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Sarah Hickman

The Well-Designed Global R&D Network - 0 views

www.strategy-business.com/...rr00032

commercialization research*&*development globalization innovation

shared by Sarah Hickman on 14 Aug 09 - Cached
  • Sarah Hickman on 14 Aug 09
     
    Consider the two faces of the global innovation movement. Company A, having grown through acquisition, produces multiple brands for multiple markets and operates a worldwide network of research and product development centers. Each of its R&D sites was initially responsible for its own brands and local market, but with globalization these distinctions have lost their importance. Company B, on the other hand, was built largely through internal growth and has two global brands. It operates one primary R&D center supported by a handful of special-purpose sites around the world. This comparatively sparse network has helped Company B win wide admiration for the efficiency of its engineering. Because expanding the number of nodes in a network exponentially increases its complexity, it is not surprising that Company A's R&D structure is more expensive to operate. Company A has considered closing some sites, but has resisted doing so because it fears losing capabilities and insights, and roiling local markets. Meanwhile, incremental budget cuts have chipped away at engineer and supplier morale. Having built its network to maximize the value associated with market access, it is now forced to manage the network for cost. Most global innovation networks look like Company A's - and suffer the same problems. Company B's R&D structure is clearly more productive, but it is not necessarily ideal either. Its network might be too compact, limiting access to knowledge that could maximize performance. Thus, to identify principles and practices for creating a truly well-designed innovation network, Booz Allen Hamilton and INSEAD, the international business school, surveyed R&D leaders in 186 companies from 17 industry sectors in 19 nations in 2005. The survey results, and our own experience, suggest one central truth: Organizations benefit when they configure their innovation networks for cost and manage them for value.
Assunta Krehl

reportonbusiness.com: THE COMPANY: INFONAUT INC.: Charting the right course through an ... - 0 views

www.theglobeandmail.com/...Business

Infonaut software

shared by Assunta Krehl on 04 May 09 - Cached
  • Toronto, where a small firm is using 21st-century software to create maps with similar goals - the containment of disease - by showing infection patterns that can be understood at a glance.
  • Toronto, where a small firm is using 21st-century software to create maps with similar goals - the containment of disease - by showing infection patterns that can be understood at a glance.
  • There's nothing wrong with Infonaut using the H1N1 flu outbreak to gain exposure, as long as the company is careful in the tone it takes, said John Lute, president of Toronto communications firm Lute and Co.
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  • Infonaut Inc. chief executive officer Niall Wallace and his partner, chief operating officer Matt McPherson, both former IT consultants for the Ontario government, created the company after helping to craft some of the recommendations that resulted from the SARS outbreak of 2003. They understood the value of visually represented, real-time infection data, and left government to set up Infonaut to develop that technology.
  • Infonaut has created three software products that turn infection information into maps. All are being tested in pilot projects and will soon be marketed commercially.
  • One, called Infection Watch Live, is now taking data gathered at 14 hospital emergency rooms in eastern Ontario and using it to create publicly accessible maps that show exactly where in the region cases of influenza and gastrointestinal diseases are active.
  • This complex mapping can help monitor and stop the spread of C. difficile and other superbugs.
  • The third product, called Regional Watch Live, generates maps and reports for regional health professionals by merging lab test results with a range of other information.
  • INFONAUT INC
  • Make sure to present straightforward information about how the company's products might help mitigate an outbreak in the future, but do not exaggerate promises. Be upfront about the state of pilot tests, the timelines to get the software to market, and how much funding will be needed to go to full commercialization. Use respected third-party partners to endorse the products, a move that will give the company more credibility. If there are privacy concerns, spell them out and detail how they are being addressed.
  • Infonaut should ensure that its message is understated and that the company is not an "ambulance chaser," Mr. Lute said
  • But the company does need to give straightforward information about how its products might help mitigate an outbreak in the future, and not exaggerate its promises, she said. In particular, it needs to be upfront about the state of its pilot tests and include details of when full versions of its products will be available. It also must explain how much funding they will need to get there, Ms. Wilcox said.
  • With Infonaut, there seems to be no question that there is a public gain, he said. "If it is just an opportunistic attempt to cash in on the misfortune of others, that tends to play badly. Where a company has something that can be tied to the public interest, such as in this case ... it is very low-risk."
  • He suggests that Infonaut make good use of its pilot test partners, such as the counties in eastern Ontario that are testing the Infection Watch Live system.
  • the company should forestall any concerns over privacy issues by spelling out how it ensures data on individuals are kept confidential.
  • There's nothing wrong with using the current concerns over H1N1 flu to gain exposure, as long as Infonaut is careful about taking a calm and respectful tone to its marketing and publicity.
  • On the other hand, it will clearly create an opportunity if Infonaut can increase its profile, "which helps it to get its story out, which helps it to get investors, which helps it to grow.
  • The problem Build a market for a unique infection mapping system without appearing to exploit the flu outbreak The plan: Use a subtle approach and be upfront with the state of development of the software products The payoff: Higher awareness among potential customers and an expanded market
  • Assunta Krehl on 04 May 09
     
    Using 21st-century Infonaut is using software to create maps - the containment of disease - by showing infection patterns that can be understood at a glance.
Tim T

How to Make Wealth - 0 views

www.paulgraham.com/wealth.html

wealth startup entrepreneurship innovation business

shared by Tim T on 28 Mar 10 - Cached
  • Remember what a startup is, economically: a way of saying, I want to work faster. Instead of accumulating money slowly by being paid a regular wage for fifty years, I want to get it over with as soon as possible. So governments that forbid you to accumulate wealth are in effect decreeing that you work slowly. They're willing to let you earn $3 million over fifty years, but they're not willing to let you work so hard that you can do it in two. They are like the corporate boss that you can't go to and say, I want to work ten times as hard, so please pay me ten times a much. Except this is not a boss you can escape by starting your own company.
  • What is technology? It's technique. It's the way we all do things. And when you discover a new way to do things, its value is multiplied by all the people who use it. It is the proverbial fishing rod, rather than the fish. That's the difference between a startup and a restaurant or a barber shop. You fry eggs or cut hair one customer at a time. Whereas if you solve a technical problem that a lot of people care about, you help everyone who uses your solution. That's leverage.If you look at history, it seems that most people who got rich by creating wealth did it by developing new technology. You just can't fry eggs or cut hair fast enough. What made the Florentines rich in 1200 was the discovery of new techniques for making the high-tech product of the time, fine woven cloth. What made the Dutch rich in 1600 was the discovery of shipbuilding and navigation techniques that enabled them to dominate the seas of the Far East.
  • What a company does, and has to do if it wants to continue to exist, is earn money. And the way most companies make money is by creating wealth. Companies can be so specialized that this similarity is concealed, but it is not only manufacturing companies that create wealth. A big component of wealth is location. Remember that magic machine that could make you cars and cook you dinner and so on? It would not be so useful if it delivered your dinner to a random location in central Asia. If wealth means what people want, companies that move things also create wealth. Ditto for many other kinds of companies that don't make anything physical. Nearly all companies exist to do something people want.And that's what you do, as well, when you go to work for a company. But here there is another layer that tends to obscure the underlying reality. In a company, the work you do is averaged together with a lot of other people's. You may not even be aware you're doing something people want. Your contribution may be indirect. But the company as a whole must be giving people something they want, or they won't make any money. And if they are paying you x dollars a year, then on average you must be contributing at least x dollars a year worth of work, or the company will be spending more than it makes, and will go out of business.Someone graduating from college thinks, and is told, that he needs to get a job, as if the important thing were becoming a member of an institution. A more direct way to put it would be: you need to start doing something people want. You don't need to join a company to do that. All a company is is a group of people working together to do something people want. It's doing something people want that matters, not joining the group.
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  • When wealth is talked about in this context, it is often described as a pie. "You can't make the pie larger," say politicians. When you're talking about the amount of money in one family's bank account, or the amount available to a government from one year's tax revenue, this is true. If one person gets more, someone else has to get less.I can remember believing, as a child, that if a few rich people had all the money, it left less for everyone else. Many people seem to continue to believe something like this well into adulthood. This fallacy is usually there in the background when you hear someone talking about how x percent of the population have y percent of the wealth. If you plan to start a startup, then whether you realize it or not, you're planning to disprove the Pie Fallacy.What leads people astray here is the abstraction of money. Money is not wealth. It's just something we use to move wealth around. So although there may be, in certain specific moments (like your family, this month) a fixed amount of money available to trade with other people for things you want, there is not a fixed amount of wealth in the world. You can make more wealth. Wealth has been getting created and destroyed (but on balance, created) for all of human history.Suppose you own a beat-up old car. Instead of sitting on your butt next summer, you could spend the time restoring your car to pristine condition. In doing so you create wealth. The world is-- and you specifically are-- one pristine old car the richer. And not just in some metaphorical way. If you sell your car, you'll get more for it.In restoring your old car you have made yourself richer. You haven't made anyone else poorer. So there is obviously not a fixed pie. And in fact, when you look at it this way, you wonder why anyone would think there was.
Assunta Krehl

Pharmafocus.com - 0 views

www.pharmafocus.com/...eature_detail-0-493032,00.html

Canada collaboration discovery district entrepreneur science technology Ilse Treurnicht AstraZeneca GlaxoSmithline MaRS Innovation Primaxis Transition Therapeutics Rafi Hofstein convergence stem cell nitric oxide

shared by Assunta Krehl on 04 Aug 09 - Cached
  • 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.
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  • Transition Therapeutics is one of the companies based at MaRS, and is an example of a biopharmaceutical company that is taking a new approach to the science and business of drug development.
  • Now Toronto's MaRS Innovation (MI) has been launched to try to guide and accelerate these promising ideas out of the wilderness and onto the market. MI is a not-for-profit technology transfer company that will channel all the best ideas to come out of Toronto's renowned academic centres. In the Toronto and Ontario area there were between 14-16 different technology transfer offices in the different institutions, and MaRS Innovation resolved to bring these interests together into a single entity after industry partners told them it was an inefficient way to do business. Bringing together the different institutions under one umbrella organisation has been an arduous task for MaRS, but the reward could be considerable for all parties. MI now oversees probably the largest intellectual property pipeline of its kind, representing about $1 billion in annual research spending. This means MI will be a unified route for all of Toronto's academics and their institutions when they want to develop and commercialise a bright idea. Most importantly, investors from industry who are looking to collaborate will now be able to deal with just organisation and one IP process. MI will cover patentable ideas across a broad range of areas, and not just life sciences - the discovery pipeline in physical sciences, information and communication technology, and green technology ('cleantech') will all be funnelled through MI. MI now represents three universities, 10 academic teaching hospitals and the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research. MaRS Innovation, with support from MaRS and BioDiscovery Toronto, will advance commercialisation through industry partnerships, licensing and company creation.
  • ts chief executive is Dr Rafi Hofstein. Hofstein has been headhunted from Israel where he was chief executive of Hadasit, the technology transfer company of the Hadassah Medical Organization in Jerusalem and chair of the publicly-traded company Hadasit BioHolding. He brings this considerable experience in technology transfer to what he thinks is a groundbreaking enterprise."MaRS Innovation is a unique global initiative, and I must commend the institutional leaders in Toronto for pulling this innovation powerhouse together to strengthen commercialisation output." He adds: "I believe this is going to modernise the whole notion of tech transfer." He says the scale and diversity of MaRS Innovation's remit puts it into a league of its own. Other research clusters elsewhere in the world have attempted similar projects before, but have been thwarted by the difficulty in bringing parties together. MaRS Innovation will also help launch and grow new spin-off companies and incubate them for 2-3 years to ensure a strong commercial footing. Hofstein says MI will also fund proof of concept trials which will persuade major pharma companies to invest in their development.
  • MI has just announced its first two commercialisation deals with academic partners in the city. The first is with the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute of Mount Sinai Hospital to develop stem cell from umbilical cords to treat cardiovascular disease, diabetes and neurological disorders. "With the Toronto area identified as a world-leading cluster in stem cell research, we are extremely excited to have identified this technology as our first commercialisation opportunity," said Dr Hofstein.
  • "Our partnership with MaRS Innovation on developing methods for using stem cells for diseases such as diabetes will allow us to work towards advancing care for these critical conditions."
  • The second collaboration is between MI and The University of Toronto (U of T) and involves a novel sustained release formulation of nitric oxide (NO) for applications in wound healing, including diabetic ulcers. "There are 300 million diabetics worldwide, of which some 15% develop troublesome foot ulcers. This wound healing technology is extremely exciting, making it an early commercialisation opportunity that MaRS Innovation has identified as being a potential win for some 45 million diabetics globally," said Dr Hofstein.
  • "This is one of many new commercialisation ventures that will be initiated by MaRS Innovation, our partner in commercialisation of research with 13 other academic institutions across the Greater Toronto Area," said Paul Young, U of T's vice-president, Research. "We at U of T are delighted that this innovation from Dr Lee will be taken to the marketplace to the benefit of society and the economy of Ontario and Canada." By aggregating the leading edge science of its institutional members and being a one-stop commercialisation centre for industry, entrepreneurs and investors, MI could really help put Toronto and Canada on the map."MaRS Innovation is deeply committed to facilitating strategic research collaborations with industry partners, strengthening the innovation capacity of Canadian industry through adoption of new technologies, and launching a new generation of robust, high-growth Canadian companies that will become global market leaders," added Dr Hofstein. "We look forward to working closely with all of our institutional members and to continue to jointly announce exciting commercial opportunities."
  • Assunta Krehl on 04 Aug 09
     
    Canada has always had to fight hard to attract talent and investment. As stated in Pharmafocus.com, "MaRS Discovery District helps to foster and accelerate the growth of successful Canadian businesses." MaRS Innovation has also been launched to accelerate ideas onto the market.
Sarah Hickman

IT in Canada - Canada's Only Integrated Social Media News Network - 0 views

ucincanada.itincanada.ca/index.php

ICT communications marketing market research

shared by Sarah Hickman on 15 Oct 09 - Cached
  • Sarah Hickman on 15 Oct 09
     
    The IT Forum Exchange Network (ITFX) has launched its first microsite, Unified Communication in Canada, designed to stimulate informed discussion of Unified Communications and its role in enhancing the competitiveness of Canadian private and public sector enterprises. UC in Canada's Unified Communications discussion area will be featured on "forum pages" across the network. Visit the Unified Communication in Canada Website. About ITFX: Leading trade publishers and other technology thought leaders have created ITFX with the intention of establishing a national problem-solving dialogue on key IT issues. Issues which are within their discussion forums include; Green IT, Unified Communications and Investment and Go-to-Market activity linking portals operated by leading trade publications, IT industry associations and social media sites.
Karen Schulman Dupuis

Toronto's Interaxon lands first VC deal for thought-controlled IT gear - 1 views

www.itbusiness.ca/...News.asp

MaRS clients Interaxon venture capital funding

shared by Karen Schulman Dupuis on 23 May 12 - No Cached
  • Toronto startup Interaxon has landed its first venture capital infusion just months before it will launch its thought-controlled computing headset on the consumer market.
  • Karen Schulman Dupuis on 23 May 12
     
    Toronto startup Interaxon has landed its first venture capital infusion just months before it will launch its thought-controlled computing headset on the consumer market.
Assunta Krehl

Test-tube industry - Canadian Business - 0 views

www.canadianbusiness.com/...article.jsp

MaRS MDS Sciex John Evans Calvin Stiller Kenneth Knox Eli Lilly Joseph Rotman Lawrence Bloomberg

shared by Assunta Krehl on 27 Aug 09 - No Cached
  • 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."
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  • MaRS's primary goal is to get Toronto and the rest of Ontario on the global biotech map. Evans came up with the concept in the late 1990s with Dr. Calvin Stiller, CEO of the labor-sponsored Canadian Medical Discoveries Fund, and Kenneth Knox, a former deputy minister for the Ontario government who's now CEO of MaRS
  • As far as schemes to support fledgling industries go, MaRS is refreshing. To start, it's a nonprofit corporation, not a government program, which will hopefully ensure that it runs more efficiently. The feds and the province of Ontario have each doled out $20 million for MaRS, and Toronto has donated in-kind $4.5 million. More than $12 million has come from a small pool of corporations, including Eli Lilly Canada and MDS, as well as individual donors like Joseph Rotman and Lawrence Bloomberg (who both sit on the MaRS board). U of T pitched in $5 million, and MaRS also did some innovative bond financing to round off the $165 million needed to build Phase I. "It was very important for us to not belong to anybody," says Evans.
  • Now MaRS's challenge is to get the word out. Its posted rate of $26 per square foot is very competitive for prime downtown real estate and is sure to attract attention, especially considering its customized lab space. But MaRS's success won't be measured by a low vacancy rate; getting the right mix of scientists, entrepreneurs and professionals is critical if it plans to commercialize some sustainable businesses. It won't happen overnight--in fact, it may be 10 years before anyone can gauge MaRS's impact. Seems growing a biotech industry isn't quite as easy as growing E. coli in a petri dish.
  • Assunta Krehl on 27 Aug 09
     
    John Evans spearheads the MaRS project which will help to accelerate commercialization for scientific research. The official launch of the MaRS plan will happen on May 12, 2003.
Assunta Krehl

Look who just landed on MaRS - The Globe and Mail - 0 views

www.theglobeandmail.com/...article1171592

Ralphael Hofstein MaRS Innovation

shared by Assunta Krehl on 08 Jun 09 - Cached
  • Look who just landed on MaRS
  • MaRS was known for just that – putting a collective roof over the heads of Canada's out-of-this-universe thinkers. Aside from hosting the unlikely duo of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Dalton McGuinty at a funding announcement two years ago, the centre seems enveloped in galactic silence.
  • corner of College and University
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  • the country's most significant collection of scientific and medical researchers.
  • This week, a program called MaRS Innovation announced the appointment of its first full-time president, Raphael (Rafi) Hofstein, a Harvard-trained, Israeli biomedical wizard who wants to bring together companies, scientists and funding under one roof to create a special alchemy of science and shekels.
  • Since its inception, MaRS has focused on turning big ideas into commercial projects. The difference between the two entities is that pretty much anyone with an idea or discovery could come to MaRS for support, regardless of whether they had their “eureka” moment in a state-of-the-art research lab or in their garage. MaRS Innovation, a separate endeavour with its own board of directors, only works with researchers from its 14 partner institutions, which include some of the most prestigious universities and hospitals in Canada. The goal of that project is to do the kind of work those institutions would normally try to do in-house, but on a bigger scale and, the project's backers hope, with better results.
  • MaRS Innovation is very much in its infancy. Officially launched last June, the project is barely a year old, and the board of directors was only announced this February. It has secured about $25-million in funding over five years to be used for commercialization of projects.
  • Dr. Hofstein is giving himself two to three years to roll out a success story – be it the creation of a new small company founded on the back of a researcher's drug discovery and funded by a big pharmaceutical firm, or a new discovery that, packaged properly, attracts serious venture-capital money.
  • The federal government has also taken notice, naming MaRS Innovation as one of 11 new “Centres of Excellence for Commercialization and Research,” a designation that came with almost $15-million in funding.
  • California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger speaks at MaRs with Premier Dalton McGuinty after a tour of the building in 2007.
  • Indeed, the MaRS Innovation model of pushing for commercial applications of research seems to be directly in line with the philosophy of the Conservative government, which clearly favours practical results when it comes to funding for scientific research.
  • But those tasks involve two separate skill sets, Mr. Tabrizi suggests, and may be much better suited to a place such as MaRS, where academic and industry heavyweights converge.
  • Many of MaRS's biggest partners are in health care, and Dr. Hofstein is jumping in with a list of priorities that includes focusing on stem-cell research and oncology.
  • MaRS itself has always been good at bringing people from various sectors together, but there's no guarantee that Dr. Hofstein's plan will work, especially in the two-to-three-year timeline he mentions when talking about a rollout date for the first MaRS Innovation projects.
  • Indeed, Mr. Tabrizi says some Silicon Valley insiders marvel at what MaRS Innovation is trying to do. “I think there's something innovative there,” he says. “Something different is being done.”
  • Assunta Krehl on 08 Jun 09
     
    MaRS Innovation announced the appointment of its first full-time president, Raphael (Rafi) Hofstein.
Assunta Krehl

Toronto's $25 million commercialization "engine" celebrates the appointment of its Boar... - 0 views

www.marsdd.com/...ard-of-directors-02062009.html

MaRS Innovation Ilse Treurnicht John Evans Ron Close The Hospital for Sick Children MaRS

shared by Assunta Krehl on 14 Aug 09 - No Cached
  • MaRS Innovation is honoured to announce its permanent Board of Directors, who brings together a remarkable and broad set of experiences and networks to support the development of this dynamic partnership of Toronto research institutions.  Designed to enhance the commercial output of Toronto’s world-leading research cluster, MaRS Innovation is positioned to make a significant contribution to Canada’s innovation economy and the quality of life for Canadians and others around the world.
  • upported by the Government of Canada through the Centres of Excellence in Research and Commercialization (CECR) program, and its member institutions, MaRS Innovation is focused on converting important discoveries into a new generation of products, services and high value jobs. The newly appointed Board of Directors, which includes academic and business leaders from across Canada and the United States, has the targeted expertise to guide MaRS Innovation to deliver on this critical mission.   MaRS Innovation represents a unique collaborative model, which aggregates the exceptional discovery pipeline of 14 leading Toronto academic institutions to build a diversified portfolio of assets, and harness the economic and job creation potential of the best opportunities for Toronto, Ontario and Canada.
  • “MaRS Innovation is privileged to announce a Board of Directors of this caliber and breadth of skill,” said Mary Jo Haddad, Chair of the MaRS Innovation Board and President and CEO of The Hospital for Sick Children. “The collective experience and guidance of these individuals will be critical to developing a collaborative, integrated and agile approach to this transformational organization that will move Canada into its next phase of economic development.”
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  • W. Geoffrey Beattie – Deputy Chairman & President, Woodbridge Company Limited, Thomson Reuters Corporation, Toronto Christopher C. Capelli – Vice President, Technology Based Ventures, Office of Technology Commercialization, University of Texas, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX Ron Close – Information technology entrepreneur, Entrepreneur-in-Residence, MaRS, and Executive Entrepreneur-in-Residence, The Richard Ivey School of Business, The University of Western Ontario, London, ON Nicholas Darby – Formerly Director of Physical Sciences, Corporate Venture Capital, Dow Chemical Company, President, Darby & Associates Consulting LLC, Midland, MI  Mary Jo Haddad – President & CEO, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto Jacqueline H.R. Le Saux – Former General Counsel, North America and Corporate Secretary, Patheon, Inc., Toronto David A. Leslie - Chair, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, and Former Chairman & CEO, Ernst & Young, Toronto Michael H. May – President & CEO, Rimon Therapeutics, Toronto Chandra J. Panchal – Founder, President & CEO, Axcelon Biopolymers Corp., Dollard-des-Ormeaux, QC Ilse Treurnicht – CEO, MaRS Discovery District, Toronto Donald A. Wright – President & CEO, The Winnington Capital Group Inc., Toronto
  • MaRS Innovation serves as a business accelerator platform with a single point of entry for industry partners and investors.  It will increase the scale, scope and viability of IP offerings, and the quantity and quality of deal flow from partner institutions.  MaRS Innovation will also facilitate strategic research collaborations with industry partners, strengthen the innovation capacity of Canadian industry through adoption of new technologies from its member institutions, and launch a new generation of robust, high-growth Canadian companies that will become global market leaders.   The quality of the combined discovery pipeline will catalyze and attract sources of risk capital for translational research, market validation, company formation and growth.  “MaRS Innovation represents a unique and timely platform to contribute in a meaningful way to Canada’s knowledge economy, leveraging Toronto’s remarkable research excellence.  The vision and serious commitment of its members to work together to transform our commercialization results, and the support of the Federal Government, made this possible.  The announcement of this outstanding group of leaders to the Board of Directors for MaRS Innovation is an exciting step forward,” said Ilse Treurnicht, MaRS CEO and interim Managing Director of MaRS Innovation.
  • Assunta Krehl on 14 Aug 09
     
    MaRS Innovation announced its permanent Board of Directors. MaRS Innovation is focused on converting important discoveries into a new generation of products, services and high value jobs.
  • Assunta Krehl on 14 Aug 09
     
    MaRS Innovation announced its permanent Board of Directors. MaRS Innovation is focused on converting important discoveries into a new generation of products, services and high value jobs. Feb 6, 2009
Miri Katz

How The Private Sector Can Drive Social Innovation - CIO Central - CIO Network - Forbes - 0 views

blogs.forbes.com/...or-can-drive-social-innovation

social innovation social collaboration CSR corporate citizenship

shared by Miri Katz on 29 Jun 11 - No Cached
  • How The Private Sector Can Drive Social Innovation
  • Out of the 100 largest economies in the world, about half are multinational corporations. Given their impact on global communities, it is becoming increasingly essential that these large corporations execute responsibility to society, rather than rely on governments and non-profits to address difficult social issues alone.
  • oday, the world’s largest companies are in a unique position to play a much greater role in driving social change than ever before.
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  • Aside from pure monetary donations, however, is a new model that is transforming corporate philanthropy.
  • Increasingly, corporations are turning to a shared value model, in which companies work in alignment with society rather than against it, producing mutual benefits to both the community and the corporation
  • It evolves the traditional model of financial and material goods donations, to one in which corporations leverage a range of corporate assets including employee skills, business acumen and partner networks, to drive social change.
  • Here’s the shift: Instead of viewing it as our responsibility to drive business and social value, view it also a valuable opportunity to rethink existing practices.
  • The business case for social innovation
  • there are a variety of benefits for an organization, from brand building, to staff retention, and even improved client stickiness. Shareholders and the investment community are also increasingly considering corporate responsibility when making investment decisions.
  • collaborations can drive innovation through necessity. Non-profits work in extreme environments, faced with limited infrastructure, connectivity and staff. Operating in these situations exposes corporate staff to new sets of customer challenges, which can often deliver innovations in product design or services into the business.
  • by working with a non-profit organization, a corporation can demonstrate its expertise to a new audience, expanding its business network.
  • Increasingly, investors weigh environmental, social and governance  data when making investment decisions. While such data has been a benchmark for European-based companies for some time, we are now seeing a more global adoption and interest in this, which should be another forcing function for more corporations to act as good corporate citizens.
  • Applying social innovation in practic
  • A good starting point is to assess the company’s available skills, expertise, partnerships against the touch-points the company currently has within a given community. From there, establish specific goals to achieve and a strategic plan to meet those goals.
  • Companies that have an expertise in technology, for example, can collaborate with non-profits or social entrepreneurs to provide the infrastructure backbone that turn their ideas into reality. With the social enterprise mPedigree Network, HP leveraged its technology expertise in cloud-based services to design and build an anti-drug counterfeiting service in Africa. Counterfeit medicine is a significant problem in developing countries, causing more than 700,000 deaths each year. The new service helps save lives by enabling patients to validate the integrity of their medicine by sending a free text message.
  • Gabi Zedlmayer is Vice President of Hewlett-Packard’s Office of Global Social Innovation.
  • Miri Katz on 29 Jun 11
     
    Out of the 100 largest economies in the world, about half are multinational corporations. Given their impact on global communities, it is increasingly essential that these large corporations execute responsibility to society, rather than rely on governments and non-profits to address difficult social issues alone
Sarah Hickman

Ministry of Research and Innovation - 0 views

www.mri.gov.on.ca/...MRI.asp

government innovation strategy investors research & development ontario canada policy

shared by Sarah Hickman on 06 Oct 09 - Cached
  • Sarah Hickman on 06 Oct 09
     
    MRI maintains the government's commitment to innovation. Its mandate is to: * develop an integrated innovation strategy and guide its delivery * invest in both policies and programs to deliver innovation strategy * foster a culture of innovation & showcase it to world MRI acts as: * listener to advice of experts * matchmaker between innovators and investors * supporter for researchers and innovators (school, culture, business) * promoter of research (lab to marketplace) * pursuer of big ideas (funds) The 4 main branches are: * outreach, promotion, and business development * innovation * research * commercialization
  • Sarah Hickman on 06 Oct 09
     
    MRI maintains the government's commitment to innovation. Its mandate is to: * develop an integrated innovation strategy and guide its delivery * invest in both policies and programs to deliver innovation strategy * foster a culture of innovation & showcase it to world MRI acts as: * listener to advice of experts * matchmaker between innovators and investors * supporter for researchers and innovators (school, culture, business) * promoter of research (lab to marketplace) * pursuer of big ideas (funds) The 4 main branches are: * outreach, promotion, and business development * innovation * research * commercialization
Sarah Hickman

MaRS Discovery District - Recommended Resources - Entrepreneurship Resources - The Foun... - 0 views

www.marsdd.com/...FounderSyndrome-stonewood.html

entrepreneurship negotiation leadership finance investors strategy partnerships

shared by Sarah Hickman on 04 Sep 09 - No Cached
  • Sarah Hickman on 04 Sep 09
     
    The Founder Syndrome - Part I Why it's still a big messy issue and why attitudes have to change... It has been debated for years yet remains a small-talk favorite around the water coolers of the venture capital industry. It is "The Founder Syndrome" and it goes something like this… founders innovate, incubate and invigorate. The Founder Syndrome - Part II Avoiding the Deadly Trap Part II looks more closely at the early life-stages of entrepreneurial organizations and the painful transitions associated with the founder syndrome. It argues that by understanding the nature of these transitions, and learning to anticipate, prepare and adapt to them, founders can exert far greater control over their fates while also benefiting the firms they so cherish.
Sarah Hickman

Research and Policy at the Kauffman Foundation - 0 views

www.kauffman.org/Section.aspx

entrepreneurship technology commercialization

shared by Sarah Hickman on 04 Sep 09 - No Cached
  • Sarah Hickman on 04 Sep 09
     
    As a site of the Kauffman Foundation, this portal provides links to entrepreneurship and technology commercialization publications including 742 journals, 197 books, 70 reports, 73 conferences, and 116 working-papers. All publications are summarized via free access to their abstract, however access to their full-text depends entirely on their publisher/vendor: some are free, some are pay per view, and some require paid subscription. The portal provides direct linking to full-text if available. Since the portal operates on strict headings, it provides excellent access to publications. Since it links to several citation softwares, it is an excellent resource for those looking to compile lists of references. Otherwise, it is an excellent resource for entrepreneurs wanting to keep up with entrepreneurial research and findings, as well as for those wanting to publish entrepreneurial written work. For an example of what can be found on the portal, download the full text version of "The Entrepreneurial Spawing of Scientists and Engineers: Stars, Slugs, and the Small Firm Effect".
Assunta Krehl

The Long Game | Xconomy - 0 views

www.xconomy.com/...the-long-game

MaRS

shared by Assunta Krehl on 02 Jun 09 - Cached
  • Closer to home, Toronto recognized a few years ago that it was losing ground in the sciences, so it deleted two-square kilometers of its downtown and replaced it with the Mars Discovery District, a vast collection of intertwined university research facilities, commercial research space, and the best biotech incubator space I’ve ever seen—and I’m an incubator guy.
  • Cathy Bogaart on 02 Jun 09
     
    MaRS is held up as an example of what an "old" city can do if they're ambitious and just decide to do something. Like when Toronto decided that it wanted to gain ground in the science knowledge economy. Nevermind that AGAIN MaRS is misrepresented as a biotech incubator -- I suppose there are worse things to be called. But still part of an ambitious, big-thinking plan to improve the science, tech and social outcomes of the economy. Amen.
  • Assunta Krehl on 07 Aug 09
     
    Tim Rowe's blog takes a look at exploring what its future might look like by building "a showcase for future living. Mention of MaRS having the best biotech space.
  • Assunta Krehl on 07 Aug 09
     
    Tim Rowe's blog takes a look at exploring what its future might look like by building "a showcase for future living. Mention of MaRS having the best biotech space.
George Botos

Healthcare Reform Delivers a Rosy Outlook For... . The Changing Life Sciences Value Cha... - 0 views

idc-insights-community.com/...4a2df496f6

life-science biotechnology healthcare reform

shared by George Botos on 23 Mar 10 - Cached
  • George Botos on 23 Mar 10
     
    With Healthcare legislation well on its way to ultimate approval and implementation, the winds are now calming and its becoming clearer what the tornado has left behind for the pharmaceutical industry. Many had feared it would result in permanent widespread damage, but it appears the storm may actually have carved a path toward greener pastures for the industry.
Assunta Krehl

Kicking out the jams - The Star - 0 views

www.thestar.com/...183136

Skymeter ICT Wireless Communications

shared by Assunta Krehl on 27 Aug 09 - Cached
  • In November, Skymeter moved into the incubator at the MaRS Centre, where marketing expert Peter Evans has become their mentor and godfather. "Being surrounded by other entrepreneurs is inspiring and enlightening," Hassan says. "MaRS is an amazing place, with excellent speakers and events that are open to the public."
  • The father of Skymeter Corp. – which developed a BlackBerry-sized device that uses GPS signals; placed in vehicles, it meters the use of roads, parking and pay-as-you-drive insurance
  • Skymeter's black box will be attached to the windshield of cars so the box has a clear view of the sky. (Grush has figured out how to cope with tall buildings blocking signals.) The box contains a GPS receiver, some memory, a processor and a telecommunications chip. The satellite beams down to the earth, the GPS receiver computes where it is and uploads its history to a data centre to generate the bill. The vehicle measures its own use; the bill is itemized like a cellphone bill. If you prepay, the bill can be calculated on board.
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • But the next steps – getting the Skymeter vehicle location billing system tested in Europe, the U.S. and Canada – are crucial to the realization of Grush's entrepreneurial dreams.
  • pay-as-you-drive insurance. He spent two years driving around, collecting data, writing a little software.
  • Another person at the Innovation Centre offered to "take me in and help write a business plan – for a 40 per cent stake in the business," Grush says. "Fortunately, I found Kamal."
  • Assunta Krehl on 27 Aug 09
     
    As stated in the Toronto Star, "Skymeter Corp., a MaRS Tenant has developed a BlackBerry-sized device that uses GPS signals; placed in vehicles, it meters the use of roads, parking and pay-as-you-drive insurance. Skymeter's goal is to put a dent in urban traffic congestion."
  • Assunta Krehl on 27 Aug 09
     
    As stated in the Toronto Star, "Skymeter Corp., a MaRS Tenant has developed a BlackBerry-sized device that uses GPS signals; placed in vehicles, it meters the use of roads, parking and pay-as-you-drive insurance. Skymeter's goal is to put a dent in urban traffic congestion." Feb 19, 2007
Tim T

United States: Square-root reversal | The Economist - 0 views

www.economist.com/displayStory.cfm

economy

shared by Tim T on 30 Dec 09 - Cached
  • America will recover, but too weakly for comfort
  • a cycle that resembles not a V, U or W, but a reverse-square-root symbol: an expansion that begins surprisingly briskly, then gives way to a long period of weak growth.
  • Based on experience, the American economy, which shrank by some 4% over the course of the 2007-09 recession, ought to grow by as much as 8% in its first year of recovery. The unemployment rate, around 10% in late 2009, should drop to about 8%.
  • ...5 more annotations...
  • That won’t happen.
  • None of these factors, however, can sustain strong growth past 2010 without a self-sustaining cycle of private spending and income growth. Several obstacles stand in the way of that transition. Through to mid-2009 households had lost $12 trillion, or 19% of their wealth, because of the collapse in house and stock prices. That saps their purchasing power and pushes them to save more, especially those nearing retirement. Though they’ll boost their saving only gradually, that still means consumer spending (about 70% of GDP) will grow more slowly than income, after two decades in which it usually grew more quickly. High unemployment will hold back wage gains (see chart); wage cuts are already commonplace. Leaving aside swings in energy prices, inflation, now about 1.5%, will slip to zero and may turn to deflation in late 2010. Deflation drives up real debt burdens, further sapping consumer spending.
  • The government won’t let any more big banks fail, but the survivors are neither inclined nor able to expand their lending much. Residential- and commercial-property values fell by $8 trillion, or almost 20%, through to mid-2009, impairing existing loans and eroding the collateral for new ones. Regulators are also proposing to raise capital requirements, which will further encourage bankers to turn down borrowers.
  • the rest of the world isn’t big or healthy enough, and a steeply falling dollar would inflict deflationary harm on others.
  • The list of roadblocks is depressing, but America will not slip back into recession or a lost decade akin to Japan’s in the 1990s. It did not enter its crisis with as much overinvestment as others, Japan in particular; its population is still growing (Japan’s is shrinking). It took two years to tackle its banks’ problems; Japan took seven. Boom times will be back. Just not very soon.
Karen Schulman Dupuis

Toronto's Guardly expands market for its campus safety solution - 0 views

www.itbusiness.ca/...News.asp

clients Guardly safety

shared by Karen Schulman Dupuis on 28 Nov 12 - No Cached
  • Karen Schulman Dupuis on 28 Nov 12
     
    "Toronto's Guardly, a developer of public safety mobile services, has partnered with Desire2Learn and will provide its Safe Campus solution for its Campus Life mobile suite. "
Assunta Krehl

Toronto firm awarded world's first RaaS patent - IT Business - March 21, 2012 - 0 views

www.itbusiness.ca/...News.asp

Advisors Geist Geminare Patent cloud technology

shared by Assunta Krehl on 21 Mar 12 - No Cached
  • Assunta Krehl on 21 Mar 12
     
    Christine Wong, IT Business reported states "Geminare was granted the first ever patent for recovery-as-a-service cloud technology five long years after first developing it." Geist, President & CEO of Geminare has been involved in mentoring start-ups at MaRS. 
Assunta Krehl

HAMILTON: TowerLabs turns tall buildings into 'laboratories of change' - The Star - Jan... - 0 views

www.thestar.com/...gs-into-laboratories-of-change

TowerLabs Tenants MaRS Centre Phase 2 Phase II real estate technologies

shared by Assunta Krehl on 19 Jan 12 - No Cached
  • Assunta Krehl on 19 Jan 12
     
    The Star states "TowerLabs is a company that focuses on relationship making and is a project manager that helps in getting the technology installed and measures its performance in both real-world and test scenarios. It plans to test its technologies at the tower being built as part of the expansion at MaRS."
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