SMARTlab Niagara

Co-Executive Directors Tara O'Neil and Michelle Berelowitz kick off SMARTlab Niagara's arrival at Oak Hall at Niagara Parks. An innovation hub for research, education SMARTlab develops breakthrough creative thinking by employing the principles of Inclusive Design.

"We make the invisible, visible, igniting creative thinking for radical transformation in Canada. "

History
For twenty five years, SMARTlab Academy and Research Institute in Ireland has offered a practice-based PhD program in Inclusive Design and Creative Technology Innovation. SMARTlab has adopted a multidisciplinary practice-based approach to solving problems. This approach enriches the academic domain by encouraging teams of artists and scientists to work closely across disciplinary boundaries to invent new models and tools for learning, communication, advocacy, and governance.

SMARTLab Niagara
A primary strategic objective of the SMARTlab leadership team is to expand the opportunities for academic research and innovation labs beyond the University sector and create stand-alone SMARTlab facilities around the world. SMARTLab Niagara is the first of its kind. We will expand the mandate and ethos to grow innovation along with local business and the community beyond PhD students. Ground-breaking research, novel innovation processes, commercialization of intellectual property, community learning, and a state-of-the-art technology lab will ignite positive change for Niagara, Ontario, and Canada.

A New Partnership
Through a new partnership with Niagara Parks, SMARTlab Niagara will create opportunities for Canadian researchers to drive innovation by developing ground-breaking intellectual property, supporting the protection and commercialization of this research; deliver exciting and relevant new programming for the region and expand community engagement.

Tara O’Neil, Innovation Strategist, Designer and Futurist by trade, has combined her many years as a senior leader in corporate Canada with those of an academic researcher and innovation practitioner to lead the vision and creative thinking at SMARTlab Niagara. As a SMARTlab PhD candidate, Tara has developed a novel innovation process that can deliver novel thinking required to solve complex problems. This process will be used by SMARTlab Niagara both internally and externally to deliver value at the individual, community, and partner level.

Michelle Berelowitz, strategist, innovator, and entrepreneur is working with Tara to deliver a new approach to research while simultaneously disrupting and redefining how international postgraduate research and education can be delivered locally. Michelle received her MBET from the University of Waterloo in 2011. She brings her diverse cross-industry experience to develop radical innovation discovered by researchers, turning it into powerful products and services.