Innovation

The University of Toronto is among the top 10 research organizations most often cited by the world’s most innovative companies and institutions, according to Clarivate, an international data analytics company.

For the first time, Clarivate has identified the 50 global research organizations whose work is most often cited by the companies on its annual Top 100 Global Innovators list.

The only Canadian institution in the 2023 version of the list, U of T ranked 10^th among the research organizations most often cited by the companies and institutions at the pinnacle of the global innovation landscape – including U of T partners Fujitsu and Merck, among others.

U of T’s 10^th-place rank is up considerably from a similar analysis by Times Higher Education in 2017 that placed U of T 18^th in the world.

“The University of Toronto’s world-leading research is driving innovations that power the global economy across a wide range of sectors – from health care to computing,” said Leah Cowen, U of T’s vice-president of research and innovation, and strategic initiatives. “Few universities in the world can rival U of T’s strength in research and innovation across such a broad spectrum of disciplines.

“Having U of T’s work regularly cited by the world’s most innovative organizations demonstrates both the scope and scale of our researchers’ global impact.”

In Clarivate’s 2023 report, U of T was the only institution outside the United States and Asia to place among the top 10 most-cited research organizations – ahead of institutions in the U.K. and Europe.

The Top 100 Global Innovators report, which Clarivate has released since 2012, is based on enriched data from global indexes used by research leaders, scientists, engineers and their advisers daily to direct and guide their work. The ranking uses a comparative analysis of global invention data to assess the strength of every patented idea, using measures tied directly to their innovative power.

Companies that qualify must have filed more than 500 inventions since 2000 and had more than 100 inventions granted in the 2023 five-year evaluation window.

In the past five years, U of T’s research has been cited in more than 120,000 publications as well as in nearly 3,000 patents by companies in more than 20 sectors, including biology, chemistry, medicine, immunology, molecular biology and genetics, neurosciences, psychiatry and space science.

U of T is one of the world’s top-ranked public universities in the five most closely watched international rankings: U.S. News & World Report’s Best Global Universities, Times Higher Education’s World University Rankings, QS World University Rankings, ShanghaiRanking Consultancy’s Academic Ranking of World Universities, and National Taiwan University World University Rankings.

U of T among top five university business incubators in the world: UBI Global

Christopher.Sorensen — Mon, 06 Feb 2023 16:20:53 +0000

U of T among top five university business incubators in the world: UBI Global

Christopher.Sorensen Mon, 02/06/2023 - 11:20

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The BRIDGE at U of T Scarborough is one of several entrepreneurship and innovation hubs on U of T's three campuses (photo by Matthew Dochstader)

Topic

Creative Destruction Lab

Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship Hatchery

Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

Global

Health Innovation Hub

The University of Toronto has been recognized as one of the top five university business incubators in the world by UBI Global in its latest world benchmark study.

In its 2021-2022 study, UBI Global – a Swedish-based innovation intelligence company with more than 1,000 member organizations – assessed 1895 organizations from 90 countries.

The top organizations were benchmarked across 21 key performance indicators against their global peers based on the value they provide to their innovation ecosystems and client startups.

“The UBI ranking is a reinforcement of all the great work that so many U of T students, faculty and alumni entrepreneurs have been doing,” says Jon French, director of University of Toronto Entrepreneurship, the umbrella organization for the incubators, accelerators and entrepreneurship programs across U of T’s three campuses. “It’s a recognition of how we fare against the best in the world.”

The ranking is particularly notable, French adds, since UBI is one of the only organizations examining both economic and social impact in its global assessment of the post-secondary entrepreneurship space.

“The approach that UBI takes is quite holistic – they measure hard metrics, including funding raised and jobs created, but they also take a look at criteria such as where the mentor network is coming from and how engaged the university’s alumni are,” French says, noting that U of T scored high on all such indicators in the UBI report and takes pride in supporting innovators at all stages of their journey – everyone from idea-stage student entrepreneurs to faculty members and PhD researchers seeking to commercialize their work.

Over the past decade, U of T entrepreneurs have created more than 600 venture-backed companies and secured more than $2.5 billion in investment. U of T Entrepreneurship, for its part, supports current and aspiring entrepreneurs by providing: co-working, meeting and event spaces; mentorship and advisory supports; pitch competitions and prizes; and access to investor networks to secure funding.

U of T’s network of campus acccelerators and incubators in the Greater Toronto Area are currently supporting more than 500 teams working on potential startups.

“It is important that our entrepreneurs have a sense of community – they are surrounded by like-minded people who are excited about innovation and turning ideas and opportunities into companies,” French says. “Across the 10-plus campus accelerators on our three campuses, we currently have over 500 teams that are working on projects that could become companies.”

UBI’s world benchmark study is a third-party assessment, based on a comprehensive survey, that analyzes the impact and performance of business incubators and accelerators from four sectors: university, public, private and corporate. Its framework for analysis was developed in collaboration with an advisory board comprising innovation thought leaders and industry experts.

Other Canadian universities also ranked highly in their categories in the UBI report, including incubators from McGill University, York University, Memorial University and École de technologie supérieure.

Many of the U of T-backed success stories flagged for the UBI survey stemmed from the university’s strength in leading-edge research fields such as quantum computing, biotech, clean tech, advanced manufacturing and machine learning. In particular, French points to the recent announcement of $40 million in federal funding for U of T startup Xanadu Quantum Technologies – an alumnus of the Creative Destruction Lab (CDL) at the Rotman School of Management that was founded by former U of T post-doctoral physics researcher Christian Weedbrook – and the more than 150 ventures supported annually by the Health Innovation Hub (H2i).

French noted that U of T’s commitment to entrepreneurship is longstanding, with several incubators and accelerators recently celebrating their 10-year anniversaries. They include CDL, The Hatchery at the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering and the UTEST accelerator.

“And now when we look at the new Schwartz Reisman Innovation Campus close to opening on the St. George campus, that’s again an example of U of T doubling down on how important innovation and entrepreneurship are to the university,” he says.

U of T’s world-leading innovation network – which includes U of T Scarborough’s The Hub and The BRIDGE, as well as U of T Mississauga’s ICUBE – will be showcased during Entrepreneurship Week from March 6 to 9, featuring more than 15 free in-person, hybrid and virtual public events to teach, inspire and celebrate entrepreneurship on campus.

One flagship event returning in-person for the first time in three years is the True Blue Expo on March 9, where more than 40 U of T startups, accelerators and community partners will be sharing information on their products and services.

“We’ll be highlighting groundbreaking companies during Entrepreneurship Week, including those led by women founders and startups connected to our Black Founders Network,” French says. “All three campuses are represented – it’s really a snapshot of what makes U of T entrepreneurship so special.”

Research & Innovation Support, Centre for (CRIS)

sgupta — Tue, 11 Feb 2020 14:13:43 +0000

Research & Innovation Support, Centre for (CRIS) sgupta Tue, 02/11/2020 - 09:13

URL

https://cris.utoronto.ca

Scott Mabury on his expanded role and U of T’s ambitious plan to pursue real estate opportunities and partnerships

Romi Levine — Fri, 01 Mar 2019 05:00:00 +0000

Scott Mabury on his expanded role and U of T’s ambitious plan to pursue real estate opportunities and partnerships

Romi Levine Fri, 03/01/2019 - 00:00

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"We plan to be here 100 years from now," says Scott Mabury, U of T's vice-president, operations and real estate partnerships. "This is a long-term strategy" (photo by Nick Iwanyshyn)

Romi Levine

Topic

Our Community

University Operations

Scott Mabury has added a new portfolio – real estate partnerships – to his senior leadership role as vice-president, operations at the University of Toronto. It reflects Mabury’s introduction of U of T’s “four corners” strategy to address the need for student and faculty housing, innovation space and other services on all three campuses.

“There are no examples that I’m aware of where an institution, with its own internal team, has been embarking on as ambitious a plan as we are,” Mabury says.

“I think that the addition of “real estate partnerships” to the portfolio title is a reflection both of the importance of the initiative and acknowledgment of the spectacularly talented group of staff who invest their creativity, their energy, and their passion in the operations portfolio.”

Mabury joined U of T in 1995 as the first faculty member in environmental chemistry. He chaired the department of chemistry from 2003 to 2009 and is currently a professor in the department and a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.

His new title is vice-president, operations and real estate partnerships. He also serves as vice-provost of academic operations.

U of T News spoke with Mabury about his new role and the ways the university will be addressing its development and sustainability goals over the coming years.

What will your new role entail?

It entails all the work and the activities of the old role of university operations but adds to it our “four corners” strategy.

I am continuing to support the provost on budgetary matters, overseeing and being responsible for information technology and cyber security, facilities and services on the downtown Toronto campus, ancillary services, and university planning, design and construction.

The four corners strategy is designed to provide a framework for how the university will pursue real estate opportunities and partnerships in the development of the full range of institutional and ancillary uses necessary for a modern university – innovation spaces, ancillary office, retail, student, faculty and staff housing – all of which are essential to support the academic mission of the university into the future.

We have significant assets. We spent a year studying those assets and what their opportunities could be. We recognize the very significant demand and need U of T has around providing more affordable residential options for our faculty, staff and students, and more innovation space for the burgeoning number of startup companies that wish to continue their development within the innovation ecosystem, of which U of T plays such an important part.

Scott Mabury on U of T projects in the works

New student residences on U of T’s downtown Toronto campus and U of T Scarborough: “I am very excited about the student residences we are going to be building because the need for residences is very, very high.”
The Landmark Project (which will pedestrianize King’s College Circle): “Retrieving and rehabilitating our historic core is an institutional, valuable thing to do.”
The tall wood building at Bloor and Devonshire Place: “It will bring a very public, very high-profile move by the university to incorporate wood as a building material that we should be looking at routinely for each of the buildings we'll be building.”
The innovation centre: “I think it will be a spectacular addition, not only to the architecture of Toronto, but also to the innovation ecosystem, of which U of T plays such an important part.”
U of T Mississauga science building: “That will be transformative for the University of Toronto Mississauga.”

How unique is the four corners strategy compared to other institutions’ development initiatives?

Most other universities, when they embark on these things, create a separate development corporation apart from the university. The University of Toronto and the four corners strategy is keeping the team and the effort “inside the house” as part of my portfolio. These will be University of Toronto projects and initiatives.

The University of Toronto will seek out partnerships and joint ventures to build things like student residences – which is what we're doing with the Daniels Corporation. We will acquire properties if there are opportunities that align with the university’s mission, and we will build innovation spaces and explore partnering opportunities where appropriate.

The beauty of keeping it “inside the house” is we can tap into expertise and resources such as facilities and services, our IT group, and our ancillary services group, to deliver the services that one would expect from a market rate, commercial enterprise.

We have 17 million square feet of space across the three campuses. As we build another million or two or three, we can expand our facilities management to incorporate those in a quite efficient manner and at less cost than if we were outsourcing or starting from scratch.

There are no examples that I'm aware of where an institution, with its own internal team, has embarked on as ambitious a plan as we are.

How will economic and environmental sustainability play into the four corners strategy?

Almost the entire university budget – 87 per cent – comes from students paying tuition fees or government operating grants. That’s not financially sustainable. We need to grow the remaining 13 per cent, to increase the resilience and sustainability of the institutional budget.

Developing our real estate assets – land that we own and will continue to own – will deliver a double bottom line: delivering amenity spaces – residential, innovation, retail – that benefit the academy with a financial return to further the core academic activities of the university. The objective here will be to generate revenue that we can invest back into the university’s academic mission.

On the environmental sustainability side, all of these buildings will be required to meet the University of Toronto's design standards: attention to detail, the same attention to longevity, and the same attention to energy use – highly energy-efficient buildings. We have the most stringent energy guideline requirements for our buildings of any place in North America of which we are aware. These buildings will be university assets, and will be built to that standard.

U of T has a forward-looking approach to everything from innovation to financial and environmental sustainability. Why is it important for U of T to operate in this way?

We plan to be here 100 years from now. This is a long-term strategy. We are going to build buildings for current and future institutional needs, serve multiple functions and be repurpose-able in the future if need be.

We are in the talent business and we hear very clearly from the faculty and senior staff directly, and from students, that housing is an issue that they are thinking about. We need to deliver more housing. Our four corners strategy imagines something like 2,500 new units of housing – student, faculty and staff. Different kinds – laneway houses, midrise, highrise, in or on the University of Toronto campus. The scale of that is really quite significant. It's pretty darn unique in the university world.

It is imagining how real estate can support and advance the ambitions that we have as a collective of faculty, staff and students to influence the state of the world and the future of the world for the positive. We're trying to bring value to the table.

'Green' projects at U of T receive $26.7 million boost in provincial funding

Christopher.Sorensen — Tue, 13 Feb 2018 05:00:00 +0000

'Green' projects at U of T receive $26.7 million boost in provincial funding

Christopher.Sorensen Tue, 02/13/2018 - 00:00

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U of T will combine the new funding with $15.3 million already earmarked for energy efficiency and greenhouse gas reduction projects across all three campuses

Topic

Subheadline

'This will allow us to double down on investments we've been making for the past decade'

The University of Toronto, long a sustainability leader, plans to leverage $26.7 million in new provincial innovation funding to launch several major “green” projects across its three campuses as part of a program to reduce current and future greenhouse gas emissions.

The new funding, announced on Monday by the province, will be combined with $15.3 million U of T has already earmarked for energy efficiency initiatives ranging from a geothermal well at U of T Scarborough to upgrades at U of T’s 106-year-old central steam plant, which heats most of the downtown Toronto campus.

It’s part of an overall effort by Canada’s largest university to reduce carbon emissions by nearly 12,000 tonnes by the year 2021.

“This will allow us to double down on investments we’ve been making for the past decade to reduce our greenhouse gas footprint,” said Scott Mabury, U of T’s vice-president of university operations.

“We’re adding in new technologies and reorienting how buildings operate so they use less energy and lower our utility bills. That, in turn, frees up cash to use in the classroom.”

The Ontario government asked the province’s public universities last November to put forward proposals that demonstrate “innovative plans and approaches” to campus sustainability and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions such as CO₂.

The money, which includes access to interest free loans ($44 million for U of T), comes from the proceeds of Ontario’s carbon market. The cap and trade program is an integral part of the province’s climate change action plan that calls for cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 80 per cent by 2050.

“By investing in repairs and retrofits on campuses across the province that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve energy efficiency, we can extend the life of valuable infrastructure and provide students with the best possible learning environment to pursue their goals and achieve their potential,” said Mitzie Hunter, Ontario’s minister of advanced education and skills development, in a statement.

While U of T has already made great strides in boosting energy efficiency over the past decade and a half – everything from installing solar panels to investing in “smart” systems that adjust a building’s heating and cooling depending on occupancy – Mabury says the additional funding will make it possible to tackle even bigger, longer-term projects.

One such project involves U of T’s central steam plant, which heats much of the downtown Toronto campus through an underground network of tunnels and pipes – itself a model of energy efficiency.
“Imagine that your neighbourhood has one big furnace that heats all the houses,” said Mabury. “It’s much more efficient and much less polluting.”

By installing more equipment to capture energy from waste heat that would otherwise go up the facility’s towering smokestack, the U of T proposal not only further reduces pollution but makes it possible to one day switch the steam-based district heating system to one based on hot water, which is even more efficient.

“It’s a big investment,” Mabury said. “So what we’re doing here is the initial pieces of getting our central steam plant lined up to do that.”

Another project involves replacing two absorption chillers at the Medical Sciences Building on the downtown Toronto campus with high efficiency, steam turbine machines. A turbine will also replace the plant’s steam pressure reduction valves, turning excess steam pressure into electricity – a project Mabury described as “novel.”

U of T will also install monitoring equipment at dozens of buildings and lay the groundwork for turning a heritage building on the downtown Toronto campus into a “net zero” structure, meaning it will use the same amount of energy that it creates through renewable energy systems.

At U of T Mississauga, meanwhile, there are plans to use $5.8 million of the funding to upgrade heating and cooling systems of several buildings, including the Recreation, Athletics and Wellness Centre. There are also plans to install solar panels to heat the centre and its 25-metre pool.

U of T Scarborough will tap $2.7 million to, among other things, install a geothermal heat pump in the courtyard of the Andrews Building.

Though U of T faces unique challenges when it comes to reducing greenhouse gas emissions – the three Toronto-area campuses serve a population larger than many Canadian cities and many buildings were erected at a time when energy was cheap – the university’s longstanding commitment to sustainability is already paying off.

The downtown Toronto campus alone managed to reduce its carbon footprint by 50,000 tonnes over the past decade despite adding 25 new buildings and increasing the student population by 50 per cent.

That’s the equivalent of taking 10,000 cars off the road.

Paul Leitch, U of T’s director of sustainability, said the green projects will deliver clear benefits for the university’s students, faculty and staff, as well as for the city and province more broadly.

“Everybody wins when we work together to reduce our energy needs with a sustainable vision,” Leitch said.

Move fast and break things? Not when you're building a health-care startup: U of T entrepreneur

Christopher.Sorensen — Wed, 22 Nov 2017 17:13:09 +0000

Move fast and break things? Not when you're building a health-care startup: U of T entrepreneur

Christopher.Sorensen Wed, 11/22/2017 - 12:13

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SensOR Medical Laboratories CEO Robert Brooks addresses a Health Innovation Hub, or H2i, event this week (photo by Chris Sorensen)

Topic

Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

Graduate Students

Health

Innovation

When it comes to the heavily regulated medical space, Robert Brooks says entrepreneurs should steer clear of the launch-it-now-fix-it-later approach favoured by the Mark Zuckerbergs of the world.

“The Silicon Valley idea of ‘move fast and break things’ doesn’t work well in health care,” says the University of Toronto engineering alumnus and CEO of SensOR Medical Laboratories, referring to the Facebook CEO's original mantra.

It was one of several words of wisdom dispensed by Brooks and fellow U of T entrepreneur Marek Pacal, who founded diabetes detection startup Optiggx, to nearly three dozen attendees at a Health Innovation Hub, or H2i, event this week. The event, held at Autodesk's offices in the MaRS Discovery District, served to kick off H2i’s HealthEDGE Initiative, which is designed to encourage the creation and prototyping of solutions that address real health-care challenges through workshops, mentorships and a pitch competition.

HealthEDGE is a partnership between H2i, the Department of Computer Science Innovation Lab (DCSIL) and the Entrepreneurship Hatchery – all part of the expansive ecosystem of entrepreneurship hubs located across U of T's three Toronto-area campuses.

Attendees at the HealthEDGE launch event listen to presentations from U of T entrepreneurs (photo by Chris Sorensen)

In his presentation, Brooks gave an overview of SensOR, the company he co-founded with Justin Wee, a PhD candidate in biomedical engineering at U of T. The startup has developed a unique force-sensing system that can be attached to minimally invasive surgical instruments that are used to perform surgeries through tiny incisions. It provides feedback via a wireless connection that helps surgeons tie sutures or manipulate tissue without causing damage.

Learn more about U of T Entrepreneurship

Mayor's NYC trade mission a 'powerful' showcase of Toronto's tech boom: U of T alumna and entrepreneur

Christopher.Sorensen — Mon, 20 Nov 2017 05:00:00 +0000

Mayor's NYC trade mission a 'powerful' showcase of Toronto's tech boom: U of T alumna and entrepreneur

Christopher.Sorensen Mon, 11/20/2017 - 00:00

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Huda Idrees, the founder and CEO of Dot Health, was one of more than a dozen Toronto entrepreneurs who participated in Mayor John Tory's trade mission to New York last week (photo by Pam Lau)

Chris Sorensen

Topic

City & Culture

Artificial Intelligence

Creative Destruction Lab

Rotman School of Management

The television show 30 Rock once joked Toronto is “just like New York but without all the stuff.” But the same can’t easily be said when comparing the two cities’ startup scenes.

At least, that was what Huda Idrees took away from her recent visit to New York City as part of Toronto Mayor John Tory’s two-day trade mission to promote the idea of a cross-border tech corridor to rival Silicon Valley.

Idrees, a University of Toronto alumna who is the founder and CEO of health records startup Dot Health, says many seemed shocked to learn Toronto added more tech jobs between 2015 and 2016 than New York City and Silicon Valley combined.

“It was quite a surprise for most of the people there,” says Idrees, a U of T engineering grad who worked at several local startups before launching her own.

“That’s because, to them, Toronto probably feels like, ‘Yeah, it probably has a tech sector, but it’s probably not very big.”

In reality, Toronto has painstakingly built an expansive innovation ecosystem in recent years – including the one built around U of T, local hospitals and the neighbouring MaRS Discovery District – and is now enjoying a tech boom that’s attracting some of the world’s biggest companies.

The New York trade mission, which included more than a dozen representatives from local startups, was part of Tory’s effort to further capitalize on the city's momentum.

Tory’s trip included a visit to Sidewalk Labs, the Google affiliate that recently announced it will be building a "smart city" on Toronto’s waterfront.

The delegation also spent time at Grand Central Tech, an innovation hub in the heart of Manhattan, where the Toronto entrepreneurs gave presentations on their startups.

Idrees spoke about Dot Health’s efforts to give Canadian’s easy access to their medical histories. The event’s attendees also heard from U of T alumnus Allen Lau, who is the co-founder and CEO of online story-telling platform Wattpad, Karl Martin, the founder and CEO of Nymi, which makes a wearable device that uses your heartbeat as a biometric identifier, and Farhan Thawar, who is a co-founder of corporate video message firm Helpful.com.

There were also representatives from startups spun out of Toronto's – and U of T's – fast-growing artificial intelligence, or AI, scene, a field that's expected to revolutionize everything from transporation to health care.

“We had a lot of artificial intelligence visibility, which is good because we have such a deep talent pool, compared to some of the other ecosystems,” Idrees says.

“Instead of officials getting up there and just saying, ‘Toronto is cool.’ It was getting founders who work and run businesses to get up there and talk about it. It was different and I found it really powerful.”

As for Tory’s pitch for a crossborder tech corridor, Idrees says there could be a real opportunity to expand on the links that are already being forged between Toronto entrepreneurs and New York-based venture capital investors.

One recent example: The Creative Destruction Lab, a seed-stage accelerator affiliated with U of T’s Rotman School of Management, said last month it was expanding to the Big Apple through a partnership with New York University.

“Given some of the news that’s come out of the valley over the past couple of years about how homogenous it is with the same-looking individuals coming from the same backgrounds, I think the East Coast alliance that Mayor Tory referenced is a really interesting concept,” says Idrees.

“Both New York and Toronto are very diverse pools of people and talent. It’s a lot more varied when it comes to culture, and the intersection between culture and technology, then some of the western ecosystems.

“It presents a really interesting opportunity because we have the chance to draw from a much broader talent pool.”

Learn more about U of T Entrepreneurship

U of T electric vehicle partnership earns $9 million investment

hjames — Fri, 10 Nov 2017 19:48:43 +0000

U of T electric vehicle partnership earns $9 million investment

hjames Fri, 11/10/2017 - 14:48

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From left: Havelaar Canada’s VP Engineering Nathan Armstrong, UTEV’s Theo Soong, Associate Professor Olivier Trescases and Professor Peter Lehn look under the hood of Havelaar’s electric pick-up truck (photo by Sonja Persram)

Marit Mitchell

Topic

Our Community

Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

Innovation

UTIAS

Subheadline

Major grants to advance R&D for sustainable transportation

The University of Toronto Electric Vehicle Research Centre (UTEV) has secured a major investment to support collaborative research into next-generation electric vehicle (EV) technologies with its founding partner Havelaar Canada.

Awards from the Natural Sciences & Engineering Research Council (NSERC)’s Collaborative Research and Development Grants and Havelaar Canada’s industry contributions total more than $9.1 million over four years for two projects, jointly led by Havelaar and Associate Professor Olivier Trescases and Professor Peter Lehn of U of T's Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering. Trescases and Lehn also received support for their work from U of T's Major Research Project Management fund.

“EVs hold enormous promise as an established, practical solution to move people sustainably while minimizing the need for new infrastructure,” said Trescases, who serves as UTEV’s director. “This support will further accelerate our progress toward lower-cost and more efficient vehicles that can integrate into the smart transportation networks of the future.”

The two grants will support multidisciplinary projects that target disruptive technologies in both electric vehicles and associated charging infrastructure to make the next generation EVs more accessible, affordable and intelligent. UTEV brings together researchers from across U of T Engineering, including Assistant Professor Josh Taylor and Associate Professor Sean Hum, as well as Cristina Amon, the Faculty's dean.

The research scope also includes autonomous vehicles in collaboration with research teams at the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies.

UTEV was launched in 2016 with five years of major infrastructure and project funding from Havelaar Canada. The partnership takes a holistic approach to corporate-university collaborations, including supporting engineering students, addressing global technical challenges and building a commercialization pipeline for academic research.

“We are really excited about this partnership,” said Tony Han, president of Havelaar Canada. “Not only are we creating one of the top centres that can become the face for Canadian EV innovation, we are also building a collaboration platform that will bring global resources together to advance EV technology.”

UTEV is currently expanding its research laboratory with an additional state-of-the-art facility in the Faculty’s Engineering Annex building. Expected to open in 2018, the dedicated space will include power test infrastructure for battery management and power electronics prototype development.

U of T researchers at Ontario Economic Summit to talk innovation, training students for 'jobs of the future'

Christopher.Sorensen — Thu, 09 Nov 2017 17:00:44 +0000

U of T researchers at Ontario Economic Summit to talk innovation, training students for 'jobs of the future'

Christopher.Sorensen Thu, 11/09/2017 - 12:00

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U of T's Raquel Urtasun, who heads Uber's self-driving car lab in Toronto, fields questions from eager students at a career event in September. She is among the U of T speakers at this year's event (photo by Chris Sorensen)

Chris Sorensen

Topic

City & Culture

Alumni

Artificial Intelligence

The University of Toronto is taking centre stage at this year’s Ontario Economic Summit as government officials, business leaders and key influencers meet to discuss how to take advantage of new technologies and disruptive business models to promote the province’s growth.

Organized by the Ontario Chamber of Commerce, the annual event is one of the biggest meetings on the economy in the province, featuring addresses from Premier Kathleen Wynne and several members of her cabinet, as well as appearances by other party leaders and representatives from Canada’s biggest companies.

U of T, one of the event’s presenting partners, kicked off the three-day summit in Niagara-on-the-Lake this week by underscoring the critical role the university and other post-secondary institutions will play in driving Ontario’s knowledge economy forward.

“Collaboration between academic researchers and industry is a key ingredient in Ontario’s future economic success, allowing new innovations to move more quickly from the laboratory into the private sphere, and training students for the jobs of the future,” said Vivek Goel (left), U of T’s vice-president of research and innovation, who delivered the conference’s opening remarks.

Thanks in part to groundbreaking research at institutions like U of T, Toronto and the surrounding region have emerged as a global innovation hotspot in potentially disruptive fields like artificial intelligence, or AI, regenerative medicine, sustainable energy and fintech, among others.

In the case of AI, Toronto is already well-known for its contributions to deep learning, a branch of AI that mimics the human brain and allows computers to make inferences from datasets without being specifically programmed. The technology, pioneered by U of T University Professor Emeritus Geoffrey Hinton, who also does AI research for Google, is expected to revolutionize a number of industries, from health care to transportation.

In a bid to capitalize on an early lead, U of T earlier this year partnered with the federal and provincial governments, as well as industry, to create the Vector Institute for artificial intelligence research in Toronto.

At the summit, U of T's Raquel Urtasun, an associate professor of computer science and a founding member of Vector, is scheduled to deliver an overview of AI technologies and what they mean for governments and businesses. She will then participate in a panel discussion that looks at the impact of AI on productivity and how best to capitalize on it.

Urtasun, one of AI’s stars, was tapped earlier this year to head up ride-sharing giant Uber’s new self-driving car lab in Toronto – an example of how U of T’s research prowess is luring big, multinational companies to Ontario.

“Uber is here because the talent for innovation in AI and self-driving cars is here,” Urtasun told U of T News in September. She went on to say that Toronto and the surrounding region “has all the right things to become a Silicon Valley of AI.”

Other foreign firms that have either set up shop in Ontario or have dramatically increased their presence in recent months include: pharmaceutical giant Bayer, which is teaming up with Versant Ventures to launch BlueRock Therapeutics, a US$225 million bet on regenerative medicine that will be headquartered in Toronto, as well as New York and Boston, and helmed by U of T researchers Gordon Keller and Michael Laflamme; U.S. health giant Johnson & Johnson, which last year opened the first international location of its JLABS life science incubator in Toronto through a partnership with U of T; and Fujitsu Laboratories Inc., which recently said it was setting up a research and development centre in Toronto in partnership with U of T that will be focused on quantum-inspired computing.

But it’s not just big multinational firms who are capable of turning top talent and groundbreaking research produced by institutions like U of T into high-paying jobs and stable economic growth. The university is also at the centre of a vibrant entrepreneurship ecosystem that’s helping to grow the next generation of great Canadian companies.

U of T alone boasts several entrepreneurship hubs across its three campuses catering to entrepreneurs of all levels and stripes. They include the Creative Destruction Lab (CDL), UTEST, Impact Centre, Health Innovation Hub (H2i), Entrepreneurship Hatchery, Start@UTIAS, Department of Computer Science Innovation Lab (DCSIL), ICUBE and The Hub.

In the case of CDL, affiliated with U of T’s Rotman School of Management, the system it developed to rapidly scale science-based startups has been so successful it’s been expanded to business schools across the country, from Vancouver to Halifax. CDL also recently announced its first U.S. location through a partnership with New York University’s Stern School of Business.

U of T is also home to a new ONRamp co-working and collaboration space, located across the street from the MaRS Discovery District. The facility is open to entrepreneurs from across U of T’s three campuses as well as those from partner institutions at McMaster University and Western University.

Among the successful startups that have emerged from U of T’s ecosystem in recent years are: satellite provider Kepler Communications; AI-powered legal research firm Ross Intelligence; WinterLight Labs, which uses AI to analyze speech and track cognitive disabilities; and Deep Genomics, which uses AI to help search for disease cures.

Pooja Viswanathan, who did her post-doc at U of T, co-founded Braze Mobilty, which makes obstacle detection devices for wheelchairs (photo courtesy Braze Mobility)

One entrepreneur who has benefited from U of T’s entrepreneurship ecosystem is Pooja Viswanathan, the CEO of Braze Mobility.

Her startup, co-founded with U of T's Alex Mihailidis, a senior scientist at the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, sells obstacle detection systems that can be attached to wheelchairs, which are often bulky and difficult to manoeuvre. Braze's devices provide users with more freedom to move about without fear of crashing into people or objects.

Viswanathan, who did her post-doctorate in U of T’s computer science department and is scheduled to appear at the summit as part of an entrepreneur showcase, said Braze not only received considerable support from U of T’s Impact Centre incubator, but that Toronto’s Discovery District in general was an ideal place to launch a health technology company.

“I wouldn’t have gone anywhere else,” she said. “We really have an innovation corridor on University Avenue. We were just steps away from MaRS, the rehab sciences department at U of T, as well as Toronto Rehab.

“It’s been really critical for us, actually – the location we’re at – because we’ve been able to tap into all of these resources, which have all supported us to some extent.”

Medical startups compete for $15,000 in prizes at U of T accelerator's pitch event

Christopher.Sorensen — Mon, 30 Oct 2017 14:37:59 +0000

Medical startups compete for $15,000 in prizes at U of T accelerator's pitch event

Christopher.Sorensen Mon, 10/30/2017 - 10:37

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Entrepreneur Charlene Leung pitches her team's idea for a fitted radiation shield for physicians at H2i's pitch competition (photo by Chris Sorensen)

Chris Sorensen

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Entrepreneneurship

Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

From using seal oil to treat nerve damage to a new tool to aid minimally invasive surgery, entrepreneurs from the University of Toronto and beyond tested out health-focused business ideas during the Health Innovation Hub’s (H2i) recent pitch competition.

Six startups presented their ideas before a panel of three judges at U of T’s ONRamp co-working space for entrepreneurs before being questioned about their products, markets and business models.

One of the winning startups, called Xpan, took home $5,000 for its attempt to improve on a surgical device called a trocar, a T-shaped implement used to create a portal into the abdomen during laparoscopic surgery.

The problem? Existing trocars must be replaced during surgery if bigger tools are needed. So Xpan created an expandable trocar that promises to speed up procedures and reduce complications.

“Xpan will be creating a new surgical gold standard, saving lives and saving money,” Zaid Atto, a U of T graduate in biomedical engineering, told the judges.

Back in September, Atto and his team, which includes Seray Cicek and Chevis Dilbert, as well as Chris Bouwmeester, an assistant professor, teaching stream in U of T's Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, took home a $10,000 prize for Xpan at a similar pitch competition at the Entrepeneurship Hatchery’s Demo Day. They developed the device after Priscilla Chiu, a surgeon at the Hospital for Sick Children, relayed the problem to Bouwmeester, who, in turn, presented it to his fourth-year class.

Read a Q & A with Atto and Cicek at U of T's Faculty of Medicine

H2i and the Hatchery are just two of U of T’s many hubs that support entrepreneurs and aid in the commercialization of publicly funded research. Others include the Creative Destruction Lab, the Department of Computer Science Innovation Lab (DCSIL) and Impact Centre.

The other two $5,000 prize winners at the H2i pitch event were teams represented by Yair Feld, a medical devices entrepreneur who is an interventional cardiology fellow at Sunnybrook Hospital, and Evan Lewis, who did his PhD at U of T in nutritional sciences.

Feld’s team pitched a novel microcatheter device that promises to help alleviate blocked arteries. Lewis, meantime, made a pitch on behalf of the startup Nutarniq, which uses a unique type of omega-3 fats found in seal oil to provide nutritional therapy to patients suffering from diabetes-induced nerve damage.

Yair Feld, a medical devices entrepreneur, watches other teams pitch their startups at H2i's event (photo by Chris Sorensen)

Other teams pitched ideas that included a fitted radiation shield for doctors and interpretation services for immigrants to use in hospitals.

Karim Mithani, a medical student at U of T, pitched a smartphone case equipped with a gyroscopic stabilizer that would allow patients with tremors to stay digitally connected. His teammates included U of T engineering student Hayden Provias.

Mithani's preparation for the event began 24 hours earlier. He volunteered to hone his public speaking skills using a virtual reality system built by a Burlington, Ont. startup called InStage. The system, consisting of a headset and controllers, simulates a public speaking engagment, complete with Power Point slides and an audience that can be made to listen intently or yawn and fidget as they lose interest.

Karim Mithani, who is studying medicine at U of T, practises his pitch using a virtual reality system developed by InStage of Burlington, Ont. (photo by Chris Sorensen)

Paul Santerre, a co-director of H2i and professor in the Faculty of Dentistry, capped off the event by going over H2i’s mandate to translate science into benefits for broader society.

“We are the minor hockey league of entrepreneurship,” said Santerre, who is a serial entrepreneur himself.

“But I can assure you that there are no NHL stars without an amazing farm team.”

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