Central Waterfront : Innovation + Job News

"While nearly all high growth technology startups have historically emerged from no more than 3-4 startup ecosystems, namely Silicon Valley and Boston, this trend appears to have reached its end. Simultaneous with a global explosion of entrepreneurship has been an explosion in the rise of new startup ecosystems around the world, and a newfound maturity in others."

So begins a new report from the Startup Genome called the Startup Ecosystem Report (available for free online, though registration is required). And among those ecosystems that are currently flourishing: Toronto, which ranks the highest in Canada on the report's index, and eighth in the world. (Vancouver is right behind us in ninth; more surprisingly Waterloo is further behind, at sixteenth.)

All cities in the index are compared to Silicon Valley (which predictably is the benchmark first-place ecoysystem) across a variety of metrics. While we are similar to Silicon Valley in terms of our level of ambition, our technology adoption rates, our sector mix and mentorship support, one key area of difference, according to the report, is that "startups in Toronto receive 71% less funding than SV startups. The capital deficiency exists both before and after product market fit."

While that may sound like grim news, it actually provides a very useful roadmap for future growth. The report goes on to conclude that the current under-investment in Toronto-area startups "presents a large opportunity for investors. Moreover, "policy makers can help closing the funding gap by attracting late-stage venture funds through tax breaks and incentives, and investor-friendly policies."

Writer: Hamutal Dotan
Source: Startup Ecosystem Report

Last week Telus announced that it would be making major investments in Ontario over the next three years: $650 million, which would support the creation of more than 900 jobs. This week the company explained what that would mean for the GTA—and it's very good news. Of that Ontario investment, $280 million and more than 600 new jobs are coming to the Toronto region.

"The positions are to help keep up with increasing client demand for Telus services, as we bring the world's fastest wireless technology 4G LTE  to Ontario," Telus's Elisabeth Napolano told us. "We need more people to service those customers." This demand comes from mobile subscribers who are seeking to do more with and on their phones: web browsing, video streaming and the like. Wireless demand is exploding as customers become used to treating their phones as mobile computers, using correspondingly more data on the go.

4G is the latest iteration of mobile communications standards, which allows for high speed Internet access on mobile devices. (Specifically, according to Telus, this means peak download speeds of up to 75 megabits per second and an average of 1,225 megabits per second.) 4G is currently available in select cities across Ontario; the just-announced funding will beef up this coverage and expand its range—the goal is to have 95 per cent of Ontarians able to access the 4G network by the time Telus completes this round of upgrades in 2014.

Writer: Hamutal Dotan
Source: Elisabeth Napolano, Telus Media Relations

The Toronto-based gourmet café chain SPoT Coffee recently announced it had secured $250,000 in financing to fund its rapid expansion in Toronto and across Ontario and Western New York. The money will help with the opening of two new locations this summer, one in North York and one in Buffalo, according to the news release.

Director Alex Gress says the company, founded in 2004, currently has 10 locations either open or under construction, and expects to be announcing further locations soon. Gress estimates they employ more than 400 people.

The chain prides itself on building "community cafés that reflect the local surroundings and communities," Gress says. Each location has distinct artwork and seating to suit its particular environment and serve the area residents. The aim is to have each café be unique, Gress says, while also having a formula of sorts to ensure that the successful elements are replicable in new locations.

"Yes, there's a formula to replicate the uniqueness," Gress jokes.

In Toronto, where the company's world headquarters are located, Gress points to the Bremner Boulevard location near the CityPlace condo development and the soon-to-be-opened "Park Place" location in North York as examples of a successful partnership with developer Concord Adex.

"We essentially have a right of first refusal to lease prime locations in their developments," Gress says. And those are large developments. Gress says their North York location will be in an area expected to house 290,000 residents. Future possible locations with Concord Adex include the Concord Parade development near Bathurst and Lakeshore.

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Alex Gress, Director, SPoT Coffee

As recently reported by Yonge Street, work has now begun on the Athletes Village for the Pan Parapan American Games on the waterfront. The project is as much an employment story as it it a develoopment story. The construction, handled by EllisDon, will create 700 direct jobs, according to Infrastructure Ontario's Mandy Downes.

"Currently there are already 50 workers onsite," Downes says, "carpenters, engineers, supervisors and security. At the peak of construction, the project will employ 700 in construction." Those are just some of the 5,200 jobs the Ministry of Finance estimates the project will "create and support" directly and indirectly.

The Athletes Village will transform part of the waterfront, adding more than a thousand new residential units as well as a streetcar line and a residence for George Brown College after the games in 2015.

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Mandy Downes, Infrastructure Ontario

Waterfront Toronto announced last week that the residential condos it is building will feature ultra-high-speed fibre-optic internet service. The project will be the first residential connection by Toronto-based internet service provider Beanfield Metroconnect. "It's our first foray into residential service," says Beanfield president Dan Armstrong. "We've built quite a fibre optic network around the downtown core near the waterfront, but we've never had the critical mass to get into condominium buildings."

The service Beanfield offers will see download speeds about double what are possible through conventional providers such as Rogers and Bell, and upload speeds 50 times as fast. "What we're going to see is a significant shift in the way residents in this community use the internet," Armstrong says. While it may seem that such features would be attractive to many condo developers, Armstrong explains that typically service providers pay developers a "doorway fee" to be allowed to install their service into buildings at the construction phase. He says that while many condo boards might prefer the faster service Beanfield offers, the retroactive installation of fibre-optic cabling to every unit post-construction and occupancy is a significant hurdle. And since it is very expensive for Beanfield to install the service, it would be impractical for them to pay doorway fees.

So Waterfront Toronto exercised unique foresight in awarding the contract that will see this project offer premium service to residents. Armstrong says that his company plans to offer a support centre located in the waterfront community, staffed with people who will be available for onsite service. Armstrong says that while specific numbers are difficult to project, he expects to hire "dozens" of staff to fill new jobs on the project.

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Dan Armstrong, President and CEO, Beanfield Metroconnect

Toronto-based children's entertainment company Spin Master Ltd. has partnered with the Canadian Youth Business Foundation to launch a $500,000 Youth Innovation Fund that offers young entrepreneurs up to $50,000 in start-up financing, as well as mentorship support. In a prepared statement, Spin Master chairman and co-CEO Ronnen Harary said the fund was inspired by 2011 being the Year of the Entrepreneur, and that it was a chance for his company to "give back."

The focus on youth startups is appropriate for Spin Master, not just because they make products for children, but because the company got its start in 1994 when founders Harary, Anton Rabie and Ben Varadi were in university. They had $10,000 to launch a company, and began with an "Earth Buddy" novelty toy—a doll stuffed with seeds that grew living "hair" when watered. Since then, the company has launched dozens of other products for the children's market, opened offices around the world and hired more than 1,000 employees. It is the third-largest children's consumer products company in North America.

It also claims to be the fastest-growing such company, and that growth is evident locally. The company is currently hiring 16 employees for its Toronto office (more in Los Angeles and elsewhere).

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Harold Chizick, VP of Global Communications and Promotions, Spin Master Ltd.

Synaptop, a Toronto startup company based at the foot of Yonge Street, launched it's innovative cloud-computing operating system last month. "It's a virtual operating system built for the current times," says Sami Siddique, Synaptop's president and CEO. He says the system adjusts the focus of software to recognize how people really use the internet, allowing the collaborative and sharing functions of applications such as Facebook and Twitter to apply to every application. "You can follow anyone in any application. You can co-DJ, co-edit, co-browse with your friends."

Siddique, who has a background in computer science and healthcare applications (he did 3D research at the Princess Margaret Hospital) launched the company in 2007. He set out to build a "new entry point to the internet" that allows users to collaborate in work, education and entertainment. That vision was realized with last month's launch.

The product is in Beta mode now, and Siddique says the company plans to launch an assortment of new applications to go alongside the ones available at launch.

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Sami Siddique, Synaptop

John Mighton, founder of Toronto-based non-profit company JUMP math, says that in his youth he had trouble with mathematics. It was only in his twenties that, doing remedial high-school work, he found it somewhat easier. He wound up getting a doctorate in mathematics in his thirties.

At the time he was a playwright, and so he started tutoring math students to make extra money, he says, and found that students who had previously struggled could learn using his method, which breaks math down into smaller steps to ensure mastery at incremental levels, suddenly excelled. "I found it in myself. I'd always assume I had reached a limit when I came to something new and difficult," he says. "Later, I could teach a course on the material I struggled with."

His method, begun as a workbook-based tutoring system, is now slowly spreading throughout schools in Canada and England. Working with a skeletal staff of 10 in his Toronto office, a growing teacher network has enabled rapid growth in the company's business. "We'll train 2,000 teachers this year, and then they often train other teachers," Mighton says. "Building a teacher network is a very cost-effective method of expanding quickly."

Mighton says that now that a randomized controlled study conducted by Sick Kids' Hospital (noted recently in The New York Times) has demonstrated JUMP math can double a students learning growth over five months, the rate of expansion is expected to grow. "The economic and spiritual loss to our country through innumeracy in the population is vast," Mighton says. "And our program is cheaper than other programs. An investment from a corporate partner or a few large donors could in a very short time mean we could reach every school in the country. The gain to our economy and culture would be tremendous."

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: John Mighton, Founder, JUMP math

The Toronto Port Lands -- the site of heavy industry on the waterfront since the 1800s -- represents one of the largest soil remediation projects in the world. And rather than "digging and dumping," the standard practice for such sites, Waterfront Toronto has opted to attempt a massive soil recycling project on the spot.

It has partnered with international environmental consulting giants DEC and Tetra Tech on the Port Lands Pilot Soil Recycling Facility to test the effectiveness (and environmental soundness) of reusing the soil rather than dumping it. If it is successful, Waterfront Toronto President and CEO John Campbell says it could "change the way impacted soil is managed in Ontario."

Last week, the project was recognized with a technological innovation award at the prestigious Canadian Urban Institute Brownie Awards.

"We are very proud and honoured that the Canadian Urban Institute acknowledged our pilot soil recycling facility with a Brownie," said Campbell in a statement. "Soil recycling is an opportunity to turn contaminated soil into a resource instead of a liability."

The pilot testing, which began in September, should conclude this month. After review and assessment, the decontamination process is expected to take place over the next 10 to 20 years.

Writer: Edward Keenan

Source: Tari Stork, Project Communications Manager, Waterfront Toronto

A new park opened on the Toronto Waterfront this week will not only serve its neighbourhood as a public space; it also features an innovative underground UV treatment facility that will collect and treat stormwater from the surrounding area. The treated water will flow out through three "art features" in the park to form a river flowing back into Lake Ontario.

The design of the $30.6 million Sherbourne Common park has already won architectural awards. At the opening of the park, Councillor Pam McConnell was joined by provincial Minister of Innovation Glen Murray and federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty. All three politicians lauded the park, noting both the park's likely future as a destination on the waterfront and the jobs its construction has created.

In addition to green space and the innovative urban river, the park features a pond that will allow public skating during winter and an area for concerts and public gatherings. Waterfront Toronto Chair Mark Wilson noted it was the largest of three new parks opened on the waterfront in the past two months. "Today we are opening another must-see park on Toronto's waterfront," Wilson said. "By combining required municipal infrastructure with excellence in design, architecture and public art, Sherbourne Common offers a new model for city-builders nationwide and a fabulous year-round destination."

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Samantha Gileno, Waterfront Toronto