By Knowlton Thomas In 1911, cars and the telephone were new, bleeding-edge technology. And back then, like at any single point in history, guessing what any aspect of the world would be like in a century’s time was a daunting—nay, impossible—task. Still, American civil engineer John Elfreth Watkins Jr. attempted just that. He wrote an [...]
By Pam Banks Jobs and the economy are a prevalent topic of discussion at dinner tables and board room tables around the country. Local Mississauga MP’s joined a round table discussion with Hon. Peter Van Loan, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and local business leaders recently. The conversation focused on how [...]
By Omer Gulzar To kick off the New Year, Savino DiPasquale, Vice-President of Business Development and Corporate Planning for GSK, provided an overview of pharmaceutical industry trends from the perspective of a leading global multi-national firm. This event was hosted by Life Science Ontario at the GlaxoSmithKline headquarters in Mississauga Ontario on the 18 of January. [...]
By Neil Menezes Looking to grow your advanced manufacturing business? All you need is a good idea for a new product or way of doing something differently. It’s not nearly as easy as it sounds. But for the approximately 30 advanced manufacturers gathered last week for the first of six Innovate > Forward sessions, many [...]
By Marielle Voksepp You’ve probably made certain assumptions about your target market. How do you validate them? At last week’s Entrepreneurship 101 lecture, market research experts Usha Srinivasan of MaRS and Daniel Colquhoun of Frost & Sullivan introduced the basics of market research and analysis. Their presentation covered the following topics: concept evaluation, packaging and pricing, messaging [...]
Arqam Iqbal Pasha The Young Entrepreneur Challenge hosted by the Digital Enterprise Management Society at UTM was a treat for both entrepreneurs and students. Stretching over two days, this event brought the brightest minds together and gave young entrepreneurs the opportunity to both learn and connect. Ian Carnivalle, a participant of the YEC 2012 and [...]
By Jasmeet Duggal @jasmeetduggal Bright entrepreneurial minds (from marketing, programming, design, and business) and industry keynote speakers came out in full force at this weekend’s Young Entrepreneurs Challenge 2012 – a 2-day weekend event hosted by the Digital Enterprise Management Society at the University of Toronto Mississauga Here are my top highlights from Day 1 of the keynote [...]
By Marielle Voksepp “Ian Telfer was a screw-up. The Canadian mining industry luminary didn’t exactly excel during his undergraduate days in university. He was too busy having fun.” – Andy Hoffman, The Globe and Mail Are you interested yet? Last week, Entrepreneurship 101 kicked off the new year with its Lived it Lecture series featuring Ian [...]
By Saadia Muzaffar I recently read Josh Bernoff and Charlene Li’s book Groundswell, which makes a case for the true business value of social technologies. Here’s why it’s a must-read if you are struggling whether your business needs to develop a social media strategy: What is the groundswell? By definition, groundswell is a buildup of opinion [...]
By Omer Gulzar In my last blog we saw many policies present to combact the lack of youth entrepreneurship, but these programs failed to address the underlying cause of the problem. To develop the business mind of youth we must put them in an environment where they have the power to create and modify. A [...]
By Joseph Wilson It’s time for New Year’s resolutions: hit the gym, eat better and call your mother more. If you’re an entrepreneur, it can be an opportunity to refocus your efforts on strategies that will add value to your organization. Here are some suggestions: 1. Practice your elevator pitch: At your next cocktail party, [...]
The Internet has become the primary marketing channel for many companies, but Internet marketing tools and techniques are still relatively new and constantly changing. Marketers, and those wanting to enter the profession, need to stay current with the most effective practices in this rapidly developing field. The University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies offers [...]
By Misha Waheed The Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre is one of the largest and most successful hospitals in Canada. As a research intensive facility, Sunnybrook spends more than $100 million in ground-breaking research every year. The Centre provides highly specialised health care to war veterans and critically ill-newborns among other patients and offers more than [...]
By Vijender Trivedi Innovating in the life sciences and health care sector? If so, you can’t escape the regulators! In a discussion entitled “Avoiding Pitfalls in the Regulatory Path,” MaRS Advisor and Life Sciences & Health Care Practice Lead, Sonia Sanhueza, shared her views on avoiding regulatory pitfalls. She highlighted the important aspects of a well-defined [...]
By Omer Gulzar As discussed in my last blog youth entrepreneurship needs revitalization for it to be a successful endeavour. In my last article I discussed some problems facing Youth entrepreneurship. Here I will go over the current policies and practices in place to address this issue, which have failed to make a dramatic difference [...]
Doing business online is a necessity for most businesses these days. Do it well and your business thrives. Do it poorly and your competitors will eat your lunch. Unfortunately, the world of eBusiness is complex and rapidly changing. It is difficult to stay on the leading edge of the wave. The University of Toronto School [...]
By Vijender Trivedi Branding has always been an important and challenging aspect of building a business. It helps define success and increases the influence of customers on products or business as a whole. While startup owners understand the importance of branding and typically devote a lot of time to it, they often make a common [...]
By Tedd Campbell As your technology startup develops into a thriving enterprise, you might occasionally need freelance writers to produce sales and marketing content, technical manuals, and other documents. Here are some tips to help you choose the best writer for each project: Shop around for a specialist Who would you hire to fix your [...]
By Omer Gulzar The Tsunami of subprime mortgages that resulted in the collapse of the American banking system is prevalent and the aftershocks are still being felt throughout the world. With international markets in turmoil, there has been an increasing tendency for banking regulation to further tighten. Every so often we see government leaders assuring [...]
By Marielle Voksepp What are you offering your customers? You probably think the answer to this question is obvious. But are you able to communicate this in a way that others can understand? Last week’s Entrepreneurship 101 lecture focused on creating a crisp and concise Value Proposition for your startup. According to lecturer Joe Wilson, [...]
OCTIE welcomes the participation of The Research, Innovation, Commercialization (RIC) Centre. The RIC Centre, Peel Region’s hub for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, was launched in 2008 as a not-for-profit organization supporting the development of innovation and entrepreneurship in Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon. RIC Centre provides commercialization support to help new entrepreneurs and seasoned business people take technical [...]
By Pam Banks The Canadian Innovation Exchange (CIX) is designed to facilitate new relationships and jump start business development in the Canadian economy. The one day forum took place in MaRS Discovery District in Toronto, bringing together key players in the innovation ecosystem, including entrepreneurs, investors, corporations, service providers, government, and media, to a program [...]
Vijender Trivedi As world-renowned athlete Althea Gibson said, “No matter what accomplishments you make, somebody helped you.” In business, too, there are a wide range of people that help you succeed, the most important of whom are your advisors. Advisors can help you make complex decisions and avoid disasters that you don’t anticipate. While advisory [...]
By Saadia Muzaffar It’s no secret that the hot topic for all entrepreneurs is where to find start-up capital and funding for their new business or idea and how to do it right given the usual resource scarcity that accompanies any start-up. I attended the SociaLIGHT conference this past weekend – out of the many [...]
By Omer Gulzar They’re the most power hungry, motivated and high risk taking individuals you can lay your eyes on. Yes! These words do describe the most influential and respected entrepreneurs but ironically I was describing young individuals. What’s tragic is that we have become accustom to the idea that entrepreneurial activity is only limited to [...]
By James Burchill Many businesses are happy to outsource some of their functions like payroll, web hosting, and so forth. In fact, in today’s business climate, if you aren’t outsourcing or using a cloud service for collaboration or communication, you’re probably in the minority. One thing that’s rarely outsourced, however, is database and file storage. [...]
By Jasmeet Duggal With seven billion people on the earth it is no doubt that there has been a shift in demographics and healthcare needs of the population. The current model of spending and run away healthcare costs puts the sustainability of the system into question. The landscape of the industry responsible for delivering innovative [...]
By Knowlton Thomas Symantec recently released the findings of its 2011 SMB Threat Awareness Poll. It revealed that, while awareness is high, small and medium businesses don’t consider themselves targets of cyber attacks. More than half of SMBs are familiar with the various security threats such as keystroke logging and malware. They know these attacks can lead [...]
By Omer Gulzar Carbon nanotubes – a special configuration of carbon in a cylindrical form – have important mechanical, electrical and conductive properties, making them an important additive in mechanical and structural materials. Researchers at the University of Texas at Dallas, University of Wollongong in Australia, Han-yang University in Korea, and University of British Columbia [...]
By Misha Waheed Using the Web for data analysis purposes has become a common marketing strategy for businesses. Analysts have relied on social media outlets in order to understand and predict consumer trends. However, the methods that are usually used for data analysis are not comprehensive enough to keep up with the vast sea of [...]
By Marielle Voksepp Have you covered your 4 P’s? In order to get the right marketing mix, companies need to have the right balance of product, price, promotion and place. According to marketing and sales expert Jon Worren, this all begins with a value proposition and customer development model. At last week’s Entrepreneurship 101 lecture [...]
By Saadia Muzaffar A number of Canadian start up businesses are choosing to expand overseas and create niches for themselves in foreign markets. The Canadian company Jigsee Inc., for example, opened a branch all the way in India to promote a video streaming technology. What was the reason for this move? Jigsee’s technology allowed for [...]
By Nancy Quaegebeur Ontario is Canada’s leading manufacturing province and Canada’s manufacturing sector accounts for two-thirds of the country’s total exports and funds. However, there are several challenges faced by the industry. There is a gap with respect to innovation and the commercialization of new products. Being stereotyped as a “man’s profession”, it can be [...]
By Knowlton Thomas In 2012, cars will get a whole lot safer. Well, Fords will anyway. With driver fatigue the cause of hundreds of deaths on roads in Canada every year, Ford is introducing new technology to combat human weaknesses. Called the Lane Keeping System, Ford vehicles will help drivers stay alert and in control [...]
By Omer Gulzar Turns out the rules of elementary school prevail even when it comes to securing venture capital funding for your startup. Only this time Tim sitting in the sandbox alone, with his smaller network will be suffering not only from ridicule from his classmates, but will have the added drawback of possibly losing [...]
By Misha Waheed What is Change Management? Every now and then, a company finds itself trying to bridge the gap between its current state of being and its desired, future state. The process or technique, through which employers strive to reach this future state is called change management (CM). The purpose of CM is to make [...]
By Mark Zimmerman One of the milestones in the life of a start-up is moving into its first offices. Space provides the frame for corporate culture: will you have private offices or cubicles, which teams will sit next to each other, professional or eclectic decor? Even more important than the space itself are the rules and [...]
By Tedd Campbell Joseph Wilson’s recent blog about what Hollywood can teach entrepreneurs got me thinking about MacGuffins, a common plot device that filmmakers use to jump-start their movies. Essentially, a MacGuffin is an excuse to tell a story. It’s what initially drives the plot forward, triggering a chain of events that inevitably leads to [...]
By Misha Waheed Understanding the Need for Innovation Resources The world’s most successful companies have one thing in common: they spend a great deal of resources on innovation. Big giants, such as Google, Apple and Microsoft manage to make money because they are constantly offering exciting new products and services to their customers. Google, for [...]
By Marielle Voksepp Have you asked yourself the following questions before committing to a business idea? What type of organization am I creating? Will it be a for-profit, non-profit or somewhere in between? What types of financing are available to me? How high is the risk? At last week’s Entrepreneurship 101 lecture, Tony and Allyson discussed [...]
Best Country in the world to do business. By Omer Gulzar Finally Canada makes headlines for something other than hockey. I know I know the Maple Leafs are three for nil but this story really takes the cake. Canada ranks number one, moving up from four by Forbes magazine’s list of “best countries in the [...]
By Jasmeet Duggal How technology is revolutionising our health care As it becomes increasingly difficult to maintain standards of health care, governments and private companies are beginning to use technology to improve some of their services. Tele-pharmacies are an example of how the process of receiving and dispensing prescriptions has changed dramatically. PharmaTrust Management System [...]
By Marielle Voksepp So, you want to be an entrepreneur? Now what?! Last Wednesday kicked-off the 7th season of Entrepreneurship 101- a free non-credit introductory course that takes you through all the steps of building a successful business. In this lecture, Keri Damen, Director of Entrepreneurship Education at MaRS, gives an overview of the course and how [...]
By Misha Waheed Employee engagement is not just an issue for large corporations, but also for start-up businesses. Employees are a very crucial part of small businesses and serve as the driving force behind a company’s success and prosperity. This makes it important for entrepreneurs to make sure that their start up teams feel like [...]
By Rob Lewis This summer’s GROW 2011 Conference in Vancouver has does wonders to help connect Canadian tech startups with Silicon Valley. A prime example of this is the five confirmed Canadian startups that will be representing Canada at the upcoming Under the Radar conference on November 9th & 10th in Mountain View, California. This [...]
By Derek Blonski I love LEGO™. My brother and I used to spend hours upon hours playing with the stuff. Mind you where he was always more a general contractor, my passion was more focused in general demolition. So needless to say when, on the first day of my MBA, the professor announced that our [...]
By Misha Waheed Every year the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) organises an event to bring together business people from around the community. The idea is to recognise entrepreneurs for their successful endeavours and to promote learning and networking among small companies. SBW originated back in 1979, when BDC business centres in British Columbia [...]
By Rob Lewis After receiving over 650 applications during the one month application period that ended in August, Start-Up Chile announces today that 154 startup companies have been selectedto participate in this year’s second round of the prestigious and world-recognized program. The goal is to provide capital to 300 startups by the end of the [...]
By Tedd Campbell Debating whether or not to tag your white paper with a byline? Here are some points to consider before making the call. A white paper typically represents an organization and not an individual, so inclusion of a byline must be justified from a marketing point of view. In other words, a byline [...]
By: Sarah O’Neill Co-author: Nancy Quaegebeur Sometimes potential clients ask, “I’m not in the R&D business – how could my business benefit from partnering with a researcher?” Yet, the need for innovative solutions to product, or process issues can affect businesses in any sector, and at any stage of their lifecycle. Take the case of [...]
