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• Best Practices in Venture Creation (Room 1)Veronika Litinski, Practice Lead, Healthcare and Life Sciences, MaRSAn overview of what makes your business valuable to investors and how to develop a viable business strategy.

MobileBiz BootCamp (http://mobilebiz.ca) September 16, 2009 From garage start-up to corporate start-up, at the MobileBiz BootCamp you will earn your stripes by learning from the best in the business. An intensive full day of key insights and fast-track tips delivered by experienced mobile industry leaders, vendors and supporting organizations focused on creating exponential value for all delegates to accelerate profitable growth in their mobile business. Featured speakers from Wind Mobile, Summerhill Capital, Polar Mobile, MaRS, Ontario Centres of Excellence and more. Additional MOBILEINNOVATIONWEEK activities are the ilovemobileweb party - the ultimate mobile industry networking event of the year - and the Mobile ThinkTank where industry experts come together to envision the future of mobile in the global economy. Evening receptions are sponsored by the CWTA, the Mobile Experience Innovation Centre (MEIC) and the Mobile Entertainment Forum (MEF).

MOBILEINNOVATIONWEEK from September 12-16, 2009 in Toronto.

The recent Agri-Innovation Forum, hosted in Toronto by a few Guelph-based organizations like MaRS Landing and Ontario Agri-Food Technologies who are dedicated to building linkages between agriculture and other sectors such as health, highlighted some of these developments.

The University of Guelph's leadership in the development of food products that enhance health was showcased at the Agri-Food Innovation Forum in downtown Toronto yesterday.The forum's focus is on agriculture, food and human health, and is examining ways to generate business enterprises in the nutraceutical and functional food field.

John Kelly, executive director of the MaRS Landing and chair of the Agri-Food Innovation Forum, said there is a growing global market for nutraceutical products and good product ideas are coming from young minds.

The recent Agri-Innovation Forum, hosted in Toronto by a few Guelph-based organizations like MaRS Landing and Ontario Agri-Food Technologies who are dedicated to building linkages between agriculture and other sectors such as health, highlighted some of these developments.

MaRS, a Toronto-based, not-for-profit incubation center, is leading a delegation of five cleantech ventures at this week’s Cleantech Forum XXIII in Boston. The companies – all clients of MaRS advisory services – will showcase their products for the cleantech CEOs, investors, scientists and policy makers attending the east coast forum. “While cleantech is a relatively new sector for MaRS advisory services, it is fast catching up with our other core strengths in information technologies and life sciences,” said Tom Rand, a cleantech entrepreneur, author and investor who leads MaRS’ cleantech practice. “MaRS is establishing itself as a major deal-flow engine in the cleantech sector, with an emphasis on early-stage companies.”

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A Toronto-based startup, called Skymeter, is developing this technology using what it calls 'financial-grade GPS' data.

Skymeter recently received a $500,000 loan from the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation and is a tenant in Toronto's MaRS Centre. In 2007, at the Canadian Venture Forum held in Toronto, Skymeter was selected as "the best angel company" and attracted investment interest from a group of US-based investors in the transportation field. According to the company's website, they are currently seeking funding from professional/strategic investors in the >$5million range.

It is clear humans will live much longer in the future, Worzel says. And innovative agricultural products, like those being developed by University of Guelph research scientists, will play a vital role in maintaining the health of this future population of senior citizens.

Worzel was a keynote speaker at last week's Agri-Food Innovation Forum in Toronto, which brought leading scientists, medical professionals, government and industry officials together to explore the future of so-called functional foods and nutraceuticals -- foods or food extracts that have physiological benefits or reduce the risk of chronic disease.

Guelph scientists are among the world leaders in the field, with a host of University of Guelph researchers advancing the science, and a number of local enterprises -- Soy 20/20, BioEnterprise, Ontario Agri-Food Technologies, and MaRS Landing -- working to commercialize that science.