REFLECTIONS ON APPLIED RESEARCH & INNOVATION January - March 2019
Applied Research & Innovation’s focus for the first few months of 2019 was on implementing foundational enablers to reaching our strategic goals. The introduction of new technology tools (Riipen, ARI’s CRM) and the Innovation 360 measurement system expands ARI’s capabilities and positions us ahead of the curve. During the next three months, ARI will collaborate with the broader organization regarding our proposed innovation strategy, complete the CFI grant submissions, and continue to roll-out experiential workshops. ARI is progressing towards building Humber’s applied research culture and furthering our reputation as an innovation leader.
CFI EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST Resilient Smart Cities: Robust City Solutions, Infrastructure and Communications (EoI) $1,000,000 CFI ARI submitted an expression of interest for Humber College to become a living lab to ideate, design and develop solutions for difficult infrastructure challenges. Transforming cities by designing and constructing smart and resilient infrastructure is critical to managing city resources and services and improving public safety when faced with unprecedented emergencies.
NEW ARI TOOL Humber has invested in a one year pilot of Riipen – a technology platform which helps over 130 North American higher education institutions and their educators easily launch, manage, track and report on project-based learning happening in the classroom. Riipen’s key benefit for faculty is its ability to help them design workintegrated-learning projects and match them with suitable industry/community partners. If you’re interested in learning more, please contact ARI’s Partnership Development Manager, Amanda Brown.
INNOVATION 360 MEASUREMENT SURVEY The Smart Factory Adoption and Integration of Smart Factory Solutions (EoI)
$1,000,000 CFI
This project will enable the adoption of smart factory solutions by Canadian manufacturing firms through partnerships with Ontario’s manufacturing firms, in particular SMEs in the GTA, on research and development projects, disseminating knowledge via case studies and best practices to the broader Canadian manufacturing sector, and training of highly qualified personnel on smart factory solutions.
GRANT SUBMISSIONS Multimodal User-Centered Engagement of VR/ AR in Semi-Autonomous Vehicle Platforms $88,562 NSERC ARI and SAT have requested NSERC ARTI funding to purchase user experience infrastructure that will contribute to improving the acceptance of semiautonomous vehicles.
Public Media Access Usability Workshop
$15,000 SSHRC
A faculty-led submission by Steven May (SMSIT), this workshop will provide a space where public television viewers of all ages will be able to gather, try out or refine their online access to public television programming, and flag any barriers.
Creating an innovative and differentiated educational experience is critical in the design of a 21st century institution. To strengthen Humber’s strategy to lead, transform and differentiate, ARI has been working with the Innovation360 Group to assess Humber’s current innovation capabilities and ensure we’re progressing towards a strong innovation culture. The Innovation360 Group specializes in innovation analytics, creating an organizational baseline through their proprietary innovation survey – InnoSurvey® with results being benchmarked against more than 1,000 companies in 62 countries. ARI circulated the InnoSurvey® early this year and is now working on a strategy designed to fit Humber’s capabilities and market position.
EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING WITH ARI
PROJECT IMPACT STORIES
Creativity in Business (CiB) Pilot Program In January, Humber became the first Canadian insititution to pilot Stanford’s Creativity in Business program. Consisting of four sessions over four months, students enrolled in the program gained a greater sense of self-awareness and learned 21st century skills.
The Struggle Back - Documentary
Lunch and Learns Our office has launched a series of lunch and learn workshops to inform and inspire Humber faculty and staff and keep them up-to-date with current research and innovation trends. Topics including data storytelling and design thinking will be expanded into in-depth sessions in the next quarter.
CELEBRATING WOMEN IN APPLIED RESEARCH On March 8, we celebrated International Women’s Day by shining a spotlight on female faculty and students who have had a tremendous impact on the field of applied research over the past year. The social media campaign featured profiles of Uche Umolu (student, Digital Business Management), Rai Reece (professor, School of Social and Community Services), Hanadi Alnawab (professor, the Business School), and Jessica Lynn (student, Mechatronics), and played a key role in increasing awareness around applied research at Humber.
The documentary helps build empathy, understanding and consideration among people working or preparing to work in criminal justice, and ARI is proud to have supported its creation through funding administration, partnership development, and promotion.
Crosslinks Health Consulting
Twitter Stats (March 8): - Highest number of single-day organic impressions (10,773K) - Most retweets in a single day (1/2 of total quarterly retweets) - Most likes in a single day (1/4 of total quarterly likes)
HIGHLIGHTS
UPDATES FROM OUR CENTRES OF INNOVATION
The CfE more than doubled its number of active members during the 2018/2019 fiscal year and hosted nine major events including the Cisco Awards and the Global Forum for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. LEARN MORE
Through funding from Cultivate, Humber professors Dan Rowe and Arun Dhanota, along with SMSIT and SSCS students partnered with Regeneration Community Services, to produce The Struggle Back, a documentary that exposes the challenges of being in the criminal justice system while coping with addiction and mental heath issues.
Humber has partnered with SEWEURODRIVE to create the Humber Hawk Automated Guided Vehicle. The system is built by third-year ElectroMechanical Technology students under the leadership of the Barrett CTI Director. WATCH VIDEO
Funded through the Ontario Centres of Excellence College Voucher for Technology Adoption (CVTA) program, Crosslinks Health Consulting Inc. partnered with Humber College to bring its businesshealth® publication from primarily offline to online. Principal Investigator Omar Al Hasan successfully led Digital Business Management and Graphic Design students in the transformation of the businesshealth® website and logo with the support of ARI and The Business School.