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Addictive Mobility and its Brisk iPhone campaign as the winner of the 2009 MobileMonday Toronto Marketing Award.

Mobile Media World 09 is one of the key anchor events of MOBILEINNOVATIONWEEK in Toronto September 12-16, 2009.

The September 8th award event was held at the MaRS Discovery District in downtown Toronto. Since announcing the partnership with MaRS in February 2009, MobileMonday Toronto has experienced explosive growth with monthly attendance exceeding 250+ attendees and has received general appreciation for the chapter's approach in supporting all stakeholders within the mobile industry which includes telecom providers, agencies, advertisers, device manufacturers, startups, venture capital and developers in addition to many industry verticals such as search, m-commerce, advertising, and media.

For Dr. John Evans, growing a strong biotechnology industry is much the same: cities must provide a nurturing environment where science and business can thrive together.

That's why Evans, former president of the University of Toronto and current chairman of Torstar Corp., is spearheading the $345-million Medical and Related Science initiative, or MaRS--a petri dish of sorts for commercializing science research. "A lot of intellectual property is being commercialized outside Canada," says Evans. "I think we've been slow in realizing just how important technology developments are to the economic future of the country. MaRS is an attempt to give this a kick into a higher gear." The centrepiece of the MaRS plan, which will officially launch May 12, is a 1.3-million-square-foot, five-building complex in downtown Toronto that will provide office and lab space for small and medium-size companies and incubators, including the not-for-profit Toronto Biotechnology Commercialization Centre. While Evans is reluctant to limit its scope, MaRS will generally focus on health-related technologies, from new drugs and genetic treatments to medical devices and imaging software. Branded a "convergence centre," it will also house a careful mix of support services: intellectual property lawyers, accountants, marketing experts, government funding organizations and venture capital financiers. Plus, start-ups will have access to all the latest equipment on site. For instance, MaRS is in talks with MDS Sciex to supply mass spectrometers, used in proteomics research.

But MaRS will be more than just a New Economy real estate development. Evans's intention is to funnel tenants' rent money into services--such as entrepreneurship seminars and angel-matching programs--that MaRS will offer to the broader biotech community. That's why MaRS's location is key: the centre will be built in the heart of what Toronto has dubbed the "Discovery District," a two-square-kilometre chunk of the downtown core, encompassing U of T and four major hospitals. From there, MaRS hopes to act as a network hub across Ontario, with links to research-intensive universities. "None of them," says Evans, "have the critical mass to put it all together on their own."

MobileMonday Toronto, Toronto's premier networking event for mobile industry professionals, will be hosting its first annual MobileMonday Toronto Marketing Awards on Tuesday, September 8th, 2009The event recognizes Toronto area marketing professionals for their effort in helping grow the use of mobile as a marketing channel.

Since announcing the partnership with MaRS in February 2009, MobileMonday Toronto has experienced explosive growth with monthly attendance exceeding 250+ attendees and has received general appreciation for the chapter's approach to support all stakeholders within the mobile industry which includes telecom providers, device manufacturers, startups, venture capital and developers in addition to many industry verticals such as search, m-commerce, advertising, and media.

The first annual MobileMonday Toronto Marketing Awards will be held on Tuesday September 8th (due to Labour Day holiday) at MaRS Discovery District, located at 101 College Street (south east corner of College and University). The event starts at 6:30pm.

Toronto’s MaRS Discovery District has combined the creative genius of science and technology with the drive of entrepreneurs and capital to create a marriage that will see more Canadian ideas commercialized in this country and for those efforts it has won the Canadian Urban Institute’s 2009 Creative City Award to be granted to MaRS on June 5 at the Urban Leadership Awards in Toronto.

“MaRS has found a creative way for science and business to collaborate rather than compete and to help Canada become a knowledge-based economy. This award recognizes them as a leader in stimulating the creative capacity of the city and advancing entrepreneurship, not only in science and technology but also in social ventures. 

Located in the Discovery District of Toronto, where billions of dollars of creative capital are created every year, the MaRS Centre first opened in 2005 in two new towers that bookend a heritage building that once housed the Toronto General Hospital. The three buildings, that total 700,000 sq. ft, house labs, companies of all sizes, business advisors and investors. Its professional services include hands-on advisory services, entrepreneurial programming and both structured and electronic networking. A second building phase of the MaRS Centre will add 750,000 sq ft and is planned to open in the next few years. “The underlining reason for creating MaRS is to capture the value of Canadian discoveries and to better commercialize these innovations at home in Canada,” said MaRS CEO Ilse Treurnicht. “Hub cities like Toronto are key drivers in shaping Canada’s innovation economy. MaRS works to strengthen the pull of that hub, acting as an accelerator and building the best ideas into companies that can compete on the world stage but are anchored here,” said Treurnicht.

MaRS Centre, Toronto, Ontario: The Creative City Award for building creative capacity.

Canadian Urban Institute’s Urban Leadership Awards June 5 in Toronto.

The CUI has judged dozens of nominations from across Canada and selected 18 exceptional “city builders” who tackle everything from reducing poverty in Hamilton and homelessness in Vancouver to beautifying historic riverbanks in Quebec and showcasing children’s art on buses in Toronto.

MaRS Discovery District also received an award -- in the "Creative City" category -- for creating a space where cutting-edge research can be accomplished and turned into commercial opportunities.