MaRS Discovery District

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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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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Start-Up Snapshot: Flybits, OtoSim, ApneaDX, ScarX Therapeutics

Happy New Year. Here’s a snapshot of some spin-off stories you may have missed over the holiday break:

Vito Forte
Dr. Vito Forte

OtoSim Inc. co-founder Dr. Vito Forte was selected as a recipient of the 2013 Canadian Association of Medical Educators (CAME) Certificate of Merit Award, which promotes medical education in Canadian medical schools while recognizing and rewarding faculty’s commitment to medical education. Dr. Forte will receive his certificate at the upcoming Canadian Conference on Medical Education (CCME) in Quebec City on Sunday, April 21, 2013. As co-founder of OtoSim Inc., Dr. Forte is actively involved in developing a pipeline of products including the OtoSim™, OtoSim™ Pneumatic Otoscopy Trainer and OptoSim™ (to be launched in early 2013).

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U of T, MaRS Innovation Collaborate to Launch Incubator for Student Software Companies

Hadi Aladdin (left) and Marwan Aladdin, U of T graduates and the founders of CoursePeer.
Hadi Aladdin (left) and Marwan Aladdin, U of T graduates and the founders of CoursePeer, one of six UTEST companies.

TORONTO, ON – A new program that provides nascent software companies with start-up funds, work space, mentoring and business strategy support, was launched today by the University of Toronto and commercialization partner MaRS Innovation, with support from the MaRS Discovery District.

TechVibes has a profile page for UTEST and covered CoursePeer as part of their students start-ups series.

The new program, called University of Toronto Early Stage Technology (UTEST), is part of a growing ecosystem of incubators and commercialization support services at U of T, including the newly-launched Banting and Best Institute. UTEST is unique among campus incubators in that its companies receive start-up funds—$30,000 each in this inaugural year—and because it accepts companies in the very earliest stages of idea generation, before they’re ready for traditional incubators.

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Hossein Rahnama, CEO of Flybits, on CBC’s Lang & O’Leary Exchange

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

Hossein Rahnama, CEO of Flybits, a MaRS Innovation spin-off company, appeared on CBC’s Lang and O’Leary Exchange on August 24, 2012.

Watch Rahnama’s interview on CBC’s Media Player. The interview begins at the 13:40 mark and runs to 19:30.

Rahnama, who is also a professor at Ryerson University and and research director at Ryerson’s Digital Media Zone, was recently named to the MIT Technology Review’s prestigious 35 Inventors Under 35 list for 2012 along with fellow MaRS Innovation inventor Joyce Poon.

He describes his context-aware mobile technology, the importance of adapting research to solve real-world problems, the advantages to running a start-up in Toronto, and growing Flybits while keeping the business in Canada.

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Encycle investigators receive CQDM investment

CQDM invests $1.5 million in two collaborative projects within the Québec/Ontario Life Sciences Corridor

Toronto, December 6, 2011 —  The Québec Consortium for Drug Discovery (CQDM) is pleased to announce $1.5 million in funding for two joint Québec/Ontario research projects in biomedical research.

The news was released today at the conference, Connecting Life Sciences Across the Ontario-Québec Corridor, which was held in Toronto.

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