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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.

According to PR Newswire "Getinge Canada Limited launched a new audit process for hospitals in Canada to make them aware of the potential to save operational costs when transforming from old to innovative technology used in the Medical Device Reprocessing Department." Gentinge had an exhibit at the MaRS Centre earlier this year.

New government funding announced today includes $100 million to establish the Operating Line of Credit Guarantee and $350 million over three years to help drive venture capital investment in promising Canadian technology businesses.

CML HealthCare Inc is planning to automate it's current infrastructure to deliver greater volume and medical laboratory tests. CML is also working to commercialize early-stage technologies in medical diagnostics in partnership with an Ontario government agency known as MaRS Innovation.

CML HealthCare Inc is planning to automate it's current infrastructure to deliver greater volume and medical laboratory tests. CML is also working to commercialize early-stage technologies in medical diagnostics in partnership with an Ontario government agency known as MaRS Innovation.

Winston is a Toronto company that is pitching a different way to operate the way people call for a taxi and limo through an app. The company Winston is working with MaRS Discovery District Advisors.

"The Continental Automated Buildings Association this week announced the recipients of its inaugural Building Intelligence Quotient (BiQ) Awards. The annual awards recognize property owners and operators whose buildings achieve the highest rank using CABA's building technology assessment tool. MaRS Discovery District was one of the 2012 Gold recipients"

It's Net Change Week at MaRS and tech-biz thinker Don Tapscott is asking us to rethink how, well, just about everything operates. It's a new way of doing things, and Toronto's social innovators like Michelle Hamilton-Page at Toronto Public Health are helping lead the way.

Operating out of Toronto's MaRS Discovery Centre, Arctic DX's seven employees take existing research on genetic markers and develop diagnostic tests for disease.

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".

As McKinsey & Company's business journal, The McKinsey Quarterly offers public, non-profit, and private management "new ways of thinking." Focus is placed on strategy, corporate finance, governance, economic studies, IT, organization, marketing, and operations. Articles are free (dating back to 1992), a selection of which are available with free registration. Some "premium" articles are available to Premium Members (paid subscribers).

A fantastic resources that will help you through developing your business: the Kauffman Foundation has put together a tremendous collection of resources for entrepreneurial ventures, covering all of the key aspects of a business (people, finance, marketing, operations, etc.). Well-written overviews and how-to's.

On May 17 & 18 the 2010 Annual International Conference on Research Facilities will be held in Toronto. The major issues on the agenda include getting more research results per square foot of space, lowering the costs of building and renovating research facilities, reducing facility operating costs, facilitating the new collaborative multi-disciplinary research models, planning facilities help to promote commercial technology spin-offs, and designing energy-efficient and sustainable laboratories.An important feature of the conference is the opportunity for participants to tour a number of prominent Toronto research facilities including MaRS Discovery District.

Bering Media is offering digital direct mail marketing with a unique privacy-protection service.The company has attracted both investors and clients in its first 18 months of operation. Bering Media has received business development assistance from MaRS Discovery District.

Many medical laboratories within the province of Ontario are operating with outdated equipment, which is a contributing factor of the incapability to dea with major outbreaks of diseases. There is a modern laboratory estimated at $ 40 million that is planned to go into MaRS Phase II complex. 

The IT Forum Exchange Network (ITFX) has launched its first microsite, Unified Communication in Canada, designed to stimulate informed discussion of Unified Communications and its role in enhancing the competitiveness of Canadian private and public sector enterprises. UC in Canada's Unified Communications discussion area will be featured on "forum pages" across the network. Visit the Unified Communication in Canada Website. About ITFX: Leading trade publishers and other technology thought leaders have created ITFX with the intention of establishing a national problem-solving dialogue on key IT issues. Issues which are within their discussion forums include; Green IT, Unified Communications and Investment and Go-to-Market activity linking portals operated by leading trade publications, IT industry associations and social media sites.

Rotman NeXus provides a variety of services to non-profit and social enterprise businesses. In addition to providing organizational help including budgeting, market research, and operational design, Rotman NeXus calculates the social and economic impacts of projects for a small fee. Roman NeXus is staffed by University of Toronto's second year Joseph L. Rotman School of Management top-tier MBA students.

Brodie Fenlon, Globe and Mail reporter, reports that the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development says " transit service in the Toronto Census Metropolitan Area has not kept pace with population growth, with 71 per cent of commuters still dependent on the automobile - one of the highest rates of car use among cities in the organization's 30 member countries."Among the OECD findings include that governments should invest in more initiatives like Toronto's MaRS Discovery District. Nov 9, 2009

"Traffic congestion in the Toronto region costs Canada $3.3-billion a year in lost productivity the Globe and Mail reports. An Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development report found included that governments should invest more in initiatives like Toronto'd MaRS Discovery District. Nov 10, 2009

So word that Euan Robertson is joining MaRS in the newly created role of president and chief operating officer is welcome news, says Derek Newton, executive director of U of T's Innovations & Partnerships Office.