{"id":3661,"date":"2026-05-26T14:56:23","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T18:56:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/kanata\/?p=3661"},"modified":"2026-05-27T14:13:50","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T18:13:50","slug":"carleton-celebrates-innovation-collaboration-and-real-world-impact-at-2026-ip-awards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/kanata\/2026\/carleton-celebrates-innovation-collaboration-and-real-world-impact-at-2026-ip-awards\/","title":{"rendered":"Carleton Celebrates Innovation and Collaboration at 2026 IP Impact Awards"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n Carleton Celebrates Innovation and Collaboration at 2026 IP Impact Awards\n <\/h1>\n \n <\/header>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n \n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n

On May 14, 2026, Carleton University welcomed researchers, industry partners and members of the innovation community to CU@Kanata for its second annual Intellectual Property (IP) Impact Awards Celebration\u2014an event recognizing research and innovation making meaningful contributions beyond academia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Presented by the Carleton Innovation Transfer Office (CITO)<\/a> within Industry and Partnership Services (IPS)<\/a>, the awards celebrate Carleton-led projects demonstrating real-world economic, social, and environmental impact through research mobilization, commercialization, and collaboration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year\u2019s celebration featured interactive demos and showcases from among 18 nominated teams across campus, highlighting innovations spanning novel therapeutics, artificial intelligence, advanced communications, sustainability, medical robotics, renewable energy, and digital infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Adjunct Research Professor Bruce Wallace and 2023 Carleton Master of Science graduate Bahareh Chimehi were recognized during Carleton\u2019s 2026 IP Impact Award Celebration for their collaboration with Able Innovations on a sensor-enabled steering and drive-assist system designed to improve patient transfers and reduce injury risk in healthcare settings.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n
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\u201cThe IP Impact Awards celebrate the incredible achievements of Carleton innovators and highlight the many pathways to creating societal and economic impact.\u201d said Shoma Sinha, Director of Industry and Partnership Services.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cThe CITO team is here to support Carleton researchers from all disciplines on their innovation journeys, by helping to identify, protect, and commercialize intellectual property arising from their research.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recognizing Innovation in Action<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Building on the success of last year\u2019s inaugural event, the 2026 celebration expanded to recognize three winning projects representing diverse approaches to innovation, collaboration, and commercialization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adjunct Research Professor Bruce Wallace, Executive Director of the Sensors and Analytics for Monitoring Mobility and Memory (SAM3<\/sup>) AGE-WELL National Innovation Hub<\/a>, and 2023 Carleton Master of Science graduate Bahareh Chimehi, a Project Manager and Research Associate with SAM3<\/sup>, were recognized for their collaboration with Ontario-based Able Innovations<\/a> on a specialized system designed to improve patient transfers in healthcare settings. Integrated into the company\u2019s Alta patient transfer platform<\/a>, the sensor-enabled steering and drive-assist system helps healthcare workers safely maneuver the device while reducing physical strain and injury risk for both patients and staff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The technology recently completed its first clinical trial at Bruy\u00e8re Health Saint-Vincent Hospital<\/a> in Ottawa and has already reached 10 deployments in hospitals across North America in 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also among this year\u2019s winners was DarwinA<\/em>I, an artificial intelligence platform designed to accelerate peptide drug innovation. Developed through a cross-disciplinary collaboration between Professor Kyle Biggar from the Department of Biology<\/a>, Professor James Green from the Department of Systems and Computer Engineering<\/a>, and Electrical and Computer Engineering<\/a> PhD graduate Fran\u00e7ois Charih, the platform uses biology-informed AI to support the faster and more efficient design of peptide therapeutics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Professors Kyle Biggar and James Green, and PhD graduate Fran\u00e7ois Charih were recognized for their work on DarwinAI\u2014an artificial intelligence platform commercialized through NuvoBio to accelerate peptide drug development and therapeutic discovery.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Commercialized through the innovative startup NuvoBio<\/a>, DarwinAI<\/em> helps identify potential drug candidates while predicting safety concerns earlier in development\u2014supporting safer and more streamlined development of therapeutics. The company recently announced a major strategic partnership with global peptide drug leader Protagonist Therapeutics, reflecting growing industry interest in the platform\u2019s capabilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rounding out this year\u2019s winning projects was a collaboration led by Department of Systems and Computer Engineering professors Babak Esfandiari and Thomas Kunz, focused on the application of machine learning to autonomous network management. Developed in partnership with Ciena\u2019s Blue Planet<\/a>, the project explores how predictive AI and digital twin technologies can help communication networks identify failures, optimize routing, and autonomously manage increasingly complex infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The long-running collaboration has already resulted in multiple patents, industry-supported research initiatives, and the development of advanced network digital twin systems now being readied for commercial deployment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis year\u2019s award recipients reflect how Carleton researchers are accelerating the transition from discovery to real-world application,\u201d said Rafik Goubran, Vice-President (Research, Innovation and International). <\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cFrom healthcare technologies to advanced communications and AI-driven systems, these projects illustrate how Carleton experts are shaping key innovations within Canada and internationally.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

A Diverse Showcase of Research and Commercialization<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Beyond the winning projects, the celebration also featured demonstrations and displays from nominated teams working across a wide range of fields, including rapidly deployable treatment modules for infection prevention and control, therapeutics for neurodegenerative disease, fisheries conservation technologies, sustainable water systems, robotics, wearable health monitoring, digital twin platforms, advanced wind turbine design, and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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School of Industrial Design professor Chantal Trudel and her team showcased the Infectious Disease Treatment Module (IDTM)\u2014a rapidly deployable outbreak response structure designed to support safer care delivery during infectious disease emergencies.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The event also highlighted how partnerships with industry, healthcare organizations, government agencies, and startups are increasingly helping move Carleton research toward commercialization and implementation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cResearch has the greatest potential for impact when it\u2019s connected to the environments and communities it\u2019s intended to serve,\u201d said Travis Flieler, CU@Kanata\u2019s Director of Operations. \u201cBy bringing researchers, students, and industry partners into closer proximity, CU@Kanata helps create the conditions for ideas to be tested, refined, and transformed into opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Carleton\u2019s research and innovation ecosystem continues to grow, IPS and CITO are helping support the partnerships and translational pathways that move ideas from discovery toward implementation and broader societal impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interested in collaborating with Carleton researchers or exploring commercialization opportunities? Connect with IPS<\/a> and CITO<\/a> to learn more about innovation and partnership support.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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2026 IP Impact Awards Sponsors and Supporters<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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On May 14, 2026, Carleton University welcomed researchers, industry partners and members of the innovation community to CU@Kanata for its second annual Intellectual Property (IP) Impact Awards Celebration\u2014an event recognizing research and innovation making meaningful contributions beyond academia. Presented by the Carleton Innovation Transfer Office (CITO) within Industry and Partnership Services (IPS), the awards celebrate […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":195,"featured_media":3675,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3661","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general"],"acf":{"cu_post_thumbnail":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/kanata\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3661","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/kanata\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/kanata\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/kanata\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/195"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/kanata\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3661"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/kanata\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3661\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3698,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/kanata\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3661\/revisions\/3698"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/kanata\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/kanata\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/kanata\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/kanata\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}