Downtown Eastside - Old Town - Corktown : Innovation + Job News

The Ryerson University DMZ—short for Digital Media Zone—launched in the spring of 2010 to incubate new, innovative businesses from Ryerson students and alumni. Less than two years and 39 startups later, the incubator is growing.

This spring, it will open a new 5,400 square-foot space in the basement of the building it occupies at 10 Dundas Street East, bringing its total space to about 15,800 square feet.

"With the addition of the new space, the Zone will be able to accommodate about 50 new innovators," says DMZ media representative Lauren Schneider.

Schneider says that the Zone's successes so far—including noteworthy startups 500px, Shape Collage and Teamsave—have seen seven companies "graduate" to their own office spaces and have created 357 new jobs, plus 48 direct jobs supporting the Zone at Ryerson.

The growth, Schneider says, builds on the DMZ's mandate. "The Digital Media Zone will continue to play a key role in Toronto’s new digital economy by fostering young innovators... to help keep the world’s best talent here and contributing to our economy."

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Lauren Schneider, Media Relations, Ryerson DMZ

For 20 years, the non-profit group Evergreen has been working on its mandate to bring nature into cities. Their efforts gained their most visible expression over the past few years at the Brick Works, a reclaimed industrial site in the Don Valley that serves as a natural conservation area and educational centre, as well as home to a farmers' market. The focus has been very local. But lately the organization has been thinking much bigger, looking closely at "larger global sustainability issues related to cities," says Evergreen public relations manager Anthony Westenberg. That includes issues ranging from food supply and water use to building construction and land use.
 
In order to further the climate of green urban innovation—here and around the world—Evergreen opened the Centre for Green Cities last year at the Brick Works, which Westenberg describes as a sort of "MaRS for Sustainability." The centre serves as a place for entrepreneurs and researchers to showcase their work and connect with each other. They aim to study the best urban sustainability practices from around the world and to support and export the best innovations from Canada.
 
In the wake of all this activity, the Centre for Green Cities has just launched a website to share knowledge and information at cgc.evergreen.ca. Staff are beginning to populate the site now (one of the first links posted was to a piece by yours truly). They've also started a series profiling innovative individuals and organizations, starting with electric car company Better Place, which Yonge Street covered last year, and lighting technology company Fifth Light Technology.
 
Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Anthony Westenberg, Public Relations Manager, Evergreen

GO Transit, the Ontario-government-run regional transit network in the GTA, launched a new mobile application, GO Mobile, on Nov. 10.

The application for iPhones, Blackberrys and Android-enabled smartphones allows riders to view schedules, receive alerts and personalize information. In a release announcing the application, GO VP Mary Proc said the initiative should enhance customer service.

"We're very excited to offer our passengers the ability to access GO schedule information right in the palm of their hands," stated Proc.

Behind the scenes, the application represents a significant achievement not just for the transit service, but for Ryerson University's Digital Media Zone (DMZ), an 18-month-old innovation and business incubator at the downtown University. Six Ryerson students and one recent graduate collaborated to build the application for GO.

School representatives say this represents an evolution in the university classroom experience, with students getting hands-on, real-life experience dealing with projects for real-world clients. Stephen Johns, a computer-science grad who worked on the project said in a statement, "GO Transit was an ideal partner for our group as they were committed to experiential learning and developing a great, knowledge-based transit application."

Writer: Edward Keenan
Sources: Michael Forbes, Ryerson Digital Media Zone; Vanessa Thomas, GO Transit

Earlier this year, the Toronto-based photo-sharing platform 500px was a two-person, home-based, self-financed operation. It had been that way since 2003, when it launched on the former blogging giant Livejournal, and remained that way as it slowly grew in popularity after it migrated to its current site on the web in 2009. The site allows users to share photos and to create galleries and portfolios. But when the number of the site's users suddenly grew by 60 per cent this spring to 85,000, 500px jumped into another league.

An announcement of $525,000 in venture capital financing in early June and a move to office space at Ryerson's Digital Media Zone drew notice, and soon 500px rose to the top of the TechVibes list of Toronto's hottest startups (seventh on the Canada-wide list). As reported recently in the Globe and Mail, the company's growth had been on the verge of sinking it. With the new funding, it instead seems to be rising fast.

This summer, the startup has grown from the original two founders to a staff off eight, and they are currently hiring two more developers now, as they look for new office space.

Writer: Edward Keenan
Sources: Evgeny Tchebotarev and Oleg Gutsol, fournders, 500px; The Globe and Mail, TechVibes, TechCrunch

Since its opening as a sustainability showcase in 2009, the the 12-acre Evergreen Brickworks has gone from being an abandoned industrial area to becoming one of Toronto's most treasured sites and, according to National Geographic magazine, one of the world's top 10 ecotourism attractions (drawing about 400,000 visitors a year). Last week the facility embarked on the next step in its progress when it drew a $4.75 million investment from the provincial government to embark on a new Sustainable Cities Network initiative.

Evergreen Executive Director Geoff Cape says that the project, which will draw private funding for a total budget of about $15 million, will tie together the parallel agendas of the Brickworks. "We've always thought we needed to be a critical venue for Toronto to explore big ideas for the future of our city and also to be an international venue for showcasing best practices and innovations for green cities around the globe," he says.

The new project will work to further those two missions by being a testing and demonstration ground for a host of new green technologies over the next five years, while also hosting "thought leaders" for conferences and workshops, and will host the 2010 Transportation Expo.

Cape says the project will create a good number of jobs directly, but will have an even bigger impact for the region. "For the regional economy, the development of the sustainable green economy will create tens of thousands of jobs, at least."

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Geoff Cape, Executive Director, Evergreen Brickworks

In September 2009, sports fan Jesse S. Moeinifar was listening to a radio talk show debate an essential boxing question: Mike Tyson or Muhammed Ali? "I tried calling in to share my opinion, and I was put on hold for 45 minutes, then nothing. I decided to put together a company that meets the challenge of communication between news organizations and their consumers."

The result, Viafoura, was incubated at MaRS and recently moved into Ryerson's DMZ. Moeinifar says the coding took some time to perfect,but his product--a user engagement platform that allows users to interact with content providers through video, text and video debate--has recently gained notice for its innovation. After launching at the prestigious DEMO conference in California, Viafoura gained notice in the New York Times, among other publications (you can see their launch presentation here).

"Before we even got off the stage, we had six emails from news organizations around the world interested in our product," Moeinifar says. And the momentum continues to grow. After adding a staffer this spring, the company (now three employees strong) recently won the Canada 3.0 pitch-off competition.

The next step? "It pretty much comes down to getting the product out there," Moeinifar says. "Having the product really speaks for itself."

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Jesse S. Moeinifar, Founder and CEO, Viafoura

In a report released last week called Toronto: Canada's High Tech Hub (PDF), the city's Economic Development and Culture staff reported that Toronto remains Canada's digital innovation capital, home to 30% of the country's ICT sector. The report singled out one small startup headquartered at Ryerson University's Digital Media Zone incubator as an example of the exciting activity taking place: HitSend Inc, makers of Soapbox.

Soapbox, the first application developed by HitSend, aims to give people in specific communities or networks (companies, for example) a platform to put forward ideas, debate them and vote on them. Founded by Ryerson students Brennan McEachran, Graham McCarthy and recent graduate Ayu Er, the company launched Soapbox in October of last year. Already it has added a fourth staff member, a sales and marketing representative.

Brennan says the products soft launch has been very successful. "In Vancouver, a company site we set up had 900 users within three days, and their page had 14,000 interactions. Within a week their largest competitor called us to set up a page of their own."

HitSend is preparing for a more widespread launch of SoabBox in July of this year.

Writer: Edward Keenan
Sources: Brennan McEachran, HitSend; Heather Kearney, Ryerson Digital Media Zone; Shane Gerard, City of Toronto



 

Yanina Chevtchouk is a full-time Ryerson business student. She's also the owner and CEO of the fashion design label Paria Lambina Inc, headquartered here in Toronto. That combination of traits has earned her an award from the organization Advancing Canadian Entrepreneurship as the 2011 Ontario Student Entrepreneur Champion.

She says that being a full-time student and running a business at the same time gives her the opportunity to put her learning into practice immediately. "It has its ups and downs, but I think the benefits outweight the drawbacks."

The recognition comes with a cheque for $1,000 and the chance to move on to the national-level competition, where the prize is $10,000 cash. But Chevtchouk, says the opportunity to network and "receive feedback from top executives" that could improve her business as the real benefits of the citation.

Founded last year, Paria Lambina debuted a collection at Montreal Fashion Week in the Fall, earning writeups from sweetspot.ca, Canoe.ca and Flare magazine. She's preparing for bigger stages yet--next up is Toronto Alternative Fashion Week.

Chevtchouk says that it's an interesting time to be in the fashion industry in Toronto. "It's definitely an interesting place given the number of US retailers that are coming here. It's an exciting time."

Writer: Edward Keenan
Sources: Yanina Chevtchouk, Paria Lambina; Jaime Szegvary, ACE

The Canadian Innovation Exchange (CIX) recently announced the companies selected to participate in its inaugural Technology Accelerator program (which we wrote about here). Among the three selected to win three months of rent-free residence at the famed Plug and Play Tech Center in Silicon Valley was Toronto's Fuse Powered Inc.

The game developer specializes in creating applications for branded content supplier clients--so far, for example, they have developed games for the movies Jaws and Dawn of the Dead. CEO Jon Walsh says the company was originally founded in 2009 and headquartered in Old Toronto as an independent game developer, but the company has shifted recently--launching its rebranding just last month--to focus on mobile publishing and providing services to outside clients.

Walsh says that for his company, the opportunity to be in California where both the game development industry and the entertainment clients he hopes to work with are headquartered is excellent. "It's really gonna accelerate our progress," he says. And that progress is already gaining momentum: Walsh says the company has grown in the past year to seven employees, and after closing a second round of seed funding in the near future, he expects to double the size of his staff.

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Jon Walsh, CEO, Fuse Powered Inc.

The California-based company Better Place, who promote the use of electric vehicles, officially opened their Toronto operations earlier this month.  As of March 4, the company is operating a electric vehicle demonstration centre at Toronto's Evergreen Brick Works in the Don Valley just east of Rosedale, where members of the general public can learn more about electric vehicles and see a sample of a charging station.

The project, which received $1 million in funding form the provincial government, also includes eight GTA charging stations that will mostly serve participating corporate partners for now, located in Barrie, Toronto, Bowmanville, Markham, Vaughan and Ajax.

Better Place's North American VP, Jason Wolf, says in a statement that this type of project is part of setting the stage for "mass adoption" as the first-generation of electric vehicles rolls off the assembly lines. "This project highlights some of the key building blocks to get there: government leadership; public education; and a smart network system that scales and delivers benefits to the grid, rather than strains it." In addition to the provincial government, Better Places is working with the City of Toronto and regional utilities in the suburbs.

Writer: Edward Keenan
Sources: John Proctor, Better Place; Leigh-Ann Popek, office of the Minister of Economic Development

Late last month, the Ontario government approved five new solar installations for SunEdison across the province that total 31 new megawatts of projects. Two of the projects are located in the GTA -- 500 kW rooftop projects in Mississauga and Whitby.

Jason Gray, SunEdison's Canadian manager, says the recent approvals increase the company's total solar production (either completed or in the pipeline) in Ontario by a little more than one-third. Since arriving in Toronto in 2007, the company has quickly taken advantage of the province's Feed-in-Tariff program to grow.

Gray says that since each installation employs roughly 125 people at its peak of construction, the two GTA projects will create 250 construction jobs locally. But he points out that the job benefits in the GTA are greater than that. "This really reinforces our relationships with suppliers that we've set up," he says, "and sustains the manufacturing jobs we've set up here." He points specifically to the arrangements SunEdison signed last year with auto parts manufacturer Samco to provide racking equipment (creating 60 jobs) and with Newmarket's Flextronics to supply the panels (creating 100 jobs).

Gray says, "this points to the continued success of the FIT program to create a solar industry here in Ontario, in that it reinforces the manufacturing investments we've made in the province."

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Jason Gray, Canada Country Manager, SunEdison

Wallace Wireless, a software developer who makes applications for mobile phones that serve businesses in their communications needs, was established in 2001 and has since developed several significant products for Blackberrys and other devices that specifically serve the medical industry.

The WIC Pager, for example, allows Blackberry phones to replace the pagers so beloved by hospitals; it's database, forms and continuity products are also niche targeted at healthcare-industry clients. So the news that US-based healthcare communications giant Vocera has acquired Wallace Wireless makes intuitive sense. "Ineffective, incomplete and inaccurate communication is a daunting challenge for care givers striving to provide the highest possible care," says Vocera CEO Bob Zollars, noting that the acquisition of Wallace Wireless "strengthens our portfolio of products and services that analyze, eliminate or mitigate these communication failure points."

Rob Moffat, president of Wallace Wireless, meanwhile says that "Bringing our companies together creates enormous potential for improving the seamless delivery of alarms, alerts and pages." Moffat says, "We could not have selected a partner with a strategic vision that is better aligned with ours."

For the local Toronto business community, it is reassuring to hear via Mike Middleton of Q1 Capital Partners, who brokered the deal, that Vocera intends to keep the Wallace management team in place here in Toronto, and to establish its office as the Canadian sales division of Vocera, suggesting that increased growth could be on the way for the office near Jarvis and Front.

Writer: Edward Keenan
Sources: Victoria Holl, Vocera Communications; Mile Middleton, Q1 Capital Partners

The City of Toronto and its partners at Green Living Enterprises announced a call for nominations last week for the 2011 Green Toronto Awards, which aim to inspire and recognize environmental success. The awards give $5,000 and bragging rights to those who are "leading the way to a greener Toronto" in 10 categories (Green Home, Green Business, Local Food, Community Projects, Energy Conservation, Environmental Awareness, Green Design, Leadership, Water Efficiency and Youth Leadership).

Behind the awards, of course, is Green Living Enterprises, an environmental marketing and branding company that has been leading the way to a greener Canada since 2005. The company's story begins well before that, of course. It grew out of the environmental publishing program of its parent company, Key Publishers, who launched the EnviroGuide in 1999 in response to growing awareness of the importance of green issues. According to the company, the success of the guide led to establishing Green Living Enterprises as its own company. At the same time the Green Toronto Awards were launched and the name of the guide was changed to the Green Living Guide.

In 2007, the company launched the Green Living Show in Toronto, which has become the largest consumer environmental event in the country. All the while, the company has served a growing list of clients with their environmental programs, billing itself as one-stop shopping for environmental programming. Green Living Enterprises now claims to be the largest green marketing and branding firm in Canada.


Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Annette Borger, Green Living Enterprises

Ryerson University has received $750,000 in funding from the federal government to assist in developing partnerships to commercialize its innovative research. The money, granted under FedDev Ontario's Applied Research and Commercialization Initiative, will allow Ryerson's newly established Digital Media Zone to partner with small and medium-sized businesses in southern Ontario to move university-based innovations into the marketplace.

"Ryerson has a rich history in applied technology research," notes Carla Cassidy of the University Research and Innovation department. "By connecting our outstanding entrepreneurial students and faculty members with small and medium-sized enterprises... we can move digital innovations seemlessly from the lab to the marketplace."

The Applied Research and Commercialization Initiative was launched earlier this year -- as was reported here in April -- specifically to aid businesses and capitalize on academic applied research. So far, 22 grants have been given to schools from the $15 million fund, including seven to GTA programs.

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Heather Kearney, Ryerson University

SunEdison, one of the world's largest solar energy service providers, has had a quiet presence in Toronto since 2007. But VP and Canada Country Manager Jason Gray says that business has really taken off since Ontario's Feed-in-Tariff (FIT) program really started rolling last year. "We had two employees in Toronto, and we hired our third in November 2009." Gray says. "Since then we've grown to 35 employees."

The solar energy giant offers full-service operations, financing, installing and operating power plants. Gray says that the attractive pricing of Ontario's FIT program makes this a location that feeds a solar energy boom. "I travel quite a bit internationally, and Canada and especially Ontario are references that come up quite a bit," he says. "There's certainly an awareness out there that this location is growing as a solar energy leader."

In addition to its own hiring and growth (they are advertising nine open positions in Toronto now), Gray says that SunEdison's projects are creating local jobs through contractors. "We have three large-scale projects in development now that will employ about 150 people each in their construction," he says. Gray also points to SunEdison's deal with Samco Solar in Scarborough, officially launching this Friday, which will see the division of the local auto parts manufacturer produce racking equipment for SunEdison's Canadian projects.

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Jason Gray, VP and Canada Country Manager, SunEdison