In “Big-Brain Hunting: The Key to Supercluster Success,” the Huffington Post‘s Pat Lynch investigates how and what makes start-ups successful. Attracting top-talent is listed as a major reason, but so is the environment required to give start-ups the tools they need to flourish.

Lynch highlights MaRS Innovation as a driving force in sustaining the innovation industry in Canada by attracting big ideas and global talent, using former MI project manager Lyssa Neel as an example.

Neel helped launch the education sector start-up Crowdmark, and is now the company’s chief operating officer. Crowdmark is a graduate of University of Toronto Early-Stage Technology (UTEST) program; UTEST is now accepting applications for their third cohort until April 11, 2014.

The article also mentions University of Toronto’s batch of talented and up-and-coming graduates geared to make a mark on the technology industry, and commends Ryerson University’s Digital Media Zone as ways to support early ideas.

Here’s an excerpt:

The University of Toronto – ranked 20th in the world (and number 1 in Canada) for 2013-2014 by The Times Higher Education World University Rankings – has produced a pool of 17,000 graduate students poised to help power a tech revolution. The Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, a part of U of T, is the largest research-focused faculty of education in Canada and an international leader in education schools. Ryerson University is the country’s third-largest engineering school; its Digital Media Zone has helped incubate more than 100 startups since 2010 including success stories such as Viafoura, Bionik Labs and 500px. MaRS Innovation draws global talent such as Lyssa Neel, an American who helped U of T professor James Colliander start Crowdmark, one of Toronto’s hottest startups. The Ontario College of Art and Design has grown from an institution that struggled locally to one that is now included in conversations around the world. To put it mildly, the innovation ecosystem in the city is thriving.

To read Lynch’s full article, click here.

Posted by Kailee Travis, writer and communications assistant.