Centennial Innovates! Driving Sustainable Innovation: Redesign, Reimagine, Revolutionize was the prominent theme of the 'Centennial Innovates 2023' Applied Research, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Symposium last Friday June 2nd, the 16th annual event of its kind. Over a 120 attendees came together for a full day of celebrating and showcasing applied research, innovation and entrepreneurship at Centennial College - packed with keynote speakers, panel discussions, an interactive activity and breakout sessions. Available here is the day’s agenda for Centennial Innovates!.
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Event Recap: Text Only
The symposium opened with Jonathan Hack, Dean of Applied Research, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, who set the tone for the day with his enthusiasm and opening remarks on innovation: how it is a crucial component of any organization, how we need to embrace the ‘mess’ and deeply understand our customers, and how Centennial College has great potential to innovate sustainably towards a brighter future for all.
Josipa Petrunic, President and CEO of the Canadian Urban Transit Research & Innovation Consortium (CUTRIC) gave a thought-provoking opening keynote on the striking importance of gender equality for a sustainable world and how it relates to the decarbonization of public transit and advancing the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Her passion for sustainability through equity rang through the Event Center and sparked many discussions throughout the day.
Jonathan Hack then returned to give a high-level departmental review of the 2022-23 year, guided through our values of sustainability, student-centric, curiosity, collaboration, equity, diversity and inclusion, and continuous improvement. Attendees saw first-hand how value is exemplified through our innovation activities and were enticed to learn more through our annual report, freshly printed and available for all attendees to read.
Following a morning refreshment break, a short video showcasing the facilities and equipment at Downsview Campus and our recently-completed Landing Gear Innovation Lab introduced our audience to the breadth of our innovative capabilities. We then welcomed our applied research leaders Dr. Purnima Tyagi, Director, WIMTACH, Data Analytics and Digital Health Technologies, Dr. Eric Blaise, Director, Applied Research and Innovation (Aerospace, Advanced Manufacturing), and Dr. Wenzi Ckurshumova, Manager, Research and Innovation on a panel discussion where they shared their proudest accomplishments this year and what they’re looking for next year. Through their daily interactions with student researchers, faculty innovators and industry partners, these three leaders spearhead our college’s innovation activities in healthcare technologies, aerospace, advanced manufacturing, sustainable energy systems, transportation, and data analytics.
To give another perspective on our applied research activity, we invited two industry partner representatives panelists - Aakash Gohil, Research and Technology Project Lead at Safran Landing Systems and Ted Biggs, Chief Product Officer at Unlimited Therapeutics - to share their insights on how our partnership helps support and advance their companies’ innovation. Collaborating with industry to solve real-world challenges is at the essence of our innovation activity, and we learned how Aakash and Ted have benefited from working with us - from leveraging our state-of-the-art equipment to collaborating with our eager-to-learn student researchers on aircraft landing gear and therapeutic technologies.
Next, we switched gears to showcase the fantastic work at the Centre of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (COIE) led by Lalit Guglani, Manager, Business Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Introducing COIE’s new and redesigned model for programming to foster a sustainable entrepreneurial mindset is an abridged video paper that outlined the Center’s steps to develop their current programming at the SDG Innovation Lab including their keystone event, the Global Goals Jam Canada. To further understand the complete reinvention led by Lalit over the past three years, Jonathan invited him to the stage for a short conversation diving deeper into COIE’s transformation journey. Attendees learned about how leading-edge methodologies were integrated to develop their current suite of entrepreneurship programming that relentlessly champions the development of sustainable entrepreneurial mindsets, future-proofed careers and innovative change-leaders. Each attendee also received an SDG lapel pin with an informational postcard, encouraging them to learn more and demonstrate their commitment to sustainable development.
To conclude the entrepreneurship showcase, Lalit and the rest of the COIE team - Gabriella Zoltan-Johan, Arpit Singla, Patrick Robinson and Vicky Huang - piloted the Rapid Inclusive Decision-Making Jam, a method to rapidly make team decisions while ensuring consideration of diverse ideas and opinions of all participants. The 1-hour interactive activity by the SDG Innovation Lab engaged all 17 tables present, who all successfully brainstormed positives, challenges, opportunities, and solutions within the allotted time period. Attendees put on their innovation caps and innovated diverse solutions addressing the multifaceted dimensions of student health and wellbeing on campus including financial security such as no-interest student loans and increasing on-campus job opportunities for international students; food security such as discounted grocery programs and increased community garden engagement; community belonging such as enhanced personal development supports, regular social opportunities and programming, a host family network for international students; and others such as regular shuttle bus service and multi-use infrastructure. 90 voters were engaged in the final live polling, casting 153 votes. The winning solution called for increased programming such as games and events to encourage more social interaction amongst students in a fun, caring environment, ultimately fostering a better learning environment and an improved work-life balance.
Our lunch offered a different level of excitement - it was specifically and intentionally curated to reflect our multi-layered commitment to sustainability. The entire menu was plant-based, which requires significantly less resources to produce and that has about half the carbon footprint compared to a menu with meat and dairy. Our attendees filled their plates with a tofu eggplant curry with basmati rice, soy-based shepherd's pie, and a vegetable noodle stir-fry alongside a Greek and Moroccan salad. The dessert - a walnut chocolate brownie - was also plant-based, as were all the pastries throughout the day. Oat milk was available with the Fairtrade coffee and tea, a dairy alternative that uses 60% less energy, 80% fewer gas emissions, 80% less land and over 90% less water than cow’s milk. The reception of the lunch was overwhelmingly positive and raised the bar for sustainable hospitality and catering at the college.
Following lunch, Jonathan facilitated a profoundly insightful panel discussion with Deans Nate Horowitz (School of Communications, Media, Arts and Design), Alan McClelland (School of Transportation), and Damian Goulbourne (School of Hospitality, Tourism and Culinary Arts) who shared what was next for innovation at their respective schools. It was clear that all four deans shared a collective pursuit of innovation at Centennial, inspiring our faculty and students to be changemakers at the forefront of their industries. We look forward to working with you to enhance our college’s innovation culture and further the synergies between our goals.
Next up were our breakout sessions in three rooms featuring the following presentations:
- Wearable, Interactive Mobile Technology Access Centre in Healthcare (WIMTACH), Centre for Explainable Data Analytics (CEDA), Social Innovation Research Centre (SIRC) Showcase
- Innovation with Social Impact at the Social Innovation Research Center (SIRC): Daniel Huizenga
- Fabric of Innovation: Pouria Tavakkoli
- Innovation in Emote AI’s software through OBS API Development, Integration, and Deployment of an AI-based application for facial-based emotion recognition: Vijayalakshmi Tiruchengode Angamuthu
- Developing and enhancing Scanbo’s ECG AI/ML Algorithm: Tenzin Jinpa
- Tele-clinical scheduling, communication and data capturing system development for Wosler Diagnostics: Student team
- Center of Explainable Data Analytics (CEDA)’s support to retail sector companies: Sreekumar Pillai
- Aerospace and Advanced Manufacturing Showcase
- Principal Investigator Perspective of Project - Handling Process Improvement – Project 2 – PFC Flexible Circuits: Mohammad Medizadeh
- Student Perspective of Project - Engineered polymer dynamic load and wear characterization - MBA: Akansha Nagar
- Project management in applied research: Sandra Munoz, Milad Hoorzad and Erika Oliveira
- Applied Research and Innovation Fellowship (ARIF) Showcase
- Development of an antimicrobial lab coat using nano-herbal encapsulation: Siyam Subair
- COVID-19 pandemic and the impact on teaching and learning: Janet Montague
- Halobacterium salinarum NRC-1 sustains voltage production in a dual-chambered closed microbial fuel cell: Padmaja Shastri
- A mixed methods inquiry exploring Centennial College performing arts students’ prior training and experiences in music, dance and theater: Melissa-Ann Bartem and Rosalind Mills
- Development of competitive gluten-free products from an underutilized ancient grain – teff: Kay Oduse
Closing our jam-packed day was a keynote by Milos Popovic, who illustrated the breadth of activities and innovative 'Labs' at the KITE (Knowledge, Innovation, Talent Everywhere) Research Institute of the University Health Network. From KITE’s CareLab simulating a patient care environment to their StairLab helping scientists improve independence and prevent injury through gait and balance research in aging and disability, our attendees listened eagerly as Milos shared the awe-inspiring research that truly makes an impact on the everyday lives of our communities.
With the audience still buzzing with innovative mindsets, the 'Centennial Innovates' 2023 Symposium came to a close. While the celebration has ended, the work that the Applied Research, Innovation and Entrepreneurship team does continues and grows the college's innovative capacity day by day.
Our heartfelt thanks to everyone who was a part of our event - organizers, speakers, attendees, and everyone in between.
Behind every success is quality leadership. We would like to extend our sincere gratitude to Jonathan Hack for his all-encompassing leadership and being the unwavering engine of Centennial Innovates, as well as to Glen Lowry for his consistent support, genuine advocacy and strategic guidance propelling our department to flourish.
Everyone from the Centennial Innovates - Applied Research, Innovation and Entrepreneurship team contributed to make this event the success it was: Thank you Bonnie Chung for helping think through even the smallest details; Erika Oliveira, Sandra Ortegon, Ava Efrane and Andrea Cavalheiro for greeting our guests with smiles; Jeziel Vidad, Milad Hoorzad, Sreekumar Pillai, Daniel Huizenga, Tenzin Jinpa, Ian Lilley, Pouria Tavakkoli, Paula Brohm and Joanne Pan for your support and helping hands; and Vicky Huang, for planning the event from start to finish and working tirelessly to realize this vibrant, dynamic symposium that deeply reflects our commitment to sustainable innovation.
Advancing and achieving the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals is not possible without the passion, zeal, and intentional collaboration of all stakeholders involved.
Let’s choose to commit to fostering an innovative culture and taking bold steps towards a future where innovation thrives at Centennial!
Click here to view an interactive visual recap of the event!