Centre for Local Innovation and Collaboration (CLIC)
The City of Richmond Hill has partnered with OCAD University to launch the Centre for Local Innovation and Collaboration (CLIC)! Funded by eCampus Ontario and Centennial College, this unique, design-driven centre for innovation is part of a broad-based approach to accelerating business growth and innovation. CLIC exists to explore opportunities for local businesses to gain access to applied research and to leverage human-centred design expertise.
CLIC Program
As a shared, co-creative undertaking, CLIC allows for multiple stakeholders — businesses, the municipality, researchers, and government — to work together to identify key areas of need and to optimize opportunities of project development.
This offering brings in expertise from Richmond Hill’s Small Business Enterprise Centre (SBEC) and OCAD University to help businesses review their offerings and business models through a design-thinking lens. Businesses will work together with OCAD University researchers to uncover market insights and develop new product/service opportunities. CLIC can then help businesses bring these new market insights into fruition by connecting them with local R&D opportunities available through government funding partners. CLIC looks to foster local innovation and the generation of new products, services, and partnerships.
CLIC is growth in progress, and a unique offering within the larger innovation ecosystem for businesses that seek to harness the power of creativity and applied design research to expand their business operations. Businesses that are interested in collaborating with CLIC can apply for the ‘Human Centred Design’ program.
How to Apply
- 18 years of age or older
- A Canadian citizen or permanent resident
- An Ontario registered business
- Under 50 employees
- Over 50% of staff located in Ontario
- Prepared to work with OCAD researchers
- Prepared to complete a mandatory Business Training Program
- Intention to leverage creative technology, human-centered design, and applied research to create products/services that improve the lives of Ontario residents
- Any business sector
- New this Year! Special focus for businesses in the Medtech sector
Our current cohort intake is now closed. To be considered for the next cohort, please submit the Expression of Interest form below.
CLIC Graduates 
Datamond
Green Buffalo Farms
Harmony Circuits
Haute-U AR Technology
One Shopping Center
Sesami Inteligent Analyzer
St. Chesterton Productions
Your Big Venture
Career Pursuit helps young adults, new graduates, and newcomers to Canada identify a career path that is meaningful to them while maximizing their earning potential. The company is developing an AI-powered app to gamify the Career Pursuit Program to help create tailored resumes, cover letters, and networking strategies, while at the same checking on the progress when applying for jobs. The app will also serve companies to find talent and suggests to them qualified individuals who are looking for jobs.
Career Pursuit came to CLIC program to learn more about their target audience, search for industry connections and experts in marketing and UX design, etc.
Datant Inc. is an IT company specializing in developing and delivering tailored software solutions to meet consumer needs. When part of CLIC program, the company’s focus was on developing a product that utilizes AI and machine learning to proactively detect and address machinery failures in automated industries. This innovative solution aims to revolutionize maintenance in industries reliant on automated machinery.
The product Datant is developing is designed to anticipate and prevent machinery breakdowns before they occur, as opposed to reacting after a breakdown has happened. This proactive approach offers various cost benefits, extends machinery lifespan, and ensures uninterrupted operations, ultimately delivering positive outcomes for businesses.Foodeasy is redefining the dynamics of meal preparation and grocery shopping with its trailblazing "meal-centric grocery shopping" approach. Their platform designs personalized meal plans rooted in users' dietary goals, ensuring they stick to desired diets. The platform also seamlessly integrates grocery purchases by selecting and procuring every ingredient required for the planned meals, ensuring individuals meet their vitamin and mineral targets, while cutting down waste by at least 30% by preventing overbuying.
Foodeasy needs are in technology development by assisting in advancing their AI-drive meal planning and grocery shopping algorithms. They are also looking to establish partnerships with grocery chains, and health and nutrition experts.
Handy.ai is an intelligent software as a service (SaaS) platform that specializes in crafting and managing AI-powered specialists, seamlessly integrated into a client's digital ecosystem, meticulously tailored to meet the specific needs of businesses, especially during periods of rapid expansion and growth.
The AI-powered specialists enable natural conversations through AI voice and video avatars and could function as AI-powered trainers in safety training scenarios; AI-powered recruiters to streamline recruitment processes; AI-powered internal communications specialist to facilitate internal communications; AI-powered customer success manager to engage with customers; or AI-powered job placement agents to assist with job placements.
Handy.ai is new to Canada and need help in understating and navigating local landscape to tailor their AI-driven solutions to meet the needs of Canadian clients. The company also seeks opportunities for knowledge exchange and connections, while revolutionizing their operations with a new innovation challenge.
Klassik Cosmetics is redefining the tattoo aftercare industry with products that are specially made with ingredients backed by science to help improve the tattoo process and aftercare. The aftercare line includes range of products such as tattoo ointments, tattoo soap, tattoo balm, and tattoo lotion, all without the use of fragrances, harsh chemicals, and unnecessary additives.
The support seeking is in developing and prototyping the products and uncovering market insights.Live 5am’s focus is on high achievers and peak performers who are always on the move and oftentimes lacking support and education in maintaining their health, well-being, and balance. Live 5am core products are scientifically backed dietary supplements designed to support the physical and mental well-being of the customers, as well as providing education on various health topics that high achievers may not have the time to research themselves.
The company’s innovation challenge lies in development of a new nutritional supplement, for which a thorough research and development collaboration with professionals and experts in relevant field is needed.
In the world of autonomous vehicles, the current infrastructure, largely centralized and reliant on localized data, falls short in supporting the seamless operation of these vehicles in complex urban environments. Nexxus’ groundbreaking solution offers a decentralized real-time traffic database network that leverages the power of blockchain technology and Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) to the development of superior routing systems that offer more precise and efficient route guidance.
Nexxus is looking to undergo rigorous testing in controlled environments to development a prototype software solution tailored to meet the needs of autonomous vehicles, as well as developing a user interface.
StoryBee’s mission is to enhance literacy, nurture creativity, and infuse fun into the learning journey of children. With StoryBee’s digital library, the company provides open access to a curated collection of children's picture books, all designed in line with curriculum standards. Their platform combines education, engagement, and community interaction.
The company is looking for opportunities in education gamification, helping children to learn more by incorporating AI technology. They are also looking to develop more book content in different aspects such as literacy, STEM, and coding. The support with marketing is also a key.
Whole Woman Network (WWN) is a membership-based training, coaching, and consulting company delivering culturally informed, experiential, and holistic leadership training, financial literacy programs, and peer-to-peer lending and business consulting services to BIPOC women and youth. WWN uses cooperative principles and indigenous Afrocentric values to educate and empower. Their financial resilience program is based on ROSCA.
WWN is keen on uncovering new market insights, hiring talent, and building a robust platform for peer-to-peer loans with algorithm to assess/measure intangibles such as social capital, trust, consistency, probability of defaulting on loans or savings contributions. Also, on the horizon is developing an app to connect vendors, producers, and suppliers.
In early 2024 Cloud Constable collaborated with Intel Liftoff to accelerate the business' innovation even further to scale its solutions and improve consumer satisfaction, focusing on healthcare field.
Through CLIC and its partnership with York Region, Cloud Constable was able to participate in the 2024 Collision Conference's Start-Up Island to expose his AVA assistant to the tech and innovation global community and reach a large pool of venture capitalists.
Edgecom Energy reduces energy costs and emissions for large energy users by helping decision makers understand, improve, and control how they consume energy, natural gas, and water. This is achieved through holistic technological solutions and their team's uncompromising focus on customer success. Edgecom’s products lean on their in-house expertise in data science, machine learning and AI systems combined with scalable, cost-effective, plug-and-play IoT metering solutions. Their solutions were designed from the ground up to overcome energy management’s most significant barriers to entry: long, complex installations and high costs, enabling facilities of all sizes to benefit from effective energy management.
The company came to CLIC with the focus on the new product development, researching new markets, and modifying their existing products for those markets.
In the fall of 2023, Edgecom Energy introduced Energy CoPilot, an AI-powered energy management assistant, and in early 2024, the company received the CIX Top 20 Early Award of Canada's most innovative companies. In addition, Edgecom Energy won a $30,000 collaboration project with ABB to bring new solutions to the market.
Gibbly, who changed their name from LearnAcorn during their participation in the CLIC program, is developing an online application for generating educational lessons and quizzes using artificial intelligence. This handy tool for educators will save hours of preparation each week, as they can generate ready to use lessons, lesson plans, assessments, quizzes, and gamified review assignments in minutes on any topic.
Through CLIC and its partnership with York Region, Gibbly was able to participate in the 2024 Collision Conference's Start-Up Island to expose their app to the tech and innovation global community and reach a large pool of venture capitalists.
KnowQuest came to CLIC with ask to help make their platform easier to work with, as they want to implement their own API. The improvements to web development are imperative with new feature rollout as well as improvements in UI/UX and back end.
KROP Farming Technologies is a designer and manufacturer of advanced vertical farming systems utilizing the power of aeroponics. Their technology and critical partnerships aim to make KROP farms sustainable and off-grid through efficient farming structures and strategies. These farms are equipped with robust automated systems that deploy AI and ML to ensure plant quality, health, and security, while utilizing less water than competitors and using zero fertilizers and pesticides. KROP currently grows a wide variety of premium microgreens and sells directly to restaurants in the Greater Toronto Area.
MetaWorldX's Digital Twins monitor and optimize complex physical systems without the need for physical intervention. They are virtual replicas of physical objects, systems, or processes. They use data from sensors, IoT devices, and other sources to simulate the behavior of the physical object in real-time. Additionally, Digital Twins can be used to optimize designs and improve product performance before they are built, reducing the time and cost of product development.
Thanks to CLIC and its partnership with York Region, MetaWorldX had a chance to participate in the 2024 Collision Conference Start-Up Island to highlight their product to tech and innovation global community and reach a large pool of venture capitalists. In summer 2024, the company launched a Digital Twin for The Town of Aurora.
ProtonFuels is an energy company developing hydrogen fuel systems. Their focus on compact and modular hydrogen vehicle fueling station shifts away from fossil fuel enabled transportation. The fueling station is scalable and flexible to develop a network of fueling stations across the country to utilize FCV technology.
The company came to CLIC in the prototyping phase looking to build a full-scale, fully functional hydrogen fueling station. Their focus is on finding and connecting with industry partners and suppliers, as well as source higher educational institutions expertise.Storeo is revolutionizing self-storage solutions by building online marketplace platform of storers and hosts to share their storage space amongst each other. They are on a journey to build an application that would entice people with available storage space to store items, for a fee, for people without any storage space.
Through CLIC and its partnership with York Region, the company participated in the 2024 Collision Conference Start-Up Island to highlight their product to tech and innovation global community and reach a large pool of venture capitalists.
Technologies AIM Colours combined cosmetics with technology to create ePolish, tech-enabled press-on nails that can wirelessly change colour using an app and thus reducing time, waste, and exposure to solvents. The company is looking to receive support in validating their market and find partners to help them finalize their hardware-enabled nail product.
The main focus, for Technologies AIM Colours while being part of the CLIC program, is to create UX/UI for their mobile app to help establish themselves as market leaders in development of wearable electronics.Blind and visually impaired people face significant challenges in their daily lives. For example, when they go indoors, they have no idea what the indoor layout is. When they go outdoors, they don’t know what is in front of them.
Visiontif’s solution is an AI-powered hands-free, wearable ear mound camera to easily retrieve continuous visual information. This device, with a small lightweight computer, can be either voice- or button-activated. The state-of-the-art wearable ear mound camera uses cutting-edge ML technology for custom vision training to recognize specific signs such as bathroom door signs.
Visiontif’s team took part in the CLIC program to help them with product design and finding the right connections. Thanks to CLIC and its partnership with York Region, the company participated in the 2024 Collision Conference Start-Up Island to highlight their product to tech and innovation global community and reach a large pool of venture capitalists.
White Tuque is companies’ partner in cyber defense with expertise in cyber risk, cyber protection, and intelligence. Their simple and repeatable tactics are condensed into a digestible and scalable format to support organizations of all sizes.
White Tuque specializes in three key areas: Vulnerability & Configuration Management, Risk Assessments, Cyber Security Leadership & Program Development (CISO on Demand, Playbook & Process Development, Tabletop Exercises), thank to which they are able to help protect organizations from sophisticated cyber threats.- Charmy Pet released a KickStarter Campaign called 'Where East Meets West’ to launch their new line of frozen pet foods
- The company collaborated with Guelph University on a research project to assess the health benefits of including traditional Chinese herbs within their pet food products
- The co-founders of Charmy Pet appeared on Dragon’s Den in 2022
- They expanded to over 800 store locations and launched in the US market as well
- Partnered with Paragolf Canada to launch Curio Golf – a new piece of adaptive golf equipment created by Cheelcare. Curio Golf delivers unprecedented freedom and positioning to adaptive golfers looking to get out on the course and improve their game.
- Collaborated with Loyalist College to work on a research project for product development
- Dear Snackers optimized their eCommerce website and scaled their marketing under the CLIC suppervision, which led to a five-times increase in online sales
- The company expanded to over 60 in-store locations
- The founder appeared on Dragons Den and received a deal offer from four out of five 'Dragons'. The company entered into a $100,000 deal with two of the 'Dragons' (Manjit Minhas and Michele Romanow).
- HearBliss received a CLIC grant to help develop a new earplug that will filter specific frequencies that impact misophonia sufferers the most
- The company hired freelance experts to help in product design, analysis of the sounds, and acoustics. It is expected that the prototype of a new earplug will be developed by the second quarter of 2023.
- KnowMeQ participation in the CLIC program helped the company to participate in the Government of Canada’s Sectoral Workforce Solutions Program (via Employment and Social Development Canada) as a Lead Partner
- Through CLIC, the company made the connections with OCAD University, Northern College, and NGen Advanced Manufacturing Supercluster and ended up being the NGen Advanced Manufacturing Supercluster lead for $2.3M in funding over 19 months
- The CLIC grant helped KnowMeQ to complete the Recommender Tool with testing and validation
- During the CLIC graduation networking event, KnowMeQ started collaboration with another CLIC participant Sequence21 Studios
- The company hired 5 new staff in September 2022
- Nerpy's collaboration with the CLIC team help them with their marketing insights
- As a result, CLIC inspired Nerpy's to develop additional products based on the needs of the market
- The company is in discussion with Sobeys to add Nerpy’s products onto their shelves
- One Smart World secured a micro-credential deal with the Manitoba Institute of Technology and Trades for their Smarter Meetings online course. This will be piloted with three of their sector councils including aerospace, the CME, and tourism & travel. Through a regionally based, Ontario government funded organization, One Smart World secured contracts to produce two programs based on their platform - one on employment readiness for women returning to work, and one on improving innovation in business by training teams how to accelerate collaborative problem solving and reduce cycle time using our system.
- The work with CLIC rekindled a partnership the company has with Devant and Academica Group to bring their solutions into post-secondary education - most recently with their recent contract with Fanshawe College
- After graduating from the CLIC program, PharmaGuide went on to fund a research and development project in collaboration with the National Research Council of Canada to enable pharmacies to predict their near-term inventory needs thereby decreasing costs and reducing waste
- The company is currently in the late stages of releasing the Smart Ordering Module which will leverage the machine learning model created as a result of this project. This feature should have a significant impact on revenue to PharmaGuide in the future.
- An increase in revenue projected to be $15 million over the next 5 years
- As the scope of the project grows, more staff will be hired
- PharmaGuide was accepted into a Google Cloud Canada’s accelerator program
- 2023 UPDATE: PharmaGuide won the investment through Pfizer's Healthcare Hub initiative. The investment will help the company to scale up their services, as well as hire more people to help accelerate their innovative solutions. PharmaGuide is one of the three companies that collectively received $1.4 million investment from Pfizer Canada.
- Sequence21 Studios expanded upon their initial TakeONE service and has plans to launch a studio
- Increased revenue by around $7,000 by working with the City of Richmond Hill
- Collaborated with CLIC to create a summary video that was presented at Collision 2022 and the video is currently featured on the CLIC website
- Inspired by the insights communicated through the CLIC team, Simple Movement begun the process of designing a marketplace for prospective eLearning clients and companies
- With the marketplace proposal, the company is expected to hire additional two team members (contract-based) to help execute the project
CLIC in the Media
2025-02-03 Richmond Hill, York University forge new partnership - Aurora Today
2025-02-03 Richmond Hill, York University forge new partnership - Newmarket Today
2025-02-04 New MOU agreement supports City's business development, environmental sustainability, continuous improvement and innovation initiatives - Municipal Information Network
2025-02-05 New MOU agreement supports City's business development, environmental sustainability, continuous improvement and innovation initiatives - Education News Canada
2023-10-28 2023 cohort for the Centre of Local Innovation and Collaboration program - WWN
2023-08-31 Local businesses thrive with OCAD U grad student support
2023-07-21 Richmond Hill businesses celebrate graduates of innovative partnership program
2023-07-18 OCAD U students support Ontario's economy
2023-07-14 Centre for Local Innovation and Collaboration celebrates newest graduates
2022-09-14 Where tech and art come together - a job seekers guide to the Elevate Festival - The Globe and Mail
2022-06-24 Richmond Hill launches innovation initiative for businesses - York Link
2022-06-24 Richmond Hill launches innovation initiative for businesses - Newmarket Today
2022-06-21 Local Innovation; Global Impact - Robert Luke
2022-06-21 eCampus Ontario, Richmond Hill and OCAD University Highlight Unique Collaboration at 2022 Collision Conference
2022-06-21 CLIC partnership takes off
2022-06-20 Richmond Hill and OCAD U highlight unique collaboration at global event
2022-04-04 'Extremely valuable:' Richmond Hill collaborates with OCAD University, tech startups to pep up local business recovery - Richmond Hill Liberal
Contact
Email: clic@richmondhill.ca
Phone: 905-771-5520
Contact(s)
City of Richmond Hill
225 East Beaver Creek Road
Richmond Hill, Ontario
L4B 3P4
Tel: 905-771-8800
Fax: 905-771-5515
Email Access Richmond Hill
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