British Columbia Innovation Council

Mahmoud Pouladi

Centre for Molecular Medicine and Therapeutics, UBC

The recipient of this award is a driven scientist with a keen mind. He is a bright PhD student at CMMT with a strong record of productivity; as a young scientist he has already published 12 peer-reviewed papers. His ability to recognize the commercial potential in scientific research led to the submission of a patent application for an HD biomarker test. The goal of the project from which this commercial application arose was to examine the underpinnings of body weight changes in HD. His recognition of the potential commercial application is a testament to his acute sense for entrepreneurship.

He has been a strong promoter of science within the community. He appeared on the Jenn and Joe show on CFUN 1410 AM to promote the "Hike 4 Huntington's" and leads tours through his research lab. Previously as Editor-in-Chief of UBC's Graduate magazine, he carried his message to over 5,000 monthly readers.

Lungpacer Medical Inc.

Dr. Andy Hoffer, Founder and Chief Scientific Officer; Professor of Biomedical Physiology and Kinesiology, SFU

Lungpacer Medical Inc. was recognized for its Transvasular Diaphragm Pacing System. Its system has been developed to assist with the mechanical ventilation of critically ill patients in hospital intensive care units. Lungpacer electrodes are intravenously inserted into the body of a patient to rhythmically pace the diaphragm. This prevents or reverses rapid atrophy that can occur with muscle disuse in these patients. The Lungpacer technology results in faster recovery of a patient's ability to breathe naturally, allowing them to leave intensive care sooner, thereby lowering hospitalization costs.

Two Entrepreneurship Fellows were recognized in this inaugural year of the award:

Dr. Brad Buckham

Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering, University of Victoria
Dr. Buckham's entrepreneurship activities address the engineering challenges that impact on humans' experiences with the ocean. His innovations involve cabled ocean structures, computer simulations, remotely operated vehicles, wave energy and ocean infrastructure. He collaborates with the Canadian Scientific Submersible Facility and Ocean Network Canada's Neptune project; and he leads the West Coast Wave Collaboration Program.

Together with student and graduate researchers, Dr. Buckham founded a company that uses simulation to reduce human, economic and environmental risk for small and start-up ocean technology companies. He is also co-inventor of SyncWave Power Resonator which harnesses wave energy for sustainable power generation.

Dr. Buckham is noted for his ability to connect people and organizations to move ideas out of the laboratory and into application in the complex and demanding ocean environment. His entrepreneurship has helped to place BC at the forefront of global marine knowledge and technology development.

Dr. Gerri Sinclair

Executive Director of the Masters of Digital Media Program, Centre for Digital Media

Dr. Sinclair's career spans the fields of Internet and new media technology, entrepreneurship, academic research and government policy. She has made incubation and commercialization of student innovations a focus of the Masters of Digital Media Program. The program also provides commercialization services to local and international digital media companies.
Dr. Sinclair brings extensive experience to her position at the Centre for Digital Media. She was the first president of the Premier's Technology Council, has held esteemed positions at Microsoft Network Canada and IBM. She is also a founding director of the ExCITE Lab at Simon Fraser University and Founder and CEO of NCompass Labs.

Dr. Sinclair is noted for her ability to generate the ideas that will become tomorrow's innovations and her scope is global, in that sense, she is an international entrepreneur of ideas. Dr. Sinclair serves as a model for the entire technology community in British Columbia.