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What should start-ups consider when forming a partnership?

Dr. Raphael Hofstein
Dr. Raphael Hofstein, president and CEO, MaRS Innovation.

Dr. Rafi Hofstein is among the experts featured in this month’s “One question, three experts” post on the MaRS Discovery District blog.

This regular feature addresses some of the challenges that start-ups face by asking three experts to respond to a different question each month — anything from marketing and financing guidance to advice on partnerships and mentors.

Here’s Hofstein’s response:

The first question to define is “partnership with whom?”

You will face very different issues when, for example, partnering with another founder to create a company together than you do when negotiating a relationship between a startup and a more established company.

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U of T med students participate in mass medical simulation exercise

OtoSim Night revolutionizes how students learn to identify ear pathologies

On Feb. 13, 2013, almost 100 second-year University of Toronto (U of T) medical students participated in an optional, intensive, one-hour otoscopy workshop using the OtoSim — a training and simulation system that is radically changing the way students in Canada and around the world learn this poorly-acquired medical skill.

And, if you want to use simulation technology to change the way medical professionals are taught, ear disease is a good place to start.

Additional photos from this event are posted on OtoSim Inc.’s Flickr account. A longer version of the OtoSim Night at U of T video is also available on the company’s YouTube channel.

“Historically, otoscopy simulation involved looking at an image of an eardrum on a piece of film at the end of a rubber ear,” said Dr. Andrew Sinclair, CEO of OtoSim Inc. “OtoSim™ has a digital image bank that is orders of magnitude more extensive. The instructor can electronically point to areas within the image and confirm that the student sees the pathology of interest. Diagnostic accuracy goes up enormously.”

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Flybits founder Dr. Hossein Rahnama appointed to NSERC

Hossein Rahnama on Lang & O'Leary
Hossein Rahnama (left), CEO of Flybits Inc., on CBC’s Lang & O’Leary Exchange in 2012. Rahnama is also a professor at Ryerson University.

Dr. Hossein Rahnama is one of three new members of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. The Honourable Christian Paradis, Minister of Industry, announced the appointments on Feb. 22, 2013.

Rahnama is founder and CEO of Flybits Inc., Research and Innovation director at Ryerson University’s Digital Media Zone, co-founder of Ryerson’s Ubiquitous and Pervasive Computing Lab.

Rahnama is currently in Barcelona to launch Flybits LITE at Mobile World Congress 2013.

In 2012, he was named to MIT Technology Review‘s prestigious 35 Inventors Under 35 list. He also met with and demonstrated Flybits’ technology for His Royal Highness Prince Charles during the prince’s state visit to Canada.

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Flybits to exhibit at Mobile World Congress 2013, officially launch Flybits LITE

Flybits’ Context-Aware and Intelligent Mobility Solutions on exhibit Feb. 25 to 28, Canadian Pavilion, Stand 7F50, Booth 14

Flybits Corporate LogoTORONTO, Canada (Feb. 14, 2013)Flybits, a start-up company that develops context-aware and intelligent mobility solutions, today announced that they will be exhibiting at Mobile World Congress 2013 to launch a revolutionary mobile product called Flybits LITE.

Flybits LITE, an innovative Platform as a Service (PaaS), enables the quick creation and deployment of context-aware mobile computing applications for enterprises without the dependency of dedicated infrastructure. This unified and scalable platform, which provides personalized and relevant content to mobile users, will be officially launched and showcased throughout the Mobile World Congress event.

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XLV Diagnostics Inc. awarded $500,000 to develop digital mammography technology

TORONTO, ON (Feb. 19, 2013) – XLV Diagnostics Inc., a start-up company working to commercialize a faster, cheaper and better digital mammography technology, has received a $500,000 investment from FedNor.

Over 600 million women living in developing countries have inadequate access to breast screening for early cancer detection. In the developed world, many radiology departments are replacing traditional film and screen systems with digital technologies. In both cases, better digital mammography technology promises to solve logistical challenges and save money.

XLV’s solution has the potential to provide image quality that equals or surpasses that which is currently in use, making images easy to analyze, manipulate and transfer much like digital photographs. It will also substantially decrease the cost of digital mammography machines.

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FedDev Ontario awards Xagenic Inc. $990,000 through Investing in Business Innovation initiative

TORONTO, Feb. 19, 2013 — Xagenic Inc., a privately-held molecular diagnostics company, today announced that it will receive up to $990,000 in funding from the Government of Canada to support design and development of the first lab-free molecular diagnostic platform with a 20-minute time to result.

The Honourable Gary Goodyear, Minister of State for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario), made the announcement in the keynote speech at the Conference Board of Canada’s Business Innovation Summit 2013 in Toronto this morning.

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BioDiaspora Founder Kamran Khan interviewed in Maclean’s Magazine

Bio.Diaspora LogoIndia’s Kumbh Mela, an annual mass Hindu pilgrimage of faith, is unlikely to create a disease outbreak that spreads beyond the country’s borders, Dr. Kamran Khan, founder of BioDiaspora, tells Maclean’s Magazines Hannah Hoag in “As millions gather for Kumbh Mela, doctors are watching” (February 11, 2013).

Here’s an excerpt (emphasis ours):

Unlike the hajj or the Olympics, the Kumbh Mela is primarily a domestic event. While flights into Saudi Arabia spike to five times normal during the hajj, “with the Kumbh Mela, it’s marginal,” says Khan, “probably five to 10 per cent at some airports.”

To help stem disease outbreaks that do cross borders, such as the 2003 SARS outbreak in Toronto, Khan developed Bio.Diaspora, an online tool that shows how international travellers can spread infectious diseases. Khan is also working with another group of scientists—along with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)—to develop a tool called BioMosaic that maps census data, migration patterns and health status to identify countries where international travel may give rise to emerging disease.

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MaRS Innovation awarded $15 million to further commercialize world-leading Canadian innovations

Networks of Centres of Excellence recognizes strength of partnership between MI and its 16 member institutions

Networks of Centres of Excellence logoTORONTO, February 5, 2013 — How do you make sure the brilliant ideas emerging from Toronto’s academic research community get the best possible chance to succeed?

MaRS Innovation (MI), created in 2008, bridges the chasm between these early-stage technologies and successful start-up companies and licensable technologies. By offering early-stage funding in tandem with hands-on management, mentorship and IP strategy protection, MI acts as a commercialization agent for its 16 member institutions.

This announcement was covered by TechVibes, Yonge Street Media and CanTech Letter.

The Networks of Centres of Excellence (NCE) has recognized the increasing strength of this novel partnership by awarding MI $14.95 million in funding through the Centres of Excellence for Commercialization and Research (CECR) program.

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Raphael Hofstein gives guest lecture on biotechnology commercialization at Stanford

Raphael Hofstein
Raphael Hofstein, president and CEO of MaRS Innovation

Dr. Raphael Hofstein, president and CEO of MaRS Innovation, delivered a guest lecture on February 1,2013 at the Revitalizing Medical BioTechnology Commercialization symposium, hosted by Stanford University‘s NIH Graduate Training Program in Biotechnology.

The one-day event brought academic, venture capital and industry thought leaders together to reflect on the challenges facing technology transfer processes across the biotech industry.

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UTEST program: Giving U of T students a new way to become their own bosses

The Varsity's coverage of the UTEST program
The Varsity’s coverage of the UTEST program. Photographed at the bottom left is Will Walmsley, founder of Whirlscape.

“There is a path somewhere between extended study and becoming an office worker,” wrote The Varsity‘s Angela Brock, in “Be Your Own Boss: Student entrepreneurs combine creativity and business to forge new career paths” (February 3, 2012). “As it turns out, there are plenty of opportunities for those looking to flex their entrepreneurial muscles without straying too far from the bosom of U of T.”

Brock’s article describes UTEST, the joint U of T-MaRS Innovation program that helps students, faculty and recent alumni commercialize software ideas.

It also profiles Will Walmsley, founder of Whirlscape, and Tyler Lu, co-founder of Granata Decision Systems, about their UTEST experience leading companies created through the program’s first cohort.

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