Insulin tops the list, but who made the money?

In the course of looking for background on Canadian Inventions, I came upon a list of the top 50 Canadian Inventions (Five-Pin Bowling is number four). This list came out of a show put on by the CBC (who else) in 2007. Following on the heels of the Greatest Canadian this show put it to all Canadians to rank our 50 greatest inventions.

I was trolling through this list and suddenly it struck me. I couldn’t identify a single company that had been created and gained worldwide prominence out of the first 15 inventions. Where was the pharmaceutical giant spawned from the development of insulin, the nutraceutical behemoth formed from Pablum? Instead I found a list of fabulous inventions which, for the most part, were opportunities not seized. Certainly Poutine has been a worldwide phenom but have we capitalized on its creation to bring untold wealth back home?

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Red Maple Leaves in the Sun by joesflickr

I just finished reading the latest report on Canada’s competitiveness (PDF) released by the Institute for Competitiveness and Prosperity. The report describes our current state in 2008 and the outlook to 2020, and it’s troubling to see that even though our economic performance is among the strongest nations, we are trailing the US by a whopping $8,800 in GDP per capita.

So what does this mean?
It means that we have opportunities to improve the value we add to our human, physical and natural resources, that will in turn contribute to our national prosperity and standard of living.

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MaRS Tenant launches anti-malarial community

Philanthropy just got easier and a lot more accessible to the public thanks to the social networking power of the Internet and a ground-breaking initiative led by our team at the McLaughlin-Rotman Centre for Global Health (MRC). And just in time for World Malaria Day this Friday, April 25th.

At MalariaEngage.org, people can enlist directly in the anti-malaria battle by contributing $10 or more to an initial choice of seven highly varied projects involving selected scientists in developing countries. Over time, new projects will replace those that reach their funding goal. The site features a discussion area where supporters can interact with researchers and each other, obtain news and photos of both funded and proposed projects, a running tally of money raised, and stories from the front lines in the war against the scourge of malaria.

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Download the report

Did you know that the first stem cell was discovered right here in Toronto in 1961 by Canadian scientists Till and McCulloch at the University of Toronto-affiliated Ontario Cancer Institute labs?

It’s a simple yet significant fact, but so many people have no idea. I know the Canadian way is to be soft-spoken and humble, but give me a break! As this multi-billion-dollar industry begins to take off, it’s time that Canadians take pride in our discovery of the first stem cell.

This was one of many facts I unearthed as I researched MaRS’ first industry report, which takes an in-depth look at the stem cell industry both here at home and globally.

And read on, because there’s more you should know…

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Insights from San Fran

I just returned from a trip to San Francisco, Menlo Park/Palo Alto, and Mountain View with fellow classmates at Harvard Business School. Our small group had a fantastic opportunity to have some personal interactions with top Venture Capitalists in the area, where we were able to ask challenging questions and gain insights on the state of the industry and VC’s investment philosophies.

As a former MaRS Venture Group Associate, I wanted to share some thoughts on common messages and personal takeaways that I gathered from the trip.

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This Global Attention Profiles map shows what countries were included in the New York Times news coverage of December 1, 2003. Countries in red received the most attention, while pink and blue countries received smaller and smaller amounts of media coverage.

That was Ethan Zuckerman’s emphatic message at the recent Ontario Library Association conference in Toronto. Zuckerman, a research fellow at Harvard Law School’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society, studies the intersection of technology and developing countries. He co-founded Global Voices Online, a “global citizens’ media project” at Berkman that collects and distills web content from across the world, particularly from the Global South; he’s also behind the Global Attention Profiles project (GAP), which monitors the geographic distribution of media attention.

Zuckerman provides a much-needed counterpoint to Thomas Friedman’s Gospel of Globalization, the idea of the digital revolution as great global equalizer. Zuckerman argues that an Internet connection alone cannot correct the vast disparities between developed and developing nations. While he recognizes the democratizing potential of such technology, he emphasizes the fact that persistent structural and systemic disadvantages keep Friedman’s dream from becoming reality.

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What can Canada learn from U.S. VCs?

Recently, PricewaterhouseCoopers, NVCA, Thomson Financial Money Tree and the Dow Jones Ernst & Young’s VentureSource reported that the amount of venture capital (VC) invested in the U.S. during 2007 increased to US$29.5B and the amount of VC raised by U.S. VC funds increased to $34.7B in 2007. This represents the strongest year in VC investing since 2000 and the largest amount raised by VCs since 2001. The good times are back! Let the good times roll!

Meanwhile, although full-year data is not yet compiled, based upon three quarters of data (see Q3 2007 VC Industry Overview from Thomson Financial), the amount of money raised by Canadian VC firms declined in 2007 from 2006, and the amounts invested in Canadian companies by Canadian VCs was essentially flat during 2007 relative to 2006, and not rebounding like in the U.S.

So, what can Canada learn from U.S. VCs?

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Download the report in PDF format

Exerting influence with one’s words in public life — as an innovator in business or a player in the political arena — requires a finely tuned approach to the art of persuasion, particularly if you’ve been tapped by the other team to shed light on a seemingly intractable foreign affair.

Few do it more skillfully and passionately than former industry minister John Manley, also a member of MaRS’ Board of Directors.

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Earth’s lights will be dimmed

The countdown to Earth Hour is well underway. A partnership between The Star and WWF-Canada intends to show the public’s concern for global warming to our political leaders. The ask is to shut off the lights and stop the appliances for one hour in the month of March. The result so far is a great collection of resources and information on climate change and the public policy around this issue.

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Flying smelly clusters, originally uploaded by fabbio

One of the articles in the series mentioned yesterday, “The fading lustre of clusters,” stood out for its analysis of the challenges of entrepreneurship, innovation and specifically its criticism of the role governments have played. It focusses on the government’s enthusiastic adoption of Michael Porter’s strategy of “Industry Clusters.”

Clusters are supposed to improve competition in three ways:

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