Durham College (DC) is pleased to announce that its Office of Research Services, Innovation and Entrepreneurship (ORSIE) has been approved to receive $2.24 million in funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), through the council’s College and Community Innovation (CCI) Program and College and Community Social Innovation Fund (CCSIF).

Two million of the funds will be used over five years to further enhance the capacity of the college’s Hub for Applied Research in Artificial Intelligence for Business Solutions (the AI Hub). Having already established itself as a leader in AI through a number of innovative applied research projects and the creation of the college’s new graduate certificate program, Artificial Intelligence Analysis, Design and Implementation, the grant will allow the hub to engage more faculty, students and industry partners in collaborative projects to improve business innovation, develop talent and contribute to local technological advancement.

A second applied research grant, focusing on developing a unique and scalable housing model for youth living on their own in Durham Region, will receive $240,000 in CCSIF funding over a two-year period. Established in partnership with the Regional Municipality of Durham, Durham District School Board, Durham Mental Health Services and the John Howard Society of Canada, DC will work to develop a ground-breaking, youth-designed housing hub model, while also investigating best practices and determining ways to improve the coordination and collaboration of services for Trusteed Youth.

This funding announcement comes as DC was recently named one of Canada’s Top 50 Research Colleges by Research Infosource Inc., a Canadian research and development intelligence company. This is the sixth consecutive year the college has been included on the list, which is informed by data on research income, research intensity, research partnerships and projects at colleges across the country.

The goal of the CCI Program is fostering partnerships between colleges and the private sector, to encourage business innovation, locally, regionally and nationally. CCSIF grants are intended to support college social innovation research projects in partnership with local community organizations.

Durham College (DC) is tackling the acute shortage of skilled artificial intelligence (AI) professionals in Canada, the most significant barrier to AI implementation today, with a new graduate certificate program.

Artificial Intelligence Analysis, Design and Implementation – the first program of its kind in Canada – will launch in September 2019 and aims to make students employable even before they graduate. By putting emphasis on hands-on learning and training, students will gain real work experience while solving actual business problems through capstone projects, an optional work term and applied research opportunities with the Durham College Hub for Applied Research in Artificial Intelligence for Business Solutions, better known as the AI Hub.

“The Greater Toronto Area is home to one of the highest per-capita concentrations of AI companies in the world, yet our AI ecosystem is suffering because the skilled workforce it demands does not exist,” said Marianne Marando, executive dean of the college’s School of Business, IT & Management. “DC’s new graduate certificate program will help fast-track more AI analysts, designers and system programmers who can hit the ground running.”

The program will focus on AI implementations across multiple sectors through a blend of open and custom solutions. Students will learn how to leverage AI to extract data and guide decision-making as well as service delivery, solving complex day to day problems with state-of-the-art solutions, all while creating efficiency and quality gains for small and medium-sized enterprises up to the largest of corporations.

“There has never been a more critical time for Canadian educational institutions to step up and play a vital a role in solving the crisis of skill shortage in the field of Artificial Intelligence that Canada faces today,” said Danish Arshad, executive director, International Council of E-Commerce Consultants. “Jobs in Canada requiring AI skills have grown by 1,069 per cent since 2013[i]; automation will impact at least 50 per cent of Canadian jobs in the next decade[ii]. In these disruptive times, DC’s AI graduate certificate proactively paves the way to not only build future generations of AI professionals but also prepare markets for the impending automation disruption.”

Whether their goal is a career as an AI specialist or to better understand how AI techniques can enhance their work in sales, marketing or product management, students will learn how to:

• Identify and understand opportunities where AI can create value in an organization or community.
• Identify risk and project management concerns unique to AI projects.
• Structure a project team when resources are scarce.
• Apply techniques for developing and implementing AI solutions.

Additional emphasis will be put on managing data in a manner that preserves its security and users’ privacy.

“The opportunity to train and test students in a focused AI program is going to attract AI enthusiasts at all stages of their expertise” adds Tushar Singh, CEO and founder, Minute School. “Combined with DC’s strong connections between its academic schools and industrial partners, as well as the faculty’s unique focus on Narrow AI, this program will go a long way in addressing the AI skills gap facing our country.”

Durham College (DC) research partner Partake Brewing (Partake) has been recognized on the global brewing stage, after being named the best low-alcohol pale beer by a panel of international judges at the 2018 World Beer Awards. The title was bestowed upon the company’s pale ale, a recipe which the college’s Centre for Craft Brewing Innovation (CCBI) helped develop.

Partake’s collaboration with DC and its Office of Research Services, Innovation and Entrepreneurship (ORSIE) began in October 2016. Funded through a $25,000 Engage grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, ORSIE researchers and the CCBI’s brewmaster used its brew lab and line to work with the company in developing the winning recipe.

This honour is the latest in a line of achievements for the growing craft brewer; Partake also recently secured a deal on CBC’s Dragon’s Den, again using a recipe – an India Pale Ale – developed in partnership with the CCBI. Its products can now also be found at select Beer Stores and LCBO locations across Ontario.

In all instances, the centre’s team has worked to help develop the recipes for the locally made, non-alcoholic craft beers that have the taste, variety, authenticity, creativity, and passion of their full-strength counterparts.

The World Beer Awards select the best in internationally recognized styles, awarding and promoting the world’s best beers to consumers and trade across the globe.

The CCBI, which is located at the Whitby campus, was officially launched in spring 2018. Consisting of a pilot brew line and brew lab, which were purchased using a $150,000 Applied Research Tools and Instruments grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, it offers craft brewers access to expertise and state-of-the-art technology, as well as micro-analytical and research services.

Together all parties have been working together to establish Oshawa as a living laboratory focused on experiential learning, applied research and innovative teaching partnerships to address urban issues.

The TeachingCity focuses on:

• Developing practical, scalable and sustainable solutions to urban issues;
• Building research partnerships;
• Coordinating experiential learning opportunities, applied research and innovative educational activities;
• Developing new technologies; and,
• Sharing access to facilities, resources and equipment.

Driven by a steering committee comprised of representatives from each partner, DC’s own Janse Tolmie, associate vice-president and chief information officer, IT Services and Marianne Marando, executive dean, School of Business, IT & Management, have been working along with the rest of the group to help successfully launch the initiative, focusing on putting processes in place, understanding how to assess project proposals and working with deans, associate deans and faculty at DC to kick-start several projects.

These included the TeachingCity Hackathon, which provided students with an opportunity to propose a solution to a public policy challenge around the theme of improving residential rental housing in Oshawa. Supported and mentored by faculty, City staff and community and business leaders, DC’s team, known as P.A.M., placed second, receiving a $750 prize for their solution of a website that focused on the inclusivity of the most marginalized Oshawa populations. 

The TeachingCity Hub also opened its doors. Located in downtown Oshawa, the Hub provides opportunities for TeachingCity partners to share access to facilities, resources and equipment, and includes office, classroom and lab spaces. The open-concept area will be used for meetings, collaborative learning opportunities and co-design.

Other highlights include students from DC’s Fine Arts – Advanced program exhibiting their works in Oshawa City Hall as part of the City’s Art and Culture in the Hall program. Students from the college’s School of Media, Art & Design also had a chance to show their creativity as part of its Community Collaborations course, where they designed vinyl artwork in celebration of Canada’s 150th anniversary in 2017, which was then displayed on the windows of the City’s Arts Resource Centre.

With one year completed, the partners are looking ahead to further develop the initiative. There are a number of diverse research projects in the works including getting a DC course recognized as a TeachingCity course; a project to provide certain services to low income residents and the establishment of the City Idea Lab, which will offer experiential learning opportunities to post-secondary students via a credit course at the TeachingCity Hub. Students working in the lab will learn about identified urban issues in Oshawa and will have the opportunity to collaborate with City staff to co-design possible solutions. The first intake of DC and University of Ontario Institute of Technology students to use the lab will be in the 2018-2019 academic year.

A graduate from DC’s School of Media, Art & Design will also be given the opportunity to create and install a mural in the TeachingCity Hub.

The full TeachingCity Progress Report is now available. Please visit to learn more about this past year’s activities and the plans for the future.

Durham College (DC) along with The City of Oshawa and education and research partners – Canadian Urban Institute, Trent University Durham Greater Toronto Area, University of Ontario Institute of Technology, and the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering – celebrated the first year of TeachingCity on May 14 with the opening of the TeachingCity Hub.

The TeachingCity Hub, located in downtown Oshawa at 1 Mary Street, is a dedicated space to facilitate TeachingCity projects with DC and the City’s education and research partners, including students and employees.

The Hub provides opportunities for TeachingCity partners to share access to facilities, resources and equipment, and includes office, classroom and open lab space. The open-concept area will be used for TeachingCity partnership meetings, collaborative learning opportunities and co-design.

“The opening of the TeachingCity Hub, signifies the evolution of our partnership in this ground-breaking initiative,” said Don Lovisa, president, DC. “By providing a physical space for learning and exploration, we will be able to continue helping the City of Oshawa address urban challenges and issues while also creating even more opportunities for our students to engage in applied research and innovative experiential-learning activities.”

During the Hub opening, Trent University Durham Greater Toronto Area officially joined TeachingCity through the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding.

TeachingCity brings together academic institutions, municipal government and City partners. The partners focus on and address urban issues facing Oshawa through innovation, collaboration, applied research and shared experiential learning opportunities.

The partnership facilitates:

• developing practical, scalable and sustainable solutions to urban issues;
• building research partnerships;
• coordinating experiential learning opportunities, applied research and innovative educational activities;
• developing new technologies;
• sharing access to facilities, resources and equipment; and,
• working toward the long-term positioning of Oshawa as a locally and globally recognized community of urban research and learning.

For more information on the TeachingCity Initiative, click here.