Innovation York announces the winners of the first round of the National Research Council Canada-Industry Research Assistance Program (NRC-IRAP) funded, Artificial Intelligence Industry Partnership Fund. Five projects were selected from the 23 applications that were received (only four can be named, see below).
Sarah Howe
“We were very encouraged to see such a great response to the funding program and such a wide selection of projects and industry partners,” said Sarah Howe, director, Innovation York, “the applications really showed the breadth and depth of research faculty members at York are focused on in these areas.”
Congratulations to the following winning partners, each of which has received $10,000 to support their research projects:
- Dapasoft and York Mathematics and Statistics Professors Steven Wang and Hongmei Zhu for their project “Improving Patient Gridlock conditions in Emergency Department ED using Machine Learning or other AI Technology.”
- Nuco and Schulich School of Business Professor Henry Kim for “Applying Deep Neural Networks for Blockchain Interoperability.”
- Samco and York Mathematics and Statistics Professor Michael Chen for “Optimization of Industrial Machinery through Artificial Intelligence.”
- uBioDiscovery and York Mathematics and Statistics Professors Steven Wang and Xin Gao and Biology Professor Gary Sweeney for “Using AI to identify personalized linkage patterns between microbiome profiles and lifestyle parameters.”
Innovation York and NRC-IRAP collaborated to develop and launch this funding program to encourage industry-driven research projects in artificial intelligence, deep learning and machine learning.
How Dapasoft built a deeper relationship with York
Steven Chan, CEO of Dapasoft Inc.
Dapasoft is well known to Innovation York and York University researcher community, collaborating with School of Information Technology Professor Jimmy Huang within the BRAIN and ADERSIM projects, but were looking to deepen their relationship with the University.
“When attending the BRAIN AGM in March 2018, I had an opportunity to discuss additional research needs with Stephen Chan, CEO of Dapasoft Inc.,” said Cheryl Giblon, industry engagement manager, Innovation York.
Cheryl Giblon
“In early June, Stephen reached out to advise that Jiang Chen, Dapasoft’s IRAP Industrial Technology Advisor (ITA) had told him about the Innovation York/IRAP Artificial Intelligence Partnership Grant opportunity and Dapasoft was interested in proposing a project,” said Giblon. After being asked to help the company find a research partner, Giblon wasted no time in reaching out to her network. She quickly identified York University Professors Wang and Zhu as potential partners.
Dapasoft Inc. President Michael Lonsway
The next day, the partners met in person at the Dapasoft offices and a partnership was officially formed. All parties agreed that it was something bigger than just one project – they are keen to incorporate AI into projects to reduce gridlock in hospital emergency departments and move beyond this to improve the patient experience.
The Artificial Intelligence Industry Partnership Fund is open to all Canadian small and medium-sized enterprises that have been in business for at least a year, with up to 500 employees.
To learn more, visit http://www.innovationyork.ca/partnership-grant/.
For more information, contact Giblon at cgiblon@yorku.ca.
York University gratefully acknowledges NRC-IRAP for the grant funding and the ventureLAB for assisting with the adjudication process.