This article was originally posted on Ryerson.ca.

The Prince of Wales will visit Ryerson University May 22 during his tour of Canada marking the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.

His Royal Highness will spend about an hour at the Digital Media Zone starting at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, May 22. He will be escorted by Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty, Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities Glen Murray and President Sheldon Levy.

The visit is part of a four-day tour of Canada by the prince and the Duchess of Cornwall. The couple also have stops in New Brunswick and Saskatchewan. While in Toronto, they will visit a number of locations in addition to Ryerson; the duchess is not accompanying the prince to the university.

At Ryerson, the prince will meet with teams of students and alumni who are working in the Zone developing innovative, entrepreneurial ideas into businesses. Education and entrepreneurship opportunities for young people are two of the prince’s interests. The Prince’s Trust, a charitable organization, directly supports initiatives such as The Prince’s Scottish Youth Business Trust.

Since its launch in 2010, the Digital Media Zone has attracted international attention as a model for supporting innovation and entrepreneurship for young people. To date, there have been more than 188 collaborators in 41 teams through the Zone. In all, 39 startups have been incubated and accelerated and 357 jobs fostered and created. The Zone occupies three floors at 10 Dundas Street East.

More details about the visit to Ryerson by His Royal Highness will be posted in Ryerson Today next week.

This article was originally posted by Anthony Reinhart on cdmn.ca.

Talent will be key to making Canada a digital nation by 2017, but a shortage of people with the right skills continues to plague our ICT sector.

At CDMN Canada 3.0 2012, a panel discussed national and international findings around ICT talent, and the challenges and opportunities they present as Canada builds its digital economy.

Valerie Fox, executive director of the Digital Media Zone at Toronto’s Ryerson University, brought her own perspective to the panel based on 25 years in tech, in industry as well as academia.

We had a quick chat following the breakout session, about her work at DMZ and how to address the talent crunch.

Q – Can you describe DMZ and your role there?

A – I’m the executive director for the Ryerson Digital Media Zone, and the Zone started as an experiment to really help Ryerson students and alumni explore entrepreneurship and innovation.

We really weren’t sure what this was going to be, but we knew that they really needed support and help with the new companies they were creating.

And so, we created an environment for them to grow these companies.

We have a great space; it’s right in the middle of the city – it’s in the heart of the city actually, at Dundas and Yonge – because we wanted the world to see this as it was growing, and as we were experimenting to see what we could do with this.

Within a very short period of time, we actually had a number of people apply to get in who were not part of the university; they were actually people from the University of Toronto, Waterloo, UBC, who had heard about us through the grapevine.

We also had serial entrepreneurs who said, ‘Wow, this is a great idea; we’re hearing that this is working; can we come in, too?’

Q – What happened then?

A – What ended up happening within a very short period of time is, we have a critical mass of people who are doing amazing things; great talent.

We developed criteria, of course, for people to come in and stay; we asked mentors to help; we found various avenues of funding, and the thing just exploded.

So, within two years, we’ve grown to where we’ve helped over 350 different people.

Right now we have about 180 people in the Zone, and we’ve helped create over 450 jobs and 41 companies.

When you look at it you go, ‘Wow, why is this so successful?’, and the truth is, it’s a learning environment where we’re learning how to service the very people who are learning how to be entrepreneurs.

It’s that learning and collaboration – which is a word that’s being used a lot; I’d much rather practise collaboration than use that word – but it’s a very interesting phenomenon when people of different headspaces; technical people, business people, creative people, user-experience people and various subject-matter experts come together and create extraordinary product, extraordinary innovation that is marketable and actually gets customers pretty fast.

And by sharing not only expertise but your networks, you enable them to have better distribution, better access to customers, better access to knowledge, better access to pretty well every facet that you could possibly think of in your particular business.

The businesses in there pretty well hit every sector. Digital media, a very loose term, is basically anything that’s digital. So, we hit the health and wellness sector, we hit finance, we hit communications, gaming, entertainment, retail.

It’s interesting. We didn’t set out to do anything in particular; it all just happened, which tells you that there’s a need for this, and I think that’s why we were so successful so quickly.

Q – What do you think sets DMZ apart from a more-traditional academic environment?

A – Number 1 is, it’s multidisciplinary.

In this case, it’s very informal; there’s not a formal program with it. It’s like we’re feeding ourselves as we need to be fed, so it’s just-in-time learning.

Peer-to-peer mentoring is very, very strong.

Yes, we do have various programs that people can utilize, but they need it when they need it.

So, the difference is it’s a place where we’re working on things that mean the most to you, and I think that’s quite important.

From a university perspective, we’re not a particular area, we’re not a program area, we’re not a faculty. We’re there to really accommodate any of those things, and have a place where things can really start to happen.

Q – When people leave the Zone, how are they prepared to enter the world compared to someone leaving, say, a traditional university program?

A – They have experience.

The panel session I was on [at CDMN Canada 3.0 2012] started to talk about the necessity of experience.

Even if you’re not an entrepreneur; let’s say you were in the Zone and you were working with a startup, what’s interesting is that no matter what happens, you still have had great experience.

You have now, because you’re a very small company, seen what it’s like to put your business together, seen what it’s like to look for money, seen what it’s like to get your customers, seen what it’s like to create a user experience that people actually want, seen what it’s like to put together your own team and have an organization from an HR perspective, and seen what it’s like to really hone your own skills to make yourself a better person.

So, anyone who comes out of that kind of environment and that kind of experience is only going to be better for it.

Q – So, how do we address this talent shortage that everyone is talking about? What steps can we take that we are not taking now?

A – We’re experiencing it too, and there actually is a shortage of specific types of developers.

Interestingly enough, one of the guys in the Zone is now starting to teach courses himself. It’s not like he’s going to tell a whole bunch of people about it, but people seem to find out about it, and he fills the room teaching people who want to be able to learn these types of skills themselves.

Is that enough? Absolutely not.

There’s a call now for what’s called “digital badges,” where people actually have certification for certain skills, and they’re going anywhere they can to get those extra skills.

Why? Because it’s needed, and because they need it. And so, if they can’t go and get those skills, they’ll want to learn them themselves.

I think that’s amazing, don’t you? If you need it, do it yourself.

What that’s telling us as universities and educational institutions is, we have to be listening and we have to be fast on the draw here, and put together programs and courses and certification capability to enable that.

This article was originally posted on readychat.ca.

Leading Real Estate Companies of the World® has named ReadyChat a preferred service provider, presenting the company’s website chat services to its global network of 550 top real estate firms through LeadingRE’s Solutions Group program.

ReadyChat is a leading provider of live chat marketing services for the real estate industry, with a full range of lead generation, lead qualification, and lead transfer solutions. The company’s proactive live chat services offer website monitoring 15 hours a day, seven days a week. Qualified leads are transferred live by phone directly to the brokerage’s designated sales associate or representative.

“Studies have shown that 67% of homebuyers will select the first agent or broker who contacts them,” said Justin Shum, president and CEO of ReadyChat. “Our services empower brokers to be the first to engage with and establish a relationship with online prospects so they have no reason to search elsewhere.”

“ReadyChat’s focus on providing an easy way to capture qualified leads from website visitors makes it an ideal solution for our brokers who want to maximize their online investment,” notes Robin LaSure, LeadingRE vice president of corporate marketing. “The benefits extend from the consumer who experiences a highly responsive approach to the agent who ultimately receives qualified leads. The broker is able to satisfy both audiences, while driving more business for the company.”

About Leading Real Estate Companies of the World®

Leading Real Estate Companies of the World® is the largest network of top independent local and regional brand-name brokerage firms in the residential sector of real estate. The 550 firms affiliated with Leading Real Estate Companies of the World® are represented by 4,600 offices and 140,000 associates in more than 30 countries worldwide. The organization’s leadership is demonstrated by the fact that its affiliates comprise 15 of the top 25 real estate companies in the country. Collectively, LeadingRE affiliates produced nearly 800,000 home sales valued at $225 billion in the U.S. in 2010. In addition, LeadingRE locally-branded affiliates hold the Number One position in sales in 40% of the top 96 markets in the U.S., more than any national franchise organizations.

This article was originally posted by Andrew Seale on thestar.com.

For seasoned entrepreneurs, and fresh faces finding success (or failure) with their first business endeavor, following up with a second venture almost always presents a challenge. But from green business to technology to medicine, there are plenty of markets in Canada ripe for entrepreneurs looking to start over.

“I think our society is moving in a direction where the next generation is not likely to have jobs, it’s likely to be self employed, to be entrepreneurs,” says Adam Chowaniec, a serial entrepreneur and founding chairman of Startup Canada.

But the traditional model of building a business and watching it grow is becoming outdated. A younger generation is building businesses, selling them off, and starting again.

But this fast turnaround can be risky, and, warns Chowaniec, entrepreneurs should avoid the temptation to move outside of familiar markets.

“Stick to what you’re good at,” he says. “The world’s a very competitive place. If you’ve built up a knowledge base of a particular sector, you should focus on that.”

For those looking to challenge themselves, Chowaniec advises targeting an adjacent space to where their expertise exists already.

Monica Mei, a 29 year-old Toronto-based fashion designer and entrepreneur, decided to do just that.

After finding success with her Aime eco-chic fashion label, which utilizes biodegradable fabrics, Mei launched WhatImWear.in, a mobile app to help fashion companies engage their customers via social media.

“Your first endeavor gives you that domain knowledge and expertise to pinpoint the problems that could affect your business the second time around,” she says. “If you have a passion and you feel as if you’re solving a problem that needs to be solved then I would definitely say going for a second venture is worthwhile.”

But finding the right market to launch a second endeavor requires tenacity.

Vivian Prokop, CEO of Canadian Youth Business Foundation–an organization focused on supporting young business owners–says several areas are attracting new and repeat entrepreneurs.

Tech Sector
“It’s become a hot and sexy topic you’re hearing a lot about,” says Prokop, pointing to the large number of accelerators and incubators that are popping up to flood capital into innovative tech ideas.

“It’s growing because you’re able to use other people for development and everyone is really open about what they’re doing,” says Valerie Fox, executive director of Ryerson’s Digital Media Zone–an incubator designed to provide resources and funding to young entrepreneurs.

She says the culture of collaboration is responsible for a booming interest in the sector, which gives serial entrepreneurs a chance to build on previous business knowledge.

“We need the new business models, we need the new technologies, we need to keep experimenting,” she says.

Going Green
Sustainability has worked its way into the public vernacular, making green technology, products and development a viable opportunity for entrepreneurs. But that doesn’t make starting a new company easy.

“It is highly rewarding,” says Prokop, “and highly competitive.”

Still, there are ways to tap the industry that work for the risk averse. Much like Mei’s combination of fashion business and sustainable practices, the eco sector offers opportunity to add a “green” edge to a pre-existing service or project. And as sustainability becomes trendy, more businesses are looking to take on green initiatives. Savvy entrepreneurs can tap into the market by finding more sustainable ways to provide traditional services.

Skilled Trades
From restaurants to construction to bakeries, Prokop says the trades sector is “always in demand.”

“A lot of people don’t think of (those in skilled trades) as business owners, but they can be,” she says, pointing out that demand for such business will grow as about “70 percent of small business owners start retiring in the next 5 or 6 years.”

Prokop also points to construction as a growth area.

“Employment growth in construction exceeded all other industries in Canada in the past few years,” she says.

Medical Services
Prokop says entrepreneurs can look to medical services-based businesses for another surge in demand.

“If you look at where Canada is going with an aging population, there are lots of opportunities,” she says.

Plus, combining growth industries, say by tying together sustainability and medical services, can be even more lucrative. “There’s a lot of opportunities in alternative medicine because that’s a focus for many Canadians,” adds Prokop.

Finally, for those looking to move outside of their companies and into the local community, Chowaniec says there are a wealth of mentoring programs and courses for young entrepreneurs that are always looking for volunteers.

“It goes a long way to building momentum behind a whole sector,” he says. “That’s a simple thing to do if you’ve been successful.”

This article was originally posted by Jonathon Muzychka on blogTO.com.

With the explosion of smart phones and tablets, apps are quickly attracting some of the best and brightest entrepreneurs in the industry. Robleh Jama is no exception. After starting his award-winning app studio in Toronto, Tiny Hearts, he is quickly changing the way entertainment and educational games are being developed in Canada.

Tiny Hearts was created after the launch of his first app, Pocket Zoo, which was one one of the top 50 apps in the iTunes store and the number one app in the education category. Since then, the momentum has continued. Tiny Hearts was featured in the New York Times and Wired magazine and then a couple of months ago released InstaMatch – The Instagram Game. Glowing reviews are pouring in and the app was featured by Apple as a Staff Favourite.

I recently spent some time with Jama to learn a bit more about Tiny Hearts and how he has turned his ideas into reality.

Tell me about the philosophy behind Tiny Hearts, where did you get the name from?

Family is a big part of the Tiny Hearts philosophy. I started my studio as a way to create fun, family-friendly apps that I could eventually share with my daughter, who was born only days before Pocket Zoo hit the App Store.

I actually came up with the name Tiny Hearts while my wife was pregnant. The best part of our routine midwife’s visits was listening to our daughter’s precious and tiny heartbeat. That’s when I suggested the name tiny heartbeats to my wife! She thought it sounded a little off and recommended Tiny Hearts. And as usual, my wife got her way!

What’s your background and how did you get started in the mobile space?

I got into the creative, tech, and entrepreneurship space by accident. I fell in love with the web and founded my first startup while I was attending York University. My first site was a social network for sneaker fans. I ran it for a few years before eventually selling it. I really focus on starting businesses around things I’m passionate about since it makes work so much more exciting. Likewise, I transitioned into the mobile space because I was a fan of the iPhone and the app ecosystem that came along with it.

How did you come up with Pocket Zoo?

A huge part of the motivation to create Pocket Zoo was the fact that I was going to be a dad for the first time. I wanted to create something that was not only fun and educational for my daughter, but also something that we could share with other families around the world. Also, living only 10 minutes from the Toronto Zoo, I noticed that kids were eagerly lining up to see their favorite animals every day.

From these two experiences, I came up with a really unique idea that wasn’t available on the app store. Pocket Zoo combines a virtual zoo app with photos, sounds, videos and live animal cams. People can actually download the app and watch live animal camera’s from zoos all over the world at any time! In the end, Pocket Zoo allowed me to combine my passion for family, education and creating beautiful products together in harmony.

What’s your work set-up?

I’m a big fan of co-working and incubator spaces. I currently split my time between Ryerson’s Digital Media Zone and The Work Republic, a co-working space closer to my home in Scarborough. It’s great to see the idea behind co-working growing in Toronto.

Tell me about InstaMatch.

I’ve been using Instagram since it launched a couple of years ago. It’s such an incredible app because it brings out the artist in all of us. I wanted to add some more fun to the Instagram experience by turning it into a (memory) game that allows you to not only play with your own photos, but also discover new beautiful pictures. Taking the idea one step further, I partnered up with Jeremy Noonan and turned the idea into reality. We wanted to create an app like Pocket Zoo that would appeal to both the young and old, kind of like Pixar.

What kind of experience can people expect when they start InstaMatch for the first time?

Our fans can expect an enjoyable and beautifully crafted experience that adds fun into photo sharing. Not only does InstaMatch incorporate Instagram photos, but it also contains entertaining and unique twists on the traditional matching game with multiple ways to play. We spent many long days and nights polishing and crafting InstaMatch to a point where we’re proud enough to share it with the world. We obsessed over little details to make sure that this was worthy of being featured by Apple. It’s been truly humbling to see all of the great reviews and feedback so far.

Let’s talk smartphones, iPhone (iOS) vs Android, where do you see the market growing in the future?

I like to look at the mobile industry holistically. I think there’s room for both iOS and Android. Each appeals to a different type of audience. Debating over which one is better is counterproductive.

If you use Instagram as an example, they started off on iOS first and then eventually went on to create an Android app. I think this is how it’s going to be for the next few years. Apps will be developed in iOS AND Android not iOS OR Android. Personally, I’m an iPhone and iOS fan, but I’m planning on expanding my horizons and will be purchasing my first Android device in a few days to test out the upcoming release of Pocket Zoo on the Android (or Google Play) market.

Any hints on your next project? When can we expect it?

We’ve already started working on our next big education app, which I’m really excited about. It will probably take a year to build the first version. Our aim is to revolutionize how kids learn to read both at home and at school.

I’ve also started doing some public speaking and consulting on the side. I enjoy helping others grow their product ideas while encouraging the younger generation to get into entrepreneurship. On top of all that, I recently launched Busy Building Things, an online store and lifestyle brand for makers & creators. Our first line of products are inspirational art prints that are now in the offices of some amazing companies like Apple, Google, Facebook, Flipboard and Toronto’s own Jet Cooper.

If people wanted to learn more about Tiny Hearts, or any of your apps, how can they track you down?

I’m on Twitter @robjama. You can learn more about Tiny Hearts and our apps at tinyhearts.com/instamatch and tinyhearts.com/pocketzoo. You can also follow TinyHearts on Twitter.

Before I forget, did Instagram’s CEO (Kevin Systrom) get your blessing before he sold Instagram to Facebook for a billion dollars?

No, but his sale did definitely help us sell more apps so we’re not complaining! We picked a pretty good time to experiment with gamifying Instagram. The sale of Instagram now means it’s only going to reach more people!

This article was originally posted by Claire Penhorwood on CBC News. Photo credit: CBC News.

The practice of students endlessly copying letters and sentences from a chalkboard is a thing of the past. Teaching perfect strokes and proper curves in cursive writing is no longer at the top of a teacher’s lesson plan.

With the advent of new technologies like tablets and smartphones, writing by hand has become something of a nostalgic skill.

However, while today’s educators are incorporating more and more technology into their teaching, many believe basic handwriting skills are still necessary for students to be successful — both in school and in life.

Virginia Berninger, professor of educational psychology at the University of Washington in Seattle, says it’s important to help children acquire the skill of writing by hand almost as they would a second language.

“I think it is wise to continue teaching handwriting,” Berninger said. “We need to continue to help kids be ‘bilingual’ by hand.”

The old way

In the past, the ability to accurately form all the upper- and lowercase letters of the alphabet and connect them together to make words was seen as a highly valued skill that was the foundation of a child’s education.

Marianne McTavish, a professor of language and literacy education at the University of British Columbia, recalls her early days as a teacher and the writing exercises she went through with her students.

“We spent hours a week teaching young students how to correctly form letters, doing stroke work, proper formation and a lot of printing practice,” she said. “It was very much something that was assessed and valued.”

There is still a clear emphasis on maintaining those building blocks within the education system.

Berninger and her colleagues conducted a study that looked at the ability of students to complete various writing tasks — both on a computer and by hand.

The study, published in 2009, found that when writing with a pen and paper, participants wrote longer essays and more complete sentences and had a faster word production rate.

In a more recent study, Berninger looked at what role spelling plays in a student’s writing skills and found that how well children spell is tied to how well they can write.

“Spelling activates some of the thinking parts of the brain in the frontal lobes.” Berninger said. “We think that it is a cognitive portal, because it helps us access our vocabulary, word meaning and concepts … It is allowing your written language to connect with ideas.”

Spelling helps students translate ideas into words in their mind first and then to transcribe “those word representations in the mind into written symbols in the external environment (on paper or keyboard and monitor),” the study said.

Seeing the words in the “mind’s eye” helps children to not only turn their ideas into words, says Berninger, but also to spot spelling mistakes when they write the words down and to correct them over time.

“In our computer age, some people believe that we don’t have to teach spelling because we have spell checks,” she said. “But until a child has a functional spelling ability of about a fifth grade level, they won’t have the knowledge to choose the correct spelling among the options given by the machine.”

The new way

While fundamental writing and spelling skills are still being taught, educational institutions and teachers are not ignoring the increasing presence of technology in the lives of the children they are teaching today.

Dubbed the digital generation, most children growing up in the Western world today own cellphones at a young age and have increasingly advanced computer skills.

According to the marketing research company Comscore, 52.5 per cent of 13- to 17-year-olds in Canada own a smartphone compared to 37.1 per cent of adults age 35 or older. Ninety-one per cent of those teenagers use their smartphone to send text messages, compared to 82 per cent of adults. Among teens, 64 per cent use the device to play a game, compared to just 48 per cent of adults, and 25 per cent watch videos, versus 10 per cent of adults.

Educators and teaching curricula are taking this clear presence of technology in the lives of young people into account.

McTavish tells her student teachers at UBC to pay attention to the presence of technology but to first and foremost look at the social and cultural makeup of a classroom.

“There are kids that are going to be in school who might not have access to technology, their parents might not have iPhones or can’t afford broadband internet,” she said.

Like other educators, McTavish is trying to outfit the teachers of the future with the ability to educate students who are living in a digital world but at the same time to draw a line in terms of how much technology is allowed to penetrate the classroom.

“I instruct them to look really carefully at the kind of apps or programs that they’re purchasing to determine what is pedagogically sound to give to their students,” said McTavish.

McTavish is an advocate for technology in the classroom but still stresses that the fundamentals be taught in order that the technology is used effectively.

“I saw a student using an app where they were forming an ‘m,’ and the app asked them to do the first stick and then the second stick and then do a ‘v’ in the middle. To me, that is not pedagogically sound at all,” she said.

Technology only a tool

Jason Nolan, a professor of early childhood studies at Ryerson University, has a similar approach to the use of technology in education.

An avid user of technology and new devices, Nolan believes that just because children are using these technologies doesn’t mean that their use in the classroom will yield staggering advancements in education.

“Present tools are no better than those of the past if they are not put to good use,” said Nolan.

“Teaching children to express themselves, challenge themselves and exceed the expectations they learn to set for themselves should be our goals as parents and educators.”

McTavish says that future teachers should take into account the needs of their specific pupils while still adapting their teaching style to the changing climate of the technological world.

The bottom line, says McTavish, is not whether or not students are using technology but whether or not technology is helping them better understand what they are learning.

How Kytephone got a Y Combinator badge

This article was originally posted by Martin Drashkov on kytephone.com.

Last September, after 6 weeks of intense development we launched Scanly at Ryerson University. Scanly allowed students to get a deal every time they bought something by scanning a QR code at the merchant’s location. Ryerson students loved Scanly and our userbase quickly swelled after launch. We thought we had a great thing going, so during the fall, we decided to apply to Y Combinator (YC), the premier startup accelerator in the world.

After a very short but intense interview with the partners at Y Combinator, we were fortunate enough to get accepted. However, as we prepared to go to California and scale up Scanly, we realized that expanding it beyond Ryerson would be very costly and risky, and that the business could never become truly big. So despite our initial success we had to make a hard choice and decided to pivot.

Abandoning a product and starting anew is always tough, but thankfully we had the support of the Y Combinator partners and the awesome YC Alumni community, who are always ready to help out. When trying to come up with an idea for a startup, everybody advised us not to think of “startup” or “business” ideas, but to think about our own problems and how we can solve them. If you solve your own problems, chances are many other people share the same problem. And if your solution is good, then those people will also likely pay you money, which is how all great companies started.

As we were trying to come up with different solutions to our problems, we realized how tough our families and friends had it when trying to give a phone to their kids. We realized that while kids these days are growing up with smartphones and love the big touchscreens, when it comes time for them to get a phone, they are forced to get a feature phone, because their parents don’t want them using such a powerful device.

We started wondering… what if you took a modern touchscreen phone, but simplified it radically and let parents have full control of it over the web? Was it possible? Would anyone buy it? After doing some research, we realized we could write an app that runs on Android phones and completely locks down the phone into a limited, kid-mode, while letting parents control the phone from the web. We had stumbled on a very interesting idea – we would be the ones to make sure every child in the world can get a smartphone! And so, Kytephone was born.

We started working on Kytephone in mid-January and the next two months were like a blur. Y Combinator is an extremely intense time and many say it’s the most productive time of your life. We quickly settled into a very productive routine – we would work 6-7 days a week for most of the day, save for eating food and going to the gym. Every Tuesday we would go to the weekly Y Combinator dinner, where we could hear about the experiences of great entrepreneurs such as Jack Dorsey and try and absorb what makes them successful. At the end of March, we were finally ready to launch our product publicly. We posted the link on several websites and to our great pleasure, we got a ton of users and extremely positive feedback from everyone.

The climax of the 3 month Y Combinator program is Demo Day, when 500 of Silicon Valley’s top investors all gather to hear pitches from every Y Combinator company. Each company gets only 2 and a half minutes to explain what they do and get investors interested. Because Kytephone solves a problem many investors (who are also parents) have, it was both easy to explain and we received a lot of interest that day.

Y Combinator truly is a special place – a very short but intense program that teaches you how to build a business and lets you become part of a very helpful and knowledgeable network.

For more on Kytephone, see this article on VentureBeat.com.

From May 4 to June 3, the public is invited to experience a new tactile dimension to film

TORONTO, April 26, 2012 — Tactile Audio Displays Inc (TADs Inc), a Toronto-based research and development company, in collaboration with Rainbow Cinemas, is inviting the public to experience its revolutionary tactile audio display system for the first time. Two TAD chairs are available for seating during screenings in Theatre 3 at Rainbow Cinemas Market Square between May 1 and June 3, 2012. Use of the chairs will be free with ticket purchase on a first-come, first-served basis, with users asked to complete a short online survey providing feedback on their experience. Completion of the survey will also enter participants into a draw to win free tickets to Rainbow Cinemas. For more information, visit http://www.tadsinc.com/rainbow/. To learn more about TAD, visit http://www.tadsinc.com . To view current film schedules for Rainbow Cinemas Market Square, visit http://www.rainbowcinemas.ca/A/?theatre=Market_Square&.

“The TAD system presents the next evolution in entertainment,” said Dr Maria Karam, TADs Inc. founder, CEO and one of the inventors. “First movies were silent, then ‘talkies’ added the element of sound. A tactile display creates a whole new layer of depth by adding a third sense, the sense of touch, to the entertainment experience. Once filmgoers experience the immersive qualities of the TAD system and its ability to take you deeper into the movie or music experience, it will reveal a new sensation that you won’t want to do without.”

“At Rainbow Cinemas we’re always looking for ways to enhance our customers’ movie experience,” said Jacquelyn Mathé, Rainbow Cinemas Market Square General Manager. “We are excited to collaborate with a local technology start-up company and to be the first to offer TAD’s tactile audio display technology to our patrons.”

The TAD tactile audio display technology was originally conceived of as part of a research project called the Emoti-Chair, headed up by Ryerson University Professor Deborah Fels, with collaborator Frank Russo. The Emoti-Chair was designed as an assistive technology device aimed at providing members of the deaf community with access to the emotional effects of sounds accompanying movies or music. Once developed, the tactile audio technology was determined to not only provide benefits for deaf and hard-of-hearing audiences, but also enhance the audio and visual entertainment experience for all users. TADs Inc was then formed to commercialize the technology and to continue expanding research initiatives in the field of sensory substitution for tactile-audio translations.

CDMN Canada 3.0 2012 Forum Opens with Address by Governor General from Brazil and Announcement of Ryerson University’s Digital Media Zone Joining the Canadian Digital Media Network

STRATFORD, ON, April 24, 2012 /CNW/ – The 4^th annual CDMN Canada 3.0 digital media forum gets off to an exciting start today with opening remarks from Governor General David Johnston from Brazil, an on-site keynote by Industry Minister Christian Paradis, keynotes by Canadian tech leaders, and the announcement of the 10th member ‘node’ to join the Canadian Digital Media Network (CDMN).  Ryerson University’s Digital Media Zone (DMZ) today officially joins regional centres of digital media entrepreneurship linked from coast-to-coast through the CDMN.

“This year’s CDMN Canada 3.0 forum is exciting because the program was derived from the experience of the previous three forums plus input from a cross-Canada tour undertaken over the past six months,” said Kevin Tuer, Managing Director of the CDMN. “This event brings together government, industry and academia in way that no other event in the country does, to advance our leadership position in digital media.”

Ryerson’s DMZ joins the CDMN at a time when digital media is gaining traction, Tuer said. Targeted to young entrepreneurs, DMZ provides the tools needed to make digital dreams a reality, offering an incubator environment where students and newcomers can gain entrepreneurial experience before jumping into the startup fray.

“The success of Canada’s digital media talent and entrepreneurship is dependent upon strong networks and support. The Ryerson Digital Media Zone is excited to be part of the Canadian Digital Media Network,” said Valerie Fox, Executive Director of the Digital Media Zone.

Located in the heart of downtown Toronto, the DMZ atmosphere reflects the energy of the city. Those who join The Zone are keen to take advantage of what the community has available including mentorships, business plan counseling, equipment, workshops, funding opportunities, exposure, and industry connections. Commercial enterprises benefit from this setup as well, turning to the technological pioneers for progressive digital solutions.

“There is nothing more rewarding than an innovative idea coming to fruition. To be a part of that in any way, whether providing resources, guidance, or the actual physical space is something to be proud of,” said Kevin Tuer, Managing Director of the CDMN. “Our collaborative relationship with DMZ will help to support Canada’s investment in its digital future by ensuring that startups, undergraduates and entrepreneurs have the foundation required for success.”

Tuer said the forum and all those who support it are helping take Canada another step forward to realizing the forum’s Moonshot goal set out in 2010, that “anyone can do anything online in Canada by 2017.”

Full information on the forum is available at: www.canada30.ca  and you can follow CDMN Canada 3.0 2012 on Twitter @Can3_0 or join the conversation using #CDA30.

About CDMN Canada 3.0 2012

CDMN Canada 3.0 2012 is a forum organized by the Canadian Digital Media Network (CDMN) www.cdmn.ca focused on advancing Canada’s strength in digital media. CDMN encourages job creation and increases global competitiveness by linking Canada’s leading digital media centres with industry, government and academia.

About Ryerson DMZ

Ryerson University’s Digital Media Zone (the Zone) is a workplace and incubator designed for young entrepreneurs, infused with the energy and resources of downtown Toronto. It’s a place where students and alumni come to innovate, collaborate and market their products and services, and where commercial enterprises can turn for progressive and creative digital solutions.

For further information:

Media Contact
Shelley Grandy, Sr. PR Advisor, Canada 3.0 2012, shelley@cdmn.ca

For more coverage, please see this article published on Techvibes.

Incubation in the DMZ

This article was originally posted by Doug Simpson on netgainpartners.com.

I’m often wrong but rarely pleased about it. It happened again last week when I went to Ryerson University’s DMZ (Digital Media Zone, “the Zone”) 2nd birthday/expansion celebration.

I’ve been a skeptic because DMZ seemed to be more interested in creating a learning environment than in launching businesses. I left reminded that these aren’t unrelated objectives.

For a variety of reasons, business incubators typically demonstrate rigour by setting strict terms about admission and graduation. They set time limits for the companies they bring in, and they charge occupants for space and services. But not in the Zone.

DMZ charges nothing. Rather than set fixed terms, it lets companies remain and grow until they are ready and feel like moving out. A high proportion of applicants actually get into DMZ (with some grooming), whereas other incubators demonstrate quality by citing low acceptance rates.

Yet DMZ has produced a respectable number of start-ups (8 graduates) in its first year, and after touring the facility again last week, I’d say they’ve got more in the pipeline. Congratulations to Valerie Fox and her team, and to the University that provides the space, time, funding and people to make this work.

It works in part because of the gentle treatment it gives its tenants. Generally speaking, these are very young people who aren’t about to bring anything to market soon without a lot of help. In Fox’s words, DMZ is trying to maintain a learning environment rather than hustling entrepreneurs through the familiar start-up gauntlet. She says “community” is the key to DMZ. Tenant companies must be active participants in the DMZ, whether it’s the demonstration of a prototype to visiting dignitaries of the Canadian or foreign governments (these tours happen at the rate of about 5-6/week!) or sharing ideas with fellow DMZers, or offering expertise after you’ve left.

Although this may sound very different than the conventional language of business incubators, maybe it’s not. Mentoring and coaching, which are staples of the incubator experience, seem to be more about guidance than learning, but they are forms of learning nonetheless. Perhaps DMZ’s entrepreneurs need help at a more fundamental level than more experienced entrepreneurs, but it all adds up to the same thing in the end – competently fostered companies entering the marketplace with a valued offering and a viable plan.

I left thinking that the softer language and the depressurized environment of DMZ is a very pragmatic response to feedback from its inhabitants. DMZ has learned, and continues to learn, what its users need. Perhaps this is why, after its second full year in operation, it can boast about its success and announce yet another expansion of its facilities along with the addition of pre-incubator courses and an accelerator. It has learned how to serve its student and alumni entrepreneurs, some of whom probably wouldn’t be accepted into a more conventional incubator or wouldn’t survive to graduation.

Ryerson’s DMZ is an exception to the rule in other ways too. Our research shows that most incubators are created by multiple institutions in partnership. This is usually a financial necessity, and in the best cases, a virtue is made of this necessity by bringing the standards and practices of the partners together in the design and operation of the incubator. We have argued that the resulting balance between corporate, academic, and civic perspectives produces better outcomes than what results from incubators designed with a single perspective or motive.

DMZ wasn’t dependent on such a partnership for its creation, nor is it reliant on outside institutions for its expansion. Ryerson’s President, Sheldon Levy, has insured that DMZ has the money, the space, and the personnel to pursue its objectives without the complexity, compromise, and delay entailed by partnerships with government or industry.

All of this leaves me scratching my head. Perhaps DMZ isn’t actually breaking the rules. It applies soft rigour and a purposefully broad interpretation of “digital media” in a canny effort to maintain an environment in which young entrepreneurs feel emboldened and unconstrained. It isn’t obliged to satisfy the objectives of outside institutions in its design or the operation and doesn’t dictate terms to its users. Instead it is self-consciously responsive to user feedback in the way it creates space and offers support.

Actually, I think it conforms to our research findings in most other ways, starting with executive leadership, a bricks and mortar location, an immersive experience, access to significant mentor and funding opportunities, and solid (albeit undeclared) performance metrics for the incubator and its hatchlings.

DMZ achieves its ends by unconventional means, and Ryerson is unusual in its commitment to establish and grow an incubator in prime, downtown real estate. Whether it’s the exception that proves the rule, or it’s just plain peculiar, DMZ seems to be delivering on the promise of business incubation. Perhaps this is one of the reasons Toronto was recently named the 4th best city in the world to start a business.