Seven businesses receive funding under Innovative Solutions Canada Program

On Friday, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, Marie-Claude Bibeau, announced over $1 million in funding for seven businesses under the Innovative Solutions Canada (ISC) program.

A total of seven small businesses are each receiving up to $150,000 to advance automation and robotic technologies for solving challenges such as work productivity and labour shortages and operational efficiency in the agricultural sector.

The Canadian meat processing industry relies heavily on manual labour and must continue to evolve to ensure safe and efficient work environments, as well as to increase operational efficiencies and maintain food safety standards. Projects receiving funding through the Canadian Meat Processing Technology Development Challenge will aim to make advances in automation through robotics, artificial intelligence and other forms of innovation to reduce reliance on manual labour in the Canadian meat processing sector. By reducing reliance on resources, Canadian meat processors will have more opportunities to focus on other areas.

Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) is an indoor technology-based production system where crops are grown under a modified and highly conditioned environment. CEA production is labour intensive, including tasks such as planting, management of plants, cleaning, harvesting, pest management, pruning, sorting and packaging. Projects receiving funding through the Enhancing Automation in CEA Farming Challenge will work to develop automation and robotic technologies to reduce time spent on labour intensive tasks and reduce costs for CEA facilities.

ISC, administered by Innovation Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED), is a $100-million program to help Canada's entrepreneurs and small businesses develop innovative and sustainable solutions to complex challenges. AAFC and other participating departments will partner with the Secretariat to develop challenges and evaluate incoming applications.

If successful at the proof of concept stage, projects are each eligible for up to $1 million under Phase 2 of the ISC Challenge for prototype development.

Under the Canadian Meat Processing Technology Development Challenge, projects include:

- mode40 ltd. will identify the practical application of devices that connect over the internet and artificial intelligence methodologies to improve carcass cooling and its related challenges.

- Exonetik Inc. will develop a robotic arm system that utilizes artificial intelligence learning to automate challenging tasks.

- POSS Design Limited will develop a multifunctional system capable of turkey drumstick removal and separation, and maximized meat protein recovery.

Under the Enhancing Automation in Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) Farming Challenge, projects include:

- Kinova Inc. will develop a low-cost and accessible multi-produce picking solution using Kinova’s existing lightweight robotic manipulator technology.

- Circulus Agtech Solutions Inc. will develop a plant health control system using computer vision and an automated organic liquid nutrient analyzer to reduce visual inspection requirements.

- Mycionics Inc. will develop a robotic packing system to completely automate the processes of harvesting fresh-market quality mushrooms.

- Smart Pix Robotics Inc. will develop a 3D modelling system to enable the digitization of greenhouses at a micro-precision level to enhance labour efficiency and productivity.