On April 27, Centech opened its doors to allow the public to discover the innovative projects of entrepreneurs from the Acceleration program. Creative technological innovations, aiming sometimes to reduce waiting at traffic lights thanks to artificial intelligence (AI), sometimes to educate about sexuality, or even to promote physical activity and healthy eating, are examples of what was highlighted during the exhibition.
Created by the École de Technologie Supérieure, Centech supports technological companies and projects. The Acceleration program offers free twelve-week support to startups mainly from the deeptech, medtech or edtech fields.
Rethinking sexuality education
Sex education courses have been compulsory in schools since 2018. The need for educational tools related to this area is important. Waiting lists to meet sexologists are long, consultations can be very expensive, and many parents feel they lack the resources to talk about sexuality with their children.
Olie (acronym for open, lucid, interactive and educational) is a web and mobile sexuality education application which offers content created by sexologists, and intended for children aged between 3 and 12 years old. “We educate adults to help them know how to talk about sexuality with their children. (…) The goal is to say that the earlier and more often we talk about sexuality with our children, the more equipped they will be,” explains Marilou Éthier, founder and CEO of Olie, which will be officially launched in a few weeks.
“(…) The goal is to say that the earlier and more often we talk about sexuality with our children, the more equipped they will be. »
– Marilou Éthier, founder and CEO of Olie
The application, which requires a subscription of $9.99/month, takes into consideration the particularities of the child's profile (their age, their particular characteristics such as a disability, the subjects that their parents wish to discuss with them). , in order to offer personalized content. Parents can also talk to sexologists on the site to get advice.
Initiatives to improve mental and physical health
Théraflix is a streaming multimedia platform based on the emotions and social interactions of the consumer, with the aim of “offering them adapted content which will help them improve their management of emotions and their communication skills with others”, specifies Larissa Avononmadegbe, founder of Théraflix.
“Right now, 3 in 10 Canadians have a high risk of developing a mental health problem. We have to do something,” adds the founder of the developing platform. Théraflix therefore offers, for example, extracts from films or books linked to a situation experienced by the consumer (difficulties at work, in friendship, etc.). The goal is to help him develop thoughts related to his mental health and to give him tips to better identify his emotions. The platform, which will be offered on a monthly subscription of $12, will be ready to be tested next September in order to improve the site's recommendation algorithm.
“We want to attract young people to come to sport and to give them healthy lifestyle habits. » – Nathane Gamache, fondateur de Mirari
A sedentary lifestyle is a growing problem among young people: while screen time increases year after year, many young people are putting aside their sporting habits. Mirari aims to be a solution to this problem, creating experiences combining climbing and virtual reality: “We want to attract young people to come to sport and to give them healthy lifestyle habits,” explains Nathane Gamache, founder of Mirari. , who sees his company as “the future of climbing”.
By training a model to recognize different climbing holds and their distance, Mirari offers safe virtual experiences to climbers. The model adapts to grip “patterns”, making it particularly versatile. Currently looking for programmers to develop his prototype, the founder eventually wants to “create immersive worlds giving access to very famous, but unattainable places, such as climbing the Eiffel Tower,” notes Mr. Gamache.
Solutions to everyday problems
Effortlessly preparing varied, healthy meals, ready to serve upon arrival at home, this is what the IoM Tech project offers with an ecosystem between a mobile application, meal pouches and a smart cooker. The user only has to take their meal bag in the morning, scan it with the application, then place it in the cooker indicating the desired meal time. This initiative allows families to “avoid waste, save time and eat at affordable prices,” reveals Emmanuelle Charbonneau, co-founder of IoM Tech.
“(IoM Tech helps) avoid waste, save time and eat at affordable prices. » –
Emmanuelle Charbonneau, co-fondatrice d’IoM Tech.
While Montrealers lose nearly 180 hours per year in congestion, Smart Traffic Light Dynamo promises to reduce wait times at traffic lights: “we make traffic lights intelligent by plugging in a device, so that they can see in real time when you arrive at them,” explains Amir Metwally, co-founder of Dynamo. The device and its artificial intelligence choose the best option aimed at reducing waiting time at traffic lights, while ensuring that drivers are kept safe.
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