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Innovation Realized
2017 Impact Report
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SOSCIP pairs academic
and industry researchers
with advanced
computing tools to fuel
Canadian innovation
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Contents
2
Five Years of Impact
4Health
Fighting diseases that no longer respond to treatment
Straight from the heart
6 Digital Media
Measuring our place in the universe with big data
Ryerson researcher using smart analytics to protect
smart meter data
8Cybersecurity
Designing an unbreakable code
Evolving the infrastructure of cybersecurity
10 Advanced Manufacturing
Teaching computers to see at the nanoscale
Looking beyond the surface
12 Digital Media
Curating science for discovery
14 SOSCIP at a Glance
16 IBM Research Spotlight
York researcher transforming video streaming with big data
McMaster researcher to “clean” big data
18 OCE-SOSCIP Smart Computing R&D Challenge
20Cities
Western professor taking wind research to new heights
Innovation Realized © SOSCIP 2017
The cover is a tribute to an early Canadian
technological invention – the telephone.
This innovation was first realized by
Alexander Graham Bell on March 10, 1876.
Over the course of 140+ years, this innovation
has evolved and continues to be fundamental
to global communication. Within these pages
are stories of innovation that have been
made possible through collaborative research and
development between academic and
industry partners using advanced computing
technologies. Our hope is that by supporting
and celebrating these stories, we can help
them realize their innovation.
21Health
The right treatment at the right time
22 Expanding the Ecosystem
OCAD University, Seneca College, University of Guelph
25Platforms
The right tools for the job
26 The Future of SOSCIP
28Credits
SMART COMPUTING
SOSCIP
FORIMPACT
INNOVATION
2017 <1
FIVE YEARS
OF IMPACT
Message from the Co-Chairs
SOSCIP was established five years ago
in 2012 with a vision for creating a “new
kind of collaborative research partnership”
to address important societal issues
using advanced computing technologies.
The partnership sought to bring together
academic institutions in Ontario with industry
partners and provide them with sophisticated
tools, resources and expertise – barriers that
many small- and medium-sized companies
(SMEs) face as they seek innovative
approaches to solve complex problems.
The vision was that in doing so, we could
make a difference in the lives of Canadians
by contributing to job creation, supporting
emerging start-ups, bringing new products
and services to market more efficiently, and
growing the talent pool of highly-qualified
personnel (HQP) necessary to help drive
Canada’s and Ontario’s Innovation Agendas.
In five short years, SOSCIP has achieved
tremendous success towards that vision –
thanks in great part to the support of our
partners and the collaborative efforts of our
members. Since the last Impact Report was
released in 2014, SOSCIP has doubled its
membership to include all of Ontario’s most
research-intensive academic institutions, all
while expanding our industry partners and
the number of trainees gaining valuable data
science experience and skills.
This growth would not have been possible
without support from the Federal Economic
Development Agency for Southern Ontario
(FedDev), the Province of Ontario, IBM Canada
Ltd. and Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE).
In addition, the dedication and commitment
of SOSCIP’s Board of Directors, Scientific
Advisory Committee and Operations Team
have been instrumental to the success of the
SOSCIP collaborative model.
We look forward to SOSCIP continuing to
provide an essential platform for innovation
in Canada for many years to come.
Sincerely,
Professor Vivek Goel
Vice-President, Research & Innovation
University of Toronto
Co-Chair, SOSCIP Board of Directors
2> SOSCIP IMPACT 2017
Professor John Capone
Vice-President (Research)
Western University
Co-Chair, SOSCIP Board of Directors
Message from the Executive Director
A large part of SOSCIP’s value proposition
is in providing access to a powerful suite
of advanced computing and data science
technologies to innovative companies
developing new products and services to
address important issues facing society.
The real heart of SOSCIP’s value, however,
lies beyond the technology offerings. We
draw on expertise, talent, resources, and
networks from across the consortium
to provide “cradle to grave” support to all
of our collaborative projects. Significant
project development, business development,
project management, technical support and
expertise and funding for the development
of HQP is also provided. Every project
benefits from the deep expertise of the broad
SOSCIP Operations and Technical Support
teams, which includes SOSCIP consortium
staff, a dedicated business development
team at OCE, the IBM Canada R&D Centre
team, and the technical and research staff
of our partner Compute Ontario facilities
[Centre for Advanced Computing (Queen’s
University), SciNet (University of Toronto) and
SHARCNET (Western University)]. The result
is that, in addition to full access to powerful
computing technologies, every SOSCIP
project receives countless hours of handson, dedicated support from some of the best
experts in the country.
This SOSCIP 2017 Impact Report
demonstrates that our model of collaborative
R&D is making a difference. Included in
this Report are impact stories from across
our member institutions, showcasing the
diversity of projects and partnerships
that we support, as well as the significant
contributions of our partners OCE and IBM.
Our centrepiece “SOSCIP at a Glance” (see
pg. 14-15) provides an overview of some of
our most meaningful measures of SOSCIP’s
impact since 2012.
The take home message of this Report
is that SOSCIP is a collaborative research
platform that supports great Canadian
innovation. As we look towards the future,
we plan to continue building on our success,
engaging new sectors and industries and
developing strong partnerships with likeminded organizations.
We welcome you to join us as SOSCIP
embarks on our next five years of impact.
Elissa Strome
Executive Director, SOSCIP
SOSCIP IMPACT 2017 <3
Fighting diseases that no
longer respond to treatment
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Researchers: Frank Dehne and Ashkan Golshani,
Carleton University
Supported by: SOSCIP, IBM Canada Ltd., OCE,
FedDev
Website: http://www.designedbiologics.com
4> SOSCIP IMPACT 2017
Ashkan Golshani (left)
and Frank Dehne
Photo (left) submitted by Justin Tang; story submitted by Susan Hickman
A computer scientist and a biochemist at Carleton University
have teamed up to start a company that designs therapeutic
peptides derived from human proteins – drugs that may
offer a new way of treating complex diseases that no longer
respond to treatments.
Profs. Frank Dehne and Ashkan Golshani registered
Designed Biologics in February 2016. The company will push
development of special small peptides that can target specific
proteins involved in various human diseases.
When they first put their heads together at the graduate
pub on campus 15 years ago, Prof. Golshani was working in
the novel field of systems biology looking for ways to speed
up costly time- and energy-consuming protein interaction
experiments.
If you consider each human being has 20,000 proteins,
there are 200 million possible combinations of interaction.
Prof. Dehne used computations to predict these protein
interactions and developed a prediction algorithm based on
his hypothesis that smaller sequences of molecules could
facilitate some of the protein interactions.
“It turns out there are a lot of these different types of
interactions that were being missed,” explains Prof. Dehne.
The findings may impact a pharmaceutical industry
that has traditionally focused on antibody- and chemicalbased therapies.
After calculating the entire 200 million human protein
interactions, they may be at the forefront of designing new
pharmaceuticals using significantly smaller molecules that
can attach to specifically targeted proteins — the culprits
causing illnesses.
Designed Biologics continues to leverage SOSCIP’s advanced
computing technologies to develop small peptides containing
between 30 and 75 amino acids that can hit targets not
responding to traditional drugs. These “smart biologics”
will focus on alternative binding characteristics to engage
disease-fighting mechanisms in the human body in a new way
that should result in fewer side effects for the patient.
The pair announced in October 2016 that Designed
Biologics will collaborate with NuvoBio, a subsidiary of
Zim Corporation, to implement a unique molecular interaction
analytics approach to design small peptide drugs that bind
target proteins. The result could be used to treat prostate
cancer with fewer side effects.
“In theory, we can target all kinds of cancer with these
new designed drugs, as well as inflammation and any
complex human disease such as diabetes or Alzheimer’s,”
said Prof. Golshani.
Straight from the heart
The human body emits
millions of physiologic
signals, much of which is
conventionally believed to
be noise, but what if these
signals could provide a deeper
understanding of our biology and distinguish a
healthy heart from a diseased one, even before
symptoms appear?
That is precisely what Analytics 4 Life (A4L) is
trying to achieve. A4L is using advanced signal
processing techniques to identify and assess
diseases, particularly coronary artery disease.
Traditionally, patients have to endure a nuclear
stress test to evaluate the heart’s blood flow.
The invasive test can take hours to days to
deliver test results.
A4L’s approach involves machine learning
on non-invasive, passively collected signals for
heart function. The process of signal collection
results in no discomfort to the patient, and is
easy to use for the health care provider.
If successful, A4L’s device will streamline the
process of identifying cardiac dysfunction to
mere minutes and have the results available
to the patient’s doctor the same day, with no
exposure of the patient to radiation.
A4L is the brainchild of founder and chief
scientific officer Sunny Gupta (pictured).
Coming from a family with a history of heart
disease, he wanted to know what information
might be taken from the heart’s signals.
The idea derived from the research of
Prof. Terence Ozolin at Queen’s University who
sought Gupta’s help in identifying diseased
hearts in developing mice with pre-existing
conditions. Gupta used machine learning to
determine which mice would eventually
demonstrate the conditions they were born with.
“With 50,000 physiologic signals, we needed
more horsepower,” explained Shyam
Ramchandani, vice-president, clinical affairs.
“SOSCIP and IBM provided the cloud infrastructure and the computers that we needed,”
said Gupta.
The team was able to predict which mice
would develop heart conditions later in life.
Gupta founded A4L out of a small room above
Chalmers United Church in Kingston, Ontario,
and incorporated in July 2012. The company
has since expanded to multiple office locations
across Ontario and has raised over C$20 million
from investors. A4L holds three issued U.S.
patents with eighteen more U.S. and international applications pending and have been
cleared for testing the device on humans in
the U.S. They hope to complete the clinical trials
by the end of 2017.
The team perform mathematical extrapolations from the signals and convert them into 3D
shapes that have geometric form. They can use
these forms to identify and pinpoint disease.
If successful, the device may be able to
be used to examine countless other diseases
and conditions.
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Founder: Sunny Gupta
Supported by: SOSCIP,
IBM Canada Ltd., OCE, FedDev,
Province of Ontario and
private investors
Website: www.analytics4life.com
SOSCIP IMPACT 2017 <5
Measuring our place in the
universe with big data
A UofT professor and his
team are pondering our
precise place in the universe.
Prof. Ue-Li Pen, also director
of the Canadian Institute for
Theoretical Astrophysics, is
developing a new initiative to commercialize
radio signal processing technology.
“We work with Thoth Technology to collect
radio data from Canadian telescopes such as
the Algonquin Radio Observatory. The data
gets analyzed by the Blue Gene/Q (BGQ) which
opens up new tools to achieve and unprecedented precision of telescopic measurements.
“We are pushing the frontier of the ability to
localize things more precisely than ever before,”
he explained.
The project was part of the Smart Computing
R&D Challenge, a $7.5 million initiative led by
OCE, SOSCIP and NSERC, to provide academic
and industry researchers with access to
advanced computing tools (see pg. 18 for
more details).
The project aims to develop new very long
baseline interferometry (VLBI) tools that will
implement and optimize multi-telescope
correlation and analysis software. One of the
most accurate techniques for measuring the
earth’s orientation in space, it uses two or more
telescopes widely separated across the earth to
receive and record radio signals.
The goal is to develop the very first real-time
web-based interface that will enable virtual
visual and audio access to a radio telescope and
the data that VLBI can provide to researchers,
space agencies and other government
departments.
These tools will enable Thoth Technology Inc.,
a Canadian space company that specializes
6> SOSCIP IMPACT 2017
in space application services, the potential to
deliver commercial turnkey VLBI to domestic
and international customers.
The research is conducted at the Algonquin
Radio Observatory, the largest radio telescope in
Canada with a 46-meter aperture, and one of the
largest in the world. It was the first telescope to
demonstrate VLBI, together with the John A. Galt
26-m telescope in Penticton, B.C., an achievement recognized by an IEEE milestone.
The team includes graduate and under­
graduate students: Ryan Mckiven, Robert Main,
Daniel Baker, Dana Simard, Victor Chan and
SOSCIP-TalentEdge Fellow John Antoniadis.
PhD student Dana Simard is using the BGQ to
make predictions of the scattering of pulsars,
very precise neutron stars which are useful for
keeping time and confirming the existence of
gravitational radiation. Two Nobel prizes have
been awarded for pulsar research.
“If we can use the analytics to predict the
scattering we can better study and understand
the interstellar medium and use the galaxy as a
giant cosmic telescope,” she explained.
“What used to take us a thousand days can
now be achieved in a day,” agreed Prof. Pen.
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Researcher: Ue-Li Pen,
University of Toronto
Industry partner: Thoth
Technology Inc.
Supported by: SOSCIP,
IBM Canada Ltd., OCE, FedDev,
NSERC, CFI, Province of Ontario
Ryerson researcher using
smart analytics to
protect smart meter data
How we use energy reveals much about
everyday behaviour – from our work/
school schedules to when we are likely
to be sleeping, eating and performing
simple chores such as laundry or
washing dishes. It even reveals when we
are on vacation.
While this information in the wrong
hands could put us at risk, it also plays
an important role in reducing our carbon
footprint and conserving energy.
Power generation companies use
information derived from micro­climate,
small areas within general climate
zones, to accurately predict power
generation needs. Microclimate
information is obtained by analyzing
energy consumption data sent by
the smart meters from our homes to
utility companies.
With more than one million smart
meters installed in Ontario homes
since 2010, it’s necessary to find ways
to ensure the data captured by smart
meters is protected and secured.
Prof. Andriy Miranskyy from Ryerson
University’s department of computer
science, and his team, are conducting
research to help power generation
companies capture the data they need to
accurately make these predictions while
also respecting consumers’ privacy.
The team includes IBM Canada’s
Dr. Biruk Habtemariam, Prof. Ali Miri from
>
Ryerson University, Prof. Saeed Samet
from Memorial University and Prof.
Matt Davison from Western University.
Their goal is to develop data aggregation
and obfuscation techniques that will
prevent privacy violation, yet yield the
information needed for accurate
prediction of power consumption.
“This will enable utility companies to
open up data to external groups without
jeopardizing the privacy of the millions
of people they’re collecting data from,”
explained Prof. Miranskyy.
Through SOSCIP’s Cloud Platform,
they can develop and test an algorithm
using simulated data which will allow
them to predict electricity usage in
near-real time by a third party while
keeping the data secure.
“Essentially, the secure linear
regression algorithm allows researchers
to compute numbers without actually
being able to view those numbers.
This allows utility companies and
other third parties to provide better
services to Ontario residents, leading
to energy conservation and reduced
infrastructure costs.”
The team’s work, Privacy Preserving
Predictive Analytics with Smart Meters,
has been published in the Proceedings of
the 5th IEEE International Congress on
Big Data, 2016.
Researcher: Andriy Miranskyy, Ryerson University
Industry partner: IBM Canada Ltd.
Supported by: SOSCIP, IBM Canada Ltd., OCE, FedDev,
Ryerson University’s Faculty of Science
SOSCIP IMPACT 2017 <7
Designing an
unbreakable code
According to IBM, more than 2.5 billion
gigabytes of digital data is generated every day.
This includes emails, text messages, voice and
video data and other types of digital information.
Keeping this information secure costs companies
and governments billions every year and relies on
talent, determination and supercomputers.
At Wilfrid Laurier, Prof. Ilias Kotsireas is conducting research to
build the cryptographic infrastructure needed to keep data secure.
His research involves searching for particular sequences that have
ideal characteristics with respect to their autocorrelation values.
Autocorrelation is a measure of how similar a sequence is with
itself. Where sequences of specific lengths are not known to exist
via known theoretical construction methods, the only way to find
them is to employ computational algorithms.
“People are interested in these sequences because their
existence has consequences and implications for security,”
explained Prof. Kotsireas, who is director of the Computer Algebra
Research Group at Laurier.
“Using Canada’s fastest computer will allow Dr. Kotsireas to make
important progress in the area of combinatorial designs,” said
Dr. Robert Gordon, vice president, research, Wilfrid Laurier. “We are
delighted to support partnerships such as SOSCIP to support his
innovative work.”
Through the BGQ, algorithms have exhibited a 2000-fold speedup,
which considerably increases the speed and efficiency of
Prof. Kotsireas’ research. He has developed highly parallelized
code and was able to use all BGQ’s 65,536 cores in a single run.
“Metaprogramming is a reliable technique to produce bugfree millions of lines of C code that go into the project,” said
Prof. Kotsireas, adding that these problems will be useful in
designing cryptographic protocols. “The adversary would have to
perform exhaustive searches which could take even automated
code breakers forever.”
“You have to think of the adversary as someone with infinite
resources and infinite time.”
Indeed, he admits the security of cryptosystems has become
a very active and competitive area of research, but one that has
been nurtured by mentors, Prof. Dragomir Djokovic, his main
collaborator, and Prof. Jennifer Seberry, the “Mother of Cryptology”
in Australia.
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Researcher: Ilias Kotsireas, Wilfrid Laurier University
Industry partners: Maplesoft and IBM Canada Ltd.
Supported by: SOSCIP, IBM Canada Ltd.
8> SOSCIP IMPACT 2017
Prof. Kotsireas is seeking to
achieve the solution of the
famous open problem, the
construction of a Hadamard
matrix of order 686 (pictured).
Evolving the infrastructure
of cybersecurity
“It is imperative that this
quantum threat is mitigated
before it becomes a reality.”
With activities like online banking and shopping on the rise,
Canada will require adept problem solvers to develop secure
protocols and encryption software to protect sensitive data.
“The world is going to need programmers and problem
solvers,” said Olivia Di Matteo, a second year PhD student at the
University of Waterloo.
Di Matteo is working with Prof. Michele Mosca to develop
software for quantum circuit synthesis, a process that
“translates” arbitrary quantum operations into a set of
instructions that can run on a quantum computer.
The project supports start-up company evolutionQ which
provides cybersecurity risk assessments. EvolutionQ was
co-founded by Profs. Mosca and Norbert Lütkenhaus, from the
University of Waterloo.
With access to SOSCIP’s BGQ, the team were able to solve big
problems quickly.
“There weren’t enough processors to solve the problems that
were interesting to us. The software is largely parallel, so we
needed a lot of time and processors. Because we were able to
get so many processors working together, our run time changed
from a week to a couple of minutes,” said Di Matteo.
Case in point, the biggest program the team ran took
4000 processors and 21 hours, a project which would have
taken weeks or longer on standard systems.
Di Matteo, who is a recipient of an NSERC Canada Graduate
Scholarship for her PhD studies, also credits SOSCIP’s
expert knowledge.
“I had a little training in HPC but not in parallel computing
and we needed to learn how to make all of the processors
talk to each other effectively. The technicians were helpful in
understanding how to best take advantage of the technology.
If I got stuck and didn’t know if my method was efficient, I had
someone to get suggestions from.”
For Prof. Mosca, now is the time for this research.
“We’re trying to develop the foundation of a software industry
that I hope Canada can be a world leader in.
“Our research directly impacts cybersecurity, since the
currently deployed cryptographic infrastructure, which
underpins cybersecurity, will be compromised by a large scale
quantum computer. It is imperative that this quantum threat is
mitigated before it becomes a reality,” explained Prof. Mosca.
— M
ichele Mosca
University of Waterloo
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Researchers: Michele Mosca, University of
Waterloo and Olivia Di Matteo, PhD student
Supported by: SOSCIP, IBM Canada Ltd., NSERC,
University of Waterloo
Website: http://www.evolutionq.com
SOSCIP IMPACT 2017 <9
Teaching computers to
see at the nanoscale
“If we really want to do bottom-up
design of a material, we need to
be able to find a cheap and easy
way to model them.”
— I saac Tamblyn
UOIT
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Researcher: Isaac Tamblyn, University of
Ontario Institute of Technology
Supported by: SOSCIP, IBM Canada Ltd., FedDev
10> SOSCIP IMPACT 2017
Photo (top) submitted by Isaac Tamblyn
A UOIT researcher is combining machine learning with
computational modelling to accelerate the discovery of new
materials important for renewable energy.
Prof. Isaac Tamblyn is using computer vision and AI to
reduce the cost and complexity associated with modelling
‘designer’ materials on a computer. Doing so may improve
the efficiency and enhance the quality of materials vital to
aerospace and healthcare industries.
“Knowing only the elemental composition of a material,
it’s now possible to simulate many of its properties (e.g.
electrical conductivity, colour, how strong it is),” he explained.
“If we really want to do bottom-up design of a material, we
need to be able to find a cheap, easy way to model them.”
Using the BGQ and Cloud, he is able to train computers to
make accurate approximations of difficult problems in material
science while building an extensive material database.
The training approach is similar to Google’s object
recognition algorithms – where computers have been trained
to recognize the faces of users in photographs.
“If you want to teach a computer the difference between
cats and dogs, you need a lot of pictures of each. The same
is true with materials. In order to develop approximate
models of materials, we need to generate really accurate
data first.”
The project could support important breakthroughs
by others in materials design, which is critical since not
everyone has access to supercomputers and some
calculations take as many as five million computing hours.
His team is now investigating how to make carbon a better
catalyst for water-splitting, a process that could be used
to develop clean, renewable energy capable of powering
electronic devices and fueling vehicles.
Nataliya Portman, a former post-doctoral fellow for the
project, gained valuable skills as a data scientist through her
approach combining mechanics and machine learning.
“This project allowed me to develop technical skills in HPC,
GPU programming and big data management, and advance
my knowledge of deep learning methods,” she said. Portman
now works as a lead data scientist for a company in Toronto.
Shiva Gholami is currently working as the team’s postdoctoral fellow.
When the research is complete, Prof. Tamblyn is hoping to
perfect a validated machine learning model capable of
rapidly determining the electronic structure and physical
characteristics of catalytic surfaces.
Prof. Tamblyn’s students will use the model to launch a
start-up company in 2018 targeted at industries that can
benefit from high-tech material design, such as defence,
aerospace and health.
Butterfly Gamma image submitted by Antonio Cala Lesina
Looking beyond the surface
Researchers at the University of Ottawa and
the Royal Canadian Mint are collaborating to
better understand how to explain the rich
colours recently created on Canadian coins
using lasers.
The research stems from a technique used
by the Royal Canadian Mint to add colour to metal surfaces,
without the need for adding dyes or paints.
“While they had a pretty good empirical knowledge of how to
get a desired colour, it was not understood why a chaotic,
disordered array of nanometer-sized particles produced such
a reliable colour,” explained Lora Ramunno, an associate
professor with the University of Ottawa and a Canada Research
Chair in Computational Nanophotonics.
“I recognized there was a large role for computer simulation to
bring about that understanding and our team had the skills to
be able to do that.”
Prof. Ramunno used SOSCIP’s IBM BGQ supercomputer to
run large-scale computations to better understand how light
interacts with matter at nanoscale dimensions.
With a patent application underway, Prof. Ramunno credits
SOSCIP for providing access to machines that she describes as
“unparalleled in Canada.”
“SOSCIP facilitates research that wouldn’t otherwise be
possible,” she said. “We can run computer simulations on
thousands of processors at once that we would not have been
able to do otherwise.
“It also provided us with the funding to bring in highly-qualified
people to work on our projects. We received funding to hire an
outstanding post-doctoral fellow from Italy, Antonio Cala Lesina.
Cala Lesina says he feels grateful to be part of the team and
that SOSCIP has provided “everything that a computational
researcher could ask for.”
“I love understanding the concept of how light interacts with
materials. The process produces visually striking metallic
surfaces, but it’s also a complex, interesting problem from a
research point of view as well,” explained Prof. Ramunno.
Understanding the science behind the colour could produce
many future innovative applications for advanced manufacturing in Canada and beyond.
Prof. Ramunno and her team are looking at other new
processes, for applications such as biosensing, to discover how
a surface can change colour based on its environment.
Prof. Ramunno’s research team includes Pierre Berini, a
University Research Chair in Surface Plasmon Photonics and
director of the Centre for Research in Photonics, as well as
Arnaud Weck, associate professor in mechanical engineering,
whose research group created these colours on coins for the
Royal Canadian Mint.
>
Researchers: Lora Ramunno and Pierre Berini,
University of Ottawa
Industry partner: Royal Canadian Mint
Supported by: SOSCIP, IBM Canada Ltd., FedDev,
NSERC
SOSCIP IMPACT 2017 <11
Curating science for discovery
A professor with the University of Windsor is working on a collaborative
SOSCIP research project that will have the potential to bring about
scientific and medical discoveries much sooner.
Jianguo Lu, a professor with the department of computer science, is
collaborating with Meta, a Toronto-based company that applies artificial
intelligence to curate the world’s scientific and technical information.
Prof. Lu is building a tool called a semantic scholar assistant, which
will enhance the user experience for researchers and provide them with
access to a vault of millions of academic papers.
“The semantic scholar assistant is a modern search engine to help
researchers find relevant information and knowledge,” explained Prof. Lu.
Prof. Lu says that researchers are currently limited to syntactic-based
or keyword-based search engines but the semantic scholar assistant is
designed to go beyond that to provide a tailored experience unique to the
researcher’s focus area.
“The semantic scholar assistant is not just a search engine, it will read
and understand your requirements and make recommendations. It will
understand researchers’ personal interests and tap into their academic
social networks,” he explained.
Working with a team that includes Prof. Ziad Kobti, also at the University
of Windsor, as well as three PhD students, Prof. Lu explains the experience
is meaningful and important in developing useful data mining techniques
that can further drive innovation.
“SOSCIP has been helpful in that they have provided lots of resources.
We have millions of academic papers to process and they are able to
connect us with experts to develop very complicated algorithms that
can process massive amounts of data,” said Prof. Lu, who is currently
accessing the Cloud Analytics platform.
Industry partner Meta has caught the eye of others, including founder and
CEO of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, and his wife, Priscilla Chan.
The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, which is dedicated to advancing human
potential and promoting equal opportunity with a focus on scientific
research, education and strong communities, announced on Jan. 24, 2017,
that it was acquiring Meta. The Initiative’s goal is to “cure, prevent, or
manage all diseases by the end of this century.”
This is the second SOSCIP research project to involve industry partner,
Meta. Meta was introduced to SOSCIP in 2014 through a collaborative
research project with Prof. Kelly Lyons, University of Toronto.
“The opportunity to work with them [Meta] was amazing,” explained
Prof. Lyons. Since the initial project, members of her team have gone on
to advance their careers in research and industry.
“As a researcher, it’s getting increasingly more difficult to access the right
information when you need it,” said Prof. Lyons, adding: “It’s lovely to see all
of their hard work and tremendous innovation recognized.”
For both Profs. Lu and Lyons, the project is rewarding in the potential
impact it could have in furthering advances in the field of medicine
and science.
>
Researchers: Jianguo Lu and Ziad Kobti,
University of Windsor
Industry partner: Meta Inc.
Supported by: SOSCIP, IBM Canada Ltd.
12> SOSCIP IMPACT 2017
IoT
Artificial intelligence
Simulation
SOSCIP is helping data
driven companies develop
innovative products and
services and train the next
generation of data science
talent in Ontario.
>
Big data
Real-time analytics
HPC
Deep learning
Modelling
SOSCIP IMPACT 2017 <13
SOSCIP
AT A GLANCE
SOSCIP Impact 2012-17
2012
Number of
unique SME
partners
engaged in
collaborative
R&D projects
2014
2017
Total
62
Number of
industryacademic
collaborative
projects
launched
Total
Number of
highly-qualified
trainees
developing skills
and expertise
in data science
through SOSCIP
projects
Total
107
454
Numbers as of April 1 each year
14> SOSCIP IMPACT 2017
>
SOSCIP Milestones 2012-2017
2012
Apr 10, 2012
2014
With funding from FedDev, Province of Ontario
and IBM, SOSCIP launches with 7 founding
member institutions and IBM Canada as lead
industrial partner.
Apr 14, 2014
SOSCIP announces 4 new member
institutions + 4 new focus areas (advanced
manufacturing, cybersecurity, digital media
and mining).
2015
Apr 28, 2015
FedDev Ontario + IBM announce new investment to
support major expansion of SOSCIP’s activities.
May 28, 2015
OCE + SOSCIP launch Smart Computing R&D
Challenge, a $7.5 million program with NSERC;
14 projects were approved at up to $500k each.
Aug 27, 2015
Seneca College, OCADU and University of Windsor
join as academic member institutions.
Summer 2015
SOSCIP expands all platforms to double
compute capacity.
2016
Feb 24, 2016
Premier Wynne announces $47.5 million
IBM Innovation Incubator Project to help
high-tech SMEs commercialize.
Apr 1, 2016
University of Guelph joins SOSCIP
as 15th academic member institution.
Sept 2016
With funding from the Province of Ontario,
SOSCIP launches TalentEdge Program to
fund 37 post-docs on new projects.
2017
May 9, 2017
SOSCIP celebrates 5 years of success at
2017 Conference at MaRS and shares plans for
continued growth + expansion.
Summer 2017
SOSCIP adds 2 new technology platforms:
IBM Watson and a GPU-accelerated platform for
applications in cognitive analytics, AI and other
science and engineering problems.
SOSCIP IMPACT 2017 <15
IBM RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT
York researcher transforming
video streaming with big data
With millions of videos being uploaded
daily to video sharing and social media
sites, the need for advanced video
streaming technology has become essential
in sharing information and telling stories.
The capability to generate and stream
quality video data wirelessly from media devices such as
mobile phones, tablets and computers, for example, requires
sophisticated data science. That’s where Profs. Aijun An and
Amir Asif’s team comes in. Their research team, consisting of
Vida Movahedi and Mufleh Al-Shatnawi, is building a scalable
3D cloud video transcoder, a technology that will provide highquality, wireless video transcoding.
The project is part of the BRAIN Alliance, a $10.9 million
Ontario Research Fund-Research Excellence grant in big
data research. Led by York University with OCAD University,
Ryerson University and the University of Toronto, as well as 17
private/public sector partners, the initiative was formerly led
by researcher Nick Cercone before his untimely passing.
In honor of Cercone’s significant contribution to the field,
Prof. An continued as the project lead among a team of York
researchers to develop big data applications using IBM’s
Spectrum Symphony™, an IBM software product used for
distributed computing and big data analytics.
“The goal of the video cloud transcoding project is to design
an error-resilient transcoding framework for mobile 3D video
streaming, which transcodes an HD 3D video stream to a
mobile, scalable 3D video stream,” explained An.
The project “develops a fast, cloud-based solution that can
convert high bitrate video data in HD, 4K or 3D representation
to a low bit-rate format that is capable of being adjusted to the
receiver’s specifications, while preserving the perceived video
quality as much as possible,” she explained.
Prof. An cites support from SOSCIP as crucial in the cloud
computing resources provided to post-doctoral fellows.
“At York, I have been fortunate to be able to lead a talented
research team. Together we have tackled a variety of
research problems in data mining and machine learning,
and have established ourselves as a strong research group.”
With a patent application underway, the 3D cloud video
transcoder may soon offer a new service to the marketplace, providing huge benefits for broadcasting and video
streaming companies.
>
Researcher: Aijun An, York University
Industry partner: IBM Canada Ltd.
Supported by: SOSCIP, IBM Canada Ltd., OCE,
NSERC, Province of Ontario
Website: http://brainalliance.ca/
16> SOSCIP IMPACT 2017
IBM RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT
McMaster researcher to
“clean” big data
In today’s age of information, big data plays
a crucial role in decision-making for many
organizations, a fact that is likely to increase in
the coming years as organizations struggle to
remain competitive.
Big data lends many insights that give organizations an edge by helping them make informed
decisions that improve profit margins and help them better understand customers and employees.
Data, however, is often incomplete and rife with errors. That’s
where Prof. Fei Chiang from McMaster University comes in. Her
research, which includes a team of developers, software architects,
students and statisticians from IBM labs in Ottawa, Chicago and
Germany, involves improving data quality to achieve trusted and
accurate results from data analysis tasks.
The project is part of the Smart Computing R&D Challenge, a
$7.5 million initiative between OCE, NSERC and SOSCIP (see
pg. 18 for details).
“Poor data quality costs businesses and organizations millions of
dollars a year in operational inefficiencies, poor decision-making
and wasted time,” she explained.
“Real data often contains missing, duplicate, inconsistent
and empty values. The currency and timeliness of data is
important because many decisions need to be made with the
most recent data.”
Prof. Chiang is working with IBM to improve data quality metrics
in Watson Analytics, IBM’s cloud-based data analytics platform.
The first step is to build a set of detailed quality metrics that
provide in-depth information on the data quality problems.
The metrics are aggregated to provide customized data quality
scores to users based on their data analysis task.
The aim is to provide organizations with a means of “cleaning”
their data and streamlining that process from months to days.
It also provides valuable hands-on training for data scientists to
fill a significant gap in the Canadian market. One such student is
Yu Huang, a PhD student at McMaster who is the lead developer in
designing and testing algorithms.
“I’m responsible for developing new data quality metrics that
help users better understand and correct data quality problems,
and exploring how our techniques can be incorpor­ated with IBM
software tools,” he explained.
He’s hoping to apply those skills to meet the future needs of the
private sector.
“I’ve learned how to integrate state-of-the-art research with the
needs of industry,” he explained.
>
Researcher: Fei Chiang, McMaster University
Industry partner: IBM Canada Ltd.
Supported by: SOSCIP, IBM Canada Ltd., OCE, NSERC
SOSCIP IMPACT 2017 <17
OCE-SOSCIP
Smart Computing
R&D Challenge
Approved Smart
Computing R&D
Challenge Projects
Xavier Fernando
Fei Chiang
Girma Bitsuamlak
McMaster University
IBM Canada Ltd.
A dynamic and scalable data cleaning
system for Watson Analytics
OCE-SOSCIP partnership combines
significant project funding with
serious compute power for even
greater impact.
In May 2015, OCE, SOSCIP and NSERC
launched the Smart Computing R&D Challenge,
a $7.5-million program supporting collaborative
R&D projects between Ontario companies and
researchers at SOSCIP academic member institutions. Supported through the OCE Voucher
for Industry Association program, this program
leverages the NSERC Collaborative R&D grant
program so that industry cash contributions to
the project are matched 3:1.
SOSCIP and OCE hosted two partnering
events to help foster new collaborations that
were hugely successful, bringing together more
than 400 industry and academic researchers.
A total of 36 applications were reviewed by
the SOSCIP Scientific Advisory Committee and
14 two-year projects valued at up to $500,000
each were approved and are now up and
running on the SOSCIP platforms. In addition to
enabling the development of new products and
services that leverage big data analytics and
advanced computing technologies, these
projects will support the training and skills
development of dozens of graduate students
and post-doctoral fellows in data science and
give them hands-on industrial experience.
18> SOSCIP IMPACT 2017
Ryerson University
PBE Canada
Sensing, communications and
control infrastructure for safe
mining operations
Western University
Stephenson Engineering,
Klimaat Consulting & Innovation,
Wausau Tile Inc.
Modeling of urban wind flow and its
interaction with buildings
Shuo Li
Western University
London X-Ray Associates
Big cardiac data
Emil Petriu
David Maslove
Big data analytics for the Maritime
Internet of Things (IoT)
(FoRCE): Powering clinical trials
research through a secure and
integrated data
University of Ottawa
Larus Technologies
Queen’s University
Indoc Research
Amiya Nayak
Amer Shalaby
Big data analysis and optimization
of rural and community broadband
wireless networks
Joint optimization of route design and
schedules for fixed route transit systems
University of Ottawa
EION Inc.
University of Toronto
Trapeze Group ULC
Featured Project
Jianguo Lu
Vaughn Betz, University of Toronto
University of Windsor
Meta Inc.
IBM Canada Ltd.,
Theralase Technologies Inc.
Semantic scholar assistant
Fast and accurate biophotonic
simulations for personalized Photodynamic
Cancer Therapy
Cristiana Amza
Alex Mihailidis
Integrated platform for distributed
analytics of biometric data
Ubiquitous robotics to support
older adults with dementia
Ue-Li Pen
Diana Inkpen
Virtualized radio-VLBI digital media
NLP for early detection of mental
health issues
University of Toronto
Avertus Inc.
University of Toronto
Thoth Technology Inc.
University of Toronto
Crosswing Inc.
University of Ottawa
VISR Inc.
Professor Vaughn Betz and his team, which
includes researchers at Princess Margaret
Hospital, IBM and Theralase Technologies Inc.,
a small Toronto-based company that delivers
cold laser technologies for health applications,
have joined forces to build a very fast and
accurate simulator of where light inserted with
fiber optic probes travels within a patient’s
body. One of the most promising applications
of this technology is the delivery of photodynamic therapy (PDT) for cancer treatment. PDT
involves the injection of non-toxic drugs, which
are harmless until activated by light of a certain
wavelength. By shining that wavelength of light
directly on a cancerous tumour, the tumour can
be destroyed with minimal damage to
surrounding healthy tissue and with fewer side
effects and less cost than radiation therapy or
surgery. The research team is using SOSCIP’s
Agile Computing platform to build a simulator
of how hundreds of millions of photons of light
pass through the human body to help surgeons
quickly and accurately determine the most
effective placement of light probes to ensure
the best possible outcomes for patients.
>
Researchers: Vaughn Betz,
University of Toronto,
Dr. Lothar Lilge, Princess
Margaret Hospital, University
Health Network
Industry partners: IBM Canada
Ltd., Theralase Technologies Inc.
Supported by: SOSCIP, IBM
Canada Ltd., OCE, NSERC
SOSCIP IMPACT 2017 <19
An associate professor at Western
University is setting out to transform how
we think about wind. Prof. Girma Bitsuamlak
and his research team are working with
Canada’s fastest super­computer, the BGQ, to
develop numerical models that simulate the
effects of extreme microclimates on cities, particularly wind, to
better inform smarter and safer city planning and building design.
“Canada is known for its diverse geography and for being
exposed to extreme types of climate,” explained Prof. Bitsuamlak,
who serves as research director for Western University’s
WindEEE Research Institute and a Canada Research Chair in
Wind Engineering.
By tapping into the high-performance computing resources
and expertise offered through SOSCIP, Prof. Bitsuamlak and
his team are able to develop a multi-scale climate responsive
design framework that considers the complex interaction
between buildings and wind.
“The simulation of the wind flow field and its interaction
with the built environment is complex. This complexity arises
from the characteristics of the incoming wind itself such as its
speed and turbulence as well as the surrounding conditions
(urban topology), and the interaction between wind and the
study building.”
The research can be used to aid decision-making in
construction, one of Canada’s most resource-intensive sectors
and contribute to smarter city planning.
It can also make pedestrian life safer, reducing wind tunnels
created by the proximity of tall buildings.
The team includes ten PhD students, two Master’s students
and a group of research scientists.
“At Western we have the best environment to study the
microclimate of cities,” he says, referring to the WindEEE Dome,
the world’s first three-dimensional climate testing chamber.
PhD student, Kimberley Adamek, is excited to combine her
knowledge of architecture with data science.
“Data science research helps us understand global-scale
concepts that dictate how our world works,” explains Adamek.
“By visualizing large scale climate patterns, we can begin to
understand our role as designers and the implications of our
decisions on the environment.”
“SOSCIP has been a blessing to my research by providing
the computational resources, particularly the BGQ,” said
Prof. Bitsuamlak.
“We don’t have to water down the problem, we can tackle
complex problems as they exist. When you understand the
problem it’s easier to build a solution.”
>
Researcher: Girma Bitsuamlak,
Western University
Industry partner: Stephenson Engineering,
Klimaat Consulting & Innovation Inc., Wasau Tile
Supported by: SOSCIP, IBM Canada Ltd.,
OCE, NSERC
20> SOSCIP IMPACT 2017
Water tunnel visualization of the
wind flow due to buildings at
the King and Bay intersection in
Toronto. Dye shows wind being
redirected (in the wake) behind
the Commerce Court Tower.
Photo: submitted by Kimberley Adamek and Girma Bitsuamlak
Western professor taking
wind research to new heights
The right treatment at
the right time
Working in the ICU means Dr. David
Maslove often has just minutes to
make a decision about the type of
treatment his critically ill patients
will receive.
To do this, many types of clinical
data are collected: electrocardiograms,
vital signs, lab tests, x-rays and more.
Most data are recorded both in paper
charts and electronic medical records
and some, such as physiologic
waveforms, are typically discarded,
making it difficult to utilize for clinical
trials and research.
Dr. Maslove, a clinician scientist
with the departments of medicine
and critical care medicine at Queen’s
University and Intensivist at Kingston
General Hospital, is conducting
research to better understand the
role big data can play in developing
tailored treatment for critically ill
patients by integrating research with
real-time treatment.
The inspiration for his SOSCIPsupported research project was born
out of frustration.
“To stare at the monitors with my
patients in the ICU and see all this data
streaming by and wondering if there is
something I could be learning from it
motivated me to see what we could
discover by bringing the data together.”
With support from the Smart
Computing R&D Challenge (pg. 18),
>
Dr. Maslove gained access to SOSCIP’s
Large Memory System to build what
he describes as “a living, breathing
database of critical illness physiology”.
“Bringing all the data together in a
unified data structure would allow us to
conduct more sophisticated inquiries in
the setting of a clinical trial.”
Dr. Maslove’s industry partner is
Indoc Research, a federally incorporated not-for-profit dedicated to driving
scientific innovation and research
excellence through the provision of
comprehensive bioinformatics and
molecular research solutions.
By making efficient use of resource
allocation, the project will enable
seamless and secure integration
of research findings into clinical
practice, which is especially crucial in
an ICU setting.
Dr. Maslove’s research could support
the development of software that
is adopted more broadly to support
sharing data knowledge that could
simultaneously inform future treatment
and research trials.
“The key to advancing critical care
research is recognizing that all critically
ill patients are different. Collecting
and analyzing data will allow us to
highlight those distinctions and
eventually tailor therapies so that
each patient gets the right treatment
at the right time.”
Researcher: David Maslove, Queen’s University
Industry partner: Indoc Research
Supported by: SOSCIP, IBM Canada Ltd., OCE, NSERC
SOSCIP IMPACT 2017 <21
EXPANDING THE ECOSYSTEM
Meet SOSCIP’s newest academic member
institutions and discover how they plan to access
SOSCIP’s resources to make a positive impact.
OCAD University:
A collaboration in design
Paving the way in data visualization and digital
media research is OCAD University, North America’s
largest design school and the oldest in Canada.
At the helm of Canada’s university of imagination is
Dr. Sara Diamond, president of OCAD University.
Joining the SOSCIP consortium in 2015, OCAD
University combines traditional strengths in art and
design with a burgeoning collaborative drive in the
areas of data visualization and visual representation.
OCADU’s strong ties to the community and commitment to innovative research and collaboration make it
a natural fit within the SOSCIP ecosystem.
In describing the critical role that design tech­nologies
play in 21st century life, Dr. Diamond says: “Both digital
media and data visualization are incredibly important
for communicating and providing information to
communities, businesses and individuals, giving them
a deeper understanding of their activities.”
“OCADU researchers are the catalysts for creating
new and inventive technologies that have trans­
formative impacts on society, particularly for industries
such as health, urban planning, energy systems and
advanced manufacturing,” says Dr. Diamond.
Their track record of innovative collaboration have
enabled OCADU researchers to engage in important
initiatives such as the Big Data Research, Analytics
and Information Network (BRAIN) Alliance, which
includes a host of Ontario universities and their
industry partners collaborating on research projects
that leverage big data to drive innovation.
OCADU also collaborates with the University of
Toronto, University of Waterloo and IBM on the
iCity initiative to develop and apply advanced
data analysis and visualization to improve urban
transportation systems.
“It’s an exciting year ahead for us,” explained
Dr. Diamond, who says the university is focused on
designing towards the needs of the future.
“OCADU will be valuable in providing for the design
and data visualization needs of SOSCIP’s partners.”
22> SOSCIP IMPACT 2017
“OCADU researchers are the
catalysts for creating new and
inventive technologies that have
transformative impacts on society.”
—Dr. Sara Diamond, President
OCAD University
EXPANDING THE ECOSYSTEM
Seneca College:
Creating a
skilled future
Committed to graduating students who are
ready for the jobs of the future, Seneca College
has a reputation of providing experiential training
and enriched opportunities for its students and
faculty to connect and engage with industry.
Joining SOSCIP in 2015, Seneca College hopes
to enhance data science skills for students through integrated
collaborative research projects.
“Our students have the skills to meet the demands of today’s job
market, and our faculty, by working in collaboration with industry,
maintain their currency on industry trends, and are able to bring
their learnings back to the classroom to enhance the student
learning experience,” said Vanessa Williamson, dean, applied
research, Seneca College.
Access to SOSCIP’s advanced computing platforms and exposure
to working within SOSCIP’s collaborative R&D projects will support
the development of skilled graduates who can actively contribute to
the increasingly knowledge-based economy.
Seneca’s students will build foundational skills and provide
expertise to a number of sectors, from health, to advanced manufacturing, cybersecurity and beyond, in areas such as: text mining;
use of machine learning techniques; natural language processing
applications; social network; and recommendation systems.
“Canada will need to graduate more students with experience and
hands-on training in storing and analyzing large datasets, running
computationally intensive applications and performing other
important, highly-skilled tasks,” she explained. “Seneca can support
all of these goals.”
“Recently, we have been exploring collaborative projects with
other SOSCIP member universities and have uncovered many
potential synergies where we can leverage the strengths of our
undergraduate students with the basic research expertise of a
university post-doc. From there, the sky is the limit,” she added.
SOSCIP IMPACT 2017 <23
EXPANDING THE ECOSYSTEM
University of Guelph:
Growing impactful
research opportunities
Joining SOSCIP as the 15th
academic member in 2016, the
University of Guelph offers
significant research strengths in
the areas of food, agricultural
science, biodiversity and the
environment, veterinary medicine, and “one health” –
the continuum between animal, human, and
environmental health – among others.
“The University of Guelph is one of the leading
research universities in the world for the study of
food, agricultural science, and veterinary medicine,”
explained Malcolm Campbell, vice-president
(research), University of Guelph.
“Southern Ontario is home to one of the largest
agriculture and food sectors in North America –
feeding a sizeable domestic population and fuelling
a significant export market. By identifying ways to
apply smart computing and artificial intelligence to
the design and development of novel inventions and
methods, we can support this important sector
while remaining sustainable, economical, and
environmentally-responsible.”
Associate professor Alireza Navabi from the
University of Guelph has begun work in this field
with industry partner, Grain Farmers of Ontario.
Prof. Navabi’s SOSCIP collaborative research
project is applying smart computing to improve the
genetics of winter wheat crops in Ontario that are
threatened by a devastating fungal disease known
as Fusarium head blight (FHB).
“We also see opportunities to work with SOSCIP
and its partners to apply smart computing in the
areas of biodiversity and the environment,” explained
Prof. Campbell.
The university is home to the Biodiversity Institute
of Ontario, which is committed to research and
developing applications for sustaining natural
systems. The Institute is the birthplace of DNA
barcoding, which looks to create a DNA repository of
every living organism on the planet.
“This is a tremendous initiative for the protection
and survival of living organisms in an uncertain
world,” said Prof. Campbell.
“We look forward to working with the resources
provided by SOSCIP and building rich partnerships
that will enhance the university’s strong research
profile in these areas.”
24> SOSCIP IMPACT 2017
SOSCIP’s
Computing Platforms:
the right tools for the job
>
The SOSCIP advanced computing platforms feature six
distinct and unique systems that provide academic and
industry researchers with a competitive advantage not
available anywhere else in Canada. Our technology is
bolstered by high-level technical support from our experts
at the University of Toronto, Western University, Queen’s
University and IBM Canada Ltd.
IBM Blue Gene/Q
Canada’s fastest supercomputer is suited for large-scale
distributed applications that require massively parallel
processing power, such as molecular modelling, drug
discovery, climate change forecasting and computational
fluid dynamics.
Cloud Analytics
Canada’s first research-dedicated cloud environment
hosts a broad array of IBM software tools for application
development and data analytics. The Cloud is ideal for
complex data analysis, streaming and managing large data
volumes and data mining applications.
Agile Computing
Canada’s first multi-platform agile R&D environment
uses Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) technology
to accelerate hardware performance. FPGA cards can
accomplish numerically complex tasks more efficiently and
at a lower cost than a traditional CPU could do alone.
High-Security Large Memory System
The LMS platform is a single 64-core virtual system with
4.5 TB of RAM. Outfitted with the latest IBM analytics
software, the LMS is ideal for data-intensive projects with
huge active memory requirements.
IBM Watson
The SOSCIP Watson Platform provides a window into the
IBM cognitive API’s and hosted services managed and
maintained at the Queen’s University Centre for Advanced
Computing (CAC). This system provides extended
Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) access to the IBM Watson
tools. The Watson API’s are continuously evolving to
provide cognitive solutions to such challenges as: natural
language recognition, tone analysis, visual recognition,
IoT, conversations. The current list of available
API’s is accessible through https://www.ibm.com/
cloud-computing/bluemix/watson.
GPU-Accelerated Platform
In the summer of 2017, SOSCIP will install its latest
technology, a GPU-accelerated platform, for artificial
intelligence applications, including machine learning and
deep learning, as well as diverse engineering and scientific
applications including materials science, astronomy and
geophysics. Please contact us for further information on
this platform.
Visit www.soscip.org/platforms for
more information.
SOSCIP IMPACT 2017 <25
THE FUTURE
OF SOSCIP
26> SOSCIP IMPACT 2017
Over the next five years, SOSCIP will focus on building strategic
partnerships to grow our collaborative research platform and
deliver even greater impact for Ontario and Canada. We will
expand our membership to include more academic institutions
across the province of Ontario. We will develop strategic
partnerships with more large Canadian companies that share our
vision of the powerful social and economic impacts that advanced
computing technologies and collaborative R&D can enable.
We will work with our partners and stakeholders to continue
to offer leading edge advanced computing technologies and
expertise to drive innovation. We will continue to be a
comprehensive and significant training ground for the next
generation of data scientists to develop skills that will be critical
to the success of their own future careers and our economy.
>
With ongoing support from our partners and stakeholders,
SOSCIP will look forward to continuing to provide a unique
collaboration platform, where government, academic and small,
medium and large industry partners come together to support
the development of new ideas that have the potential to bring
significant health, environmental, technological and economic
advances for the benefit of Ontario, Canada and the world.
To learn more about how to get involved, please write to our
Executive Director, Dr. Elissa Strome, at [email protected].
SOSCIP IMPACT 2017 <27
INNOVATION
Partners
Members
Sponsors
compute
calcul
ONTARIO
28> SOSCIP IMPACT 2017
REALIZED
Editor: Krista Davidson
Publisher: Elissa Strome
Concept and design:
Hambly & Woolley Inc.
Videos:
HogTown Films
Printing:
The Printing House Ltd.
Special thanks to:
All the researchers, trainees and
industry partners featured in the
report and Compute Ontario for
their support in developing the
Impact Report.
This project is funded by the Goverment
of Canada through the Federal Economic
Development Agency for Southern Ontario.
>
SOSCIP Consortium
MaRS West Tower, 661 University Avenue
Suite 1140, Toronto, ON M5G 1M1
416.978.7023 [email protected]
www.soscip.org