Research & Innovation

Ryerson student and alumni-led innovations in energy, brain surgery, inclusive technology, and crowd-sourced jewelry manufacturing garnered kudos at the recent Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE) Discovery conference in Toronto. Students and recent graduates collectively received more than $100,000 in the Experiential Learning Program (ELP) Competition, Student Video Competition, and the OCE-OBI (Ontario Brain Institute) Entrepreneurship Fellowship Presentations.

OCE Discovery attracts more than 2,500 attendees and brings together industry, investors, researchers, entrepreneurs, and other key stakeholders for the exchange of ideas, innovations, and solutions that are shaping Ontario’s future.  

"It is great to see Ryerson student-led companies and researchers being recognized for their innovations at such a highly competitive and prestigious conference," says Wendy Cukier, vice-president, research and innovation.  "Ryerson has mainstreamed innovation across the university— it’s not just embedded in our programs, or in our approach to experiential learning and in our research, but in our very DNA."

Ryan Manchee from Ryerson’s Innovation Centre for Urban Energy (iCUE) took second place for his video about his company called Energy Savers, collecting $2,500. Manchee’s video, along with four others from Ryerson students who were competition finalists (Adrian Wong, Caitlin Curran-Blaney, Richard McIntosh and Mahyar Soeizi), can be viewed here. 

Two of Ryerson’s Digital Media Zone (DMZ) companies started by recent Ryerson MBA graduates won the ELP Competition, which awards three top innovators $25,000 each to further support their businesses.  Komodo OpenLab Inc., a developer of inclusive technologies to improve the daily lives of people with disabilities, and Mejuri, an online fine jewelry company that leverages crowdsourcing to produce unique, in-demand jewelry pieces both demonstrated the strongest business model in comparison to other competitors.

“The grant is going to give us a great push forward to enhance our technology, increase our community of designers and customers and build partnerships with companies to crowdsource their products,” says Noura Sakkijha, a third-generation jeweler and CEO of Mejuri

Another Ryerson student won big at this year’s conference. Peter Siegler, a post-doctoral fellow in biomedical engineering was one of eight neuroscience entrepreneurs awarded a $50,000 OBI–OCE Fellowship. The fellowship helps recipients pursue entrepreneurial and commercialization endeavors of technology.  Siegler is investigating a technique to accurately detect the spatial position of biopsy needles used during neurosurgery. 

In addition to the strong student representation this year at OCE Discovery, Ryerson expanded its trade show booth, showcasing research from across the university. The following researchers and Centre representatives also made contributions at OCE:

- professor Bala Venkatesh, Centre for Urban Energy (CUE)
- Adnan Syed, project manager, CUE
- Dan McGillivray, executive director and Toronto Hydro Distinguished Fellow, (CUE)
- professor Mohammad Abdoli, School of Occupational and Public Health
- professor Ebrahim Bagheri, Electrical and Computer Engineering
- professor Soosan Beheshti, Electrical and Computer Engineering
- professor Donna Koller, Early Childhood Studies
- professor Raffi Karshafian
- professor Michael Kolios, Physics
- professor Ling Guan, Electrical and Computer Engineering
- professor Richard Grunberg, Radio and Television Arts
- professor Andrew Laursen, Chemistry and Biology
- professor Grace Luk, Civil Engineering
- Pinoo Bindhani, associate director, Diversity Institute