A selection of the best innovation stories we published this year. All stories written by innovation and job news editor Hamutal Dotan.
Projexity aims to build a better city one local project at a time
If you, like many Torontonians who love their city and want to get more involved in it, have an idea for a neat new neighbourhood initiative or community project, but aren't quite sure how to go about implementing it, there's a new online platform that might be able to help. [...
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UofT student creates smarter traffic lights
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. [...
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A portrait of minimum wage workers in Ontario
In order to help combat the increasing wage gap in Ontario, the Wellesley Institute is joining in calls for a $4 increase in the minimum wage. [...
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Princess Margaret Hospital receives $50 million donation
It's the single largest ever private donation to cancer research in Canada: $50 million to Toronto's Princess Margaret Hospital. The gift comes from Canadian philanthropists Emmanuelle Gattuso and Allan Slaight, who will be making their donation over the next ten years. [...
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Innovative new biodegradable pots created by U of T researchers
The weather is finally getting warmer and sunnier, and that means many Torontonians are turning to thoughts of gardening. Three University of Toronto researchers are hoping to make that gardening a bit easier on the planet with the creation of an innovative new biodegradable pot, made strictly of plant-based materials. [...
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Brain waves at Nuit Blanche
Nuit Blanche, the international sunset-to-sunrise arts festival that first came to Toronto a few years ago, celebrates art and the ways it can interact with a city's streets, buildings, and public spaces. At its best moments, it transforms the way we experience the world around us. This year, one installation in particular aimed to do something a bit different: change the way we experience the world within. [...
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New report published on immigrant entrepreneur challenges and opportunities
The report,
DIY: Immigrant Entrepreneurs are Doing it for Themselves, looks at the specific challenges immigrant entrepreneurs face, and in the process outlines some major opportunities for offering more and better support to this community. [...
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A new standard for fair wages
The Wagemark Foundation just launched specifically to promote a new wage standard, one that suggests it should be an 8:1 ratio: that is, in any company, the top earner should make no more than eight times as much as the lowest earner. [...
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Province launches Canada's first microloan program for social enterprises
Entrepreneurs who have a business idea that aims to make the world a better place--who are pursuing environmental, social, and cultural goals in their work--now have a new source of seed funding in Ontario. [...
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Startup aims to help battery-drained Torontonians with free charging stations
It's a distinctly modern annoyance when cellphones run out of juice. Today we rely so heavily on our mobiles that a dead battery can scupper meetings, disrupt dinner plans, and overturn after-school carpool arrangements. Toronto startup DanTeb Enterprises aims to help the battery-drained by installing mobile charging stations at select locations across Toronto in the coming months. [...
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