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All Science Challenge - a science quiz competition for Grade 6, 7 and 8 students from over 15 schools in the greater Toronto area. Designed by students for students, it's a fun-filled day of competition and camaraderie that's part of a nationwide program to excite and inspire the next generation of scientists.

Tuesday May 19th, 2009.

Toronto ON.

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.

THE LET'S TALK SCIENCE ALL SCIENCE CHALLENGE IN TORONTO

Ontario is launching a new fund to attract and retain world-leading genomics researchers in the province. The CAD$100-million (£56.1-million) Global Leadership Round in Genomics and Life Sciences will support globally-significant, collaborative research projects that are headquartered in Ontario, Canada. This fund will create high-skilled jobs in research and technology, and brings Ontario`s commitment to funding science since 2003 to a historic high of $1.4 billion (£785 million).

Science 2.0 at the MaRS Center in Toronto

Liberal Critic for Industry, Science and Technology Marc Garneau will be traveling across Canada beginning Tuesday to consult Canadians on how to revitalize Canada’s scientific industries and discuss the importance of research and innovation in creating the jobs of tomorrow.

Other stops on Mr. Garneau’s tour include Toronto’s MARS Innovation Centre

"This investment underscores the government's recognition that Ontario must continue to invest in its strong life sciences cluster. Now more than ever, innovative research and development is a key driver, reshaping the knowledge economy and creating prosperity for all Ontarians." Dr. John Evans, Chair, MaRS Discovery District

Canada has the research expertise to develop drugs and vaccines to address pressing medical needs, but delivering on the promise will require new models of collaboration between scientists, biotechnology, the pharmaceutical industry, business and policy makers according to speakers at an upcoming symposium hosted by The Gairdner Foundation and York University. The symposium, Entrepreneurship & Commercialization in Biomedical Science, on Thursday, May 14, marks the 50th anniversary of both York University and The Gairdner Foundation.

The Gairdner Foundation recognizes the world's leading medical research scientists through its prestigious annual awards program for biomedical science. The symposium, which is hosted by York’s Faculty of Science & Engineering and Schulich School of Business, will bring together scientist entrepreneurs, Canadian venture capital firms, the biomedical industry and policy-makers.

He will be followed by Smith, founder and former president & CEO of RBC Ventures and a member of the board of Toronto's MaRS innovation centre. Smith will speak about how Canada has made strong progress in positioning itself as a potential leader in biotech and medical research and in its commercialization efforts but faces two clear threats – the global financial calamity together with the lack of clear federal government support for research.

It is clear humans will live much longer in the future, Worzel says. And innovative agricultural products, like those being developed by University of Guelph research scientists, will play a vital role in maintaining the health of this future population of senior citizens.

Worzel was a keynote speaker at last week's Agri-Food Innovation Forum in Toronto, which brought leading scientists, medical professionals, government and industry officials together to explore the future of so-called functional foods and nutraceuticals -- foods or food extracts that have physiological benefits or reduce the risk of chronic disease.

Guelph scientists are among the world leaders in the field, with a host of University of Guelph researchers advancing the science, and a number of local enterprises -- Soy 20/20, BioEnterprise, Ontario Agri-Food Technologies, and MaRS Landing -- working to commercialize that science.