MaRS

One of the benefits of being in the MaRS environment is that it presents opportunities for exposure to a wide variety of activities and events. In addition to the programming that MaRS and our partners provide, there are many other third parties that make use of the space. While they may not always seem directly relevant to our work, they provide those cross-pollination opportunities that can sometimes spark really interesting ideas.

Case in Point:

Not long ago, MaRS was selected as the venue to an event organized by the Canadian Red Cross, ‘Covering Conflict: A Journalist’s Guide to the Laws of War.’ The keynote speaker of this full day event was journalist Roy Gutman, who received a Pulitzer Price for international reporting for his coverage of the conflicts in the Balkans.

His key message was that journalists have a profound responsibility to know and understand the rules of the game that they are covering. He used his experience in the Balkans to highlight this. During the beginning of the series of wars between and within those states, it wasn’t clear what was happening.

Was it a Serb-led attack on Slovenia and Croatia or the federal state trying to breakup? Was this a civil war brought about secessionists or were the smaller states forced to secede by a bullying Serb state? Was it a civil war or an International conflict?

New Scientist

(OK, another anniversary story. But aren’t we all getting older?)

The magazine New Scientist turned 50 last week and it’s celebrating this milestone with a special two-cover, extra-fat issue, available now at your newsstand. Much of the golden anniversary-themed content is now available for free on the magazine’s website. Of special note is the compendium of New Scientist’s ‘best’ articles from the previous 50 years, available at:

http://www.newscientist.com/channel/opinion/classic-articles

‘Classic’ articles include one published in 1956 that highlights a new US digital computer, the Burroughs E 101, and one from 1990 that reports on the ‘trouble with Hubble’ [the infamous space telescope]. A great walk down memory lane…

Also interesting is the collection of forecasts by over 70 scientists and thinkers. Each piece provides a brief take on what the author believes will be the biggest scientific breakthrough in the next 50 years. Contributors include physicists, neuroscientists, cosmologists, psychologists and leading lights from every discipline. These articles can be found at:

http://www.newscientist.com/channel/opinion/science-forecasts

Entrepreneurship 101

Last night we had the founder who started, the first VC who funded, and the professional CEO who joined Interface Biologics. Each one had their own reasons for participating in the venture.

Question of the week
Having heard different reasons, why would you start (or get involved with) a high tech company – is it for the $, for the glory of seeing your ideas put into practice, for the betterment of humankind – or for some other reason?

Downloads*

• Session presentation – Dial-up connection (mp4)
• Session presentation – Broadband connection (mp4)
• Slide presentation (PDF)
  

*Please note that you will need a player such as Quicktime (free) to view the video files and Acrobat (free) to view the PDF slides.

If you’re looking for some inspiration (or simply something to eat up 43 minutes of your workday), check out the webcast of a presentation made by Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak at MIT this September. Timed to support the launch of his book entitled “iWoz: From computer geek to culture icon: how I invented the personal computer, co-founded Apple, and had fun doing it,” Wozniak tells the story of Apple as a start-up.

The online video can be found at:

http://mitworld.mit.edu/video/400/
RealPlayer is required for viewing.

I’m just back from Italy but not all the way back.

I love walking into MaRS every morning. It’s the light. It’s the sense of space. It’s the living picture, hung on the south wall, of people working in their offices on business development, on conference planning, on making ideas work.

It’s like walking into a piazza in an Italian hill town: the traditional and the modern; storefront and houses clustered around a public space; people working and people relaxing and, more than anything else, people mingling.

In the last few months at MaRS, I’ve been able to drop in on lectures and seminars. I’ve stood on the upper floors and enjoyed singing and music. I’ve watched the interplay between media, ministers and the audience at press conferences. I’ve browsed by technology showcases. I’ve attended receptions. It’s good for the mind and it has sometimes, at moments, been very good for the soul. I’ve been a watcher and participant and I, too, like many who work in this building, have sipped my fair share of wine at the receptions.

But life in MaRS is not all about this planned stuff. It’s not even mostly about the planned stuff. It’s about the accidental meeting in the coffee line up downstairs. Out of these encounters I’ve had follow-up meetings about projects, been involved in input on public policy, learned about business connections that need to be developed.

Does it mean anything in terms of advancing our core business? I don’t know. Does it influence the way I think about our core business? Yes. Do I see value in these unexpected conversations? Yes. Most of the truly worthwhile projects I have been involved in over the years grew out of chance conversations. Vino rosso per favore. Grazie.