In a lively event at the MaRS Discovery District in Toronto, media pros waxed on the changing media landscape and what it means to those who make and distribute content.

"Aging is the largest growing business in the world," says Jane Barratt, secretary-general of the Toronto-based International Federation on Ageing. "It's going to happen to all of us."

An exhibition on display recently at the MARS Centre hinted simply at what's possible today, and also how green architecture ranks among the most exciting now being produced. The show, Ecology. Design. Synergy., documented work done by Behnisch and Transsolar, a leading firm of German climate engineers

Minor caveats aside, it's hard to disagree with the central points of Prosperity, A Gold Medal Nation, the fourth chapter in Open Canada.

Brain fitness games are all the rage today with an aging population, but how do I tell which ones are best for helping me stay mentally sharp so I'm on top of my game at work?

Last summer, Toronto-based MaRS, a not-for-profit innovation centre, launched its "Angel" program with the help of Canaccord Genuity. A year later, there have been five Angel events and about half of the program's 15 members have received some form of funding.

UWindsor alumna and MaRS Innovation chair Mary Jo Haddad (BScN 1984) were among 74 new appointees to the Order of Canada; they will accept their insignia at a formal induction ceremony later.

"Toronto-based engineer and venture capitalist Tom Rand has come out with what I'd call the most important book of the year. Kick The Fossil Fuel Habit: 10 Clean Technologies to Save Our World is a flashy five-pound coffee table book available everywhere. Instead of photos of Renaissance art or horses, it features glossy spreads of giant solar farms, geothermal energy installations and state-of-the-art wind complexes. It's weirdly beautiful. Not because geothermal energy installations are gorgeous. It's thrilling to finally see so many potential solutions to the gravest and most intractable problems laid out so clearly."

Review of "Ecology.Design.Synergy: Green Architecture & New Ideas from Germany" exhibit, located in the MaRS Atrium from June 23 - July 11

A transcript from the fireside chat event, held at the MaRS Discovery District in Toronto, between National Post small business columnist Rick Spence and Tom Jenkins, executive chairman for Canada's largest software firm, Open Text.

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.

Dr. Rafi Hofstein, CEO of MaRS Innovation, was hired to get things done the entrepreneurial way: shrewdly, creatively and as quickly as possible. He's been given five years to turn the vast scientific talent clustered around University Avenue into the seeds of a vibrant biotechnology industry.

Panelist Robert Smith, chief technology consultant at MaRS Discovery District, said IT needs to contribute to the innovation paradigm within the organization.

Toronto is a globally competitive centre for groundbreaking basic and clinical research, with historical and current strengths in areas including new cancer therapeutics, stem cell research and development, genomics, bioinformatics, and the development of new diagnostic and therapeutic tools for every imaginable disease process.

The Ontario Genomics Institute (OGI) teamed up with Invitrogen Corporation, a California-based global leader in providing life sciences technology, recently to host Genome 2.0: New Frontiers in Epigenomics, a one-day symposium addressing epigenetic regulation of gene expression with a special focus on chromatin biology, DNA methylation, non-coding RNAs and technology development.

In Toronto, Ogilvy Renault and Miller Thomson, both associated with the city's MaRS innovation centre, offer legal services aimed at allowing clean technology companies to compete in the global marketplace.

Minor mention of Ecology. Design. Synergy. exhibit at MaRS.

Kevin Stolarick has a four-point plan to make Atlantic Canada grow. The research director of Toronto's Martin Prosperity Institute says his process is not an easy fix of the region's trend of so-called brain drain, but he can offer some lessons from his travels.

At Net Change Week, June 7 to 11 at MaRS, activists pushed the idea of using the mobile network effect in service of on-the-ground protests rather than for campaigns that exist purely on the web.

A local affordable condominium development partners with SiG@MaRS client Home Ownership Alternatives, a non-profit financial company that potential homebuyers on the edge of the market