[...] I had all but forgotten about the visit, since I haven’t been tracking MaRS since then. But Veronika, who coordinates the MaRS venture services programs, just posted a response to my April comment: “It is frustrating to see such remarks because we’ve been getting amazing feedback from participants in MaRS programs and clients of the MaRS Venture Group. … So, what more should we be doing to reach this “broader community ?” [...]

I’ve actually heard this comment before myself from other sources. I think there is a lot of confusion in the public about what MaRS is meant to be etc…I’m not sure that it really is necessary for MaRS to be doing more to reach the “broader community” but if you decide you should be I do have a couple suggestions.

1) Have you considered talking to one of the local newspapers (like the Star) and having someone from MaRS being a regular contributor – maybe a weekly column. Maybe you could even do something in one of the very heavily read transit papers like the Metro.

2) Want to reach a more e-savvy crowd? How about a podcast? Invite people from MaRS etc…to contribute. They need not be long – even a 5 minute segment would be fine (although I think 20 minutes or so would be easy to fill) – but they should be relativly frequent (maybe weekly). Since MaRS is looking to be a highly “smart” and “connected” group – I would think something like podcasting fits right in (convergence etc…).

Wow! Thanks for your thoughtful feedback.

I am also pleased to see that some of your points have been already addressed – like adding furniture to the atrium, or are underway, including re-design of the website and re-write of the marketing materials.

I like a lot the idea of a science fair, and would be curious to hear my colleague Peter Evans comment on that. Do we have a critical mass of technologies? Could this be a catalyst for a growth spurt of  Toronto’s IT cluster?

You zeroed in on many issues that we discuss internally on an on-going basis.

First, achieving the right mix of programs and setting up a physical space conducive of collaboration–this is very much a work in progress.

In addition to our established programs (like Peer-to-peer, Best Practices etc.) we’ve been experimenting with the different formats:

Brown bag monthly discussion group on a complex subject of new drug development (30-40 people attend regularly) Would it make sense to expand into another area? If so, what is a broad enough theme to bring to MaRS at least 20 people regularly? Lunch or evening? Where and how best to promote the series?
Wireless Council is a 4-person group of very senior industry executives advising a wireless start-up. Entrepreneurs are over the moon, ditto the executives. The key ingredients here are presence of the serious industry players locally and a high growth industry ready to digest incremental innovations. What other industry segment would be suitable for such a program?
Monthly Friday morning coffee breaks, tenant pub nights fit into your category of “cheap eats and unwindâ€?. Both seem to work well but….there is still a shy or extremely busy sub-population who value “eatsâ€? over the social aspects of those mixers. Is it better to keep it unstructured or add an entertaining/educational component (like an experimental performance piece)?

Second, you are totally right pointing out that most start-ups are secretive and singularly focused on their own business. Most do not wish to share the incubator with the potential competitors and avoid distractions as much as possible. Furthermore, our tenant mix has reached a steady state because companies move in and stay for a year or two. {In other words, incubator tenants know each other by now, and whatever sharing could happen, has been happening already.}. So, how will the promise of collaboration become reality for the inhabitants of the Toronto Discovery District and beyond?I am keen to explore formats that open up the space to the new people across various disciplines. MaRS Centre could be a 24/7, fully wired facility – what would THIS community want to make of it?

Finally, the MaRS business incubator is a very unique asset because of its biomedical lab space (hence linoleum instead of the carpet on the floor). I like your idea of mixing mature companies with the start-ups, and there may be an opportunity to implement this idea in our Phase II development. {The challenge here is a purely business one: all mature tenants pay for outfitting their space while start-ups do not wish to spend their precious cash on real estate. So far we’ve been choosing to spend money on knowledge (e.g. MaRS informational partnership with IDC) and people (e.g. see MaRS mentors) instead of building out fancy office environments for the start-ups.}