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Assunta Krehl

Pharmafocus.com - 0 views

  • 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."
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    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.
Assunta Krehl

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

  • 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.
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    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.
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    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
Assunta Krehl

MobileMonday partners with MaRS to inform and connect wireless professionals - MaRSdd.com - 0 views

  • MobileMonday Toronto and MaRS are delighted to announce a partnership to develop and host a range of dynamic events for the city’s mobile industry professionals. MobileMonday at MaRS will offer thought leadership and critical industry perspectives – most recently from a senior manager at Research in Motion – while connecting top-tier professionals and boosting the profile of one of the fastest-growing sectors of communications technology.
  • “MaRS is a fantastic environment for sharing ideas and industry knowledge, two key building blocks of the MobileMonday community,” said Jim Brown and Alexander S. Bosika, co-founders of the MobileMonday Toronto chapter. “MaRS and its network of business advisors and capital providers are also of great benefit to many of our members who are developing business plans and seeking capital.”
  • For MaRS, the partnership is a natural fit with great potential to benefit the hundreds of start-up clients from across Ontario who are working hard to turn their innovative concepts into viable, thriving businesses, and come to MaRS for advice and connections to potential customers and investors. 
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  • We’re very excited to be working closer with the MobileMonday community,” said MaRS CEO Ilse Treurnicht. “As MobileMonday Toronto moves to MaRS, it helps us connect with additional intellectual capital in one of the most significant high-growth sectors of the new economy.”
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    MobileMonday Toronto and MaRS announced a partnership to develop and host a range of dynamic events for the city's mobile industry professionals. MobileMonday at MaRS will offer thought leadership and critical industry perspectives and connect top-tier professionals and boosting the profile of one of the fastest-growing sectors of communications technology.
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    MobileMonday Toronto and MaRS announced a partnership to develop and host a range of dynamic events for the city's mobile industry professionals. MobileMonday at MaRS will offer thought leadership and critical industry perspectives and connect top-tier professionals and boosting the profile of one of the fastest-growing sectors of communications technology. Feb 17, 2009
Sarah Hickman

2020 Science - 0 views

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    Towards 2020 Science, sets out the challenges and opportunities arising from the increasing synthesis of computing and the sciences. It seeks to identify the requirements necessary to accelerate scientific advances -particularly those driven by computational sciences and the 'new kinds' of science the synthesis of computing and the sciences is creating. Already this synthesis has led to new fields and advances spanning genomics and proteomics, earth sciences and climatology, nanomaterials, chemistry and physics. Towards 2020 Science acts as a 'pathfinder' to new research directions in science and computing. It contributes to, and informs, national and international scientific debate and science policy. It is also meant as just a start, a catalyst for more discussion; something that readers will find useful, inspiring and provocative.
Assunta Krehl

Go to MaRS - Canadian Newcomers Magazine - 0 views

  • nd development of new ideas. It provides not only office and lab space but also free mentoring assistance to new businesses in science, technology and social innovation. While there are probably no chickens hatching at MaRS, it wouldn't be at all surprising to find a company working on, say, a vaccine for bird flu. Approximately 20 incubator companies are currently housed at MaRS, including Clera Inc. - which is developing treatments for schizophrenia and depression; AXS Biomedical Animations Studio - a company that creates 3D medical animation for biomedical research and other applications; and Kanata Chemical Technologies (KCT), which has had great success developing catalysts for the chemical industry (catalysts speed up chemical reactions without being changed or consumed in those reactions
  • All of the above definitions could apply to the wider innovation community connected with the MaRS Centre. Located in the heart of Toronto's Discovery District - a 2.5 sq. kilometre downtown research district, MaRS is a non-profit environment for the birt
  • KCT founder and president Kamal Abdur-Rashid came to Canada in 1997 with a degree from the University of the West Indies
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  • With support from the Mississauga Technology Business Accelerator (MTBA) he started his business, which grew to occupy some state-of-the-art labs at MaRS and is about to take the next step forward by moving its business outside of the protecting and nurturing environment of MaRS. This is the entire purpose of MaRS, which says on its website (www.marsdd.com), "We measure our success through the companies that emerge after receiving help from MaRS." "The resources, the facilities, the training and everything else that MaRS is bringing to the table - we're able to capitalize on that and get off on a very solid footing," says Kamal. Inside the Incubato
  • Whether you're looking for work - or you want to start your own business, MaRS is one of the best places to start your search.
  • Everybody you talk to in the elevator, the hall, the cafeteria - they are all in the science field - so you can network with one another," says Ratheesh. "MaRS does not just provide research space, they are bringing business people, people with money." These are the connections that can turn your idea into a profit-making business that employs many people. This is exactly what MaRS is all about. As they say on their website, "MaRS connects the communities of science, business and capital and fosters collaboration among them." MaRS advisors are able to connect entrepreneurs with private funding opportunities as well as free educational programming and hands-on advisory services. Corporate sponsor CIBC funds an entrepreneurship lecture series, for example. Ratheesh adds, "Patent people are here as well, so if you have patentable technology, you can talk to them." Once you start your business, MaRS offers many supports. "When we had the lab space we had the chemical hood that had to be set up so MaRS came and provided people to set up our hood," explains Ratheesh. "They help us dispose of chemical waste, provide water service, fridge and freezer service - so these are all important. "For smaller companies that have problem buying fridges and freezers, they can use common equipment." MaRS facilities also include lecture theatres, meeting rooms and an auditorium. Growing Cultures Bacteria and tissue cultures aren't the only cultures that thrive in the MaRS environment. It's also a great place for newcomers from every culture to
  • Clera, one of many emerging companies housed in the MaRS incubator.
  • He says, "MaRS is a one-stop shop for job and information seekers. Here we have many companies - so quite a few job opportunities
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    A look at Canadian immigrants who started a business and are incubating at the MaRS Centre. KCT and Clera, MaRS Tenants tell their stories. Jan/Feb 2009
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    A look at Canadian immigrants who started a business and are incubating at the MaRS Centre. KCT and Clera, MaRS Tenants tell their stories.
Cathy Bogaart

Public Inc - 0 views

  • PUBLIC is a for-profit, social-purpose business focused exclusively on advancing the public good. We are an innovation company, generating positive social impact through the creation of scalable programs, products and campaigns that: raise money for charitable purposes increase civic and community engagement advance social causes and issues create new social norms We bring an integrated, impact- driven approach to mobilizing and advancing the public good by aligning brand awareness, policy influence and fundraising. For us, “advancing the public good” is about motivating people (and organizations) to behave in ways that benefit society while recognizing and appealing to their self-interest.
  • generating positive social impact through the creation of scalable programs, products and campaigns
  • advancing the public good” is about motivating people (and organizations) to behave in ways that benefit society while recognizing and appealing to their self-interest.
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    An interesting Toronto-based social-purpose business. PUBLIC is a for-profit, social-purpose business focused exclusively on advancing the public good. We are an innovation company, generating positive social impact through the creation of scalable programs, products and campaigns that: * raise money for charitable purposes * increase civic and community engagement * advance social causes and issues * create new social norms We bring an integrated, impact- driven approach to mobilizing and advancing the public good by aligning brand awareness, policy influence and fundraising. For us, "advancing the public good" is about motivating people (and organizations) to behave in ways that benefit society while recognizing and appealing to their self-interest.
Sarah Hickman

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

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    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.
Sarah Hickman

O C E T A - Partnering for a Sustainable Future - 0 views

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    OCETA accelerates the commercialization and market adoption of clean technologies and environmentally sustainable solutions. OCETA provides technical and business services to support technology entrepreneurs and start-up companies with commercializing and bringing their innovations to market. These services include: * Business mentoring and coaching: Strengthening management capability, strategic planning, route to market, IP strategy and protection. * Business networks: Connecting entrepreneurs to networks of established peers, mentors and experts. * Technology: Providing 3rd party assessment, demonstration, verification, scale-up and deployment. * Financing: Finding access to capital and improving investment readiness. * Marketing: Assisting in market niche identification and segmentation and export assistance.
Sarah Hickman

Northern Light Search: Home - 0 views

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    Wiki-like and boolean-based "Northern Light Search provides access to business and industry news from thousands of hand-selected business news sites, leading business publications, industry authority blogs, regional newspapers, and national news sources." Covered areas include: * Business News: 500,000+ business news stories from newswires, newspapers, corporate news feeds and publications. * Industry Authority Blogs: 200,000+ posts from selected business and industry authority blogs (from journalists, market research analysts, and corporations) * National and International News: 90,000+ news stories from large national and international news feeds. * Regional and Local News: 180,000+ news stories from regional and local news feeds. * White Papers: 7,000+ company submitted white papers, webcasts, case studies and other IT product information. Registered users can browse, search, save, receive Search Alerts, contribute, and set personal user preferences.
Tim T

GOP's Brown grabs lead in Massachusetts Senate returns - CNN.com - 0 views

shared by Tim T on 20 Jan 10 - Cached
  • Obama and former President Bill Clinton hit the campaign trail over the past three days in an attempt to save Coakley's campaign, which observers say has been hampered by complacency and missteps.
  • Obama and former President Bill Clinton hit the campaign trail over the past three days in an attempt to save Coakley's campaign, which observers say has been hampered by complacency and missteps.
  • Obama and former President Bill Clinton hit the campaign trail over the past three days in an attempt to save Coakley's campaign, which observers say has been hampered by complacency and missteps.
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  • Obama and former President Bill Clinton hit the campaign trail over the past three days in an attempt to save Coakley's campaign, which observers say has been hampered by complacency and missteps.
  • Obama and former President Bill Clinton hit the campaign trail over the past three days in an attempt to save Coakley's campaign, which observers say has been hampered by complacency and missteps.
  • cnnRelatedTopicKeys.push('Martha_Coakley'); Martha Coakley cnnRelatedTopicKeys.push('Scott_Brown'); Scott Brown cnnRelatedTopicKeys.push('Edward_M_Kennedy'); Edward M. Kennedy cnnRelatedTopicKeys.push('Health_Care_Reform'); Health Care Reform The latest poll, however, showed Brown leading Coakley by 7 points, 52 to 45 percent. The American Research Group survey, taken Friday through Sunday, had a sampling error of plus or minus 4 percentage points. No polls released in the past few days showed Coakley ahead. In a sign of the high stakes involved, the Coakley campaign held an afternoon news conference Tuesday to complain that voters in three places received ballots already marked for Brown. McNiff confirmed that the secretary of state's offices received two reports of voters saying they got pre-marked ballots. The suspect ballots were invalidated and the voters received new ballots, McNiff said. Kevin Conroy, the Coakley campaign manager, said the "disturbing incidents" raised questions about the integrity of the election. In response, the Brown campaign issued a statement criticizing Coakley's team. "Reports that the Coakley campaign is making reckless accusations regarding the integrity of today's election is a reminder that they are a desperate campaign," Daniel B. Winslow, the counsel for the Brown campaign, said in the statement. Obama has been both "surprised and frustrated" by the race, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Tuesday. Obama and former President Bill Clinton hit the campaign trail over the past three days in an attempt to save Coakley's campaign, which observers say has been hampered by complacency and missteps.
  • Obama and former President Bill Clinton hit the campaign trail over the past three days in an attempt to save Coakley's campaign, which observers say has been hampered by complacency and missteps.
  • Obama and former President Bill Clinton hit the campaign trail over the past three days in an attempt to save Coakley's campaign, which observers say has been hampered by complacency and missteps.
  • Obama and former President Bill Clinton hit the campaign trail over the past three days in an attempt to save Coakley's campaign, which observers say has been hampered by complacency and missteps.
  • Obama and former President Bill Clinton hit the campaign trail over the past three days in an attempt to save Coakley's campaign, which observers say has been hampered by complacency and missteps.
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    Complacency put the U.S. health bill at risk
Sarah Hickman

Amazon.com: Hidden in Plain Sight: How to Find and Execute Your Company's Next Big Grow... - 0 views

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    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
Assunta Krehl

Smaller town, bigger edge - The Globe and Mail - 0 views

  • MaRS, a non-profit, collaborative entity of the university, provincial and federal governments and industry, which aims to turn these discoveries into commercial projects.
  • MaRS, a non-profit, collaborative entity of the university, provincial and federal governments and industry, which aims to turn these discoveries into commercial projects.
  • MaRS, a non-profit, collaborative entity of the university, provincial and federal governments and industry, which aims to turn these discoveries into commercial projects.
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  • Sure, some of the world's best biomedical minds work in Toronto's MaRS Centre and hospitals.
  • Sure, some of the world's best biomedical minds work in Toronto's MaRS Centre and hospitals.
  • Sure, some of the world's best biomedical minds work in Toronto's MaRS Centre and hospitals.
  • Sure, some of the world's best biomedical minds work in Toronto's MaRS Centre and hospitals.
  • Sure, some of the world's best biomedical minds work in Toronto's MaRS Centre and hospitals.
  • Sure, some of the world's best biomedical minds work in Toronto's MaRS Centre and hospitals.
  • Sure, some of the world's best biomedical minds work in Toronto's MaRS Centre and hospitals.
  • The closest thing to a would-be Waterloo in Toronto is the medical "discovery district" around College Street and University Avenue, near the University of Toronto and several teaching hospitals. In the midst of it is
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    MaRS aims to turn discoveries into commercial projects. Some of the world's best biomedical minds work in Toronto's MaRS Centre and hospitals.
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    Waterloo is getting better public traction with 500 tech companies, led by global juggernaut Research In Motion and its high-minded institutional spinoffs. MaRS aims to turn discoveries into commercial projects. Some of the world's best biomedical minds work in Toronto's MaRS Centre and hospitals.
Assunta Krehl

reportonbusiness.com: Failure and risk - 0 views

  • Charles Plant, Managing Director of the Market Readiness Program for entrepreneurs at MaRS
  • Plant says that acceptance of failure is a cultural problem in Canada in that we tend not to reward the people who have failed. "We tend to punish people who fail whereas in Silicon Valley, they tend to reward people who have failed because they've learned lessons and can gain from that failure.
  • "I think you have to quickly acknowledge when something is a failure and have a back up plan of what you're going to do," says Plant. "Don't keep flogging a dead horse."
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  • "To make failure a learning experience, first you have to celebrate it by acknowledging in a very positive way, the person who tried something and failed. You can't hide it under a table," says Plant. "You've got to develop a system that both rewards for the attempt as well as the success. Frequently, we don't do that and that sends a bad message. The act of punishing people makes them want to stop innovating."
  • We also need to build more accountability into failure, according to Plant who says that when failures are detrimental to the economy, we can't pretend that nothing happened. "Right now, some people are being rewarded for absolutely hideous failures, such as in the banking system," says Plant, who is also a Chartered Management Accountant. "Part of the problem is accounting which does a very poor job of measuring risk. Never leave anything up to the accountants!"
  • "You have to allow people to fail in this economy," says Plant. "It's failure that leads to productivity gain and innovation."
  • According to Plant, there's a different risk tolerance in smaller companies versus big ones, although he doesn't see a real difference by industry. Whether a company tolerates or accepts risk depends largely on the nature of the company. "The more established companies probably don't tolerate failure as well so they don't actually incubate a culture of risk," says Plant. "Larger companies do a lot of things to make sure they don't fail. Smaller ones tend to favour risk because it's the only way they can get ahead. And if you're doing things that haven't been done before, then you're going to fail again and again."
  • "You need a culture that allows failure for success because without it, people become anti-failure," says Charles Plant. "Trying different things is the act of innovation. If you fail 14 times, hopefully you're going to succeed on the 15th try. Without failure, we're not going to be driving and growing the economy."
  • Innovation is the result of taking big leaps,
  • Innovation is the result of taking big leaps, but failure is often the downside of taking those leaps.
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    without failure, you can't drive productivity. without failure, there is no innovation. So we need to fail to improve the economy!
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    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.
Assunta Krehl

Test-tube industry - Canadian Business - 0 views

  • 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.
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    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

Toronto's place in the "creative economy" - Excalibur - 0 views

  • What is this creative economy? It is an economic system that relies most on ideas to serve as its major capital, instead of services or physical capital. Take Google for example. In an economy based on ideas, the potentialfor breakaway successes like Google is far greater.
  • According to Richard Florida’s The Rise of the Creative Class: And How it’s Transforming Work, Leisure,Community and Everyday Life, members of the creative class are very different from those who are employed in the manufacturing, service or agriculture industries. They contribute to our economy primarily by producing the new forms and ideas exploited by our various industries and decision-makers.   What Florida terms the “super creative core” of this new class includes “scientists and engineers, university professors, poets and novelists, artists, entertainers, actors, designersand architects, as well as the ‘thought leadership’ of modern society: non-fiction writers, editors, cultural figures, think-tank researchers, analysts and other opinion-makers.”
  • What sets a creative city apart from a non-creative city? Florida proposes that it is the “three Ts of economic development”: technology, talent and tolerance.
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  • Florida promote a drawback on new capital investments in such traditional creative staples as ballet, opera, symphony and museums. Although these are necessary public entertainment options to maintain, studies show the majority of university students and young to middle-aged professionals who make up the bulk of the emerging creative class, in fact, prefer more accessible venues.
  • Florida is not saying the city should fund the construction of all these venues, but should support them with entrepreneurial assistance, specified tax-cuts and governmenttools to ease operation, like streamlining the bureaucracy behind applying for liquor licences and permits for musical events and public attractions.
  • The MaRS centre, located at College St. and University Ave. in downtown Toronto, is a fantastic first step in better integrating the city’s creative talents in the technology and science fields. But more buildings and communities like this need to be developed to take advantage of all of Toronto’s creative economic potential.
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    David Tal contributer to Excalibur exams what is the creative economy. Mention of MaRS being a fantastic first step in integrating the city's creative talents in technology and science.
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    David Tal contributer to Excalibur exams what is the creative economy. Mention of MaRS being a fantastic first step in integrating the city's creative talents in technology and science. Sept 23, 2009
Assunta Krehl

MaRS Launches JOLT, Canada's Newest Startup Accelerator Venture Capital, Private Equit... - 1 views

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    Headed by Executive Director, Susan McGill, JOLT will select up to 15 high-potential startups annually, providing them with space, seed financing and mentorship, as well as access to partners and some of the top angel and venture capital investors in the industry.
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    MaRS announced the creation of JOLT, 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. JOLT will select up to 15 high-potential startups annually, providing them with space, seed financing and mentorship, as well as access to partners and some of the top angel and venture capital investors in the industry. The goal of the program is to accelerate market validation and, in turn, help these companies secure the capital and talent necessary to scale efficiently.
Sarah Hickman

Amazon.com: The Innovator's Solution: Creating and Sustaining Successful Growth (978157... - 0 views

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    From Publishers Weekly\nChristensen (The Innovator's Dilemma) analyzes the strategies that allow corporations to successfully grow new businesses and outpace the other players in the marketplace. Christensen's earlier book examined how focusing on profits can destroy even well-run corporations, while this book focuses on companies expanding by being "disruptors" who are able to outpace their entrenched competition. The authors (Christensen is a professor at Harvard Business School and Raynor, a director at Deloitte Research) examine the nine business decisions integral to growth, including product development, organizational structure, financing and key customer base. They cite such companies as IBM, AT&T, Sony, Microsoft and others to illustrate their points. Generally, the writing is clear and specific. For example, in discussing whether a company has the resources necessary for growth, the authors say, "In order to be confident that managers have developed the skills required to succeed at a new assignment, one should examine the sorts of problems they have wrestled with in the past. It is not as important that managers have succeeded with the problem as it is for them to have wrestled with it and developed the skills and intuition for how to meet the challenge successfully the next time around"; they then provide a real-life example of a software company. Similar important strategies give readers insights that they can use in their own workplaces. People looking for quick fixes may find the charts, diagrams and extensive footnotes daunting, but readers familiar with more technical business management tomes will find this one both stimulating and beneficial.
Assunta Krehl

Building a Successful Biotech Incubator - 0 views

  • MaRS aggregates the discovery pipelines of its member institutions, which include three universities, 10 academic teaching hospitals, and the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research.
  • MaRS is another good example. Located in the heart of downtown Toronto, the MaRS facility is less than a mile from five major teaching hospitals, the Ontario legislature, and the University of Toronto. More than two dozen research institutes and Toronto’s financial district are also nearby.
  • Consequently, MaRS is a vertical incubator, with a wide variety of companies and stages of development. That mix helps companies better understand the conditions that foster growth. MaRS is home to more than 65 organizations, including The Hospital for Sick Children, the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, Merck Frosst Canada, the McEwen Centre for Regenerative Medicine, Celtic House Venture Partners, AIM Therapeutics, and AstraZeneca Canada.
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  • “Collaboration is the essence of the new economy,” insists Ross Wallace, director of strategic partnerships at MaRS. “There’s a new focus on the power of institutions to generate intellectual property and ideas, and then build around them.”
  • MaRS has a virtual education program dubbed “Entrepreneurship 101.” One February class features budgeting, another agrifood innovation. The classes are available at no cost, and anyone can register. The program also includes blogs and discussion groups such as the drug development and cancer targets groups. So far, MaRS has relied on viral marketing to get the word out.
  • To provide that expertise, MaRS developed the MaRS Venture Group. This team of experienced investors, entrepreneurs, technology experts, and advisors works with companies to help them bridge the gap between entrepreneurial start-up and experienced growth company. The Venture Group provides market intelligence as well  as advisory services such as strategic planning, partnership and alliance building, intellectual property management, marketing and communications, sales strategy, channel development, financing, and human resource development. It works with groups outside the MaRS orbit, too.
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    To have a successful biotech initiative proximity to academic hubs and capital remains a crucial factor in hatching a thriving cluster. MaRS Discovery District is a good example of a vertical incubator and offers many services to help entrepreneurs at different stages.
Assunta Krehl

"Sibling success" - InnovationCanada.ca - 0 views

  • Dubbed Certo-Ex, their simple concept streamlines sampling in these billion-dollar industries, bringing a process that can take 4 to 24 hours for a single sample down to a mere 30 minutes for multiple samples. The brothers have combined Ameer’s scientific expertise and Ahmed’s business savvy and also hope one day to broaden their work to include helping other young and promising inventors.
  • Part of their TiEQuest winning gave them access to networking with MaRS Discovery District, a Toronto-based, non-profit centre that brings together Canadian science, business and investment capital. Here they met the third member of their team, industrial designer and entrepreneur Lahav Gil, who has been designing and building technology products and medical devices for more than two decades with his company, Kangaroo Design and Product Development. Gil wanted to help the brothers because he liked them.
  • “They had a very innocent and authentic desire to commercialize their idea,” says Gil. “And that was quite inspiring.”
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    Story about Certo-Ex which have a device that streamlines sampling and can revolution the time and money spent by pharmaceutical, environmental and food industries. Mention of how TiEQuest had given them access to network with MaRS.
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    Story about Certo-Ex which have a device that streamlines sampling and can revolution the time and money spent by pharmaceutical, environmental and food industries. Mention of how TiEQuest had given them access to network with MaRS. Jan 14, 2009
George Botos

Small Business Research and Policy - The State of Entrepreneurship in Canada - 0 views

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    The Small Business and Tourism Branch has produced, in collaboration with professors Eileen Fischer (York University) and Rebecca Reuber (University of Toronto), a report that provides a portrait of the state of entrepreneurship in Canada. It charts entrepreneurial activity in Canada over time and compares it with leading countries. Entrepreneurial performance indicators observed include: birth and death rates, survival rates, high-growth firms and gazelles, and research and development expenditures. Furthermore, the report provides a profile of the owners of Canadian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) because important entrepreneurial activity takes place within these firms. Finally, the report identifies areas of strength, areas for improvement, and important areas that cannot currently be addressed.
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