In The News

Entrepreneurs Lee Liu and Chris Nguyen have discovered a simple but ingenious way to save Torontonians money. Late last year the two friends launched TeamSave.com, on online community that brings strangers together to access group deals offered by local businesses. As reported by the Toronto Star the site already boasts thousands of members and continues to see daily growth.

"The discounts can be on anything from local restaurants to fitness classes. For instance, one deal for a rock climbing facility was $75 for a package worth $200, which included an instruction session for two, a two-week membership for two people and equipment for six visits. Each deal lasts on the website for only 24 hours. And a minimum number of people must buy the deal in order for it to be offered. The minimum ranges from five to upwards of 30 people, depending on the deal. To ensure the minimum is met, members are encouraged to share the deal with their social networks including Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. "Thirty-five per cent of our traffic comes from social media," Nguyen says."

"The minimum target is reached over 90 per cent of the time, and it's often exceeded, Nguyen says. Last Monday the daily deal was $18 for a $60 three-class pass at a Toronto kickboxing and martial arts school. The minimum requirement was 10 people. Fifty-four people bought the deal."

"While TeamSave.com offers local deals, the company has visions of expanding beyond Toronto. In the next six months, TeamSave.com hopes to open discount websites for other Canadian cities including Vancouver, Calgary and Montreal. The company currently has eight employees but expects to hire more staff as the sites for other cities open. Longer term goals include expanding into the United States and Europe."

"The company is also entering the smartphone arena. TeamSave.com is developing an iPhone application that will allow members to learn about, buy and redeem deals via iPhones. "From an environmental standpoint, it will reduce a lot of paper," Nguyen says. In the meantime, he's thrilled to watch TeamSave.com grow. So far, the website has thousands of members. "Everyone loves a deal so we're seeing our user base grow."

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original source Toronto Star

The National Post writes on Toronto's Richmond Street Housing Co-operative, this year's winner of the Peoples Choice Awards for Architecture (PUG Awards) for Best Residential Building. A Toronto Community Housing Corporation development, the 11-storey, 85-unit building was designed by Teeple Architects Inc. and finished construction in 2009. Located just west of Church on Richmond the building is the first new housing co-operative to be built in the city in the last 20 years.

"Pug Awards winners were announced Wednesday night at the Art Gallery of Ontario. Toronto residents voted for their most and least favourite buildings from a total of 41 nominees (34 residential and 7 commercial/institutional). Voting took place on the Pug Awards website during the Month of May. Voters could either "love it," "like it," or "hate it."

"For a design to be nominated the building had to be completed in 2009, in Toronto and be larger than 50,000 sq. feet."

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original source the National Post

University of Toronto student Hossam Abdelgawad has been awarded the prestigious Young Researcher of the Year by the International Transport Forum. As reported by Canadian Transportation and Logistics, Abdelgawad, a 27-year-old PhD-candidate, is being recognized for his study on mass evacuation of major cities in case of a catastrophe.

"The numerous man-made catastrophes that menace major communities accentuate the need for proper planning for emergency evacuation," explains Abdelgawad. "My research focuses on coordinating, controlling and optimizing the utilization of the existing transportation network capacity."

"Abdelgawad's proposal includes a framework that integrates car-based and mass transit-based evacuation. His integrated approach has been successfully used during a simulated evacuation of the City of Toronto with rapid transit, buses and automobiles. "

"In all, 31 papers from participants of 32 different nationalities (including co-authors) were received. "The Young Researcher Award is obviously filling a gap in the transport research scene," said Jack Short, secretary general of the ITF. "We are particularly impressed with the wide range of approaches to pressing problems transport faces."

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original source Canadian Transportation and Logistics

A radio piece on Marketplace looks at innovative sound design in Toronto's Corso Italia neighbourhood. Thanks to the area's BIA, who attached speakers to neighbourhood lampposts, there is music playing along 6 blocks of St. Clair West from eight in the morning to 11 at night.

 An excerpt from the radio broadcast transcript:

"Bob Moon: The main drag in any urban neighborhood is its moneymaker. So naturally, those areas are always trying to figure out how to make their moneymaker make more money. Beautification is a big part of it -- planting flowers, picking up trash. And in one little neighborhood in Toronto, Canada -- an area called Corso Italia -- the beautification is of a more audible variety."

"Marketplace's Sean Cole just moved there, and he wanted us to hear the scenery."

"Sean Cole: A day or two after I first moved here, I was strolling down the main drag in Corso Italia, St. Clair Avenue West. It's a real old-timey, Mediterranean-y marketplace with cafes and bridal shops and a gelateria. And I thought to myself "Wow, somebody's really pumping the music in their car. You can hear it everywhere." And then I looked around and realized, that's not a car. It's a lamp post. In fact, every lamp post for about six blocks has a speaker attached to it, playing the same song. We're talking about half-a-mile of unsolicited tunes, from eight in the morning to 11 at night. And I couldn't help wondering, who's DJ-ing this little dance party? Turns out it's an initiative of the Corso Italia BIA, or "Business Improvement Area."

listen to radio broadcast/read full transcript here
original source Marketplace

The Globe & Mail  interviews Toronto's Hemant Bhagwani and Derek Valleau, owners of the city's upscale Indian restaurant chain, Amya. The business partners, who opened their first Amya restaurant in 2007, are moving in a new direction - bottling their famous sauces for sale in Canada's supermarkets. The line of Indian sauces - butter chicken, coconut curry, spicy Indian ketchup, and mango and mint chutney - officially launched last spring and are now available in 125 stores across the country.

An excerpt of the Globe & Mail interview:

"Question: When you opened the restaurant in 2007, part of your long-term plan, even then, was to have a line of grocery-store products. Why did you want to go in that direction?

Hemant Bhagwani: Derek and I had flown to India before we opened the restaurant and we stopped in England for a couple of days. When we went through Marks & Spencer, we were just blown away by how Indian food on shelves is doing. We came back and saw what was happening in the Canadian market and felt there was huge potential.

Derek Valleau: Another thing we noticed, in London, was that a lot of high-end restaurants market themselves in grocery stores and that hasn't happened in this country yet. They recognize demand for their product and diversify themselves and that's also behind what we're doing with our sauces. We're a small restaurant chain in Toronto and this will give people outside of this area the Amaya experience at home.

Question: How did you go about researching what products you would launch with?

Mr. Bhagwani: We started Amaya Express (a takeout location) a few months after we opened the restaurant. And we thought, 'Ok, we'll put some shelves and fridges in here and it won't be just a takeout and delivery place, it could also be a sort of Indian grocery store.' We started promoting our prepared meals and sauces there. We were selling them in plastic containers and seeing what the response was. And we did get feedback that helped us launch this line."

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original source the Globe & Mail

The Toronto Star reports on the success of Ontario's independent beer breweries. Craft beers sales have "gone through the roof" across the province's Beer Stores and LCBOs. And Toronto is at the forefront of this local beer movement. Suds from Toronto's Mill Street brewery are consistently a top seller, while restaurants across the city (especially "traditionally non-beercentric" ones) are now waking up to the craft beer trend. Ossington avenue's B�hmer and Wellington's Le S�lect Bistro are two Toronto restaurants offering carefully selected local and international beers.

"Mill Street brewmaster Joel Manning, who's been part of the local brewing scene since 1986, believes part of the reason for craft beer's growing success is that it's simply being better made better."

"People doing the work have different skill-sets than they had back then when I started. Technically, the brewing is at a much higher standard, for the most part," says Manning, adding that drinkers are also becoming more savvy about different beer styles.

"Restaurants are also starting to realize there's good beer being made on their doorsteps. With the local food movement gaining strength, serving locally produced beers with locally grown food is a natural fit, says Brad Long, chef/owner at Veritas restaurant and My Place pub."

"Part of what's appealing about serving local food is being able to look the person in the eye who created it, and to see their passion. With these guys (local brewers), you can definitely see the passion,'' says Long during the recent Brewers Plate."

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original source Toronto Star

Toronto Life's list of "50 reasons to love Toronto", the annual feature of the little things that make Toronto great, is now online. This year's list includes Kensington Market's Grilled Cheese restaurant (an eatery dedicated solely to the decedent sandwich), the annual October zombie walk and the city's concentration of young entrepreneurs.

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original source Toronto Life

Canada's venture capital industry is showing increasing promise as a slew of big name companies have recently invested in Canadian start-ups and developing private companies. As reported by Reuters, the list of powerhouse companies that have recently made significant acquisitions in Canada include U.S giants Google and Microsoft, Swedish meditech company Elekta, and Canada's own Research In Motion. Toronto has been the site of much of this venture capital investment. Recent high profile acquisitions include the purchase of two Toronto tech-firms -- Bumptop by Google, and Viigo by Research In Motion.

"Bay Street take note: Canada's venture capital industry is neither dead nor dying."

"I think we are really kick-starting a new cycle, and it's refreshing," Chris Arsenault, managing partner and chief operating officer at iNovia Capital Inc, said at the Canadian Venture Capital and Private Equity conference last week."

"The venture capital sector, which typically invests in small start-up or developing private companies with the aim of taking them public, turned in some of its lowest investment figures ever in Canada in the past two years."

"According to data compiled by the Canadian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (CVCA) and Thomson Reuters, only C$276 million ($267 million) was invested in the sector in the first three months of the year, lower even than last year, when venture capital investing was at its lowest since 1996.The drop has been squarely blamed on the global financial crisis, which choked off the market for initial public offerings and triggered a broader retreat from risk investing."

"Yet venture capitalists, buoyed by growing Canadian government support for the sector, say the figures are misleading, hiding the potential for huge success."

"Arsenault said a changing of the guard among investors and investment managers is adding momentum and bringing new strategies to the sector in Canada, where venture capital activity has historically been well below U.S. levels."

"Industry veterans say publicly traded companies who scaled back on research and development during the global financial crisis are increasingly looking at Canadian companies to jump-start new venues for growth."

"Similar to the last recession, companies cut innovation spending in the crisis," said Chris Albinson, a Canadian native and the managing director of Panorama Capital, a Silicon Valley investor in venture capital. "The problem for those companies ... is they don't have anything to drive future growth."

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original source Reuters

Toronto's Pearson International Airport, has been presented with the '2010 IATA Eagle Award for Most Improved Airport' by the International Air Transport Association (IATA). According to The Economic Times, Pearson was singled out by the IATA for its efforts in reducing landing and terminal charges to airlines over the past three years.

"The award is given each year to an airport for its outstanding performance in airline satisfaction, cost efficiency and continuous improvement."

"This award recognizes the work we have done with our air carrier partners to make Toronto Pearson a more efficient and effective place for them to do business. This is only the beginning. We will continue to work closely with the air carriers to make Toronto Pearson as competitive as possible," said Lloyd McCoomb, president and CEO of the Greater Toronto Airport Authority (GTTA) which looks after the airport. "

"Hailing the Canadian airport, Giovanni Bisignani, director general and CEO of IATA, said, "Toronto Pearson must continue to lead the way in setting the standards for performance, cost efficiency and continuous improvements for others to strive for."

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original source The Economic Times

The Globe and Mail recently featured, Buddy Belt -- a thriving Toronto-based company that sells comfortable harnesses for active dogs. The harnesses, designed by Buddy Belt founder Roxanne Pettipas, help prevent injuries to dogs who aggressively pull at their leashes. Founded in the late '90s Buddy Belt's success can be attributed as much to its unique marketing strategy as its quality product.

"A deeper look makes its clear that Buddy Belt isn't like other businesses. Ms. Pettipas is not the company's CEO, nor is she the chief source of PR � both honours go to Buddy, the miniature dachshund that was the inspiration for the new collar."

"I decided years ago to tell our story from Buddy's perspective and have him promote the product, since he's the one wearing the belt," Ms. Pettipas says."

"At first the idea seemed like a neat but small marketing twist. The company posted the occasional photo of Buddy to its website, and customers sent letters thanking Buddy for the new belt. But over time momentum began to build. Last fall Buddy Belt launched a Facebook page devoted to the belts and the story of the entrepreneurial dog. The pet business exploded. The next Woofstock, billed as North America's largest festival for dogs, which takes place this weekend in Toronto, is by far the biggest event of the year for Buddy Belt. It's expected to attract an estimated 300,000 people."

"Today Buddy is a doggie celebrity. People regularly email Ms. Pettipas asking to have their pictures taken with Buddy. Other dogs send him messages through Facebook."

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original source Globe & Mail

The Globe & Mail's Ivor Tossell (and Yonge Street contributor) writes on Toronto's transformation into the "Silicon Valley of the North" as successful tech start-ups continue to pop up across the city. Toronto's position as an emerging international hub of web development can be attributed in part to its proximity to strong computer-science universities (e.g. Waterloo, McMaster and University of Toronto), and to its "size and vibrancy" that make it an attractive destination for young workers.

"There's a new emergent scene going on in Toronto," says David Crow, a strategist for Microsoft, and a long-time organizer of the city's tech community. "We have great talent and great opportunity."

"After years of nurturing a tight-knit tech community, Toronto seems to be reaching a critical mass � not just of homegrown companies, conferences, and networks, but of ties to a global industry. Groups like Extreme Venture Partners "are building a pipeline between Toronto and the Valley," says Mr. Crow."

"Clustered in neighbourhoods like Queen and Spadina and Liberty Village, companies such as Polar Mobile (they make iPhone apps for big media firms), LearnHub (which connects international learners) and Five Mobile (who produce apps for The Score TV network) are part of the local tech resurgence."

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original source the Globe & Mail

Researchers at the Sleep Research Laboratory at Toronto Western Hospital have made inroads into science's understanding of sexsomnia, a disorder which causes people to be in a state of semi-arousal while asleep. As reported by the New York Times, the Toronto scientists conducted one of the first studies that attempts to determine the percentage sexsomnia sufferers among patients with sleep disorders. After reviewing 832 patients seeking help at the hospital's Sleep Laboratory, the Western Hospital researchers found that 7.6 percent of patients reported some form of sexsomnia.

"The study, which has not yet been published, is among the first to try to quantify how prevalent sexsomnia is among patients with sleep problems. (An abstract was to be presented Monday in San Antonio at Sleep 2010, the annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies.)"

"The author, Sharon A. Chung, a scientist at the Sleep Research Laboratory at Toronto Western Hospital, says the behavior becomes a problem when it disrupts the normal sleep cycle."

"At night you're supposed to be sleeping," she said in an interview. "Anything that stops you from sleeping at night is bad � not because of the behavior, because it stops you from sleeping."

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original source the New York Times

The Toronto Star looks at the entrepreneurs behind Toronto's Making Waves Boatel, the city's only floating hotel. Docked at Harbourfront, just west of HT0 park, the 65-foot boutique hotel is owned and run by Ted and Diane Green.

"They used to work in the business sector � Diane has a degree in hotel and restaurant management, and Ted was director of IT for York Region � but had always dreamed of getting a boat. They bought their boat in 2004 and ran a charter business in the Bahamas for a few years but found it draining for a two-person crew. The boatel � "We came up with the name literally on the back of a napkin over drinks one night" � is much easier to manage, although it still presents water and weather challenges that a bricks-and-mortar structure does not."

"They're not considered a hotel in the formal sense and don't have to pay hotel taxes. But Greene says he does have a business licence and pays property taxes and other fees. They're not licensed for tours, however, so don't expect a tour of Lake Ontario."

"They get a fair bit of Ontario business, but also a lot of Europeans and Americans."

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original source Toronto Star

The Globe & Mail reports on Toronto's growth as a global "hotbed of app development". The article focuses on three innovative Toronto tech and design companies -- EndLoop Studios, Five Mobile Inc., and NuLayer Inc. -- who have developed internationally popular mobile phone applications.
 
"Toronto has become a hotbed of app development for mobile phones, churning out everything from productivity apps for businesses to sports and entertainment apps�.The city is well-placed to do so. Its bustling film, Internet, design and creative industries have merged around the city's universities and institutions to create an ideal ecosystem for app development, says Krista Jones, who heads the information and communication technology division at the MaRS Discovery District, a small business incubator. "Toronto is an app hub because we have deep roots in both the creative and design industries, and the technical industries," she says. "It's the perfect mix for apps."

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original source the Globe & Mail

BlogTO looks the construction of Mississauga's "Absolute World Condos", a five-tower condo complex being built at the corner of Burnhamthorpe and Hurontario. Author Matthew Harris muses on whether these towers (two of which were designed by winners of an extensive international design competition) are symbols that more progressive planning is in store for Canada's 6th largest city.

"... Although not officially part of Mississauga's in-progress 21 Downtown Master Plan, [the condos] are an indication of where the city is trying to head. As Janice Baker, Mississauga city manager, told Christopher Hume, "It's clear the future will be dense, vertical and transit-based. In the past the market for that wasn't there, but now that market is there. " The 21 Downtown Master Plan imagines turning the parking lots around the Square One shopping centre into mixed retail and commercial areas, adding a higher-order transit line on Hurontario, and producing more pedestrian and cyclist-friendly streets. It is hoped that the higher density around the core will help support the pedestrian uses, and in turn, make the area more popular for offices and workplaces."

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original source BlogTO