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Assunta Krehl

Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council appoints Gordon M. Nixon and Zabeen Hirji a... - 0 views

  • The Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council (TRIEC) is pleased to announce today's appointment of Gordon M. Nixon, president and chief executive officer of RBC, as Chair, and Zabeen Hirji, chief human resources officer of RBC, as Co-Chair of TRIEC.
  • As top executives at one of the largest financial institutions in North America, Gord Nixon and Zabeen Hirji are key ambassadors to articulate how Canadian companies can benefit from the international experience and networks, language skills and cultural knowledge that skilled immigrants bring with them to Canada."
  • Nixon has for years been a champion for promoting diversity in Canadian communities and of leveraging skilled immigrant talent as a driver of Canadian innovation and prosperity. Nixon is chairman of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives and chairman of MaRS Discovery District. In 2007, Nixon was invested into the Order of Ontario and was named Canada's Outstanding CEO of the Year.
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    The Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council (TRIEC) is pleased to announce today's appointment of Gordon M. Nixon, president and chief executive officer of RBC, as Chair, and Zabeen Hirji, chief human resources officer of RBC, as Co-Chair of TRIEC. Sept 10, 2009
Cathy Bogaart

Canadian Immigrant : Top 25 Canadian Immigrants - 0 views

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    Tomorrow, MaRS hosts our 2nd extended citizenship ceremony. Sixty New Canadians along with their family and friends will take their oath right here in the MaRS Auditorium. Interesting to hear from one of our own community, Dr. Rosalind Silverman, a postdoctoral fellow with TGH and UofT Medicine, who won first-ever Top 25 Canadian Immigrants awards. Read her (and her sister, a a postdoc at UofT Medicine) story. This is why MaRS is involved in stuff like this: culturally diverse cities are also the most innovative (or so says Richard Florida). If we want to excel in the knowledge economy, we should all celebrate our cultural diversity!
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.
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

The Emerging Leaders Network is set to showcase the projects and ideas of Toronto's up ... - 0 views

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    On Tuesday, Dec.15, 2009, the Emerging Leaders Network (ELN) will showcase both current and future projects and ideas of Toronto's up and coming city building leaders at a studio gathering at the MaRS Discovery District. The ELN studio event will bring together the highest potential city builders of tomorrow. The advancement of the City of Toronto - including building and networking-will be the main focus of the event. Dec 8, 2009
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