Sault Ste. Marie shines with local talent at the annual SSMARt Innovation Awards

June 11, 2009: The Grand Theatre was shining with bright stars on Wednesday June 10, 2009 when the Sault Ste. Marie Innovation Centre (SSMIC) held their fourth annual SSMARt (Sault Ste. Marie and Algoma Region) Innovation Awards. Formerly known as the SSMARt IT Awards, the gala ceremony honours and recognizes local talent in the science and IT sectors.

This year’s awards were expanded to include science and research and included two additional awards categories: Innovation Teacher/Professor of the Year and Innovation Researcher of the Year.

“Congratulations to all of our winners and nominees. We had a very impressive field of applicants and they should all be proud of their incredible achievements,” said Tom Vair, executive director, SSMIC. “I certainly did not envy the judges’ positions in having to decide the winners. This is a true testament to the amazing talent we have in Sault Ste. Marie and its surrounding areas and we hope to see continued growth of the science and technology sectors in the future.”

The eight award categories and winners were:

1. Innovation Youth of the Year: Tamara Tadashore and Hannah Craig (St. Mary’s College). Tamara Tadashore and Hannah Craig worked as a team and demonstrated a tremendous passion for technology. They have created an Environmental Documentary which will be screened on Thursday June 18, 2009. They were in charge of all aspects of production and worked closely with community partners to produce a finished product that has met both industry technical standards and client demands.
• Honourable Mentions: Ben Cicchelli (St. Basil Secondary School)

2. Innovation Student/Graduate of the Year: Nicholas Ochoski. Through Nick’s progressive experience in the fields of geography and geomatics during his post-secondary education he has developed a focus on environmental monitoring through the use of remote sensing. One of Nick’s research projects in particular applies to environmental protection and conservation, specifically focusing on monitoring invasive vegetation. His project is research based and will produce new methods for working with imagery and GIS layers related to vegetation detection and monitoring.
• Honourable Mentions: Jessica Shanahan; Kevin Rusnell

3. Best Website Award: www.discoverthesault.ca by The Corporation of the City of Sault Ste. Marie. “Discover the Sault.ca” builds on and provides a unique and significant enhancement to the City’s and other community partners’ recent and current efforts in support of global connections and immigration. It not only helps newcomers in knowing where to go, but it supports all community members both private and public sector to use the “Discover the Sault.ca” newcomers portal as a way to attract and assist new people.

4. Innovation Leader of the Year: Mike McGonigal, Chief Operating Officer for CAIL Technologies. Mike McGonigal is a leader with high tech development company CAIL Technologies and passionately believes that Sault Ste. Marie has the talent and facilities necessary to succeed. He was in part responsible for CAIL aligning their products with EMC which has resulted in the product being acquired by Harvard University, Time Warner Telecom, Eli Lily and several other large American corporations.

5. Innovation Teacher/Professor of the Year: Peter White (Korah Collegiate and Vocational School). Peter is the head of the music department at Korah Collegiate and Vocational School. As the primary writer for the Ontario 1999 Secondary School Music Curriculum, Peter took great care to ensure that technology was a key component of the course expectations in grades nine to twelve. Over the span of twenty years the Korah recording program has seen computer software recording go from synthesizer/midi only to unlimited audio capabilities. To move through many format changes in technology has required a constant state of adaptation that is unique to teachers of technology and, because of the constant new learning curves, only a teacher with a passion for technology will pursue it.

6. Innovation Researcher of the Year: Dr. George Townsend (Algoma University). Dr. Townsend’s innovative research involving improvements to the P300 BCI (Brain Computer Interface), continues to improve the lives of ALS patients and other disabled individuals. His research on the P300 is ongoing with other further improvements in the interface currently being explored in the Algoma University BCI laboratory. He is conducting further research on improving EEG acquisition in general and is currently exploring patent opportunities for three related innovations.

7. Innovation Project of the Year: Essar Steel Algoma Inc. ESSAR Steel Algoma Inc. won for their project of “Manufacturing API (American Petroleum Institute) X70 Steel on a Thin Slabcaster.” In 2007, Essar Steel Algoma’s Product Development team set out to produce API X70 – a feat not so remarkable in and of itself (it was currently available on the market) except Essar developed a way to roll the steel on a continuous thin slabcaster, which to their knowledge, has never been done successfully at this heavy gauge range before.

8. Innovation Company of the Year: SITTM Technologies. SITTM Technologies Inc. is a Northern Ontario company focused on the development of a unique compact, portable, scalable biorefinery that responds to a growing demand for safe and consistent production of biodiesel from feedstocks that do not compete with food. SITTM is built on the vision of “democratizing” the production of energy as an attempt to exploit market applications where large scale biodiesel plants are not economically feasible.

This year’s awards gala was held at the Grande Theatre and attracted over 100 attendees. Another new feature of this year’s SSMARt Innovation Awards was the use of Web 2.0 technology. With help from Gerry Kirk of Gerry Kirk Consulting, the awards gala was live blogged using CoverItLive.com. There was also a Twitter contest where an attendee won for ‘tweeting’ the most original and innovative comment with the event hash tag #ssmart09. Guests with digital cameras were also asked to upload their pictures to Flickr using the same tag. The event blog can be viewed by visiting: http://www.gerrykirk.net/live-coverage-of-ssmart-awards-2009/

The awards were sponsored by the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation, Sault College of Applied Arts and Technology, Ontario Centres of Excellence, PUC, Compass Imaging, Good Life Fitness, CTV, Algoma University, BioEnterprise Corporation and the Northern Credit Union. SSMIC also wishes a special thank you to The Grand Theatre, Rico’s Catering, Gerry Kirk, Prestige Glass and to A&P for providing the centerpieces.

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About Sault Ste. Marie Innovation Centre

The Sault Ste. Marie Innovation Centre was founded in 1999 and serves as a catalyst for growth in the IT, science and knowledge based sectors in the Algoma District. In 2009, they merged with science enterprise Algoma to combine resources and accomplish their mutual goals of enhanced innovation capacity for both the IT and bioscience sectors. The Innovation Centre works closely with community partners to enhance and improve science and IT sector opportunities.

The Innovation Centre is focused on four core areas: operating a business incubator to encourage the establishment and growth of business start-ups; providing support services to the SME (Small to Medium Enterprise) IT and science community; supporting the establishment and enhancement of advanced research projects in the region and undertaking strategic market development projects such as the highly successful GIS project.

The Innovation Centre operates an award-winning GIS department that has been recognized internationally for its unique community information utility model and advanced work in the health and human services sector.

Sault Ste. Marie Innovation Centre
1520 Queen Street East, NW 307
Sault Ste. Marie, ON P6A 2G4
Telephone: 705-942-7927
http://www.ssmic.com

For More Information Contact:

Mei Ling
Communications Manager
Sault Ste. Marie Innovation Centre
1520 Queen St. E., Rm. NW307
Sault Ste. Marie, ON P6A 2G4
705-942-7927, Ext. 3122
mailto:mling@ssmic.com
www.ssmic.com
www.itssm.com