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MaRS Discovery District is pleased to announce the appointment of Michael H. McCain, President and CEO of Maple Leaf Foods Inc., to its Board of Directors.

Mr. McCain is looking forward to joining the MaRS Board of Directors as wel

Mr. McCain

Canada has always had to fight hard to attract talent and investment

MaRS Vital to Toronto's life sciences vision is MaRS (derived from Medical and Related Sciences) a non-profit organisation and business centre located in the heart of the city. Its core function is as a biotech incubator and business park, known as MaRS Discovery District. The venture was first established in 2000 to help foster and accelerate the growth of successful Canadian businesses and, after some uncertain times, it is now gathering momentum. A separate technology transfer office, MaRS Innovation, has also been established that, it is hoped, can be a world beater in its own right (see Turning good ideas into world beaters below). The location of the MaRS building in central Toronto is important, as it is just a stone's throw away from an existing cluster of universities and academic hospitals. MaRS has many links with other research-based organisations, including collaborations with three local universities, 10 academic teaching hospitals and the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research. MaRS occupies the Old Toronto general hospital, where insulin was first discovered by Best and Banting in 1921 and then developed for use in human trials. The 21st Century organisation can build on this heritage in patient-focused discovery and development. Formerly the head of venture capital firm Primaxis, Ilse Treurnicht is chief executive of MaRS Discovery District. She acknowledges the crisis in venture capital funding, and says Canada's sector has always had less access funds through this route than other countries. This is one of the drivers behind the search for a new approach. Treurnicht says the old models of building biotech and life sciences businesses have to be discarded, as they have failed to build companies with critical mass. She says MaRS' new 'Convergence Innovation' strategy of bringing science, capital and business together will pay off.

"We call our strategy 'Convergence Innovation' and what we are trying to do is move away from the old linear model of academics struggling in their spare time to build companies or entrepreneurs doing this in a very incremental way."It takes time and it has many risk points along the way. So using this Convergence centre model to create a much more dynamic organisation which can help accelerate good ideas towards the commercialisation." But she says Canada's geography and demographics are always going to be a challenge. "This is a very large country with a small population. If you think in terms of clusters and hub regions, Canada's business hubs are separated geographically, and there is not much in between in terms of people."That means we can't try to be a little United States, because we just won't show up on the radar. We have to take a different approach. We have to think about collaboration as our potential competitive advantage - that means using networks and associations to solve problems and build businesses."So as new opportunities emerge, we can take them to market faster and hopefully with a higher success rate." The centre currently accommodates numerous start up companies, as well as those providing legal and financial services to them. AstraZeneca and GlaxoSmithKline also have offices on site. In all, MaRS provides mentoring for over 200 different companies across Ontario, and runs courses on entrepreneurship and preparing products for market.

with self-belief and a preparedness to adapt to the new economic situation, social enterprise will thrive

Social enterprise, in many ways, is about generating value: for both society and business. What could be more important when facing difficult times?

leverage their natural resources for the betterment of both society and their bottom line

The Premier’s Summit Award builds Ontario’s research prowess by recognizing exceptional medical researchers and helping them expand their programs. These winners are internationally recognized leaders whose work is transformative in their fields. Each winner will receive up to $5 million over a five-year period: a $2.5 million contribution from the award program matched by $2.5 million from their sponsoring institution. As the following profiles demonstrate, the Premier’s Summit Award supports researchers who have made a substantial contribution and show promise to do even more.

Dr. Benjamin Neel The Campbell Family Cancer Research Institute at the Princess Margaret Hospital, University Health Network Toronto

Dr. John Wallace McMaster University Farncombe Family Digestive Health Research Institute Hamilton

Tony Pawson has been studying how cells communicate for more than 30 years.

Scientists had long known that cells communicated, but no one knew the exact mechanisms until Pawson and his team pinpointed the specific protein interactions controlling cell signals.

Since his initial discovery, Pawson has been inundated with every possible award for biomedical sciences, including the Gairdner Foundation International Award (considered the baby Nobel), and, in 2007, was named to the Order of the Companions of Honour, one of only nine Canadians to receive the award from the Queen

Toronto hosted a celebration Feb. 18 honouring Canada's first two Kyoto Prize laureates: University Professor Anthony Pawson of molecular genetics and McGill University's Charles Taylor, a philosopher.

Pawson, a world-renowned cell biologist and Mount Sinai Hospital distinguished investigator, received the prize in basic science for his studies of cellular communication. He will receive a 20-karat gold medal and a cash gift of 50 million yen (approximately $460,000 Cdn).

He and Taylor, who won the prize in the arts and philosophy category, delivered a joint lecture during the celebratory event at MaRs (Medical and Related Sciences Discovery District).

Multimedia students are being displayed at the Ontario Premier’s Innovation Awards ceremony on May 15th at MaRS in Toronto.

The Premier’s Innovation Awards was created to recognize and reward Ontario’s top researchers and innovators that are successfully turning global challenges into the next generation of jobs for the province.

There are three categories of Premier’s Innovation Awards: