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Entrepreneurs are poised to drive the next major wave of economic growth, but the wider community must do more to support these creative-minded innovators, Ernst & Young said today when revealing this year’s finalists for Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year^®.

“Businesses — and countries — don’t grow by standing still,” explains Colleen McMorrow, National and Ontario Director of Entrepreneur Of The Year. “Entrepreneurial thinking empowers companies to generate new jobs, open new doors and seize new opportunities. But stakeholders — from governments to businesses to academia — must now work together to create a truly entrepreneurial ecosystem where creative-minded businesses can thrive.”

In a new global survey of entrepreneurs — Nature or nurture? — Ernst & Young uncovered that funding, people and know-how were the biggest barriers to entrepreneurial success. Among the six out of 10 respondents who experienced obstacles in their ventures, 33% called lack of funding or finance their biggest stumbling block.

McMorrow says that’s only the first issue. Entrepreneurs need improved access to credit in addition to new educational opportunities and less red tape. She also underlined better leadership from Corporate Canada, which stands to gain by building an internal spirit of entrepreneurship — or intrapreneurship — into their business model to promote innovation, creativity and fresh thinking.

“By establishing that kind of ecosystem, we can unleash limitless entrepreneurial potential,” adds McMorrow. “Entrepreneurs see opportunity where others see disruption. Even the financial crisis generated opportunities for those willing to seize them, and that bolsters the economy. But governments and corporations must renew their focus on this area to adequately support entrepreneurs.”

In April, an Ernst & Young/Financial Post survey found more than one-third of entrepreneur respondents were more optimistic about their company’s future prospects than they were just six months ago. McMorrow says that’s a positive step in the right direction.

“Entrepreneurs have not forgotten the lessons learned in leaner times. But they’re ready to look forward, and continue building on what they’ve already accomplished. With the right support from the broader community, entrepreneurs will continue to energize the economy in the months and years ahead,” says McMorrow.

The Entrepreneur Of The Year Awards celebrate the contribution and spirit of entrepreneurs everywhere. The Canadian program is in its 18th year of honouring the country’s most impressive entrepreneurs from all areas of business. Award winners are chosen based on their vision, leadership, financial success and social responsibility.

The Ontario winners will be announced at a banquet on November 2, and the overall winner will represent the region at the national banquet held in Toronto on November 23.

The 2011 Ontario finalists for Entrepreneur Of The Year:

Business-to-business products and services

Razor Suleman – I Love Rewards – Toronto – An employee-recognition solution that helps companies drive performance. Unlike traditional service award programs, it creates authentic moments of recognition that resonate with a multigenerational workforce.

Jennifer Nashmi, Victoria Sopik – Kids and Company Ltd. – Vaughan – Offers infant, toddler, preschool, kindergarten, Montessori, and after-school child-care programs at locations across Canada. Read the rest of this entry »

Ortsbo and INDYCAR have formed a multi-year partnership that makes Ortsbo.com the “Official Online Translator Service Provider” for INDYCAR and the IZOD IndyCar Series.

The official kick off of the partnership, which will allow INDYCAR’s teams, car and driver sponsors, and fans all over the world to keep pace with the premier open-wheel racing events, will be at the Honda Indy Toronto event this Saturday, July 10, in Toronto, where Ortsbo is headquartered.

Ortsbo enables real-time conversational translation in more than 50 languages and seamlessly integrates with today’s most popular social media platforms; translates e-mails on the fly with O4O (Ortsbo for Outlook) and connects with PC and Mac computers, mobile browsers and major search engine platforms.

Through Ortsbo, IZOD IndyCar Series enthusiasts around the world will be able to follow every twist and turn of the action-packed racing series and connect with their favorite drivers in their native languages.

“We look upon our relationship with Ortsbo as more than just a sponsorship,” said INDYCAR CEO Randy Bernard. “It’s a true partnership that will help us expose Indy car racing to people around the world by breaking the language barrier between the fans and their favorite drivers. It will truly connect and engage all sides of the INDYCAR community.”

Transcripts of press conferences will be made available in multiple languages for distribution to the media and indycar.com as well as social media sites, and may include drivers such as 2010 series champion Dario Franchitti, Marco Andretti, Danica Patrick and others.

Ortsbo will also host online INDYCAR Live and Global Events, similar to recent, world-record breaking Live and Global events with KISS band members Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley, and NBA MVP Steve Nash. These question and answer sessions between IZOD IndyCar Series drivers and fans will be made available in up to 53 languages.

In addition, Ortsbo will provide O4O (Ortsbo for Outlook) services to INDYCAR. Ortsbo for Outlook is a seamless add-on for Microsoft Outlook™ that automatically translates e-mails without any copying or pasting. IndyCar’s official website will also be translated into three languages – Portugeuse, Spanish and Mandarin Chinese.

“Racing fans from all over the globe can now interact with some of the world’s best drivers in a way they haven’t been able to before,” said David Lucatch, president of Ortsbo. “Ortsbo translates text automatically, eliminating the typically tedious and inefficient translation process of other services.”

Ortsbo, the free, real-time chat translator, integrates with 13 of the most popular social media platforms, including Windows Live Messenger, Facebook, Google Talk, Yahoo! Messenger, iChat and AIM to allow users to instantly send and receive messages in 53 languages.

Showcase has ordered nine more episodes of the supernatural drama series Lost Girl, which is currently in production for Season 2. The new season is scheduled to premiere on Sunday, September 4th at 9pm ET. This brings the ordered episode total up to an unprecedented 22 episodes, and US station SyFy acquired seasons one and two this past May.

In addition to the above news, Comic-Con fans are in for a treat as Lost Girl succubus, Bo (played by Anna Silk) leads a panel discussion at the highly regarded event along with Emmanuelle Vaugier who stars as “The Morrigan”, the leader of the Dark Fae. Joining Anna and Emmanuelle on Friday, July 22 at 7:30pm room 24 ABC are Executive Producer Jay Firestone (Prodigy Pictures) and Creator, Michelle Lovretta. A limited edition of the Lost Girl comic book, a prequel to the series, will be given out at this year’s Comic-Con panel.

Season one of Lost Girl premiered on Showcase in September 2010 with record-breaking audience numbers and continued to draw viewers in each week. During its run in Fall 2010, the series ranked number one on the channel for adults 25-54 and was the top scripted series across all specialty channels.

Produced by Prodigy Pictures, Lost Girl centers around Bo, who, raised by human parents, had no reason to believe she was anything other than the girl next door — until she “drained” her first boyfriend to death.

Bo has since hit the road alone and afraid. She discovers she is one of the Fae, creatures of legend and folklore, who pass as humans while feeding off them in secret, as they have for millennia. She is faced with choosing an allegiance between the Dark or Light Fae clans. Bo decides to take the middle path between humans and the Fae while embarking on a personal mission to unlock the secrets of her origin, protecting humans along the way.

Lost Girl co-stars Kris Holden-Ried as Dyson, a shape-shifting Fae, homicide detective and Bo’s love interest; Ksenia Solo as Kenzi, Bo’s human confidante and street-smart survivor; Zoie Palmer as Lauren, a human doctor who competes for Bo’s heart; Rick Howland as Trick, the mysterious owner and bartender at The Dal Riata tavern, with a secretive past that is yet to be unlocked, and K.C. Collins as Hale, a handsome male “Siren” who is the eternal bachelor, ultimate wingman and Dyson’s partner on the force.

Richmond’s Point Grey digital camera technology company and AMD recently conducted a joint demonstration of uncompressed streaming HD video across USB 3.0 during AMD’s A-Series APU official launch event, held last month in Seattle.

The AMD A-Series APU-based platforms are the first to utilize the A75 and A70M FCH chipsets in desktop and mobile, respectively. The A75 and A70M FCH are the first certified chipsets to integrate SuperSpeed USB (USB 3.0) into their core logic. The live demonstration showcased the performance benefits of USB 3.0 by streaming uncompressed high definition (HD) 1080p60 video from Point Grey’s Flea3 digital video camera to an AMD Fusion A-Series-based laptop computer. USB 3.0 offers ten times the bandwidth of USB 2.0, full duplex and asynchronous operation, and increased power delivery.

“We are pleased to have had the opportunity to team up with AMD to demonstrate the benefits of USB 3.0,” says Michael Gibbons, Product Marketing Manager at Point Grey. “Point Grey demonstrated the world’s first SuperSpeed USB camera in September 2009. Since then we have witnessed widespread adoption of USB 3.0 in consumer devices and a huge groundswell of interest from both industrial and prosumer customers. Desktop and notebook computers equipped with the new AMD A-Series APUs will enable users to build high-performance and cost-effective imaging systems.”

“The AMD Fusion A-Series APUs when paired with the A75 or A70M FCH chipsets provide customers with immediate and easy access to SuperSpeed USB’s impressive bandwidth,” says Godfrey Cheng, Director of AMD’s Client Technology Unit. “USB 3.0 enables the use of HD 1080p cameras, which means a new level of realism for video conferencing and other forms of tele-presence. Using Point Grey’s Flea3 we were able to give users insight into some of the other applications that are possible with SuperSpeed USB in addition to the high-speed data transfers with external storage devices that we have seen so far.”

Developing Canada’s economy and helping Canadians train for better jobs are priorities for the Government. This is why the Government is taking action to address skills shortages so Canadians can train for jobs in a changing economy. Currently Canada’s economic recovery is threatened by a lack of information among employers and workers for the skills needed in the workforce.

The Honourable Diane Finley, Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development Canada, today announced that the Government is developing a new, proactive approach to coordinate the information job seekers will need to find the employers who are hiring.

“Better information will help Canadians find jobs and make the right learning and career choices”, said Minister Finley. “Canadians need colleges and universities, business, labour and governments to all work together to ensure that our workforce develops a broad and diverse set of skills to be highly productive and to allow them to adapt to new technologies, innovations and new challenges.”

The Government is launching an approach that will gather critical information and make it available through the Working in Canada website so that Canadians have a clearer picture of who in Canada is hiring and the skills that are needed.

Right now there are significant shortages in many key industries including healthcare, IT and skilled trades, but as more industries take part in this new information sharing strategy the list of employers seeking skilled workers will continue to grow.

“Many of our members have told us that skills and training top their list of priorities. Having the right people is critical to their competitiveness and to their very survival. Canada has a skills shortage problem well on its way to becoming a crisis. We don’t want to face a future where employers can’t fill positions because there aren’t enough qualified workers,” stated Perrin Beatty, President and CEO of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. He added: “We welcome any initiative by the government to address skills-related challenges and opportunities. Meeting these challenges and improving the competitiveness of our nation is vital for both our businesses and Canadian workers.” Read the rest of this entry »

The Winnipeg Film Group (WFG) will be able to upgrade its equipment, thanks to support from the Government of Canada. This was announced today by Rod Bruinooge, Member of Parliament (Winnipeg South), on behalf of the Honourable James Moore, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages.

The funding will enable the WFG to purchase a suite of digital support equipment, including a specialized computer system and digital editing software. These enhancements will increase the WFG’s capacity to create jobs and support the training of new artists in Manitoba.

“Our Government received a strong mandate from Canadians to invest in important projects like those of the Winnipeg Film Group,” said Minister Moore. “By supporting these activities, our Government is delivering on its commitment to strengthen our the local economy and support arts, culture, and heritage.”

“The Winnipeg Film Group is a key resource for Winnipeg- and Manitoba-based independent filmmakers and video artists because it offers resources and support for training, and creates jobs for residents of Winnipeg,” said Mr. Bruinooge. “This organization provides a valuable service to our community and makes a vital contribution to the city’s economy and cultural life.”

“The Government’s contribution towards our digital equipment will help ensure that Manitobans continue to have access to modern digital tools in the production and presentation of locally created works in film and video,” said Cecilia Araneda, Executive Director of the WFG. “This investment will have an important impact on the development of a new generation of Manitoba directors.”

The WFG, founded in 1974, is an artist-run organization dedicated to promoting the art of cinema. They serve as a resource for Manitoba filmmakers and video artists and provide access to affordable training, mentorship, production funding, experimentation opportunities, production and post-production equipment and facilities, and local, national and international programming and distribution.

The Government of Canada has provided funding of $50,000 through the Canada Cultural Spaces Fund of the Department of Canadian Heritage. This program seeks to improve physical conditions for artistic creativity and arts presentation or exhibition. It is also designed to increase access for Canadians to performing, visual, and media arts, and to museum collections and heritage displays.

As announced earlier this year, the CMPA negotiated a Terms of Trade agreement that came into effect on June 1st, with the exception of certain parts related to the financing of programs, which will come into force as of August 1, 2011. Please see section 13 for specifics relating to the timing of implementation of the various elements of the agreement.  The Association will be visiting cities across the country to present Information Sessions and Workshops for those interested in learning more about the new agreement. If you are interested in attending, please contact Katie Jeffs to find out more, or you can register now online.

A PDF copy of the Terms of Trade agreement is available online; note that while Corus signed a separate Terms of Trade agreement, it contains no substantive differences from the agreement signed with the other broadcasters.

Announced Information Sessions (more to be decided)

• Calgary (+ Edmonton teleconference) – July 20th
• Vancouver – July 21st
• Winnipeg – July 26th
• Toronto – July 28th
• Halifax – August 4th
• Montreal – August 5th

The CMPA has also put out a Request for Proposals (PDF) in regards to accepting submissions from interested parties interested in to carry out, on a limited-term contract basis, the management and delivery of either one, or both, of the following event components for Prime Time Ottawa 2012:

1. Sponsorship Solicitation and Administration
2. Program Development and Execution

The deadline to reply to the RFP is August 1, 2011. The Project Authourity is Marc Seguin, Senior Vice President, Canadian Media Production Association. Mr. Seguin can be reached at 613.233.1444 extension 223 or 800.656.7440 extension 223 or via email.

Kinjoe, a new Vancouver-based startup, today announced the release of its new web and mobile social network available as a free public beta for residents of B.C.

Kinjoe is designed to solve one of the major issues of big-city living, where many people feel alone and anonymous despite being surrounded by millions of people. Vancouver is particularly afflicted by this phenomenon: a 2010 Angus Reid poll revealed that Vancouverites were among the loneliest city-dwellers in Canada, with only 69 per cent feeling well-connected socially.

Unlike Facebook, which only connects people with friends or family, Kinjoe enables people to expand their social network by making new, real-life friends who live within 20 minutes’ walking distance and share the same interests. After connecting online, it’s easy to get together offline to participate in activities that match your interests.

“Ask anyone and they will tell you that Vancouver is a difficult city to make new friends in,” said Emir Aboulhosn, Kinjoe founder and CEO. “Kinjoe takes away the awkwardness and difficulty in finding people who share your interests and live nearby.”

Kaishin Chu, a Yaletown resident and owner of DashOfFood.com, says, “The idea of Kinjoe really interested me because I finally had a tool to help me expand my own social network with real people in my neighbourhood, to help gain back some sense of community that is lacking these days.” Kaishin continued, “I was able to co-organize a game of bocce ball with a fellow neighbourhood resident in a park nearby. I got to meet some great new people and share a fun experience.”

During the pre-launch phase, Kinjoe teamed up with Blenz Coffee in Yaletown to promote the network locally. The partnership resulted in 500 new users from the Yaletown area, and based on the early success, Blenz will now be promoting Kinjoe in its stores throughout B.C. Kinjoe will be rolling out to cities across Canada and the USA later this year.

“Blenz Coffee is proud to support Kinjoe and we’re excited to introduce it to our customers throughout B.C.,” said George Moen, President of Blenz Coffee Co. “Finally, someone is using technology to combat isolation instead of contributing to it.”

Kinjoe features include:

• Browse–able profiles and interests of people who live within 20 minutes of each other.

• A “Me Too!” feature to show interest in an idea or simple stay updated on a discussion.

• A ‘meetup’ feature that allows users to suggest activities that anyone within a 20-minute walk can join.

• Instant polls that allow users to canvass their neighbourhood’s opinion on an issue, place or event.

• A ‘Recommended Friends’ feature that allows people who share similar interests and live close by to find each other.

Kinjoe respects safety and privacy, and never reveals home or email addresses. Users control the information that is displayed to others in their neighbourhood.

Info-Tech Research Group’s recently published Application Development Tools Vendor Landscape report ranks ComponentOne (USA) and Infragistics (USA) as market Champions. Telerik (USA, office in Winnipeg) and DevExpress (USA) are recognized as Innovators in the market while Janus Systems (Panama) is noted as a price effective pillar in the desktop space.??

“Getting more done in less time while staying in touch with the leading software trends is crucial to any business,” said Randy Hearn, senior analyst with Info-Tech Research Group. “Vendors who offer a single suite of tools capable of performing in the big three, desktop, web and mobile, are your best bet to stay abreast of ever evolving software trends and business demands.”

With over twenty-three years of experience, ComponentOne offers the most complete suite of tools and components covering all three major platforms (desktop, mobile and web) pushing them ahead of the pack as the leading Champion in the Vendor Landscape.

Infragistics’ inclusion of automated UI testing, report writing, support for HTML5 and platform independent visual designers landed them in the Champion category as well. Their price point is slightly higher than the competitors initially, but ROI increases over time due to lower renewal costs.

Organizations looking for a low cost desktop application solution should consider Janus Systems according to the report. Janus’ low price point earned them the ‘Overall Value Award,’ but unlike the other vendors, their focus is primarily on the desktop space and they lack the advanced features of their competitors in web and mobile.

DevExpress and Telerik are both considered vendors to watch in the application development space. Despite being relatively young, they are both considered Innovators by Info-Tech Research Group. Telerik provides a complete set of tools that, according to the report, are among the best available in the market. DevExpress’ dedication to exceeding every developer’s expectations seems to be working. The report quotes one developer as saying, “DevExpress has the sexiest looking controls in any browser even with the standard theme.”

A comprehensive study of Canadian industry commercialization practices and the effectiveness of various support programs will be undertaken shortly by Canada’s largest high-tech business organization, supported by partners in the Industry, the Public Sector and the Academia.

The Canadian Advanced Technology Alliance (CATA) is working with the University of Waterloo (UofW) and the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT), with funding support from the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC), the Export Development Canada (EDC), the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation (MRI) and the Sustainable Chemistry Alliance (SCA) and in partnership with the Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE), the Office of Small and Medium Enterprises of Public Works Canada (PWGSC- OSME), the Canadian Chamber of Commerce (CCC), the Conference Board of Canada (CBoC), ACCT Canada, Springboard West (SBW), the Centre of Excellence in Energy Efficiency (C3E), the Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters (CME), BioTec Canada and the Rx&D (Pharma) associations.

While there is no doubt that Canada is doing well in matters of academic research, concern has arisen that the translation of this research into ‘bankable commerce’ is lagging. The performance of Canadian firms in commercializing innovation is a more important economic factor than quantity of innovation, if a large percent of innovations are left sterile in the labs or do not make their ways into tangible economic benefits, according to study director Dr. Sorin Cohn, who stated that “there is a perception that Canada is not doing so well when it comes to commercializing its products, services and processes into the global marketplace. Canada is a nation of SMEs, with over 99.8% of the more than 1 million companies in Canada having fewer than 500 employees, and the SMEs need better ways and means to enhance their positions in the global marketplace.”

CATA and its partners are urging enterprises and organizations to take an active part in this survey in order to acquire a meaningful understanding of what works and what does not for Canadian companies in matters of commercialization. The results will help Canadian executives — in Industry as well as in Government — to benchmark their organizations’ success in commercialization of innovation and to develop better practices and programs for ensuring competitiveness on the global scale.

“This is unique research into how companies bring products and services to market in the face of global competition,” said Paul Day, VP of the Information Communications Technology sector at Export Development Canada. “We hope to use the findings to understand how we can better serve the needs of innovative Canadian companies as they pursue International Trade.”

The study is starting with a survey of thousands of small, medium and large size enterprises throughout Canada. The survey addresses questions pertaining to product, service and process innovations that have been commercialized in the past 5 years, the strategies and cooperating arrangements pursued to achieve effective commercialization, the factors for success, the problems and obstacles encountered , the Federal, provincial or municipal programs that were used and were most effective in aiding commercialization, the financial aspects of commercialization, the relevant intellectual property issues and the roles played by lead customers and/or “anchor” companies in achieving successful commercialization of innovations.