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On Dec 15, 2009 the ELNStudio program launched, as created by the Emerging Leaders Network (ELN). This group is an initiative of the Toronto City Summit Alliance of 2006, consisting of leaders who work in the private, public, and non-profit sectors of Toronto, and who want to improve Toronto through creative city planning. Today's conference is all about networking with other emerging leaders, as well as exploring some of the projects that ELNStudio will be working on over the coming year. Dec 15, 2009

"The enemy of innovation is the phrase 'prove it'," says Roger Martin, dean of UofT's Rotman School of Management. He says corporations are killing themselves with too much analytical thinking, and not enough creative, design thinking. "You can't send a 28-year-old with a calculator to solve your problem." Martin says of management consultants.

The inaugural THINK Conference will take place on April 16th at the Art Gallery of Ontario. The conference will challenge leaders in Ontario's e-Infrastructure, Higher Education, and the K-12 sectors to focus on interconnectedness and collaboration.This conference will include na Idea-generating sessions will be led by key Ontario thought leaders which includes Dr Ilse Treurnicht, CEO of MaRS Discovery District.

Dr. Rafi Hofstein, CEO of MaRS Innovation, was hired to get things done the entrepreneurial way: shrewdly, creatively and as quickly as possible. He's been given five years to turn the vast scientific talent clustered around University Avenue into the seeds of a vibrant biotechnology industry.

VeloCity in Waterloo is looking for ambitious, creative students who are interested in business, technology and/or media. They'll give them the tools, mentors, location to help kick-start their business in an intense incubation period. Think bootcamp for young entrepreneurs.

Canadian Patents and Copyrights

The mission of the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) is to accelerate Canada's economic development by: * Fostering the use of intellectual property systems and the exploitation of intellectual property information; * Encouraging invention, innovation, and creativity in Canada; * Administering Canada's intellectual property systems (patents, trade-marks, copyrights, industrial designs, and integrated circuit topographies); and * Promoting Canada's international intellectual property interests. The web site includes comprehensive databases for trade-marks, copyrights, industrial designs, etc. It also has information that is useful for first time inventors, including a section for learning about IP, and a range of publications such as guides to trade-marks, copyrights, and patents.

Richard Florida, urban theorist and lead of the Martin Prosperity Institute housed at MaRS, wrote an article for The Atlantic and this his interview follow-up (web exclusive). He says that it's always been the economic upheavals that have caused the most innovation. Stop artificially supporting dead industries and let the innovative ones organically replace them.

Chris Flanagan talks about the benefits of moving to Toronto and the great work happening at the MaRS Centre. Mention of Martin transforming the Rotman School to a "world-class institution" ... that has "an innovative curriculum built around the fundamentals of design thinking." There is also a mention of the Martin Prosperity Institute spin off.

Chris Flanagan talks about the benefits of moving to Toronto and the great work happening at the MaRS Centre. Mention of Martin transforming the Rotman School to a "world-class institution" ... that has "an innovative curriculum built around the fundamentals of design thinking." There is also a mention of the Martin Prosperity Institute spin off. Oct 30, 2008

Mention of MaRS Discovery District as one of the Canadian Urban Institute's Urban Leadership Award winners.

Frans Johansson's The Medici Effect shows how breakthrough ideas most often occur when we bring concepts from one field into a new, unfamiliar territory, and offers examples how we can turn the ideas we discover into path-breaking innovations.

Globalization does not make the world flat. Richard Florida believes place matters when it comes to innovation: place affects our daily lives as well as the overall global economy, place determines the people we come in contact with, place determines our career paths and options, and place influences the markets we participate in. In Who's Your City? Richard Florida believes place determines where good ideas come from and offers fresh views of its economic role.

The corporate world is filled with executives, men and women who have worked hard for years to reach the upper levels of management. They're intelligent, skilled, and even charismatic. But only a handful of them will ever reach the pinnacle -- and as executive coach Marshall Goldsmith shows in this book, subtle nuances make all the difference. These are small "transactional flaws" performed by one person against another (as simple as not saying thank you enough), which lead to negative perceptions that can hold any executive back. Using Goldsmith's straightforward, jargonfree advice, it's amazingly easy behavior to change. Executives who hire Goldsmith for one-on-one coaching pay $250,000 for the privilege. With this book, his help is available for 1/10,000th of the price.

Stanford Technology Ventures Program's Executive Director Tina Seelig shares rich insights in creative thinking and the entrepreneurial mindset. Her talk, based on her 2009 book, What I Wish I Knew When I Was 20, cites numerous classroom successes of applied problem-solving and the lessons of failure.

EndLoop Studios, Five Mobile Inc. and NuLayer Inc. are three Toronto tech companies at hub of iPad app revolution. According to Krista Jones, MaRS Discovery District ICT Practice Lead, says "Toronto is an app hub because we have deep roots in both the creative and design industries, and the technical industries."

The social innovation eXchange (SIX) is a network that has been set up by a group of organizations to help build the emerging field of social innovation. They believe that many of the big problems that the world faces - from climate change to the care needs of an aging population - will only be solved by experiment, enterprise and innovation, and that innovation needs to tap into the creativity of every part of civil society, business and the public sector.

Bitstrips, a MaRS digital media client, was recently featured in the Globe and Mail. Bitstrips is an online comic book that is created by users. Their free online toys make it fast, fun and easy to create comics. The article shows how Bitstrips for Schools is helping teachers get students engaged creatively using digital media while promoting reading, writing and media literacy. Find out more about this company to watch.

The Working Group, Media Profile, Global Accelerator Network and Postmedia Network Inc. have also partnered with JOLT. JOLT was created by MaRS and is a new technology accelerator dedicated to building high-growth web and mobile companies that promise to transform the way consumers and enterprises connect, work and play.

Review of "Ecology.Design.Synergy: Green Architecture & New Ideas from Germany" exhibit, located in the MaRS Atrium from June 23 - July 11

Architect Ivan Saleff's recent adaptive revamp of a mildly modern Forest Hill home is a marriage of distinct parts, in similar fashion to the ROM's Michael Lee-Chin Crystal or the MaRS Centre.

Motivational speaker, author, and consultant. Expert in innovation.