It is our honour to recognize amazing businesses and leaders within our community through the Mayor’s Innovation Awards. As we approach the ceremony, we would like to introduce the nominees, as nominated by our business community.
The Research and Innovation Contribution award recognizes industry and academic researchers, as well as entrepreneurs whose innovative activities have had high impact on their individual business or sector, engaging knowledge users throughout the process.
This year’s Research & Innovation Contribution nominees include:
Barrie Arts Alliance
The Barrie Arts Alliance (BAA) was formed in response to a proposed change to the Georgian College Theatre and the need for a larger performing arts centre here in Barrie to continue to support performing arts. The BAA originated with 18 local arts organizations with the purpose of advocating for the arts as a whole, and to stay up to date on each others’ initiatives. At the time of its inception, it was impressive that there was a spreadsheet already developed that had acquired the basic data of each of the arts groups locally, along with an activity calendar and what they believe they could bring to the new performing arts centre in terms of usage. The data was quite raw and aligned with the performing arts centre, but the BAA saw an opportunity to expand the uses of the data. Over the years, they’ve developed their own directory of each others’ groups that is attached to a QR code. This database has now translated into historical records of people in the arts who happen to call Barrie their home.
Beaver Rock Roastery's journey began with the need to replace aging K-Cup packaging equipment and being disappointed by the options available on the market to do so. Collaborating with Georgian College’s Research and Innovation Department, they co-designed, developed and manufactured a modular machine, that will not only solve internal production issues, but also enable the transition to home compostable packaging and accommodating various other single-use beverage container formats. The project's impact extends beyond Beaver Rock, filling a market gap by supplying embedded-filter K-Cups throughout North America. Emphasizing environmental responsibility, the innovation has garnered interest from local investors. With collaborators such as ABA Mechanical, Advanced Motion & Controls, Proax Technologies Inc., Orion CPA, Barriston Law, Seven Elements, and support from the Natural Sciences and Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and the Ontario Centre of Innovation (OCI), this project not only strengthened the community but positioned Barrie as an ideal hub for business.
Georgian College’s Department of Research and Innovation
The Centre of Industrial Simulation and Prototyping at Georgian College’s Research and Innovation (R&I) department was born from the need to address challenges faced by the diverse manufacturing sector in Central Ontario, particularly in Simcoe County, including Barrie and Orillia. With over 4,000 manufacturers operating in the region, local industry leaders recognized a pressing gap: small and medium-sized manufacturers lacked access to resources and technology necessary to compete globally. Inspired by the vision of Industry 5.0, which promotes sustainable, human-centered, and technology-integrated manufacturing, this Centre was developed to bridge this gap. Built on Georgian College’s solid foundation in digital transformation and applied research, this Centre offers state-of-the-art resources such as digital twins, AI-driven automation, advanced robotics, and virtual and physical prototyping. These tools enable regional manufacturers to innovate and remain competitive. Through the Centre, Georgian College has made a long-term commitment to strengthening Central Ontario's manufacturing industry and empowering local businesses to implement sustainable, resilient practices that will shape the future of the regional economy, directly and indirectly connected to manufacturing.
Georgian College’s Department of Research & Innovation and White Tuque
Since the earliest stages of business planning and vision building, a large piece of the founding of cybersecurity firm White Tuque has been the development of a holistic platform that would support and advise businesses in protecting their digital footprint, and guide these organizations and individuals through technology crises, cyber breaches, and other “very bad days.” As a bootstrapped start-up launched in Barrie in 2021, White Tuque did not have the financial resources to hire a software engineering firm, and despite having the vision, ambition, and drive to create an effective and efficient delivery method and monitoring system for modern day cybersecurity programs, platform development remained at a standstill. That was, until January 2024, when Georgian College’s Research and Innovation (R&I) Department came on board. R&I at Georgian College is providing White Tuque the complementary skillsets required to build the platform from scratch. This collaboration between cybersecurity experts and academic subject matter experts is bringing a yet-to-be-realized vision to life: to help take decades of combined cyber experience and integrate that in a platform, protecting more businesses more efficiently and effectively, with the potential to shift the global threat landscape.
MediPharm Labs’ mission is to be a trusted global leader in the industrial-scale manufacturing of high-quality, cannabinoid-based derivatives by utilizing industry-leading practices, purpose-built facilities, and an expert-backed research team. MediPharm Labs aims to bring a pharmaceutical perspective to the cannabis industry. Working to internationally recognized pharma-quality standards, MediPharm strives to provide top cannabis products that are pure, trusted and precisely dosable for patients and end consumers. All MediPharm Labs’ product offerings begin with quality sourced and validated dried cannabis. The company focuses on four core standards: a stable supply chain of legal producers, highly vetted and safe product standards, reliable and consistent cultivars, and full suite of testing on every single batch of cannabis oil and finished goods. Through wholesale and white label platforms from its GMP-certified facilities, MediPharm Labs formulates, tests, processes, packages, and distributes cannabis extracts and advanced cannabinoid-based products to domestic and international markets.
metricHEALTH Solutions Inc. is committed to developing innovative solutions that improve access to quality care, enhance patient engagement, and drive better health outcomes. Their solutions are designed to be patient-centric, accessible, secure, and user-friendly, ensuring that patients have the tools and resources they need to take control of their health. Metric is committed to collaborating with healthcare providers and organizations to co-create solutions that meet the unique needs of their patients and improve the overall healthcare experience. Their promise is to continuously innovate and evolve to meet the changing needs of the healthcare ecosystem, while prioritizing patient privacy and security in three core service offerings: Digital Form Management, Workflow Automation and Dashboard Analytics.
Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre
The innovation journey at RVH began with a vision to enhance patient outcomes, staff experience, and operational efficiency through an increased focus on the adoption of new, innovative, processes and technologies. The Innovation Program was launched in late 2023 and RVH’s team has worked with local and provincial partners to build a structure and operational framework. The program will serve as a catalyst for continuous innovation across the hospital while contributing to the success of the local health tech community. Currently med-tech founders in Canda struggle to break into the healthcare market at home and generally have to take their business to the USA as a place to prove their product/service. The goal of the RVH Innovation Program is to create a structured pathway for introducing and scaling new technologies at RVH. By partnering with health tech founders, this program is being designed to streamline the adoption of innovative solutions, addressing the need for technology-driven approaches to our healthcare challenges.
Superhuman Health Club began when founder Trevor Howard discovered that his only local option for treating his chronic knee pain was a complete knee replacement. Determined to find alternatives, Trevor explored emerging technologies and therapies that could enhance health and healing. In doing so, he uncovered a vast, underutilized world of health optimization tools, including the Superhuman Protocol—a unique combination of Magnetism, Oxygen, and Red-Light therapies with profound effects on cellular health, longevity, and overall wellness. However, while these technologies were technically available, they were prohibitively expensive, with red light beds alone costing up to $150,000. This made them accessible only to elite athletes and a few exclusive circles, leaving the general public without practical access. Recognizing this gap, a new model was envisioned: a membership-based business that could bring these cutting-edge wellness tools to everyone in our community. This was a bold step in the industry, moving beyond personal ownership to a shared access model designed to break down barriers and make advanced health technologies available to all. By creating this innovative business, a more inclusive way for people to achieve better health and access solutions previously reserved for a select few has been pioneered.
Talk is Free Theatre (TiFT)
Theatre is a language-based experience. On top of that, what Talk is Free Theatre likes to do is position this community culturally in a light that might not be available anywhere else. When immersive, participatory work is introduced, the link between the actors and audience is blurred and the audience is integrated into the story. Audience members contribute verbally and actively to the narrative and influence the narrative’s outcome. Meet ARIA. Augmented Reality for Immersive Accessibility (ARIA) is a language translation tool which is now available for immersive and interactive productions, as well as for traditional performance. Translations appear in each patron’s personal view by using small binocular screens embedded in smart glasses. Self-detecting over ninety-six different source languages, ARIA technology can discreetly translate into one of over forty languages chosen by the audience on their device. As close to a personal translator in a pocket can be, ARIA offers simultaneous and different translations at the same performance, suited to each individual. Engaging audiences to connect beyond the language boundary and engaging artists to communicate using their own language is a revolutionary tool for immersive theatre makers and traditional producers alike.
Congratulations to the nominees in the Research and Innovation Contribution category! Your resilience and dedication to leveraging research and innovation for your business have set an outstanding standard for our community. Your innovative thinking has allowed you and others to overcome challenges and have paved the way for a more dynamic and responsive community. Congratulations on this well-deserved recognition in the Research and Innovation Contribution category!
Stay tuned for the announcement of the winners following the Mayor’s Innovation Awards ceremony on November 28!
Thank you to the sponsors of the 6th Mayor’s Innovation Awards, Adams Hamilton, Ain Whitehead LLP, Meridian Business Banking and Innovative Automation, for recognizing the importance of these local businesses.