MaRS, a Toronto-based, not-for-profit incubation center, is leading a delegation of five cleantech ventures at this week’s Cleantech Forum XXIII in Boston. The companies – all clients of MaRS advisory services – will showcase their products for the cleantech CEOs, investors, scientists and policy makers attending the east coast forum. “While cleantech is a relatively new sector for MaRS advisory services, it is fast catching up with our other core strengths in information technologies and life sciences,” said Tom Rand, a cleantech entrepreneur, author and investor who leads MaRS’ cleantech practice. “MaRS is establishing itself as a major deal-flow engine in the cleantech sector, with an emphasis on early-stage companies.”

Alternative Fuels

Nimtech

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.

The Caldwell Partners, Deloitte and National Post are pleased to announce the appointment of Gordon M. Nixon to Canada's Outstanding CEO of theYearTM Advisory Board for 2009.

Mr. Nixon is Chairman of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives, Chairman of MaRS Discovery District, and is on the Board of Directors of The Hospital for Sick Children, The International Monetary Conference, Catalyst Canada and is on the Advisory Board of Mercedes-Benz Canada.

MobileMonday Toronto, Toronto's premier networking event for mobile industry professionals, will be hosting its first annual MobileMonday Toronto Marketing Awards on Tuesday, September 8th, 2009The event recognizes Toronto area marketing professionals for their effort in helping grow the use of mobile as a marketing channel.

Since announcing the partnership with MaRS in February 2009, MobileMonday Toronto has experienced explosive growth with monthly attendance exceeding 250+ attendees and has received general appreciation for the chapter's approach to support all stakeholders within the mobile industry which includes telecom providers, device manufacturers, startups, venture capital and developers in addition to many industry verticals such as search, m-commerce, advertising, and media.

The first annual MobileMonday Toronto Marketing Awards will be held on Tuesday September 8th (due to Labour Day holiday) at MaRS Discovery District, located at 101 College Street (south east corner of College and University). The event starts at 6:30pm.

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.

Addictive Mobility and its Brisk iPhone campaign as the winner of the 2009 MobileMonday Toronto Marketing Award.

Mobile Media World 09 is one of the key anchor events of MOBILEINNOVATIONWEEK in Toronto September 12-16, 2009.

The September 8th award event was held at the MaRS Discovery District in downtown Toronto. Since announcing the partnership with MaRS in February 2009, MobileMonday Toronto has experienced explosive growth with monthly attendance exceeding 250+ attendees and has received general appreciation for the chapter's approach in supporting all stakeholders within the mobile industry which includes telecom providers, agencies, advertisers, device manufacturers, startups, venture capital and developers in addition to many industry verticals such as search, m-commerce, advertising, and media.

the Italian Trade Commission's annual cocktail reception at the MaRS Centre on College Street

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."

Benecaid has named Jonathan Graff to Co-President, a new role in which he will share senior executive responsibilities with Marla Schwartz, who has been Benecaid's President since 2005.

Benecaid is a health benefits administrator that provides cost-effective, customized plan management for small and medium-sized employers and the self-employed. Its innovative approach has resulted in revenue growth of nearly 5,000 per cent over the last five years. Benecaid was ranked in the top 10 of Profit 100's Fastest Growing Canadian Companies in 2009.

Is green, renewable energy a sexy enough topic to be the centrepiece of a coffee table book? Tom Rand, who leads cleantech development at Toronto’s MaRS Centre, believes so

a book that will expose a broader section of the population to the issues, technologies and opportunities around renewable energy. Rand has written a soon-to-be-released book called Kick The Fossil Fuel Habit: 10 Clean Technologies To Save Their World.

This is an accessible package, cleverly assembled and pleasant to look at, while at the same time making it enjoyable to learn about the technologies that, while seemingly “alternative” or “new” today, are destined to become a dominant and permanent way of energizing future generations and the economies that support them.

On September 8th, MobileMonday Toronto, Toronto's premier networking event for mobile industry professionals, will be hosting its first annual MobileMonday Toronto Marketing Awards. This event was set up to recognize Toronto area marketing professionals for their effort in helping grow the use of mobile as a marketing channel.

Since announcing the partnership with MaRS in February 2009, MobileMonday Toronto has experienced explosive growth with monthly attendance exceeding 250+ attendees and has received general appreciation for the chapter's approach to support all stakeholders within the mobile industry which includes telecom providers, device manufacturers, startups, venture capital and developers in addition to many industry verticals such as search, m-commerce, advertising, and media.

The first annual MobileMonday Toronto Marketing Awards will be held on Tuesday September 8th (due to Labour Day holiday) at MaRS Discovery District, located at 101 College Street (south east corner of College and University). The event starts at 6:30pm. To RSVP for this event, please visit www.mobilemondaytoronto.com.

U of T’s proposed investment in a medical research-business complex will take the school into another orbit. The first of its kind in Canada, the MaRS (Medical and Related Sciences) Discovery District will include facilities for start-up companies created to develop and market research discoveries. U of T will kick in $5 million for the not-for-profit corporation to be located on College Street, east of University Avenue.

Other successes of the past year include the creation of the MaRS Discovery District, a new centre on University Ave. that focuses on commercializing biomedical research, and the Toronto Waterfront Revitalization Corp., he said

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."