Financial summit highlights rising expertise out of Edmonton

From a speaking and dancing robotic to zero-emission hydrogen energy, the ahead/slash Financial Summit on the Edmonton Conference Centre highlighted a wide range of new expertise and concepts Wednesday evening.

Almost 1,000 individuals attended the summit, hosted by Edmonton World in collaboration with dozens of accomplice organizations.

Patricia Candelaria is a member of the pediatric emergency advancing data (PEAK) analysis workforce from the College of Alberta.

Candelaria was one of many PEAK members exhibiting off MEDi, a humanoid robotic meant to supply stress reduction for youngsters present process medical procedures.

MEDi has been in Canadian hospitals for years, however Candelaria stated the workforce is now working to program the robotic to have extra particular social responses.

“He is like a little bit mini therapist. He gives psycho-educational help. He does respiration workout routines, guided imagery, and leisure strategies. And he additionally lets mother and father know what to anticipate from the process,” she defined.

Candelaria stated in scientific trials MEDi considerably helped children cut back nervousness, however the workforce desires to concentrate on having interactions with the robotic to bodily cut back kids’s ache.

“With our MEDi robotic research, we discovered that it did not essentially lower the ache scores of the kid, nevertheless it did lower the nervousness and misery of the mother and father and the kid, and it did improve the satisfaction of ache administration.” 

Just like lots of the missions of the technological shows on the summit, Candelaria stated she hopes MEDi is a step in altering the health-care system and kids’s perceptions of getting therapies.

Hydrogen power was one other focus of the summit.

Denis Wiart, CEO of ONEC, advised CBC the corporate’s hydrogen gasoline cell module buildings might change the way forward for inexperienced power and it may well produce energy with out air pollution.

“This can be a clear gasoline cell that produces electrical energy with hydrogen gasoline because the enter, and the one outputs are electrical energy and water. It takes hydrogen gasoline in and produces 5 to 10 kilowatts of electrical energy,” Wiart defined.

Wiart stated the system would work as a dependable backup energy supply, particularly in communities weak to frequent or extreme energy outages.

“We needed to design it for northern climates and Canada the place the temperatures are fairly chilly to see the way it operated. It will be backup energy for issues like substations or valve stations within the pipeline world or management techniques the place you want that backup energy,” Wiart stated.

Thus far, Wiart stated there are two modules getting used within the nation, however he hopes the summit and additional understanding of hydrogen energy will see the market develop.

Mayor Amarjeet Sohi attended the summit and advised CBC it is a chance for Edmonton’s tech sector to develop and showcase native innovation.

For Sohi, he stated his important focus is hydrogen power to advertise clear and dependable sources of energy. 

“There’s a lot range right here and it simply exhibits the innovation and dedication to bettering the tech sector in Edmonton,” Sohi stated.