U of T and Nissan estabished a strategic partnership in August, 2025 on innovations in vehicle and grid electrification. L to R: David Sinton (U of T); Tim Chan (U of T); Chris Yip (U of T); Yoshinori Suzue (Nissan North America); Atsushi Teraji (Nissan Motor Corp.).
U of T's Acceleration Consortium has partnered with consumer goods giant, Unilever, to advance the science of submicron emulsions. The new formulations will have a transformative impact across a spectrum of sectors such as personal care products, pharmaceuticals, food, agriculture, and beyond.
Aerospace Engineering graduate student Aoran Jiao, demonstrates a voice-controlled robotic rover during the Toronto Robotics Conference. Photo by Nick Iwanyshyn.
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U of T Mississauga hosted over 300 researchers from academia, government and industry at the Toronto Robotics Conference on July 15th and 16th. The two day event featured talks, lab tours, and demonstrations on how robotics is solving society's most pressing challenges.
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Climate Positive Energy, U of T's hub for research and training in sustainable energy technologies, co-hosted The Third Annual Smart Growth Symposium along with the Ontario Chamber of Commerce on September 16th. Nearly 300 attendees demonstrated and shared their approaches to sustainability across domains like finance, mobility, agriculture and beyond.
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U of T's City Logistics for the Urban Economy (CLUE) hosted its Fourth Annual Symposium on June 18th. The gathering included 100 attendees from universities, industry, and municipal governments, all looking to better understand and optimize how people and goods move throughout urban envitonments.
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- UPCOMING -
Register for U of T's Industry Partners' Reception on November 20th. Hosted for the first time in the Engineering Partnerships Lounge at 800 Bay Street, the reception is a chance for industry, government, and academics to celebrate successes, discuss emerging collaborative opportunities, and meet new partners.
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- UPCOMING -
The Department of Computer Science will be hosting the Applied Research in Action (ARIA) Showcase on November 13th. Learn about the work Master of Science in Applied Computing (MScAC) students are doing in partnership with local and global industry to advance industrial adoption of state-of-the-art software and hardware innovations.
Civil & Mineral Engineering professor Shoshanna Saxe has probably thought more about the big stuff we design, build and maintain than anyone you know. From transportation to power to housing to sewage to engineered landscapes, Shoshanna tries to understand what we, as a society, need to build and how we can best finance, build, and maintain it. As you might expect, there's a serious sustainability lens on the work Shoshanna does, but it isn't all about greenhouse gas emissions and embodied carbon accounting - she also employs a usability lens that puts residents, citizens and visitors at the centre of the infrastructure she studies; so much so that she has been known to write the occasional OpEd reminding us that while technological innovations are fantastic, they may just represent costly bells and whistles if they are not paired with functionality.
As the Canada Research Chair in Sustainable Infrastructure and with affiliations in the U of T Sustainable Systems Research Group, Climate Positive Energy, Mobility Network, and School of Cities (among many others), it was only natural that Shoshanna would launch a consortium of like-minded partners committed to advancing the state of research on our built environment and putting it into practice. The consortium she and her colleagues built around the Centre for the Sustainable Built Environment (CSBE) includes firms focused on development, construction, architecture, and planning. Together, Shoshanna and her collaborators are asking and answering the lofty question “How should we literally build the future to achieve our sustainability goals?”
The CSBE consortium's roster of corporate members includes Colliers Project Leaders, a firm dedicated to providing design and construction project management services to its clients. Specializing in large and complex projects, they are particularly sensitive to challenges around regulation, procurement, planning, stakeholder management and any other considerations that might compromise a successful project. In working with Shoshanna and the CSBE team, Colliers Project Leaders has its fingers on the pulse not only of the risks its clients might face today, but also those that may find their way onto a critical path in the months and years to come. Rowan Mills, Senior Vice President of Colliers Project Leaders highlighted the value of working with Shoshanna and her team below.
Working with Shoshanna and the CSBE has been tremendously rewarding for Colliers Project Leaders, as we get insights into the challenges facing our industry and some of the leading research into how we will improve in the future. Our people enjoy engaging with academic leadership of the CSBE with its partners, and thinking about how this knowledge can been used to support our clients in delivering capital across Canada more sustainably.
Rowan Mills, Colliers Project Leaders
Shoshanna's impact goes beyond her lab and the CSBE consortium. Her perspectives and expertise have informed major Toronto infrastructure build-outs through her participation on Waterfront Toronto's Capital Peer Review Panel and Metrolinx's Project Evaluation Advisory Panel. Shoshanna has also earned the 2019 Ontario Professional Engineering Award - Young Engineer for her research as well as her work as an Action Canada fellow.
While the CSBE consortium was established in 2022, it is open to adding to 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 Shoshanna if you think you may want to collaborate with her and her team.
Here are some ways to get involved over the next few weeks, months, and years.
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U of T's Data Sciences Institute is offering a hands-on microcredential course aimed at working professionals on deploying large language models into the real world. The Deploying AI Microcredential course will run from October 20th to November 6th and will include perspectives from industry experts in the topic. The three-week session will require a 10-15 hour commitment per week. Find out more about the Data Sciences Institute.
The University of Toronto’s Institute for Aerospace Studies and Toronto Robotics Institute is partnering with MDA Space and the Canadian Space Agency to develop navigation technologies for Canada's proposed Lunar Utility Vehicle. Prof. Tim Barfoot's teach-and-repeat algorithms form the backbone of this collaboration, ultimately making it possible to supply the lunar habitat with supplies delivered via shuttle. Learn more about Autonomous Space Robotics at U of T.
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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.
Welcome back to U of T to all new and returning students this September. We're excited to see what the next year brings! (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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