MaRS

Is this sandbox just for the big kids?

The Social Innovation Fund (SIF), a White House effort to pump millions of private and public dollars into projects that are effectively tackling pressing social problems, awarded its first round of grants this month, totaling nearly $50 million.

The Corporation for National and Community Service, which operates the SIF, announced 11 grants – ranging in size from $2 million to $10 million each – to intermediary organizations, which will in turn award money to non-profit groups working in the areas of economic opportunity, youth development and healthy habits. Seen as a breakthrough announcement by a new kind of President in 2009, the Fund has understandably attracted attention from the non-profit community in the US as well as north of the border.

Andy Grove sounds the alarm about innovation

By dropping the social in innovation, is North America breaking the innovation chain?

Andy Grove, a co-founder of Intel and a Silicon Valley icon, is sounding two alarms about innovation’s future. Both flow from his disagreement with the accepted article of faith that the US tech sector necessarily should focus high-end jobs in the US and export manufacturing jobs.

The race is on

Paradigm shifts and productivity have driven Canada’s digital media economy for the last 30 years (read this primer for more information)—but how is Canada currently faring from the standpoint of generating intellectual property?

In this post, I look at the state of Canada’s global competitiveness in the 21^st century.  Who are our competitors? Where are our IP strengths and weaknesses? What are our competitive advantages? And how can we boost our productivity, both across the board and specifically in digital media?

Copyright a little fuzzy?

What’s the talk of the town among copyright lawyers in Toronto’s downtown bars these days? Of course, it’s Bill C-32, the Canadian government’s latest proposed amendments to the Copyright Act. Legal scholars, governments, users and creators have all been grappling with the impact of technological developments on copyright law, particularly since the advent of the Internet. And so it’s been with the Canadian government’s conundrum in trying to accommodate everyone’s interest.

The law is about balancing interests and so it is with copyright. The goal is to strike a balance between users and creators and their (equally legitimate) interests. So how are they doing?

And third place goes to...

The second annual Scientific American worldVIEW survey results have been published.

The take-home message is that Canada ranked third in the world for innovative capacity – a composite score based on ratings of intellectual property, intensity, education/workforce, enterprise support and foundations.