Research and Innovation : Innovation + Job News

Last month, the provincial government announced almost $7.6 million in research grants to support Toronto hospitals and schools. "I am proud of the tremendous talent we have in Toronto -- a research powerhouse in Ontario," Glen Murrary, minister of research and innovation said in his announcement. "Our government is helping them make discoveries that will lead to new companies and jobs, while ensuring a better quality of life for Ontarians and people around the world."

Twenty-seven different research projects at The University of Toronto and Ryerson University will receive grants under the Research Infrastructure Program. Meanwhile 22 individual researchers at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, St. Michael's Hospital, the Hospital for Sick Children and the University of Toronto will get funding to hire research staff under the Early Researcher Awards program.

Among the Toronto projects in the Research Infrastructure Program (see full list here), Dr. Derick Rousseau will receive $264,401 in support of his research developing "nutraceuticals" -- foods with health or medical benefits -- and a team at U of T led by Dr. Irene Andrulis, Dr. Carol Swallow and Dr. Jay Wunder will get $390,188 in support of research that could lead to cancer diagnostic and therapeutic innovations.

A list of the medical researchers being supported through hospitals is available here.

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Office of Glen Murray, Ontario Minister of Research and Innovation

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Earlier this summer, Markham-based electronic medical records innovator Nightingale was named 10th on PROFIT magazine's annual list of the fastest-growing companies in Canada. Last month, as the company reported its first-quarter results for fiscal 2011, the pace of growth showed no signs of slowing.

"Fiscal 2011 is off to an encouraging start, with more than 200 emergency medical records (EMR) seats sold across Canada in Q1, compared to only eight seats sold in Q1 of last year," said Sam Chebib, President and CEO, Nightingale. He attributed the sales increase to government funding encouraging doctors to adopt the healthcare innovation of EMRs.

The company also recorded its highest quarterly gross profit -- up 80 per cent year-over year since the year before.

Nightingale is hiring for seven positions now in the GTA, in order to achieve Chebibs stated goal for the year ahead of rapidly increasing sales and revenues.

Writer: Edward Keenan    
Source: Michael Ford, CFO, Nightingale Informatix Corporation

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Leaside-based boutique tech advisory firm Project X has announced a partnership with business intelligence software provider Microstrategy that should help the company grow its global business base.

"By working closely with MicroStrategy, we're bringing robust business intelligence technology to our clients of all sizes," said Project X President Stephen Hayward "With our rapid results methodology and the MicroStrategy business intelligence technology, we can deploy business intelligence projects big or small."

Hayward founded Project X in 2005 with Graham Boundy, and has since grown to provide a broad range of business intelligence, data warehousing and other technological and business consulting services.

Last week the company introduced its latest product, a carbon footprint application that allows companies to visualize their carbon data to better analyze their sustainability plans. Hayward says the software represents Project X's core mission. "We turn business intelligence into visuals so that critical information can be translated and actioned by our customers' stakeholders."

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Heather Kenney, Project X

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Three of Toronto's innovative technology companies will each receive $500,000 in funding from the province's Investment Accelerator fund, Toronto-area MPP Glen Murray announced last week. The fund is designed to support the launch of innovative companies in sectors considered important to the future of the province's economy, and is administered by MaRS Discovery District.

Combined, the three companies are expected to create 65 jobs over the next three years:

Geminare is a cloud-based server backup company that will use the funding to market its network to partners worldwide. MedCurrent is an online application company devoted to helping medical professionals improve workflow and decision making, especially in radiology, and will use the influx of cash to fuel growth. Receptor Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company devoted to developing anti-cancer therapies, say the funding should lead to further development.

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Linda Quattrin, Director of Communications, MaRS

Rypple, who as we reported last week is aiming to "change the world of work" through its social-media-style human workplace application, could change the world of a few people more directly: according to company head of marketing Jay Goldman, Rypple is hiring for three positions immediately and "will probably just continue to have positions open," for the next year and beyond. "As amazing people apply," Goldman says, "we'll just constantly see how they fit and how the timing is."

The company plans to ramp up rapidly, as noted in last week's feature, after the launch of the 2.0 version of its application and the recent opening of a San Francisco office. Goldman notes that in addition to having the energy and passion associated with start-up enterprises, the company has won awards as the most democratic workplace in the world and offers attractive benefits and perqs.

Goldman suggests interested parties apply using the "Apply Now" button on the website, "but if people have any questions, they can feel free to talk to us on Twitter or by email."

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Jay Goldman, Head of Marketing, Rypple

A panel discussion entitled "The Future of Media" at the Drake Hotel on September 8 will feature executives from Facebook Canada, the Globe and Mail, Polar Mobile and a founder of the MESH conference. The event will see discussion of how technology and the internet -- including social media and mobile devices -- are changing the landscape for traditional news media. The event is hosted by Toronto-based publication Digital Journal.

In the event's announcement, Steve MacFarlane of online ad sales organization Suite 66 says that the annual event has become a landmark of media innovation in Canada. "The Future of Media conference is emerging as a focal point in the discussion of how digital media continues to grow and evolve in response to new technology and consumer demand," he says.

The panelists, announced last week, are: Jordan Banks, managing director of Facebook Canada; Anjali Kapoor, managing editor of the Globe and Mail Digital; David Skok, senior producer of online content for Global News; Kunal Gupta, CEO of Polaris Mobile; and Mark Evans, a co-founder of the MESH conference.

Admission to the event is free and seating is on a first-come, first-served basis.

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Chris Hogg, CEO, Digital Journal

MiiToU (pronounced "me-to-you") is a unique new marketing service that will let people send personalized messages and gift cards by mobile phone. COO and co-founder Richard Meaney says the idea sprung form a desire to give a meaningful gift to people in far-away places -- a gift other than flowers.

"We just wanted to take the popularity of personalized messages, the explosion of the smartphone, and combine it with gift cards," he says.

Since beginning work in 2008, the company has grown to employ four full-time staff and six part-time sales people. As the company prepares to launch its app in time for this year's holiday season, they are ramping up staff. Meaney says the company is adding four full time developers and plans also to hire two more full-time sales people soon. By fall they plan to have 11 full-time staff.

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Richard Meaney, COO and co-founder, MiiToU

The greater Toronto area has seen an explosion of smartphone application developers. It is an area that offers unique opportunities to monetize digital content -- something that was notoriously difficult on the web.

Thornhill-based mobiroo has developed a patent-pending process to allow companies to brand popular applications and give them out as promotional gift cards for Blackberrys. Officially launched in January of this year, the company  is experienceing an encouraging repsonse, and is preparing to grow, expanding its service.

Mobiroo is currently hiring for three developer positions -- a Blackberry/Android Developer, an ASP.NET/C# Developer and a Web Portal Designer/Developer.

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: mobiroo

FreshBooks, a Toronto company that created an online billing system for freelancers and small businesses that's attracted millions of users in the seven years since its launch, is looking to add at least 15 staff to its team. (See Yonge Street's January profile of the company).

The company began as 2ndSite in 2003 by founders Mike McDerment and Joe Sawada, working out of McDerment's parents basement. They rebranded as FreshBooks in May 2006 and, by November of that year, had attracted 100,000 clients. Today they measure the number of users in the millions and have a team of more than 40 staff (many with eccentric titles such as "Chief Handshaker," "Support Rockstar," and "Server Monkey"). And they're preparing to grow again.

President and Founder Mike McDerment notes on his blog that at the business, "we've blown through many stages, and now we've come to another one." Currently the company is seeking to add 15 members to its staff in positions ranging from "Marketing Manager Dynamo" to "Technical Evangelist," to join a culture in which McDerment notes that he encourages his staff to be independent. "My new mantra: 'beg for forgiveness, don't ask for permission,'" he writes. "I don't want people asking me, 'here's what we are going to do, what do you think?' I want to shift the conversations to 'here's what we did,' so I can ask, 'what did you learn?.'"

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Mike McDerment, President and CEO, FreshBooks

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Ryerson undergraduate business student Lyubomir Halachev beat out submissions by PhD candidates and Master's students to win the prize for best student paper at the recent International Congress on Environmental Modelling Software held in Ottawa. His paper, co-authored with two other Ryerson researchers, provided a model to predict the financial viability of water-sector companies.

"The supply and distribution of water is vital everywhere. As a result it's important to identify in advance which water companies might experience financial trouble so that governments and industry can hopefully salvage them in time," Halachev said in a statement. He was inspired by the idea that given a possible coming water crisis, in which a majority of the world's population is expected to face water shortages within a generation, the economic stability of water-sector companies is of tremendous social and environmental concern.

After Halachev completed his initial research, he partnered with Ryerson engineering student Yashodan Athavale to develop the mathematical computer model for the project, and then with Ryerson Information Technology professor Aziz Guergachi, who supervised the research and co-authored the paper.

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Suelan Toye, Public Affairs, Ryerson University

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905-based Prollenium Medical Technologies has announced that it will again report strong year-over-year revenue and profit growth this year, after seeing 524 per cent revenue growth over the past five years. The pace of its growth has seen it ranked on PROFIT magazines list of the fastest-growing companies in Canada for four years running.

And it's growth plans appear to continue apace: in May, the company announced that it had been cleared to distribute it's Revanesse Dermal Fillers, bringing to 60 the number of countries in which the company's products are distributed. In addition, the company says it has recently completed a double-blind study that will lead to entry into the large US market.

Over the phone, a company employee says that plans are afoot to move the company into larger offices to accommodate expansion, and that the company will soon be launching a line of injectable pain relievers for sufferers of osteoarthritis. Other aesthetics products are in the company's pipeline.

Company VP Khasha Ighanian says the company is in the process of "leveraging the efforts of our strong R&D team with our ability to bring new products to market quickly," and that he is "optimistic about the next five years."

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Khasha Ighanian, VP, Prollenium Medical Technologies

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Last week, Interactive Ontario announced that Jordan Mechner, creator of the Prince of Persia video game and Hollywood film franchise, will be the keynote speaker at their upcoming Interactive Exchange conference.

"We're excited because he's a super-dynamic person and a huge success in making the cross-over from video games to film -- Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is the highest grossing video-game crossover film ever," says Danielle Engels, director of communications for Interactive Ontario. She adds that his presence creates a crossover between Interactive Exchange and the Toronto International Film Festival running in Toronto at the same time, which mirrors the convergence taking place in the industry.

The Interactive Exchange (formerly called ICE) is a conference dedicated to exchanging information through panel discussions and speeches for the interactive media industry, including video games, social media and mobile technology. It is run by Interactive Ontario, an organization whose mandate, according to Engels, is to drive the innovative interactivity industry in Ontario. This year's conference takes place at the Carlu September 12-14.

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Danielle Engels, Director of Communications, Interactive Ontario

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ArtBarrage.com co-founder Kelly McCray says that in his years working as co-director of the Edward Day Gallery, he's noticed that the purchase of art can be somewhat mystifying. "I've realized there's an intimidation factor -- you've got to walk into a gallery and perhaps you aren't sure of the language, you've got to talk to a dealer and maybe you aren't sure how to proceed." That was one of the factors he and partners RK Mann and Walter Willems hoped to address with the launch of their innovative new online contemporary art marketplace, which "soft" launched last week and will formally debut in September.

"We thought there should be a progression of the gallery-dealer model of art sales. This is a way for artists -- whether they're represented or not -- to get their work out to the worldwide marketplace, and for galleries and representatives to reach a broader audience as well."

The marquee feature of the site is the "barrage," where artists or representatives can post art for sale, initially free of charge. After the first month fees of less than $10 apply for posting, and the site takes a 17% per cent commission for work sold. Though the site is based in Toronto, the founders expect to host a global marketplace, and will conduct transactions in US dollars.

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Kelly McCray, Co-director/Curator, ArtBarrage.com

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In May, Ray Newal was one of the principle authors of an OCAD-published white paper that argued that Ontario could and should be a leader in the global wireless industry, but was falling behind -- and offered recommendations for addressing the situation. However Jigsee, the Toronto-based company of which Ray Newal is co-founder and CEO, is doing its part to help secure Toronto's leadership in the global industry.

Last week MaRS, where Jigsee is based, announced that the company had secured angel funding to commercialize and deploy its proprietary mobile technology in India. That technology allows reliable delivery of video content over congested and low-bandwidth networks, as exist in developing countries. The technology would allow users on such a network to watch entire movies uninterrupted -- even if the signal comes and goes.

Jigsee already has a three-year contract with Mumbai-based Hungama Digital Media Entertainment, a toehold in a country where there are expected to be a billion mobile subscribers by 2014 and where the mobile value added services market is estimated to generate $2.7 billion this year. The company further plans to market its product in other developing nations around the world.

"One of Jigsee's competitive advantages in emerging markets is its ability to transform basic low-cost phones from simple calling gadgets into devices capable of receiving video of any length, whether it be live sporting events, educational courses or even Bollywood movies," says Newal in a statement.

The news of funding comes just a month after Jigsee was named to IDC's list of "Ten Canadian Mobile and Wireless Companies to Watch."

Writer: Edward Keenan
Sources:Gordon Jekubik, Jigsee; Linda Quattrin, MaRS

Four Toronto-area companies will be receiving a slice of $40 million in funding for the development of sustainable technologies, Sustainable Development Technology Canada announced earlier this month.

Among the recipients is Electrovaya, a Mississauga company that is developing batteries and battery systems for plug-in electric vehicles. Its project to develop a plug-in battery for use in hybrid vehicles, intended to be used in a test fleet of Chrysler pick-up trucks, received $5 million. In a release, Electrovaya CEO Sankar DasGupta noted that the battery is made using an innovative zero-emissions process.

Other Toronto-area companies receiving funds are: 3XR Inc, for an energy-efficient process to strip ammonia from wastewater to make fertilizer; InvoDane Engineering, for a gas pipeline inspection technology; and Lakeshore EMPC Two L.P., for an on-site treatment of brownfields contaminated by chlorinated organic solvents.

The projects were among 18 across the country to receive a total of $40 million in funding (a full list of projects is available here). The SDTC is an arms-length federal agency operating with a grant of $1.05 billion to fund innovative green technologies. In announcing the projects, SDTC Chairman Juergen Puetter noted that the companies funded "create jobs, provide Canada a technological edge and contribute to improving the quality of Canada's air, water and soil."

Writer: Edward Keenan
Sources: Patrice Breton, Director, Communications, SDTC; Electrovaya Inc.

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