Queen/King West : Innovation + Job News

Just two weeks ago, we reported that rapidly growing Toronto agency Plastic Mobile had been nominated for a Webby Award for its innovative Pizza Pizza mobile app. Last week, the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences put a happy ending on that story for the local agency by awarding the Webby for Mobile Shopping to Plastic.

The award was the only one in a mobile category presented to a Canadian company, beating large American giants such as Target and Walgreens. Melody Adhami, co-founder of Plastic Mobile says that the award is payoff for the leadership role her agency has taken in the mobile arena. "Winning the Webby Award serves as our validation and compensation for innovating and pushing boundaries. Receiving this honour continues to propel us to innovate by reassuring the team that the time and effort invested in innovation is highly worth it."

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Melody Adhami, co-foudner, Plastic Mobile

Earlier this year, the creative team at Toronto-based marketing, design and branding agency Up Inc wanted to test a new bookbinding technique. So they recruited local photographer Sandy Nicholson to shoot the faces of people from every age between 0 and 100. The book, 0to100, was published in March.

But it was the iPad application version of the book that has really become a smash success for Up Inc. Through it's innovative use of Adobe Digital Publishing Suite, a company spokesperson says, it has managed to reach the top of the App store's "What's Hot" list in over 70 countries, as well as drawing raves from Gizmodo, Fast Company, and other international media.

The award winning firm was founded in 2007, and continues to grow (they're hiring four now).

Source: Sue McCluskey. Up Inc.

Toronto-based mobile branding agency Plastic Mobile has scored a Webby Awards nomination for its top-rated Pizza Pizza mobile app. Company co-founder Melody Adhami says the honour, which sees her small agency and a relatively small Canadian pizza chain up against US retial giants such as Wal-Mart, validates the innovative approach Plastic has taken to marketing for mobile devices.

"There are not a lot of people in our space going for these awards," she says. "It really shows our philosophy of focusing on great design and a great user experience works."

Adhami says that when she and her co-founder Sep Sayeddi started the company three years ago, the mobile industry barely existed--the Apple App store had yet to open and most users were business clients. Since then, the industry has transformed and Plastic's dedication to leading the marketing world in the sector has seen the company grow into a major player. They now have 20 employees, and are advertising for three new hires now, though Adhami says that the company is continuously hiring. "Finding people in this rapidly changing space is one of of our biggest challenges," she says, citing the rapid emergence of the sector means that company's like hers need to "brew their own" qualified employees.

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Melody Adhami, Co-Founder and COO, Plastic Mobile

Scribble Technologies Inc, based on Niagra Street near King West, has announced the latest coup in its steady march to dominance in the online breaking news business. UK multimedia news agency The Press Association will use the ScribbleLive content management system to syndicate live coverage of the royal wedding to its customers around the world. According to information provided by Scribble Technologies COO Mark Walker, this is the first time news agencies will ever be able to license real-time digital breaking news coverage through an online content management system platform.

This is just the latest milestone in the company's rapid growth since its launch in 2008. Back then, CTV employees Michael De Monte and Jonathan Keebler, starting with $1,500 according to TechCrunch, developed the platform in their spare time as a superior form of live blogging, able to take inputs from mobile phones and email. Since then, they've added functionality (allowing enhanced social media and photo capabilities, among other things) and have added high-profile clients including Reuters, Toronto Star, National Post, Hearst and theScore.com.

Walker says the company has grown from two to 12 employees and that more growth is on the horizon. "The first stage to world dominance is to own your home market," he said. "We've done that, and our partnerships with Press Association and Reuters are key for our global expansion.

Walker says the key is that readers want the pace of Twitter with the reliability of a news organization and that capability is what ScribbleLive provides..

Writer: Edward Keenan
Sources: Mark Walker, COO, Scribble Technologies Inc; TechCrunch

2010 was a banner year for Toronto startup Pushlife -- enough to get it named to IDC's list of 10 Toronto Digital Media Companies to watch. And that momentum continues into 2011 as the company seeks to add two team members, a mobile developer and a software developer, to its staff.

Founded in 2008 by former RIM executive Ray Reddy, Pushlife's mandate is to take on iTunes and the iPod pretty much straight on. Pushlife's software allows any phone or mobile device -- Blackberrys, Androids and plain old cell phones -- to play music, to synch with iTunes or Windows Media Player, and to share playlists and music information on social media. The only catch? You can't get it for the iPhone.

In May 2010, Pushlife pushed its software live, and by the end of the year it had launched a partnership with Virgin Mobile internationally to distribute the app for free. In addition to breaking up the iTunes monopoly, Reddy has said that the application eliminates the need to buy a dedicated music player, since it can turn virtually any phone into one. This holds particular promise for market share in developing countries, where mobile phones are ubiquitous but consumer spending dollars are scarce.

For information about the companies current hiring, click here.

Writer: Edward Keenan
Sources: Ray Reddy, Pushlife; IDC; PaidContent; RedCanary

Savvica, founded and headquartered in Liberty Village in Toronto, is India's largest educational marketing and recruitment services company. Unpacking that sentence and the story behind teaches some lessons in how to succeed in the global technology market.

According to a history told on StartupNorth, the company was originally founded by Malgosia Green in Toronto in 2004, but was shelved when she took a job in San Francisco in 2006. However, she and her husband and co-founder John "kept burning a little midnight oil, still looking for a deal or an opportunity, and most of all, they kept their dream alive." In 2007, an India-based e-learning company provided investment to expand the company, and Green located the Savvica office right back here in Toronto.

Just over three years later, Green is the CEO of what has become a giant in the Indian educational marketing and recruiting industry, operating the student web hubs learnhub.com, studyplaces.com and jumbotest.com. In the words of the company, they offer marketers and recruiters "unique access to students in India and other countries." As their web list of clients shows, their dominance in India is not a limit to their reach -- since their core service is study abroad information, they provide services to hundreds of colleges in Canada, the US, the UK and in other countries.

What's more, Savvica is expanding now, hiring two developers in Toronto. (If you're reading this from afar, they are hiring a VP to work in their India office, too).

Writer: Edward Keenan
Sources: Malgosia Green, Savvica; startupnorth.com

In February, Yonge Street reporter Piali Roy heralded 2010 as a big year for Morgan Solar, noting that the energy startup has scored over $5 million in seed funding and was preparing to produce its potentially game-changing solar energy product, Sun Simba. Now, the company has annouced that solar industry superstar Asif Ansari, formerly head of eSolar in California, will become its CEO.

MaRS cleantech lead and industry expert Tom Rand calls Ansari's relocation to Toronto "the biggest brain gain for Ontario in the cleantech sector I've seen. Ansari has enjoyed a string of successes, including eSolar, and he didn't come to Morgan to fail. The quality of Morgan's management team, with these sorts of additions, demonstrates their ability to go global on a major scale."

In an announcement, Ansari says his decision to take the job and move to Toronto was motivated by his impression that the company will transform the industry. "Morgan Solar has done something I wasn't sure was possible -- they have cracked the code for CPV  optics, substantially lowering its costs to where it can now deliver a value proposition significantly better than PV," he said. "Morgan was able to see the problem in a whole new way, starting with inventing a new optical concentrator to replace conventional Fresnel lens architectures. The potential of this technology is massive."

Currently, Ansari is focussed on securing second-round financing as Morgan Solar prepares for large-scale production in 2011.

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Nicolas Morgan, VP Business Development, Morgan Solar Inc.

When the Globe and Mail reported in late May that the two 25-year-old founders of NuLayer Inc. were at the "hub of the iPad app revolution," the company had recently launched its innovative photo application Crowdreel and had landed a job developing Score Media's iPad application.

Last week Score Media announced that they had bought a 20% stake in the innovative, Liberty Village-based company, with an agreement that NuLayer will develop "disruptive" technologies for the media giant and continue to develop its own products. "Crowdreel was just the beginning and we have several exciting products on our road map," said NuLayer co-counder Jeff Brenner, calling the partnership with Score Media  "a new era for our team."

That team has grown to six employees since the company's recent launch by two McMaster graduates. The team is growing now, seeking a rails developer.

On the acquisition, Score Media Executive VP and COO Benjie Levy said, "We've now created an environment where NuLayer and Score Media can work together to develop innovative digital offerings while giving NuLayer the resources they need to achieve explosive growth."

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Sharon Lassman, Director of Communications, Score Media

University of Toronto professor Albert H.C. Wong has received a $99,516 grant from the US-based brain and behaviour research fund NARSAD.

Wong, who works as a neuroscience research scientist and staff psychiatrist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, will get the funding to support his research project entitled "Disc-1 Gene-Environment Interactions in Schizophrenia and Depression," which investigates variations in a schizophrenia gene.

Wong's was one of 42 grants totalling $4.1 million awarded by NARSAD late last month as part of its Independent Investigators grant program. Wong has previously received two other grants from NARSAD's Young Investigator program. Robert Post, who sits on the 116-member scientific council that awards the grants, says the money will lead to significant discoveries. "We identify those proposals we believe demonstrate the most innovative and promising paths toward better understanding and treatment of psychiatric disorders. As always, the committee was challenged in its selection process and ultimately extremely proud to recommend and support these 42 brilliant, dedicated scientists."

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Barbara Wheeler, NARSAD

Last week, the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) on Queen Street West announced that its newly renovated facility will be home to a Family Health Team (FHT), a healthcare innovation that brings together physicians, nurses, dieticians, social workers and other medical professions to provide holisitc health services to a community.

FHTs are a concept that the provincial government has focused on -- alongside Nurse Practioner-Led Clinics -- as being a key part of how Ontario will deliver health services in the coming years, and the province has committed to opening 200, including 30 announced last week. The FHT is the first to be housed in a mental health and addiction facility.

"What makes these Family Health Teams so valuable is that each one is developed with the needs of the community in mind," said Deb Matthews, minister of Health and Long-term Care in her announcement.

Dr. Catherine Zahn, president and CEO of CAMH, said it was exactly that community mindset that makes this so fitting, given the facility's overhaul as a central part of the community it sits in. "Locating a FHT here emphasizes the 'urban village' vision of CAMH's Queen Street redevelopment project, strengthening the model of community-based care for everyone in a welcoming and inclusive environment," she said.

Dr. Zahn expects the facility to serve as a model for the rest of the province. "The Queen West Village FHT will break new ground in providing primary health care to the community of which CAMH is so much a part, and will increase access to care for mental illness and addictions, province-wide."

Writer: Edward Keenan
Sources: Michael Torres, CAMH; Office of Deb Matthews, Ontario Minister of Health and Long-Term Care

Got an Innovation & Job News tip? Email [email protected].

A panel discussion entitled "The Future of Media" at the Drake Hotel on September 8 will feature executives from Facebook Canada, the Globe and Mail, Polar Mobile and a founder of the MESH conference. The event will see discussion of how technology and the internet -- including social media and mobile devices -- are changing the landscape for traditional news media. The event is hosted by Toronto-based publication Digital Journal.

In the event's announcement, Steve MacFarlane of online ad sales organization Suite 66 says that the annual event has become a landmark of media innovation in Canada. "The Future of Media conference is emerging as a focal point in the discussion of how digital media continues to grow and evolve in response to new technology and consumer demand," he says.

The panelists, announced last week, are: Jordan Banks, managing director of Facebook Canada; Anjali Kapoor, managing editor of the Globe and Mail Digital; David Skok, senior producer of online content for Global News; Kunal Gupta, CEO of Polaris Mobile; and Mark Evans, a co-founder of the MESH conference.

Admission to the event is free and seating is on a first-come, first-served basis.

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Chris Hogg, CEO, Digital Journal

FreshBooks, a Toronto company that created an online billing system for freelancers and small businesses that's attracted millions of users in the seven years since its launch, is looking to add at least 15 staff to its team. (See Yonge Street's January profile of the company).

The company began as 2ndSite in 2003 by founders Mike McDerment and Joe Sawada, working out of McDerment's parents basement. They rebranded as FreshBooks in May 2006 and, by November of that year, had attracted 100,000 clients. Today they measure the number of users in the millions and have a team of more than 40 staff (many with eccentric titles such as "Chief Handshaker," "Support Rockstar," and "Server Monkey"). And they're preparing to grow again.

President and Founder Mike McDerment notes on his blog that at the business, "we've blown through many stages, and now we've come to another one." Currently the company is seeking to add 15 members to its staff in positions ranging from "Marketing Manager Dynamo" to "Technical Evangelist," to join a culture in which McDerment notes that he encourages his staff to be independent. "My new mantra: 'beg for forgiveness, don't ask for permission,'" he writes. "I don't want people asking me, 'here's what we are going to do, what do you think?' I want to shift the conversations to 'here's what we did,' so I can ask, 'what did you learn?.'"

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Mike McDerment, President and CEO, FreshBooks

Got an Innovation & Job News tip? Email [email protected].

Rogers Media and Torstar Digital, the online division of the company that publishes the Toronto Star and dozens of other publications, announced a joint venture last week to commercialize the web content management system TOPS.

The system has been used for four years to run thestar.com, Toronto.com and other Torstar websites (full disclosure: as an editor at EYE WEEKLY, which publishes online using TOPS, I am a Torstar employee). Beginning last year, Rogers began using TOPS to publish some of its sites, including Citytv.com, Flare.com and 680NEWS.com. The new partnership will feature a joint board and will make an undisclosed investment in growing and commercializing the operation.

Rogers VP of Digital Media Claude Galipeau said that since beginning to use the site, editorial perfomance and search engine optimization have improved "vastly."

TOPS general manager Danny Galic described the value of the system as easy-to-use one-stop shopping for publishers.

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Charan Bhattal, Senior Brand Manager, Torstar Digital

Got an Innovation & Job News tip? Email [email protected].

The opening of a Toronto location of the trendy British fast-fashion giant Topshop has been long anticipated. It's location was also the subject of speculation -- as far back as last fall, some were speculating that it would be hosted by The Bay. When it finally arrived with an opening last week, it was in somewhat hipper, cozier quarters, residing in an expanded Jonathan + Olivia on Ossington, a coup for what many consider to be one of Toronto's best fashion retail outlets.

Jonathan + Olivia proprietor Jackie O'Brien originally opened the store on Vancouver's Main Street in 2005 -- the store is named after her niece and nephew -- in response to a quest to control her own destiny. "After 10 years of working in the fashion industry ... I decided it was time to be my own boss," she told blogger Marcus Troy. In 2008, she moved to Toronto to open her location at 49 Ossington, helping to define one of the trendiest strips in Toronto and drawing accolades from the local fashion press.

With the introduction of Topshop to her wares, and the buzz that has accompanied it, O'Brein seems poised for explosive growth this summer. Fittingly, Jonathan + Olivia is currently hiring a store manager and a stylist.

Writer: Edward Keenan
Sources: Jonathan + Olivia, Marcus Troy, torontolife.com, The National Post 

Got an Innovation & Job News tip? Email [email protected].

In February, writer Piali Roy reported for Yonge Street on an innovative solar technology being developed by Morgan Solar, run by brothers John Paul and Nicolas Morgan. Their panels would employ an innovative technology called Light Guide Solar Optic, which they say would make panels cheaper and more durable. "The family-run business sees itself as a game-changer," Roy wrote.

Recently the Ontario government indicated it might see Morgan Solar the same way: last month the Ministry of Research and Innovation announced an investment of $1.86 million in Morgan Solar's research, through its Innovation Demonstration Fund. The money will help the company refine prototypes and demonstrate the technology's efficacy. The new dollars are expected to create 20 new jobs.

Research and Innovation minister John Milloy cited the province's commitment to making the province a North American clean energy sector leader in making the announcement. "By helping Morgan Solar we are delivering on this vision while creating good jobs for Ontario families in a growing industry," Milloy said.

Morgan Solar VP Nicolas Morgan said the dollars would bring his company's product closer to market. "With Ontario's support we can take another step toward achieving our goal of making solar energy one of the most widely used and affordable power sources in the world."

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation

Got an Innovation & Job News tip? Email [email protected]