The Economic Trust of Southern Interior (ETSI-BC) is delighted to announce the nine successful grant recipients that will receive funding in 2024 through our funding partnership with Mitacs. These grants support collaborative research initiatives that help solve local issues while also encouraging collaboration between the region’s public post-secondary institutions and our businesses and local governments. These projects also provide students with unique and stimulating research opportunities. This mix helps lead to sustainable economic development in the Southern Interior of BC. The Mitacs research projects receiving support from ETSI-BC in 2024 include:

College of the Rockies

1. Wet Waste Disposal Strategy
Industry Partner: Canadian Mountain Holidays
Sectors: Sustainability, Environment

This project seeks a sustainable solution for kitchen waste disposal at Canadian Mountain Holidays (CMH) backcountry lodges in eastern BC. The findings could benefit various businesses facing similar challenges. CMH operates eight remote, high-altitude lodges, mostly busy in winter, making natural composting difficult. Previous methods like composting, burning, landfilling, and pig-feeding proved environmentally and logistically challenging. This project will compare the impact and workload of each method for each lodge, considering factors like occupancy, accessibility, and proximity, with the aim of identifying the best disposal solution for each lodge and the overall operation.

Selkirk College

Technology Integration in the Natural Resource Sector Projects

1. Brouse-Wensley Wildfire Risk Reduction
Industry Partner: Nakusp and Area Community Forest
Sectors: Forestry, Wildfire Management, Water Resource Management

This project aims to quantify the effects of wildfire risk reduction treatments proposed by NACFOR in the Brouse-Hasrap Creek operating area. The project will focus on the impact of these treatments on forest stand characteristics such as canopy coverage and snow interception. The goal is to help predict the volume and timing of runoff at the catchment scale where water intakes are located.

2. Newington Creek Restoration in Darwoods
Industry Partner: Cooper Creek Cedar
Sectors: Forestry, Forest Health, Restoration Ecology

This project will use an RPAS (Remotely Piloted Aircraft System) to conduct a Forest Health Indicators Assessment. The assessment will attempt to identify stands affected by various factors such as windthrow, white pine blister rust canopy mortality, and bark beetle kill. The project will also include long-term monitoring of Whitebark forests.

3. Forest Understory Fuel Interpretation Using LiDAR
Industry Partner: Slocan Integral Forestry Co-operative (SIFCo)
Sectors: Forestry, Wildfire Management, LiDAR Technology

SIFCo has implemented a landscape-level approach to wildland urban interface (WUI) fire mitigation, including the use of forest treatments to reduce fuels and create fire breaks around communities. This project will explore the use of LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) to quantify fuel/biomass volumes and weights before and after these treatments.

4. Drone-enabled Geologic Geothermal Feature Identification
Industry Partner: South Kootenay Lake Community Services Society
Sectors: Geology, Geothermal Energy, Drone Technology, Machine Learning

This project uses a multi-faceted approach to identify geothermal features. The project will start with a review of the existing literature on processing thermal images. Then, data will be collected via drone using RGB, Thermal, and LiDAR technologies. The data will be processed and mapped, and finally, the project team will analyze the data using machine learning models and scripting automation.

5. Forest Management Hydrological Modeling Tool
Industry Partner: Harrop Proctor Community Forest
Sectors: Forestry, Hydrology, Forest Management

This project aims to improve understanding of the hydrological recovery processes in Kootenay region mixed forest stands. The project will compare these processes against outputs of SWE (Snow Water Equivalent) predicted by regionally calibrated models. The objective is to determine the accuracy of the model’s representation of snow accumulation processes in regenerating stands.

6. Wetland Carbon Mapping in the Boundary Region
Industry Partner: Regional District of Kootenay Boundary
Sectors: Environmental Science, Carbon Sequestration, Wetland Ecology

This project utilises Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) attached to drones to measure peat depth profiles across wetlands. The goal is to gain a deeper understanding of the relationships between peat layer depth and factors such as climate, vegetation, hydrology, and geological conditions. This information will then enable a landscape-level assessment of peatland carbon storage.

Rural Resilience Projects

1. Business Needs and Challenges of Childcare Providers
Industry Partner: Community Futures East Kootenays
Sectors: Business, Childcare, Community Development

This project aims to understand the business needs and challenges of childcare providers in the Kootenay region and contribute to constructive business solutions that ensure their long-term sustainability. The project will begin by identifying the existing childcare providers in the region and then move on to identifying the specific needs and challenges they face. The next step is to match these providers with any available supports. The project will focus on mobilizing the knowledge gained and the lessons learned throughout the project.

2. Supporting Regional Food Aggregation and Distribution
Industry Partner: Regional District Kootenay Boundary
Sectors: Agriculture, Food Systems, Logistics,

This project aims to support the creation of a custom platform interface known as the “Food Connect Platform”. This platform is envisioned as a tailored communication and logistics platform designed to support the coordination of food system stakeholders within a transportation pilot. The project will focus on the consolidation and analysis of existing data to develop a roadmap for platform development.

Thompson Rivers University

1. Preparing BC for future fire seasons
Industry Partner: City of Kamloops
Sectors: Sustainability, Environment, Forestry

British Columbia has faced devastating fire seasons in recent years, with the top three worst years for area burned occurring in 2018, 2017, and 2021, leading to more than $2 billion in fire management costs. To combat this, the City of Kamloops and the British Columbia Wildfire Service (BCWS) are taking action through comprehensive training, inter-agency collaboration, and advanced technology. The Provincial Wildfire Coordination Centre (PWCC) and the Kamloops Wildfire Centre (KFC) are central to these efforts.
The research project aims to review training and certification needs for wildfire personnel and develop an enhanced Early Warning System to better predict and manage extreme fire activity. This work will strengthen wildfire preparedness and resilience across the province, contributing to a safer future for BC’s communities and critical infrastructure.

University of British Columbia – Okanagan

1. The ‘Solar Village’ project: A Net Zero Subdivision Development
Industry Partner: Create Solar
Sectors: Sustainability, Environment

The ‘Solar Village’ project in British Columbia’s Okanagan region is an ambitious net-zero subdivision development led by Create Solar. This initiative aims to revolutionize residential development by harnessing solar energy with innovative methods and technology designed for northern climates. Create Solar’s goal is to minimize the ecological footprint of housing projects and pave the way toward self-sufficiency, using the Okanagan Valley’s local renewable energy resources.
Given Canada’s plans to significantly increase its housing stock in the coming decade, the ‘Solar Village’ project is well-timed. The Mitacs project collaborates with Create Solar to develop a comprehensive system to monitor the performance of this net-zero subdivision. This monitoring will help identify effective practices and areas for improvement, guiding Create Solar in optimizing their technology. The insights gained will not only drive the success of the ‘Solar Village’ project but also serve as a model for sustainable residential development across Canada, promoting best practices for net-zero housing.

2. Social Impact Measurement Toolkits and Course Development
Industry Partner: Impact Toolbox
Sectors: Small business, social innovation/impact

This research will explore the organizational and leadership challenges of Social Enterprises (SE) that are attempting to scale their social impact. The research will be carried out through qualitative methods including semi-structured interviews with leaders, contributors, and beneficiaries of SEs that have gone through or are going through a social enterprise accelerator.
Analysis of this data will create new knowledge about how to better support and advance SE in Canada, making theoretical contributions to the critical scaling stage of SE development, an understudied area. The results of this study will also help practitioners to better scale their SEs and thus strengthen the overall social enterprise sector.

3. AI-Enabled Assessment of Climate Change Impacts on Drinking Water Sources
Industry Partner: Crim Tech Inc
Sectors: Small business, tech, environment

This project aims to develop methods to forecast climate change impacts on drinking water source quality. By applying machine learning models to local and source-specific historical water quality, climate, and land use data, the project seeks to predict how key water quality parameters will change and affect drinking water infrastructure. The goal is to create a tool that helps assess risks and guide design and planning for water systems in response to climate change.
The project will use stochastic weather and water quality data to simulate short- and long-term impacts under different climate change scenarios. Downscaled climate models will generate an ensemble of weather and water quality data, enabling the forecasting of water quality conditions. These forecasts will be tailored to specific sources and will help water utilities and planners anticipate infrastructure risks and adapt to future conditions. Ultimately, this work supports proactive decision-making for maintaining safe and reliable drinking water in a changing climate.

4. A Blockchain-Enabled Database for Sensitive Data Governance and OCAP Compliance
Local Government Partner: Living Lakes Canada
Sectors: Small business, Tech, Economic Development

This project aims to develop a unique, Hyperledger-based database system for sensitive datasets pertaining to Traditional Indigenous Knowledge (TIK), that incorporates blockchain technology to ensure data security, privacy, and control in compliance with OCAP (ownership, control, access, possession) principles. Building trust with First Nation Governments and Indigenous Communities is paramount, and the proposed system’s accountability measures are key components in fostering a secure environment for data sharing. The primary objective is to provide Indigenous Nations with a secure and transparent platform that allows them to maintain control and ownership over their data while addressing the challenges of data loss and privacy on the internet.

The project will include stakeholder engagement, an assessment of existing documentation and research, and development of an implementation plan for a closed blockchain system that accommodates various data formats and adheres to OCAP principles. The solution will leverage the capabilities of the Hyperledger Fabric architecture, utilizing its main components and features, such as smart contracts and consensus algorithms, to create a customized and secure data management platform.

By creating a dedicated database for sensitive datasets, this project addresses the limitations of open-access databases such as the Columbia Basin Water Hub and provides a tailored solution for Indigenous Nations to share their valuable knowledge without compromising their data sovereignty. The potential integration with existing platforms, like CKAN, will be explored to ensure compatibility with the current Columbia Basin Water Hub infrastructure.

5. Thompson-Okanagan Grassland and Wetland Inventory Project
Industry Partner: Thompson-Okanagan Tourism Association (TOTA)
Sectors: Tourism, Sustainability, Environment

Conserving and restoring sensitive ecosystems, especially in light of climate and land use changes, requires a clear understanding of their current condition and geographical spread. Grasslands and wetlands in British Columbia’s southern interior are among the most at-risk ecosystems due to historical land management practices and ongoing land use changes. These ecosystems are vital for biodiversity, providing habitat for numerous species, supporting carbon sequestration, and delivering crucial ecosystem services. However, despite their significance, grasslands and wetlands are often underrepresented in provincial ecosystem inventories, which traditionally focus on timber resources.

This project aims to address this gap by creating a comprehensive inventory of grasslands and water budgets for various wetland types in the Thompson-Okanagan region. Using a combination of field inventories, remote sensing, machine learning, and hydrology, the project will offer a landscape-scale assessment that can guide future conservation and restoration efforts. Collaboration with First Nations, as well as provincial, regional, and municipal governments, ensures that the outcomes align with local priorities and ecological needs. The insights gained from this work will be instrumental in shaping land planning and conservation strategies, helping to protect and restore these critical ecosystems in British Columbia’s southern interior.

6. Integrating Effective Food Waste Reduction Strategies into the Brokol App
Industry Partner: Brokol Enterprises Inc.
Sectors: Small business, Tech, Sustainability

The Brokol App aims to tackle the issue of food waste and its environmental impact by helping users optimize their grocery consumption. The app’s main objectives are to find effective strategies to reduce food waste, understand the needs of its target market, and identify key features to include. The methodology consists of two main components: research on food waste reduction strategies and detailed market analysis.
The food waste study will involve surveying early users, exploring best practices, gathering expert advice, and evaluating the effectiveness of features like personalized meal planning and alerts for expiring items. Concurrently, market research will use focus groups, surveys, and interviews with potential users to understand their preferences, habits, and needs. This insight will guide the app’s marketing strategies, product development, and user acquisition approach. Ultimately, the Brokol App aims to empower users to reduce food waste, promoting environmental sustainability and smarter grocery consumption.

University of British Columbia

1. Columbia Valley Green Energy Cost Reduction and C02 Mitigation Project
Industry Partner: Regional District of the East Kootenays
Sectors: Economic development, Environment, Energy

The Columbia Valley in southeastern British Columbia, part of the East Kootenays, is exploring renewable energy solutions to support a community-led energy transition. Without a natural gas connection, residents depend on electricity, propane, heating oil, and wood for home heating, which results in high energy costs and environmental impacts such as air pollution and carbon emissions. This project will evaluate renewable energy options for this region, considering both energy production and carbon mitigation. Researchers will review academic literature and Canadian case studies, engage with local stakeholders, and provide both quantitative and qualitative analyses of potential solutions. The ultimate goal is to recommend actionable strategies for a cleaner, more sustainable future in the Columbia Valley.

For more information, please contact:
Laurel Douglas, ETSI-BC laurel@etsi-bc.ca
Mike Kennefick, Mitacs mkennefick@mitacs.ca