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Ontario Public Service is interested in looking at the state of innovation in public sector organizations.Some of the leaders who have in public sector innovation are: Social Innovation Generation (SiG), a collaborative partnership between The J.W. McConnell Family Foundation, the University of Waterloo, the MaRS Discovery District, and the PLAN Institute.

Dr. Hossein Rahnama who is known for his groundbreaking work in context-aware and cloud computing platforms has been recognized as part of MIT's Technology Review magazine's 2012 list of the world's top innovators under the age of 35. Dr. Hossein Rahnama founded Flybits, which is a spin-off of Ryerson University and is supported by Digital Media Zone and MaRS Innovation.

Jay Somerset, Globe and Mail reporter states "McLuhan Program in Culture and Technology at the University of Toronto is hosting an international conference and DEW Line Festival exploring art, media and culture... November 5th." The article discusses how change is better conveyed through emotions within art rather than science. MaRS Discovery District is an innovation hub that promotes innovation in social innovation, cleantech, life sciences and health care, and in ICE.

From Booklist: Joachimsthaler offers another book that promotes use of reinvented basic marketing principles to assist highly innovative companies. The author describes his DIG model (Demand-First Innovation & Growth), which consists of three interlinked parts: explore the demand for their products and services through an in-depth understanding of how people behave and live their lives and how they consume; apply an innovative routine of structured thinking to identify opportunities that customers cannot articulate; and formulate a strategy for effectively pursuing new opportunities. We learn that although most companies conduct some type of market research, they may fail to look for real opportunities and quantify them or fail to develop viable action plans that lead to results. This model illustrates how to become an unbiased observer of people's consumption and usage behaviors and offers a new approach to identifying and executing a company's growth strategy. Joachimsthaler, a consultant, reports that "successful opportunities for innovation and growth are right here, in front of us, and we often can't see them or don't act on them." Mary Whaley Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Blog talks about how Ontario should look at agriculture as a source of solutions and innovation. Mention of Agri-Innovation Forum held by MaRS Landing and Ontario Agri-Food Technologies.

Blog talks about how Ontario should look at agriculture as a source of solutions and innovation. Mention of Agri-Innovation Forum held by MaRS Landing and Ontario Agri-Food Technologies. Feb 27, 2009

without failure, you can't drive productivity. without failure, there is no innovation. So we need to fail to improve the economy!

The Globe and Mail investigates the failure and risks with businesses and innovation with business leaders, Tony Chapman, CEO of Capital C, a Toronto communications and advertising company, Charles Plant, Managing Director of the Market Readiness Program for entrepreneurs at MaRS, and Naeem 'Nick' Noorani, founder and publisher of Canadian Immigrant magazine.

Statement from the White House on the new Innovation Policy.  It is very comprehensive, covering everything from R+D, to regional clusters, to the Office of Social Innovation. A lot of smart people worked on this document. The grand challenges listed at the end are especially interesting.

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.

Once a Harvard School of Business professor, an entrepreneur, a pianist, and currently a consultant, Kao describes the state of innovation in the US, depicting best practices and explaining how innovation works. Kao also puts forth a strategy proposal - to help the government.

Almost two years after Ottawa's 'Innovation Hub' was first proposed, documents show the province has serious concerns as to whether the Hub can garner enough private-sector support or will create enough jobs to qualify for funding.

Almost two years after Ottawa's 'Innovation Hub' was first proposed, documents show the province has serious concerns as to whether the Hub can garner enough private-sector support or will create enough jobs to qualify for funding. Feb 9, 2009

Argiculture industry has escaped the bad economy thus far and the many of the nutraceutcals and other innovative food products are doing well. Mention of MaRS Landing and Ontaro Agri-Fod Technologies hosted an Agri-Innovation Forum which highlight developments of the linkages built betweem agriculture and sectors in health.

Argiculture industry has escaped the bad economy thus far and the many of the nutraceutcals and other innovative food products are doing well. Mention of MaRS Landing and Ontaro Agri-Fod Technologies hosted an Agri-Innovation Forum which highlight developments of the linkages built betweem agriculture and sectors in health. Feb 26, 2009

This toolkit presents a methodology for communicating innovation and the commercial opportunity that an innovation represents. It is developed for - and with - inventors, scientists and technology entrepreneurs.

Saul Kaplan co-founder of the Business Innovation Factory sees enormous promise in Toronto's downtown core "Discovery District" for innovation (i.e. MaRS Centre).

The Premier's Innovation Awards was hosted by the Ontario Centre of Excellence (OCE) in partnership with MaRS. The award is part of Ontario's Innovation Agenda to invests $200,000 to $5 million in the provinces top innovators to help advance their cutting-edge research and development, while boosting global competitiveness and creating more high-skilled jobs.

As stated in the Innovations Report "Researchers from the University of Toronto (U of T), the King Abdullah University of Science & Technology (KAUST) and Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) have created the most efficient solar cell ever made based on collodial-quatum-dots...a technology licensing agreement has been signed by U of T and KAUST, brokered by MaRS Innovations (MI), which will will enable the global commercialization of this new technology." 

"The United States spends more on health care-related research and development than any other country. In 2003, it was estimated that the Federal government alone spent over $26 billion. Pharmaceutical companies, device manufacturers and other private companies invested over $10 billion more. At its best, the American health care system is capable of delivering care unsurpassed anywhere else in the world. Yet, a 1999 Institute of Medicine study estimated that as many as 98,000 Americans die each year from hospital related medical errors. A recent study by the Rand Corporation (a non-profit think tank) concluded that less than 50 percent of encounters with doctors and hospitals resulted in optimal, evidence-based treatment. Studies show that as many as 42 million Americans - almost 15 percent of the population - lack health care insurance. Surveys reveal that patients do not feel they have adequate information about their conditions, and that their experience with health care ranks below that of most other sectors, in fact below that of the post office. In the aggregate, the country is spending nearly $2 trillion on health care, and yet the nation's health care system does not meet acceptable thresholds for safety, quality, access or cost. In 2005, VHA Health Foundation's board of directors sought to better understand the reasons behind this paradox. The foundation commissioned Larry Keeley and his associates at Doblin Inc. to apply the rigorous analytical methods that are used in their evaluation of other American industries and companies. The project set out to discover when, where and how innovation was taking place in health care. It also sought to identify organizations that were developing model innovation processes, and to explore where opportunities for successful innovation might lay."

Canadian Policy Research Networks is a non-profit, charitable policy think tank based in Ottawa. Their products are freely available on their site. From two CPRN 2004 roundtable discussions come: * The report that stressed the importance of a relationship between a business and social development (Fostering Social Innovation) and * The report that defined "social innovation" and established priorities of action for years to come ( The Future of Social Innovation)

This article by David Crane references the Impact Group's paper "Understanding the Disappearance of Early-stage and Start-up R&D Performing Firms" to talk about what's wrong with our innovation/knowledge economy. Among many things, our VC environment is stunted and our businesses should work more closely with customers on addressing their needs rather than focussing on new technology. Read the original white paper at http://www.impactg.com/pdf/disappearanceofstartupsandearlystagefirms.pdf The article also references the paper by the Council of Canadian Academies which urged more business innovation. http://www.scienceadvice.ca/innovation.html