Innovation + Job News

Hailey Coleman was backpacking across Europe with a friend when she found herself "in London, England, hobbling home barefoot" with her heels in her hands. She realized then that an innovation was needed to keep the feet of nighclubbers safe.

Now, at age 22, she's the founder of Damn Heels, a company that produces and sells foldable slippers in a small case designed to be carried in a handbag. At the end of the night, the slippers fold out to fit on a woman's tired dancing feet, and the case folds out to fit her heels. She sells the product for $20 (including tax) on her website, and is now seeking Toronto retailers to carry it.

The path between inspiration and corporation was a natural one, Coleman says. As a student, she was taking a business-plan-writing class. "I found myself going through all the steps of creating a company -- hiring a designer, finding manufacturers -- so I thought I'd just continue until I had a company."

After launching the company in December 2009, Coleman remains the sole employee -- for now -- running her business from her Chinatown apartment. But she doesn't expect to stay small for long, as she says the response to her product since it was introduced at a Motionball event has been "awesome."

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Hailey Coleman, Damn Heels

EcoWater Canada has announced that in honour of World Water Day, it will donate a portion of its sales throughout the month of March to benefit AMREF Canada and the Wabano Centre for Aboriginal Health.

In a release announcing the initiative, EcoWater Canada President Paul Godin said that the move will help "truly commemorate the essence of World Water Day. Our support will help improve access to clean water sources among vulnerable communities in Africa and support water education programs in Canadian Aboriginal Communities."

Over the phone, Godin explains that this is an extension of the company's industry-leading environmental initiatives. EcoWater Canada was the first water treatment company to receive the zerofootprint Certificate for Compliance and has led with an innovative recycling program for use with water filtration cartridges.

Godin says the company's "Clean Water, Green Future" programs, launched here three years ago, are being rolled out by the EcoWater parent company this year across Europe and may soon be introduced in the US. "Interestingly enough, we in Canada were the pilot projects for global green initiatives," Godin says. He expects to "very shortly" announce an innovative tank reclamation initiative.

The US-based parent company was founded in 1925 and is now the world's largest manufacturer of home water treatment systems. The Canadian office, based in Mississauga, employs 18 people in the GTA.

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Paul Godin, President, EcoWater Canada

Art Starts is a not-for-profit organization with a mandate to "build healthier communities using the arts." It runs neighbourhood cultural centres in at-risk neighbourhoods where artists of all ages can find "relevant creative opportunities."

In an email to supporters, Managing Director Liz Forsberg recently announced the opening of the org's fourth neighbourhood hub, located in Lawrence Heights. Also, Art Starts is moving its headquarters to the Yorkdale Community Arts Centre at Yorkdale Mall as of March 18, a move that Forsberg writes, "is a very exciting opportunity for us; not only will it allow us to share a state-of-the-art facility with all four of the communities we work with, but it will also give us the opportunity to begin developing and offering fee-for-service programs as a means of providing some sustainable funding to our free programs in underserved neighbourhoods."

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Art Starts

In a first for a Toronto hospital, Mount Sinai has been giving 10 skilled immigrants a boost under The Mentoring Partnership for the past several months. The program partners  working professional mentors with skilled new Canadians. Mentors introduce their partners to members of their personal network and show them the ropes of the Canadian industry and workplace.

The program, run by the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council (TRIEC), has over 50 corporate partners, including financial institutions, universities and utilities, but Mount Sinai is the first hospital to participate. According to Joanne Fine-Schwebel who is director of volunteers at the hospital, the first round has been a success (including seeing several of the immigrants finding employment). She says the program is not just a help to immigrants, either. "We decided to participate because we have a very diverse staff and patient population, and that's a real strength for the hospital," she says. "The strength is that we have staff who reflect the patient population and that's how we can better understand and care for our patients."

The program is not for workers in regulated professions such as doctors. Instead it focused on other skilled jobs, in this case including finance and human resources professionals and occupational therapy workers.

Information provided by TRIEC says that this is just the latest step in an exemplary diversity program at Mount Sinai. "A diversity census of the hospital's workforce found, for example, that 57 per cent of their workforce speaks a language other than English and one third of their employees entered Canada in the past 10 years," the organization writes in an email. The hospital has also been partnering with Care for Nurses, a bridging program for nurses trained abroad that helps them obtain their Ontario nursing license.

Writer: Edward Keenan
Sources: TRIEC, Mount Sinai Hospital

Everyone in the media world, it seems is obsessed with the future of magazines in an online world. Yorkville-based Mygazines thinks they have at least part of that problem figured out.

The online newsstand was originally launched in June 2008 as a YouTube-inspired portal for consumers to upload magazines they read. But after running into copyright problems, the company was taken over in November of that year by FlypTech to, as CEO Yoav Schwartz says, "offer the same technology scaled to meet publishers demands.

Since then, the company has grown to employ a staff of seven and represent over 100 direct publishers from countries including the US, UK, Australia and New Zealand on its digital newsstand, and 400-500 titles through resales. Last week, the company announced the launch of an interface for mobile devices -- the same system will work for all major handheld gadgets, including the iPhone and Google Android.

"This technology is revolutionary in that it's device-independent," Schwartz said in a news release, explaining why the company did not opt to build an app for a specific device. "With so many devices entering the market, the only consistent element that we can count on lasting the test of time is the internet browser. That's why we've created this interface to adapt to mobile browsers across different devices."

The company also plans to soon formally launch an e-commerce program (already soft-launched on the site) that Schwartz expects to be "a real game-changer." Plans are also afoot to launch Flipbook 3.0, a vector-based reader for PC, Mac, netbooks, laptops and other flash devices.

Author: Edward Keenan
Source: Yoav Schwartz, CEO of Mygazines

On February 18, the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Commission announced that it would add five new Casinos -- bringing the total to seven -- to its deal with Bullfrog Power to provide 100 per cent green energy for its operations. According to the announcement, "The seven OLG facilities on green power will put over 26,000 MWh [MegaWatt hours] annually back onto the grid, enough energy to power over 2,300 homes."

It was just the latest in a string of big announcements this year for Bullfrog, including a deal with the Toronto Port Authority to power all of its Toronto waterfront operations and one with Marz Homes that will see new houses be Bullfrog Powered at no cost to home buyers.

The green energy provider, founded in Toronto with 10 employees in 2005, has since quadrupled its workforce and now has four offices across the country, providing renewable power in six provinces, according to Bullfrog President Tom Heintzman.

Heintzman notes that, especially since the announcement of the Tariff Feed-in program by the provincial government, Ontario has become a leader in growing renewable energy, not just in Canada but in the world. But Heintzman points out that his company shows it's not just a government job to clean our power consumption. "What we do is we're a voluntary program -- we encourage citizens to bring even more renewable power into the system," he says.

Writer: Edward Keenan
Sources: OLG, Bullfrog Power

Just a month ago, on January 20, we covered the launch of CommunityLend, a new peer-to-peer lending system in Toronto. The service connects borrowers with good credit to those who would like to lend money, cutting out the middle-men traditionally involved in borrowing to offer better rates on loans through competition and community-building.

Now, co-founder Colin Henderson says, the company has registered users "well into the hundreds," which he notes is encouraging given that rather than looking for as many members as possible, the company is seeking a niche of qualified borrowers and lenders. And that growth has led to the company's need to add a new staff member to bring its full-time contingent to six.

Henderson says CommunityLend is looking for a junior developer to work with their professional outsource developers on the Ruby on Rails platform. Developers interested in working with best-of-breed Ruby on Rails developers and joining the growing team of finance innovators at CommunityLend should contact Henderson directly at [email protected].

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: CommunityLend

A report issued last week by the Ontario Media Development Corporation shows that 2009 was an excellent year for the film and television industry across the province.

The agency of the provincial government reported (pdf) that film and TV production province-wide was up 41 per cent from 2008, and injected $964.4 million into the local economy. This was the highest level of production activity in the province recorded since 2002 -- and it occurred during a global recession in a year that saw the Canadian dollar hover at par with the US dollar (therefore removing a traditional advantage to shooting here).

While a spokesperson for the OMDC was unable to estimate how many jobs were created as a result of production spending, approximately 24,000 people work in the industry in the GTA alone.

In a news release, Ontario Minister of Tourism and Culture Michael Chan said, "This tremendous show of strength from Ontario's film and television industry helps demonstrate the enormous competitive advantage that cultural industries give us in the global economy. These industries have a significant impact on Ontario's economy and continue to show impressive upside potential."

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: OMDC

Innovators and idea people with good strategies or techniques for building a better, greener city have a unique opportunity to reach influential industry players by presenting a seminar at IIDEX/NeoCon's Green Building Festival and Light Canada. The organization that runs the country's largest design and architecture conference has issued a call for presentations.

The Green Building Festival, now in its fifth year, is the largest exposition on sustainable building, and according to the IIDEX website, the emphasis is on "cutting-edge innovation, technical detail and measurable results."

The call for presentations reads, "If you have an interesting presentation or an idea that could be developed into an educational session, you are invited to submit an on-line proposal. Conference speakers gain visibility in the industry, as well as contribute to the advancement of the profession." Anyone with an innovative green building concept or business looking to gain widespread exposure can read the details and apply here. A review of last year's show, for those looking to get a sense of what it's all about and whether their presentation would be a good fit, is here.

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: IIDEX/NeoCon

With rumours swirling that owner Robert Deluce plans to take Porter Airlines public this spring, the three-year-old regional airline is flying high. Last year, during a generally disastrous year for the airline industry, the company saw its revenue grow by 300%, Deluce told the Toronto Star in late December. Porter is in the midst of constructing a new $45 million airport terminal at the Toronto Island Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport, new airplanes are on order and new flight routes are being added (most recently to Myrtle Beach and Sudbury).

All of that adds up to a lot of job growth. According to Brad Cicero, a Porter spokesperson, last year's growth saw the company double its staff from 400 to 800 employees. And if all goes according to plan, the company will have added an additional 200 staffers by the end of July, before likely seeing employment levels plateau for the rest of the year. Job openings currently advertised range from mechanics to pilots to call centre staff. Cicero says "the vast majority" of those jobs are located in Toronto.

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Brad Cicero, Porter Airlines

This week at the York Woods Library Theatre, the Black Creek Community Micro-Credit Program officially declared itself open for lending. The program in the at-risk community of Jane-Finch aims to provide small loans of up to $5,000 to entrepreneurs with solid business plans who would not otherwise qualify for conventional bank loans.

According to Dr. Barry Rieder, the program's chair, the fund hopes to provide as many as 20 loans to small businesses in its first year of operation. The project, with the support of the Access Community Capital Fund (recent recipients of a Trillium Foundation grant to support micro-credit programs) and the Alterna Savings credit union, provides what Rieder characterizes as "character references" and loan guarantees to successful loan applicants. The projects the program funds will create jobs and stimulate the economy in the local community.

The program is a project of the 10-year-old Black Creek Community Capacity Building Group, an organization set up to build the both the strength and reputation of the Black Creek Community around Jane-Finch, one of the City of Toronto's priority neighbourhoods.

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Dr. Barry Rieder, Chair, Black Creek Community Micro-Credit Program

Four Toronto community groups and the people they serve hit the jackpot last week when the Ontario government's Trillium Foundation -- which is financed through proceeds of lotteries -- awarded them funding totaling $729,900 for some of their job creation projects. The grants, made through the foundation's Future Fund, were awarded to support projects that build skills development and create new employment opportunities through social or community development enterprises.

"These grants are a vote of confidence in communities and local residents. They recognize that often-marginalized people and places are in fact remarkably resilient and enterprising," Trillium Foundation Chair Helen Burstyn said in a release announcing the grants.

The Access Community Capital Fund received $125,500 over the next three years to fund community micro-credit projects such as the one it was involved in launching in the Jane-Finch Community this week. Social Investment Organization got $90,000 to spend the next year and a half investigating ways to set up a fund for social enterprises. Woodgreen Community Services netted $484,400 to set up a supportive housing and job-readiness program for single women over the next three years. And Artscape will get $30,000 this year study setting up a creative sector business incubator.

The grants to Toronto organizations were among province-wide Future Fund grants totaling $2 million.

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Ontario Trillium Fund

Toronto has double the "average concentration" of artists as the rest of Canada, making us the largest magnet for artists and cultural workers in the country, according to a recent study by Hill Strategies Research. The study, called "Mapping Artists and Cultural Workers in Canada's Largest Cities," (pdf), showed that Toronto is home to 82,600 artists and cultural workers who make up almost 6% of the workforce. It may not surprise many locals in this city of "highest these" and "first those" to learn that this is higher than the number in any other city in Canada.

Vancouver and Monteal can claim bragging rights too, however, for beating Toronto in the number of cultural workers as a percentage of the total labour force.

The study shows the migration of cultural workers within the city between 2001 and 2006 census periods, too. Parkdale, now the most artistically populous of the city's neighbourhoods, had been sixth just five years before, while the north Annex fell from the top spot for artists to fourth in the same period. Meanwhile the east-end stroller-and-small-dog hubs of Riverdale, the Danforth and the Beaches are home to the greatest local concentrations of cultural workers.

The study was funded by the cities of Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary and Ottawa.

Writer: Edward Keenan
Sources: Hill Strategies Research, City of Toronto

Rexdale, one of Toronto's priority neighbourhoods, just became home to a new program that aims to fill a whole lot of economic and social priorities in one swoop: youth employment, local business assistance and sustainability, just for a start.

Cool Rexdale is simple enough -- it offers Rexdale businesses that need to replace their roofs a hand in installing a green roof. The installation itself will save the business money on energy bills while greening the local environment, but the program goes further than that. By taking advantage of government incentives  and Clinton Foundation negotiating power, building owners are offered discounts of up to $100,000 on building materials.

Meanwhile the program also serves the at-risk youth of Rexdale by providing jobs for them as pre-apprentice roofers.

Brian Denney of Toronto and Region Conservation sums it up in an announcement, saying, "The Cool Rexdale Program is exciting because it helps businesses realize the financial benefits of reduced energy costs, while having a positive impact on the environment, and ensuring that local residents share in the benefits of the emerging green economy."

Toronto and Region Conservation is just one of a laundry list of partners in the project under the banner Partners in Project Green, though the Greater Toronto Airports Authority is leading the charge since the area falls under Pearson Airport's Eco-Business Zone.

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Partners in Project Green

If the lights on the CN Tower seem to have a particularly west-coast vibe over the next few weeks, it may be because they're being remotely controlled by the minds of people half a continent away in Vancouver. That's not a typo: during the Vancouver Winter Olympics, visitors to Ontario House are remotely controlling lighting displays on the CN Tower, the Parliament Buildings and Niagra Falls using an innovative Toronto-made mind-computer interface.

It is, according the MaRS blog, the largest thought-controlled computer interface experiment in human history, run by a local start-up called InteraXon. Visitors sit in a seat in Vancouver and learn how to use their minds to interact with a computer, then test out their powers on the Ontario landmarks. Cameras transmit the results to the west coast -- and to the InteraXon website -- in real time so participants can see the results of their computer-enhanced telekinesis.

The technology was first unveiled last year at the Premier's Innovation Awards, where Premier Dalton McGuinty was given the opportunity to demonstrate the process. Following that event, the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation approached the company about creating the display for the Vancouver Olympics, called Bright Ideas.

MaRS has been working with the company to develop and market it's products. According to the MaRS website, building lights are just the tip of the mind-controlled iceberg. "InteraXon creates all kinds of experiences in thought-controlled computing and is one of the only companies in Canada to do so. From pouring a virtual can of cola to controlling an orchestra of instruments, InteraXon's experiences are at the forefront of technology, science and art."

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: MaRS