Accelerator Centre Clients attended the Tech Leadership Conference hosted by Communitech on Thursday, May 29th, 2014 and were featured on CTV News.
Check out the video here: http://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=372768
Accelerator Centre Graduate Clearpath Robotics Headed to US for 48hrs in the Valley This June
Source: www.techvibes.com
Author: Knowlton Thomas
C100 Unveils the 15 Startups Heading to US for 48hrs in the Valley This June 
The C100 is hosting the next crop of top Canadian technology startups at 48hrs in the Valley. Held June 16 and 17, the event gives a select group of Canadian startups access to networking, mentoring, and business growth opportunities in Silicon Valley.
This edition of 48hrs in the Valley represents the first invite-only one. C100 charter members, sponsors, and partners, along with 48hrs alumni, were asked to nominate promising Canadian startups.
A small number of tickets are available to the public for several sessions.
“While a strong entrepreneurial and tech community is building across Canada, Canadian startups still need the connections and expertise of Silicon Valley to get to the next level,” said Atlee Clark, Executive Director of the C100. “48hrs gives these entrepreneurs the resources needed to build the next billion-dollar Canadian technology company.”
Accelerator Centre graduate Clearpath Robotics will be joining the C100 for 48hrs in the Valley
Read the full article here
Accelerator Centre Graduate Clearpath Robotics Announces Anthony Tod as VP Engineering
Accelerator Centre Client Tyromer Selected a TiE50 Winner at TiEcon 2014
Tyromer Inc. is excited to announce that it has been selected a Winner for the prestigious 2014 TiE50 Awards Program at TiEcon, the TiE annual entrepreneurial conference in Santa Clara, California, on May 16, 2014. TiEcon is ranked alongside TED and World Economic Forum among top conferences for innovators and this year attracted more than 4000 technology professionals, entrepreneurs and investors from around the world.
The TiE50 Awards Program is open to all technology companies worldwide and the Winners represent the 50 hottest tech start-ups as chosen by TiE Silicon Valley. “This year the TiE50 Awards Program screened more than 2800 companies from 27 countries. The finalist pool is represented by early through late stage companies. A star attraction of the conference is TiE50 Finalist presentations. Audiences are treated to great ideas and amazing technologies” said Ram K. Reddy, the program chair. The TiE50 track record since its inception in May 2009 shows that 94% of the winners and finalists have received billions in investment.
To determine the winners, a panel of experts screened the companies to create a short list of the “2014 TiE50 Top Startups.” This list was further screened by a committee of deep domain experts to select the best of the breed companies as the elite TiE50 Finalists. Finally, the TiE50 Finalists were judged by a panel of highly accomplished team of serial entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, angel investors, CEOs and well-rounded technology experts to determine the winners. Companies were evaluated on three parameters: Business Model, IP Value and Leadership team.
“In the six short years since inception, the TiE 50 program has become a global brand that attracts thousands of companies worldwide for this recognition,” said Venktesh Shukla, president of TiE, Silicon Valley. “It is unique in terms of rigor of selection and the broad scope of companies that it reviews for this award and is one of TiE Silicon Valley’s most successful programs. It is also worth mentioning that this is the only awards recognition in technology to be held by a large global non-profit organization. ”
“We were so honoured about ten days ago when the TiE50 judges selected us a Finalist for the Award. Being named a 2014 Winner of TiE50 under the CleanTech category is another level of recognition that all of us at Tyromer did not expect. We believe this recognition will help us secure financing to complete the construction of our first production line in our lead customer’s facility. We are confident that we
will not disappoint the judges as we begin to implement our socially responsible and ecologically sustainable solution to the global management of scrap tires,” said Sam Visaisouk, CEO of Tyromer.
The inventor of the Tyromer rubber devulcanization technology, Professor Costas Tzoganakis of the University of Waterloo, was interviewed after the announcement.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uD1N6mCBbc
About TiEcon:
TiEcon is the world’s largest conference for entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs with loyal participation from top technology companies, leading venture capital firms, and global service providers. Every year TiEcon attracts thousands of attendees from across the world – including CEOs of established companies to first-time entrepreneurs creating new companies, to leading investment professionals and corporate executives. TiEcon was listed by Worth Magazine in their September 2011 issue to be among the 10 Best Conferences for Ideas and Entrepreneurship along with TED and the World Economic Forum. For more information on TiEcon, visit http://tiecon.org/.
About TiE:
TiE is a global not-for-profit organization fostering entrepreneurship through mentoring, education, and networking. We consider entrepreneurship to be the single most powerful instrument to advance global prosperity. Our greatest strength is our network of over 60 chapters in 17 countries with a worldwide membership exceeding 14,000 that includes successful entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, corporate executives, and aspiring entrepreneurs. For more information on TiE, visit www.tie.org.
Source: http://www.tyromer.com/_files/file.php?fileid=newsngYcRGUYbG&filename=file_Tyromer_TiE50_Winner.pdf
Accelerator Centre Client Eyedro keeps eye on hydro usage
Written by: Terry Pender
Source: The Record
KITCHENER — Auston Gough figures he saved about $50 a month on electricity bills this past winter after he installed devices that measure his hydro usage by the second and relay the information to his tablet. Gough lives in a two-bedroom apartment above King Street in downtown Kitchener and was spending about $400 for electricity every two months this past winter. His place is heated with electric baseboards and has a dishwasher.
Gough spent $129 for a kit from Eyedro Green Solutions Inc., a new company in the Communitech Hub. He clamped sensors on the main line feeding the electrical panel, and then hooked up a small box that sends detailed information on electricity consumption to his tablet.
Gough used to keep one baseboard heater cranked up high and the other three almost turned off. He quickly learned that doing that was hugely inefficient. He changed the settings so that all the heaters run intermittently.
Gough learned that the four light bulbs in the bathroom used as much hydro as his dishwasher. So he switched to high-efficiency bulbs. He only runs his dishwasher when electricity rates are lower.
“I just made some fairly minor changes and I was using less power, which is great,” Gough said.
The downtown bartender is an early adopter of the technology developed by Eyedro. The company already has customers — residential, institutional and industrial — in 10 countries.
The more electricity a building uses, the higher the potential savings. Brick Brewing says using Eyedro sensors and software helped the company reduce the power it uses in its 50,000-square-foot bottling and distribution facility in Kitchener by 117,000 kilowatt hours a year.
“That works out to more than $14,000 a year in savings,” said John Cowles, the brewery’s maintenance manager. “Total installation time was probably about two-to-four hours.”
Read the full article at therecord.com
View from the 'Loo chats with Accelerator Centre Client Sober Steering: Stop drunk driving before it starts
Source: communitech.ca
By: Anthony Reinhart
Nothing screams “safety” louder than a school bus, with its vivid yellow paint, flashing lights and pop-out Stop sign.
But what if the driver has been drinking?
Shocking as it seems, it’s not as unlikely a scenario as we’d all like to think.
Huron School Bus Driver Faces Impaired Charge, reads a headline dated April 15 of this year. Gatineau school van operator had four times legal blood-alcohol limit: police, reads another from the same day.
Mounted inconspicuously to the horn pad of a school bus steering wheel, the alcohol-sniffing sensor prevents the vehicle from moving unless the driver holds a hand over it for 10 seconds and it detects no ethanol emanating from the skin.
The device is currently being tested in a fleet of Ontario school buses in the lead-up to a roll-out to the entire school bus market in the coming months. If successful, Sober Steering sees potential for its technology to be standard equipment in all production vehicles someday.
I became aware of the company through Ellyn Winters-Robinson, a PR pro who helps area startups raise their profiles, and I was struck by several things: Sober Steering is a hardware startup with real technology, it’s solving a major and meaningful problem, and it chose to locate here in Waterloo Region, despite its roots in West Palm Beach, Fla.
That was more than enough for me to seek a sit-down with Catherine Carroll, Sober Steering’s Chief Operating Officer, who told me all about the company in a chat at the AC last week. A few days earlier, she had stopped by the Communitech Hub with a school bus to demonstrate her company’s device.
Read the full Q and A with Catherine on Communitech’s View from the ‘Loo column.
Accelerator Centre Graduate Clearpath Robotics talks to Exchange about staying profitable, and adding to their team.
Source: Exchange Magazine
Mechatronics – it seems to be the hot topic wherever you turn. The Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering Department at the University of Waterloo is now home to about 1600 students and faculty; UW is boasting that it was the first Canadian university to have a full undergrad mechatronics program; and UW grads are making a very large mechatronics mark in industry, wherever you turn.
There’s no better example of this than the shining success story called Clearpath Robotics. This company now based in Kitchener, has already accomplished the unusual – it’s both on a steep growth curve, and profitable. That’s not the standard combination.
But Clearpath CEO Matt Rendall says, “We’ve been profitable since 2011. We have been sustaining profitable growth since then. Which is really challenging, especially when you are on such an aggressive growth curve. We’ve been managing a balance.”
Read the rest of this article online at exchangemagazine.com
Clearpath also recently announced the addition of a Senior Business Development Manager to their team. Read their press release here.
Accelerator Centre Graduate Clearpath Robotics Partners with Vicon for Advanced Motion Capture System
Clearpath introduces affordable, high-quality motion capture to robotics research at ICRA Hong Kong
(Kitchener, Ontario – May 1, 2014) Clearpath Robotics has partnered with Vicon, the motion capture technology specialists for the entertainment, defense, life sciences and engineering industries, to provide high-quality motion capture systems to robotics research customers worldwide. Clearpath Robotics will demonstrate the two companies’ technologies working together at the 2014 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center, Hong Kong, China, from May 31 to June 5.
“Optical tracking and robotics go hand in hand and we look forward to further expanding our presence in robotics research through this partnership with Clearpath Robotics,” said Warren Lester, engineering product manager, Vicon. “The quality and affordability of Vicon systems will reinforce Clearpath Robotics’ reputation for building unmanned vehicles that save time and money on future projects.”
Clearpath Robotics will offer a combined robotic and tracking solution using Vicon T-Series or Bonita motion capture cameras and Tracker object tracking software. Research organizations will be able to use the Vicon systems with Clearpath Robotics’ Husky all-terrain robot, TurtleBot mobile robot platform and JACO robot arm, to measure the efficacy and accuracy of the control systems they develop to guide them autonomously. The Vicon systems can be used in both indoor and outdoor settings to track the movement of robots with a precision that is not possible through other means. Such robots are developed for applications ranging from moving stock in a warehouse to searching abandoned buildings for bombs.
“Motion capture systems have become an integral part of robotics research,” said Matt Rendall, chief executive officer at Clearpath Robotics. “Vicon provides a reliable, cost-effective system with superior tracking capabilities, allowing our customers to use fewer cameras and gain higher quality results with millimeter-level precision.”
Vicon is now available at Clearpath Robotics. Visit www.clearpathrobotics.com/vicon for more details.
About Vicon
Academy Award®-winning Vicon is the world’s largest supplier of precision motion tracking systems and match-moving software. It serves customers in CG animation, film, visual effects, computer games, broadcast television, as well as engineering and life sciences industries.
Vicon is a subsidiary of OMG (Oxford Metrics Group – LSE: OMG), plc., a group of technology companies that produces image understanding solutions for the entertainment, defence, life sciences and engineering markets. Other holdings include: 2d3, a manufacturer of specialized image understanding software for defense applications; Yotta a provider of software and services for infrastructure asset management; and OMG Life, a new consumer subsidiary.
Among many others, Vicon and OMG global clients include:
• Entertainment: Audiomotion, The Imaginarium, Quantic Dream, SEGA, Konami, Activision, Sony, Dreamworks, ILM and USC
• Life Sciences: Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre – Oxford, Headley Court, University of Western Australia, Adidas, Digital Human Research Centre – Japan, Gillette Children’s Specialty Healthcare, Shriners, Marquette, UMich and Red Bull
• Engineering: European Space Agency, BMW, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research – South Africa, ETH Zurich, Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology, NRL, UPENN GRASP, MIT, Ford and General Motors
For more information about OMG and its subsidiaries, visit: www.omgplc.com, www.vicon.com, www.vicon.com/boujou, www.moves.comwww.2d3sensing.com,
www.yotta.co.uk or www.autographer.com.
About Clearpath Robotics
Clearpath Robotics, a global leader in unmanned vehicle robotics for research and development, is dedicated to automating the world’s dullest, dirtiest, and deadliest jobs. The Company serves leading researchers in over 30 countries worldwide in academic, corporate and military environments. Recognizing the value of future innovation, Clearpath Robotics established Partnerbot, a grant program to support university robotics research teams, internationally. Clearpath Robotics provides robust solutions that are engineered for performance, designed for customization, and built for open source. Visit Clearpath Robotics at www.clearpathrobotics.com.
Source: Clearpath Press Release
Author: Meghan Hennessey, Kim Willsher