSt) – George Brown College

Located In: Toronto

Description:

Company plans to launch a powdered beverage that includes active ingredients which support marketing claims associated with weight loss and appetite suppression. Company has identified five (5) active ingredients as part of a theoretical formulation but is seeking assistance to reconfirm claims linking the ingredients to appetite suppression and weight loss. Company intends to use this information to inform the formulation of its powdered beverage mix.