Innovation + Job News

Recently, the Twitter feed of Idee  Inc. founder Leila Boujnane read, "Reviewing resumes. Nice way to finish a working day." For many techies hungry to be on the cutting edge, reading those words would be a nice way to start the next phase of their working career. Idee, now hiring, is one of the most interesting and perhaps most unsung Toronto innovation success stories around.

"We are image search pioneers," says Boujnane. "Our image search innovations have been quite substantial. That said, it has not always resulted in immediate corporate acceptance. But that has been changing as we gain a better understanding of our potential clients' needs and how to introduce them to technology they have never seen before or even thought was possible."

Founded in 1999, the company works on visual search technology, and so far every picture technology it has created is worth a thousand words of praise. Piximilar can search for images that share attributes (colour, content, composition) with an image. PixID is a print image monitoring technology that can track the use of images to cut down on piracy. Most recently it introduced TinEye, a visual search engine that can take an image and find out where it's being used online -- even if it's been modified.

The company has attracted such high-profile clients as Adobe Photoshop, Associated Press and Getty Images. "We just landed eBay as a customer and that's a true testimonial to the capabilities of our image search technologies (and our team)," Boujnane says. "Suffice it to say that I am looking at increasing the size of my team by 50 per cent in the coming months, ideally before the year end."


Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Leila Boujnane, Co-founder and CEO, Idee Inc.

From the Mozilla internet browser to the Linux-based Red Hat operating system, open source software development has been one of the biggest technologies stories of the millennium. Along the way, Toronto's Seneca College has been an academic leader in teaching and research on the subject -- indeed, the school has worked with both companies mentioned above to get their students involved in innovating on real-world open-source projects.

Late last month, the federal government announced $2.3 million in funding over five years aimed at helping that research benefit local businesses by taking "innovations from the campus into the marketplace," in the words of the government. The funding is part of $15 million in grants announced under the federal government's Community Innovation Program -- Centennial College, another local school, was also among those receiving grants.

Although the number of jobs that could be created by the investment was unclear at this stage -- jobs will flow from businesses bringing innovations to market, which is a difficult process to predict -- employment was the driving motivation indicated by federal cabinet minister Gary Goodyear in announcing the grants. "Our government supports innovation because it creates jobs, improves the quality of life of Canadians and strengthens the economy," he said. "We are supporting this project at Seneca College to strengthen the competitiveness of ... businesses and enable young Canadians to prepare for the jobs of the future."

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Martine Perreault, Media and Public Affairs Officer, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada

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Students working at the Ryerson Digital Media Zone (DMZ) have developed an app for the Google Android that will revolutionize travel in the Paris Metro -- especially for those passengers with special needs such as vision and hearing loss.

The application, called "Mobile Transit Companion," will provide passengers on the Metro system with real-time updates and information contextualized to their location. Among its functions are service availability notices, elevator locations and other station navigation information and alerts from operators directly to the passengers. The app relies heavily on the visual, touch, sound and vibration capabilities of smartphones to serve passengers with various special needs. You can check out a video demonstration here.

According to a statement by Ryerson post-grad student and DMZ member Hossein Rahnama, the team that developed the application at the DMZ focused on passengers with special needs because they believed "those communities could really benefit from such applications, even though they are often not considered when [people are] developing apps." The DMZ is working on other, similar projects for airports and other transportation hubs, and is working with regional transit authority Metrolinx on a project for GO Transit to be launched in the fall. Plans also call for the application to be developed for other smartphones such as the Apple iPhone.

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Heather Kearney, Public Affairs Officer, Ryerson University

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The announcements about green jobs in Ontario just keep coming as the Feed-in-Tariff (FiT) program gears up. This week Siemens Canada announced that it would create 50 jobs at its Burlington manufacturing facility by getting into the solar energy market. The Canadian division of the large multinational energy and healthcare company will begin producing Photovoltaic (PV) inverters in Burlington. Production is to begin ramping up immediately, with the first inverters ready for delivery by November of this year.

The move takes advantage of a provision of the FiT legislation that requires local manufacturing and technology to be used in new solar installations under the program. "Siemens' goal is to help our customers setup Solar PV installations which meet the requirements of the Ontario government's recently announced FiT program," said Siemens VP Joris Myny in a statement.

The provincial government, for its part, hoped for just this sort of local-industry boosting when it put forward the legislation -- not just creating a new market for green energy in the province, but building Ontario as a major green energy industrial centre. "We welcome Siemens' investment, which will help Ontario companies meet domestic content requirements, a very important component in developing the solar industry here in the province," said Sandra Pupatello, provincial minister of economic development.

The FiT program pays producers who feed the electrical grid with renewable energy premium rate guarantees for 20 years.

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: DL Leslie, Director of Media Relations, Siemens Canada

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Most people know the organization Goodwill for its second-hand stores -- places where you can donate old clothes and household goods rather than landfilling them, and places where you can find bargains on used goods, too.

But for the 75 years of its existence, the charitable organization has been primarily in the business of employment -- it was created with a mandate to "create work opportunities and skills development for people facing serious barriers to employment." Those barriers, according to Goodwill's Toronto communications advisor Julia Dyck, can include lack of experience, youth, language barriers, disabilites and a host of other obstacles.

As it celebrates its diamond anniversary, the charity opened a new store and drive-through donation centre in Toronto this week in Etobicoke, at 871 Islington Avenue just south of the Queensway. The story will create 30 new jobs in the community.

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Julia Dyck, Advisor, Communications and External Relations, Goodwill Greater Toronto

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Using green power and chilled water to run critical data systems, and a heat recapture system that will increase efficiency and heat the community, are among the innovations announced by Bell Canada June 3 for its new "green data centre." The 50,000-square-foot facility, to be located in Markham, Ontario, will house thousands of data servers for the company's Business Markets division.

The innovative energy features are provided through a partnership with Markham District Energy. The new facility will "represent the state of the art in terms of both data hosting technology and environmental sustainability," St�phane Boisvert, president of Bell Business Markets, said in a statement. "Bell is eager to leverage MDE's highly efficient and fully redundant energy infrastructure to reduce Bell's energy footprint, while also providing unique opportunities such as capturing the significant heat generated by large-scale data centre operations for use in community heating."

Although a Bell Canada media relations spokesperson said that information about the number of employees who will work at the new facility is currently unavailable, the company is hiring in the Toronto area. According to its website, Bell Canada has at least 31 jobs listed as available in the GTA.

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Julie Smithers, Bell Media Relations

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Journeys, a Nashville-based teen fashion footwear and accessories retailer with 815 stores across the United States, has expanded into Canada, opening three stores in Toronto this spring.

"We are both excited and proud of our first few stores" in Canada, Robert Taylor, the company's senior VP, said by email. The first location, at Mapleview Shopping Centre in Burlington opened May 1, while locations at Square One in Mississauga and Fairview Mall in North York opened June 5. According to Taylor, the stores' staffing levels are still being adjusted, but he anticipates that "each store could employ up to 10 associates, more during peak seasons, including store managers, co-managers, full- and part-time positions, depending on each store's volume."

Taylor says the Journey's brand is "attitude you can wear." The retailer is part of Genesco Inc, owners of more than 2,270 retail stores across the continent.

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Robert D. Taylor, Senior Vice President Operations, Journeys

Got an Innovation & Job News tip? Email [email protected].

"Doesn't everyone want to design a bike?" asks David Chant, in explaining how he came to launch his boutique bicycle company Beater Bikes in the summer of 2009. The self-described "bike nerd" -- who owns an assortment of high end pedal-powered vehicles -- felt that there was a particular niche waiting to be filled. A quality bike built for city driving -- ready to go with fenders and chain guards -- that would ride well but be priced low enough that you "wouldn't have to worry about locking it up on the corner."

After a year or so of designing and learning the ins and outs of contracting manufacturing in Europe (and a two-month shipping delay in Amsterdam), his first shipment of bikes arrived late last summer. The ladies model sold out within months, and, as Chant says, "the bikes are flying out the door -- we even have a waiting list for the women's model." Is this success? "It's not bad for a one-man operation selling bikes out of an art gallery," he says.

Chant already has his eye on next spring, when he plans to launch a new and improved model. To that end, he's conducting a survey online right now to see what people are looking for in a bike. Chant says he sees Beater Bikes' future in "going a bit more international" -- doing most of his sales through e-commerce.

Still, as he speaks, it's clear he sees it as much as a calling as an empire-in-the-making. "I love bikes and I want more people in Toronto to ride them. Putting more bikes on the road is my form of advocacy."

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: David Chant, Owner, Beater Bikes

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A banking phenomenon sweeping North America over the past few years, known as "relational banking," "boutique banking" or, simply, "new concept" banking, relies on a seemingly simple innovation to the bank-branch experience: the human touch. Featuring open concept designs, more direct and informal contact with employees and better amenities (from coffee to toys to community spaces), the branches are intend to make people's relationships with their large multinational financial institutions a little more homely -- a model of warmth borrowed from retailers such as Starbucks and Chapters/Indigo.

TD Canada Trust introduced the first of its take on the concept with a branch in Brampton last fall, and opened a second in Windsor thereafter. Now what one TD manager calls "the future of retail banking" has arrived in downtown Toronto, with a branch opened June 4 at Yonge and Imperial Streets that features a community boardroom, a "community wall," a children's play area and a customer coffee lounge, among other comforts.

"We've received very positive feedback about the new concept branches we recently opened in Brampton and Windsor and we think they'll love it in Toronto too," branch manager John-David Di Rezze said in a release about the new 5,600-square-foot-location. "Our new open concept space ... tells customers as soon as they enter that this place is all about them."

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Tashlin Hirani, TD Canada Trust

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The holy grail of the international traffic industry is eliminating gridlock. With a technology that Wired magazine recently named as key to accomplishing that lofty goal, Toronto start-up Skymeter Corporation recently won the top prize for innovation at the prestigious Intertraffic Innovation Awards in Amsterdam.

The company's Skymeter product is a GPS-based road-use meter that is currently used in Winnipeg to bill drivers for parking (on a no-tag-necessary, by-the-minute system that eliminates the risk of parking tickets). Similar applications are in the works elsewhere, but the application of the technology that's really turning heads is its possible use for congestion charging: its GPS technology would allow accurate, hassle-free billing for different streets or zones at different times of day.

According to Skymeter CEO Kamal Hassan, the use of Skymeter for congestion charging has already been tested and proved effective (in a commissioned project for Cisco Korea. He says that such uses are among "about six groups in our pipeline" that are ready to place large orders.

The company was founded in 2006 -- the realization of an idea founder Bern Grush had after getting a parking ticket and wondering why his car wasn't smart enough to know when its time was up and feed the meter itself. Together with Hassan and company CTO Preet Khalsa, Grush developed a metering technology based on GPS that, according to Hassan, "takes readings from the car and turns them into financial transactions, while protecting the privacy of the driver." Since launching in 2006, the company has grown from the three founders to employ 12 people.

In addition to the contract in Winnipeg, Skymeter notably has an R&D contract with the European Union. Expecting large orders to begin coming in this year, the company is currently seeking financing to ramp up production.

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Kamal Hassan, CEO, Skymeter Corporation

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If you've seen the big windmill on the CNE grounds near the Gardiner Expressway, you're familiar with the work of the Toronto Renewable Energy Cooperative (TREC). The not-for-profit cooperative set up Windshare, the for-profit company that now owns and manages North America's first urban wind turbine.

Now TREC has announced a new initiative, SolarShare, one of six projects it currently has in development. SolarShare follows the same business model as Windshare did -- as TREC Executive Director Judy Lipp puts it, her organization's mandate is to "enable Ontarians to become not just consumers of green energy, but to invest in it." It does so by acting as an incubator for renewable energy cooperative companies that finance the building of a project and then derive revenue from it.

TREC has seen business grow since its launch in 1998, but has especially felt a boost since the announcement of the provincial government's Feed-In Tariff program two years ago. As a measure that growth, Lipp points out that the cooperative has gone from 1.5 staff members to 10 employees in the past two years.

Lipp expects the first of SolarShare's projects to be up and running by the end of 2010. Currently, TREC is scouting a suitable location for a Toronto solar farm (a hoped-for site at the CNE recently fell through due to details of provincial regulations). Once a suitable location is identified, she says, raising capital and beginning building should take less than a few months.

Author: Edward Keenan
Source: Judy Lipp, Executive Director, Toronto Renewable Energy Cooperative

Got an Innovation & Job News tip? Email [email protected].

A couple weeks ago, local carbon-offset sales organization Carbonzero announced the purchase of 10,000 ERUs from a British Columbia reforestation project from Carbon Friendly. It is the first forestry project in the growing company's portfolio, and a diversification that demonstrates the growing success of the enterprise.

Founded five years ago by company President Howie Chong "out of the basement of his parents house," according to Carbonzero COO Dan Fraleigh, the company has grown steadily as awareness of global warming has led to an increase in interest in carbon offsetting. Fraleigh says the company has doubled its staff to 8-10 employees in the past year and seen business grow by "a couple hundred per cent" during the same period -- a year in which a Suzuki Foundation study ranked Carbonzero the number one offsetting firm in Canada.

Fraleigh says it is the careful standards that helped the company achieve that recognition that have previously kept it out of the forestry project market. "The standards just weren't there [previously] for us to ensure the carbon reductions were there year after year," he says.

Among the company's most high-profile clients recently is TD North America, who purchased enough credits from carbonzero and other vendors to declare their global operations carbon neutral. Fraleigh says that in the immediate future, the company plans a relaunch of its website and branding.

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Dan Fraleigh, Chief Operations Officer, Carbonzero

In the words of Nic Sulsky, CEO of InGamer Sports, his technology takes fantasy-league sports players from "being general managers to being head coaches." His innovative technology -- launched in partnership with The Hockey News and the NHLPA May 27 in time for game one of the Stanley Cup Finals -- does so by allowing gamers to interact with the games in real-time, while they are being played, using their computer or mobile device, and to interact with other gamers at the same time through social media apps. Will this do for fantasy league sports what sabermetrics did for baseball? "We think so," Sulsky says.

Sulsky and his business partner Simon deBoer have been working on the InGamer concept for about 10 years, he says. "I've been obsessed with fantasy sports, and I wanted to know why I couldn't play live while watching a game." The pair realized there was a hole in the market, obsessive fans who laboured over fantasy-league teams day and night but were powerless to do anything while games were in action.

According to Sulsky, they began building their platform before the technology to support it existed. It's only in the past two years that real-time statistical information has begun to become available for major sports.  But now that it is, it opens up a new level of fantasy sports. "This is not just goals and assists � our points system is about everything: passes, hits, saves, blocked shots. The average NHL game has six [goal] scoring plays, our system counts over 200 scoring plays per game."

For now, the startup based at MaRS is still a two-person operation, but Sulsky anticipates hiring five or six new staff members by the fall.

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Nic Sulsky, CEO, InGamer Sports

Got an Innovation & Job News tip? Email [email protected].

In a conference call with reporters May 27, Toronto 2015 Pan-Am Games CEO Ian Troop announced that hiring is underway for an event  that is expected to become a job-creation machine in addition to an international sporting spectacle.

"With a goal of having 25 full-time staff in place by this fall to focus on planning the games, we are nearing the completion of our search for senior leaders to round out our core management team," Troop said. He noted that the chief financial officer and some senior VPs will be appointed in the next few weeks. "Following quickly will be hires for leads on government relations, sports and venues and communications and public relations."

Although the total number of staff the organization will hire is unknown, a representative of the games said by phone that the staging of the games is expected to create 15,000 total jobs -- including construction and tourism positions.

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Liz Borowiec, Toronto 2015

Got an Innovation & Job News tip? Email [email protected].

Valentina Nekozachenko has a three-year graduate diploma in accounting and finance from Russia -- and experience in accounting administration with a restaurant firm overseas and a non-profit here in Canada. Recently she was hired to join the Steamwhistle Brewing company as an accounting coordinator.

That fits in well with Steam Whistle's track record -- according to a Financial Post article last year, "Steam Whistle's devotion to diversity in the workplace saw it win the Immigrant Success Award in 2008 for hiring skilled immigrants and it has twice been nominated for Canada's Most Admired Corporate Cultures." Nekozachenko's hiring was thanks to the assistance of Skills for Change, a non-profit employment agency that is part of the CASIP Job Developers Network.

The Job Developers Network is perhaps an under-appreciated tool for employers. According to the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council [TRIEC] -- which founded the network -- it "provid[es] GTA employers with cost-effective and coordinated recruitment and human resources services for hiring skilled immigrants." The developers share job postings across a network and give employers access to a large pool of pre-screened talent, and work with company HR departments and hiring managers to find candidates for job openings quickly, filling a role that might otherwise be performed by a costly headhunter. Employers pay no fees to the non-profit agencies in the network.

According to information supplied by TRIEC, Capgemini has recently hired three network referrals: a supply chain specialist, a senior IT analyst and a help desk agent. Capgemini also prides itself on a track record of diversity -- it's website claims, "Diversity at Capgemini is one way we recognize the value and strength found in the individual perspectives and life's experiences that each of us brings to share."

Writer: Edward Keenan
Sources: TRIEC; Financial Post, LinkedIn, Steamwhistle Brewery, Capgemini

Got an Innovation & Job News tip? Email [email protected].