The Government of Canada Innovation Fair for the National Capital Region (NCR) took place at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa on May 22, 2019.

The Fair, organized by the Government of Canada across 17 cities, showcased the innovative work undertaken across the government. The main theme was exploring the mindsets and behaviours needed to build an agile, inclusive, and better equipped Public Service in line with the Government’s Beyond 2020 vision.

Stephen Burt, Assistant Deputy Minister (Data, Innovation and Analytics) (ADM(DIA)) and Defence Champion for Beyond 2020, recognizes the benefits of incorporating agile, inclusive and equipped practices in the Defence Team to support Strong, Secure, and Engaged.

“Being more agile, more inclusive and better equipped is necessary to find innovative solutions to complex problems, and to achieve more effective results. Beyond 2020 is intended to provide a framework for, and amplification of, initiatives going on throughout our department and in support of the defence policy Strong, Secure and Engaged.” – Stephen Burt, ADM(DIA)

Among the highlights of the Innovation Fair in the NCR was the automated goniometer, showcasing the use of new approaches to solving technological challenges.

The goniometer is co-sponsored by the CANSOFCOM PROMETHEUS Innovation Programme, through their Senior Clinic Projects, and Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC). It is a highly specialized camera platform for 3D object measurement, which can provide input to machine learning algorithms for object surveillance and recognition.

This project, undertaken by fourth year mechanical engineering students from the University of Prince Edward Island, has received two team awards, Overcoming Technical Challenges and Best Design Project, in addition to a gold medal from the Canadian Society of Mechanical Engineers for one of the group’s members.

Additional work will be completed on the goniometer at DRDC Valcartier, where it will be tested and examined for future use.

The Senior Clinic Projects allow CANSOFCOM to recruit for its Virtual Force – a group of students who have expressed an interest to work on projects for CANSOFCOM, mainly remotely. These students have been either associated with a Senior Clinic Project or were identified during CANSOFCOM’s participation at the University of Waterloo’s Hack the North hackathon in 2018.