AI-driven mobile app designed to save infant lives
An innovative new mobile app called Ubenwa uses artificial intelligence to analyze the sound of a newborn baby鈥檚 cries. Founded by Charles Onu, a doctoral student in Computer Science at McGill, Ubenwa provides a cost-effective, non-invasive tool to detect newborn asphyxia and save lives.
Onu credits the 2016 McGill Dobson Cup competition with helping his team to improve their product.
Delve: The Divided State of American Public Health
Even as the pandemic radically reshaped American life, the federal government failed to provide strong and consistent guidance about how best to manage this public health crisis. Not surprisingly, individual states diverged in what they chose to do, and when they chose to do it
Telework is here to stay
2020 marks the before and after of telework. According Professor Karl Moore, many C-suite leaders have recognized the need for greater workplace flexibility in their human resources strategy. Throughout the year, Professor Moore invited more than 40 leading executives to virtually address his management classes.
Women network harder for same outcomes
Most job seekers rely on networking to land the next position, but women candidates take extra steps to identify workplaces that are inclusive and supportive. In tandem with a professor from Dartmouth College, Professor Elena Obukhova released a study that focuses on the concept of 鈥渟couting鈥� for a job.
Canadians flout travel warnings over holidays
Health warnings from federal and provincial governments fell on deaf ears as planefuls of Canadians departed for Mexico, Cuba, and other destinations despite the surge of COVID-19 cases. According to Professor Karl Moore, the absence of a full non-essential travel ban is partly the result of successful lobbying efforts from the struggling airline industry.
Hope for Quebec retail
Charles de Brabant,聽Executive Director of the Bensadoun School of Retail Management, is optimistic about the future of retail following a horrendous year for most Canadian retailers. Giants like Amazon and Walmart, who account for 20% of the retail market, still generated profits in 2020, but the remaining 80% fared so poorly that they brought overall industry profits down by 93%.
Prevent members of U.S. Congress from trading individual stocks
Professor Patrick Augustin wades into the debate over the heated race to fill Georgia鈥檚 two Senate seats in a runoff and special election scheduled for January.
Boxing Day comes early for Quebec retailers
In anticipation of a two-week shutdown of non-essential businesses starting December 25, Quebec retailers are moving Boxing Day sales up a week.
Dobson startup leverages Quebec funding to create 700 high-paying jobs
Sonder, one of the first unicorn startups from the McGill Dobson Centre for Entrepreneurship community, is partnering with Investissement Qu茅bec (IQ) to build a centre for global growth in Montreal. The project will create more than 700 jobs to support Sonder鈥檚 mission to provide next-generation hospitality in 35 cities around the world.
Avoiding a vaccine vial shortage
The launch of the largest vaccination campaign in history involves the mass production of medical vials constructed out of borosilicate glass.
Restaurant automation gains new appeal during pandemic
As social distancing measures remain in replace across Canada, consumers are flocking to buy automated food and drink kiosks for fresh, made-to-order food and beverages with little to no human contact.
Logistical challenges stand in the way of COVID-19 vaccine
Professor Saibal Ray, Academic Director of the Bensadoun School of Retail Management, describes the daunting complexity involved in ramping up the first round of COVID-19 vaccine production.
For Canadian retailers, digitization is key to surviving the pandemic
Only 30 percent of Canada鈥檚 small business are hitting normal sales numbers as the second wave of the pandemic crashes into their bottom line. According to Professor Yu Ma, Academic Director of the Master of Management in Retailing, nothing short of digital transformation will equip these businesses to survive.
How can we reinvent and renew commercial spaces?
The Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montreal hosted a Strategic Forum of Retail Trade with the goal to highlight how the COVID-19 crisis is shaking up the Quebec retail sector. This forum allowed key players in retail to take stock of the current transformations and consider courses of action to innovate and relaunch the retail trade in a sustainable manner.
New policies needed to address the CEWS controversy
Between April and September 20, 53 publicly-held Canadian companies paid out nearly $2 billion to their shareholders despite receiving more than $10 million in federal assistance through the Canadian Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS). Prof.
