Why an Ecosystem?

 An ecosystem is a habitat made up of living and non-living things that work together harmoniously to produce energy and eventually attain sustainability (resistance and resilience). 

• Non-living things are our research and living labs at Ontario Tech, as well as living labs at Lakeridge Health Hospital and the Central East Prehospital Care Program (CEPCP).

• Living things are our core and adjunct faculty members, undergraduate and graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, as well as partners.

• However, what makes us an ecosystem is our ability to conserve and recycle energy within the "habitat." In addition to research, innovation and scholarship, our dedicated team of students, known as maxSIMmakers,  provide manufacturing services in our living labs to equip them with solutions at a fraction of the costs of similar, commercially available solutions. This creates a mutually benefical research and innovation-to-practice pipeline — our research and living labs collaborate to develop innovation which is immediately implemented in the practice setting. As a result, the living labs have a reduced cost and students earn money inside our habitat, which in turn creates spaces for further innovation, development and entrepreneurship.