Downtown Eastside - Old Town - Corktown : Innovation + Job News

Smokebomb Entertainment will see immediate growth in its development of digital entertainment thanks to a $639,044 grant from the federal government's Canada Media Fund (CMF), we reported last week. And about the time that story hit the wire, Smokebomb's parent company, Shaftesbury Entertainment, took the time to acknowledge the support it has received from the CMF since its founding in 1987.

"Without the support of the Government of Canada through the CMF and tax credit programs, Murdock Mysteries would not exist," said company CEO Christina Jennings. She was referring specifically to one of Shaftesbury's most popular programs, now entering its fourth season, which has been licensed in more than 100 countries around the world. The occasion was a visit to the set from Prime Minister Stephen Harper, reportedly a fan of the program.

The company says that since 2003, Murdoch Mysteries alone has created 5,000 jobs in the local television industry, and that the company as a whole employs roughly 3,500 people every year across its various productions.

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Katherine Wolfgang, VP Communications, Shaftesbury Entertainment

As the ongoing municipal election campaign has demonstrated, building a bike-friendly city is not without controversy, and it's not easy. But the Netherlands has managed the job pretty successfully. "The bicycle is the most popular form of transportation for the 16 million people who live in the Netherlands," Dutch Consul General to Toronto Hans Horbach recently said in a statement. He noted that there are more bikes than people in his country, "resulting in less traffic, less pollution and a healthier population."

Visiting experts from the Netherlands were in town this week to share lessons from the most successful cycling country in the world with Toronto transportation planners, engineers and cyclists. During the two-day ThinkBike event held September 20 and 21 at the El Mocambo nightclub, experts shared best practices information about Dutch cycling infrastructre, and surveyed the downtown core and the Sherbourne Street corridor to suggest improvements for increasing bike use. According to organizers, the workshops included topics such as "bike safety, communting by bike, biking to school, bike parking, bikes and public transport, law enforcement," among others.

According to the City of Toronto, this is the first city to host such an event, though the example will soon be followed in Chicago and other North American cities.

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Steve Johnston, Senior Communications Coordinator, City of Toronto

The first academic labour relations centre funded by both unions and business opened its doors at Ryerson University last week as a hub of collaboration, research and innovation. In a symbolically appropriate move, union leader Buzz Hargrove and management professor Maurice Mazerolle were appointed co-directors of the new Centre for Labour Management Relations at the Ted Rogers School of Management.

"I think one of the most important issues to look at is job security and the dangers associated with crowd sourcing work in the new economy," said Mazerolle in introducing the centre's research mandate. "The modern workplace has reshaped the way in which we define work to the extent that there are now challenges in understanding new roles and relationships."

The centre's mandate is to be a research facility that brings together managers, labour, students, employees, academics and government players to study such issues as pension sustainability, avoiding strikes and wage and benefit cuts. During its first year, the centre will be hiring academic associates.

"The timing of the creation of the centre couldn't be better," Hargrove said, noting the economic landscape.

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Kathleen Powderly, publicist, for Ryerson University

Toronto city councillors Pam McConnell and Denzil Minnan-Wong are not often on the same side of an issue, but the staunchly left wing McConnell and the vocally conservative Minnan-Wong got together recently to announce the launch of an innovative pilot project in a low-income housing project near the Moss Park neighbourhood on the downtown east side.

The one-year project will see low-income residents of Toronto Community Housing's building at 155 Sherbourne Street in McConnell's ward get free wi-fi throughout and around the building, and 30 laptop computers will be available to the residents to sign out and use. McConnell called the project, a collaboration between the City of Toronto and Toronto Community Housing, "vital."

"For some residents, this is their first real exposure to computers and the Internet, and this pilot is very exciting for them," McConnell said. "As they socialize with neighbours in the common area, they will be able to develop and improve computer skills, research job and training opportunities, and access information and services most of us take for granted."

The idea was brought to the city by Minna-Wong, after he saw a similar program in place in San Francisco. "I hope that we get a lot of positive input from this pilot so the City can explore the possibility of rolling this out to other Priority Investment Neighbourhoods," he said.

A representative from Toronto Community Housing said that the project will aid residents of the low-income housing project in connecting with educational and employment opportunities, and said the agency hoped the project would aid in efforts to provide innovative services to low-income residents across the city.

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Jeffrey Ferrier, Toronto Community Housing

Startup Weekend is a Seattle organization that hosts conferences designed to help entrepreneurs turn their ideas into companies. The conferences have been a global success since their first event in 2007, held in over 100 cities in 25 countries around the world so far, according to the organization. They claim that over a third of the companies founded at their events are still going concerns after three months, and that 10% of them go on to raise seed capital.

On September 26, Ryerson University's StartMeUp Ryerson program will host a Toronto Startup Weekend, featuring guest speakers including Mike McDerment, CEO of Freshbooks, and Leila Boujnane, founder and CEO of Idee Inc. According to Startup Weekend Toronto organizer Chris Eben, writing on the Startup North blog, the event includes both "how-to" and networking components -- a place to find partners as well as develop ideas. "Startup Weekend is a great way to network with other passionate entrepreneurs and find potential co-founders. During Startup Weekend, you will not only meet some talented individuals, you will get to see how they work, helping you evaluate the potential for long term fit. Interaction and exchange of ideas between different teams is common which means your networking opportunities are not limited to your immediate team."

He adds on his own blog that he wound up hosting the Toronto event after tweeting about the need for one in this city. "Frankly, I'm surprised it's taken so long to get here. Toronto has a vibrant tech and startup community and given that these weekends are going on all over the world and gaining tons of momentum, why didn't someone jump on this before me?"

The event costs $75 to attend and offers a prize from the Ryerson Angel Network of $500 to the winning team formed around an idea at the event.

Writer: Edward Keenan
Sources: Chris Eben, Startup Weekend Toronto; Startup North, Ryerson University

Last week, Ryerson University announced the Centre for Urban Energy (CUE), which university President Sheldon Levy called one of his schools "most significant research and commercialization initiatives." The centre will be a research and demonstration centre for sustainable, innovative technologies to provide for cities' energy needs.

The CUE will bring together academics and industry professionals from various disciplines to study problems and attempt to commercialize solutions. "The Centre for Urban Energy will be anchored by the Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Science but will be a university-wide Centre drawing on a variety of experts across many academic disciplines," said Alan Shepard, Ryerson's provost and VP Academic. "We will also be reaching out and collaborating with other academic institutions in Ontario, across Canada and around the world."

The areas of focus for the centre almost all deal with sustainability, including areas such as reducing carbon footprints, alternative fuel sources, hybrid and electric vehicles and conservation. Initial funding for the project totalling $7 million is being provided by Toronto Hydro, Hydro One and the Ontario Power Authority.

"We're proud to partner with Ryerson on this unique initiative to forward the agenda for the next generation of electricity research and technologies in Toronto," said Anthony Haines, President and CEO of Toronto Hydro.

Colin Andersen, CEO of the Ontario Power Authority, said that the research is key to both the enviromental and industrial future of the province. "Innovation is how Ontario will remain a leader in conservation and clean energy, helping to provide Ontarians with cleaner air, high quality jobs and a vibrant economy," he said. "We know that visionary new energy technologies will play a significant role in our success, and the Centre for Urban Energy will help deliver them."

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Suelan Toye, Ryerson University

Ryerson undergraduate business student Lyubomir Halachev beat out submissions by PhD candidates and Master's students to win the prize for best student paper at the recent International Congress on Environmental Modelling Software held in Ottawa. His paper, co-authored with two other Ryerson researchers, provided a model to predict the financial viability of water-sector companies.

"The supply and distribution of water is vital everywhere. As a result it's important to identify in advance which water companies might experience financial trouble so that governments and industry can hopefully salvage them in time," Halachev said in a statement. He was inspired by the idea that given a possible coming water crisis, in which a majority of the world's population is expected to face water shortages within a generation, the economic stability of water-sector companies is of tremendous social and environmental concern.

After Halachev completed his initial research, he partnered with Ryerson engineering student Yashodan Athavale to develop the mathematical computer model for the project, and then with Ryerson Information Technology professor Aziz Guergachi, who supervised the research and co-authored the paper.

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Suelan Toye, Public Affairs, Ryerson University

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A new $550,000 program in St. James Town called "Recipe for Community" will see the construction of sporting equipment, the beautification of parks, skills development programs, recreational leagues and small business support for residents of the at-risk community.

The program was announced last week by Mayor David Miller and Councillor Pam McConnell of the city, alongside partners from the Toronto Community Foundation (TCF), Toronto Community Housing (TCH) and Maple Lead Sports and Entertainment.

TCF Vice-Chair John B. MacIntyre, in the announcement of the program, said that it "will help make St. James Town a more vibrant neighbourhood -- a place in which residents are proud of where they live and feel connected to each other and their community."

The innovative social project in St. James Town is the extension of a pilot launched by TCF, TCH and the City with other community partners in Alexandria Park last year. Addressing a need for a sense of belonging and safety in communities that was articulated in the TCF Vital Signs Report in 2008, the program aims to use ideas from local residents to create a sense of pride and ownership in a community while building the skills of local residents and the livability of the neighbourhood.

The city says that the project at St. James Town will be evaluated as part of the city's Tower Renewal project, a legacy initiative long heralded by Mayor David Miller to improve the social and environmental conditions of concrete apartment towers across the city. If the St. James Town program is successful, a city release says, the model could become part of the Tower Renewal program all around Toronto.

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: City of Toronto

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Recently, the Twitter feed of Idee  Inc. founder Leila Boujnane read, "Reviewing resumes. Nice way to finish a working day." For many techies hungry to be on the cutting edge, reading those words would be a nice way to start the next phase of their working career. Idee, now hiring, is one of the most interesting and perhaps most unsung Toronto innovation success stories around.

"We are image search pioneers," says Boujnane. "Our image search innovations have been quite substantial. That said, it has not always resulted in immediate corporate acceptance. But that has been changing as we gain a better understanding of our potential clients' needs and how to introduce them to technology they have never seen before or even thought was possible."

Founded in 1999, the company works on visual search technology, and so far every picture technology it has created is worth a thousand words of praise. Piximilar can search for images that share attributes (colour, content, composition) with an image. PixID is a print image monitoring technology that can track the use of images to cut down on piracy. Most recently it introduced TinEye, a visual search engine that can take an image and find out where it's being used online -- even if it's been modified.

The company has attracted such high-profile clients as Adobe Photoshop, Associated Press and Getty Images. "We just landed eBay as a customer and that's a true testimonial to the capabilities of our image search technologies (and our team)," Boujnane says. "Suffice it to say that I am looking at increasing the size of my team by 50 per cent in the coming months, ideally before the year end."


Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Leila Boujnane, Co-founder and CEO, Idee Inc.

In a conference call with reporters May 27, Toronto 2015 Pan-Am Games CEO Ian Troop announced that hiring is underway for an event  that is expected to become a job-creation machine in addition to an international sporting spectacle.

"With a goal of having 25 full-time staff in place by this fall to focus on planning the games, we are nearing the completion of our search for senior leaders to round out our core management team," Troop said. He noted that the chief financial officer and some senior VPs will be appointed in the next few weeks. "Following quickly will be hires for leads on government relations, sports and venues and communications and public relations."

Although the total number of staff the organization will hire is unknown, a representative of the games said by phone that the staging of the games is expected to create 15,000 total jobs -- including construction and tourism positions.

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Liz Borowiec, Toronto 2015

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The new waterfront campus of George Brown College -- under construction now and expected to be finished late next year -- will be home to an innovative approach to healthcare education preparing students for the new direction of medical services  in Ontario, according to spokesperson Paul Zanettos.

Zanettos says that the facility will be educating nurses and healthcare practitioners in a way that prepares them for a future in which Family Health Teams and Nurse-Practitioner-led Clinics will be ever more common, in line with priorities announced by the provincial government. The province, as if to underline his point, is a major contributor to the construction of the project, chipping in $61.5 million towards its cost. The school itself is investing $15 million, with additional money for the $175 million project coming from private sector partners.

The project will not only prepare students for the jobs of the future, but will directly create employment too, according to Zanettos. A significant number of workers will have been employed on the construction of the project, and there will be approximately 260 staff and 3,500 students within the George Brown campus building by the time it's complete.



Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Paul Zanettos, Media Relations Consultant, George Brown College

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Chris Nguyen, 27-year-old co-founder of TeamSave.com, came up with the inspiration to found his website while planning his wedding. "we realized that one dress would cost a certain amount, but that 1,000 dresses were much cheaper. So I thought, how do I supply that volume discount to the consumer market?"

He and his co-founder Lee Liu had already successfully launched and sold their first web startup (jobloft.com) in 2007, so they began researching a new initiative. Online, they encountered a few group-buying sites (such as groupon.com and webpiggy.com), but say they saw gaps in the business strategy.

So last week, the pair launched TeamSave.com, which offers products and services at deep discounts for a limited time -- potential buyers are encouraged to spread the word about the sale via social networks in order to get enough buyers to make the transaction go through. Already, the site is seeing a 40 per cent increase in its traffic. Before the end of the month, the pair anticipate launching apps for the iPhone, Blackberry and Android -- an innovation Nguyen is excited about. "Not only will you be able to shop on your phone, you'll be able to redeem your purchase on your phone. We believe the smart phone is here to stay, so we expect that to be a big part of our business."

The company is housed in Ryerson University's spanking new Digital Media Zone, an incubator of sorts designed to help students and graduates bring concepts to market. Nguyen says the environment there is incredibly helpful to a product like his, and also credits MaRS for providing strategic advice.

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Chris Nguyen,Co-Founder, TeamSave.com

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

"Don't let the cute chicks fool you. It's not girly," says Fit Chicks founder and "Head Chick" Laura Jackson of her company's G.I. Jane Bootcamp. "We take a lighthearted approach and have fun and foster a sense of community. But it's also a great workout."

Jackson and her "business partner and BFF" Amanda Quinn were looking for all those things in a workout -- and not finding them -- when they decided to launch Fit Chicks in September 2008. They hosted a G.I. Jane Bootcamp in a park in Forest Hill, and the response, she says, was overwhelming. Today they run classes in 14 GTA locations and one in Ottawa (a class in Vaughan just launched this week, while another Ottawa location will be added in April).

The company employs 15 "Chick Seargants" and one "Admin Chick," and business has reached a level to allow Quinn to leave her job with the Toronto International Film Festival to join Jackson in running the company full-time. The duo plan to take their fitness army national this year, expanding to Vancouver, Calgary and Halifax, and anticipate hiring another 15 employees along the way. They are currently looking to move the business out of Jackson's home and into an office in the St. Lawrence Market area.

In addition, Jackson says she has plans in the works to expand their fitness empire into more of a full-service wellness company, offering a merchandise line and cookbooks in addition to other products.

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: Laura Jackson, Founder and Head Chick, Fit Chicks

In a largely unheralded announcement just before Christmas, the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) indicated it will invest over $3.43 million in research grants to Toronto universities.

The money from the arms-length federal government agency is intended to fund infrastructure that allows universities to attract and retain top talent, create and sustain jobs and foster innovation. According to the CFI, the investment should yield more than $24 million in economic benefits to Toronto, including jobs, due to the multiplier effect of the capital projects it funds.

The University of Toronto will receive $3,168,321 to support 19 different projects, including "Infrastructure for Molecular Genetics and Therapeutics in Sarcoma," "Establishment of a Live-Cell Imaging and Biochemistry Laboratory for Research in Organelle Biogenesis and Degradation" and "Pharmacogenetics in Psychiatry: a New Era of Personalized Medicine."

Ryerson University, meanwhile, will receive $264,401 to fund a "Combined X-Ray Diffraction and Differential Scanning Calorimetry Facility for the Evaluation of Phase Changes in Foods and other Materials."

The grants, given under the CFI's "Leadership Opportunities Fund," were among those awarded to 40 institutions across Canada totaling $59.39 million. The CFI said in its announcement that in addition to jobs created that are associated with capital construction, the awards will fund the work of "351 of the country's brightest minds."

Writer: Edward Keenan
Source: CFI