Innovation Profile: OCAD Mobile Enterprise Innovation Centre
Mobile R&D Puts Wheels on an Accelerating Industry
The Mobile Experience Innovation Centre (MEIC) at the Ontario College of Art and Design (OCAD) University is a critical broker in the Toronto Region's advancing, diverse mobile sector.
Supported by the Government of Ontario's Media Development Corporation, MEIC connects and leverages ideas, expertise and funding across institutions and industry on design-rich R&D projects. Some 30 MEIC members and project partners cover the spectrum from global IT, media and gaming companies to start-ups and university and college labs.
"Canadian and international services, commerce, information, education, media and entertainment are migrating swiftly
to mobile platforms. These business opportunities require research and fast-tracked knowledge transfer," says OCAD President Dr Sara Diamond. "MEIC is committed to ensuring that Toronto-area firms are able to compete in this
accelerating international market."
One MEIC project brought together IBM's Markham-based innovation division
and OCAD University to envision the future of mobile and web interfaces, applications and hardware. IBM Solution Architect Mahmood Ashek worked with OCAD professor Job Rutgers and his students to conceive interactive, collaborative technologies that are tailored to different types of teachers and students
in a classroom of the future. The resulting concepts range from mobile device applications to a website for collaborative learning to table hardware that enables document sharing.
"'Wow' was the response Job and I had to several of these concepts," says Mahmood Ashek. "Students had an open-ended chance to create for the future, and I had the chance to visit the classroom regularly and provide real sector input about what companies might invest in."
Tentacles, another MEIC project, involves OCAD University, York University and Canadian Film Centre laboratories. Developed for the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch, Tentacles is a unique, multi-player application. Each player controls a growing squid-like form as it trolls the inky ocean floor in search of a finite supply of life-sustaining micro-organisms. But only half the action is viewable on each player's mobile device. The whole scene, and the surprises it may bring, appear on a large screen projected on to public sites, such as walls, theatres and the sides of buildings.
Tentacles successfully premiered at Toronto's Scotiabank Nuit Blanche event in October 2009 after eight months of collaborative work on software coding, design graphics and user interface development in the labs. CONCERT, the Consortium on New Media, Creative and Entertainment R&D in the Toronto Region, provided some funding and Apple Canada, a CONCERT member, acted as project advisor. Most recently, a major media outlet has expressed interest.
Toronto Region is the ideal location for game-changing initiatives such as MEIC. With North America's third largest ICT cluster, the region is home to many of Ontario's 800 digital media companies and their 18,000 employees. It ranks fourth in North America for scientific impact in wireless and RFID technologies. About 130 university and college programs in engineering and computer science related programs train a large workforce of highly skilled people.
"As a North American megacity and hub of cultural diversity," adds IBM's Mahmood Ashek, "Toronto is uniquely positioned to lead the research, education, production and adoption of digital innovations with a global perspective."
© 2011 Toronto Region Research Alliance