Connecting research, talent, training, companies, and government … · Connecting research,...

Connecting research, talent, training, companies, and government to create products

and services that benefit society

TECHNOLOGY

SCIENCE

Modern society is steeped in science. Medicine depends on antibiotics, insulin, and MRI scans. Our homes are filled with materials that were not conceivable even a few decades ago (think about how thin TVs are now!). And our calls, emails, photos, and videos fly through outer space and into our homes at the speed of light.

The Impact Centre understands this intimate connection between science and society. But we also recognize the slow pace of progress. Imagine the number of lives that could have been improved had the first commercial MRI scanner been installed five years earlier than it was.

Our mission at the Impact Centre is to accelerate and strengthen the connection between groundbreaking science, breakthrough technologies, useful products, and receptive markets.

To develop and nurture these connections, we train new generations of scientists to look beyond their data and students to look beyond their classroom. We create clusters of research faculty and innovative businesses looking for solutions to complex technical challenges and make new products. We support those taking the leap into entrepreneurship. We measure and analyze the successes and failures of our programs.

The Impact Centre is dedicated to training, supporting, and celebrating those who want to see the latest science discovery become a valuable and impactful part of our daily lives.

The most important connections we build are the ones between people willing and excited to make an impact. I hope you will join us.

Prof. Cynthia GohDirector, Impact Centre

DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE

1 Impact Centre / University of Toronto

PRODUCTSOCIETY

The Impact Centre at the University of Toronto is a diverse group of researchers and entrepreneurs dedicated to taking science to benefit society. Through collaborative R&D projects, we give an innovation edge to our industry partners of all sizes and help accelerate their product development. We build entrepreneurial skills and attitudes in hundreds of students a year with our experiential learning programs. These activities result in a more competitive industry base, new high-tech products launched by established companies, students equipped with job-ready skills, and the creation of technology-based startups.

2www.impactcentre.ca

Access research talent and high-tech facilities at U of T

UNIVERSITY RESEARCHAT INDUSTRY TIMELINES

1 CLIENTBRIEFING

Meet with the industry client to understand the problem

2 SOURCING& SCOPING

Identification of researchers and resources needed

3 TEAM ASSEMBLY

Impact Centre staff allocates resources and manages the project

4Project completed on time and delivered to industry client

PROJECTDELIVERY

How We Work

The Impact Centre is part of the University of Toronto, Canada’s top research university. We directly partner with companies to create technology solutions by matching them with leading-edge research and managing projects to deliver at industry timelines. There is seamless access into the research environment, as we bring on appropriate academic and network partners and facilitate IP transfer upon project completion.


BRING INNOVATIONS TO YOUR BUSINESS

Smart Buildings

Advanced SensorsLighting

Lasers & Photonics

Food & Agriculture

Medical & Assistive Devices

Advanced Materials

Quantum Technologies

PHYSICAL TECHNOLOGIESTangible objects that impact every sector. They typically arise from research in the

physical sciences and engineering.


YOUR PARTNER IN INNOVATION

Allanson International Inc. needed help to stop the cracking of glass windows in their lighting products used in restaurant range hoods. Those lights had to endure large external heat and humidity fluctuations. Within four months, our research team helped identify the origin of the thermal fracture through theoretical modeling of the system and then prescribed manufacturing solutions to mitigate the problem. Deploying these recommendations, Allanson improved their overall product design. The Impact Centre team used its advanced measurement tools to improve the energy efficiency and lighting quality for Allanson’s product, helping them achieve an Energy Star® rating—the first of its kind in this product category.

1 PROBLEM SOLVING

Allanson then began exploring the development of a new energy-efficient LED with superior colour quality as a replacement for fluorescent backlit displays. Our optics specialists helped to solve issues related to uniformity and colour quality using advanced photometric tools, and this helped Allanson launch a series of new products that can now be seen lighting up commercial signs across Canada and the United States.

CO-DEVELOPMENT2

Encouraged by the two successful projects and with a mutual understanding of team dynamics, Allanson currently plans to work with the Impact Centre to develop a unique product that involves using nanomaterial coatings for various applications in lighting, displays, and other areas.

CO-INNOVATION3RESEARCH

TEAMMechanicalEngineer

Optics Experts

PowerElectronicsSpecialist

Providing competitive edge through technology expertise

“The Impact Centre’s keen acumen to understand and respond to our technological challenges is unparalleled. With products already in the market, which have been developed in close cooperation with the Centre, we now consider their talented team our extended R&D arm. This is an ideal industry–academia collaboration that is mutually beneficial.”

Faiek DabietChief Technology OfficerAllanson International Inc.

CASESTUDY


Product design with an eye on the market and application

Vive Crop Protection has worked with the Impact Centre on over a dozen collaborative research contracts, from studying how ultraviolet light interacts with their products to improving the adhesion of their patented Allosperse™ polymers on surfaces that normally repel water.

This Toronto-based agrotech company invested in these collaborations because beyond our excellence in research, we have the project management capability to complete projects on industry timescales. Our familiarity with government research incentive programs allowed us to multiply Vive’s contributions to deliver impactful results on time and on budget.

“Vive has partnered with the Impact Centre on many challenging projects. Their successful completion significantly improved our products and enhanced our company’s competitive advantage. The Impact Centre team maximizes the return on our research investments.”

Jordan DinglasanProduct Development ManagerVive Crop Protection, Inc.

Leverage science breakthroughs to design superior productsWork with an interdisciplinary team of scientistsAccess state-of-the-art research infrastructureTap into a broad network of academic partnersLower R&D investment burden through government funding supportBenefit from our understanding of standards and regulations

WORKING WITH THE IMPACT CENTRE ALLOWS COMPANIES TO

In addition, to assist companies transition a technology into a product, our team surveys the current competitive landscape and studies the target market in order to enable sound design decisions to be made during the R&D process.

INDUSTRY-FOCUSED RESEARCH

CASESTUDY


INDUSTRYPARTNERS

ACADEMICRESEARCHERS

GOVERNMENTAGENCIES

TRAINEES

Cluster partners benefit from joint product development, collaborations, knowledge sharing, and networking. The results: injection of additional creativity in research, sector-focused talent development and retention, and small and medium-sized companies’ embrace of innovation as a core business strategy.

When we discover an extraordinary technology opportunity and a critical mass of expertise, we create a cluster to spark collaborations between industry, researchers, and government. These clusters play a coordinating role to focus efforts and mobilize members to accelerate the development and deployment of promising innovations.

INDUSTRY CLUSTERS


The SSLNet advances smart, sustainable lighting in Canada by bringing end-users together with members from industry, academia, and government to share knowledge and facilitate collaborative technology development that leverages the Impact Centre’s research expertise. These interactions have benefited more than 60 companies in our network.

The nexus of the SSLNet is the annual conference, which attracts over 200 participants. It features talks by industry and academic leaders, an industry showcase, a career fair, and workshops. Complementing this are smaller events year-round as well as a monthly newsletter that provides a digest on product launches, technology breakthroughs, and shared best practices.

Lighting technologies are currently experiencing exploding growth fueled by rapid advances in sensors, computing, connectivity, and data analytics. The SSLNet is on the leading edge of this wave, expanding the reach of energy efficient lighting beyond its core applications into diverse fields like medicine, automotive, agriculture and food, Internet of Things, building automation, and smart cities.

The Smart Sustainable Lighting Network

SSLNetIndustry Cluster


CleantechAccelerates the development of

efficiency-enhancing technologies that reduce costs, resources, emissions, waste, and materials, leading to cleaner air, water,

soil, and energy in communities around the world.

SynBioCreates an ecosystem to enhance Canada’s

ability to compete in synthetic biology—an emerging area that uses engineering

principles to design new biological systems for use in healthcare, agri-food, chemical

synthesis, and other sectors.

QuantumTechnologiesBuilds a critical mass of academics

and industry in a cutting-edge research area to catalyze the quantum

revolution in computing, cyber security, communications, and

imaging.

The SSLNet was founded to catalyze the development and adoption of solid-state lighting technology, and it evolved into Canada's leading network in the lighting sector. Its tremendous success made it the model for our other clusters.

Each of our clusters were nucleated around an emerging theme and grown through active and recurring engagement of academic and industry partners. This process builds solid and trusted relationships that results in a vibrant network where training, research and development, and the launch of innovative products happen.

OTHER INDUSTRY CLUSTERS


Accelerate your technology development, overcome technical challenges, and join clusters of fellow innovators to create long-term impact for your business!

Let us introduce you to Venkat, our director of scientific operations.

Venkat grew up in India and didn’t have electrical lighting at home until he was nine—old enough to begin his lifelong fascination with the ways technology enables a higher quality of life. He earned a doctoral degree in physics from the Indian Institute of Science and arrived in Canada after holding various research and teaching appointments in the UK, Portugal, and Japan.

At the Impact Centre, Venkat assists our industry partners in technology risk mitigation. He specializes in dissecting the technology bottlenecks in product development and in delivering real results at industry’s timescale by leveraging and managing university expertise. He is the founder of Lumentra Inc.—a company that develops nanomaterial solutions for LED applications—and also serves as the president of the Canadian National Advisory Committee of the International Commission on Illumination. He pioneered the concept of grassroots industry clusters, starting with the SSLNet, to accelerate technology development so it can be deployed to improve lives.

“Industries and universities have different motivations, goals, operating methods, and timescales, but the competitive edge that the Impact Centre can help them gain by pooling their synergies is immense.”

Dr. Venkat VenkataramananDirector of Scientific Operations, Impact Centre

[email protected]

+1-416-978-7082


TECHNO: TURNING STUDENTS INTO ENTREPRENEURS SINCE 2010

Prototypes Developed

141Current

Products

65 Current Services

23CountriesReached

50+

242 143 76 40Total Trainees Teams Active Startups Active Tenants

Discipline

Industry

Degree PhD MSc BSc

Engineering Sciences ComputerScience

Healthcare/Biotech ICT/Digital Cleantech Materials Edtech

SCIENCE TO TECHNOLOGY TO PRODUCT

PARTICIPANTS (2010-17)

Techno is the Impact Centre’s flagship entrepreneurship training program. It is targeted at top science and engineering students and recent graduates who want to create high-impact technology-based startups. Over a week-long experiential learning course, the trainees are introduced to the skills, attitudes, and networks necessary to create healthy and scalable businesses that can use their science to benefit society. Afterwards, those who choose to continue and found a company become Techno Fellows and are given mentorship, year-round training, access to our incubation facility, and assistance in fundraising.


STARTUPS FUNDING SOURCES ($20M+)

Investment Government Sales

OCE GCC Other Provincial Other Federal

INCUBATION SPACE THAT GETS COMPANIESTO PROTOTYPES & BEYOND

WE HELP COMPANIES RAISE FUNDS

Dedicated desk spaceMeeting roomsElectronics prototypingTool shop

Wet lab & fume hoodBiosafety level 1 labOptics & laser laband more…

Laser cutter & etcher3D printerVacuum formerPick & place machine

Startups developing physical technologies often take years to bring a product to market and generate revenue. Because of this timeline, government programs are a significant source of funding for these companies. Our staff remains up-to-date on granting programs to offer valuable guidance for companies as they navigate the government funding landscape. This guidance has led to success: we’ve helped our startups raise $150,000 each, on average, in non-dilutive funding and exceptional cases have received over $700,000. This seed is crucial for the commercialization process and puts the companies in a better position when they seek private investment.

In addition to office and meeting space, companies developing physical technologies require ready access to a wide range of equipment to rapidly develop prototypes with minimal cost. Even the smallest barrier—such as having the required equipment spread across many different locations or having to outsource to a third-party—significantly hinders this process.

Knowing this, the Impact Centre’s incubating facility is equipped with what startup companies need to build their prototypes and even their first commercial units. Our team of scientists and engineers are available to provide technical training, expertise, and guidance.


We help turn the passion of Techno entrepreneurs into successful companies that sell products and services which benefit the world. But we don't do it alone—many of our startups have been supported by our collaborators such as AGE-WELL, Grand Challenges Canada, Mitacs, NRC-IRAP, NSERC, the Ontario Bioscience Innovation Organization, the Ontario Brain Institute, and the Ontario Centres of Excellence. It truly takes a village to raise a startup!

TECHNO COMPANIESIMPACTING SOCIETY

Bin Liu heard that his father was diagnosed with inoperable glaucoma and decided to do something about it. So, he partnered with friend Arjun Mali to create the BuzzClip, a wearable assistive device that detects head-level obstacles for people with visual impairments. The BuzzClip improves the self-confidence, independence, and overall quality of life for people with vision loss.

iMerciv delivered some of their first devices to a school and orphanage for blind children in India and have completely sold out their first commercial batch.

Braze Mobility founder Pooja Viswanathan and her team have developed a collision avoidance and feedback system that can be added onto any commercially available powered mobility device. The team believes in “inclusive innovation” and has worked closely with end-users from the beginning to design a product that helps those living with mobility impairment to navigate boldly, independently, and safely.

Sales began in 2017, with their first commercial units having been built using the Impact Centre’s facilities.

Frustrated with how universities still use old-fashioned breadboards to teach introductory electronics, Mehrad Mashayekhi and his co-founders of Illuster developed AELabs. Their system, which looks and works like modern circuit boards and has software control, has become widespread after being acclaimed in a key textbook.

Through a distributor, Illuster now provides many educational institutions with their state-of-the-art hardware–software platform for teaching analog electronics.

Photo credit:John Hryniuk for AGE-WELL NCE

13

Inspired by his grandmother’s increasing difficulties with everyday tasks, Mark Elias partnered with Emile Maamary to create an innovative way to help those who live with essential tremor and Parkinson’s disease.

Their startup Steadiwear produces the Steadiglove, a lightweight, compact, and battery-free stabilizing glove that intelligently reduces hand tremors using nanotechnology and vibration dampers. In tests, they have demonstrated that the Steadiglove can greatly reduce undesired hand vibrations.

Abraham Heifets and his co-founders at Atomwise created AtomNet. It is the first artificial intelligence–deep learning technology for small-molecule drug discovery, and is known for its unprecedented speed, accuracy, and diversity. While working at the Impact Centre, Atomwise raised over $600,000 in government funding and then went on to raise over $6 million in investment.

From his PhD research project, Michael Montgomery led the commercialization of the Viscoelastic Coupling Damper, a groundbreaking technology that enhances the dynamic performance and resilience of high-rise buildings from both wind and earthquake damage without occupying valuable real estate space.

Having grown up in a remote part of the Philippines, Mayrose Salvador remembers how science was just taught from a textbook without any experiments. After getting a PhD in chemistry, she co-founded Pueblo Science to improve science education in the developing world, knowing that increasing scientific knowledge is an effective method to advance health and achieve economic success.

Today, Pueblo Science is a registered charity that has trained 2,000 teachers in six countries to use locally-available materials to construct experiments, providing 200,000 children in low-resource settings with access to hands-on science education.

Co-founders Conner Tidd and Kevin Jakiela have set for themselves three “Big Hairy Audacious Goals” to accomplish before the 8 billionth person is born:

1. Eliminate 8 billion food miles 2. Save 8 million litres of water 3. Grow 800,000 pounds of fresh, local

To do this, they developed the FarmWall, which turns any indoor space into a mini-farm, empowering anybody to be urban farmers. Their system can be now found in offices, homes, schools, and restaurants in the Toronto area.

sustainable food.

14

Leila Keshavjee wanted to make popsicles both delicious and healthy. In our work-integrated learning course, she researched business support programs and decided to start Happy Pops after realizing that help exists and that she wouldn’t be on her own. Sales began in 2016 and the company now has their own equipment and employs several people at their production facility.

IMC391/2: Exploring New VenturesIn this work-integrated learning course, students are placed in startups in the Toronto area. Students gain valuable work experience and transferable skills as well as important insight into the world of entrepreneurship, while startup founders gain the experience of managing people and get an extra pair of hands. In-class workshops and guided reflection activities ensure students maximize the impact of their placement to their future employability.

IMPACT CENTRE TEACHES ENTREPRENEURSHIP TO

500+ STUDENTS EVERY YEAR


Founded by Noureddin Chahrour, Adrenalease designs apparel that uses his patented elastic tension strap technology to improve posture. Recognizing the prevalence of neck and shoulder pain through his kinesiology courses, Noureddin took IMC200 and was inspired to form a company to address it. His company is now selling their shirts as fast as they are being produced and are continuing to develop new products.

IMC200: Innovation and EntrepreneurshipStudents learn about intellectual property, the structure and composition of companies, the procedure for decision-making in the face of competing requirements, the value of human capital and sound financial choices, and, more generally, the process of innovation inside an organization. Classes are enriched by guest lectures from entrepreneurs from successful technology companies, who share their hands-on experiences with students.

SETSI: Science Engineering Technology Summer InternshipThis experiential learning program allows science and engineering undergraduate students to make an impact on an early-stage startup company through technological innovation and product development. The interns develop technical and project management skills throughout the summer, assisting the company in its R&D activities while increasing their own competencies and employability. Their work experience is enhanced with professional development workshops.


ENTREPRENEURSHIP TRAININGOUTSIDE THE UNIVERSITY

The Impact Centre’s entrepreneurship education programs are not confined to the University of Toronto—our instructors have hit the road to deliver customized workshops for partner organizations such as AGE-WELL, Northumberland CFDC, and IC-IMPACTS.

Taking selected elements from Techno and our undergraduate courses, we create training modules suitable to the needs and stage of the target audience. Contact us if you are interested in bringing our education programs to your location, and we can discuss your specific needs.

MINI TECHNO (1–3 days)

A condensed version of Techno, teams are taken from ideation through to pitching their company and receive a comprehensive introduction to startup creation.

THE PITCH: TRAINING & COACHING (1–2 days)

Teams looking to prepare for a meeting with investors or a pitch competition receive instruction on pitch creation, story development, and one-on-one coaching.

TRIGGERS & BARRIERS(½ day)

Startups looking to launch learn to think about their innovation from a consumer’s point of view—particularly what triggers them to make purchases and what barriers can get in the way.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP 100: CONVERSATIONSSix times a year, we gather a panel of three founders from diverse backgrounds to converse with each other and the audience about the realities of running a company. E100 is a free, public event targeted at young people without a business background looking to learn more about starting a company. The series allows beginners to learn from and be inspired by relatable entrepreneurs in an unintimidating environment.

THR

EE E

XA

MP

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Learn more about the way we do training, meet our startups, and bring Impact Centre’s entrepreneurship experiential learning programs to your organization!

Let us introduce you to Rich, our director of entrepreneurship.

Rich has spent his career focusing on the process of turning science into products—from co-founding Axela Biosensors during his PhD to Small Business Innovation Research projects in the United States to his current role as the director of entrepreneurship.

At the Impact Centre, Rich pioneered experiential learning education for entrepreneurs by co-creating the Techno program and now develops and manages many of our entrepreneurship training programs. His experience in technology commercialization and his doctorate in chemistry enables him to understand both the business and the scientific side of creating technology companies. “Passion” may be overused in profiles, but Rich is truly passionate about sharing his experience with students and working one-on-one with startups as a mentor and advisor, helping solve their problems and supporting entrepreneurs as they progress towards their goals.

“Our training and startup support philosophy is simple: we aim to provide entrepreneurs with what they need when they need it, because that’s when it’s important to them.”

Dr. Richard McAloneyDirector of Entrepreneurship, Impact Centre

[email protected]

+1-416-978-1452


Canada has long been the target of criticism over its inability to scale high-tech companies even though our country has created an ecosystem that produces many startups. World-leading companies such as Blackberry and OpenText—and unicorns such as Hootsuite and Kik Interactive—are exceptions, but most successful Canadian startups are sold before they become big.

The Impact Centre conducts research to discover the underlying factors of this shortcoming and publishes the results as Impact Briefs. Led by Charles Plant, the objective of this research is to identify best practices in technology commercialization and company growth and assist industry and government to adopt them. We’d like to see Canada improving the way it scales its technology companies.

You can read and download these reports at http://www.impactbriefs.ca.

EXPLORING TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION IN CANADA

Policy experts and innovation practitioners have criticized Canada’s innovation system for its inability to grow and scale companies. This has been a baffling issue because Canada’s technology sector has been successful at starting companies and generating innovations with high potential. In this Impact Brief, the authors wanted to determine whether the way in which Canadian companies raise funds also adding to the scaling problem.

A Failure to Scale reveals three critical issues about companies from Canada compared to those from the United States:

1. Canadian companies wait longer before they start

2. They raise funds less often3. They raise less money over time

And as a result of this pattern, even the best Canadian companies are not particularly attractive to investors as their growth rates fall well below that of the most successful American companies.

A Failure to ScaleAre we creating Financially Unattractive Companies?

FEATURED IMPACT BRIEF

raising funds


Canadian Tech TortoisesIs a lack of spending on marketing and sales delaying fundraising?

Ousting the FounderIs Canada too quick to replace Founder CEOs with Professional CEOs?

Losing CountCanada Has Been Underreporting BusinessExpenditures on Research and Development

Canada’s Patent PuzzleDo we have a problem with securing patents or with the commercialization of them?

The Rich Get RicherAre Canadian VCs inadvertently limiting theirreturns?

The Narwhal ListMeasuring the Financial Velocity of Canada’s Leading Technology Companies

The CMO SearchWhere are Canada’s Chief Marketing Officers?

A Nation of Soft Sellers

Government VentureCapitalCan the Public Sector Pick and Nurture World Class Companies?

Do Canadian tech companies underperform in global markets due to low expenditures on marketing and sales?


JAMAICA

NICARAGUA

NIGERIA

PORTUGAL

NORWAY

BRAZIL

JAMAICA

NICARAGUA

NIGERIA

PORTUGAL

NORWAY

BRAZIL

RESEARCH

TRAINING

INDUSTRY

GLOBAL HEALTH

WE ARE INTERNATIONAL


CHINA

PHILIPPINES

INDIA

PAKISTANEGYPT

SAUDI ARABIA

CHINA

PHILIPPINES

INDIA

PAKISTANEGYPT

SAUDI ARABIA

The Impact Centre’s global efforts aim to connect Canadian students, researchers, and companies with international partners to address challenges of global consequence and to open opportunities in emerging markets. Our staff and startups together hold a total of 21 Grand Challenges Canada grants for global health technologies, all developed and deployed with collaborators in developing countries.


Contact the Impact Centre

Best Office112 College Street, Suite 411Toronto, ON M5G 1L6

+1-416-978-3875

McLennan Office60 St. George Street, Suite 331Toronto, ON M5S 1A7

+1-416-978-1457

[email protected]

www.impactcentre.ca

@ImpactUofT

ImpactUofT

impact-centre-at-university-of-toronto

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