Mississauga Technology Association

Hey All…

My final posting is going to talk about the Mississauga Technology Association…..

The MTA provides a base for collaboration and networking between businesses, goverment and academia; focuses on enhancing economic and technological growth in the municpality. Members represent users and suppliers of technology from several industry, goverment, academic and professional sectors.  Moreover, the association has more than one hundred companies and hosts numerous events (i.e luncheon, guest speakers, seminars etc) which provides excellent networking opportunities for members.  Finally, it should be noted that the MTA is critical to the overall development and innovation of the Mississauga ICT cluster.  This is only the beginning – I hypothesize that in the near future, the MTA is going to start branching out by hosting events and seminars centered around biotechnology seeing as how there’s rapid growth in this area especially in the Mississauga region.

MTA’s primary objectives:

To provide opportunities for communication, cooperation and networking among members firms

To provide a series of technology-focused events for its members and the technology community at large

To support the City of Mississauga in attracting technology-based companies to the area

To promote the development of university and college curriculum and research programs to enhance the application of science and technology

 http://www.mississaugatech.com/aboutus.php

I’d like to thank everybody for checking out my blog.  This has been a terrific experience and I look forward to posting over the summer….so stay tuned!

 

City of Mississauga, Microsoft hook up

Greetings!

Microsoft Canada announced last month that the City of Mississauga is deploying Microsoft software as a part of a strategic IT decision to deliver expanded services to its citizens. The municipality signed an Enterprise Agreement in 2007 which includes Microsoft SQL Server 2005 to help enable its long term vision of simplification and standardization of its application, infrastructure and service management platform.

With advanced features such as 24-hour data processing and Business Intelligence (BI) reporting tools, the SQL Server powered system is helping Mississauga consolidate its numerous databases, gain deeper business insight and deliver faster results on an enterprise-class data warehousing platform. The municipality also has plans to use the Business Process Management (BPM) and Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) capabilities of BizTalk Server 2006 R2 to help seamlessly share real-time data and business processes within its various backend systems and corporate departments.

Some commentary….

On the whole, this project signifies that Microsoft strives to help Mississauga achieve more by taking advantage of business intelligence and scalability of its application platforms like the SQL server. Now with a more manageable platform in place, Mississauga can prepare for long-term growth via enhanced technlogical service delivery to the community while simplifying and standardizing its IT infrastructure.     

     

http://www.microsoft.com/canada/media/releases/2008_02_06.mspx

Here’s another tidbit worth mentioning….

Recently announced….the city of Mississauga, with the help of Bell Mobility, has launched an innovative web portal on its municipal website that provides citizens with a virtual, self service access to city hall 24 hours a day, seven days a week.  The intitiative is called “eCity” and was created to minimize the need for citizens to travel to city hall physically in order to conduct business.

Till next time…

IW

Silicon Valley ICT – Software Cluster: Taking a closer look…

Salutations,

Did you know that software is the largest industry cluster in the Silicon Valley with more than 4,500 firms employing 8% of the region’s workforce and accounting for about a third of all venture capital investments? Well it’s true.  After browsing around I found an interesting site that gives a nice rundown of the software cluster in the Valley which includes investments, area of opportunity (both present and future) and cluster infrastructures. Ideas are realized and put into motion by support from a strong infrastructure of incubators, not-for-profit venues, technology associations and networks, S&T parks and several levels of government.  The aforementioned are the culprits in fuelling innovation while making it easier for entrepeneural start-ups to reach their potential by providing funding, advice and support.  I mean ….really… is there a better cluster than the Silicon Valley that ICT Mississauga can compare itself to? I think not…   

The software industry cluster in Silicon Valley includes companies engaged in software programming, testing and architecture as well as companies delivering IT services such as email, web-hosting, and internet services. Increasingly these two components are integrating in the form of value-added “software as a service” where the functionality of software is hosted offsite. Examples of Silicon Valley companies operating in this space include Salesforce.com, eBay and Google.

Software is embedded in the operations of most technology firms in the Valley, ranging from semiconductor design software, to the electronic games industry, software designed for the health and financial services industries, to software used to design medical devices and biomedical instruments.

Changes driving opportunities

• Faster processing at a lower price: The economics underlying the software industry, and especially Information Technology services, continue to be driven by the rapid growth in processing power predicted by Moore’s law. Because software scales easily and the cost of scaling is becoming less expensive as power increases, firms are better able to grow their customer base cheaply.
• Connectivity: High speed connections enable remote services hosting for software applications. Broadband usage is on the rise; about 30% of Bay Area residents have a high-speed connection.
• Outsourcing the IT function: IT staff, especially within large global companies, is shrinking as companies focus on their core competencies. This IT work is being outsourced to giant Lockheed Martin IT, IBM Global Services and HP Services and many other smaller and medium-sized companies.
• On-demand customization: Customer satisfaction is the highest priority. It used to be that the Independent Software Vendor developed expensive, labor-intensive customized solutions for its customers, with software delivered as a service, that functionality is now built in.

Opportunities

Large firms are consolidating as the industry matures. Two examples in the Valley are Oracle’s purchase of PeopleSoft and Symantec’s purchase of Veritas Software. Consolidation of the larger firms leaves ample room for growth especially among small, niche firms throughout the valley. Opportunity areas include:

Wireless: Wireless software applications are a big source of entrepreneurial activities, including mobile games, wireless infrastructure, and WiFi services.

Bioinformatics: software applications enable the convergence of research in the life sciences with information technologies. The California Institute for Quantitative Biomedical Research (QB3) is a cooperative effort among three UC campuses to integrate the study of quantitative sciences and biological systems at all levels of complexity. Berkeley’s Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society (CITRIS) is a new $100 million science and technology center that will focus on the application of IT to bioengineering and bio-informatics. Industry partners, including HP, SUN, Agilent, Intel and IBM, have together pledged $170 million.

Games and game development. The investment community is beginning to invest in the mobile and online games that have taken off in Asia. A big local player is Electronic Arts.

Cluster Infrastructure

SD Forum: The Software Developers Forum is a not-for-profit organization providing a venue for engineers, executives, researchers, technology leaders, and venture capitalists to exchange information on emerging technologies and best practices. More information: http://www.sdforum.org/SDForum/

San Jose Software Business cluster: An incubator for software start-ups and emerging businesses providing entrepreneurs with access to resources, a “know how” network, and shared services.
More information: http://www.sjsbc.org/

Information Technology Association of America: The ITAA is the leading trade association serving the information technology industry. It supports the health, prosperity and competitive nature of the information technology industry, advocating on legislative and regulatory issues, compiling studies and statistics, and promoting the industry nationally and internationally.
More information: http://www.itaa.org/eweb/StartPage.aspx

Software & Information Industry Association: The SIIA is the principal trade association for the software and digital content industry. SIIA provides global services in government relations, business development, corporate education and intellectual property protection to the leading companies that are setting the pace for the digital age. More information: http://www.siia.

http://www.siliconvalleyonline.org/cluster-software.html#firms

                                                        

Till next time….

I W

 

All about Toronto Technology Week…

Greetings!

Toronto Technology Week is an initiative that has been created by ITC Toronto and represents a week of various events and activities being organized by several stakeholders that are part of Toronto’s ICT community; including associations, government bodies, companies and schools. The purpose is to have one week dedicated to celebrating success within the sector, create a platform for Toronto based companies to share their story with Toronto and the world at large. 

The event may attract CIO’s, Developers, Product Managers, Venture Capitalists, Entrepreneurs, Students and those companies and individuals provide products/services to the technology industry (legal, marketing services, public relations and many more).

Want to get involved? Here’s how?

• Businesses in the information and communication technology sector are welcome to participate in the business open door program, to either showcase product/services or to speak to visitors about their company
• Research and Education institutions display special projects and/or facilities, as well as to list activities organized in connection with TTW
• Government agencies and foreign delegations are encouraged to schedule ICT-related events during the TTW; volunteers are encouraged to participate in the organization of this event and meet and mingle with colleagues in the field.

http://profectio.com/forde/2007/02/12/what-is-toronto-technology-week/

Till next time folks…

IW

                                                                                

Waterloo puts IT whiz-kids in “dormcubator”

Hey All!

The University of Waterloo is giving over one of its residence halls to “Velocity”, a new incubator where students can collaborate on Web, mobile, and digital media applications with their fellow budding tech entrepreneurs and perhaps help breathe some life back into the incubator model.  The dormcubator is a prime example of how Waterloo is distancing itself in innovation, collaborative practices and entrepeneurial thinking.  

Velocity will be housed in the 72-bed Minota Hagey dormitory on campus and will house 70 upper-level students per term who will work together on creating viable products and brushing up on their business skills, according to project leader, Sean Van Koughnett, who manages the university’s Media & Mobility Network Project. 

While working on more long-term implementations like a campus-wide IP telephony system, Van Koughnett wanted a project that would further digital media on campus but with more immediate results. He figured that many students were already working on mobile and Web applications on their own time, so why not bring them together? Said Van Koughnett: “We don’t know if something will come out of one of these teams, but having a place where everyone can help work on it might help it to happen.”

This will come in handy during the symposiums planned for the students. Not content to just bring the students together and then leave them be, Van Koughnett has arranged for a boot camp at the beginning of term where the students can meet with corporate and consulting entities, checking out recruitment possibilities and getting real-world feedback on their ideas. An end-of-the-term symposium allows the residents to present their offerings. During the term, there will be additional one-day training sessions with role model types as well.

Overall, however, the start-up consulting biz sees the project as a positive move toward improved innovation in the nation. Said Raymond Luk, founder of the Montreal-based business start-up and business consultancy Flow Consulting: “Any initiative that promotes entrepreneurship in Canada is great, because it is sorely needed. When it’s Canada versus the United States in terms of economy, growth, and innovation, if there’s one area that Canada is lacking, it’s innovation…and it makes sense for the university to encourage its students to dip their toes into entrepreneurship.”

The house will also be co-ed; the program has received about 30 per cent female applicants, according to fourth-year software engineering student and co-founder of student entrepreneurship group Impact Gaurav Jain, who has been involved with getting the project off the ground. He sees it as a valuable way to collaborate on the most cutting-edge projects. “Classwork is all about the fundamentals, but the information is often four years old, so when it comes to your pet projects you can work on the newest stuff like AJAX and PHP,” said Jain. “And with pet projects, you usually don’t have any structure, mentoring, and no help, and they never turn into a start-up…but here you can do something different and actually start a company—do something innovative.”

  source – http://www.itworldcanada.com/a/IT-Workplace/bf3e2174-eb3e-49d3-92db-062556780f3d.html

http://www.velocity.uwaterloo.ca/

Till next time..

IW

Surprised? Waterloo Named Intelligent Community of the Year 2007

Hey All….

 

 

 

Waterloo is the 2007 Intelligent Community of the Year! This is the second year Waterloo has made it to the top 7 in the prestigious international contest.  In my humble opinion, it’s no surprise that Waterloo achieved this award since the region continues to raise the bar in terms of innovation, research, entrepreneurial spirit, networking and growth of the tech industry.  Waterloo’s government has engaged actively with businesses and citizens in planning for a prosperous future.  It introduced the award winning Waterloo Information Network, and is also active in CAP (a national program that places internet access terminals in public locations).  Above all, the Waterloo community has a matchless culture of collaboration, investment, innovation and partnership development strategies.      

 

 

Here’s an excerpt from the article:

 

The ICF’s five criteria for the Intelligent Community award are based on how advanced the communities perform in deploying broadband, building a knowledge-based workforce, combining government and private-sector “digital inclusion,” fostering innovation, and marketing economic development.

Besides Research in Motion, Waterloo (population 115,000) is home to three Ontario colleges or universities and produces 10% of successful start-ups on the Toronto Stock Exchange. ICF feted Waterloo as a global model of cooperation between business, government and academia.

“The community has an extraordinary culture of collaboration and reinvestment. People in Waterloo make partnership a priority and are eager to give back to the entire community,” Zacharilla said.

http://www.networkworld.com/news/2007/052307-waterloo-intelligent-community.html

Till next time…

Idan

Waterloo’s Accelerator Helps Nurture Canada’s Next High-tech Stars!

Greetings and Salutations!

I recently came across an interesting article which discusses Waterloo’s Accelerator Centre’s achievements in nurturing the early growth of high-technology firms in Canada.  It goes without saying that the Accelerator is dedicated to helping eager entrepeneurs and businesses develop and reach their potential! The myriad of partnerships and funding that the AC has is simply staggering; the centre is backed by the goverment of Ontario, City of Waterloo, Infusion Angels Innovation Centre, Communitech, Canadian Innovation Centre and many more.

WATERLOO, Ont. (Monday, March 19, 2007) — In less than a year, the Accelerator Centre at the Waterloo Research and Technology Park has laid the groundwork for some of Canada’s high-tech stars of the future.

“It’s been a very successful time since our launch last May. We’re at 98-per-cent capacity and we have plans to expand,” says Gerry Sullivan, AC’s chief executive officer. “We provide start-up companies with access to industry experts who can help direct budding entrepreneurs through the process for launching a technology enterprise.”

The AC seeks to commercialize the innovative work of researchers and entrepreneurs. It focuses on early-stage technology enterprise issues and promising technology companies.

Bobbi Holte, director of client programs, said there are 17 start-up high-tech companies currently based at the AC. “We have a total of more than 90 people who work here every day,” she says.

As well, the AC works with innovation partners, including Communitech, Canadian Innovation Centre, Infusion Angels Innovation Centre (sponsored by Microsoft), Ontario Centres of Excellence and the National Research Council’s Industrial Research Assistance Program.

The AC’s entrepreneurship council is made up of business and technology leaders who will provide mentorship to client companies. The council offers experience in critical roles to growing an enterprise, such as financial management, investment, research and development, product development, marketing, sales and human resources.

Clients occupy one of 20 office suites in the AC’s 22,700-square-foot building. Suites range in size from as small as 250 square feet to as large as 800 square feet and include Internet access and telephones. Suite fees pay for access to meeting rooms, reception, photocopying and administrative support. The building is covered by Canada’s second-largest extensive green roof.

Typical clients will remain at the AC for one to three years and graduate when appropriate. They will either move into the Waterloo Research and Technology Park or remain within Waterloo Region. Ideally, they will maintain a connection to the AC, acting as a resource or mentor for the next generation of entrepreneurs.

The not-for-profit AC is the result of a multi-stakeholder partnership, with land and a portion of the initial operating funds provided by UW. The Government of Canada, Province of Ontario, Region of Waterloo and City of Waterloo provided the primary capital funding. Other stakeholders include the University of Guelph, Wilfrid Laurier University, Conestoga College and University of Waterloo.

http://newsrelease.uwaterloo.ca/news.php?id=4847