BBCIE / en Artificial intelligence research and startups at U of T get boost from RBC /news/artificial-intelligence-research-and-startups-u-t-get-boost-rbc <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Artificial intelligence research and startups at U of T get boost from RBC</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2016-09-29-creative-destruction-lab-lead_0.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=mgNC7H50 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/2016-09-29-creative-destruction-lab-lead_0.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=6F4FGXgJ 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/2016-09-29-creative-destruction-lab-lead_0.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=5la4T4cL 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2016-09-29-creative-destruction-lab-lead_0.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=mgNC7H50" alt="Photo of Creative Destruction Lab"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>ullahnor</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2016-10-21T13:01:46-04:00" title="Friday, October 21, 2016 - 13:01" class="datetime">Fri, 10/21/2016 - 13:01</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">Creative Destruction Lab is housed at U of T's Rotman School of Management </div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/global-lens" hreflang="en">Global Lens</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/rotman-school-management" hreflang="en">Rotman School of Management</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/creative-destruction-lab" hreflang="en">Creative Destruction Lab</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/rbc" hreflang="en">RBC</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/machine-learning" hreflang="en">machine learning</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/startup" hreflang="en">Startup</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/artificial-intelligence" hreflang="en">Artificial Intelligence</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/bbcie" hreflang="en">BBCIE</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Canada’s largest bank is bolstering artificial&nbsp;intelligence and machine&nbsp;learning research&nbsp;at the Ƶ&nbsp;–&nbsp;and startups launched by students and faculty.</p> <p>A new agreement between&nbsp;RBC and U of T&nbsp;sees the global giant join forces with Rotman School of Management's&nbsp;Creative Destruction Lab, one of 10 campus-led accelerators at U of T, supporting the entrepreneurial aspirations of students from idea to intellectual property.</p> <p>The bank has been named a founding partner of the machine learning initiative at the lab, and its donation will support&nbsp;programming to help attract and develop even more startups in this booming and ever-expanding field. Already, the<a href="https://www.creativedestructionlab.com/"> Creative Destruction Lab</a> is home to 50 artificial intelligence companies.</p> <p>“To our knowledge, this is the greatest concentration of AI companies in any program on Earth,” said <strong>Rachel Harris</strong>, director of the Creative Destruction Lab. “We’re thrilled to partner with RBC on this initiative. With their support we are able to scale our program.”</p> <p>Gabriel Woo, RBC’s vice-president of innovation, added: “We share a strong commitment to the study and advancement of artificial intelligence with the Ƶ, one of the world’s leading institutions in this space. Our partnership with the university and the Creative Destruction Lab is an extension of our ongoing support of the Canadian digital ecosystem.”</p> <h3><a href="/news/how-build-startup-succeeds-six-tips-democamp-u-t-creative-destruction-lab">Read more about the Creative Destruction Lab</a></h3> <p>In addition, RBC is establishing RBC Research in Machine Learning at the <a href="http://entrepreneurs.utoronto.ca/">Banting &amp; Best Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship</a>, home to several campus-grown startups and across the street from the MaRS Discovery District.</p> <p>“RBC Research in Machine Learning is part of our commitment to the advancement of machine learning and artificial intelligence in Canada,” said Woo. “We are not only building our own capabilities, we’re also big believers in creating jobs in this space to retain the amazing talent we have in Canada. We’re working with leading universities across Canada like the Ƶ to partner with the best, brightest and boldest minds in the country.”</p> <p><strong>Foteini Agrafioti</strong>, a successful inventor and entrepreneur with strong U of T roots, will head the state-of-the-art research practice, focused on pushing the boundaries of science around machine learning.</p> <p>Under her leadership, the RBC Research in Machine Learning team will collaborate with academics from U of T and other institutions, publishing new research in the fields of machine learning and artificial intelligence.</p> <p>“This has really never been done before in Canada,” Agrafioti said. “We’ve lost so much talent in this country to other companies and institutions, but RBC has both the scale and commitment to ensure Canada remains a centre of excellence in machine learning.”&nbsp;</p> <p>A U of T engineering alumnus, Agrafioti is best known as the co-founder and co-inventor of Nymi, the first wearable device to authenticate users with the biometric technology&nbsp;HeartID.</p> <p>She was&nbsp;a 2012 U of T&nbsp;Inventor of the Year and a graduate from the Creative Destruction Lab’s first cohort.</p> <p>Earlier this year, RBC and U of T announced a five-year, $3-million partnership that includes the creation of ONRamp, an accelerator for students, entrepreneurs and startups to support them in developing commercial ideas.&nbsp;</p> <h3><a href="/news/university-toronto-and-rbc-create-startup-accelerator-young-innovators">Read more about ONRamp</a></h3> <p>The deal also includes funding for post-doctoral and graduate fellowships, as well as the RBC Innovation and Entrepreneurship Speaker Series, which will hold its first event on Nov.&nbsp;8 with Brad Katsuyama, CEO of IEX Group and the hero of the bestselling book <em>Flash Boys</em>, and <strong>John Stackhouse</strong>, senior vice-president, office of the CEO at RBC and a contributor to&nbsp;the Munk School of Global Affairs.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Fri, 21 Oct 2016 17:01:46 +0000 ullahnor 101495 at Student entrepreneurs talk shop with Ontario’s Lieutenant Governor /news/student-entrepreneurs-talk-shop-ontarios-lieutenant-governor <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Student entrepreneurs talk shop with Ontario’s Lieutenant Governor</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2016-05-18-lg-kids.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=7A0mplrv 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/2016-05-18-lg-kids.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=hhZiyddE 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/2016-05-18-lg-kids.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=2o_xK6Jh 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2016-05-18-lg-kids.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=7A0mplrv" alt="photo of Lieutenant Governor with students"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>lanthierj</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2016-05-18T12:08:17-04:00" title="Wednesday, May 18, 2016 - 12:08" class="datetime">Wed, 05/18/2016 - 12:08</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">(all photos by Lisa Sakulensky)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/jennifer-robinson" hreflang="en">Jennifer Robinson</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-legacy field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Author legacy</div> <div class="field__item"> Jennifer Robinson</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/our-community" hreflang="en">Our Community</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/knowtions" hreflang="en">Knowtions</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/buzzclip" hreflang="en">Buzzclip</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/entrepreneneurship" hreflang="en">Entrepreneneurship</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/startups" hreflang="en">Startups</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/bbcie" hreflang="en">BBCIE</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/cynthia-goh" hreflang="en">Cynthia Goh</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/john-polanyi" hreflang="en">John Polanyi</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>It’s not every day that&nbsp;eager student entrepreneurs get to sit down and talk with a representative of Her Majesty the Queen about the challenges of growing their fledgling businesses.</p> <p>But current and former&nbsp;Ƶ students <strong>Dikshant Batra</strong> (Nova Sentio); <strong>Christina Cai</strong> (Knowtions); <strong>Ryan Doherty</strong> (iamsick.ca); <strong>Bin Liu</strong> (iMerciv); and <strong>Rhea Puri</strong> (SoCity) were more than up to the challenge.</p> <p>“What is most exciting? What are you optimistic about and what keeps you at it?” Ontario Lt.-Gov. Elizabeth Dowdeswell, a former university lecturer and executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme, asked the students during their roundtable discussion.</p> <p>The event was part of her May 17 visit to the St. George campus, which was focused on innovation and how the university is a world leader in producing important research, attracting top talent and instilling and supporting an entrepreneurial spirit in its students and faculty.</p> <p>“Her Honour has been to our campus many, many times but this is her first official visit. This is a special day for us,” U of T president <strong>Meric Gertler</strong>&nbsp;said. “We want to give you some stories today to tell and retell.”</p> <p><img alt class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__968 img__view_mode__media_original attr__format__media_original" height="499" src="/sites/default/files/2016-05-18-LG-Walk-Gertler.jpg" typeof="foaf:Image" width="750" loading="lazy"></p> <p>Cai, who has her BA in philosophy and economics from U of T, is enjoying growing success with her company that shortens translation times for complex science textbooks and journals using a combination of top minds around the world and machine learning algorithms.&nbsp;</p> <p>“The fact of the matter is that being an entrepreneur is hard, it’s painful,” she told the roundtable. “I wanted to give up but I talked to another founder and laid all my troubles on her. She runs a billion-dollar business and she just said, ‘So all the stones haven’t been unturned yet.’”</p> <p>Meaning, don’t panic. Keep going.</p> <p>“What drives me is the same thing the scares me: it’s the uncertainty. It’s an adventure,” chimed in Liu, whose company has created Buzzclip to help people with visual impairments. The device, which looks like a button on your lapel, uses ultrasound to detect obstacles in the wearer’s path.</p> <h2><a href="/news/tiny-device-u-t-startup-helps-blind-and-partially-sighted-people-navigate-daily-life">Read more about Buzzclip</a></h2> <p>Being an entrepreneur was never in the cards, Liu&nbsp;said, because he was meant to follow in his family’s footsteps and become a civil engineer. But fate intervened when he met Professor&nbsp;<strong>Cynthia Goh</strong>, the academic director of the Banting &amp; Best Centre for Innovation &amp; Entrepreneurship (BBCIE) at U of T.</p> <h2><a href="http://entrepreneurs.utoronto.ca/">Interested in startups and entrepreneurship? Visit the BBCIE</a></h2> <p>Now, he and his business partner are close to finding a Canadian distribution centre for their product and organizations supporting the visually impaired in 20 countries have expressed support for Buzzclip.</p> <p><img alt class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__969 img__view_mode__media_original attr__format__media_original" height="420" src="/sites/default/files/2016-05-18-LG-Meets-Students-DSC_1332_0.jpg" typeof="foaf:Image" width="750" loading="lazy"></p> <p>All five students credited U of T’s nine accelerators, such as the Impact Centre and I-CUBE, for helping them see the potential of their ideas and finding the right path to turn them into reality.<br> In 2015 alone, these accelerators worked with more than 225 student-led startup teams and supported more than 80 new companies that attracted nearly $20 million in investment and generated $2.5 million in sales.</p> <p>“I’m very thankful for what U of T has provided,” said Puri, who is continuing to work on her website that pairs Torontonians with activities and restaurants that cater to their personal choices.</p> <p>“As an international student, I never thought I’d have this level of acceptance” and help from the university, said Batra, who came to U of T from India to study commerce. “My father keeps asking me, ‘Are you sure they don’t want anything in return?’”</p> <p>Along with the roundtable, the lieutenant-governor also toured the Sidhu Lab in The Donnelly Centre, met <a href="http://www.research.utoronto.ca/about/research-at-u-of-t/nobel-laureates/">Nobel Laureate</a> and University Professor <strong>John Polanyi</strong>&nbsp;and helped present the U of T Invention of the Year Awards at the third annual U of T Celebrates Innovation event.</p> <h2><a href="/news/they-started-here-u-t-recognizes-top-inventions">Read more about the Inventions of the Year</a></h2> <p>(<em>Below: the winners with <a href="http://www.provost.utoronto.ca/awards/uprofessors.htm">University Professor </a>and Nobel Laureate <strong>John Polanyi</strong> and Professor&nbsp;<strong>Cynthia Goh</strong></em>)</p> <p><img alt="photo of Polanyi, Goh and winning inventors" class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__965 img__view_mode__media_original attr__format__media_original" src="/sites/default/files/2016-05-18-Inventions-Winners-polanyi.jpg" style="width: 750px; height: 499px; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;" typeof="foaf:Image"></p> <p>“We live in one of the most privileged places in the world,” Dowdeswell told the crowd of about 200 people gathered for U of T Celebrates Innovation.</p> <p>“We have wonderful intellectual capabilities and we have a wonderful wealth of natural resources … We are the envy of much of the world.”</p> <p>And yet, she said, most Ontarians have no idea of the research and innovations that are happening in their province at world-leading institutions like U of T –&nbsp;research that’s helping find real solutions to the needs of society.</p> <p>Appointing herself as the province’s new “chief storyteller” the lieutenant-governor said the university needs to do a better job to “get these stories out to the average person on the street” so they know what we’re good at in Ontario and can be proud of what we are.</p> <p>“I’d be happy to be one of the tools to get that message across,” she offered.</p> <p>(<em>Pictured below: Dowdeswell and Goh</em>)</p> <p><img alt class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__964 img__view_mode__media_original attr__format__media_original" height="499" src="/sites/default/files/2016-05-18-LG-Goh-embed.jpg" typeof="foaf:Image" width="750" loading="lazy"></p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Wed, 18 May 2016 16:08:17 +0000 lanthierj 14116 at Refugee initiative from U of T startup helps newcomers navigate Canada’s health-care system /news/u-t-startup%E2%80%99s-refugee-initiative-helps-newcomers-navigate-canada%E2%80%99s-healthcare-system <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Refugee initiative from U of T startup helps newcomers navigate Canada’s health-care system</span> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>sgupta</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2016-04-12T03:50:09-04:00" title="Tuesday, April 12, 2016 - 03:50" class="datetime">Tue, 04/12/2016 - 03:50</time> </span> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/olivia-tomic" hreflang="en">Olivia Tomic</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-legacy field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Author legacy</div> <div class="field__item">Olivia Tomic</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/features" hreflang="en">Features</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/startup" hreflang="en">Startup</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/health" hreflang="en">Health</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/entrepreneurship" hreflang="en">Entrepreneurship</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/bbcie" hreflang="en">BBCIE</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>After living amid&nbsp;the Syrian refugee crisis in Turkey for a year after graduating from the Ƶ,<strong> Nouhaila Chelkhaoui </strong>knew she wanted to help make a positive impact on the lives of newcomers.</p> <p>Her return to Toronto gave her the opportunity to do just that, as she joined U of T startup iamsick’s newest initiative, which helps refugees navigate Canada’s complex healthcare system. &nbsp;</p> <p>iamsick is a digital health platform that focuses on providing people with access to healthcare services. Whether it’s a doctor accepting new patients, a walk-in-clinic that’s open late, a pharmacy, a diagnostic lab or nearby emergency room,&nbsp;iamsick shows users their nearest healthcare option anytime, Canada-wide.</p> <h2><a href="http://news.utoronto.ca/startup-iamsick-flourishes-lengthy-coldflu-season">Read more about iamsick</a></h2> <p>Their new refugee initiative aims to build onto their pre-existing platform by adding several features that focus on the needs of refugees.&nbsp;</p> <p>“We have identified many Arabic speaking healthcare professionals across Canada, plus Arabic is now one of five languages the platform itself has been translated into,” said Chelkhaoui, now an account manager at iamsick. “We’ve also established a direct phone line for assistance in English, Arabic and French for two hours a week so refugees who don’t have access to the internet or aren’t tech savvy can still get the information they need.” &nbsp;</p> <p>Chelkhaoui, a former international student in the department of political science, says she has&nbsp;always been passionate about human rights. After spending a year working in Turkey and being exposed directly to the Syrian refugee crisis there, she has been especially driven to make a positive change.&nbsp;</p> <p>“Compared to Turkey, Canada has been incredibly receptive to Syrian refugees, offering an overwhelming amount of support,” said Chelkhaoui. “We recognize the diligent efforts by the community to support newcomers, unfortunately many of these efforts remain uncoordinated and ineffective.”</p> <h2><a href="http://news.utoronto.ca/how-u-t-doctors-and-students-are-helping-syrian-refugees-access-health-care">Read about the U of T medical&nbsp;community's efforts to support refugees</a></h2> <p style="line-height: 20.8px;"><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(102, 102, 102); font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', sans-serif; font-size: 11.0819px; line-height: 13.6418px;">[embed_content nid=7634&nbsp;(class="additional class")/]</strong><span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102); font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', sans-serif; font-size: 11.0819px; line-height: 13.6418px;">&nbsp;</span></p> <p style="line-height: 20.8px;"><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(102, 102, 102); font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', sans-serif; font-size: 11.0819px; line-height: 13.6418px;">[item (class="additional class"|id=item id|type=div,d,span,s)]</strong><img alt class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__633 img__view_mode__media_large attr__format__media_large" height="400" src="/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2016-02-05-syrian-refugee-healthcare-3_0.jpg?itok=sjyow4bB" typeof="foaf:Image" width="600" loading="lazy"><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(102, 102, 102); font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', sans-serif; font-size: 11.0819px; line-height: 13.6418px;">[/item]</strong></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>To address this, in addition to building new features to help newcomers, iamsick has been working closely with a number of local partners to maximize their impact by sharing resources and information on multiple levels – from government to grassroots organizations.</p> <p>“A main component of iamsick’s refugee initiative is its partners,” said<strong> Ryan Doherty</strong>, co-founder of iamsick. “Our partners not only make us stronger and help us spread the word, but they offer feedback and suggestions as experts in refugee settlement work.”</p> <p>WelcomeHomeTO, an initiative spearheaded by U of T alumna <strong>Derakhshan Qurban-Ali</strong>&nbsp; together with a team of engaged citizens, is among the partners collaborating with iamsick.</p> <p>“Working with WelcomeHomeTO has been meaningful for me particularly,” said Chelkhaoui&nbsp;(pictured below at right with Doherty).&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p><img alt="photo of iamsick staff" src="/sites/default/files/2016-04-12-dandq-iamsick.jpg" style="width: 640px; height: 350px; margin: 10px 20px;"></p> <p>“Derakhshan comes from a family who were Afghan refugees,”&nbsp;Chelkhaoui said,&nbsp;“and myself being an international student from Morocco, I believe this kind of partnership represents the student body from a newcomer background and we hope it serves to inspire and empower students from all backgrounds to go after their dreams to make an impact.”&nbsp;</p> <p>iamsick is also working with Toronto Local Immigration Partnerships (LIPs), regional umbrella offices for immigration efforts and organizations that are helping newcomers settle.&nbsp;</p> <p>Through discussions with partners such as&nbsp;WelcomeHomeTO, and LIPs as well as the refugees themselves, iamsick also plans on expanding its search filters to include gender, mental health services, community health centres and even Interim Federal Health Program providers for those who are not covered by Ontario’s health insurance program.&nbsp;</p> <p>“The important thing to think about is continuation,” explained Doherty. “There’s a strong focus on supporting refugees when they arrive, but after a number of months they will be settling into their new homes and may begin to experience challenges navigating their new environment. Having a website and app like this, which focuses on language barriers and showing what’s available, is extremely useful to them as it is to any Canadian trying to navigate our complex healthcare system.”</p> <p>While the initiative was inspired by the newly arriving Syrian refugees, iamsick has identified healthcare professionals across Canada who speak more than 80 languages, in a bid to&nbsp;make&nbsp;the platform friendly to refugees, newcomers and Canadians alike.&nbsp;</p> <p><img alt="photo of iamsick team" src="/sites/default/files/2016-04-12-iamsick-team.jpg" style="width: 640px; height: 228px; margin: 10px 20px;"></p> <p><em>iamsick is based in U of T’s Best Institute and has received startup support from the Impact Centre, one of the university’s nine campus-linked accelerators. To learn more about entrepreneurship at U of T visit the <a href="http://entrepreneurs.utoronto.ca/">Banting &amp; Best Centre for Innovation &amp; Entrepreneurship</a>.&nbsp;</em></p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-picpath field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">picpath</div> <div class="field__item">sites/default/files/2016-04-11-iamsick.jpg</div> </div> Tue, 12 Apr 2016 07:50:09 +0000 sgupta 7802 at Ƶ and RBC create startup accelerator for young innovators /news/university-toronto-and-rbc-create-startup-accelerator-young-innovators <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Ƶ and RBC create startup accelerator for young innovators</span> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>lavende4</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2016-04-05T08:35:36-04:00" title="Tuesday, April 5, 2016 - 08:35" class="datetime">Tue, 04/05/2016 - 08:35</time> </span> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/olivia-tomic" hreflang="en">Olivia Tomic</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-legacy field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Author legacy</div> <div class="field__item">Olivia Tomic</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/city-culture" hreflang="en">City &amp; Culture</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/bbcie" hreflang="en">BBCIE</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/entrepreneurs" hreflang="en">Entrepreneurs</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/startup" hreflang="en">Startup</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/rbc" hreflang="en">RBC</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>The Ƶ and the Royal Bank of Canada today announced ONRamp, a major new initiative that will help support Canada’s innovative entrepreneurs.</p> <p>Located in the Banting &amp; Best Centre for Innovation &amp; Entrepreneurship (BBCIE), ONRamp will provide new collaborative workspaces for students, entrepreneurs and startup companies to support them in developing commercial ideas.</p> <p>“U of T is a global leader in transforming innovative ideas into products, services, companies and jobs,” saidMeric Gertler, president of the Ƶ.&nbsp;“With RBC’s support, this new initiative will further expand the university’s entrepreneurial efforts and help ensure our nation remains competitive by keeping talented innovators in Canada.”&nbsp;</p> <p>Set over three floors in the BBCIE, ONRamp will enable these new companies to network with each other, showcase to potential investors and grow their businesses. A $3 million contribution from RBC, Canada’s largest bank, will also be used to create fellowships, prizes and a speaker series intended to enhance the university’s entrepreneurship ecosystem.</p> <p>“We have some of the brightest and best ideas emerging from our universities, but too frequently our young entrepreneurs have to look abroad to get their businesses off the ground. ONRamp should help change that,” said Bruce Ross, group head of technology and operations at RBC. “This initiative will provide the perfect environment to help these innovative start-ups develop and, importantly, to stay in Canada. We are delighted to be partnering with the Ƶ on this exciting program.”</p> <p>Under the umbrella of the BBCIE, U of T’s vast ecosystem already consists of more than 60 entrepreneurial program and course offerings, and is supported by a network of nine campus-linked accelerators established to fill demand from the university’s diverse faculties and three campuses.&nbsp;</p> <p>ONRamp will build on this central program of support in order to continue to serve the university’s innovative students, giving them the opportunity to pitch their business ideas, be recognized, and secure financial assistance as they undertake their entrepreneurship journey.</p> <p>A number of post-doctoral and graduate scholarships and fellowships have also been created that will recognize, reward, and support innovative students across a broad range of research areas.</p> <p>ONRamp will also house the RBC Innovation Hub within this new space for incubating startups, located within the BBCIE in downtown Toronto. RBC’s investment will support U of T’s $2 billion Boundless campaign which addresses the university’s commitment to enhancing the economic and social wellbeing of our communities, and to helping our citizens realize their potential.&nbsp;</p> <p>“Universities and colleges play a key role in driving innovation and fostering entrepreneurship,” said&nbsp;Scott Mabury, vice-president, university operations. “The Ƶ has emerged as a leading institution in creating startup companies based on research and ONRamp will further support our startups’ growth so they can create wealth, provide jobs and contribute to the nation’s prosperity.”</p> <p>“We are excited to partner with RBC in order to provide facilities and programming that will be a launching pad for early-stage companies,” said&nbsp;Vivek Goel, vice-president of research and innovation at U of T. “Innovation and entrepreneurship are vital components of a robust economy and this initiative will help foster a rapidly growing hub of Canadian startup culture and support the next generation of successful entrepreneurs.”&nbsp;</p> <p>ONRamp will provide a collaborative space for Ƶ students and graduates, and to new young companies from other Ontario universities and colleges.&nbsp;</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Tue, 05 Apr 2016 12:35:36 +0000 lavende4 100265 at Revolution in medicine part 2: U of T students /node/7780 <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Revolution in medicine part 2: U of T students </span> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>sgupta</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2016-04-01T04:47:40-04:00" title="Friday, April 1, 2016 - 04:47" class="datetime">Fri, 04/01/2016 - 04:47</time> </span> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/carolyn-morris" hreflang="en">Carolyn Morris</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-legacy field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Author legacy</div> <div class="field__item">Carolyn Morris</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/features" hreflang="en">Features</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/medicine" hreflang="en">Medicine</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/ischool" hreflang="en">iSchool</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/ibbme" hreflang="en">IBBME</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-medicine" hreflang="en">Faculty of Medicine</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/entrepreneurship" hreflang="en">Entrepreneurship</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/engineering" hreflang="en">Engineering</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/computer-science" hreflang="en">Computer Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/bbcie" hreflang="en">BBCIE</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/artificial-intelligence" hreflang="en">Artificial Intelligence</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Imagine you’re one of the 50,000 people in Ontario addicted to opioids. You have a panic attack in the middle of the night. You may live in a remote area with little access to counselling services — but even if you have regular access to a therapist, no one’s around at that moment to talk you through it.</p> <p>Instead of reaching for pills, though, you turn to the support of your “pocket counsellor,” right on your smartphone. This virtual counsellor will have an actual conversation with you — asking questions, and “listening” to your responses.</p> <p>“It asks intelligent questions depending on your answers just as any human would do in a real conversation,” says Dr. <strong>Raad Yamee</strong>n, a recent medical school graduate and master’s student in the Faculty of Medicine’s new Translational Research Program. Yameen is one of three U of T students in medicine and engineering working on the artificial intelligence counselling app through their startup dubbed Project MIToc. By recognizing “change talk” — any expression like “I really need to,” “I should,” “I have to do something” — the app can pick up on that and even remind you of some of the reasons you’d given in the past for wanting to stop using.</p> <p>Yameen and his team now have $5,000 to help develop their idea further. They were one of a selected group of young innovators gathered at U of T this week to pitch their ideas as part of the HealthEDGE initiative, led by U of T-based accelerators in medicine, engineering and computer science. With a panel of judges including entrepreneurs and industry leaders in health — and six fellowships of $5,000 each for the top ideas — it was akin to a “Dragons’ Den” competition for health care.&nbsp;</p> <p>“We want to help get these creative ideas for improving health care off the ground,” says Professor <strong>Joseph Ferenbok</strong>, co-director of the Health Innovation Hub (H2i), the Faculty of Medicine’s accelerator. “We started the year-long initiative with an open call for people to submit challenges, ingenuity gaps, or ‘bugs’ in the health care system. Then we invited students and other innovators to find solutions.”&nbsp;</p> <p>Yameen, along with Project MIToc co-founders — software engineers and computer engineering master’s students <strong>Didier Landry</strong> and <strong>Dustin Kut Moy Cheung</strong> — hope their theory-driven, evidence-based and patient-centric technology will lead to better support for addicts, and cost-savings to the health system.&nbsp;</p> <p>Other winning ideas included a tool for the early detection of diabetes-related vision loss dubbed “iProbe,” which allows psychiatrists to monitor patients with schizophrenia for worsening symptoms based on their social media and other online communications; a personalized drug profiling technology for patients with cystic fibrosis and other conditions serving as a personalized “clinical trial in a dish”; a mobile video health program that would connect rural youth with mental-health support; and a robotic rehabilitative exoskeleton for kids with cerebral palsy. The iProbe project also won the community choice award.</p> <p>With iSchool entrepreneurship instructor and HealthEDGE 2016 coordinator Adriana Ieraci moderating the event, the judges challenged each presenter with questions on feasibility, privacy concerns, pricing and competitors. Leading up to the event, mentors from H2i, The Entrepreneurship Hatchery and the Department of Computer Science Innovation Lab (DCSIL) coached the teams and helped them refine their pitches.&nbsp;</p> <p>But the work doesn’t end here. A central goal of the HealthEDGE initiative is to help turn these ideas into reality. With the fellowship money, along with a network of contacts and potential backers through community, health care and industry partners — including the University Health Network, Rouge Valley Health System Foundation, Johnson &amp; Johnson Innovation (JLABS), Autodesk and IBM — the winning innovators are given resources to put their smart solutions to work. They’ll be presenting their proofs of concept at a HealthEDGE demo day in the fall.</p> <p><br> <strong>Winning Projects:</strong></p> <p>ReX: a robotic exoskeleton suit to help children with cerebral palsy learn to walk<br> VideoHealth: a new mobile way to connect rural youth with little access to mental health care to urban mental health providers, including psychiatrists using asynchronous video communication.&nbsp;<br> Project MIToc: a mobile solution for motivational counseling and commitment enhancement for people suffering from opioid addiction.&nbsp;<br> XVIVOS Biosciences: &nbsp;a high-throughput, personalized drug profiling technology for patients with certain rare &amp; neglected diseases<br> Project Nash: a modular tool that allows psychiatrists to collect feedback from members of a patient's support network, as well as automatically analyze patient's audio logs and social media for inconsistencies that could be a warning sign of relapse<br> iProbe: a sensing device for pre-symptomatic ocular disease detection</p> <p><strong>Judges:</strong></p> <p>Professor <strong>Paul Santerre</strong>, Co-Director, Health Innovation Hub<br> Andris Lauris, Mentor-in-Residence, Health Innovation Hub<br> Merry Wang, Senior Research Scientist, Autodesk<br> Gail Garland, President and CEO, Ontario Bioscience Innovation Organization (OBio)<br> Jonathan Rezek, Business Development, IBM Canada&nbsp;<br> Kendra Delicaet, Managing Director, OpenLab, TGH<br> Katherine Schwenger, Co-Chair, Institute of Medical Science Students Association (IMSSA)</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-picpath field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">picpath</div> <div class="field__item">sites/default/files/2016-04-01-medical-researchers-app.jpg</div> </div> Fri, 01 Apr 2016 08:47:40 +0000 sgupta 7780 at Professor Cynthia Goh named academic director of BBCIE /news/professor-cynthia-goh-named-academic-director-bbcie <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Professor Cynthia Goh named academic director of BBCIE </span> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>sgupta</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2016-03-13T10:53:03-04:00" title="Sunday, March 13, 2016 - 10:53" class="datetime">Sun, 03/13/2016 - 10:53</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">Professor Goh has published more than 80 papers and has started seven companies with her students</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/olivia-tomic" hreflang="en">Olivia Tomic</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-legacy field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Author legacy</div> <div class="field__item">Olivia Tomic</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/more-news" hreflang="en">More News</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/startups" hreflang="en">Startups</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/impact-centre" hreflang="en">Impact Centre</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/entrepreneurship" hreflang="en">Entrepreneurship</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/bbcie" hreflang="en">BBCIE</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-subheadline field--type-string-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Subheadline</div> <div class="field__item">Goh brings “entrepreneurship experience and passion for the translation of scientific discovery to technologies that benefit society,” Scott Mabury says</div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Professor&nbsp;M. <strong>Cynthia Goh</strong>, scientist, educator and serial entrepreneur, has been selected as the inaugural academic director for the Ƶ’s Banting &amp; Best Centre for Innovation &amp; Entrepreneurship (BBCIE).<br> &nbsp;<br> “The world has changed, and while we provide an excellent fundamental education, our students could use more,” said Goh.“U of T needs to be the leader in training and inspiring our world-class students to use their talents to reach out and create an impact.</p> <p>“Entrepreneurial skills are not just for building a company. In creating this new position, the university recognizes that we want to foster an entrepreneurial mindset and a culture of innovation in our students because these are crucial elements for their future.”<br> &nbsp;<br> A physical chemist with appointments in the departments of chemistry, materials science and engineering, the Institute of Medical Science and the Munk School of Global Affairs, Goh&nbsp;is the founding director of the Impact Centre,&nbsp;a U of T campus-linked accelerator (CLA) which&nbsp;aims to bring science to society. She has published more than&nbsp;80 scientific papers and holds more than 20 patents.<br> &nbsp;<br> With her graduate students, Goh has started seven science-based companies which&nbsp;employ&nbsp;dozens of people&nbsp;in a variety of industries – from medical diagnostics and agriculture to nanomaterials and science education. As director of the Impact Centre, she has nurtured more than&nbsp;100 technology startup companies and advised hundreds of entrepreneurs over&nbsp;the past five&nbsp;years on how to turn the results of research into real products and processes.<br> &nbsp;<br> Professor&nbsp;<strong>Scott Mabur</strong>y,&nbsp;operations vice-president,&nbsp;said Goh is recognized for both her scholarship and entrepreneurial activities.</p> <p>“Her entrepreneurship experience and passion for the translation of scientific discovery to technologies that benefit society make her well-equipped to enhance the entrepreneurial activity taking place at the university.”<br> &nbsp;<br> The originator of Entrepreneurship 101, the flagship training program at MaRS which was first offered in the chemistry department and is accessed&nbsp;by about 20,000 annually, Goh has more than 15&nbsp;years of experience in introducing entrepreneurial skills to students. Her activities within universities in Canada and abroad have inspired tens of thousands of students in science and innovation.&nbsp;<br> &nbsp;<br> The BBCIE is the central office for student-related entrepreneurial activity across the three campuses of the university. The appointment of an academic director recognizes the important role that innovation and entrepreneurship will continue to play within the academic mandate of the university.</p> <h2><a href="http://entrepreneurs.utoronto.ca/">Interested in startups and entrepreneurship? Visit the BBCIE</a><br> &nbsp;</h2> <p>U of T houses nine CLAs&nbsp;coordinated under the BBCIE umbrella. Each of the CLAs has been established to fill demand from the university’s diverse disciplines and three campuses. In operation for more than&nbsp;three years, the BBCIE takes the administrative lead on all things entrepreneurship at U of T and now will be complemented by Goh as the academic link for students.<br> &nbsp;<br> “The CLAs are the beginning,” Goh said,&nbsp;“but we need to move even further – to reach out to all students, as well as beyond STEM disciplines to build connections and generate new ways of thinking.”<br> &nbsp;<br> In this new position, Goh said,&nbsp;her goal to reach as many students as possible.<br> &nbsp;<br> “The appointment of an academic director is part of the university’s commitment to fostering tomorrow’s entrepreneurs,” said&nbsp;<strong>Vivek Goel</strong>, vice-president of research and innovation. “Considerable work has been done building the entrepreneurial ecosystem so far and this next step will help ensure U of T students are receiving the best experience possible to prepare themselves for the future.”<br> &nbsp;<br> As academic director, Goh will lead efforts to create opportunities for collaboration on initiatives across the CLAs and the university as a whole. She will spearhead initiatives that will continue to position the university as one of the leading centres for innovation and entrepreneurship.&nbsp;</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-picpath field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">picpath</div> <div class="field__item">sites/default/files/2016-03-13-CGoh.jpg</div> </div> Sun, 13 Mar 2016 14:53:03 +0000 sgupta 7725 at Federal government backs three U of T startups and their clean tech innovations /news/federal-government-backs-three-u-t-startups-and-their-clean-tech-innovations <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Federal government backs three U of T startups and their clean tech innovations</span> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>sgupta</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2016-03-09T05:39:31-05:00" title="Wednesday, March 9, 2016 - 05:39" class="datetime">Wed, 03/09/2016 - 05:39</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">Nanoleaf founder and U of T grad Gimmy Chu (photo above by Johnny Guatto/photos below courtesy Nanoleaf))</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/olivia-tomic" hreflang="en">Olivia Tomic</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-legacy field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Author legacy</div> <div class="field__item">Olivia Tomic</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/features" hreflang="en">Features</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/sustainability" hreflang="en">Sustainability</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/startups" hreflang="en">Startups</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/nanoleaf" hreflang="en">Nanoleaf</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/mars" hreflang="en">MaRS</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/ipo" hreflang="en">IPO</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/innovation" hreflang="en">Innovation</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/entrepreneurship" hreflang="en">Entrepreneurship</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/commercialization" hreflang="en">Commercialization</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/bbcie" hreflang="en">BBCIE</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Three U of T startups are&nbsp;among 36 projects from across the country receiving&nbsp;funding from the federal government in support of their clean technology innovations.&nbsp;</p> <p>Nanoleaf, QD Solar and ARDA Power Inc. received a total of almost $6 million&nbsp;from Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC), a governmental foundation which helps clean tech entrepreneurs commercialize their products by removing the funding barrier that hinders so many high potential startups.</p> <p><img alt="photo of Nanoleaf products" src="/sites/default/files/2016-03-09-nanoleaf-embedSmarter-Kit-24.jpg" style="width: 300px; height: 248px; margin: 10px; float: right;">“Nanoleaf is creating truly innovative products right here in Canada, but it’s difficult to get access to the capital needed to compete globally,” said U of T engineering alumnus&nbsp;<strong>Gimmy Chu</strong>, co-founder and CEO of Nanoleaf. (<a href="http://nanoleaf.me/">Visit the Nanoleaf site</a>.)</p> <p>“With this support from the Government of Canada, we can sustain our already impressive pace of product development and continue to make a truly positive impact for the planet and the people living on it.”&nbsp;</p> <p>With an infusion of more than&nbsp;$2.8 million from SDTC, Chu said Nanoleaf will continue to develop their low-cost and highly intelligent “Smarter Kit” (pictured at right),&nbsp;adding to their collection of the world’s most energy-efficient LED light bulbs which are already on the market.</p> <h3><a href="http://news.utoronto.ca/tags/nanoleaf">Read more <em>U of T News</em> stories about&nbsp;Nanoleaf</a></h3> <p>QD Solar also secured funding from SDTC, receiving $2.55 million for their project which revolutionizes conventional solar panels by capturing infrared light energy that would otherwise be lost using existing panel technologies.&nbsp;</p> <p>QD Solar has worked with U of T’s Innovations &amp; Partnerships Office as well as MaRS Innovation to advance the project, which will now have the necessary resources to develop, test and de-risk the solar cells, says CEO <strong>Dan Shea</strong>.(<a href="http://www.qdsolarinc.com/">Visit the QD Solar site</a>.)</p> <p>“The SDTC’s endorsement is great news for our game-changing technology and the business opportunity it presents for Canadian energy and manufacturing.”&nbsp;</p> <p>Also receiving funding this year from the SDTC is ARDA Power Inc. ARDA Power was founded in 2009 to commercialize power conversion technology developed out of the Ƶ and licensed to ARDA Power. Recently the company has focused on direct current (DC) microgrid technologies for which it received a $400,000 grant. (<a href="http://www.ardapower.com/">Visit the ARDA Power site</a>.)</p> <p>“These SDTC funds will support the development, installation and commissioning of a state-of-the-art Burlington DC Microgrid project that will accommodate not only rooftop solar and local energy storage but other new and existing DC and AC sources and loads,” said <strong>Aleksey Toporkov</strong>, chairman and CEO of ARDA Power. “The microgrid, which will be located at a commercial facility in the GTA will be based on ARDA Power’s DC Microgrid Open Platform.”</p> <p>This SDTC funding represents “a great recognition of U of T’s impact in the area of clean technology,” said <strong>Karen Sievewright</strong>, director of U of T’s Banting &amp; Best Centre for Innovation &amp; Entrepreneurship.</p> <p>“This is evidence of ongoing excellence from the university,” Sievewright said. “Consistently companies affiliated with U of T have received funding from SDTC, growing the local economy and promoting environmental sustainability.”</p> <h2><a href="http://entrepreneurs.utoronto.ca/">Interested in startups and entrepreneurship? Visit the BBCIE</a></h2> <p>“Researchers at U of T are regularly turning their discoveries into marketable inventions,” said <strong>Vivek Goel</strong>, vice-president of research and innovation. “I’m very pleased to see the support that these three companies are receiving from the government to continue the important work they’re doing in sustainable development.”&nbsp;</p> <p>(<em>Image below: Aurora lighting system by Nanoleaf</em>)</p> <p><img alt="photo of Nanoleaf house" src="/sites/default/files/2016-03-09-nanoleaf-house.jpg" style="width: 640px; height: 360px; margin: 10px 20px;"></p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-picpath field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">picpath</div> <div class="field__item">sites/default/files/2016-03-09-chu-nanoleaf.jpg</div> </div> Wed, 09 Mar 2016 10:39:31 +0000 sgupta 7718 at National Cancer Institute invests $4 million in U of T-based startup Pathcore /news/national-cancer-institute-invests-4-million-u-t-startup-pathcore <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">National Cancer Institute invests $4 million in U of T-based startup Pathcore </span> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>sgupta</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2016-03-02T04:03:06-05:00" title="Wednesday, March 2, 2016 - 04:03" class="datetime">Wed, 03/02/2016 - 04:03</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item"> Michael Mai, Craig Madho (U of T Pharmacology &amp; Toxicology), Anne Martel (researcher and U of T associate professor), Stephane Langevin, Dan Hosseinzadeh, Deyu Wang (U of T Computer Science), Sean Nichols</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/olivia-tomic" hreflang="en">Olivia Tomic</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/deyu-wang" hreflang="en">Deyu Wang</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-legacy field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Author legacy</div> <div class="field__item">Deyu Wang and Olivia Tomic</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/more-news" hreflang="en">More News</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/startup" hreflang="en">Startup</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/bbcie" hreflang="en">BBCIE</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>There’s a tremendous amount of precision required from pathologists when they make cancer diagnoses, and the results of their work are literally a matter of life or death.</p> <p>But technology developed by Ƶ&nbsp;startup Pathcore™ is making the tedious and complex task of reading potentially cancerous tissue samples faster and more accurate.</p> <p>“We free pathologists from counting cells, searching for those hard-to-find areas through a microscope, and doing other repetitive tasks that software can do faster and better,” said <strong>Dan Hosseinzadeh</strong>, CEO and co-founder of Pathcore. “Ultimately, that means improved patient care.”</p> <p>The value of Pathcore’s technology has been recognized around the world;&nbsp;most recently by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the U.S. government’s principal agency for cancer research and training.&nbsp;It will be part of NCI’s platform for cancer informatics, a field that brings together information science, computer science and health care to aid in all aspects of cancer prevention and treatment. The NCI initiative brings together teams from across the United States with a single goal: to share information and advance this important field of expertise.</p> <p>The $4M (CAD) development project involves six leading cancer centres from across Canada and the U.S. and will allow the startup to expand the translating and validating of automated cancer diagnostics into clinical tools.</p> <p>Pathcore’s free downloadable software is already being used in over 100 institutions in more than 22 countries with the NCI funding promising to extend that reach even further.</p> <p>With this investment, Pathcore will be expanding their software&nbsp;–&nbsp;the Sedeen Viewer&nbsp;–&nbsp;which allows researchers to view, annotate and overlay images to make data collection and analysis easy. The Sedeen Viewer also gives researchers access to built-in analysis tools and allows them to write their own algorithms&nbsp;–&nbsp;basically complex computer programs&nbsp;–&nbsp;to detect cancerous tissues.</p> <p>“This will accelerate the translation of cutting edge research to patient care by allowing the developers of sophisticated analysis software to distribute their work directly to clinicians,” said&nbsp;<strong>Anne Martel</strong>, Pathcore’s co-founder and associate professor at U of T.&nbsp;“The NIH rarely allow funding to go to non-US labs, even more unusual is for them to fund work done by a foreign company, so this is a testament to the unique strengths of the Pathcore platform.”</p> <p>The Sedeen Viewer is complemented by Pathcore Web, a cloud-based app that allows pathologists to access their cases anytime and anywhere so urgent cases don’t have to wait.</p> <p><iframe allowfullscreen frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/AJVl8vuylGM" width="560"></iframe></p> <p>“With a digital platform for viewing tissue slides, pathologists can review cases within their team or consult with other institutions quickly and effectively so that the best people can always be involved,” said Hosseinzadeh.</p> <p>Pathcore Web works on both desktop and mobile devices, making diagnosis a tap away.</p> <p>“U of T is a research powerhouse and one of the things that we love to see is that research being translated into real and practical solutions,” said&nbsp;<strong>Karen Sievewright</strong>, managing director of the Banting &amp; Best Centre for Innovation &amp; Entrepreneurship.</p> <p>“Pathcore is a great example of how scientific research can be commercialized and applied to a platform that benefits healthcare practitioners, and in turn patients, around the world.”&nbsp;</p> <p>Based in the Impact Centre, one of U of T’s nine campus-linked accelerators, Pathcore is a spin-off from research that began in 2006 supported by the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research and Sunnybrook Research Institute.</p> <p>"We know the product works," said Hosseinzadeh. “Now we want to get it into more institutions worldwide.”</p> <h2><a href="http://entrepreneurs.utoronto.ca/">Interested in entrepreneurships and startups? Visit the Banting &amp; Best Centre for Innovation &amp; Entrepreneurship</a></h2> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-picpath field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">picpath</div> <div class="field__item">sites/default/files/2016-02-26-pathcore.jpg</div> </div> Wed, 02 Mar 2016 09:03:06 +0000 sgupta 7680 at Canada Next: MaRS CEO on the future for startups /news/canada-next-mars-ceo-future-startups <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Canada Next: MaRS CEO on the future for startups </span> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>sgupta</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2016-02-02T03:08:21-05:00" title="Tuesday, February 2, 2016 - 03:08" class="datetime">Tue, 02/02/2016 - 03:08</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">A young man interested in entrepreneurship speaks to representatives from MaRS at the 2015 Startup Career Expo. "U of T is increasingly a “driving force” for startups", says Ilse Treurnicht, CEO of MaRS Discovery District.</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/alan-christie" hreflang="en">Alan Christie</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-legacy field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Author legacy</div> <div class="field__item">Alan Christie</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/bbcie" hreflang="en">BBCIE</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/business" hreflang="en">Business</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/canada-next" hreflang="en">Canada Next</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/entrepreneurship" hreflang="en">Entrepreneurship</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/features" hreflang="en">Features</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/mars" hreflang="en">MaRS</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/nanoleaf" hreflang="en">Nanoleaf</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/startups" hreflang="en">Startups</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Canada is good at creating startup companies but not enough of them are high-growth enterprises, the so-called gazelles of the industry, says <strong>Ilse Treurnicht</strong>, CEO of the MaRS Discovery District.</p> <p>But the good news, she says, is that U of T is increasingly a “driving force” &nbsp;for startups, helping them not just to thrive but to succeed in Canada so that the economic benefits accrue to this country.&nbsp;</p> <p>The Global Entrepreneurship and Development Institute recently released a global entrepreneurship index that placed Canada second, behind the United States.</p> <p><em>U of T News</em> asked Treurnicht for her analysis of the survey and her views about some recent stories in the media about Canada and entrepreneurship, including an op-ed piece in the <em>Globe and Mail </em>co-authored by President <strong>Meric Gertler</strong>: “Southern Ontario should be an innovation cluster, not a farm team.”</p> <p>The survey, she said, was a valid one and “another indication that entrepreneurship is important everywhere, and that Toronto has some good fundamentals in place, and that we have some areas where we can probably grow.”</p> <p><img alt="photo of Ilse Treurnicht" src="/sites/default/files/2016-02-01-ilse-embed.jpg" style="width: 300px; height: 375px; margin: 10px; float: left;">Data on startups in Canada is relatively sparse but statistics from the U.S. and the U.K. suggest “that out of 100 startups somewhere between four and 10 become high-growth industries, the so-called gazelles.”&nbsp;</p> <p>Treurnicht &nbsp;(pictured at left) described&nbsp;a gazelle as a company that that increases its revenues by at least 20 per cent annually for four years or more, starting from a revenue base of at least $1 million.&nbsp;</p> <p>Gazelles “grow quite quickly and are major job creators, major contributors to revenue and economic growth,” Treurnicht said. “Starting up a company is important but it is not sufficient, you have to start more robust companies and more of them have to grow to scale.</p> <p>“Canada is pretty good at starting companies but we don’t have enough of them that grow to scale.”</p> <p>Our companies face “small local markets, and eco-systems that are still maturing,” she said. “We don’t have the serial entrepreneurs that they have in Silicon Valley.” &nbsp;</p> <p>In Canada, the capital contributions made to startups is about one-third of what it is in the U.S.</p> <p>“A lot of startups have to be international companies because the markets are so small here," she said. There are good reasons why so few become gazelles. “It’s not like we are stupid.”&nbsp;</p> <p>Still, there are grounds for optimism, Treurnicht said.</p> <p>“Over the last 10 years U of T has helped build the ecosystem in Toronto and the GTA. There is now a huge appetite among students to participate in such companies, and a growing appreciation among faculty, especially young faculty, to participate.”</p> <p>The survey suggests Canada is poised to do great things, she added.&nbsp;</p> <p>Treurnicht said the barriers to starting a company are very low, especially in the high-tech field. Companies focused on health care, “advanced materials” or artificial intelligence<span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">&nbsp;–&nbsp;</span>firms with “hard-core intellectual property heft"<span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">&nbsp;–&nbsp;</span>take a bit longer to develop so they require more investment.</p> <p>But the “deep technology competency and the feeder system” coming out of U of T “is as good quality as the rest of the world,”&nbsp;she said. That means that more companies “will grow right here, with the economic benefits accruing to Canada.”<br> <br> “This is a story about the growing momentum of U of T being a key force in making startups more successful. That is the message we want to get out. Stay tuned. There is a lot more come.”</p> <h1>Three to Watch</h1> <p>The majority of companies that have homes&nbsp;at the MaRS centre “have serious roots back to U of T,” Treurnicht&nbsp;said. They include Nanoleaf, Teabot and Chipcare.</p> <center> <p><img alt src="/sites/default/files/2014-09-23-nanolight-chu.jpg" style="width: 300px; height: 200px; float: left; margin: 5px;"></p> </center> <address>&nbsp;</address> <address>&nbsp;</address> <address><span style="font-size: 12.6px; line-height: 21px;">Gimmy Chu, one of the Ƶ alumni behind startup success Nanoleaf, with the revolutionary light bulb backed by investors around the world. Photo by Johnny Guatto.</span></address> <address>&nbsp;</address> <h2><a href="http://news.utoronto.ca/tags/nanoleaf">Read more about Nanoleaf</a></h2> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <center> <p><img alt src="/sites/default/files/2015-03-11-teaBOT-1.jpg" style="width: 300px; height: 300px; float: left; margin: 5px;"></p> </center> <address>&nbsp;</address> <address>&nbsp;</address> <address>teaBOT, the brainchild of U of&nbsp;T aerospace and robotics PhD candidate Rehman Merali and engineer Brian Lee, is part of the JOLT business incubator at MaRS Discovery District. Photo courtesy&nbsp;teaBOT.</address> <address>&nbsp;</address> <h2><a href="http://news.utoronto.ca/tags/teabot">Read more about Teabot</a></h2> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <center> <p><img alt src="/sites/default/files/2015-03-15-chipcare-device.jpg" style="width: 300px; height: 200px; margin: 5px; float: left;"></p> </center> <address>&nbsp;</address> <address>&nbsp;</address> <address>Ƶ researchers James Dou and Stewart Aitchison founded ChipCare, an affordable and efficient lab-on-a-chip that can revolutionize HIV monitoring in developing countries. Rendering courtesy&nbsp;ChipCare.</address> <address>&nbsp;</address> <h2>&nbsp;</h2> <h2><a href="http://news.utoronto.ca/tags/chipcare">Read more about Chipcare</a></h2> <p>There are difficult challenges that startups face, she said, but tackling those “is U of T’s thing. That is the sweet spot.”</p> <p>Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently announced a $20-million grant to the Centre for the Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine at MaRS&nbsp;– the commercialization arm of Medicine By Design.</p> <h2><a href="http://news.utoronto.ca/tags/medicine-design">Read more about Medicine by Design</a></h2> <p>GE Healthcare, a global company, also invested $20 million.</p> <h2><a href="http://news.utoronto.ca/prime-minister-justin-trudeau-backs-commercialization-stem-cell-research-u-t-and-partners">Read more about CCRM</a></h2> <p>When global companies such as GE or <a href="http://news.utoronto.ca/jlabs-startup-incubator-selects-university-toronto-mars-first-international-expansion">Johnson and Johnson</a> make major investments here it&nbsp;shows they “want to interact with high-quality young companies, and they also want the proximity to outstanding research and the talent pipeline that comes out of U of T and its partner hospitals,” Treurnicht&nbsp;said.</p> <p>“It is not U of T just pushing out discoveries and startups but also the university being a magnet for global companies that recognize the strength of Toronto and the strength of U of T and its partners.”</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-picpath field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">picpath</div> <div class="field__item">sites/default/files/2016-02-01-MaRS-entrepreneurship_0.jpg</div> </div> Tue, 02 Feb 2016 08:08:21 +0000 sgupta 7618 at Conference Cloud: siblings' startup brings conferences to entrepreneurs /news/conference-cloud-siblings-startup-brings-conferences-entrepreneurs <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Conference Cloud: siblings' startup brings conferences to entrepreneurs</span> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>sgupta</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2016-01-26T06:28:42-05:00" title="Tuesday, January 26, 2016 - 06:28" class="datetime">Tue, 01/26/2016 - 06:28</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item"> Dinesh Ramdhayan, Olivia Simmons, John-Alan Simmons and Jay Engineer (photo courtesy ConferenceCloud)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/olivia-tomic" hreflang="en">Olivia Tomic</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-legacy field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Author legacy</div> <div class="field__item">Olivia Tomic</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/features" hreflang="en">Features</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/startups" hreflang="en">Startups</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/mathematics" hreflang="en">Mathematics</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-arts-science" hreflang="en">Faculty of Arts &amp; Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/entrepreneurship" hreflang="en">Entrepreneurship</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/entrepreneurs" hreflang="en">Entrepreneurs</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/computer-science" hreflang="en">Computer Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/bbcie" hreflang="en">BBCIE</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>For brother and sister <strong>Olivia</strong> and <strong>John-Alan Simmons</strong>, juggling an undergraduate education and running a business is par for the course.&nbsp;</p> <p>As products of an entrepreneurial home, the Simmons siblings say they have an inherent understanding of the hard work, dedication and support that it takes for a business to succeed. So when it came time for them to go to university, they didn't opt for&nbsp;traditional part-time jobs.</p> <p>Instead,&nbsp;the Simmons siblings created their own startup: <a href="https://www.conferencecloud.co/">ConferenceCloud</a></p> <p>“To get us through [my] applied mathematics degree and [John-Alan’s] computer science degree we had a web-development company along with a few of our own side projects,” Olivia says. “We made some good money and it was a great experience building technology for other people, but we always knew we wanted to build something for ourselves.”&nbsp;</p> <p>Apart from their formal U of T education, the duo also went to a number of events and conferences to learn more about project management and to become better developers. But, like many students, their budget only allowed them to attend reasonably priced events within the GTA.&nbsp;</p> <p>Which made them ask: why isn’t there a better curated hub for digital conference content?&nbsp;Enter ConferenceCloud</p> <p>ConferenceCloud is a virtual attendance platform that allows users to live-stream conferences or to watch the event on-demand afterwards. The platform also aggregates ticket sales, virtual networking and interactive content all in one location.&nbsp;</p> <p>Founded in 2014, ConferenceCloud has worked with UTEST (Ƶ Early Stage Technology), one of U of T’s nine campus-linked accelerators, to grow.&nbsp;Over 18 months, UTEST provided the siblings with dedicated work space, mentorship, networking opportunities and educational opportunities. &nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>At the start of 2016, UTEST and MaRS Innovation invested $30,000 in ConferenceCloud. The investment coincided with funding from a new, Toronto-based provincial fund called MLA48 Angel Investment Fund. Affiliated with Maple Leaf Angels, the fund provides pre-seed funding to early-stage startups. Investment decisions are made within 48 hours of application, making the MLA48 fund unique in Toronto’s ecosystem.&nbsp;</p> <p>“What impresses us most about Olivia and John-Alan is their willingness to pursue a large vision while adapting to market-driven feedback,” says Joel Liederman, vice-president, Physical Sciences, at MaRS Innovation. “While in the UTEST program, they were receptive to their advisors and pivoted several times to arrive at their current product. We’re pleased that external investors like MLA48 share our admiration for this team.”</p> <p>While ConferenceCloud does support free events, its services are mostly geared to larger, paid conferences, promoting the platform as a new revenue stream for conference organizers. It provides a way for the organizers to expand their audience and get more value out of their content. &nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>“The conference organizers paid for all this content from speakers and put on a one-, two- or three-day conference but then after that all of that value is kind of lost,” says Olivia, co-founder and CEO. “ConferenceCloud not only increases this content’s reach, but it can also save and re-sell that content to new audiences that might have missed the original event.” &nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <h2>Striking the balance</h2> <p>Sounds easy? Don’t be fooled, the siblings say: managing a business while pursuing a post-secondary degree is no small feat. They credit the support they’ve received from their family and the mentorship they’ve received from UTEST and MLA.&nbsp;</p> <p>“ConferenceCloud is a great example of how students can use U of T’s vast entrepreneurship ecosystem to accelerate their startup’s growth,” says&nbsp;<strong>Karen Sievewright</strong>, managing director of the Banting &amp; Best Centre for Innovation &amp; Entrepreneurship.&nbsp;</p> <p>“The programs, courses and CLAs are some of the unique ways that the university is transforming the undergraduate experience and the Simmons siblings are perfect examples of how students can nourish their entrepreneurial spirit while balancing their studies.”&nbsp;</p> <p>With the new MLA funding, the Simmons siblings and their team will be focussing on increasing sales and getting as much client diversity as possible on their growing platform. &nbsp;</p> <h2><a href="http://entrepreneurs.utoronto.ca/">Interested in entrepreneurships and startups? Visit the Banting &amp; Best Centre for Innovation &amp; Entrepreneurship</a></h2> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-picpath field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">picpath</div> <div class="field__item">sites/default/files/2016-01-26-conference-cloud.jpg</div> </div> Tue, 26 Jan 2016 11:28:42 +0000 sgupta 7610 at