An image recognition technology developed at York University, with support from MI, has been acquired by Calgary-based Slyce to make its ecommerce app “see” better. Slyce’s current platform allows customers to photograph products with their smartphone and then find – and instantly purchase – a matching or similar item from the retailer’s catalogue. York’s technology improves the platform’s accuracy by overcoming problems like background clutter and lighting variations. Slyce also hired the PhD student who designed the technology, Ehsan Fazl-Ersi, as its Chief Science Officer. MI worked with York’s commercialization office on several fronts: filing for patent protection; developing a commercialization plan; securing grant funding; and negotiating the acquisition.