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27th October 2010

Digital Media Production Program Looking For Applicants

CMPAApply now for this great opportunity through the Canadian Media Production Association:

The Digital Media Production Program offers participants the opportunity to gain work experience in the film, television and interactive media production industry. Funded by the Government of Canada’s Career Focus Program, the Digital Media Production Program emphasizes administration, management and technical skills in today’s rapidly changing knowledge economy in the digital world.

Deadline: November 29, 2010
Spots Available: 40
Duration of Placement: 24 weeks
Intern Stipend: $14,000 (minimum);
$10,000 from the Program and minimum $4,000 from mentor
Age: 15 – 30. Must be post-secondary graduate.

Intern Eligibility

*Open to Canadian citizens or permanent residents legally entitled to work in Canada
*Must be between the ages of 15 and 30 (inclusive) at time of application
*Must be unemployed or under-employed at the time of application
*Must be a post-secondary graduate
*Must be out of school
*Must not be receiving Employment Insurance (EI) benefits
*Must NOT have previously participated in a program sponsored by the federal government’s Youth Employment Strategy
*Cannot be an employee, family member, or current CFTPA participant of the mentor company with whom he/she is submitting a joint application
*Applicants should note that the intern MUST become an employee of the mentor company for the duration of the placement.

Mentor Eligibility

*An eligible member of the Canadian Media Production Association (CMPA) at the time of application. Eligible companies must be CMPA members and fall under one of the following CMPA categories: general member, service producer, interactive media, broadcaster affiliate or publicly traded
*The mentor company will be responsible for providing career assistance, feedback, guidance during, and debriefing following the completion of the placement
*The mentor company must contribute a minimum of $4,000 toward the participant stipend
*A mentor applicant cannot be an employer, family member, or current CFTPA mentor of the participant whom he/she is submitting a joint application
*Applicants should note that the intern MUST become an employee of the mentor company for the duration of the placement.

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20th October 2010

Entrepreneurial Leaders Unite For Inaugural Innovation Summit

MaRSAs a global hub for entrepreneurial success stories, Toronto will be host to the first MaRS Innovation Summit. Confirmed participants include entrepreneurs and thought leaders from Canada, Israel and the United States who are all actively engaged in financing, marketing and supporting innovation and start-ups in the knowledge economy.

This one-day event uniting industry leaders with innovative entrepreneurs will take place on Thursday, October 28, 2010 at the MaRS Collaboration Centre, 101 College Street.

The day of discussion and networking will be co-hosted by Dr. Raphael Hofstein, PhD, of MaRS Innovation and The Hon. Jerry Grafstein, QC, of The Toronto Institute of Public Policy.

Special keynote presentations by:

Gordon Nixon, President, Royal Bank of Canada
John Kunschner, Senior Partner and Managing Director, Landmark Ventures
Dr. Michael S. Perry, Venture Partner, Bay City Capital; President and Chief Medical Officer, Poniard Pharmaceuticals
The Hon. Glenn Murray, Ministry of Research and Innovation, Province of Ontario

Panel discussions and showcases include:

Successful Start-Ups: Successful Job Creators Tell Their Story
New Pharmaceutical and Medical Devices Opportunities
Modern Approaches to Technology Transfer
Three Canadian Start-Up Case Studies

Panel discussions and showcases will feature presentations by:

Loudon Owen, Managing Partner, McLean Watson Capital
Jane Harvey, President, Jane Harvey Lawyers
Stuart MacDonald, President and CEO, Tripharbour; Founder, Expedia.ca
Peter van der Grinten, General Manager US/Canada, dbMotion
Ram Liebenthal, VP Marketing & Sales, Early Sense: Innovation Patient Technology
Paul Chipperton, CEO, Profound Medical Inc
Yigal Erlich, CEO, Yozma Ventures
Nissim Darvish, CEO, Orbimed
Yaakov Michlin, President and CEO, Yissum, Hebrew University
Jonathan Levy, Consul for Economic Affairs and Trade Commissioner, Government of Israel, Economic Mission to Canada
Dr. Ted Sargent, Xagenic
Michael Kraft, Chairman and CEO, Lingo Media
Amar Varma, President and Co-Founder, Xtreme Labs, Xtreme Venture Partners
S. Morry Blumenfeld, Chief Investment Officer, MediTech Partners
John Varghese, Managing Partner, VentureLink Group of Funds
Mark Usher, Partner, Wellington Financial LP

“The goal of our inaugural MaRS Innovation Summit is to bring together dynamic entrepreneurs with industry innovators and thought leaders of today, as we examine the aspects of economic growth in tangible terms,” says Dr. Hofstein, PhD.

Registration is open to the public and is expected to attract leaders and entrepreneurs on the front lines of economic growth, along with those behind the scenes as investors, innovators, deal-makers, deal-brokers and agents of change.

“We anticipate a prosperous day of networking and sharing ideas as we showcase start-ups in the bio-tech, pharma and hi-tech industry,” states The Hon. Jerry Grafstein, QC. “It will be a practical guide for venture capitalists and start-up entrepreneurs alike to navigate their way to capital and markets in order to create jobs in the knowledge economy that knows no borders.”

MaRS Innovation Summit is a collaborative partnership between MaRS Innovation, The Toronto Institute of Public Policy, MaRS Discovery District and Yissum Technology Transfer.

MaRS Innovation Summit 2010 appreciates the generous support of its many sponsors. A special thank you to Summit Sponsors Rogers Communications and Minden Gross LLP.

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18th October 2010

New Canadian Games Conference To Debut In May 2011

Canadian Games Conference Leading Victoria event organizer Reboot Communications has just announced a new wholly-owned event, the Canadian Games Conference, debuting in Vancouver in May 2011 alongside the market-leading Canadian Videogame Awards.

This newly branded event will offer cutting-edge keynotes, lecture and roundtable content from local, national, and international game creators, focusing on core topics like game design and programming alongside emerging smartphone and social game areas. It will also include a bustling reboot communicationsexpo floor.

In addition, the 2011 Canadian Games Conference is also the first-ever event to feature a special ‘Best Of GDC’ content track, including some of the best speakers and topics from the worldwide Game Developers Conferences®.

This unique agreement for the ‘Best Of GDC’ content at the Canadian Games Conference evolves a partnership built around the former Game Developers Conference Canada™ event, which the Canadian Games Conference replaces and expands on. Reboot also ran the popular Vancouver International Game Summit from 2006 to 2008.

GDC-Expo FloorReboot Communications CEO Greg Spievak commented of the announcement: “Our conference efforts in the game space have always been for the industry, by the industry. Our Canadian Games Conference advisory board is made of key representatives from across the country – and we expect the same vibrant growth and stimulating sessions that have defined our game events for the past four years.”

The UBM TechWeb Game Network’s global brand director Simon Carless added: “We’re delighted to continue working with Reboot and the Canadian game industry by contributing the ‘Best Of GDC’ track to the Canadian Games Conference – and look forward to supporting the conference and awards as one of the leading events in this vibrant space.”

The official dates for the Canadian Games Conference will be May 19-20th, 2011 at the Vancouver Conference Centre. Once again, the show will be preceded on May 18th by the 2nd Annual Canadian Videogame Awards, also produced by Reboot Communications in conjunction with Greedy Productions and DigiBC.

Keynotes and session topics for the Canadian Games Conference will be announced on the website soon.

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14th October 2010

The Survey Says Ideas Are Easy But Financing Is A Challenge For Canadian Entrepreneurs

intuitFor most Canadians, coming up with an idea for a successful small business is the easy part. Finding the money to get started is what’s hard. Nearly 70 per cent of Canadians believe the idea is easy, but even more, 72 per cent, say they’re concerned about finding start up money.

These are among the findings of a second Canada-wide survey commissioned by Intuit Inc., maker of QuickBooks, to determine Canadians’ attitudes around entrepreneurship. The latest effort coincides with the start of Canada’s Small Business Week 2010.

Several key motivators were cited by poll respondents who were interested in starting a small business:

– A desire to no longer work for someone else (43 per cent)
– Control of their own destiny – (43 per cent)
– A means to a better quality of life – (35 per cent – up six points
from February)
– Starting something new – (33 per cent – up nine points from February)

But they’re concerned with the challenges of getting started. These include

– Finding the money for start-up costs – (72 per cent)
– Convincing lenders that they’re a good risk – (71 per cent)
– Navigating the tax and finance requirements – (61 per cent)

HST is also a big factor in Ontario and British Columbia. Half of those surveyed in those provinces believe it will do more to discourage people from starting a business, while only five per cent say it would have a positive impact. This may be why a slight majority of Canadians (51 per cent) believe it’s harder to start a business today compared to a decade ago.

Younger Canadians seem more optimistic about starting a business. Forty-two per cent of respondents between the ages of 18-34 say it’s more difficult to start a business today compared to 61 per cent of Canadians age 55 and over.

Despite this, more than one third of all respondents say they are interested in starting their own business, and 43 per cent of those say they plan to do that within the next two years.

“There’s no shortage of reasons for Canadians to stifle entrepreneurial pursuits but, we’ve found that simply isn’t happening,” said Barb Anderson, Intuit’s product marketing leader for financial management software. “The market uncertainty, grim headlines and general anxiety of the past six months haven’t affected the entrepreneurial drive.” Read the rest of this entry »

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13th October 2010

Solutions 2 Go COO Named By Profit Magazine As Top Female Entrepreneur

ProfitThe women of the PROFIT W100 have been through it all—including a nasty recession—and have honed their business skills in the process to come out the other side as formidable business leaders. Take Gabrielle Chevalier of Mississauga, Ont.–based Solutions 2 Go Inc., a video game distribution firm that has grown to become the biggest in North America. The grandmother of four has had her share of challenges in this competitive arena, but still has ambitions to Gabrielle Chevaliergrow sales from $750 million to $1 billion company—and is beginning to look beyond the games market.

Top-ranked Chevalier is the subject of just one of several stories of successful women entrepreneurs recounted in the pages of the November 2010 issue of PROFIT magazine. All told, the W100 firms generated an impressive $2.2 billion in revenue and provided the equivalent of 10,792 full-time jobs. Over the past three years, their businesses have grown by an average of 115%. A full 95% turned an operating profit last year—impressive numbers that illustrate the determination, skill and business savvy of the 2010 W100. Read the rest of this entry »

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12th October 2010

Grow Your Business Smarts

Wired WomanJoin Wired Woman and four fantastic, experienced guest speakers for an evening of interactive roundtable discussions focusing on issues facing technology start-ups. At Growing Your Business: Tips for Entrepreneurs, topics will be focused on financing, legal issues and knowing your market. The evening will conclude with a couple of start-up success stories to finish off the night so you will leave with lots of energy and momentum to take with you into your business.

Date: Monday, November 1, 2010
Time: 6:00pm – 9:00pm
Place: ING Direct Café 466 Howe Street, Vancouver
Cost: $35 for members and $40 for non-members (but membership is free)

Speakers and Topics:

Bob de Witt, New Ventures BC on financing your business
Valerie Mann, Lawson Lundell LLP on legal issues for the entrepreneur
Bill Tam, CEO in Residence (Vancouver) on knowing and understanding your market
Jeanette Jackson, CEO , Light-Based Technologies an entrepreneural success story

kpmgKPMG has released its KPMG App for iPad on the App Store. This free app was developed in response to KPMG clients’ desire for faster and easier access to the KPMG’s insight and thought leadership while on-the-go.

The new KPMG App for iPad hosts hundreds of articles, publications, surveys and studies, providing instant and interactive access to a robust library of insightful business thought leadership covering a wide range of topics including Industry, Advisory, Tax and Audit. Every week, new global publications will be added to the app, so users will always find something new, current and relevant. Read the rest of this entry »

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12th October 2010

One Big Country Four Great Events

Winnitron 1000If you’re looking for a game jam, the Winnitron 1000 will be taking place in Winnipeg at the New Media Manitoba office, 1000 Waverly Street (back entrance) beginning on Friday, October 22nd and running until Sunday, October 24th. The jam’s web page needs updating with finalized date and location, but you can register for the jam. You can also get more information about the jam on Infinite Ammo’s blog.

merging media conferenceThere is still a bit of time to get your Masterclass submissions in for Merging Media. The deadline is October 15th, so if you want to attend what promises to be a great event led by international transmedia specialist Anita Ondine-Smith, head over to the registration page to check out the eligibility guidelines.

The Merging+Media Masterclass and Workshops will bring together media producers who have cross-media projects and concepts in development, to fine-tune their cross-media proposals and business plans. The small group sessions mentored by a group of international and local industry professionals will ensure access to high level advice and attention.

All BC participants are eligible to pitch for the Merging+Media BC Film Award of $10,000 if they have a cross-media idea in hand, plus the top five pitches will receive a pass to Whistler Summit 2010 (formerly known as the Whistler Filmmaker Forum), which will take place during the Whistler Film Festival, December 1st – 5th. The Top Five will have the opportunity to pitch at the Merging+Media Pitch Session during the Summit to an International Panel.

Tickets for Toronto’s GamerCamp GamerCamp are now on sale. Taking place on November 13th at the Toronto Underground Cinema and 14th at the School of Design at George Brown College, GamerCamp is a celebration of the art, creativity and fun of video games, and with an offering of over 50 games and 30 guest speakers, GamerCamp offers a great return on investment with tickets for the entire event priced at only $30.00 each.

Attendees will have the opportunity to take part in demo and concept talks from developers with a property currently in development, get in on some arcade action, as well as screen short films whose focus is on games and party the night away at the 1UP Bash with Anamanaguchi and Star Scream (tickets for the Bash are sold separately).

Anomaly H20Meanwhile, back in Vancouver, Anomaly H2O has confirmed the addition of a new keynote session, Starcraft 2 “The Making of Kerrigan”, presented by Blizzard Entertainment’s Senior LookDev Artist, Steven Chen, and Cinematic Character Supervisor, Xin Wang.

Other featured artists include: Anna Fehr, Cesar Rizo, Craig Mullins, Daryl Mandryk, Jake Collinge, Jason Stokes, Jesse Turner, Marco Menco, Matthew Barrett, Richard Anderson, Thomas Scholes, Tran Nguyen and Ty Shelton.

Anomaly H2O, an event which melds together a dynamic showcase of talented 2D/3D artists from across North America, an art workshop and a party is an evening of shared inspiration and creativity. This year’s event will take place on October 30th at the Vancouver Aquarium. Tickets are $65.00 each ($55.00 for students) and include:

* Admission to Anomaly presentations and party
* One year CGmovement membership
* Raffle ticket for door prizes
* Complimentary event t-shirt
* Snacks throughout the event

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10th October 2010

Voices.com Releases Educational and Interactive Webinars

voicesVoices.com has released its newest educational offering, Voices.com Webinars. Webinars produced by Voices.com feature top voice over consultants and industry professionals with how-to sessions in one convenient place.

Stephanie Ciccarelli, co-founder/CMO, hosts the interactive webinars and Scott Lumley, Job Postings Manager, moderates the much anticipated virtual events. The company’s webinar series offers free on-going training for those new to voice overs or those looking to learn more about the industry and about Voices.com. The hour long webinars are designed to educate, entertain and engage the listener, allowing them to participate live during the event and ask questions of the experts on the line.

‘I’ve found our webinars to be incredibly useful and informative for our subscribers and even our staff. It seems like every time we get someone to join us and share their knowledge, I learn something new,” Scott Lumley says. “We’ve had people join our webinars and freely share so much information that it becomes a problem trying to remember it all. That’s why we provide audio recordings of the webinar material.’’

Broken into two parts, participants receive a half hour filled with pearls of wisdom from industry professionals followed by a half hour question and answer period. Registered users of Voices.com and their fans on Facebook are informed of these opportunities in advance and can call in to participate on the live webinar. Audio recordings of the webinar are then emailed to those who registered to enjoy again at their convenience.

An archive of all free webinars has been made available and is frequently updated for anyone who can not make it to the live events. Mobile users can subscribe to Voices.com’s webinars via iTunes.

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8th October 2010

Communitech Hub Opens For Business

communitechLess than a year after provincial support for a major digital media innovation centre was announced, The Communitech Hub has officially opened for business, ready to foster the next-generation of digital media innovation in Ontario.

The Hub, which occupies 30,000 square feet of a renovated downtown Kitchener Tannery building, is now home to start-up companies, small-medium enterprises, and global multi-nationals all aiming to accelerate the pace of development of new ideas and products in the digital media sector. Leaders from business, government, and community organizations gathered at The Communitech Hub today to recognize the expansive effort that has now created a leading-edge facility customized to meet the needs of its occupants.

The Hub grand opening

Iain Klugman, Communitech, Tom Jenkins, Open Text, and Kevin Tuer, CDMN at The Hub grand opening

“Ontario has a tremendous legacy of innovation in digital media and ICT, and this sector is exploding around the world. The Communitech Hub will help launch more made-in-Ontario companies, create good jobs and better lives for families,” said Glen Murray, Minister of Research and Innovation.

The Communitech Hub will not only serve as a collaboration centre for resident companies, but will also link to other digital media centres across Canada as part of the Canadian Digital Media Network (CDMN). The CDMN headquarters reside in The Hub along with Communitech offices.

“Creating this facility has been a collaborative effort between community organizations, industry, all levels of government and the community itself, making this a truly remarkable achievement,” said Iain Klugman, President and CEO of Communitech.

Founding partner companies who have contributed to the establishment of The Communitech Hub include: Canada’s largest software company Open Text Corporation; leading-edge visual technologies company Christie Digital Systems Canada Inc.; and high-tech heavyweight Research In Motion (RIM). The Communitech Hub — a $100 million project — was created with contributions from the provincial government, the federal government, the City of Kitchener, and private industry.

“Open Text and the other founding industry partners are committed to innovation; The Communitech Hub will enable R&D projects that might not have been possible without this unique environment,” said Tom Jenkins, Executive Chairman & Chief Strategy Officer at Open Text, and Chair of the CDMN.

Renovating the 30,000 square foot space in the former Tannery building and transforming it into a state-of-the-art facility for digital innovation was no small undertaking, given the size and scope of the project. The facility features unique amenities such as a four-sided 3D ‘immersive environment’ provided by Christie Digital powered by Christie’s 3D stereoscopic projectors, enabling display of vast amounts of data. The Hub has an open concept area for the established companies to brainstorm and collaborate, and private office areas for entrepreneurs to ‘incubate’ ideas in close proximity to tools and services they need to succeed. Companies have access to a suite of expert resources including entrepreneurs in residence, project manager support, and marketing & branding expertise.

“This facility is a dream come true for many of the people who celebrated The Communitech Hub opening today who can now envision the innovative technologies that will undoubtedly have their start in this facility,” said Kevin Tuer, VP Digital Media of Communitech and CDMN Managing Director.

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5th October 2010

Apply Now For Melting Silos Initiative

melting silosPraxis Centre for Screenwriters and Agentic Communications are inviting you to participate in the second iteration of the “Melting Silos” initiative in partnership with Telefilm, the National Film Board and BC Film.

The goal of the Melting Silos Program is to connect local television/filmmaking and digital media talent in a way that educates both parties and facilitates the development of cross-platform project materials to be pitch ready for funding.

Melting Silos is seeking a small group of accomplished media content producers who would like to produce narrative based work with technical and creative support from a group of professionals in their opposing “silo”.

Filmmakers need not have new media skills, but a curiosity and desire to dive into this world with a creative idea. Digital Media Developers need not have story writing/telling expertise but possess a strong understanding of the interactive medium and have production proficiency.

Melting Silos is inviting you to submit a proposal via their online application in order to be considered for development. Deadline for application is October 15th, 2010

You can either apply with a concept and if selected have us match you with a suitable partner, or if you have an established relationship with a partner company please indicate on the application form.

Here are some key points of the Melting Silos Program:

* What sets Melting Silos apart from other workshops is the attention each project receives. It is not simply a high level feedback session. Your project is one of a very few that is being focused on during an intensive, intimate, collaborative mind-hive of creative and technical professionals dedicated to crafting better interactive experiences for their audiences. The subject matter experts are sought and recruited specifically for what they can bring to the projects being incubated using our agile programming methodology. This is only possible by leveraging the extensive networks of all three Melting Silos producers. Networks built out and maintained from our longevity of focus in the transmedia/cross-platform space Read the rest of this entry »

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