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Crowdmark to save teacher marking time and government dollars

Ed-tech start-up completes successful EQAO and Canadian Open Math Challenge pilots

Crowdmark Logo: Grade BetterTORONTO, Canada (June 11, 2013) — Crowdmark Inc., a Canadian education technology start-up, is positioned to save cash-strapped Departments of Education millions by making massive-scale testing more efficient. Crowdmark has raised $600,000 in seed funding through the University of Toronto Early-Stage Technology (UTEST) program, MaRS Innovation and U of T’s Connaught Fund, among others.

This story was covered by Yonge Street Media, TechVibes, EdSurge and PEHub.

Dr. James Colliander, co-founder and CEO of Crowdmark
Dr. James Colliander, co-founder and CEO of Crowdmark.

The Crowdmark assessment interface, informed by decades of teaching experience and research by company co-founders, James Colliander (Professor of Mathematics) and Martin Muñoz (Researcher and Developer), at the University of Toronto, streamlines the complicated and time-consuming grading workflow for teachers.

Crowdmark archives student work and all grading feedback into individual digital portfolios that students and parents may access any time online and via mobile devices.

Through two separate pilot projects, Crowdmark has achieved proof-of-concept as a novel and scalable solution to the problem of assessment blockage that eats into already limited resources in education systems worldwide.

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MaRS Innovation on The Agenda’s 3D Printing Epsiode

MI’s Fanny Sie and Shotlst Co-founder Matt Ratto talk bioprinting, healthcare, civil rights and home manufacturing with Steve Paikin

Fanny Sie, project manager in physical sciences and medical devices with specialization in medical imaging, appeared on TVO’s The Agenda on June 5, 2013 to discuss 3D printing.

MaRS Innovation Project Manager Fanny Sie discusses 3D printing, the Bioprinter technology and the implications for society and human health on TVO's The Agenda.
MaRS Innovation Project Manager Fanny Sie discusses 3D printing, the Bioprinter technology and the implications for society and human health on TVO’s The Agenda.

Click here to watch Fanny Sie on The Agenda.

Sie manages the Bioprinter technology, which was touched upon during the interview. The bioprinter was invented by Axel Guenther, a professor in the University of Toronto’s Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, PhD student Lian Leng and a team of other researchers.

The Globe and Mail covered the Bioprinter’s development on January 20, 2013; an excerpt of their interviews with Leng and Guenther was included in the program.

Bioprinting and the Internet of Things

The Agenda’s 3D printing episode also included a second segment exploring its implications for home manufacturing and civil liberties. The guests included Matt Ratto, assistant professor in U of T’s Faculty of Information and co-inventor and CEO of Shotlst (a UTEST company).

Matt Ratto, co-founder of Shotlst and director of the Critical Making Lab, discusses 3D printing, home manufacturing and civil liberties on TVO's The Agenda.

Professor Matt Ratto, co-founder of Shotlst and director of the Critical Making Lab, discusses 3D printing, home manufacturing and civil liberties on TVO’s The Agenda.

Click here to watch Professor Matt Ratto on The Agenda.

Ratto described his experience downloading and printing the Liberator, a gun that can be printed using 3D printing technology, to better understand the process required and the resulting gun’s capabilities.

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MI’s Fanny Sie and Shotlst Founder Matt Ratto to appear on TVO’s The Agenda 8 pm

Fanny Sie, project manager, MaRS Innovation
Fanny Sie, project manager in physical sciences and medical devices , MaRS Innovation.

MaRS Innovation’s Fanny Sie, project manager in physical sciences and medical devices with specialization in medical imaging, is appearing on TVO’s The Agenda with Steve Paikin at 8 pm on June 5, 2013 to discuss 3D printing and the technology’s applications in healthcare and other aspects of human society.

Sie manages the Bioprinter technology, which was invented by Axel Guenther, a professor in the University of Toronto’s Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, PhD student Lian Leng and a team of other researchers. The Globe and Mail covered the Bioprinter’s development on January 20, 2013.

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Five UTEST companies to tackle critical healthcare challenges

Program’s second cohort includes eQOL, E-Twenty Development, Root2Crown, Treata Smart Solutions and TrendMD

University of TorontoTORONTO (May 14, 2013) — Five companies tackling pervasive healthcare challenges — such as assessing dental health, helping patients and medical personnel navigate hospitals with greater ease, staying current with medical literature, or creating digital tools to help care for the elderly or those with chronic health conditions — have been admitted to the University of Toronto Early Stage Technology (UTEST) program’s second cohort.

UTEST, supported by the University of Toronto’s Connaught Fund, Innovations & Partnerships Office (IPO) and MaRS Innovation (MI), is part of a growing system of incubators and commercialization support services at U of T.

Two companies in UTEST’s second cohort, E-Twenty Development Inc. and Treata Smart Solutions Inc. are participating in Canada 3.0 at the Metro Convention Centre May 14 and 15, 2013, in Toronto.

This announcement was covered in PE Hub.

Each company will receive up to $25,000, incubation space in the MaRS Discovery District, mentoring and business strategy support to develop protectable intellectual property, launch their products and gain market traction. They are also eligible to become clients of MaRS Discovery District’s ICE or Healthcare practices.

UTEST seeks scalable, enterprise-focused software applications interested in building business-to-business customer bases — and preferably operational products with a short term to market. The program is co-directed by Kurtis Scissons (U of T IPO) and Dr. Lyssa Neel (MI).

The second cohort has big shoes to fill. UTEST’s first cohort has collectively secured over $1.2 million in follow-on funding and currently employs 29 highly skilled people (HQPs). Each company also filed solid patent protection and most have secured customers. Notably, Whirlscape’s Indiegogo campaign secured over $87,000 in crowd-sourced product funds from nearly 10,000 users, and was featured in the Financial Post, TechCrunch, Mashable and The Verge, among other global media outlets.

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TechWomen Canada selects UTEST co-director for Silicon Valley program

Lyssa Neel
Lyssa Neel, co-director of UTEST and MaRS Innovation project manager

MaRS Innovation’s (MI) Lyssa Neel, co-director of the UTEST program and project manager, has been selected to represent MI’s ICT start-up companies at the TechWomen Canada program in San Francisco, which runs May 13 to 16, 2013.

The announcement was covered in TechVibes:

TechWomen Canada is run by the Canadian Consulate and is focused on providing Canadian women leaders in the ICT sector an opportunity to expand both professional and business networks in Silicon Valley.

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Minuum’s crowdfunding campaign raises 873 per cent of initial goal

Over 9,600 people funded Toronto start-up’s one-dimensional mobile keyboard

Final tally for Minuum's Indiegogo campaign
The final tally for Minuum’s Indiegogo campaign: $87,369 in one month from 9,648 supporters.

TORONTO, Canada (April 18, 2013) — The Indiegogo campaign for Minuum, “the little keyboard for big fingers,” created by Whirlscape Inc., has closed after raising $87,369 in one month.

Minuum is a one-dimensional, tiny keyboard that frees up mobile screen space while allowing fast, accurate typing. Its specialized, patent-protected auto-correction algorithm allows highly imprecise typing, configuring the difference between what you type and what you mean in real time and getting it right even if you miss every single letter.

Read about the Minuum launch and reaching its $60,000 stretch milestone in previous posts. The posts include links to Minuum’s international media coverage. Most recently, their technology and Indiegogo success were featured in The Verge, the Financial Post, Mobile Syrup (includes an excellent Youtube interview with founder Will Walmsley, embedded below) and Tech2.

The campaign’s initial goal — $10,000 to fund the launch of an Android keyboard app — was reached within 14 hours. Since its launch on March 18, the campaign video has been viewed over 1.1 million times.

Did you know Minuum’s campaign is in Indiegogo’s top 10 of all time for projects with the largest number of supporters?

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Minuum closes on $60,000 crowdfunded stretch goal to build wearable development kit

Minuum's one-line QWERTY keyboard on a touch device
Minuum’s one-line QWERTY keyboard on a touch device leaves more screen space for content.

Whirlscape Inc.‘s Minuum keyboard has enjoyed the kind of launch that start-up founders dream about yet few achieve.

UPDATE: Whirlscape’s Minuum Project has now cleared its $60,000 fundraising target. Mobile Syrup wrote a follow-up article on the campaign with details about the Wearable Development Kit. Their technology also got a second spot on CTV News‘s Tech Tuesday report and was featured on Global TV’s The Morning Show.

The little keyboard for big fingers, which launched an Indiegogo campaign a week ago today to support the launch of its Android keyboard app and a wearable development kit, is currently less than $4,000 from its crowd-funded stretch goal of $60,000.

The company was featured on CTV News on Mar. 24, 2013. The CTV video story and photos of CEO Will Walmsley and CTO Xavier Snelgrove are available on CTV’s website.

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Minuum to end battle between mobile screen space and virtual keyboards

Start-up launches Indiegogo campaign to change future of mobile typing

Minuum keyboard on an Android phone
The Minuum keyboard: “the little keyboard for big fingers.” Designed by Whirlscape Inc., this one-dimensional, tiny keyboard frees up mobile screen space while allowing fast, accurate typing.

TORONTO, March 18, 2013 —  Whirlscape Inc., a Canadian tech start-up, has developed Minuum, “the little keyboard for big fingers.”

Updated: The company has now cleared its $60,000 stretch goal to build a wearable development kit. Read the Mobile Syrup follow-up story.

Minuum’s crowdfunding campaign was covered by the Financial Post, CBC News, CTV News, the Toronto Star and Metro Morning (radio interview). They also did a second spot on CTV News‘s Tech Tuesday report and were featured on Global TV’s The Morning Show.

The story was also picked up by Fast Company, Mashable, CNET, TechCrunch, TechCrunch Japan, TechVibes, Huffington Post, Toronto Standard, BlogTO and Mobile Syrup.

Minuum is a tiny, one-dimensional keyboard that frees up mobile screen space while allowing fast, accurate typing. Its specialized, patent-protected auto-correction algorithm corrects highly imprecise typing.

This algorithm, based on the touchscreen and wearable device research of company founders, Will Walmsley (researcher) and Khai Truong (associate professor) at the University of Toronto, configures the difference between what you type and what you mean, in real time, getting it right even if you miss every single letter.

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Crowdmark’s grading software featured in EdSurge

Crowdmark Logo: Grade BetterExam pain is not limited to students, notes Tony Wan of EdSurge in his profile of UTEST start-up company, Crowdmark.

The article, “Crowdmark Lends a Helping Hand with Handwritten Assessments: How one savvy professor is scaling human grading capabilities for handwritten responses” appeared Mar. 17, 2013.

Here’s an excerpt:

Dr. James Colliander, co-founder and CEO of Crowdmark
Dr. James Colliander, co-founder and CEO of Crowdmark. Photo courtesy of Denise Grant. Used with permission.

James Colliander, a Professor Mathematics at the University of Toronto, knew this pain all too well. As a grader for the 2011 Canadian Open Mathematics Challenge, he and a team of volunteers had to deal with 70,000 pages of hand-written responses, a “tremendously inefficient, logistical nightmare” that involved paper shuffling and moving boxes of exams.

That’s when he started working on a way to scale human assessment capabilities. In April 2011, Colliander joined UTEST (University of Toronto Early Stage Technology), an incubator launched by the University of Toronto and MaRS Innovation, to work on his solution, Crowdmark.

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