Accelerating Digital Advantage: Supporting SMEs to thrive in a post-pandemic world through adoption of digital strategies.

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Georgian's applied research program is focused on helping local small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) thrive during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. A new thematic area called Accelerating Digital Advantage will build upon the existing Competitive Smart Manufacturing program, to reach companies in a broader range of sectors including retail, food and beverage, cannabis, healthcare, high tech, agriculture, medical devices and manufacturing subsectors. Georgian and its regional partners have come together to develop the Research and Innovation Cluster of Central Ontario (RICCO) for a coordinated approach to the region's economic development and innovation initiatives. Business development, networking, education, and knowledge dissemination events, supported by RICCO partners, allows Georgian to connect with local SMEs across multiple sectors that have a need to accelerate their digital strategies, particularly in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Through the Accelerating Digital Advantage research theme, Georgian will work with local businesses to implement digital tools, hardware, and software to impart a commercial or business advantage to local companies who need to compete on the world stage. Companies that embrace strategies that enable big data, artificial intelligence (AI), extended reality (XR), and other advanced digital innovations are the ones that will survive and thrive during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. During the proposed two-year program, Accelerating Digital Advantage will engage up to 20 SMEs and conduct a minimum of 14 applied research projects, focused on development, testing, and/or adoption of digital strategies as related to new products, services, or processes. Nineteen students and/or recent graduates will gain meaningful research experiences through work-integrated learning and result in at least five students hired by business partners. The project will lead to at least five functional prototypes and six industry processes ready for proof-of-concept testing.