Group items tagged

Visualize a global positioning system (GPS) device that knows where you've parked, and for how long. Imagine it can send this information directly to a company that will bill you, without allowing that company to spy on you. Skymeter, a MaRS client and tenant, is profiled in IT Business in a video interview.

Skymeter has developed a GPS-enabled device that's in direct communication with a satellite orbiting the Earth. The GPS enables drivers to conveniently (and accurately) make good their bills for services such as parking, toll road use, and pay-as-you-go insurance.

Shawn Lesser of Sustainable World Capital scoured the world looking for leading cleantech economic development regions. MaRS Discovery District ranked 4th in a list of ten World Cleantech Clusters. MaRS is the largest cleantech deal-flow engine in Canada. Cluster success stories include: Morgan Solar, NIMTec, Hybrid Energy Technologies, and SkyMeter.

InteraXon is a start-up that has developed the largest thought-controlled computer interface experiment in human history. MaRS Discovery District has been working with InteraXon to develop and market it's products.

"Ontario's lucrative Feed-in-Tariff (FIT) program for renewable energy will mean the development of new and highly efficient energy technologies that will secure the Province's clean energy supply for generations. Tom Rand, head of the clean technology practice at MaRS Discovery District and co-organizer of the renewable energy financing conference held in Toronto last month, said that under the province's feed-in-tariff program, the investments are as safe as a 20-year government bond that pays 8 to 12 per cent per year, and guarantees quick connection to the grid.

Eli Lilly will earn $1 million up front as part of a licensing deal for a series of its preclinical diabetes compounds with Transition Therapeutics.The agreement gives Transition exclusive, worldwide rights to develop and commercialize the compounds.

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.

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.

Vincent Cheung, owner of Shape Collage Inc., a software program has developed a software program that arranges hundreds of photos into custom shapes in seconds. This program is compatible with Windows, Mac and Linux. The company website (shapecollage.com) boasts of more than eight million members. Shape Collage Inc is a MaRS Client.

Scotiabank and Baycrest today officially announced that the Bank will become the title sponsor of the 2010 Scotiabank Pro-Am for Alzheimer's, which expands to two cities this year: Edmonton and Toronto. Earlier this month, Baycrest and Toronto innovation centre MaRS announced the launch of a new company, Cogniciti, that will develop and market brain fitness products aimed at helping adults extend their memory and cognitive abilities longer in the lifespan. Dec 9, 2009

Linda Ko blogs about The Business of Aging Summit which was jointly organized by Toronto's innovation incubator, the MaRS Centre, and the Ontario government. This event plans to showcase the work of 14 up-and-coming Ontario companies now developing software, diagnostic tools and other technologies aimed specifically at the aging population. Dec 1, 2009

MobileMonday is a global, open community that brings together decision makers, developers, researchers, and venture capital through monthly events, international events and chapter social networks. Since 2006, MobileMonday Toronto has worked very hard to build a successful chapter and community by leveraging the global brand and its recent partnership with MaRS to further enhance mobile thought leadership locally and across Canada. The Brand Leadership Award was presented to Jari Tammisto in the annual World Brand Congress in Mumbai, India. The award is the most important personal recognition granted in the congress, the congress organizers state. Dec 7, 2009

To improve early detection and treatment of cancer, a pair of Toronto scientists, Dr David Jaffray, a senior scientist in the division of biophysics and bioimaging at the Ontario Cancer Institute and Dr Christine Allen, an associate professor in the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy at the University of Toronto has developed a technology that combines contrast agents with targeted, long-lasting nano-particles for use in multiple medical imaging platforms. MaRS Innovation (MI) and the University Health Network (UHN) have now entered into an agreement to collaboratively commercialize this promising technology. Dec 23, 2009

MD-entrepreneur Cal Stiller, noted for advocating commercial development of research, wins Gairdner Award and hall of fame berth. Dr. Calvin Stiller is the Chair of Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, Co-Founder and Board Member of MaRS Discovery District and past chair of Genome Canada.

Northern Lights, a CIBC presents Entrepreneurship 101 student up-start company, has taken developments in solid state LEDs and come up with novel designs for fixtures that hold those LEDs to create effective lights.

A MaRS Client, Blue-Zone Technologies Ltd.'s has developed a "Deltasorb" canister system, which captures unused anesthetic before it is released into the environment.

The booming brain-fitness industry hopes to help with computer puzzles designed to sharpen your mental power. Baycrest and MaRS launched a company, Cogniciti, that aims to develop brain fitness products based on scientific principles introduced by the Rotman team.

Baycrest and MaRS launched a company, Cogniciti, that aims to develop brain fitness products based on scientific principles introduced by the Rotman team. Researchers are busy developing mental fitness products to sharpen cognition in the elderly.