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INVENTION :Next Generation :Next ATLANTIC BUSINESS TALKS TO LOCAL RESEARCHERS ABOUT SOME OF THE EXCITING NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN REGIONAL DIGITALIZATION By Chet Wesley Transformers 34 Atlantic Business Magazine | November/December 2017 THE DIGITALIZATION OF LIFE is becoming as pervasive and routine as the air we breathe. Whether it’s heating our homes, powering our smartphones, keeping our children safe, growing food, getting operated on by a surgeon a thousand kilometers away, or exploring the world in a driverless vehicle, digital technology is affecting civilization on an epoch-changing scale. Many of those mind-blowing, world-changing technologies are being developed and exported from right here in Atlantic Canada. Here’s a look at nine of our most compelling and promising innovators and companies in the midst of lighting up our little corner of the digital world. atlanticbusinessmagazine.com | Atlantic Business Magazine 35 almost dizzying as you zip up and down and around the “With our visualization mountains and valleys of the world. software, ...decision After almost a decade in development, 3D Worldview makers can immediately is finally ready to hit the market. It’s anticipated it will see where a (telecom) push both personal and business decision-making into tower should go because an entirely new direction. “Many telecom companies are contacting us because they can interact with when they build a tower, they need to know the hills, mountains, and topography of the land, where the signal can reach, valleys in 3D.” and how accessible the site is,” says Dr. Zhang. “There DR. YUN ZHANG is software, but it needs experts to understand and interpret the raw data. With our visualization software, non-expert decision makers can immediately see where a tower should go because they can interact with hills, VISUALEYES mountains, and valleys in 3D.” Dr. Zhang says the technology has countless An entirely new dimension is about to emerge that’s applications for real estate development and tourism— going to change the way you see the world, thanks to even disaster relief. “In 2005, there was a devastating the University of New Brunswick’s Dr. Yun Zhang’s 3D earthquake in the high mountains of Nepal. Everyone Worldview software. around the world tried to help. But with 2D maps, “Currently all online mapping sites use line maps and everything looks flat. The few roads zig-zag and are satellite images to show the earth in detail, but all you too steep for big trucks with heavy loads of supplies,” see are flat images. You can’t tell how high anything is says Dr. Zhang. “With 3D maps, disaster relief workers or how hard the terrain is to navigate,” says Dr. Zhang. can see this problem immediately, and make informed He knows what he’s talking about: Zhang created decisions how to overcome it before they even leave.” technology that powers part of Google Earth and Google Maps Street View. “So we have taken geospatial data from public and SUNSPOTTER private databases to generate a 3D map that anyone can use to visualize the entire earth, to as close as one Every hour, the sun emits enough energy to power the metre.” The view is so photo-realistic that looking at it is entire Earth for one year. Collecting that energy has SPECIALIZED MASTER IN QUANTITATIVE INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT FINANCE at the University of New Brunswick’s Fredericton campus Gain high-value career skills employers ECONOMICS want at Canada’s only graduate-level quantitative investment management program. [email protected] (506) 453.4766 PROGRAMMING UNB.CA/MQIM 36 Atlantic Business Magazine | November/December 2017 “The technology has Dr. Koleilat is currently testing fabrics for her the potential to create experiments and it’s not an easy task. She’s searching the circuits a computer for a textile product that can be thrown into a washing machine, over and over again, and still come out as a needs and to power functioning computer. itself with (solar) light instead of a bulky, rechargeable battery.” NETSAFE DR. GHADA For anyone older than a millennial, playing safe as a KOLEILAT kid meant looking both ways before crossing the street and staying away from the train tracks. Today, as more kids turn to tablets and smartphones to have fun with traditionally been done by rigid, glass solar panels, friends, playing safe is more about keeping them away but that’s all about to change: Dr. Ghada Koleilat at from adult content and your credit card. Moncton-based Dalhousie University is experimenting with ways to Itavio has created a mobile app that allows parents to transform your clothes into energy-generating devices. manage their children’s online gaming. Using carbon nanotubes, Dr. Koleilat can bathe or “With our app, parents can filter the types of games spray fabrics with an invisible liquid that will one day and content their children can access and remove their turn your sportswear into a computer—and power it too. “What we’re talking about is the bio-functionality of “With our app, parents clothing so that it can listen to your heartbeat, test body can filter the types of fluids like sweat, or monitor muscle movements and wirelessly send the information to a mobile device,” says games and content their Dr. Koleilat. “The technology has the potential to create children can access … It the circuits a computer needs and to power itself with also lets the parent be the light instead of a bulky, rechargeable battery. People timekeeper, with settings don’t want to feel technology in their garments.” that determine how long The technology is also suitable for turning other they’re allowed to play.” fabric-based products into solar power generators, MELANI FLANAGAN including tents, window blinds, and furniture. OUR RESEARCH IMPACT Our scholars regularly perform SPECIALIZED research that is intended to be put to work by practitioners in the field — business people like you. To learn more about our research, please visit MASTER IN QUANTITATIVE sobey.smu.ca/impactblog INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT FINANCE Zlatan Fazlagić, Chief Marketing Officer and Mary Weimer, Chief Operating Officer; Kena Paranjape, co-founder Upcoming topics: BRIKA; Dr. David Sobey; Gordon Stevens, CEO Uncommon Group at the University of New Brunswick’s • Distributed leadership Fredericton campus • Customer satisfaction MAKING AN innovative • Co-operative businesses Gain high-value career skills employers ECONOMICS • Employee satisfaction want at Canada’s only graduate-level • Entrepreneurship IMPACT WITH PURPOSE • Social media quantitative investment management program. Our David Sobey Centre for Innovation in Retailing and Services celebrated Retail Week in early October by presenting the 1st annual National Retail Innovation Awards to Hillberg [email protected] PROGRAMMING & Berk for Product Innovation; Brika for Innovation in Retailing; and Uncommon Group for (506) 453.4766 Community-Focused Retailing. Congratulations to all the winners! sobey.smu.ca UNB.CA/MQIM SOBEY SCHOOL ABM AD_halfhorizon_November_2017.indd 1 16/10/2017 2:39:51 PM atlanticbusinessmagazine.com | Atlantic Business Magazine 37 kids’ constant asks for money or office space on the 48th floor of Housekeeping seal of approval. credit cards for the magic berries Hearst’s iconic Manhattan tower We would never get this kind of and little hearts they want to plus access to the company’s top exposure with any other investor.” enhance their game,” says Melani marketing talent. According to Flanagan says the company’s stay Flanagan, CEO and co-founder. Flanagan, Hearst is well known for in New York is only temporary, and “It also lets the parent be the doubling-up on funding for start- that she and her co-founder, Matt timekeeper, with settings that ups that take off under their wing. Pichette, continue to maintain their determine how long they’re allowed “Right now we’re working residences in Moncton. to play.” with some amazingly talented “We started the company with Two years into its development, people from Cosmo and Seventeen just the two of us and a small and now available for sale, magazines who are working with amount of money we stretched the company is in the midst us to take our product and brand out over two years, living on a of ramping up its sales with a to an entirely new level, and shoestring, and it’s all been so $250,000 investment from New Esquire is helping us with public worthwhile,” says Flanagan. “I York-based media giant Hearst relations,” says Flanagan. “We may love my province, and even though Communications. The deal includes also be considered for the Good raising capital on the East Coast is fun, we just couldn’t get enough to fund our company fully. That’s mostly because New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and P.E.I. are always in competition with each other when they should be working together.” For now, it’s safe to say that when it comes to play, especially the financial game, Itavio is in the right place at the right time, with the means to make the online world a little safer for kids. H EAT ER With rising power costs and the effects of climate change, many people are looking for ways to conserve energy. One way is with a programmable thermostat—if ADVANCE WORKPLACE you can figure out how to set up calendars, clocks, and temperatures SKILLS ANYWHERE, ANYTIME using two buttons and screen resembling a 1980s digital 100% online professional development courses, wristwatch. Another option is to certificates, and programs offer a flexible, convenient install a smart thermostat that can be programmed and controlled from way to strengthen and enhance workplace skills. anywhere with your smartphone. For most Atlantic Canadians, Choose from: however, who heat their homes • Pathway to Coping with baseboard heaters and a • Management Essentials thermostat in every room, smart • Occupational Health & Safety thermostats aren’t practical for • Occupational Health Nursing the average household.

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