U of T and BASF representatives met in May, 2024 to explore establishing a strategic partnership to address strategic priorities around materials innovation, sustainability, and beyond. L to R: Illan Kramer (U of T); Sindhu Menon (U of T); Lorena Lujan Rubio (BASF); Irene Yang (BASF); Thomas Holcombe (BASF); Benjamin Knudsen (BASF); Glaucia Lima (U of T); Alex Ip (Cert Systems); Marilia Ramos (U of T).
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U of T has launched into a strategic partnership with Germany's BASF to advance innovation in the materials domain, working closely with the Acceleration Consortium.
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Investment management giant, Vanguard, is expanding it's existing talent & training partnership with U of T's Department of Computer Science to incorporate research collaborations that leverage artificial intelligence to drive innovation within the financial services sector.
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AGE-WELL has opened its innovation studio within the Engineering Partnerships Office at 800 Bay Street. Modelled on a typical one-bedroom apartment to highlight aging-in-place solutions, this showcase of products and designs to support healthy human aging was supported by Ikea Canada.
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34 South Korean students, sponsored by the Institute of Information & Communications Technology Planning & Evaluation (IITP) in South Korea, completed a certificate in AI. The visit was hosted by CARTE at U of T with final projects defined by companies like LG Electronics, Kijiji Canada, and others.
The Centre for Research and Applications in Fluidic Technologies hosted academic and industrial researchers for its 2025 CRAFT Symposium. Photo by Michael Dryden.
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CRAFT hosted over a150 researchers from academia, government and industry in a symposium on Advancing Healthcare Through Microfluidics. The two day event was hosted at the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute in Toronto on May 9th and 10th, 2025, featuring the latest breakthroughs in microfluidics research.
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PRiME, U of T's hub for next-generation precision medicine, co-hosted U of T's 2025 Building a Biotech Venture (BBTV) Pitch Competition on May 8th along with Medicine by Design, Health Innovation Hub, and Talk Boutique. Six companies competed and two U of T-affiliated ventures won cash prizes, corporate products and services from STEMCELL Technologies, and access to the Creative Destruction Lab's network of mentors and advisors.
Join the University of Toronto Robotics Institute’s expert network at the University of Toronto Mississauga on July 15 and 16 for The 2025 Toronto Robotics Conference - a two-day, dual-track showcase of the latest AI-robotics research in mobility and manipulation.
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- UPCOMING -
Meet the changemakers who are using AI to create a materially better future at the 2025 Accelerate Conference taking place this year from August 11 - 14 in Toronto.
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- UPCOMING -
Interested in innovative technology, policy, social, or finance solutions for a cleaner, greener future?Save the date for U of T's Climate Positive Energy Research Day taking place on August 14, 2025.
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- UPCOMING -
Toronto Climate Week is a festival-meets-forum initiative to highlight the bold and impactful climate-related advances taking place right here in Toronto from October 1st to 3rd, 2025. Look for more details in the weeks and months to come!
Professor Olivier Trescases
Electrical Engineering professor Olivier Trescases has made a career out of powering the machines we all use. From building an electric bicycle prototype as an undergraduate capstone project to transforming exercise bikes into student-powered laptop chargers to designing and building the first-ever Canadian-made highway-rated electric vehicle (EV) - affectionately called the “Little Yellow Electric Car” - he has been combining his passion for the vehicles that move us with his expertise in power electronics for decades. In 2016, this culminated in the establishment of the University of Toronto Electric Vehicle Research Centre, or UTEV, for short, where he continues to serve as its Founding Director. Together with Associate Director, Professor Peter Lehn, UTEV works with car makers, automotive suppliers, and academic researchers to solve the challenges that plague the EV market. Whether he's optimizing power transfer, or increasing the lifespan of a battery pack, or finding ways to dissipate heat, Olivier and his team are remarkably hands on and practical. Indeed, while some academic research takes place years or perhaps decades away from commercial implementations, The UTEV team often finds itself tinkering with the latest and greatest examples of products and designs driving on the road today.
UTEV, though, has made a point of recognizing that research alone is not enough. The key to advancing the state of the electric vehicle revolution is talent - attracting young people to the sector and upskilling the existing workforce. As Olivier said in his Maclean's 2023 editorial, “When many people think of the automotive industry, they imagine workers toiling in a dark, grimy factory, but we must show them that the EV industry is futuristic and high-tech.” Changing those perceptions is part of how and why Olivier, Peter, and UTEV work with many companies in the EV sector.
Indeed, UTEV is working with a network of partners who are doing just that - reframing what vehicle electrification is and can be! Since its establishment, UTEV has formed a constellation of Canadian and global corporate partners including eLeapPower, Litens, Tata Motors, Magna, and many others. Even luxury brands like Porsche work with UTEV to support their EV evolution. Together, UTEV and its partners recognize that in order for the next generation of automotive innovations to succeed, they would need to combine the best researchers with abundant talent, both feeding into a thriving automotive R&D and production ecosystem. As was highlighted by Litens R&D leadership about the value of working with UTEV in an article about industry, academia and government coming together to move the needle in this sector:
Something like this battery management system would have taken us years to do on our own. It was the expertise in Professor Trescases' lab that got us up that learning curve faster. We’ve got a lot of really great ideas — what we’re doing with this partnership is connecting with the best people who can execute on them and drive that future forward with us.
- Geoffrey Ryeland, Litens
The electric vehicle space, though, goes far beyond the electronics inside a car. The charging stations sprinkled around town, their integration with cleantech power generation, and the ability to use cars to power a home or the grid in the event of an emergency all fall under UTEV's purview. Indeed, one of the ways UTEV's expertise has found its way out of the research lab and into the real world is through a DC microgrid solutions company, Arda Power. Arda Power was founded by Peter Lehn and his collaborators, and Peter continues to serve as its Chief Technology Officer.
UTEV is open to expanding its roster of collaborators and consortium members to include new corporations, not-for-profits, or academic institutions. Reach out viaThe Blue Door or directly with Olivier if you think you may want to collaborate with UTEV.
Here are some ways to get involved over the next few weeks, months, and years.
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Keysight Technologies has partnered with U of T's Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering to establish the Keysight Electronics Laboratory. The new laboratory, established with newly donated equipment from Keysight Technologies, is intended to foster collaboration between undergraduates and researchers on long-term projects that explore advanced topics. Find out more about The Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
The University of Toronto’s Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy has launched the Real-World Evidence (RWE) Centre to unlock the potential of real-world data in advancing patient care and driving health system innovation. As a global hub for RWE and a premier destination for RWE trials, the Centre enables partners to generate actionable, data-driven insights that improve health outcomes and inform policy. The RWE Centre provides industry partners with a first-of-its-kind platform in Canada — a forum uniting leaders from academia, government, and the broader healthcare ecosystem committed to transforming healthcare through evidence-based solutions. Learn more by connecting directly with the Mina Tadrous, leading the RWE Centre, and help shape the future of healthcare in Canada.
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The Professional Experience Year Co-op Program (PEY Co-op) arranges for engineering students to spend 12-16 months working for companies like Alphawave Semi. Every year, over a thousand students who have just completed the third year of their four year degree find PEY placements with over 700 companies across Canada, the US and beyond. Learn more about PEY Co-op and how your company can get involved in tapping into the undergraduate U of T engineering talent pool.
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The Master of Science in Applied Computing is a 16-month advanced degree in the fields of Applied Mathematics, Artificial Intelligence, Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare, Computer Science, Data Science, Data Science for Biology and Quantum Computing. The program includes an 8-month applied research internship hosted by corporations, not-for-profits, and hospitals, among others. See how students from the MScAC program are engaging with industry to solvelocal and global challenges. Find out more about the MScAC program.
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U of T's Engineering Partnerships Office (EPO) at 800 Bay Street is a home base in Toronto's downtown Discovery District for companies looking to lease private office space or host an event. Boasting up to 4000 square feet of highly configurable office and dry lab space, the EPO is a great place from which companies can connect with U of T's talent, research, and entrepreneurial communities. For more information or to schedule a visit, contact the EPO.
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U of T has catalogued the specialized equipment and infrastructure it hosts across its three campuses. These Institutional Core Facilities are available to be used by academic and industrial collaborators alike on a fee-per-use basis. Learn more about U of T's Institutional Core Facilities.
Congratulations to everyone at U of T who is convocating this spring. Here's to your next adventure! (image generation help from Microsoft Copilot 😉).
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We hope you enjoyed the Blue Door Quarterly. If you want to follow up on any of the above or learn about how you can form a partnership with U of T, reach out to us at bluedoor@utoronto.ca or visit us at bluedoor.utoronto.ca.
-The Blue Door Team
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