Know someone who has made exceptional contributions to science and technology in Canada?

The CATAAlliance Innovation and Leadership Awards are the most prestigious annual awards conferred on individuals and corporations by Canada’s advanced technology community.

Individuals and companies are awarded for achievement in private and public sector innovation leadership as well as product development and technology reporting.

Nominations for 2008 are now open and the deadline for submission is April 8, 2008.

Click here to nominate. Or check out some of the previous winners of these awards.

As a growing number of women pursue careers in science, engineering and technology, the Canadian Advanced Technology Alliance’s Women in Technology Forum (CATA WIT) wants to celebrate their achievements.

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215 Spadina

Check out this Toronto Star article on the Centre for Social Innovation (CSI), one of MaRS’ coordinating partners for the 2007 Social Entrepreneurship Summit.

CSI is holding its official launch on February 29th, 2008, even though it has been in operation for four years as a shared space for social purpose enterprises. The event should prove to be an opportunity to rub shoulders with academics, politicians, social activists, business people, members of the community, and the tenants themselves, as well as a chance to scope out the newly renovated 91 year-old warehouse space in which such great work occurs.

Women’s work, deconstructed

We’ve got a long way to go before Lorrie Moore’s recent boast that the “moment for feminine role models, arguably, has passed us by… girls have now managed on their own” is supported by hard data. In fact, sobering new research suggests that female entrepreneurs face significant geographic disadvantages in comparison to their male counterparts.

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Fast Company and Monitor Group have made their selections for the 2008 Social Capitalist Awards. Check out the article at FastCompany.com to read further about the top 45 non-profits that are changing the world, as well as 10 blended-value companies that are given top honour for their success in not only turning a profit, but also making a difference.

A story I’ve been tracking with interest for some time now is the development of the (EBM). Way back when I was in library school, there was some buzz about “print-on-demand” as a technology that could up-end the publishing and book retailing industries and libraries as we know them but, 10 years later, there’s been little of substance to show for this until now, largely due to the technical issues relating to binding.

OnDemandBooks LLC, however, is now starting to make some waves with what it claims is the world’s first low-cost, totally automatic book machine.

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Everyone’s watching the tech start-ups

Top 10’s abound to wrap up the year. And if you were ever in doubt as to whether this might be a good time to start up a technology-based company, Wired sets your mind at ease.

Find out which 10 pre-IPO, pre-acquisition companies Wired magazine considers worth watching in 2008.

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As we arrive back fresh at our workplace, full of resolutions about how to make the year even better than last, it’s a great time to catch up on the strategic reading you missed last year.

Don’t miss McKinsey Quarterly’s top 10 business management articles for 2007.

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What could be one of the most overlooked retrospectives, appearing in the Business Section of the Christmas Eve edition of the Toronto Star, is a retrospective of significant events in Canadian Tech Law. Most relate to online privacy and piracy.

For anyone who follows tech law, it makes for an interesting stroll down memory lane, which many of us are prone to do this time of year.

Happy Holidays.

Read more: “The year in Canadian tech law, A to Z”

If you’re like me, your best-laid plans to get your holiday shopping done early this year once again fell by the wayside. But don’t panic yet - get help from my favorite kind of advertorial, the holiday gift guide. For the entrepreneur in your life, Ja-Nae Duane, founder of Wild Women Entrepreneurs, gives you a musical short list in “The 12 Days of an Entrepreneur Christmas,” while Darren Herman focuses on the basics at Silicon Alley Insider.

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