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Sealed step

A glassy mousse-like mineral powder can insulate houses without using oil-based materials. Shoe soles, however, are still mainly composed of plastic. Enter a Canadian startup aiming to cushion our steps sustainably while recycling a precious resource: wine corks. After years of research, its product is now ready to hit the market. Both recycled corks and the waste from cork...

Personalised placeholders

When it comes to storing information, our brain can be lazy. Chatbots with AI, however, absorb even the smallest details and learn from them. Including personal details. Often these are identified through a device’s location or IP address, but sometimes they are actively provided. For example, when a chatbot is fed concrete information or emails to produce a text....

Moving control

An electric one-seater offers people with limited mobility freedom of movement at the airport. But what if steering is impossible? Enter a Canadian startup which has developed smart earbuds for people with a range of disabilities. Integrated gyroscopic and muscle and brainwave sensors capture the smallest head movements made by the wearer. Like a language, these micro-gestures - a...

Profound personalisation

In Nigeria, mothers can obtain no-strings support to help them prepare for birth, while a special lab in Canada is looking after the health of older women. Now, another Canadian startup is helping women counter pelvic organ prolapse and urinary incontinence by manufacturing customised pessaries from medical-grade silicone. First, a patient’s pelvic floor is digitally measured. Using this data,...

Expanded access

Hairdressing salons are finding new clients thanks to this app created in Toronto. Meanwhile, international startups offering technology-based solutions and looking to expand their business into North America can get assistance from this Toronto-based non-profit-organisation. Startups are eligible as long as they are financially stable and willing to relocate to Canada. First step is to establish whether there is...

Signalling knowledge

Combining solar modules provides remote communities with electricity. Now, a man from the Democratic Republic of Congo is making internet access affordable for his fellow citizens. His startup, launched in Canada, uses small boxes of computer components to harness satellite signals and establish local wireless networks. The resulting ‘digital library’ in Kinshasa can supply internet for up to 100...

Open service

Companies can diversify their teams using IT. Now, a Canadian startup has developed an operating system for charging stations based on an open standard. The aim is to allow different types of electric vehicles to be charged at as many sites as possible. Charging stations, whether on hotel, company or residential grounds, are connected to a platform, which balances...

Mobile growth

A portable turbine powers cell phones. Front yards feed communities. And now a Canadian startup is using containers (assuming they aren’t already hotels) to cultivate mushrooms. 14 different strains are available, including exotic varieties such as oyster, lion’s mane or shiitake mushrooms. Straight from the container to the kitchen, minus the delivery routes and exhaust fumes. In future, local...

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