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Assunta Krehl

Pharmafocus.com - 0 views

  • 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.
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  • Transition Therapeutics is one of the companies based at MaRS, and is an example of a biopharmaceutical company that is taking a new approach to the science and business of drug development.
  • Now Toronto's MaRS Innovation (MI) has been launched to try to guide and accelerate these promising ideas out of the wilderness and onto the market. MI is a not-for-profit technology transfer company that will channel all the best ideas to come out of Toronto's renowned academic centres. In the Toronto and Ontario area there were between 14-16 different technology transfer offices in the different institutions, and MaRS Innovation resolved to bring these interests together into a single entity after industry partners told them it was an inefficient way to do business. Bringing together the different institutions under one umbrella organisation has been an arduous task for MaRS, but the reward could be considerable for all parties. MI now oversees probably the largest intellectual property pipeline of its kind, representing about $1 billion in annual research spending. This means MI will be a unified route for all of Toronto's academics and their institutions when they want to develop and commercialise a bright idea. Most importantly, investors from industry who are looking to collaborate will now be able to deal with just organisation and one IP process. MI will cover patentable ideas across a broad range of areas, and not just life sciences - the discovery pipeline in physical sciences, information and communication technology, and green technology ('cleantech') will all be funnelled through MI. MI now represents three universities, 10 academic teaching hospitals and the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research. MaRS Innovation, with support from MaRS and BioDiscovery Toronto, will advance commercialisation through industry partnerships, licensing and company creation.
  • ts chief executive is Dr Rafi Hofstein. Hofstein has been headhunted from Israel where he was chief executive of Hadasit, the technology transfer company of the Hadassah Medical Organization in Jerusalem and chair of the publicly-traded company Hadasit BioHolding. He brings this considerable experience in technology transfer to what he thinks is a groundbreaking enterprise."MaRS Innovation is a unique global initiative, and I must commend the institutional leaders in Toronto for pulling this innovation powerhouse together to strengthen commercialisation output." He adds: "I believe this is going to modernise the whole notion of tech transfer." He says the scale and diversity of MaRS Innovation's remit puts it into a league of its own. Other research clusters elsewhere in the world have attempted similar projects before, but have been thwarted by the difficulty in bringing parties together. MaRS Innovation will also help launch and grow new spin-off companies and incubate them for 2-3 years to ensure a strong commercial footing. Hofstein says MI will also fund proof of concept trials which will persuade major pharma companies to invest in their development.
  • MI has just announced its first two commercialisation deals with academic partners in the city. The first is with the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute of Mount Sinai Hospital to develop stem cell from umbilical cords to treat cardiovascular disease, diabetes and neurological disorders. "With the Toronto area identified as a world-leading cluster in stem cell research, we are extremely excited to have identified this technology as our first commercialisation opportunity," said Dr Hofstein.
  • "Our partnership with MaRS Innovation on developing methods for using stem cells for diseases such as diabetes will allow us to work towards advancing care for these critical conditions."
  • The second collaboration is between MI and The University of Toronto (U of T) and involves a novel sustained release formulation of nitric oxide (NO) for applications in wound healing, including diabetic ulcers. "There are 300 million diabetics worldwide, of which some 15% develop troublesome foot ulcers. This wound healing technology is extremely exciting, making it an early commercialisation opportunity that MaRS Innovation has identified as being a potential win for some 45 million diabetics globally," said Dr Hofstein.
  • "This is one of many new commercialisation ventures that will be initiated by MaRS Innovation, our partner in commercialisation of research with 13 other academic institutions across the Greater Toronto Area," said Paul Young, U of T's vice-president, Research. "We at U of T are delighted that this innovation from Dr Lee will be taken to the marketplace to the benefit of society and the economy of Ontario and Canada." By aggregating the leading edge science of its institutional members and being a one-stop commercialisation centre for industry, entrepreneurs and investors, MI could really help put Toronto and Canada on the map."MaRS Innovation is deeply committed to facilitating strategic research collaborations with industry partners, strengthening the innovation capacity of Canadian industry through adoption of new technologies, and launching a new generation of robust, high-growth Canadian companies that will become global market leaders," added Dr Hofstein. "We look forward to working closely with all of our institutional members and to continue to jointly announce exciting commercial opportunities."
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    Canada has always had to fight hard to attract talent and investment. As stated in Pharmafocus.com, "MaRS Discovery District helps to foster and accelerate the growth of successful Canadian businesses." MaRS Innovation has also been launched to accelerate ideas onto the market.
Assunta Krehl

reportonbusiness.com: THE COMPANY: INFONAUT INC.: Charting the right course through an ... - 0 views

  • Toronto, where a small firm is using 21st-century software to create maps with similar goals - the containment of disease - by showing infection patterns that can be understood at a glance.
  • Toronto, where a small firm is using 21st-century software to create maps with similar goals - the containment of disease - by showing infection patterns that can be understood at a glance.
  • There's nothing wrong with Infonaut using the H1N1 flu outbreak to gain exposure, as long as the company is careful in the tone it takes, said John Lute, president of Toronto communications firm Lute and Co.
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  • Infonaut Inc. chief executive officer Niall Wallace and his partner, chief operating officer Matt McPherson, both former IT consultants for the Ontario government, created the company after helping to craft some of the recommendations that resulted from the SARS outbreak of 2003. They understood the value of visually represented, real-time infection data, and left government to set up Infonaut to develop that technology.
  • Infonaut has created three software products that turn infection information into maps. All are being tested in pilot projects and will soon be marketed commercially.
  • One, called Infection Watch Live, is now taking data gathered at 14 hospital emergency rooms in eastern Ontario and using it to create publicly accessible maps that show exactly where in the region cases of influenza and gastrointestinal diseases are active.
  • This complex mapping can help monitor and stop the spread of C. difficile and other superbugs.
  • The third product, called Regional Watch Live, generates maps and reports for regional health professionals by merging lab test results with a range of other information.
  • INFONAUT INC
  • Make sure to present straightforward information about how the company's products might help mitigate an outbreak in the future, but do not exaggerate promises. Be upfront about the state of pilot tests, the timelines to get the software to market, and how much funding will be needed to go to full commercialization. Use respected third-party partners to endorse the products, a move that will give the company more credibility. If there are privacy concerns, spell them out and detail how they are being addressed.
  • Infonaut should ensure that its message is understated and that the company is not an "ambulance chaser," Mr. Lute said
  • But the company does need to give straightforward information about how its products might help mitigate an outbreak in the future, and not exaggerate its promises, she said. In particular, it needs to be upfront about the state of its pilot tests and include details of when full versions of its products will be available. It also must explain how much funding they will need to get there, Ms. Wilcox said.
  • With Infonaut, there seems to be no question that there is a public gain, he said. "If it is just an opportunistic attempt to cash in on the misfortune of others, that tends to play badly. Where a company has something that can be tied to the public interest, such as in this case ... it is very low-risk."
  • He suggests that Infonaut make good use of its pilot test partners, such as the counties in eastern Ontario that are testing the Infection Watch Live system.
  • the company should forestall any concerns over privacy issues by spelling out how it ensures data on individuals are kept confidential.
  • There's nothing wrong with using the current concerns over H1N1 flu to gain exposure, as long as Infonaut is careful about taking a calm and respectful tone to its marketing and publicity.
  • On the other hand, it will clearly create an opportunity if Infonaut can increase its profile, "which helps it to get its story out, which helps it to get investors, which helps it to grow.
  • The problem Build a market for a unique infection mapping system without appearing to exploit the flu outbreak The plan: Use a subtle approach and be upfront with the state of development of the software products The payoff: Higher awareness among potential customers and an expanded market
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    Using 21st-century Infonaut is using software to create maps - the containment of disease - by showing infection patterns that can be understood at a glance.
Tim T

GOP's Brown grabs lead in Massachusetts Senate returns - CNN.com - 0 views

shared by Tim T on 20 Jan 10 - Cached
  • Obama and former President Bill Clinton hit the campaign trail over the past three days in an attempt to save Coakley's campaign, which observers say has been hampered by complacency and missteps.
  • Obama and former President Bill Clinton hit the campaign trail over the past three days in an attempt to save Coakley's campaign, which observers say has been hampered by complacency and missteps.
  • Obama and former President Bill Clinton hit the campaign trail over the past three days in an attempt to save Coakley's campaign, which observers say has been hampered by complacency and missteps.
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  • Obama and former President Bill Clinton hit the campaign trail over the past three days in an attempt to save Coakley's campaign, which observers say has been hampered by complacency and missteps.
  • Obama and former President Bill Clinton hit the campaign trail over the past three days in an attempt to save Coakley's campaign, which observers say has been hampered by complacency and missteps.
  • cnnRelatedTopicKeys.push('Martha_Coakley'); Martha Coakley cnnRelatedTopicKeys.push('Scott_Brown'); Scott Brown cnnRelatedTopicKeys.push('Edward_M_Kennedy'); Edward M. Kennedy cnnRelatedTopicKeys.push('Health_Care_Reform'); Health Care Reform The latest poll, however, showed Brown leading Coakley by 7 points, 52 to 45 percent. The American Research Group survey, taken Friday through Sunday, had a sampling error of plus or minus 4 percentage points. No polls released in the past few days showed Coakley ahead. In a sign of the high stakes involved, the Coakley campaign held an afternoon news conference Tuesday to complain that voters in three places received ballots already marked for Brown. McNiff confirmed that the secretary of state's offices received two reports of voters saying they got pre-marked ballots. The suspect ballots were invalidated and the voters received new ballots, McNiff said. Kevin Conroy, the Coakley campaign manager, said the "disturbing incidents" raised questions about the integrity of the election. In response, the Brown campaign issued a statement criticizing Coakley's team. "Reports that the Coakley campaign is making reckless accusations regarding the integrity of today's election is a reminder that they are a desperate campaign," Daniel B. Winslow, the counsel for the Brown campaign, said in the statement. Obama has been both "surprised and frustrated" by the race, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Tuesday. Obama and former President Bill Clinton hit the campaign trail over the past three days in an attempt to save Coakley's campaign, which observers say has been hampered by complacency and missteps.
  • Obama and former President Bill Clinton hit the campaign trail over the past three days in an attempt to save Coakley's campaign, which observers say has been hampered by complacency and missteps.
  • Obama and former President Bill Clinton hit the campaign trail over the past three days in an attempt to save Coakley's campaign, which observers say has been hampered by complacency and missteps.
  • Obama and former President Bill Clinton hit the campaign trail over the past three days in an attempt to save Coakley's campaign, which observers say has been hampered by complacency and missteps.
  • Obama and former President Bill Clinton hit the campaign trail over the past three days in an attempt to save Coakley's campaign, which observers say has been hampered by complacency and missteps.
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    Complacency put the U.S. health bill at risk
Assunta Krehl

Want to learn about innovation? Head to Toronto - Business Innovation Factory - 0 views

  • Probably most impressive was The MaRS Centre - an old hospital converted into a non-profit innovation centre connecting science, technology and social entrepreneurs with business skills, networks and capital. The building is undeniably cool. Located in Toronto’s “Discovery District” -- two square kilometres have been designated as the city’s center of innovation. The MaRS Centre is a gateway of sorts to Canada’s largest concentration of scientific research. It’s anchored by major teaching hospitals, the University of Toronto and more than two dozen affiliated research institutes.
  • MaRS Centre from the outside
  • MaRS was created in 2000. The founding group raised significant capital (almost $100 million from all three levels of government and both institutional and individual private sector donors and an additional $130 million of debt and credit lease instruments were also secured) to support the development. What’s so clear is that leadership to drive public/private sector collaboration is required to effect real change. Many credit Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty for helping to not only create the MaRS Centre but also invigorate the region as a whole.
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  • Martin has transformed the Rotman School from a mediocre Canadian business school to a world-class institution. It’s one of the few business schools around with an innovative curriculum built around the fundamentals of design thinking. Martin believes designers approaches to thinking and problem-solving can and should be applied to all components of business (He calls it integrative thinking and business design.) Most of our own processes here at the Business Innovation Factory are firmly rooted in design thinking principles.
  • Martin also managed to lure Richard Florida to Toronto in 2007 to direct the Rotman School's new $120-million Martin Prosperity Institute. Spinning off from much of Florida's research, the institute's goal is to build a leading think-tank on the role of sub-national factors – location, place and city-regions – in global economic prosperity. By taking an integrated view of prosperity, the institute will look beyond economic measures to include the importance of quality of place and the development of people’s creative potential. I'm looking forward to ongoing conversations with our new friends at the Rotman school. I suspect there might even be a collaboration or two about to happen as well. Bottom line: if you want to learn about innovation, Toronto is the place to be.
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    Chris Flanagan talks about the benefits of moving to Toronto and the great work happening at the MaRS Centre. Mention of Martin transforming the Rotman School to a "world-class institution" ... that has "an innovative curriculum built around the fundamentals of design thinking." There is also a mention of the Martin Prosperity Institute spin off.
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    Chris Flanagan talks about the benefits of moving to Toronto and the great work happening at the MaRS Centre. Mention of Martin transforming the Rotman School to a "world-class institution" ... that has "an innovative curriculum built around the fundamentals of design thinking." There is also a mention of the Martin Prosperity Institute spin off. Oct 30, 2008
Sarah Hickman

Amazon.com: The Innovator's Solution: Creating and Sustaining Successful Growth (978157... - 0 views

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    From Publishers Weekly\nChristensen (The Innovator's Dilemma) analyzes the strategies that allow corporations to successfully grow new businesses and outpace the other players in the marketplace. Christensen's earlier book examined how focusing on profits can destroy even well-run corporations, while this book focuses on companies expanding by being "disruptors" who are able to outpace their entrenched competition. The authors (Christensen is a professor at Harvard Business School and Raynor, a director at Deloitte Research) examine the nine business decisions integral to growth, including product development, organizational structure, financing and key customer base. They cite such companies as IBM, AT&T, Sony, Microsoft and others to illustrate their points. Generally, the writing is clear and specific. For example, in discussing whether a company has the resources necessary for growth, the authors say, "In order to be confident that managers have developed the skills required to succeed at a new assignment, one should examine the sorts of problems they have wrestled with in the past. It is not as important that managers have succeeded with the problem as it is for them to have wrestled with it and developed the skills and intuition for how to meet the challenge successfully the next time around"; they then provide a real-life example of a software company. Similar important strategies give readers insights that they can use in their own workplaces. People looking for quick fixes may find the charts, diagrams and extensive footnotes daunting, but readers familiar with more technical business management tomes will find this one both stimulating and beneficial.
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.
Tim T

How to Make Wealth - 0 views

  • Remember what a startup is, economically: a way of saying, I want to work faster. Instead of accumulating money slowly by being paid a regular wage for fifty years, I want to get it over with as soon as possible. So governments that forbid you to accumulate wealth are in effect decreeing that you work slowly. They're willing to let you earn $3 million over fifty years, but they're not willing to let you work so hard that you can do it in two. They are like the corporate boss that you can't go to and say, I want to work ten times as hard, so please pay me ten times a much. Except this is not a boss you can escape by starting your own company.
  • What is technology? It's technique. It's the way we all do things. And when you discover a new way to do things, its value is multiplied by all the people who use it. It is the proverbial fishing rod, rather than the fish. That's the difference between a startup and a restaurant or a barber shop. You fry eggs or cut hair one customer at a time. Whereas if you solve a technical problem that a lot of people care about, you help everyone who uses your solution. That's leverage.If you look at history, it seems that most people who got rich by creating wealth did it by developing new technology. You just can't fry eggs or cut hair fast enough. What made the Florentines rich in 1200 was the discovery of new techniques for making the high-tech product of the time, fine woven cloth. What made the Dutch rich in 1600 was the discovery of shipbuilding and navigation techniques that enabled them to dominate the seas of the Far East.
  • What a company does, and has to do if it wants to continue to exist, is earn money. And the way most companies make money is by creating wealth. Companies can be so specialized that this similarity is concealed, but it is not only manufacturing companies that create wealth. A big component of wealth is location. Remember that magic machine that could make you cars and cook you dinner and so on? It would not be so useful if it delivered your dinner to a random location in central Asia. If wealth means what people want, companies that move things also create wealth. Ditto for many other kinds of companies that don't make anything physical. Nearly all companies exist to do something people want.And that's what you do, as well, when you go to work for a company. But here there is another layer that tends to obscure the underlying reality. In a company, the work you do is averaged together with a lot of other people's. You may not even be aware you're doing something people want. Your contribution may be indirect. But the company as a whole must be giving people something they want, or they won't make any money. And if they are paying you x dollars a year, then on average you must be contributing at least x dollars a year worth of work, or the company will be spending more than it makes, and will go out of business.Someone graduating from college thinks, and is told, that he needs to get a job, as if the important thing were becoming a member of an institution. A more direct way to put it would be: you need to start doing something people want. You don't need to join a company to do that. All a company is is a group of people working together to do something people want. It's doing something people want that matters, not joining the group.
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  • When wealth is talked about in this context, it is often described as a pie. "You can't make the pie larger," say politicians. When you're talking about the amount of money in one family's bank account, or the amount available to a government from one year's tax revenue, this is true. If one person gets more, someone else has to get less.I can remember believing, as a child, that if a few rich people had all the money, it left less for everyone else. Many people seem to continue to believe something like this well into adulthood. This fallacy is usually there in the background when you hear someone talking about how x percent of the population have y percent of the wealth. If you plan to start a startup, then whether you realize it or not, you're planning to disprove the Pie Fallacy.What leads people astray here is the abstraction of money. Money is not wealth. It's just something we use to move wealth around. So although there may be, in certain specific moments (like your family, this month) a fixed amount of money available to trade with other people for things you want, there is not a fixed amount of wealth in the world. You can make more wealth. Wealth has been getting created and destroyed (but on balance, created) for all of human history.Suppose you own a beat-up old car. Instead of sitting on your butt next summer, you could spend the time restoring your car to pristine condition. In doing so you create wealth. The world is-- and you specifically are-- one pristine old car the richer. And not just in some metaphorical way. If you sell your car, you'll get more for it.In restoring your old car you have made yourself richer. You haven't made anyone else poorer. So there is obviously not a fixed pie. And in fact, when you look at it this way, you wonder why anyone would think there was.
Assunta Krehl

Test-tube industry - Canadian Business - 0 views

  • For Dr. John Evans, growing a strong biotechnology industry is much the same: cities must provide a nurturing environment where science and business can thrive together.
  • That's why Evans, former president of the University of Toronto and current chairman of Torstar Corp., is spearheading the $345-million Medical and Related Science initiative, or MaRS--a petri dish of sorts for commercializing science research. "A lot of intellectual property is being commercialized outside Canada," says Evans. "I think we've been slow in realizing just how important technology developments are to the economic future of the country. MaRS is an attempt to give this a kick into a higher gear." The centrepiece of the MaRS plan, which will officially launch May 12, is a 1.3-million-square-foot, five-building complex in downtown Toronto that will provide office and lab space for small and medium-size companies and incubators, including the not-for-profit Toronto Biotechnology Commercialization Centre. While Evans is reluctant to limit its scope, MaRS will generally focus on health-related technologies, from new drugs and genetic treatments to medical devices and imaging software. Branded a "convergence centre," it will also house a careful mix of support services: intellectual property lawyers, accountants, marketing experts, government funding organizations and venture capital financiers. Plus, start-ups will have access to all the latest equipment on site. For instance, MaRS is in talks with MDS Sciex to supply mass spectrometers, used in proteomics research.
  • But MaRS will be more than just a New Economy real estate development. Evans's intention is to funnel tenants' rent money into services--such as entrepreneurship seminars and angel-matching programs--that MaRS will offer to the broader biotech community. That's why MaRS's location is key: the centre will be built in the heart of what Toronto has dubbed the "Discovery District," a two-square-kilometre chunk of the downtown core, encompassing U of T and four major hospitals. From there, MaRS hopes to act as a network hub across Ontario, with links to research-intensive universities. "None of them," says Evans, "have the critical mass to put it all together on their own."
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  • MaRS's primary goal is to get Toronto and the rest of Ontario on the global biotech map. Evans came up with the concept in the late 1990s with Dr. Calvin Stiller, CEO of the labor-sponsored Canadian Medical Discoveries Fund, and Kenneth Knox, a former deputy minister for the Ontario government who's now CEO of MaRS
  • As far as schemes to support fledgling industries go, MaRS is refreshing. To start, it's a nonprofit corporation, not a government program, which will hopefully ensure that it runs more efficiently. The feds and the province of Ontario have each doled out $20 million for MaRS, and Toronto has donated in-kind $4.5 million. More than $12 million has come from a small pool of corporations, including Eli Lilly Canada and MDS, as well as individual donors like Joseph Rotman and Lawrence Bloomberg (who both sit on the MaRS board). U of T pitched in $5 million, and MaRS also did some innovative bond financing to round off the $165 million needed to build Phase I. "It was very important for us to not belong to anybody," says Evans.
  • Now MaRS's challenge is to get the word out. Its posted rate of $26 per square foot is very competitive for prime downtown real estate and is sure to attract attention, especially considering its customized lab space. But MaRS's success won't be measured by a low vacancy rate; getting the right mix of scientists, entrepreneurs and professionals is critical if it plans to commercialize some sustainable businesses. It won't happen overnight--in fact, it may be 10 years before anyone can gauge MaRS's impact. Seems growing a biotech industry isn't quite as easy as growing E. coli in a petri dish.
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    John Evans spearheads the MaRS project which will help to accelerate commercialization for scientific research. The official launch of the MaRS plan will happen on May 12, 2003.
Assunta Krehl

Biomedical research attracting top scientists - City of Toronto - 0 views

  • the Chief of Research at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, collaboration is the key to the future.
  • That's why Dr. Janet Rossant is so enthusiastic about the work being done in the MaRS Discovery District - a unique zone in the city where innovations in science and technology are commercialized through partnerships between researchers and private enterprise.
  • "The MaRS Centre and biomedical community have seen tremendous growth over the past few years," says Dr. Janet Rossant. "And it continues to grow." "This growth is attracting the world's best scientists to come work here, which is very exciting."
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  • A key strategic focus of the SickKids Research Institute is the commercialization of research findings-translating discoveries into new technologies and treatments to improve the understanding and treatment of diseases that affect children.
  • "An environment like the Discovery District allows research institutes and the University of Toronto and its affiliated hospitals to work together to promote research and its application," she explains.
  • One of the unique aspects of Toronto is its open, collaborative environment. Individual institutes are not fighting each other for funding resources. This collaborative nature is what people comment on when they come here." A Toronto location provides other advantages too, she says. "There is a strong university and college environment, which provides a great pool from which to draw talent. There is strong support from all three levels of government. And there is strong philanthropic support, which is important." Dr. Rossant says working for the Hospital for Sick Children has been very gratifying.
  • Dr. Rossant is also looking forward to the opening of the new research and education building going up in the Discovery District. "The Research Institute currently has 2,000 people spread across the Discovery District and the new building will bring us all together and allow us to interact in new ways."
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    Dr. Janet Rossant, Chief of Research at The Hospital for Sick Children says they key to the future is "collaboration." Rossant is enthusiastic about the work being done at MaRS.
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    Dr. Janet Rossant, Chief of Research at The Hospital for Sick Children says they key to the future is "collaboration." Rossant is enthusiastic about the work being done at MaRS. Jan 19, 2009
Assunta Krehl

Toronto's $25 million commercialization "engine" celebrates the appointment of its Boar... - 0 views

  • MaRS Innovation is honoured to announce its permanent Board of Directors, who brings together a remarkable and broad set of experiences and networks to support the development of this dynamic partnership of Toronto research institutions.  Designed to enhance the commercial output of Toronto’s world-leading research cluster, MaRS Innovation is positioned to make a significant contribution to Canada’s innovation economy and the quality of life for Canadians and others around the world.
  • upported by the Government of Canada through the Centres of Excellence in Research and Commercialization (CECR) program, and its member institutions, MaRS Innovation is focused on converting important discoveries into a new generation of products, services and high value jobs. The newly appointed Board of Directors, which includes academic and business leaders from across Canada and the United States, has the targeted expertise to guide MaRS Innovation to deliver on this critical mission.   MaRS Innovation represents a unique collaborative model, which aggregates the exceptional discovery pipeline of 14 leading Toronto academic institutions to build a diversified portfolio of assets, and harness the economic and job creation potential of the best opportunities for Toronto, Ontario and Canada.
  • “MaRS Innovation is privileged to announce a Board of Directors of this caliber and breadth of skill,” said Mary Jo Haddad, Chair of the MaRS Innovation Board and President and CEO of The Hospital for Sick Children. “The collective experience and guidance of these individuals will be critical to developing a collaborative, integrated and agile approach to this transformational organization that will move Canada into its next phase of economic development.”
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  • W. Geoffrey Beattie – Deputy Chairman & President, Woodbridge Company Limited, Thomson Reuters Corporation, Toronto Christopher C. Capelli – Vice President, Technology Based Ventures, Office of Technology Commercialization, University of Texas, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX Ron Close – Information technology entrepreneur, Entrepreneur-in-Residence, MaRS, and Executive Entrepreneur-in-Residence, The Richard Ivey School of Business, The University of Western Ontario, London, ON Nicholas Darby – Formerly Director of Physical Sciences, Corporate Venture Capital, Dow Chemical Company, President, Darby & Associates Consulting LLC, Midland, MI  Mary Jo Haddad – President & CEO, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto Jacqueline H.R. Le Saux – Former General Counsel, North America and Corporate Secretary, Patheon, Inc., Toronto David A. Leslie - Chair, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, and Former Chairman & CEO, Ernst & Young, Toronto Michael H. May – President & CEO, Rimon Therapeutics, Toronto Chandra J. Panchal – Founder, President & CEO, Axcelon Biopolymers Corp., Dollard-des-Ormeaux, QC Ilse Treurnicht – CEO, MaRS Discovery District, Toronto Donald A. Wright – President & CEO, The Winnington Capital Group Inc., Toronto
  • MaRS Innovation serves as a business accelerator platform with a single point of entry for industry partners and investors.  It will increase the scale, scope and viability of IP offerings, and the quantity and quality of deal flow from partner institutions.  MaRS Innovation will also facilitate strategic research collaborations with industry partners, strengthen the innovation capacity of Canadian industry through adoption of new technologies from its member institutions, and launch a new generation of robust, high-growth Canadian companies that will become global market leaders.   The quality of the combined discovery pipeline will catalyze and attract sources of risk capital for translational research, market validation, company formation and growth.  “MaRS Innovation represents a unique and timely platform to contribute in a meaningful way to Canada’s knowledge economy, leveraging Toronto’s remarkable research excellence.  The vision and serious commitment of its members to work together to transform our commercialization results, and the support of the Federal Government, made this possible.  The announcement of this outstanding group of leaders to the Board of Directors for MaRS Innovation is an exciting step forward,” said Ilse Treurnicht, MaRS CEO and interim Managing Director of MaRS Innovation.
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    MaRS Innovation announced its permanent Board of Directors. MaRS Innovation is focused on converting important discoveries into a new generation of products, services and high value jobs.
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    MaRS Innovation announced its permanent Board of Directors. MaRS Innovation is focused on converting important discoveries into a new generation of products, services and high value jobs. Feb 6, 2009
Assunta Krehl

Cell conversations have world talking - The Star - 0 views

  • Tony Pawson has been studying how cells communicate for more than 30 years.
  • Scientists had long known that cells communicated, but no one knew the exact mechanisms until Pawson and his team pinpointed the specific protein interactions controlling cell signals.
  • Since his initial discovery, Pawson has been inundated with every possible award for biomedical sciences, including the Gairdner Foundation International Award (considered the baby Nobel), and, in 2007, was named to the Order of the Companions of Honour, one of only nine Canadians to receive the award from the Queen
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  • Tonight, in Toronto, Pawson will be honoured for his latest achievement: Winning the prestigious Kyoto Prize in Basic Sciences. He will share the podium with Charles Taylor, professor emeritus at McGill University, who won the prize in the Arts and Philosophy category. They are the first Canadians to win the coveted prize from the Inamori Foundation of Kyoto.
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    Tony Pawson is considered one of the finest researchers in the world. Scientists had long known that cells communicated, but no one knew the exact mechanisms until Pawson and his team pinpointed the specific protein interactions controlling cell signals. Mention of Pawson being honoured for winning the prestigious Kyoto Prize.
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    Tony Pawson is considered one of the finest researchers in the world. Tony Pawson and his team have discovered the exact mechanisms how cells communicate. Pawson and his team pinpointed the specific protein interactions controlling cell signals. Mention of Pawson being honoured for winning the prestigious Kyoto Prize. Feb 18, 2009
Assunta Krehl

Daily Exchange - 0 views

  • On June 9-11, 2009, the Martin Prosperity Institute, in partnership with the Ontario Ministry of Culture, and the City of Toronto - Economic Development, Culture & Tourism Division, will be hosting the inaugural Placing Creativity Conference at the MaRS Centre, 101 College Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
  • The Conference brings together diverse stakeholders from government, the private sector and the academic world to explore the importance of mapping culture in relation to creative spaces and places.
  • "The mission of Placing Creativity is to advance the understanding and practice of cultural resource mapping by developing reusable maps that showcase the cultural sector in Toronto and that can be shared with other jurisdictions and groups," said Kevin Stolarick, Research Director, The Martin Prosperity Institute.
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  • The conference, featuring international speakers such as Richard Lloyd of Vanderbilt University, will investigate cultural mapping from a number of unique perspectives and disciplines, and will support the interaction of policy-makers, academics and new researchers. Richard is author of "Neo-Bohemia: Art and Commerce in the Postindustrial City". Other Speakers include British-based cultural policy expert Colin Mercer. The conference is an extension of the Placing Creativity partnership which investigates the interconnection between 'Place' and 'Creativity' through a number of different lenses.
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    The Martin Prosperity Institute, in partnership with the Ontario Ministry of Culture, and the City of Toronto - Economic Development, Culture & Tourism Division, will be hosting the inaugural Placing Creativity Conference at MaRS June 9-11, 2009. The conference will look at the interconnection between 'Place' and 'Creativity' through a number of different lenses.
Assunta Krehl

Kicking out the jams - The Star - 0 views

  • In November, Skymeter moved into the incubator at the MaRS Centre, where marketing expert Peter Evans has become their mentor and godfather. "Being surrounded by other entrepreneurs is inspiring and enlightening," Hassan says. "MaRS is an amazing place, with excellent speakers and events that are open to the public."
  • The father of Skymeter Corp. – which developed a BlackBerry-sized device that uses GPS signals; placed in vehicles, it meters the use of roads, parking and pay-as-you-drive insurance
  • Skymeter's black box will be attached to the windshield of cars so the box has a clear view of the sky. (Grush has figured out how to cope with tall buildings blocking signals.) The box contains a GPS receiver, some memory, a processor and a telecommunications chip. The satellite beams down to the earth, the GPS receiver computes where it is and uploads its history to a data centre to generate the bill. The vehicle measures its own use; the bill is itemized like a cellphone bill. If you prepay, the bill can be calculated on board.
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  • But the next steps – getting the Skymeter vehicle location billing system tested in Europe, the U.S. and Canada – are crucial to the realization of Grush's entrepreneurial dreams.
  • pay-as-you-drive insurance. He spent two years driving around, collecting data, writing a little software.
  • Another person at the Innovation Centre offered to "take me in and help write a business plan – for a 40 per cent stake in the business," Grush says. "Fortunately, I found Kamal."
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    As stated in the Toronto Star, "Skymeter Corp., a MaRS Tenant has developed a BlackBerry-sized device that uses GPS signals; placed in vehicles, it meters the use of roads, parking and pay-as-you-drive insurance. Skymeter's goal is to put a dent in urban traffic congestion."
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    As stated in the Toronto Star, "Skymeter Corp., a MaRS Tenant has developed a BlackBerry-sized device that uses GPS signals; placed in vehicles, it meters the use of roads, parking and pay-as-you-drive insurance. Skymeter's goal is to put a dent in urban traffic congestion." Feb 19, 2007
Assunta Krehl

MaRS makes its first foray into the cleantech spotlight - Cleantech Group - 0 views

  • Five cleantech companies receive support at the Cleantech Forum in Boston from Canadian incubation and innovation center MaRS.
  • Alternative Fuels was just one of a lineup of early-stage startups being supported by MaRS, a nonprofit innovation center in Toronto’s downtown Discovery District that connects entrepreneurs with business skills, networks and capital to stimulate innovation and grow Canadian companies.
  • This week’s forum marked the organization’s first foray into the cleantech sector, said MaRS Venture Group Associate Kevin Downing. Downing said he wanted to connect cleantech-related companies in the MaRS portfolio that were “investment ready” with the forum’s audience. “I don’t have a motive to push any one client over any other because they’re not paying me,” Downing said. Of the 1,300 MaRS portfolio companies, he said the cleantech sector has been its fastest growing segment and an expanding sector in country as well (see Canadian cleantech looks to the future and IPO drought? Cleantech companies flood Canadian markets). Since 2006, cleantech and environmental technology companies have made up 9 percent of MaRS' portfolio. MaRS currently has 350 active clients. The center isn’t government funded, but does receive some government support, he said. It has been funded through donations from the public and private sector. MaRS has the ability to provide some funding, around $40,000, to startups on a competitive basis. Other companies showcased at the forum through MaRS included NIMtech, Real Tech, Vicicog and Skymeter.
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  • This week’s forum marked the organization’s first foray into the cleantech sector, said MaRS Venture Group Associate Kevin Downing. Downing said he wanted to connect cleantech-related companies in the MaRS portfolio that were “investment ready” with the forum’s audience. “I don’t have a motive to push any one client over any other because they’re not paying me,” Downing said. Of the 1,300 MaRS portfolio companies, he said the cleantech sector has been its fastest growing segment and an expanding sector in country as well (see Canadian cleantech looks to the future and IPO drought? Cleantech companies flood Canadian markets). Since 2006, cleantech and environmental technology companies have made up 9 percent of MaRS' portfolio. MaRS currently has 350 active clients. The center isn’t government funded, but does receive some government support, he said. It has been funded through donations from the public and private sector, as well as revenue from its mixed-use facility. MaRS has the ability to provide some funding, around $40,000, to startups on a competitive basis. Other companies showcased at the forum through MaRS included NIMtech, Real Tech, Vicicog and Skymeter.
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    Five cleantech companies received support at the Cleantech Forum in Boston from Canadian incubation and innovation center MaRS. Some of the companies showcased at the forum through MaRS included NIMtech, Real Tech, Vicicog and Skymeter. Sept 10, 2009
Assunta Krehl

Room for the Future - 0 views

  • 2009 Cleantech Issue
  • exclusive look at the continent’s greenest hotel: The Planet Traveler Hotel in Kensignton Market, Toronto.
  • The big talk by the cleantech lead at the MaRS Discovery District, and the man behind VCi Greenfunds and Green Bonds, is backed by bigger action. Rand’s latest project is what he claims to be “the continent’s greenest hotel”, which Corporate Knights first told you about in October 2008.
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  • Speaking to a full house at Toronto's MaRS Centre on July 9, 2009, Tom Rand explains why he has decided to focus on buildings in his approach to climate change. “Buildings are responsible in our large urban centres for between a half and three quarters of our carbon emissions. That’s a huge part of our footprint,” he says. “In terms of climate change, buildings are the lowest hanging fruit, as far as I can tell.”
  • Tom Rand’s talk Green or Green Wash? Lessons from Building North America’s Greenest Hotel in Toronto
  • According to Tom Rand, if you’re not talking low carbon, you’re greenwashing.
  • Tom Rand believes any building can and should achieve in the immediate future using sustainable technologies that already exist.  Moreover, he claims to have found a magic bullet, alleging that these carbon cuts can be made without spending a dime.
  • and has come a long way since then, transforming the Planet Traveler hostel into a kind of cleantech gallery. Utilizing solar-voltaic and solar-thermal heating, geo-exchange, 100% LED lighting, and a wastewater heat re-capturing unit called the Powerpipe, it boasts a rich collection of renewables. It also seeks to educate. The geo-exchanger and Powerpipe are featured behind a glass wall in the basement, and the rooftop mezzanine bar offers a full view of the solar panels in the foreground of Toronto’s skyline.
  • Rand had to look to an adjacent alley to bury the pipe.
  • Rand, a carbon tax, widespread education campaigns, and third party support for green infrastructure via green bonds or a geo-utility are sure-fire ways “to build a cleantech economy in Canada without spending a dime.”
  • If any country wants to participate in the next economic revolution they had better start dealing with clean-tech and they had better start dealing with it quickly.”
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    An exclusive look at the continent's greenest hotel: The Planet Traveler Hotel in Kensignton Market, Toronto. Tom Rand talks about Cleantech and the lessons he has learned from Building North America's Greenest Hotel in Toronto
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    An exclusive look at the continent's greenest hotel: The Planet Traveler Hotel in Kensignton Market, Toronto. Tom Rand talks about Cleantech and the lessons he has learned from Building North America's Greenest Hotel in Toronto.
Sarah Hickman

MaRS Discovery District - Recommended Resources - Global Market Reports - VHA Research ... - 0 views

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    "The United States spends more on health care-related research and development than any other country. In 2003, it was estimated that the Federal government alone spent over $26 billion. Pharmaceutical companies, device manufacturers and other private companies invested over $10 billion more. At its best, the American health care system is capable of delivering care unsurpassed anywhere else in the world. Yet, a 1999 Institute of Medicine study estimated that as many as 98,000 Americans die each year from hospital related medical errors. A recent study by the Rand Corporation (a non-profit think tank) concluded that less than 50 percent of encounters with doctors and hospitals resulted in optimal, evidence-based treatment. Studies show that as many as 42 million Americans - almost 15 percent of the population - lack health care insurance. Surveys reveal that patients do not feel they have adequate information about their conditions, and that their experience with health care ranks below that of most other sectors, in fact below that of the post office. In the aggregate, the country is spending nearly $2 trillion on health care, and yet the nation's health care system does not meet acceptable thresholds for safety, quality, access or cost. In 2005, VHA Health Foundation's board of directors sought to better understand the reasons behind this paradox. The foundation commissioned Larry Keeley and his associates at Doblin Inc. to apply the rigorous analytical methods that are used in their evaluation of other American industries and companies. The project set out to discover when, where and how innovation was taking place in health care. It also sought to identify organizations that were developing model innovation processes, and to explore where opportunities for successful innovation might lay."
Assunta Krehl

The business side to good health - The Star - 0 views

  • The Ivey Centre for Health Innovation and Leadership was launched this year with a $5-million push from the Canadian government. The latest Ivey initiative has the goal of bringing students together with experts from the science and business sectors, with the ultimate goal of better identifying and commercializing health technologies.Dr. Kellie Leitch, a Hospital for Sick Children orthopedic surgeon, is the first executive director of the centre, which is based at Western.
  • She is sitting in the basement of MaRS, a scientific hub of activity in downtown Toronto where labs, business and major Toronto teaching hospitals are brought together under one roof.
  • The Ivey centre will focus on giving the educational capability to our students so they become really well educated in innovation and commercialization, so we can keep things here at home in Canada and grow those products."
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  • A good example of where both business and health-care expertise is needed is at Crown agencies such as eHealth Ontario.
  • The new Ivey centre builds on a partnership with the London Health Sciences Centre and the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry
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    The Ivey Centre for Health Innovation and Leadership was launched in 2009. The goal of this initiative is to bring students together together with experts from the science and business sectors, with the ultimate goal of better identifying and commercializing health technologies.Dr. Kellie Leitch, a Hospital for Sick Children orthopedic surgeon, is the first executive director of the centre, which is based at Western. Sept 10, 2009
Assunta Krehl

Science City - The Globe and Mail - 0 views

  • This is Toronto's research district, a maze of concrete and glass where the finest minds collaborate, turning the city into a global centre of biomedical discovery.
  • Nine research institutes employing 5,000 university faculty members, 2,000 graduate students and 1,100 postdoctoral and clinical fellows lie within a 20-minute walk of each other. This biomedical cluster at the heart of Toronto is one of the largest on the continent, and is one of the 10 largest in the world.
  • Tom Hudson from Montreal; cell biologist Ben Neel from Boston; and stem-cell biologist Gordon Keller, who came to Toronto in 2006, just months after New York magazine named him one of the scientists that city could not afford to lose. Toronto is also home to Tak Mak, who discovered the "key to the immune system" T-cell receptor, and John Dick, who discovered the first cancer stem cell in 1994 and last year grew a human cancer in a lab mouse for the first time.
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  • "There's an enthusiasm in the research community that's very exciting to be part of," says Dr. Keller, who now heads the McEwan Centre for Regenerative Medicine.
  • Dr. Hudson, who left Quebec to head the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, says the city's "tremendous power" is built on a strong history: Stem-cell research began here. "It's innovative," he says of Toronto. "I've never felt closer in my research career to thinking we will have an impact. I feel my goals are going to happen here."
  • Still, John Evans, board chairman of the non-profit MaRS Centre, which helps to turn research into viable businesses, envisages a day when research is seen as a social and economic driver, and the city shines as brightly as better-known centres such as Boston and Palo Alto.
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    Tenille Bonoguore, Globe and Mail features the MaRS Centre and meets 12 of its' "best specimens." MaRS is one of the 10 largest biomedical clusters in the continent.
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    Tenille Bonoguore, Globe and Mail features the MaRS Centre and meets 12 of its' "best specimens." Bonoguore states "MaRS Centre is one of the 10 largest biomedical clusters in the continent." Jan 5, 2008
Sarah Hickman

Open Source Business Resource - 0 views

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    The OSBR examines the issues relevant to the development and commercialization of open source assets. The intent is for the OSBR to: * help create the right environment for companies to commercialize goods and services based on open source assets * remove barriers to the commercialization of open source assets * surface the open source related activity that is going on in companies, universities and governments and knits it together as a cohesive story that we can take to the world * evolve to satisfy the needs of companies that use open source to compete Initially, the scope of the OSBR will be the province of Ontario, then Canada, and eventually the world.
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.
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