Innovation + Job News

The most interesting of the opportunities we've seen this week:

Not Far From the Tree rescues harvestable fruit from trees in Toronto. Last year, they gathered more than 12,000, a significant portion of which went to local shelters and food service organizations. NFFTT is currently filling two summer student postions: one is a community animator, to help with local engagement efforts, and is a logistics and equipment assistant, which requires some physical labour.

Also in food security and food issues, the North York Harvest Food Bank has several positions open. Among them are a senior manager of agency relations, to oversee engagement with member organizations; a part-time garden coordinator, to organize and run engagement programs; and a food bank assistant, to work with incoming and existing clients.

In the environmental sector, residential solar energy company PURE Energies is on the hunt for a sales team lead. It's a senior post requiring a mimimum of 7-10 years experience; the successful candidate will be supervising a team of at least 15.

The Ontario Nonprofit Network, which was created to strengthen the nonprofit sector in the province, is also hiring for a summer position: an engagement coordinator to work with member organizations and help with event planning and communications.

Among cultural organizations, the National Film Board is hiring a part-time publicity assistant to help with event promotion, media monitoring, and administrative support.

Startup Synaptive Medical works on developing new tools for neurosurgery; they have about ten jobs available as they ramp up operations. Among them are several software development postions, plus opportunities for engineers and one intellectual property coordinator.

Finally in tech jobs, two more openings to tell you about. One is with TELUS Digital Labs, an innovation hub within the broader company. They are looking for a senior web developer with particular expertise in mobile, to take the lead on several projects. And Blue Ant Media, which creates titles ranging from Cottage Life to music magazine Aux, is hiring a development lead with at least five years of experience.

Know of an innovative job opportunity in Toronto? Let us know!

It is the bane of every teacher's existence: grading. Though essential, it's also repetitive and time-consuming. It is also increasingly prone to concerns about inequity: from grade inflation to inconsistent standards across different classrooms, sometimes parents, students, and even teachers themselves have a hard time deciding just what the grades they have assigned actually mean.

Aiming to help with both those problems is Toronto startup Crowdmark. Founded by two University of Toronto mathematics experts--the department's associate chair, James Colliander, and graduate student Martin Muñoz--Crowdmark provides teachers with a suite of tools to facilitate faster grading, and enables teachers to handle large volumes of grading collaboratively.

To use Crowdmark, teachers input the questions for a test into its customized PDF-maker. The result is a full printout of that test, in which each page of the copy received by each student has a customized code printed on it. Students write the test as usual, completing their answers by hand, and then teachers scan those tests into Crowdmark before doing their grading online. Because each page of each test has a unique identifier, Crowdmark's cloud-based tools can then sort the tests on a number of axes--by student, or by page of the test.

A group of grade three teachers could, for instance, collaborate on writing a test, and then split up the grading so that one teacher grades all the students' answers to question one, a second teacher grades all the answers to question two, and so on. It can be faster than looking at a whole test student by student, and it ensures that every answer to a given question is graded according to the same criteria, rather than changing based on which teacher is doing the grading.

"Teachers are very excited right now about an idea called moderated marking," says Colliander, which is essentially an attempt to strip teacher biases, grade inflation, and other variations out of the grading process, so there is consensus on what, say, an "A" means in any particular set of circumstances. "The shuffling of paper prevents many teachers from engaging in this kind of assessment."  

In addition to the tools that can make initial grading more efficient, Colliander believes, because tests are stored in the cloud in an organized way, teachers will be able to glean more information from them--more easily tracking a particular student over time, for instance, or seeing how test difficulty changes year by year.

"There's a desire for a much more rapid, iterative way of learning," Colliander concludes. His hope is that Crowdmark will give teachers the capacity to keep pace with that.

Started with $200,000 in seed funding from the University of Toronto, Crowdmark has recently seen that boosted to $600,000--some from the university, and some from MaRS Innovation. Crowdmark also recently completed two pilot projects working with teachers in grades 3 and 6. The company is currently meeting with venture capitalists and putting together a Series A round of funding. They plan to launch publicly in time for the 2013/2014 academic year.

Writer: Hamutal Dotan
Source: James Colliander, co-founder, Crowdmark

When Extreme Startups launched in early 2012, co-founder Sunil Sharma says it was with a very specific goal in mind: find "high potential, disruptive, early stage tech companies" and give investors a first crack at supporting them.  Formed by a collective of venture capitalists, the tech incubator's goal is to hone in on young companies with the best chances of success, and boost their odds further.

Applications are now open for the fourth cohort of participants in Extreme Startups. Each cohort consists of five companies; each company receives $50,000 up front, mentorship, and streamlined access to more than $150,000 funding (through the Business Development Bank of Canada and the Ontario Centres for Excellence) once they have completed the 12 week program. 

In exchange, Extreme Startups gets a ten per cent stake in each company, distributed across the venture capitalists who make up Extreme's investors (the distribution of equity varies in each case).

We asked Dale Millstein, a visiting associate at Extreme Startups, what advice he had for potential applicants. "Apply!" he said. "It sounds pretty simple, but most people are afraid."

Whether or not an applicant is chosen, he says, going through that process is worthwhile. Extreme's goal is to foster community, and applying helps get new companies' names out, and exposes them to opportunities that may bear fruit later on.

As for who is likely to make the cut, Millstein says, the selection committee will be especially "looking at the quality of the team and technology talent," something he identifies as particularly important for younger companies with little experience in the marketplace.

Extreme Startups is accepting applications for this round of investment until August 9, 2013.

Writer: Hamutal Dotan
Sources: Dale Millstein, visiting associate, and Funil Sharma co-founder, Extreme Startups

Among the many projects coming out of the the innovators at MaRS Discovery District is a new set of three health technologies: an at-home tool for diagnosing sleep apnea, which is correlated with strokes and heart attacks (from ApneaDx Inc.); a new treatment for hypertension (from Medtronic of Canada Ltd.), and a tool to help determine the efficacy of breast cancer treatments (from Rna Diagnostics Inc.).

What those three companies have in common: they are the first set of participants to pass through MaRS's EXCITE program, which is aimed specifically at helping medical innovations succeed in the marketplace.

EXCITE (Excellence in Clinical Innovation and Technology Evaluation) was born out of a recognition that often the path to licensing a new medical technology isn't clearly correlated with marketplace success. Just because Heath Canada approves something, in other words, doesn't mean hospitals or clinics will find it useful--or buy it.  

Monique Albert, EXCITE's manager, says that companies are often surprised at the level of evidence they need to present in order to land sales of their products. Health Canada, she explains, explores the basic questions of product safety and efficacy, but doesn't consider other questions like the comparative cost or efficacy of a new treatment relative to others that are already available. Health Canada also doesn't examine the real-world implementation questions for new products--the precise questions that can determine whether a new product will be accepted clinically.

EXCITE works to bridge this gap by building those market-based questions into the process earlier on: it helps companies with medical devices in development collect the evidence they need on those matters while they are going through the basic licensing process, rather than only thinking of them after the fact.

"Innovators are often so focused on licensing," Albert says, "that they neglect this side of it."

MaRS is expected to do another "Call for Innovation" later this year. 

Writer: Hamutal Dotan
Source: Monique Albert, Manager, MaRS Excellence in Clinical Innovation and Technology Evaluation

In the world of books, major publishing house Penguin is hiring a digital and social media coordinator to both maintain their websites and work on engagement campaigns. Also the literary sector, the Ontario Arts Council is looking for a literature officer to help manage their grants programs. The post is for a five-year term.

Hart House, the cultural hub at the University of Toronto's downtown campus, is looking for an education and production coordinator for a 10-month contract to provide support to their theatre programming. Finally, the Canadian Opera Company is seeking an assistant music librarian. It requires a strong background in music and familiarity with standard office computer programs.

UNITY, a charity that works to empower youth through artistic self-expression, has three posts available. They are hiring a program coordinator, a festival & volunteer coordinator, and a managing director, operations. Contracts, qualifications, and salaries vary per posting. 

If you're interested in urban agriculture, non-profit Cultivate Toronto is looking for a community relationship manager. The organization focuses on creating food gardens in people's front and back yards, and the position involves developing and maintaining relationships with program participants.

In technology jobs, the Ontario Public Service is on the hunt for a senior interactive developer with significant experience working with open source technologies and platforms.

And finally, in leadership positions, the Jane Goodall Institute is looking for a new CEO. The position requires experience both in conservation and in financial management, and they are hoping to find a billingual candidate. Among environmental groups, think tank Pembina is looking for a single candidate to split their time between two functions: director of development for the Pembina Institute, and exective director for the associated Pembina Foundation.

Know of any innovative job opportunities? Let us know!

Ryerson professor Andrew Millward thinks you need a tree in your yard.

He is so convinced, in fact, that he’s gone and developed a very seriously titled online tool, the Ontario Residential Tree Benefits Estimator, to convince you he’s right.

According to a paper the geography professor co-wrote, in which he and his team followed 577 trees to provide 25- and 40-year energy conservation projections, "each tree will save between 435 and 483 kWh per household -- equal to running a dishwasher once every day for an entire year. This can translate into a saving of upwards of $40 annually."

"Trees provide many social, economic and environmental benefits in addition to the energy conservation ones we highlight in our study," he says. "And they require an investment of time and care, especially in the first years following planting. Because large trees deliver the lion’s share of benefits, cities require a collective contribution/will/action to ensure we have large healthy trees in our cities. Tools, such as the estimator we have developed, help make the economic case for care and maintenance of trees."

Users of the tool choose their city, tree species and its location on the property to calculate their own real or potential savings.

The estimator was developed for 27 cities around Ontario, with coding by Nikesh Bhagat from Ryerson’s spatial analysis graduate program. According to Millward, the team -- which also includes Michelle Sawka, Janet MacKay, LEAF and Misha Sarkovich -- would be open to tailoring it for other cities around the country and the world.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Andrew Millward

Toronto Internet marketing company Techwyse has become one of Canada's first official Google Partners. And for founder and CEO DJ Kennedy, that’s several kinds of good news.

"They’ve made it very clear that if a business comes in and searches for a Google Partner, they’ve built an algorithm based on geographical location that will match you up with companies in the industry by region," he says. "If you go in and do a search [for internet marketing companies], you’ll typically find that we’ll be in the top three or four results."

That can be of enormous value in a market saturated with Internet marketing companies. Internet marketing companies plan, develop, market, promote, measure and track their customer products and services, attempting to maximize the effectiveness of their online endeavours.

On a broader level, though, Kennedy is pleased that this new partnership program is itself "an acknowledgement that they’re trying to grow their agencies and partnerships. Ten years ago, they announced they were trying to kill agencies, and now, they’re acknowledging them," Kennedy says. "It’s a big deal."

According to Google, Google Partners' businesses "are healthy, their customers are happy, and they exhibit Google best practices."

Techwyse, whose offices are at Dupont and Lansdowne, employs 80 people and hopes profiting from this designation will help them grow.

Writer: Bert Archer
Source: DJ Kennedy

As befits the season, there are many seasonal job posting right now, especially in the areas of gardening, urban agriculture, and the environment.

Evergreen, based out of the Brick Works, is hiring an urban agriculture program assistant for the summer. Applicants must be under 30 years of age and returning to full-time post-secondary studies in the fall, and will work both on the green spaces at the Brick Works and in delivering programs across the Toronto region.

Green Thumb Growing Kids, a charity that helps urban children learn about how to grow, cook, and enjoy fresh food, is also hiring summer students: they are looking for two garden program leaders to help maintain school gardens and develop children's garden programs. Applicants can be younger in this case—the age range is 15-30—but must be returning to some kind of full-time study in the fall.

Also in this area, Central Toronto Community Health Centres is looking for a garden and program support worker to run weekly programs, maintain a community kitchen, and provide other assistance as needed. This too is a program for students under 30 returning to studies at the end of the summer. Another community organization, the Agincourt Community Services Association, is on the hunt for some similar help: they are trying to find two urban agriculture facilitators for the summer to promote youth engagement in gardening and healthy eating.

Finally in this sector, the Toronto Botanical Garden is seeking a teaching assistant for their children's programs. The assistant will be working with children aged 3-11 enrolled in the Gardens' summer camp programs, as well as help with maintaining the teaching gardens.

Also for students, but in another area of environmental work: TREC Renewable Energy Co-operative, which focuses on energy conservation, has a summer opening for a communications and research assistant to help with their ongoing outreach and marketing efforts.

Moving on to the cultural sector, FACTOR, the Foundation Assisting Canadian Talent on Recordings, is hiring a full-time project coordinator to manage an artists' client base. Also looking for a project coordinator is ArtReach Toronto, which focuses on engaging youth who typically have a hard time accessing arts programming. It's a six-month, part-time contract, and the coordinator's primary responsibility will be to develop a series of cultural career workshops.

One last, and particularly noteworthy opportunity: Diaspora Dialogues, which supports diversity in the creation of new literature in Canada, is seeking a new artistic director. The position is part time, and the successful candidate will play the lead role in shaping the overall direction programming takes in future.

Do you know of a great job opportunity? Let us know by emailing feedback@yongestreetmedia.ca. 

Entrepreneurs who have a business idea that aims to make the world a better place--who are pursuing environmental, social, and cultural goals in their work--now have a new source of seed funding in Ontario.

The province, in conjunction with Toronto's Centre for Social Innovation and several private sector partners, has just launched what is being billed as Canada's first microloan program geared specifically to social entrepreneurs. The Ontario Catapult Microloan Fund--consisting of $600,000 that will be distributed to applicants in $5,000 to $25,000 increments--was officially unveiled on May 24.

"Everyone complains about access to capital," says Tonya Surman, CEO of the Centre for Social Innovation, who first brought the proposal to the province, "and I just got sick of it."

To try and improve matters, Surman proposed what she hopes will become an "evergreen" fund. The money for the fund comes from TD Bank, Microsoft Canada, Alterna Savings, KPMG and Social Capital Partners, and since it will be repaid by the recipients over time, the goal is to have the microloan program continue on an ongoing basis.

Surman says it's important for entrepreneurs to focus on the viability of their ideas, to test them in the marketplace and be sure they are offering something for which there is a real demand. That's why the fund is "not investing in early early early stage, we're investing in early stage" enterprises, she explains.

The fund is for social enterprises that are far enough along to have some sort of established cash flow but have hit their capacity limits and can "benefit from a cash infusion to facilitate the next stage of growth." More concretely, she goes on, that means people. "Really it's about job creation…I imagine 80 per cent of the money will be invested in [new positions]."

Applications will be accepted starting in mid-June. More information is available on Catapult's website.

Writer: Hamutal Dotan
Source: Tonya Surman, CEO, Centre for Social Innovation

The most interesting opportunities we've spotted this week:

Harbourfront Centre is looking for an integrated communications specialist. It's a fulltime contract position for someone to develop marketing and media plans--both strategy and implementation.

Also in the cultural sector is ArtsSmarts, which helps organize classroom-based arts education programs. They are on the hunt for a project coordinator to help with several programs. It's an early (but not entry) level position, and the post is a nine-month contract.

Finally in this area, WorkInCulture, which supports career development in the cultural sector (in fact, it's the source of those previous two job listings) is seeking a marketing and communications manager; the position is permanent and fulltime.

MaRS Discovery District has a video production unit, which creates event and promotional videos for MaRS and its clients. They need a production/post-production manager to oversee this work and provide strategic advice as necessary. Meanwhile, the Mozilla Foundation is hiring a web developer with at least two years of experience.

For those with an interest in the environment, the Georgian Bay Land Trust needs a new executive director. The position is based in Toronto, but does require frequent travel to Georgian Bay. The charity is hoping to find someone with five to ten years experience, preferably in a non-profit.

In the social services sector, the Jane/Finch Community Centre is looking for a program manager for their Women Moving Forward initiative, a poverty-reduction program for mothers in their twenties. The centre is also looking for a mobilie community financial worker. This position is for someone who works from a variety of locations in the community providing financial management education.

Finally, the Ministry of Transportation is looking for a communications lead to oversee stakeholder and public engagement for the PanAm Games. It's a senior, temporary position that will run for up to two years.

Are you hiring or do you know of a great job opportunity? Let us know!

The most interesting of the opportunities we've seen this week:

Manifesto is a non-profit dedicated to helping empower youth through the arts. It also organizes the annual Manifesto Festival in Yonge-Dundas Square. The founding director is moving into a new role as the chair of the organization's board, and Manifesto is looking for a new full-time executive director.

Also in the cultural sector, Toronto is getting a new museum next year that is dedicated to Islamic civilizations. The Aga Khan Museum is now seeking a graphic designer to help shape their visual identity, including everything from exhibition materials to retail branding.

Sex-positive shop Good for Her is looking for a new full-time manager to oversee their store, as well as handle some marketing and event production.

In the world of sustainable food, The Stop is a leading non-profit that focuses on issues of food security, running everything from nutrition classes to community gardens. They are looking for a new manager of their Green Barn site at the Artscape Wychwood Barns, to oversee their programs there.

Evergreen also works in this area of sustainability, with a particular focus on the role of the environment in cities. That organization is on the hunt for a manager of community food programs, to work at the Brick Works and across the GTA.

The High Park Nature Centre has our pick for internship of the week: they are looking for three nature lovers to teach at their summer camp. Applicants must be post-secondary students in environmental science or educational programs.

And in off-beat opportunities, the Toronto Public Library is now accepting applications for an entrepreneur-in-residence. It's a six-week mentorship position, and it comes with a modest honorarium.

Finally, in the business sector, the Ontario Securities Commission is hiring a digital communications specialist to maintain its website. They are looking for a combination of technical web design as well as writing skills. And mDialog, which provides digital video services, is looking for a business analyst with at least five years of experience.

Are you hiring or do you know of an innovative job opportunity in Toronto? Email Hamutal Dotan, Yonge Street's innovation and jobs editor, to let her know. 

Earlier this month, the University of Toronto opened a new plastics research facility at its Mississauga campus. The Centre for Industrial Application of Microcellular Plastics (CIAMP) is dedicated to developing innovative plastic foaming technologies, with a strong focus on their commercial applications.

CIAMP's director is U of T engineering professor Chul Park and foamed plastics are his area of expertise. In a statement announcing the centre's opening, he explained that the goal is to work with commercial partners to develop "lighter weight, stronger plastics that use less raw material."

The centre is set up to conduct large-scale experimentation that will help researchers understand the industrial applications of the technologies they work on, which is key to bringing new materials to market effectively. Commercial uses, Park says, range from the construction and automotive industries to use in household electronics.

CIAMP got off the ground with the help of $9.2 million from the Canadian Foundation for Innovation.

Writer: Hamutal Dotan
Source: CIAMP

Created in 2001, Summer Company is a provincial program that helps student entrepreneurs by providing financial support and mentorship to participants to create small businesses during the summer months. The goal is to help participants both with material support, by enabling them to generate income, and to endow them with essential skills they'll need as full-fledged entrepreneurs once their education is completed.

This year, as part of a focus on youth employment in the 2013 budget, the Ontario government is proposing to increase the number of spots available in Summer Company by 20 per cent, going from 500 to 600 positions.

The students who participate in Summer Company range in age from 15 to 29 and their businesses run a huge gamut, from artisanal food production to web development to construction services. Each participant must draw up a business plan and a cash flow forecast as part of the application process.

If accepted, students then go on to learn some business basics, like how to keep books and navigate the regulations in their particular sectors. They receive coaching from local entrepreneurs as they launch their businesses, and also receive up to $3,000 in financial support--some of which is meant to help with the business itself, and some to go towards continued education once the summer is done.

Applications for the 2013 edition of Summer Company will be accepted until June 3. The increased number of spots is contingent on the passage of the provincial budget; a vote on that is expected later this month.

Writer: Hamutal Dotan
Source: Ministry of Economic Development

The most interesting and innovative opportunities we've spotted this week:

There are a good number of interesting openings in media right now. Canadian Journalists for Free Expression are hiring a digital development coordinator to work on IFEX, a network of organizations that promotes free expresion as a human right. Also, a new Canadian affairs and cultural magazine called Depict is launching soon. It will consist entirely of visual elements -- infographics and "visual storytelling" -- and they are looking for both a creative director and a graphic designer.

Continuing with the media opportunities, Global News is looking for a project manager with at least 3-5 years of experience to handle several digital projects. And finally, a very significant opening at the CBC: they are on the lookout for a new managing editor of cbcnews.ca--a senior position for someone with at least five years of related experience.

Moving on to the environmental sector, the Toronto Atmospheric Fund was established by the municipal government to provide support to new initiatives that combat climate change. They are currently seeking a summer intern for a 12-week project. The position is paid and candidates should have completed some graduate level work in public policy or environmental studies.

Real Food for Real Kids provides healthy catering for child care centres and camps, with an emphasis on local and organic ingredients. They are looking for an assistant kitchen manager.

In medical research, the Ontario Brain Institute is hiring for three six-month internships: one in industry relations, one in community outreach, and one in finance and governance. All the positions are paid, and applications are due by the end of this week.

And finally, Toronto-based financial software company FreshBooks is hiring for several positions, including a MySQL developer and a product manager.

Are you hiring or do you know of an innovative job opportunity in Toronto? Email Yonge Street's innovation and jobs editor Hamutal Dotan to let her know. 

Last week the provincial government unveiled its draft budget for the year. A key highlight of that budget: $295 million over two years dedicated to boost youth employment and support initiatives in youth innovation and entrepreneurship.

The budget, which still needs to be passed in the Legislature, includes money for four separate initiatives:

An Ontario Youth Employment Fund, which comprises the bulk of the money: $195 million over two years. The province is proposing to offer incentives to employers to hire young people. Those incentives might include anything from wage subsidies for young workers as they receive training to help with purchasing tools and equipment when jobs require those. It's estimated this will create opportunities for up to 25,000 young Ontarians.

A Youth Entrepreneurship Fund to help support young entrepreneurs as they try to get new enterprises off the ground. This fund is for $45 million over two years, and is projected to created opportunities for 6,000 residents. Among the initiatives included here are mentorship help (matching young entrepreneurs with more experienced businesspeople who can coach them through launch); seed-stage financing (through small loans and grants, and administered through accelerator hubs); and high school outreach specifically for high school students with entrepreneurial interests.

A Youth Innovation Fund, which includes $10 million over two years to support commercialization specifically for post-doctoral fellows working in relevant industrial research areas. This fund also includes another $20 million for on-campus accelerators, including Ryerson's Digital Media Zone and U of T's Impact Centre.

A Business-Labour Connectivity and Training Fund: $25 million over two years, this fund would support pilot programs that help business identify and develop young talent.

The minority Liberal government will need the backing of the NDP in order to pass this budget. Supporting youth employment is part of the New Democrats' platform as well, and they aren't expected to challenge this portion of the budget as negotiations proceed.

Writer: Hamutal Dotan