Grant: Applied Research and Development Grants - Level 1

We live in an increasingly technological society. For Canada to remain competitive in this knowledge economy - on a globalscale - we need an educated workforce and an educational system that offers children a progressive and globally competitive STEM curriculum. In some countries children are learning algorithmic thinking and computer coding as a criticalpart of math and digital literacy. Unfortunately, Canada is not there yet, with most public school curricula offering computerprogramming as nice to know with uneven implementation across the provinces.The Loopy Logic math app developed by childrens development company, Steve Diguer Productions, will help give thatall important foundational math thinking to preschoolchildren in an attempt to pre-dispose them to algorithmic thinking and logical reasoning skills precursors toprogramming and math literacy.This research project will be divided into two research phases:Play-testing paper game concepts with children and math & technology educators (Game Based Learning GBL)to determine optimum gameplay and interest in math (NSERC)Building a Unity desktop game prototype for the one Loopy Logic game which demonstrates the strongest potential(NSERC)Building the corresponding reward video animatic for inclusion in the game (OCEThe benefits to the company are:1) Companys ability to market its products as an educational game is dependant upon validation in the ethics-based,credible process of the kidsmediacentre. Company will be able to launch the product in market with the support fromCentennial College.2) The company will benefit through the increased amount of expertise added to the team while building the prototype. Thecompany will also have the ability to find suitable talent (through the student activity) that will be ready to enter the workforceat the same time when Steve Diguer Productions Inc. is projected to grow.3) The outcome of this project will be beneficial to Steve Diguer Productions Inc., which anticipates generating revenue of atleast $45,000.00 in the first year. These revenues will be leveraged to bring one PT employee on board with appdevelopment skills.We think this will allow us to position Loopy Logic in the market as a preschool kids math brand; we believe we will becompetitive with Umi Zoomi, the only other cross platform (both linear and digital media) preschool brand because our appwill be current and updated. And we will be competitive with Slice Fractions because they are single-platform (app only).We cannot quantify this in terms of market share; we believe we will gain a foothold on the basis of this prototype.This is not a typical technology project: it is a kids media project. In the world of kids media, especially educational media,the factors that will make it a success are not so much about algorithms and code, they are about educational validity,ethics, privacy, and user experience design. Those are the things we are seeking help with from Centennial: their expertiseis directly applicable to these areas of concern and these are precisely the things our company cant do withoutCentennials help.The prototype we build with Centennials help will enable us to leverage further kids media funding: this is not VC money,nor is it typical innovation money. The biggest innovation in kids media is to develop brands that are educationally valid, andthat engage kids on digital platforms where, currently, they are accessing games that either are not educational or are notage appropriate. As kids media producers, Steve Diguer Productions Inc. knows how to address the educational aspect, butas traditional media producers we do not have the skills in house to address the digital platforms aspect.The money we leverage both by monetizing the prototype as well as by obtaining further kids media funding will be used tobring the skills into our company so that we can become a cross platform (both TV and digital gaming) kids media company.