Innovation + Job News

Toronto startup DataAppeal launched a new application in June that allows users to easily create well-designed 3-D and 4-D maps of geo-location data. The new product, which had its genesis in founder Nadia Amoroso's PhD thesis about two years ago, has already drawn notice from the people at Google Earth (who called the product "neat stuff" and a "solid tool" and has been put to use by the Globe and Mail (scroll down to see data maps). Amoroso says that DataAppeal is getting good traffic now, during a free Beta phase. After further refinements, the plan is to make DataAppeal work on a freemium model where a basic version is available at no charge and more sophisticated elements are available for a price.

DataAppeal CEO Amoroso says the project was built by professionals to ensure the data maps are both visually appealing but useful, "The models have been created through a collaboration of GIS specialists and artists to ensure that data is displayed in a more visually appealing manner to create a stronger response to information."

In its infancy, the company is now hiring people with expertise in software development, and 3-D rendering and modelling. Amoroso says the plan is currently to add two members to her team, "Particularly those with experience with KML or KMZ languages, or with php and CakePHP. A visual or graphics background is very helpful too."

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Nadia Amoroso, CEO, DataAppeal

Toronto entrepreneur Grant Ritchie set out to solve a problem of the web: local-business information. To solve it, he founded Locationary, a multiple user-created database of local place information that allows businesses to more effectively reach customers and consumers to more easily find more accurate, up-to-date information. It's motivating point is that, unlike many crowdsourced information projects, users can actually get paid for contributing good information.

That concept took a leap forward towards widespread commercialization recently when Locationary attracted $2.5 million in financing from local capital funds Investment Accelerator Fund and Trellis Capital, as well as from its existing investors, Extreme Venture Partners and Plazacorp Ventures, Angels and Management. Ritchie called the investment a "great vote of confidence" in his project and said the money "will enable us to hire more engineers, evolve our local data service offerings and to launch our new local data management system for federating local business place information."

Already, the company is hiring new engineers for its Toronto office. "We are in the process of hiring about five people immediately," Ritchie says. "And I could see us scaling up a bit more than that over the next 18 months."

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Grant Ritchie, CEO, Locationary

Rapidly growing local solar energy company SunEdison, a subsidiary of the international conglomerate MEMC Electronic Materials, has announced a deal to increase production of solar panels at the Flextronics facility in York Region. The increased production sees Flextronics physically expand their plant and hire 400 new staff to meet demand.

Jason Gray, SunEdison's Canadian manager, says that with this announcement, his company has been involved in creating between 800 and 950 green energy jobs in the solar industry in the GTA within the past two years. That includes a growth at the company's head office from two to 50 staff over that time, as well as the creation of 100 new jobs building racking equipment at the Samco facility in Scarborough.

"A lot of our investment here has been spurred by the [locally manufacturing requirements] Ontario government's Feed-in-Tarrif program," Gray says, "But Ontario has a long history of manufacturing, so it makes a lot of sense that the region is able to leverage that existing strength."

Gray says that right now most of the increased production capacity at these plants where SunEdison has created increased opportunities will serve the company's local projects, but that in the long term, such production experience and capability will create excellent potential for a green energy export industry.

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

Lawrence Dale, the President and CEO of Toronto's Realtysellers, has drawn headlines for his attempts to innovate in the real estate brokerage industry over the past few years. His company offers discount services to home buyers that see 25-75% of the agent's commission refunded to the client. But more sensationally, he sued the Toronto Real Estate Board and the Canadian Real Estate Association for hindering his innovative services and won concessions, including the right to list private sales in the Multiple Listings Service database, the central listing of homes for sale accessed by Canadians at Realtor.ca.

Earlier this month, Realtysellers announced a partnership with PropertyGuys.com, a national company based in New Brunswick that has become the largest company assisting people to sell their homes without hiring a real estate agent. "By partnering together, PropertyGuys.com and Realtysellers will be uniquely positioned to deliver the broadest range of professional services at a more reasonable cost. This is a real game changer for how the industry will operate from now on and a huge win for consumers," Dale said.

The arrangement will see Propertysellers offer all PropertyGuys clients listings on Realtor.ca, and will see the Toronto company's customized discount brokerage services extended to buyers across the country.

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Lawrence M. Dale, President and CEO, Realtysellers

Earlier this year, Clive Hobson of Innovative Composites International told Yonge Street that the local manufacturer of innovative building materials expected to soon land a contract that would be a "home run in terms of growth and revenue." A $68 million deal to supply housing in Haiti and Ghana announced last week appears to fit the bill.

Innovative Composites will supply 2 million square feet of its patented EcoScape housing under the deal, and will construct and operate a new manufacturing facility in North Carolina to serve the contract.

"This is a game changer for ICI. One we have been working on for the last two years," said Innovative Composites President and CEO Terry Ball in a release. "We have a lot of hard work ahead of us, but I believe we haven't even scratched the surface in terms of market penetration and will be able to accelerate project roll out once the SC facility is up and running,"

The company was founded in Toronto in 2007 by former Magna International employees who have developed new thermoplastic building materials used to construct bridges, shipping containers and housing, among other things. Company spokesperson Hobson says it is hurricane-proof, fire-proof and virtually indestructable, and can be used to make almost anything.

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Clive Hobson, Director of Communications, Innovative Composites International

The video gaming industry in Toronto is taking off. In the same month that Facebook gaming application Zynga bought the local studio FiveMobile and announced they'd be setting up their first Canadian office here, one of the city's large educational institutions decided to give the industry a boost.

Last week George Brown College outlined plans to set up a gaming industry incubator at their facility at 333 King West in downtown Toronto. "With the growth rate in the gaming sector in Ontario predicted to reach 31 per cent over the next three years, according to the Entertainment Software Association of Canada, George Brown College is an a perfect position to provide a leadership role in nurturing the talent in this industry," said Anne Sado, President of George Brown College, in her announcement.

The new incubator will have space for up to 10 companies at a time in 100-150-square-foot office spaces. The school plans to mingle startups with its students in order to see if the arrangement benefit both.

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Brock Penner for George Brown College

The Ajax, Ontario plant of Messier-Dowty Inc will be adding five new jobs immediately to its existing staff of 500 to work on an innovative new green innovation initiative. The company's Toronto-area plant specializes in the design and manufacture of aircraft landing gear, and is working on developing a more environmentally friendly way to apply and remove chemical coatings on the gear. If it proves successful, the technique could have applications in aircraft manufacturing plants around the world.

The project has drawn a $1.9 million investment from the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation's Innovation Demonstration Fund. In announcing the funding, provincial minister Glen Murray said that the company helps "demonstrate how research and innovation help keep Ontario's economy strong while protecting our environment," a claim to global fame his ministry hopes to cement through direct funding. For his part, Bryan Teed, president of Messier-Dowty added to the statement by giving some credit for the company's success to the talent coming out of local universities--name checking Ryerson and University of Toronto--and praising the local industry. "Our location...is the centre of the North American aerospace industry, and that enables us to service our clients quickly and efficiently."

Messier-Dowty's 19,000-square-metre facility in Ajax employs 500 people, and has been in operation for more than half a century. It is now part of the Safran Group Messier-Bugatti-Dowty multinational aerospace empire.

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Ralph Benmergui, Office of the Minister of Research and Innovation

The Toronto-based company VisualSonics has launched a new medical imaging product that it says could revolutionize the world of cancer diagnosis. The Vevo LAZR is an acoustic photoimaging technology that allows researchers to study tumour growth in real time. VisualSonics claims that this process allows doctors access to real-time information of tumour growth and mutation that they have never had before.

VisualSonics President and CEO Anil Amlani says his company's new technology will allow "acceleration in the study of cancer and its treatment enabling early detection, early diagnosis and rapid personalized treatment." In a statement provided by VisualSonics, David A. Jaffray of the Ontario Cancer Institute at the Princess Margaret Hospital says, "This imaging system has the potential to transform the way we diagnose and treat cancer."

VisualSonics specializes in medical imaging technology that allows real-time, in vivo, systems for research. Based in North York, it is a division of the Seattle-based company SonoSite.

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Shailja Tewari, VisualSonics

Earlier this year, we wrote about medical research database startup 1DegreeBio, founded by Alex Hodgson to bring some of the advantages of the open-source, social media and online research worlds to the sphere of antibody research. 1DegreeBio's platform allows researchers to access research and reviews of commercially available antibodies from other researchers around the world instantly. As Hodgson said then, she's dedicated to the proposition that "you can't do great research with crap antibodies."

Last week, as the company celebrated it's first anniversary in business, they received investment money from Digital Science, a research publishing company that is a division of Macmillan Publishers. Digital Science is based in London, UK (with offices in New York and Tokyo) and has been building a portfolio of research software companies. A company spokesperson said in a statement that 1DegreeBio provided a very necessary service to the research community the company aims to serve and therefore made a valuable addition to Digital Science's group of global partners.

Locally, 1DegreeBio Managing Director Hodgson greeted the investment in a statement saying that the money would allow her organization to continue to grow. "This partnership will allow us to expand our platform to make it even easier for the scientific community to connect with top-quality antibodies." She added that the company will soon expand its product offering to include other products.

Since launching a year ago, 1DegreeBio has built a database that lists over 500,000 available antibodies available from over 900 suppliers. Their system of encouraging informed product reviews--a novelty in the medical research field--has generated over 40,000 unique visits to their website.

Writer: Edward Keenan
Sources: Kaitlin Thaney, Digital Science; Alex Hodgson, 1DegreeBio

The Proficiency ultra-high efficiency toilet is the most water-efficient toilet in the world, requiring just three litres of water per flush (versus the standard high-efficiency level of 4.8 litres, and previously standard levels of 6 litres or 13 litres per flush). It was invented in the GTA by the firm of Hennessy and Hinchcliffe and is distributed by Mississauga's WaterMatrix.

Recently, this homegrown success in sustainable washrooms was recognized by the provincial government with an Ontario Water Innovation Award. Rock Rotman of WaterMatrix says that this latest in a long string of awards for innovation is significant because it comes from the government. "It's validating, especially when you've got the government onboard, because they're the ones who can really help promote this, he says, pointing to regulations in various jurisdictions that require high efficiency in toilets and rebate programs that reward homeowners who replace lower-efficiency models.

WaterMatrix has distributed the Proficiency since its launch two years ago, Rotman says, and they've seen the market growing as environmental awareness grows and the stigma attached to older models of efficient toilet -- which were known not to work as well -- fades.

Rotman says the benefits of conservation are not just government recognition and environmental good feelings: those who replace even a six-litre model with a three-litre one see savings in water usage of 33-44%. And as the world market for water heats up and conservation efforts force prices higher, the market for this local innovation will only grow, he says.

Writer: Edward Keenan

Source: Rick Rotman, Marketing Communication Coordinator, WaterMatrix

In 2006, the Toronto Zoo launched a clever initiative designed to turn all the animal dung they produce into a profit: a biogas energy generation facility. But when they launched a request for proposals last summer, they found no partners. The reason, according to Daniel Bida of Regenerate Biogas is that the plans were too ambitious, calling for too large a plant.

So Bida and a host of other community partners stepped in with a more modest proposal for a 500 kilowatt biogas facility to be owned and operated by a cooperative made up of community members. That proposal, formalized as ZooShare received approval in early June and is now seeking investors for its project.

The facility will divert waste from landfill while producing heat, water and usable fertilizer. The non-profit cooperative is selling membership bonds to finance the project that promise a 7% return on investment. Zoo members and those who live within a kilometer of the zoo can invest for $500, while other Ontarians can purchase $5,000 bonds.

Bida says that bond sales await the approval of financial authorities. The co-op plans to offer bonds for sale between September 2011 and May 2012, and to then immediately commence construction on the project. "The reception from the public so far has been overwhelmingly positive," Bida says. "People are attracted to it as an investment, as an environmental project, and as a way to help out the zoo. They just ask, how can I sign up."

Writer: Edward Keenan

Source: Daniel Bida, ZooShare

The new Pickering Learning Centre, announced this week by Dave Ryan, the Mayor of Pickering will be the first-ever post-secondary educational institution in the suburban GTA municipality. The facility will be run by Centennial College in partnership with Durham College, and will be located downtown, and is scheduled to be open in time to offer graduate certificate and continuing education programs in time for the fall 2012 semester.

In an email, the mayor's office said that the two-storey centre's location near the under-construction landmark pedestrian bridge will connect it to GO Rail, making it the only Ontario post-secondary educational facility with a direct link to rail transit (although Ryerson and the University of Toronto's proximity to the Toronto subway is effectively similar, and the under-construction subway link to York University will provide that school a similar distinction).

The school is part of an office tower complex directly north of the highway 401 in downtown Pickering that is the centrepiece of the city's downtown revitalization plan.

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Mark Guinto, Public Affairs Coordinator, City of Pickering

Eclipsall Energy Corporation is scheduled to hold an opening celebration on June 23 for its new $10 million, 120,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in northeast Scarborough to build solar panels to serve the booming local market in sustainable energy.

Company CEO Les Lyster said last month that the facility was expected to create 100 new jobs in Toronto--a job fair was held in late May to find applicants. Eclipsall was founded in 2009, its launch coinciding with the introduction of the provincial government's Feed-in-Tarrif program that provides significant market incentives for green energy production, especially solar energy, and requires percentages of local production. Fittingly, provincial ENergy Minister Brad Duguid is scheduled to appear at the opening of the new factory and headquarters.

Eclipsall will produce " high performance monocrystalline PV modules in both 60 and 72 cell configurations," and has previously announced a financing program for potential solar energy clients as well as a supply contract with Honeybee Solar. "With the manufacturing space in hand, our vision to become a leader in providing efficient, accessible and sustainable solar solutions is becoming a reality," Lyster said in a statement.

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Shaun Markey, Eclipsall Energy Corporation

Mississauga'a MedX Health has announced the purchase of Siascopy, including its proprietary non-invasive imaging system MoleMate for diagnosis of dermatalogical issues such as moles and lesions. MoleMate has already received approvals in the United States, and MedX intends to begin marketing and sales of the product to American physicians within a matter of weeks.

"The FDA approved MoleMate Skin Imaging System is a significant advance in the early detection of potentially life threatening moles and lesions. Physicians have also found the hand-held device easy to learn and use, and that it rapidly provides accurate images of the pigment, blood, and collagen below the mole or lesion. Now, for the first time, physicians can more accurately evaluate suspicious moles and lesions in a non-invasive, pain-free way. Experts also believe it may reduce the need for time consuming and expensive biopsies," Steve Guillen, President and CEO of MedX Health Corp, said in his statement announcing the purchase.

MedX is a 12-year-old company that designs, manufactures and distributes a range of light- and laser-based non-invasive therapeutic tools, including "laser accupuncture" treatements marketed for addiction therapy, dental, vetrinary and arthritic and muscle therapies.

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Steve Guillen, President and Chief Executive Officer, MedX Health Corp.

Earlier this month, the McEwan Centre for Regenerative Medicine in Toronto launched an innovative new approach to raising awareness of the need for stem cell research and to generate support for regenerative medicine: a website called joinstemcellcity.com.

The website will use social media tools--updates on new discoveries and devlopments in research, a "join the community" approach to recruiting and educating supporters, and functions that allow people to direct their support to specific areas of research--to create public support for the field. Cheryl McEwan, a founder of the McEwan Centre for Regenerative Medicine, said in a statement announcing the project that it would allow users to "Stand up and be counted as an informed Canadian who believes that stem cell research will help us achieve a future free of many of the diseases that continue to devastate us all."

Organizers told reporters that they had noted that public support is a key element in attracting both private donations and public grants, and said the site will serve the purpose of both raising awareness that supports research in general and in generating private donations.

Writer: Edward Keenan
Sources: Stacy O'Rourke, for the McEwan Centre; The Globe and Mail