Entrepreneurship

Institutional Strategic Initiatives

Acceleration Consortium

Geoexchange

Joe's Basketball Diaries

UTogether

Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

University Health Network

Undergraduate Students

The ��ϲ�� marked many memorable milestones across the three campuses in 2023.

From co-hosting an inaugural All-Nations Powwow to guiding the future of artificial intelligence and advocating for social justice around the world, members of the ��ϲ�� community and their partners made an impact well beyond the classroom in 2023.

And photographers at ��ϲ�� News and elsewhere at the university were often on hand to capture the action.

Here are just a few of the special moments that shaped ��ϲ�� this year:

(photo by David Lee)

The Landmark Project has transformed the historic core of ��ϲ��’s St. George campus around King’s College Circle into a greener, more accessible and pedestrian-friendly space.

Front Campus is also now home to Canada’s largest urban geoexchange system, which will generate renewable energy and store surplus heat in the summer for use in the cold winter months. The system will save the university an estimated 15,000 metric tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions annually – a key part of ��ϲ��’s climate-positive plans and among the reasons it was recently named the most sustainable university in the world.

(photo by Lisa Lightbourn)

Following Geoffrey Hinton’s departure from Google, ��ϲ�� News travelled to his home in London, England, for an in-depth conversation with the ��ϲ�� University Professor Emeritus of computer science about the dangers posed by unchecked advances in AI, the role he and others played in creating the technology and the importance of responsible development.

(photo by Nick Iwanyshyn)

Abby-Gayle Isadora Allen celebrated completing the Support, Engage, Experience ��ϲ�� Mississauga program this year by dancing beside Juno Award-winning singer Liberty Silver during the graduation ceremony.

The innovative program aims to make university education more accessible to Black youth who are underrepresented at Canada’s post-secondary schools. Students in Grade 11 and 12 earn a university half-credit and two Ontario Secondary School Diploma credits, have a co-op experience and are mentored by a senior ��ϲ�� undergraduate student while simultaneously completing their high school semester.

Similar programs operate at ��ϲ�� Scarborough and the St. George campus, which introduced SEE ��ϲ��, the inaugural version of this access program, four years ago in collaboration with the Toronto District School Board.

(photo by Luis Mora)

Jaivet Ealom, a ��ϲ�� student, author, a member of the persecuted Rohingya minority and refugee advocate, shared his harrowing escape to Canada in ��ϲ�� News and ��ϲ�� Magazine.

Ealom fled his home country of Myanmar in 2013. Before arriving at ��ϲ��, he had travelled through six countries and three continents seeking asylum – surviving a near-drowning and multiple detentions along the way.

(photo by Johnny Guatto)

��ϲ�� hosted the 14^th annual Native American and Indigenous Studies Association (NAISA) conference in May, which brought together global scholars, artists, Elders and independent professionals working in the field of Indigenous Studies. The event covered themes from food sovereignty to contemporary Indigenous cinema and language revitalization.

(photo by Polina Teif)

Brokoslaw Laschowski, a research scientist at the KITE Research Institute, University Health Network, and assistant professor in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, and his team are developing AI-powered wearable technology for medical applications.

Known as the “bionic professor,” Laschowski is passionate about developing assistive technology such as bionic prosthetic legs and exoskeletons to help individuals with physical disabilities.

In his spare time, he’s helping students from Ukraine flee the Russian invasion and war to come to ��ϲ�� to continue their studies.

(photo by Chai Chen)

Charlotte Wargniez graduated from ��ϲ�� Scarborough at the age of 17 with a major in environmental geoscience and a minor in applied climatology.

She wrapped up her degree with many impressive accolades – including the Rose Sheinin Award, given to the highest-performing woman student in science across ��ϲ��’s three campuses and an excellence and leadership award from ��ϲ�� Scarborough's department of physical and environmental sciences.

(photo by Johnny Guatto)

The Acceleration Consortium at ��ϲ��, an institutional strategic initiative, was awarded a $200-million grant from the Canada First Research Excellence Fund to revolutionize the speed and impact of materials discovery – all with a focus on building a sustainable future.

The funding – the largest federal research grant ever awarded to a Canadian university – supports the consortium’s work on “self-driving labs” that combine AI, robotics and advanced computing to discover new materials and molecules at a fraction of the usual time and cost.

With a strong plan of equity, diversity and inclusion guiding project implementation and research design, the initiative will commercialize ethically designed technologies and materials to benefit society and train today’s scientists with the skills they need to advance the emerging field of accelerated materials discovery. It will also allow the consortium to examine critical issues regarding the application of the technology, including from environmental and Indigenous perspectives.

(photo by Polina Teif)

Niloofar Ganji, a PhD student in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, is changing the world in more ways than one.

Ganji not only conducts groundbreaking research on a critical condition affecting premature infants – she is deeply committed to activism for social change in her home country of Iran.

As an executive member of ��ϲ�� Students for a Free Iran (UTSFI), she has organized many events at the university in support of the anti-regime movement in Iran. She hopes to use her knowledge and expertise in pediatrics and healthcare to work for the Iranian people one day.

(photo supplied)

When a catastrophic series of earthquakes hit Türkiye and Syria earlier this year, students from the Turkish Students Association (pictured) at ��ϲ�� Scarborough rallied together to collect funds and in-kind donations on campus.

They were among the many ��ϲ�� community members across the three campuses who pitched in to help raise awareness and funds in the wake of the disaster.

(photo by Nithya Thayaal)

��ϲ�� celebrated the graduation of more than 21,000 students from the university’s three campuses in 2023 – including the ��ϲ�� Scarborough student pictured above.

Friends and family looked on as many of those graduates crossed the stage inside Convocation Hall during convocation ceremonies held in spring and fall.

(photo by Johnny Guatto)

Peter Ma, an undergraduate math and physics student in the Faculty of Arts & Science, is dedicated to searching for life beyond our planet by drawing on his passion for science – and artificial intelligence in particular.

He became the youngest member of a team of international researchers at the University of California, Berkeley who are searching the stars for extraterrestrial intelligence and was lead author on a paper published earlier this year in the journal Nature Astronomy.

From left to right: William Lou, Joseph Wong, Sam Ibrahim and Aleer Aleer-Leek (photo by Polina Teif)

In the first episode of the second season of the award-winning series Joe’s Basketball Diaries, host Joseph Wong sits down with Will Lou, writer and co-host of the Raptors Show podcast, Sam Ibrahim, a business leader, philanthropist and major supporter of ��ϲ�� Scarborough, and Aleer Aleer-Leek, a ��ϲ�� student and Varsity Blues basketball player, to talk about community and sports.

In future episodes, Wong, ��ϲ��’s vice-president, international, and a professor in the department of political science and the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy in the Faculty of Arts & Science, and guests take the conversation beyond the court as they discuss topics ranging from sustainability to inclusion.

(photo by Johnny Guatto)

Studying at ��ϲ�� gave Alicia Corbiere an opportunity to re-engage with her culture when she began learning from Indigenous professors and studying Anishinaabemowin. She also connected with her community by joining First Nations House and the Indigenous Students’ Association.

After graduating with a degree in criminology and Indigenous studies from the Faculty of Arts & Science in the spring, Corbiere went on to study Indigenous law at ��ϲ��’s Faculty of Law.

(photo by Polina Teif)

The leafy, green lettuce that many members of the ��ϲ�� community are eating in their salads, sandwiches and hamburgers is not just locally grown – but grown on the St. George campus by a student-led startup in partnership with ��ϲ�� Food Services.

Lyrata co-founders Leo Hua (pictured), Carol Lin and Adnan Sharif say they are bringing innovations to the field of sustainability – including 3D-printed soil.

Waabi, founded by ��ϲ��'s Raquel Urtasun, raises US$200 million to launch self-driving trucks

lanthierj — Wed, 19 Jun 2024 20:26:16 +0000

Waabi, founded by ��ϲ��'s Raquel Urtasun, raises US$200 million to launch self-driving trucks

lanthierj Wed, 06/19/2024 - 16:26

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(photo by Nick Iwanyshyn)

Rahul Kalvapalle

Topic

Global Lens

Department of Computer Science

Waabi, a self-driving trucking startup founded by ��ϲ�� artificial intelligence (AI) expert Raquel Urtasun, has raised US$200 million in series B funding to support the deployment of fully autonomous, AI-powered trucks in 2025.

The funding round was led by previous investors Uber Technologies Inc.– where Urtasun previously worked as chief scientist of the self-driving division – and Khosla Ventures and includes an array of other high-profile strategic investors including NVIDIA Corp., Volvo Group and Porsche Automobil Holding.

The latest funding brings total investment in Waabi to more than C$380 million and will be used to expand the Toronto-headquartered company’s team in both Canada and the U.S., as well as to launch driverless commercial deliveries in Texas by next year.

(photo Nick Iwanyshyn)

Urtasun, a professor in the department of computer science at ��ϲ��’s Faculty of Arts & Science and co-founder of the Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence, said Waabi’s end-to-end AI system is advancing self-driving technologies to frontiers beyond the reach of other industry players thanks to its unique ability to carry out complex reasoning.

“What we have at Waabi is a technology that brings generative AI to the physical world for the first time, where the idea is that you have a single AI system that is able to reason like a human does, and is able to generalize to situations everything that might happen on the road – including things that it has never seen before,” she said.

“It does so in a way that is interpretable, so you can validate and verify the system, and provably safe, which is very important as you deploy these massive robots in the real world.”

Paired with Waabi’s advanced simulator, the AI system reduces the need for time-consuming road testing, Urtasun explained.

The announcement came hours before Urtasun took to the main stage at the Collision tech conference in Toronto to deliver a talk on generative AI. Her remarks touched on the technological underpinnings of generative AI and future applications, and outlined how Waabi is bringing generative AI to the physical world – starting with trucking.

Raquel Urtasun at the 2024 edition of Collision (photo by Polina Teif)

Urtasun is one of several experts from ��ϲ��’s technology, innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem who are speaking at Collision. Others include University Professor Emeritus Geoffrey Hinton, a world-renowned AI luminary and investor in Waabi.

“Self-driving technology is a prime example of how AI can dramatically improve our lives,” Hinton said in a news release. “Raquel and Waabi are at the forefront of innovation, developing a revolutionary approach that radically changes the way autonomous systems work and leads to safer and more efficient solutions.”

Earlier in the week, Urtasun brought one of Waabi’s trucks to the St. George campus and showcased some of its capabilities to Melanie Woodin, dean of the Faculty of Arts & Science, Tony Gaffney, president and CEO of the Vector Institute, and Michael Brudno, professor in the department of computer science and chief data scientist at the University Health Network.

From left: Melanie Woodin, Raquel Urtasun, Tony Gaffney and Michael Brudno (photo by Nick Iwanyshyn)

Urtasun underscored the importance of the company being headquartered in Toronto. “We’re an AI company and Toronto has always been at the forefront of AI,” Urtasun said. “There’s tremendous talent here, a busy ecosystem, and for me it’s important to be in Canada, where I’m very aligned with the values of the country as well.”

Reflecting on her journey at ��ϲ��, where she started as an assistant professor in 2014, Urtasun said she initially assumed she would “just be an academic doing research for the rest of my life” – but soon realized that involvement in industry would be critical to advancing AI technologies for use in the real world.

“Three years ago, I saw a tremendous opportunity to start a new company and what you see today is the fruit of that, where we’re really close to deployment on public roads without a human [driver],” said Urtasun.

“It’s amazing – not just for Waabi, not just for Canada, but for the industry at large.”

��ϲ��’s AI thought leaders take centre stage at Collision 2024

Christopher.Sorensen — Fri, 14 Jun 2024 14:14:37 +0000

��ϲ��’s AI thought leaders take centre stage at Collision 2024

Christopher.Sorensen Fri, 06/14/2024 - 10:14

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Left to right: Geoffrey Hinton, Aidan Gomez and Raquel Urtasun – all ��ϲ�� community members who are leaders in the AI field – are among the most anticipated speakers this year's Collision tech conference (photos by Johnny Guatto, Piaras Ó Mídheach/Collision via Sportsfile and Polina Teif)

Mariam Matti

Topic

��ϲ�� Entrepreneurship

Alumni

Computer Science

Creative Destruction Lab

Geoffrey Hinton

Research & Innovation

Subheadline

“��ϲ�� is Canada's leading engine for research-based tech and AI startups and talent - and you see that reflected in both the lineup for Collision speakers, and the entrepreneurs who attend”

Some of the most anticipated speakers at this year’s Collision tech conference are artificial intelligence luminaries from the ��ϲ�� – and they will be sharing their insights on how the revolutionary technology is poised to transform industry and society.

Known as the "godfather of AI," Geoffrey Hinton, a cognitive psychologist and ��ϲ�� University Professor Emeritus of computer science, will host a session on June 19 titled “Can We Control AI?” that explores the potential benefits and risks inherent in AI advancement.

Aidan Gomez, one of Hinton’s former interns at Google Brain, is speaking on June 18 about the real-world impact of AI. He’s CEO and co-founder at Cohere, which he and two ��ϲ�� alumni founded, and which has been dubbed one of the “buzziest AI startups around right now.”

And Raquel Urtasun, a ��ϲ�� professor of computer science and the founder and CEO of self-driving truck company Waabi, which launched with one of the largest rounds of seed funding in Canadian history, will share her insights on the trajectory of AI-driven transportation solutions during a session on June 19.

Jon French (photo by Brian de Rivera Simon)

He adds that the conference also gives the university an opportunity to promote “our innovative ecosystem and connect with corporate partners from around the world and investors looking to grow their pipelines, governments and academic institutions at home and aboard.”

Anticipated to draw more than 40,000 attendees, Collision runs from June 17 to 20 at the Enercare Centre in Toronto and will feature startup founders, business leaders, investors, scientists, journalists and celebrities, including tennis star Maria Sharapova.

Before the conference officially kicks off, ��ϲ�� Entrepreneurship will host two tours of the Schwartz Reisman Innovation Campus in partnership with the City of Toronto and the Government of Ontario. It will also have a booth at Collision to showcase ��ϲ��’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, featuring self-driving lab and robot demos from the Acceleration Consortium and CRAFT Microfluidics – both ��ϲ�� institutional strategic initiatives – and a “Startup Spotlight.”

��ϲ��’s Black Founders Network is part of a group of community organizers leading the Black Innovation Zone, which will have its own booth with programming for Black innovators.

French says the conference provides ��ϲ�� startups and entrepreneurs a chance to pitch their ideas and connect with global mentors, advisers, investors, partners and peers.

“For many founders, it is an eye-opening conference that gets them thinking bigger about the markets they serve and often leads to participating in programs and opportunities in geographies around the world,” he says.

Nuha Siddiqui (photo by Nick Iwanyshyn)

Nuha Siddiqui is among the ��ϲ��-connected entrepreneurs participating in Collision this year. She is the co-founder and CEO of Erthos, which has developed a plant-based resin that can be used as a substitute for traditional plastics when manufacturing everyday products. She launched the company with Kritika Tyagi while they were studying at the university and received support from ��ϲ��’s entrepreneurship community, including the Creative Destruction Lab at the Rotman School of Management.

Siddiqui said she’s “incredibly thankful” for ��ϲ��’s continued support to Erthos’s growth.

“My co-founder and I started Erthos years ago while we were still students, and since graduating, ��ϲ�� has continued to broaden our network, contribute to meaningful media coverage and remain active champions of our success,” she says.

“It's an absolute honour to represent the entrepreneurship community on the main stage at Collision this year and to have the opportunity to amplify our mission towards building a more material-conscious future."

Here are just a few other ��ϲ�� faculty, alumni and other community members who will be shaping the dialogue around innovation, tech and entrepreneurship at this year’s conference:

Christian Weedbrook, founder and CEO at Xanadu and a former ��ϲ�� post-doctoral researcher, will discuss the future of data centres and how quantum computing can be leveraged to avoid future economic and climate issues.
Mike Murchison, ��ϲ�� alum and founding CEO of Ada, which received support from the Creative Destruction Lab, will discuss the evolution of AI customer service agents and their implications for brands and consumers.
Curtis VanWalleghem, co-founder and CEO at Hydrostor and a ��ϲ�� alumnus, will speak about Hydrostor’s innovative technology that utilizes underground spaces for a sustainable long-term energy storage.
David Wong, chief product officer at Thomson Reuters and ��ϲ�� alumnus, will explore the transformative power of AI and offer insights on how organizations can unlock its full potential for business operations.
Mara Reiff, ��ϲ�� alumna, chief customer officer and interim co-CEO at Freshbooks, and Dan Richards, assistant professor, teaching stream, at the Rotman School of Management, will discuss how to empower small business owners to make smart decisions.

Motoring into the digital age: Driving school startup seeks to capitalize on industry's 'sketchy' reputation

Christopher.Sorensen — Thu, 09 May 2024 18:37:41 +0000

Motoring into the digital age: Driving school startup seeks to capitalize on industry's 'sketchy' reputation

Christopher.Sorensen Thu, 05/09/2024 - 14:37

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(supplied image)

Topic

Subheadline

Kruzee allows students to do almost everything online - from browsing instructors' profiles to scheduling their appointments - while taking steps to safeguard against fraud

When an undercover CBC journalist recently called several Ontario driving schools, more than two thirds of instructors who were contacted offered to forge paperwork that would say a driver’s education program had been completed – not a single lesson required.

Mikael Castaldo, an alumnus of the ��ϲ�� Scarborough, says he’s using a high-tech approach to build a driving school where that kind of fraud isn’t allowed to happen.

“That kind of behavior is part of why we're trying to stand out in the industry,” says Castaldo, co-founder of Kruzee. “Everyone has to go through driving school. It shouldn't be this painful or scary or sketchy.”

Driving schools are appealing to new drivers because they issue beginner driver education certificates, which make new drivers eligible for insurance discounts and lets them take their road tests sooner. To receive one, students must complete 10 hours of in-car driving lessons, 10 hours of homework and 20 hours of classroom learning in-person or virtually.

Many Ontario driving schools are small businesses using little technology, Castaldo says, and tracking everything on pen and paper means information can fall through the cracks.

Kruzee, by contrast, is instead digitizing the experience: all learning except in-car lessons is done online, meaning a student’s progress is tracked automatically and there’s no faking whether they’ve finished the classwork or homework.

Kruzee co-founders Mikael Castaldo (left) and Osama Siddique (right) both have backgrounds in management (supplied image)

Castaldo and co-founder Osama Siddique, who earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from ��ϲ�� Scarborough in 2017, have brought similar accountability to in-car lessons, which has also helped them combat a frustration they’ve seen often in their research and experienced themselves.

They found that 80 per cent of Yelp reviews for prominent Ontario driving schools were negative and largely hinged on the process of booking in-car lessons. In many reviews, students recount scheduling lessons by texting or calling an instructor and then hoping both parties remembered when and where the lesson would take place – not to mention how many hours of instruction had been completed.

“We were surprised that it was impossible to book lessons online, impossible to know anything about your instructor before you get in the car with them and that the theoretical part was still pretty analog,” Castaldo says. “People complain about booking delays, last-minute cancellations, instructors ghosting them.”

Modernizing driver's ed

Kruzee, by contrast, allows students to use a website to browse profiles and reviews of driving instructors and provides information about which car they will be driving. They can schedule their appointments and get a text to remind them 24 hours before their lesson takes place. Instructors also record students’ progress and bookings through a dedicated app.

In the coming months, the company is launching a feature that will have instructors track both the hours a student has completed and their specific strengths and areas for improvement, including parallel parking or lane changes. The data will be used to create a custom report card, which instructors can use to further customize lessons.

Kruzee has also created a rigorous process to screen instructors, including extensive background checks and three rounds of interviews. It also conducts regular checks of the operation.

The digital-first approach has helped keep costs low and the company has partnered with two Canadian startups to offer further discounts. For example, Kruzee students get $500 off their first used car bought through Clutch, which lets customers buy a car online, have it delivered to their house, drive it for 10 days and, if it’s not the right fit, return it free of charge. Students can also compare insurance rates with five free quotes from Walnut Insurance.

In addition, Kruzee has a course to prepare students for the first written test needed to get a driver’s licence, the G1, and students who take it are given a full refund if they don’t pass on their first try.

So far, the startup has expanded across Ontario and into British Columbia – and has sights set on entering the huge U.S. market.

“We've been getting a pretty phenomenal response so far in Vancouver, because people are facing the same problems there, and we know it's a similar experience throughout the U.S.,” Castaldo says. “We’ve created a model that gives driving instructors and students what they're looking for – but better.”

Domes near Highland Creek Valley offer a space to link Indigenous knowledge, community and entrepreneurship

Christopher.Sorensen — Thu, 25 Apr 2024 20:05:35 +0000

Domes near Highland Creek Valley offer a space to link Indigenous knowledge, community and entrepreneurship

Christopher.Sorensen Thu, 04/25/2024 - 16:05

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(From left) Lindy Kinoshameg, Jillian Sutherland and Leslie McCue from the dance group Odawa Wiingushk performed at an opening ceremony for the Indigenous Entrepreneurship and Garden Project (all photos by Junyoung Moon)

Topic

Subheadline

The domes, located at ��ϲ�� Scarborough, are being constructed as part of the Indigenous Entrepreneurship and Garden Project

Four 24-foot domes resembling giant golf balls have been erected beside the tennis courts in the Highland Creek Valley at the ��ϲ�� Scarborough – high-tech greenhouses equipped with solar panels, irrigation systems and geothermal tubes that run deep underground.

The domes were constructed as part of the Indigenous Entrepreneurship and Garden Project, an initiative that aims to offer a hands-on complement to the Indigenous Entrepreneurship Workshops, which begin this September and are designed to help students and community members connect Indigenous knowledge, community and entrepreneurship.

The workshops were co-created – and will be taught – by Jonathon Araujo Redbird, a business leader from Saugeen First Nation who runs Redbird Circle Inc., a company specializing in entrepreneurship training based on Indigenous knowledges and values. They’re being offered in partnership with ��ϲ�� Scarborough’s The BRIDGE and ��ϲ�� Mississauga’s ICUBE accelerators.

“We want Indigenous youth to come here and make it their second home and learn about the land, how to grow produce from the land and how we can learn entrepreneurship through that process,” says Redbird, who co-founded Redbird Circle with Christina Tachtampa.

The four domes are connected both physically – through an accessible pathway – and thematically

Redbird Circle first partnered with ICUBE in 2021 to offer the Indigenous Entrepreneurship Program. The company then collaborated with the Indigenous Network non-profit to bring the idea of a garden project to life, with the help of a grant from the Canada Community Revitalization Fund.

The series comprises a free, virtual 12-week program modelled on the medicine wheel – an Indigenous symbol of balance between physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well-being.

The medicine wheel also inspired the themes for the domes, which are interconnected and will stay at a humid 35 degrees C year-round.

The first dome will be dedicated to growing crops that support wellness, while the second will be used to test ways to rejuvenate soil without using chemicals. The third dome will be used to teach entrepreneurship through crops and to find ways to turn produce into high-yield sources of income for Indigenous people and communities.

Finally, dome four will be devoted to experimenting with agriculture technologies, starting with vertical farming equipment made by ��ϲ�� startup Just Vertical.

All four domes will be accessible for people using mobility devices and entirely self-sustaining when construction finishes in the coming months.

Jonathon Araujo Redbird (centre) spoke to community members at the opening ceremony in April

Redbird, who grew up in the Gabriel Dumont housing complex in Scarborough, says he has experienced how difficult it can be for Indigenous people to stay connected to the land on urban reserves. He adds Indigenous people face an added obstacle to building intergenerational wealth in the form of the Indian Act, which he says makes it challenging to borrow money and impossible to trade land with people outside their communities.

“If Indigenous people want to build intergenerational wealth, the only way to do that is to leave our traditional lands and come to the cities,” he says. “And when we do come to the cities, the prices are very high to purchase a home.”

But Redbird says entrepreneurial thinking can play a role in empowering Indigenous people, with agriculture providing one important avenue.

While the workshop series is designed for Indigenous learners, it is open to anyone interested in traditional Indigenous knowledge and entrepreneurship, with community members encouraged to share their thoughts on how they envision the domes’ layouts and uses.

The opening ceremony invited local community members to give their feedback on their visions for the domes

“This is a space that’s very much been created and will continue to be improved upon through that consultative approach and listening to community feedback,” says Arjuna Thaskaran, industry partnerships, innovation and work-integrated learning lead at The BRIDGE. “It’s about having the community take ownership of the space and drive how they want to shape it.”

Various academic departments have expressed interest in collaborating on the program. “There are discussions with several programs about Indigenizing some of the current projects and curriculum, and learning about sustainability through Indigenous approaches to urban agriculture,” says Dave Fenton, assistant director of external relations in ��ϲ�� Scarborough’s department of management.

��ϲ��, hospitals launch pilot program to boost commercialization of medical innovations

rahul.kalvapalle — Wed, 24 Apr 2024 14:19:19 +0000

��ϲ��, hospitals launch pilot program to boost commercialization of medical innovations

rahul.kalvapalle Wed, 04/24/2024 - 10:19

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(photo by Daria Perevezentsev)

Rahul Kalvapalle

Topic

Institutional Strategic Initiatives

Acceleration Consortium

Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre

Department of Computer Science

Department of Chemistry

Hospital for Sick Children

Faculty of Art & Science

Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy

Research & Innovation

University Health Network

The ��ϲ�� is collaborating with the University Health Network, the Hospital for Sick Children and Sunnybrook Research Institute on a new program that aims to leverage the expertise of entrepreneurs and business leaders to advance commercialization of emerging medical technologies and regenerative medicine research.

Funded by the Government of Ontario, the Entrepreneur-In-Residence program will support projects that display high potential for clinical impact and spin-off company formation, spanning areas ranging from regenerative therapies and medical devices to AI-powered clinical tools and apps for patient care.

The one-year pilot program is being launched with the help of a $300,000 grant from Intellectual Property Ontario (IPON), a provincial agency that was established in 2022 to provide IP resources and supports to researchers and businesses.

“The Entrepreneur-in-Residence program will help take medical innovations developed in academic and hospital environments and translate them into the commercial arena, generating economic opportunity for the region and expanding clinical impact globally,” said Leah Cowen, ��ϲ��’s vice-president, research and innovation, and strategic initiatives.

“The ��ϲ�� is grateful to IPON for its support of this initiative, which stands to strengthen existing networks of knowledge exchange and collaboration between the university and its partner hospitals.”

Jill Dunlop, left,Ontario’s minister of colleges and universities, said post-secondary institutions are critical incubators of innovation and commercialization (photo courtesy of IPON)

The program will see Entrepreneurs-in-Residence – individuals with a track record of launching science-based ventures and shepherding projects from proof-of-concept to incubation, acceleration and seed funding – liaise with ��ϲ��’s Innovations & Partnerships Office and IPON to generate and protect IP. It is designed to add capacity and scope to ��ϲ��’s thriving entrepreneurship and commercialization ecosystem, including existing Entrepreneur-in-Residence initiatives such as those offered by the Temerty Faculty of Medicine and Medicine By Design, an institutional strategic initiative (ISI).

“In today’s global knowledge-based economy, Ontario’s post-secondary institutions are critical – not just as centres of learning, but as incubators for innovation and commercialization,” said Jill Dunlop, minister of colleges and universities, in a recent announcement of new IPON-funded initiatives.

“Through the province’s support of IPON, our government is ensuring the social and economic benefits of publicly funded research stay in our province, so that Ontarians and the Ontario economy benefit from these new discoveries and innovations.”

Dunlop also spoke at an April 8 event with Christine Allen, a professor in ��ϲ��’s Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy who has an extensive track record of translating and commercializing lab discoveries.

Christine Allen, far right, is a professor in the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy and the founder and CEO of Intrepid Labs (photo courtesy of IPON)

At the event, Allen highlighted the growth of her startup, Intrepid Labs Inc., which she co-founded with Alán Aspuru-Guzik, a professor in the departments of chemistry and computer science in ��ϲ��’s Faculty of Arts & Science and director of the Acceleration Consortium. The company marries Allen’s prowess in drug formulation and development with Aspuru-Guzik’s expertise in AI and advanced computing in order to accelerate the development of next-generation medicines. In the fall, the company closed a pre-seed round of US$4 million.

“The availability of top-notch talent in AI and life sciences made Toronto a great place to launch our company,” says Allen, who is Intrepid’s CEO, noting all four of the startup’s co-founders are from ��ϲ��.

She added that ��ϲ�� is a powerhouse for entrepreneurship and intellectual property, ranked second in North America for university-based startups, and that companies with founders or co-founders from ��ϲ�� make up a significant percentage of some of the fastest-growing companies in Ontario.

“This is the beauty of being at the ��ϲ�� and having the MaRS Discovery District across the street and all the hospitals around us. It’s such a rich environment,” she says.

“We can do this in Toronto.”

Allen stressed that a thriving lab-to-market ecosystem is critical to inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs.

“Students are increasingly seeking out roles in the private sector,” she says. “For them to see other students and faculty members [found startups] helps them realize that it’s possible for them to start companies, too.”

Kidney therapy startup Atorvia named inaugural recipient of ��ϲ�� Mississauga's Blue Ticket program

rahul.kalvapalle — Fri, 19 Apr 2024 16:23:12 +0000

Kidney therapy startup Atorvia named inaugural recipient of ��ϲ�� Mississauga's Blue Ticket program

rahul.kalvapalle Fri, 04/19/2024 - 12:23

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Biotech company Atorvia was recently named the first-ever winner of the SpinUp Blue Ticket program, sponsored by Merck (photo by Chokniti Khongchum via Pexels)

Kristy Strauss

Topic

��ϲ�� Entrepreneurship

��ϲ�� Mississauga

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Atorvia is developing novel treatments that target the molecular causes underlying kidney damage

Acute kidney injury can be devastating for patients, resulting in chronic kidney disease, end-stage renal disease, stroke and heart attack.

There’s currently no effective treatment for the condition, which the World Health Organization estimates affects some 78 million people each year. The only option is supportive care like dialysis which requires patients to rearrange their lives around lengthy hospital treatment sessions.

Atorvia is looking to change that. A woman-led biotech startup headquartered in the Ottawa area, Atorvia is developing novel treatments that target the molecular causes underlying kidney damage.

The company was recently named the inaugural winner of the Blue Ticket competition at the ��ϲ�� Mississauga’s SpinUp wet lab incubator. Sponsored by pharmaceutical company Merck, the Blue Ticket program aims to empower the next generation of global health innovators.

As prize winner, Atorvia receives a free one-year membership to SpinUp, an up-front cash prize and mentorship from scientific and business leaders at Merck.

“This opportunity is game-changing for us,” said Jane Lapon, founder of Atorvia. “It will help us to accelerate faster.”

Among Atorvia’s key innovations is a treatment that addresses acute kidney injury that occurs as a complication of cardiac surgery. The company is developing medicine that can be administered before a patient undergoes cardiac surgery, in order to help prevent kidney failure.

While preliminary experiments have been carried out, the company needed dedicated space and equipment to conduct further lab work – something that’s hard to come by for biotech startups with limited financial resources. “The fact that SpinUp was there with availability, and was subsidized, was fantastic,” Lapon said.

“Because we’re getting the mentoring with Merck as well, it means that we can develop this medicine and hopefully get it to patients sooner. We’ve got this expertise to help us along the way.”

Lapon said startups often face a “very lonely journey,” but that the mentorship and financial resources provided by Merck, as well as SpinUp’s vast network, will provide much-needed support. “One of the advantages of SpinUp is that we’ve got access to ��ϲ�� researchers and the potential to then partner with some of the researchers, as well as students and co-op students,” Lapon said. “With the resources we have, there is a very high probability that we would have this ready to go into trials during our first year at SpinUp.”

She said team is currently gearing up to re-run previous experiments and conduct new ones in order to validate the medicine and prepare for filing with health authorities.

Kent Moore, vice-principal, research at ��ϲ�� Mississauga, said he looks forward to tracking Atorvia's progress. “Strong partners like Merck enable us to enhance the support SpinUp offers to propel promising early-stage startups,” said Moore. “We're delighted to be working with Merck to help drive Atorvia’s innovative approaches forward through Merck’s mentorship support and SpinUp’s wet lab capabilities and programming.”

Jordan Jacobs on AI’s ‘profound’ implications, responsible development – and why he backed Cohere

Christopher.Sorensen — Thu, 04 Apr 2024 22:39:50 +0000

Jordan Jacobs on AI’s ‘profound’ implications, responsible development – and why he backed Cohere

Christopher.Sorensen Thu, 04/04/2024 - 18:39

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(photo courtesy of Cohere)

Adina Bresge

Topic

Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy

Alumni

Computer Science

Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

Vector Institute

Subheadline

The managing partner of Radical Ventures, a venture capital firm, will be at ��ϲ��'s Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy to discuss artificial intelligence during the Future of Money conference

A key figure in Canada’s burgeoning artificial intelligence scene, Jordan Jacobs boasts a track record of backing ventures at the vanguard of AI development – and the ��ϲ�� often plays a prominent role.

Jacobs and ��ϲ�� alumnus Tomi Poutanen have co-founded some of the most influential entities in Canada’s AI ecosystem, including Layer 6, which was acquired by TD Bank Group in 2018; the Vector Institute, a world-renowned AI research hub that counts ��ϲ�� among its early partners; and venture capital firm Radical Ventures, where Jacobs currently serves as managing partner.

He’s also a founding investor and board director of Cohere, a leading developer of enterprise-focused AI technologies founded by former ��ϲ�� computer science students Aidan Gomez, Nick Frosst and Ivan Zhang – and backed by AI luminaries University Professor Emeritus Geoffrey Hinton and Professor Raquel Urtasun.

Now, Jacobs is sharing his insights at the Future of Money conference, co-produced by Cohere and ��ϲ��’s Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy, where he’ll take part in an AI-focused fireside chat alongside Cohere chief product officer and ��ϲ�� alumnus Jaron Waldman.

��ϲ�� News caught up with Jacobs ahead of the event to discuss how companies like Cohere are tapping into the deep pool of talent at ��ϲ�� and beyond to forge AI-powered solutions to the world’s most pressing problems.

We’ve seen some incredible advancements in AI over the last year or so and heard some alarming warnings about the risks it could pose. What’s your take on how AI is evolving?

Over the next decade, virtually every bit of software will be replaced by artificial intelligence or embedded with it. The implications for our world and the global economy are profound.

Traditional software is hard-coded and static. Once shipped and deployed, it never improves until the next version is shipped and replaces it. Soon, all software will be powered by AI that learns and improves, often in real-time. Built around learning algorithms that adapt to new situations, AI software is more efficient and effective. This is particularly true for generative AI, which can create new data or software code on its own, without the need for human input.

This coming software replacement cycle will have an extraordinary impact on our economy. In addition, AI will help unlock new discoveries across science. These are Industrial Revolution-sized opportunities – happening simultaneously and enabled by one technology.

One of my personal motivations for starting Radical was to invest in companies that would help solve the biggest challenges facing humanity. When we were thinking of selling our AI company, Layer 6, to focus on building the leading AI investment firm, I said to my Radical co-founder and ��ϲ�� alum, Tomi Poutanen: “AI will help cure cancers. Let’s help cure cancer.”

How would you describe venture capital’s role when it comes to responsible AI development?

Venture capital is an essential driver of economic value and innovation. Only half of one per cent of public companies received venture funding, but VC-backed companies account for 40 per cent of total U.S. market capitalization. VC plays a disproportionate role in the economy, especially when it comes to the development of new technologies such as AI. OpenAI, Cohere and the startups behind the large language models that helped bring AI to the mainstream over the past year received multiple rounds of funding from venture capital firms. Google and Meta – whose industrial labs created some of the biggest AI breakthroughs of the last decade – were, at one time, fuelled by venture capital.

At Radical, we are committed to developing AI technologies and applications that improve the future for all, and we believe that the venture capital industry – the underwriters of tomorrow’s innovations – must approach investments in AI with a sense of shared responsibility. Last year, in partnership with the Vector Institute, we launched the Responsible AI for Startups (RAIS) framework – an open-source resource for investors evaluating investments in AI technologies. RAIS is a practical tool to help VCs assess early-stage AI companies and technologies across responsibility and safety considerations.

Let's talk about Cohere, a startup that has numerous ��ϲ�� ties and several high-profile backers, including yourself. How is it different from other companies developing large language models?

Cohere is one of a cohort of companies, including OpenAI and Google DeepMind, that is developing the world’s most sophisticated large language models. Unlike most competitors in the space, Cohere’s focus is offering a cloud-agnostic, privacy-preserving solution for enterprise customers, which include Oracle and McKinsey.

Cohere’s founders are three Canadian entrepreneurs [and former ��ϲ�� computer science students]: Aidan Gomez, the company’s CEO and one of the authors of the groundbreaking transformers paper that ushered in the era of modern generative AI; Nick Frosst, protege of deep learning pioneer and [University Professor Emeritus] Geoffrey Hinton, and their classmate Ivan Zhang. Today, the team includes many of the inventors of some of the most widely used modern AI techniques.

How would you describe Cohere's growth to date — and where do you see it heading in the future?

Radical was deeply engaged with Cohere prior to company incorporation and invested the very first cheque into the company in 2019. Since then, Cohere has developed world-class language models that compete directly with the best models in the world, grown the team to more than 200 people across offices in Toronto, San Francisco, New York City and London, and signed many global enterprises as customers. It is now one of the most valuable AI companies in the world. Given the technical complexities of working with cutting-edge AI models, there are few companies that have the experience and expertise to push the field forward while also delivering huge value to industry. Cohere leads the pack.

What advice would you give researchers or students who are keen on building a company in the AI space?

Tackle the most important problems. Building a business aimed at making incremental advances on existing technologies may find a market in the near-term. However, in the long run, these businesses are vulnerable to competition or commodification by existing AI solutions. Whether it’s tackling climate change, increasing business productivity or curing cancer, AI is a technology capable of taking on many of the world’s biggest challenges.

It’s also important to remember that we are still in the very early innings of the AI revolution. The field will continue to evolve and change. There’s a very real opportunity right now for young entrepreneurs to shape the future of this important technology.

��ϲ�� grads aim to electrify - and simplify - the package delivery business

Christopher.Sorensen — Wed, 20 Mar 2024 17:33:25 +0000

��ϲ�� grads aim to electrify - and simplify - the package delivery business

Christopher.Sorensen Wed, 03/20/2024 - 13:33

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GoBolt co-founder Mark Ang, who graduated from Rotman Commerce in 2017, says he and co-founder Heindrik Bernabe, an alum of ��ϲ�� Engineering, “wanted to be change-makers in an antiquated industry” (photo by Kemeisha McDonald)

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