Innovation + Job News

For the third year, technology publication Techvibes is giving out awards to acknowledge the country's top new ventures and enterprises. The finalists for the 2013 Canadian Startup Awards were recently announced, and now it's up to you: the winners will be selected by the public, via an online vote. You can cast your ballot until midnight on January 19; the winners will be announced on January 20.

As usual, Toronto is well-represented among the finalists. Among the local ventures vying for awards are:

• InteraXon: a technology company that creates products based on tools that read a person's brainwaves.
• Music-messaging platform Rithm
• Business-to-business marketing company Influitive, which closed a major round of funding this time last year

All of those were nominated for the most prominent award: overall startup of the year. Toronto's well-represented in other categories. Two local startups are also nominated for accelerator graduate of the year. Bionym, which came through Creative Destruction Lab and The Next 36, provides unique user identification tools based on a person's signature heartbeat. And ShopLocket, which graduated from Extreme Startups, provides easy-to-use tools to help retailers set up online stores.

Techvibes received over 2,500 nominations; editors whittled down to the list of finalists with public input as well. Launched in conjunction with KPMG, the Canadian Startup Awards are given out in six categories. Last year nearly 18,000 votes were cast. Wattpad won for best overall startup in 2011, and Indochino in 2012.

Writer: Hamutal Dotan

Happy new year! Here are the most interesting of the opportunities we spotted coming back from winter break—a cultural sector special bonanza:

Some great cultural organizations are looking for technology help right now. Postmedia is hiring a tablet producer to work on titles across the company; they need someone with a particular aptitude for editorial design. And Jane's Walk, the organization that runs hundreds of public walking tours in cities across the globe, needs a PHP web developer to administer their site, refine their designs, and handle analytics.

More in the culture sector! Manifesto—organizer of the annual Manifesto Festival, and creator of youth-focused arts programming throughout the year—is seeking a new managing director. Responsibilities include overseeing all day-to-day operations, including both finance and programming. Artscape, which revitalizes historic buildings and transforms them into new community-oriented spaces, is looking to fill the newly created position of capital project manager. Reporting to the executive vice president, this role is for someone to handle initial project negotiations, manage ongoing design, and tackle project-specific stakeholder relations.

Local governments are also looking for help in this area. The City of Mississauga is hiring a supervisor of events services for Celebration Square, a post for someone with three to five years of experience. And the City of Toronto needs a new director of arts and culture services—a key senior management role.

Finally, two local public relations companies that focus on the arts scene have openings right now. Flip Publicity is hiring a publicist and publicity coordinator; they need someone with at least three to six years of experience specifically in the arts and entertainment industry. Knot PR, meanwhile, whose clients include Luminato and the Canadian Opera Company, is looking for an account coordinator with some publicity experience. And for those with an interest in storytelling, the Centre for Social Innovation is hiring a part time "reporter," to profile its member organizations.

Know of an innovative job opportunity? Let us know. 

In the waning days of 2013, when most of us were distracted by holiday shopping and trips back home, some promising information was released about a new set of economic programs for southern Ontario. The Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario) announced details of the Southern Ontario Prosperity Initiatives (SOPIs), which collectively will provide $530 million in the region.

There are four separate initiatives that have been launched:

• Business Innovation, for young ventures. This program targets new enterprises, providing them with business support to help increase their odds of success in the marketplace. Funding in this stream is available for non-profits that offer support to new businesses, early stage businesses that have less than 50 employees, and angel investor networks.

• Business Growth and Productivity, for established businesses. This stream of funding aims to help companies that are already developed expand further and create new jobs. Small- and medium-sized enterprises with at least 15 employees, and non-profits that provide productivity support services to those enterprises, are eligible.

• Commercialization Partnerships Initiative, which targets collaborative projects between businesses and researchers. This program aims to help major institutions work closely with business partners to help translate research innovations into market success. Among those eligible: post-secondary institutions and industry associations.

• Regional Diversification Initiative, which targets underdeveloped sectors of the regional economy. This stream of funding is open to non-profits with an economic development focus, and that have private sector or community partnerships that work on capacity-building initiatives.

For more information, visit FedDev Ontario.

Writer: Hamutal Dotan
Source: FedDev

Like many municipalities, ones in Ontario are starting to play a larger role in energy production and distribution. One local company, PowerStream, is owned by three such municipalities together: Barrie, Markham, and Vaughan. And like many of these smaller companies, the focus is increasingly on using smart grid technology and renewable energy sources to lower the environmental burdens of providing power. A few weeks ago, PowerStream unveiled a new micro grid demonstration project in an attempt to further explore those possibilities.

Smart grid technology is essentially a way of fine-tuning the collection and distribution of power across a network, by working with real-time, fine-grained information about energy demands, sending power to where it is most needed and in some cases bringing power sources on- and off-line dynamically, to meet changing demands. PowerStream's micro grid works in the same way, but on a much smaller scale than the provincial power system—it's scaled to meet local needs, ideally with local, renewable power sources. It also latches into the provincial grid, drawing power from it when needed, and sending power to the grid if it's producing more than it requires.

PowerStream's micro grid demonstration project is installed at its head office in Vaughan. John Mulrooney, director of smart grid technologies for PowerStream, explains the project in a video guide as: "a two-phase initiative that will evaluate the micro grid's effectiveness as an alternative energy supplier for PowerStream's head office. It will test the ability to utilize different power sources and storage while delivering safe, reliable service."

In the first phase, power—coming from solar panels, wind turbines, and natural gas generator, and stored in three different types of batteries—will be used to provide electricity for the building's  lighting, a/c system, and refrigeration, plus charging stations for their electric vehicles. The goal in this first phase is to test how well the system operates when it's disconnected from the provincial grid. The second phase will see new sources of power generation added into the mix; the goal at that point will be to test the grid's ability to feed power into the provincial network.

Writer: Hamutal Dotan
Source: PowerStream

A selection of the best innovation stories we published this year. All stories written by innovation and job news editor Hamutal Dotan. 

The most interesting of the opportunities we've seen this week:

This is a good week for event organizers and cultural outreach workers, especially. The Toronto Botanical Garden is looking for a special events coordinator to plan all development-related events, including fundraisers. The University of Toronto's sustainability office, meanwhile, needs a campaign event coordinator to work on environmental initiatives at the St. George campus. And the Rogers Centre is on the hunt for a community relations coordinator to do outreach for the Toronto Blue Jays, including overseeing the Blue Jays Jr. Jays Club.

In cultural organizations, the corporation that runs Roy Thomson and Massey halls is looking for a programming coordinator to provide support for events, and handle some other administrative tasks. The Sony Centre for the Performing Arts needs to fill the newly created post of education and outreach manager. The successful candidate will create and manage outreach programs for both youth and adults.

Also hiring right now: innovative building redeveloper Artscape, which needs a development associate for a 12-month maternity leave contract, to work and cultivate relationships with major donors.

Ryerson University's program in Modern Literature and Culture needs a part-time digital image archivist; some research work will also be involved.

Finally, the Canadian Diabetes Association has two interesting opportunities open right now. They are looking for a manager of digital media and web design to develop and manage a comprehensive online strategy across all platforms. They are also seeking a new head of human resources—a senior post for someone with 15 years of progressive experience.

Do you know of an innovative job opportunity? Let us know.

Women have made significant strides in the workplace in recent decades, of course; just how far we still have to go as a culture in closing the gender gap isn't always as clear. A new study out of non-profit Catalyst sheds light on one aspect of that gender gap: what happens to Canada's MBA graduates. The news is concerning.

"Across job settings, women in Canada fare worse than men from the start. Women working in Canada each made $8,167 less than men in their first post-MBA job," the report finds. Moreover, "at 72 per cent, the majority of women started out in an entry level position, compared to just 58 per cent of men."

That gap persists among MBA graduates who are assessed to have high potential. Catalyst research also examined the drivers that lead to post-MBA success—who advances rapidly, and attains the most senior positions. Among the factors that lead to this success are being given critical work early on (generally understood as work with direct profit and loss impacts) or international travel opportunities. On both counts, male MBA graduates are given more opportunities than their female counterparts. For instance, of this so-called "high potential" cohort, 29 per cent of men and 19 per cent of women were given an international assignment.

One consequence of this: "women in Canada were more than twice as likely as men to choose a non-corporate employer following completion of their MBA." The report finds that "corporate Canada is experiencing a talent drain, especially among women, into non-corporate firms at rates higher than in other regions around the world."

Which is why, also, the report concludes with this: "These findings profile a wake-up call for Canadian organizations: the time to act is now."

Writer: Hamutal Dotan
Source: High Potential Employees in the Pipeline: Maximing the Talent Pool in Canadian Organizations

This summer, MaRS Discovery District announced a new program: an accelerator for socially-oriented businesses, called Impact 8. It's a bootcamp of sorts: eight participants were chosen for an eight-week crash course in everything from marketing to investor relations. That first cohort, chosen from more than 150 applicants, recently completed the program.

They celebrated in style, opening the TSX on December 5, and spending the day explaining their enterprises and pitching venture capitalists.

"One of the biggest roadblocks to getting my venture off the ground," says Gavin Armstrong, president of The Lucky Iron Fish Project, "was trying to really narrow down the business plan—hone in on the value proposition, who your customers are, and how you're going to deliver." As an Impact 8 participant, Armstrong got one-on-one time with experts who were able to walk him through the practical elements of pulling his project together more adeptly.

"The most critical thing is mentorship," Armstrong says about why he wanted to join Impact 8. He'd been working on Lucky Iron Fish on his own for a year prior to participating, but as a newbie entrepreneur the program "helped lay some of the first-time learning tools: financial fitness, marketing communications, intellectual property, trademarking…"

The Lucky Iron Fish, if you're wondering, is actually an iron fish—one that people can toss into a pot of whatever they are cooking, which will then absorb some of the iron, and help alleviate anemia. Armstrong is right now focused on Cambodia, a nation with significant rates of iron deficiency.

The entrepreneurs who joined Impact 8 all knew going in that they wanted to make a difference through their work—their projects must have social or environmental benefits in order to be eligible. It's the business side of thing that wasn't always as clear. "I didn't know how to make a sustainable business plan," Armstrong says frankly. "I was hemorrhaging money."

Writer: Hamutal Dotan
Source: Gavin Armstrong, CEO of The Lucky Iron Fish Project and Impact 8 participant

The most interesting of the opportunities we've seen this week:

There are currently some major cultural institutions looking for help. The Design Exchange, which hosts exhibitions and runs events out of its historic Bay Street building, is looking for an intermediate graphic designer with three to five years of experience. The Canadian Opera Company is on the hunt for a chief communications officer to lead the development of a new strategic marketing plan. Waterfront Toronto is looking for a public art program manager to manage the commission of multiple public art projects, as well as cultural programming at key venues. Finally Hot Docs, the home of documentary film in Toronto, needs a new publications coordinator to manage the production of all industry and general interest materials.

Also in need of assistance: a couple of entrepreneur education programs. The York Entrepreneurship Development Institute, a non-profit education program for innovators and entrepreneurs, is looking for a project director. This is a full-time contract position for someone to take on the Institute's start-up and non-profit incubator.

In related openings, innovation centre MaRS Discovery District is looking for a facilitator of entrepreneurship programs to design and deliver client workshops.

For programmers with an interest in education, George Brown is in need of a programmer analyst with at least five years experience to assess statements of work and troubleshoot as problems arise.

In new media, liveblogging platform ScribbleLive is hiring two editors: one for news and business, and a second for sports and entertainment. Both posts call for someone with three to five years of experience, one to two of which are in "live storytelling."

Know of any innovative job openings in Toronto? Let us know!

The Ontario Bridge Training Program assists skilled immigrants by providing support while they get their credentials, licenses, and professional certifications settled in their new home, and helping them find jobs in their fields once they have.

Recently, the provincial and federal governments announced that they will be "expanding and enhancing" the program over the next three years.

Details are right now scarce—representatives for Ontario's Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration could not spell out any of the particulars—but we're told that more announcements are coming soon. What we do know is that the province is putting $63.6 million into the program over three years, and the federal government is kicking in another $16.6 million; of that pot $15 million of provincial money is "additional support."

Mamdouh Shoukri is president of York University, which runs a certification program for skilled immigrants, and which hosted government officials for the announcement. "These important programs are helping to build a globally connected economy and to support diversity in our communities," he said, addressing an audience of dignitaries and skilled immigrants.

Representing the federal government, Citizenship and Immigration Minister Chris Alexander chimed in: "We need to remind ourselves of that economic logic of immigration, of the desire of immigrants themselves to work in their fields, to build lives, to provide for their families, and to contribute."

Writer: Hamutal Dotan
Source: Ontario Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration

The most interesting of the opportunities we've seen this week:

This is a particularly good week for environmental jobs—a number of organizations are hiring in that sector. First off, the University of Toronto has a one year maternity-leave coverage position available, for a project coordinator in their sustainability operations division. The post involves working on resource and energy conversation within the institution.

Next up is the Toronto Atmospheric Fund, which works on climate change issues for the municipal government and has two vacancies right now. They are looking for a new communications manager for a one year contract (with a "strong possibility" of renewal), and for a new permanent grants program manager, to administer their $850,000 budget.

The Primitive Integrated Naturalist Education (P.I.N.E.) Project is a non-profit that tries to foster relationships with nature for city-dwellers.They are looking for seasonal instructors, to help with a variety of daytime and after school educational programming. And LEAF, a non-profit which supports the urban forest in particular, is hiring a new volunteer and stewardship coordinator. Finally, Fresh City Farms, an urban farm in north Toronto, needs a technology and innovation manager, to help them make their operations as efficient as possible.

Crossing the environment with the urban affairs sector, think tank Pembina is looking for a director of transportation to lead their strategic planning and policy development in that area.

Also in city-building, non-profit 8-80 Cities, which works on creating more vibrant and livable urban spaces, is hiring an event coordinator with at least two years of experience.

For those with a financial background, innovation centre MaRS is looking for an investment manager to develop their accelerator fund, which makes investments in early-stage Ontario tech companies.

And last but not least: the Art of Time Ensemble, which creates interesting interdisciplinary performance pieces that blend theatre, concerts, and other genres, is looking for its first ever full-time communications and marketing manager.

Do you know of an innovative job opportunity? Let us know!

Immigration isn't just a matter of navigating clearly defined legal and employment constraints: getting your paperwork in order, re-credentialling, and so on. There is also a host of soft skills—cultural conventions and communication best practices, social insight and networking capacity—that anyone needs to successfully make a transition to a new country.

Helping skilled immigrants do just that: the mentors of the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council (TRIEC), who assisted 1,000 immigrants this past year via a program called The Mentoring Partnership. Mentors offer sector-specific advice (mentees and mentors are matched by occupation), but also help with the ephemeral, essential task of getting settled in a new work environment.

Those mentors and their successes were celebrated recently, at an annual reception.

Indra Maharjan was a mentee with the program in 2010; he returned in 2013 to act as a mentor to two new skilled immigrants; he was one of the program participants honoured at TRIEC's reception. Like many new immigrants Maharjan had done a lot of research and planning when it came to logistical issues, but it was the Mentoring Partnership, he says, that "helped me to get lots of other information which is not publicly available: how to deal with people, how to make sure your boss is happy," and other similar matters.

The Partnership helped him learn about Canadian work culture and communication styles, which allowed him to find and flourish in new work more quickly. "The crux of success lies in how you communicate with people," Maharjan says, and there's is no better guide to that than another person who can answer real-life questions about it, and help you work through situations as they arise. Years later he and his mentor are still in touch.

This year Maharjan's two mentees each found jobs within two months, he says with pride. "Most people are hardworking, but if they can't express themselves that creates a bottleneck."

Writer: Hamutal Dotan
Source: Indra Maharjan, The Mentoring Partnership
Photo: Camilla Pucholt

Ontario is a growing force in medical technology research, and now the provincial government wants to bolster the sector further. Last month Queen's Park launched the new Ontario Health Innovation Council to help support the commercialization of medical innovations and new technologies. The council's task: identify growth opportunities and strategies for market-oriented development.

The council is specifically focused on small- and medium-sized businesses, and has a mandate to create the conditions for job growth in this sector.

The provincial government estimates that Ontario's health technology sector generates $9.1 billion a year. In job terms, the medical devices sector employs more than 17,000—49 per cent of the total nationwide.

The 15 council members represent academic institutions, hospitals, private companies, and non-profits. (Toronto-based members include the heads of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, MaRS Innovation, UofT's Institute for Health Policy, and the University Health Network.)

Deb Matthews, Minister of Health and Long-Term Care, said via a written statement that, "Ontario’s capacity to provide the best care and get value for our precious health dollars depends on harnessing our strengths in health research and innovation. The Ontario Health Innovation Council will help us improve the quality of care while creating valuable new jobs."

Catherine Zahn, president of CAMH, echoed those sentiments in her own comments, writing that "OHIC is an opportunity to ‘think big’ and broadly about health innovation in Ontario and make it real for patients, people and communities.”

The council's members will be looking at a range of issues beyond commercialization, too. They'll be examining ways to lower health care costs in the province, and try to focus on new ways to improve patient care.

Writer: Hamutal Dotan
Source: Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care
Photo: Courtesy of the University Health Network.

The most interesting of the job opportunities we've seen recently:

This week is a particular bonanza for culture-fiends, and especially anyone with an interest in the performing arts. Queer theatre company Buddies in Bad Times has two positions open: one is for a fundraising manager and the other a public relations coordinator. Both are new positions—part-time contracts that run through June, 2014, and have an option for renewal if things go well.

The Factory Theatre is hiring a development and partnerships manager; it's a permanent, full-time position for someone with at least five years experience, who can spearhead the company's efforts as they build up to their 50th anniversary later this decade. Another stalwart of the theatre scene, Canadian Stage, is hiring too: they are looking for a marketing and communications manager to create and implement communications materials for each show in their season.

Also in culture, the Luminato Festival is looking for some help with government relations and communications. It's a senior position for someone with at least five years of experience working with government, and reports directly to the CEO. The Toronto Symphony Orchestra is filling a vacancy for a senior communications manager, to oversee the creation of all their development communication materials. Finally, the Canadian Film Centre is hiring an events manager with at least five years of relevant experience.

There's also a great opportunity available right now for history buffs: Historica-Canada (formerly the Historica-Dominica Institute) is hiring a billingual program officer. Duties include communications, event organizing, outreach, and classroom assistance.

If getting your hands dirty is more appealing Fresh City Farms, a six-acre farm in Toronto with a local grocery delivery program, is looking for a farm manager. They are seeking someone with at least three seasons of organic growing experience, as well as experience managing staff.

Finally, the Ontario Land Trust Alliance, a conservation-oriented charity, is hiring a program and communications officer. It's a junior position for someone with at least one year of work experience, excellent communication stills, and a capacity to multitask.

Do you know of an innovative job opportunity in Toronto? Let us know.

Here's something we could all use less of: gridlock. A political lightening rod and increasing limit on daily routines in Toronto, traffic congestion eats up our time, not to mention reserves of patience and good humour. Now one UofT student thinks she's found a way to help tame congestion, by getting the lights at individual intersections to communicate directly with one another.

Samah El-Tantawy was inspired by the awful state of the roads both here in Toronto and in Cairo, where she grew up. Her traffic-management system formed the core of her graduate work (El-Tantawy earned her PhD in civil engineering in 2012), and is based on innovations in artificial intelligence research.

Right now, El-Tantawy explains, there are three types of traffic-management systems operating in Toronto:

• Set times for light changes, based on prior calculations using historical records; these are optimized, but don't adapt to the circumstances of any given moment.
• Actuated controls: detectors under the pavement which send calls to traffic lights, so those lights can change based on immediate conditions. The shortcoming with these is that they are operating "as if blind," El-Tantaway says. Since they only have inputs from vehicles in one direction, they don't work based on the state of the intersection or road network as a whole.
• Adaptive controls that are optimized in real time, based on traffic approaching an intersection; this system exists at about 300 intersections in Toronto. The main limitation with this system is that it works via a centralized command system, and thus requires a substantial communications network. (Any failure in that centralized system has, correspondingly, a huge impact on the whole network.)

The system El-Tantawy has developed is based on individualized intersection control, and comes with lower capital costs and risks of interruption compared to the adaptive control system. As she explains it, "each intersection sends and receives information from its neighbours, and each of the neighbours do this in a cascading fashion." Essentially, the lights at each intersection communicate with the ones at the connecting intersections, and this allows the lights at each intersection to change based on what those neighbouring lights are doing.

Unlike scheduled cascading traffic lights (where you hit a series of greens in a row if traffic conditions allow you to pace yourself just right), this system includes real-time responses to changing traffic conditions. "Each one decides for itself," El-Tantawy says, "but it considers what decisions what might be taken by the neighbours by having a model for each neighbour, and that model is built based on receiving information every second. They are actually deciding simultaneously."

According to El-Tantawy's simulation models, her traffic management system—called Multi-agent Reinforcement Learning for Integrated Network of Adaptive Traffic Signal Controllers (or MARLIN-ATSC)—can reduce delays by up to 40 per cent, and yield a 15-25 per cent savings in travel time. It can also have environmental knock-off effects—up to a 30 per cent reduction in CO2 emissions, since vehicles are spending less time on the road and travelling more efficiently when they do.

City of Toronto staff are aware of El-Tantawy's work, and she's hoping it will eventually be implemented in some intersections here. She needs to conduct field tests first, however, and is currently looking for quieter areas suitable for pilot projects next summer.

Writer: Hamutal Dotan
Source: Samah El-Tantawy