Canada’s institutes for the mathematical and statistical sciences have formed Solutions Canada, a national network to help Canadian businesses solve problems and advance the development of their products and services.
The Solutions Canada network (solutionscanada.com) serves as a bridge connecting Canadian companies with quantitative scientists who solve problems through modeling, optimization, simulation and data science, facilitating collaborations between companies, research scientists, and students in the mathematical sciences.
Five institutes have partnered to form Solutions Canada: AARMS, CANSSI, CRM, Fields Institute, and PIMS. Solutions Canada represents one of the ways that the Canadian institutes in mathematical and statistical sciences are using their expertise to develop the Canadian economy, which is becoming ever more dependent upon high technology. “Mathematical sciences form the basis for technological advances through all industry sectors,” says PIMS Director James Colliander. “Solutions Canada is a gateway for businesses to connect with problem solving experts in computer science, mathematics and statistics.”
Solutions Canada will showcase success stories of industry problems solved through mathematical methods. Example projects include:
- Reducing costs in aeronautics flight testing of helicopters by using data reduction techniques to identify, via simulation, the key forces and stresses that must be monitored in a real flight test.
- Streamlining the assembly of high performance automobile tires using statistical test design and analysis of harmonics to ensure uniform quality and a smooth, quiet ride.
- Expanding markets in monitoring railways, pipelines, and seismic events for a remote sensing services company, by developing novel algorithms to process signals from fibre optic sensing devices.
- Developing a successful buyer-seller value exchange model for emerging open markets in agriculture products on the prairies.
Solutions Canada will guide each participating company to a match with research teams that have the appropriate expertise and experience to attack their unique problems. With the support of its funding partners, Solutions Canada will help to establish collaborations through graduate student internships, research grants, and other funding mechanisms.