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The review: a must-read for product engineers. "A perfect addendum to the works of Donald Norman, The Human Factor explores a number of examples in which major engineering problems and disasters initially attributed to user error were approached from a humanist perspective, and simple enhancements with the user in mind have helped prevent future catastrophes from airplane malfunction to nuclear power plant explosions. Vicente does a wonderful job of explaining with the phrase "user error" is often used erroneously, and attention given to the way a product is used, not just the way it is intended to be used by engineers, will continue to produce safer, more efficient products and avoid unnecessary accidents."

The Ontario Society of Professional Engineers held its second symposium related to climate change on April 29 in Toront,.Entitled, "Engineering in a Climate of Change: Making the Lakes Great." This event was held at the MaRS Centre, in cooperation with the ArcelorMittal Dofasco Centre for Engineering and Public Policy at McMaster University.

Synthetic Biology is a new approach to engineering biology, with an emphasis on technologies to write DNA. Mike Spear shares his views after attending the event on Engineering the Future: Synthetic Biology. Oct 27, 2009

According to Ben Coxworth, reporter, at Gizmag states the University of Toronto has developed a "microfluidic device ... that can reportedly produce sections of precisely-engineered tissue that measure within the centimeters. This innovation is currently being commercialized by MaRS Innovation.

Raymond Hui, a principal investigator with the University of Toronto's Structural Genomics Consortium, has transformed himself from a robotics engineer to a genetic engineer and now searches for cures for some of the world's most devastating diseases.

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.

"MTS Allstream Inc. ("MTS Allstream") has partnered with MaRS Discovery District ("MaRS") - a leading innovation centre that supports Canadian innovation by connecting science, technology and social entrepreneurs with business skills and capital. MaRS will showcase new and dynamic green technologies at the 2009 Allstream Global Forum: An Evening with Vice President Al Gore being held November 24 at the Allstream Centre, Toronto. "MaRS will showcase the following three emerging Canadian companies at this year's "Green Gallery of Innovation": Echologics Engineering Inc.,Skymeter Corp., and Clean Energy Developments. Nov 6, 2009

What are the chances that the pair of jeans you just bought online will fit like your favourite worn in pair? Not good. In fact, 40 per cent of apparel purchased online is returned, and 75 per cent of those returns are because of a poor fit, according to Stylekick. The new Toronto-based search and comparison engine uses your wardrobe as a guide to help you buy the right size online.

Flybits is a MaRS Innovation spinoff company from Ryerson University. Flybits has developed an innovative, context-aware software as a service framework called FARE (Flybits Activity Recognition Engine). "Flybits CEO and Founder Hossein Rahnama was among the entrepreneurs of Ryerson University's Digital Media Zone to meet the Prince of Wales and demonstrate his cloud-based and context-aware software solution."

MaRS life sciences and health care practice client, Dr. Hamid Tizhoosh, founder of Segasist, is interviewed for CityNews. He talks about how he became and entrepreneur and how this shapes his life.

According to IT Business, "Seth Pinsky who is spearheading the construction of a new $2-billion tech engineering campus in New York City ... shared his vision of cities as innovation hubs at the Innovation City conference that was held at the MaRS Centre, July 18 & 19 in Toronto.

"Lauren Flynn, Queen's University chemical engineer pioneered the process for transforming discarded human fat into a soft-tissue substitute for use in reconstructive surgery... Further development of the technology is possible through $192,500 in funding from MaRS Innovation Medical Sciences Competitive Proof of Principle. The program is part of the Ontario Centres of Excellence Institutional Proof of Principle program." 

Ibraheem Khan, co-inventor, Smarter Alloy, a MaRS client states that the Ontario Centre of Excellence and MaRS Discovery District provided them support, resources and opportunities to connect with potential partners, customers, investors and talent.

Looks like Toronto/Ontario/Canada is not the only place having problems... A report released by the Center for an Urban Future, a Manhattan-based think tank, finds that while New York City is home to several of the world's leading scientific research institutions, these universities and research centers have not yet become powerful catalysts for entrepreneurship and local economic development the way similar institutions have in a number of other regions. The study concludes that New York has long failed to harness the full potential of its pre-eminent academic research institutions to build a meaningful innovation economy; an enormous missed opportunity given that the city desperately needs to diversify its economy and cultivate new engines of job growth.

An exhibition on display recently at the MARS Centre hinted simply at what's possible today, and also how green architecture ranks among the most exciting now being produced. The show, Ecology. Design. Synergy., documented work done by Behnisch and Transsolar, a leading firm of German climate engineers

The MaRS Centre won the Intelligent Building of the Year award. This award.

The MaRS Centre wins the Intelligent Building of the Year award. Aug 1, 2006

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".

Biotechnologies au Canada: l'exemple de l'Ontario in Industrie Pharmaceutique, May 22, 2009 mentions that MaRS Discovery District is an Innovation Centre and mentions how it helps entrepreneurs to commercialize their research.

As stated in Burrill Canadian Biotech News, "MaRS Discovery District and Canadian Stem Cell Network have entered into a partnership agreement to pursue long-term public or private financing for the translational development activities currently being undertaken by Aggregate Therapeutics."

As stated in Burrill Canadian Biotech News, "MaRS Discovery District and Canadian Stem Cell Network have entered into a partnership agreement to pursue long-term public or private financing for the translational development activities currently being undertaken by Aggregate Therapeutics."

Net Change, June 8-12 presented by SiG@MaRS is a week-long event designed to explore how social technology can bolster social change.

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.