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August 18, 2014

AC Grad Clearpath Robotics Wins Silver Stevie Award® in 2014 International Business Awards

Canadian robotics company named company of the year – manufacturing

Kitchener, ON, Canada – August 18, 2014 Clearpath Robotics has been named the winner of a Silver Stevie® Award in the Company of the Year category in the 11^th Annual International Business Awards.

The International Business Awards are the world’s premier business awards program. More than 3,500 nominations from organizations of all sizes and in virtually every industry were submitted this year for consideration in a wide range of categories, including Company of the Year, Website of the Year, Best New Product or Service of the Year, Corporate Social Responsibility Program of the Year, and Executive of the Year, among others. Clearpath Robotics won in the Company of the Year category for Manufacturing.

Clearpath Robotics is also in the running for the People’s Choice Award. Vote for the company at http://favoritecompanies.stevieawards.com/default.cfm and enter short code M804I.

“There is a lot of opportunity in the robotics market and it’s a very exciting time to be in this new age of manufacturing,” said Bryan Webb, COO at Clearpath Robotics. “We’ve got a great team of people here who enable us to deliver quality solutions and we’re incredibly honoured to receive this prestigious award.”

“We congratulate all of the Stevie winners in this year’s IBAs,” said Michael Gallagher, president and founder of the Stevie Awards. “The quality of entries we receive improves every year. This year’s judges were rewarded with the opportunity to review more than 3,500 stories of business achievement and innovation from around the world. We look forward to celebrating the winners’ achievements in Paris on 10 October.”

Nicknamed the Steviesfor the Greek word for “crowned,” the awards will be presented to winners at a gala awards banquet at the Westin Paris – Vendôme Hotel in Paris, France on 10 October. Details about The International Business Awards and the lists of Stevie Award winners are available at www.StevieAwards.com/IBA

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 robotics leaders in over 30 countries worldwide in academic, mining, military, agricultural and industrial markets. Recognizing the value of future innovation, the Company proudly supports programs that facilitate growth within the academic disciplines of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). Clearpath Robotics provides robust solutions that are engineered for performance and designed for the customer – we are your unmanned experts. Visit Clearpath Robotics at www.clearpathrobotics.com, follow us on Twitter@clearpathrobots or like us on Facebook.

About the Stevie AwardsStevie Awards are conferred in six programs: The International Business Awards, The American Business Awards, the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, the Stevie Awards for Women in Business, and the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. The sixth program, the German Stevie Awards, opens for entries on 18 August. Honoring organizations of all types and sizes and the people behind them, the Stevies recognize outstanding performances in the workplace worldwide. Learn more about the Stevie Awards at www.StevieAwards.com

August 18, 2014

Capacity Waterloo Region is now Capacity Canada

WATERLOO REGION, Ont. – July 22, 2014

Capacity Waterloo Region is now Capacity Canada, a name change that reflects the organization’s reach beyond its home borders.

“The success we’ve had building stronger non-profit organizations in our region has been noticed and admired elsewhere,” says Cathy Brothers, Capacity Canada’s executive director-in-residence. “The need we fill isn’t unique to Waterloo Region.”

Founded in 2009, Capacity Canada offers a range of services to help charitable non-profits build capacity to change direction or take on new programs.

More than 2,000 Board Leaders and Executive Directors/CEOs have attended Capacity’s Manulife Board Governance Boot Camp and other training sessions. MatchBoard, a Manulife-Capacity partnership, has prepared about 70 Manulife executives in the region for volunteer roles on the boards of non-profits.

In June, MatchBoard moved outside the region for the first time, launching a pilot program for executives at Manulife’s headquarters in Toronto.

In addition, Capacity:

-Advises on evaluation methods to improve the services and operations of agencies;
-Offers peer-to-peer mentoring for non-profit executive directors;
-Helps non-profits raise their profile in the community through text and video storytelling;
-Provides innovative educational events on a broad range of topics that stimulate social change. Continue reading “Capacity Waterloo Region is now Capacity Canada”

August 13, 2014

AC Grad Clearpath Robotics Pledges Not To Make Killer Robots

Waterloo-based robotic vehicle manufacturer Clearpath Robotics is the first robotics company to sign on with the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots “an international coalition of non-governmental organizations working to ban fully autonomous weapons.”

The aptly-named Campaign To Stop Killer Robots seeks legislation and regulation that would block people from having access to or creating robotic weapons that can make decisions to kill without human intervention.

As the main conceit behind the campaign goes, “giving machines the power to decide who lives and dies on the battlefield is an unacceptable application of technology.”

Meghan Hennessey, marketing communications manager at Clearpath, told Business Insider, “I came across the campaign, and [company CTO and co-founder] Ryan Gariepy was on board with their ideas. We’re the first company in the robotics industry to step forward on this issue.”

Clearpath is a five-year-old company gaining massive traction in research and development for unmanned robotics. Its client list is impressive, boasting names like the Canadian Space Agency, Google, and MIT. Most interestingly, this list also includes the Department of National Defense and the Navy — exactly the entities that might want a fully autonomous weapon that can function without a human operator.

“Even though we’re not building weapons now, that might become an opportunity for us in the future,” said Hennessey. “We’re choosing to value our ethics over potential future revenue.”

Read the full article here.

July 29, 2014

AC Grad TribeHR Recieves 2.5 Million in Funding

TribeHR, a company that provides virtual HR services, just announced it has raised $2.5 million in funding, bringing its total to $3.6 million.

The company provides HR software to small and medium-sized businesses. It provides support in recruiting, managing vacation days, remembering salary history, and other tasks. The price range from $2 to $10 a user per month.

Accelerator Centre Client Advanced CERT pioneers new farming technology

A Novel Solvent-free Approach for Production of Bean Protein Fractions

Bean protein is a cost effective and environmentally conservative protein resource that has economic advantages over more expensive meat and dairy-based proteins which are most commonly used to meet the world’s nutritional demand. Beans are primarily consumed as baked or canned beans but there is a growing interest in its utilization as a protein ingredient. The conventional techniques for bean protein production involve the use of solvents, concentrated acids and alkali which results in protein denaturation and solubility loss. The drawbacks here are many, the most important question is that while the protein compositions might be there but has the protein remained ‘vital’ – that is, functional and fully bioavailable – under harsh processing conditions? What is the life-cycle cost of recovering and recycling the solvents?

Advanced CERT Canada Inc. (AdCERT) is a start-up research and development company specializing in Engineering, Consulting and R&D Services primarily in chemical engineering and biotechnology. AdCERT has begun exploring and developing a novel cost effective dry separation technology to produce protein-rich flour from pulses and grains without consuming solvents and chemicals. The patent-pending technology pioneered by Advanced CERT Canada preserves the bio-functionality of the ingredients and averts toxic microbial contamination which is common in wet processes. Advanced CERT Canada has designed and fabricated a prototype, separating the proteins from the flours of proteinaceous grain crops. The results from the prototype testing have been very encouraging, raising the protein content of White Bean Flour from ~24% to as high as 52% in the protein-rich fraction. AdCERT is exploring multi-stage separation to achieve improved separation efficiency and product recovery. With one quarter of this current project done, AdCERT has assessed the functionality of bean protein powders produced by different methods (wet & dry) via several physico-chemical methods. Preliminary indications are that the dry separation technology invented by AdCERT preserves the vital nature, structure, and functionality of protein. Various refinements on the process are planned and being executed. This project was funded in part through GF2, a federal-provincial-territorial initiative. The Agricultural Adaptation Council assists in the delivery of GF2 in Ontario.

July 3, 2014

The Accelerator Centre appoints new Chief Executive Officer

Waterloo (Ontario), CANADA, Thursday, July 3, 2014 – The Accelerator Centre® (AC), an award-winning centre for the cultivation of technology entrepreneurship located in Waterloo, Ontario, is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Paul Salvini to the role of Accelerator Centre CEO and Associate Vice-President, Research Commercialization at the University of Waterloo.

Paul Salvini Dr. Salvini, a seasoned executive with proven experience in growing highly profitable, world-class technology companies, comes to the Accelerator Centre from Christie Digital Systems Canada Inc., where he served as Chief Technology Officer guiding the company’s global research and innovation strategy. Prior to Christie, Dr. Salvini was CTO at Toronto-based Side Effects Software, where he led an award-winning team of mathematicians and software developers in the creation of 3D animation and visual effects software for Hollywood feature films. He is an active leader within the local and digital media communities serving on numerous boards including as Chair of GRAND (Canada’s Digital Media Network of Centres of Excellence) and President of the University of Waterloo Alumni Council. In 2007, Dr. Salvini was named one of Canada’s Top 40 Under 40™, a national award that honors individuals for outstanding achievements in innovation, leadership, vision, and community involvement.

Dr. Salvini will assume his new Accelerator Centre and University of Waterloo responsibilities in late August.

“We are exceptionally fortunate to welcome Paul to the AC,” says Michael Stork, Chairman of the Board for the Accelerator Centre. “He is an experienced leader, mentor and collaborator, with deep expertise in both technology and business, and extensive entrepreneurship experience in the creation, funding and operation of new companies, as well as growing and expanding existing companies. Paul brings to the AC extensive connections throughout the technology and digital media community, a fresh vision for growth and expansion, and a track record for transforming vision into reality that has us all very excited for the possibilities that lie ahead.”

University of Waterloo Vice-President of University Research, George Dixon, offered his congratulations on Dr. Salvini’s appointment:

“Paul is a proven leader in technology commercialization. His technical expertise, leadership abilities, and business acumen is widely respected and admired within the commercial enterprise and within academic communities. We warmly welcome Paul into his role as Associate Vice President of Commercialization at the University of Waterloo.”

Dr. Salvini holds a BMath degree in Computer Science from the University of Waterloo, MASc and PhD degrees in Engineering from the University of Toronto, and an MBA from the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto. He lives in Kitchener with his wife and two children.

About the Accelerator Centre
The Accelerator Centre® (AC) is dedicated to building and commercializing technology start-ups. The AC provides an essential combination of mentorship, educational programming, professional office space, networking, and access to funding, with a goal of building successful companies. Over a two to three year period, we help entrepreneurs move from start-up to scale-up, accelerate their time to market, and attract customers, investment and revenue.

Since 2006, the Accelerator Centre has developed and nurtured over 130 early-stage technology start-ups, creating 1100+ new jobs, generating over $120 million in revenue, and attracting over $180 million in investment. Thirty-eight companies have graduated from The Accelerator Program®, and more than 85 percent of these companies have remained in Waterloo Region. For more information visit www.acceleratorcentre.com.

Social Media Links
Follow us on Twitter @AC_Waterloo
Join us on LinkedIn

For further information, please contact:

Ellyn Winters-Robinson
Communications Mentor/Advisor
Accelerator Centre
Cell: (519) 574-2196
E-mail: ewinters-robinson@acceleratorcentre.com

George Dixon
Vice-President, University Research
University of Waterloo
Tel: (519) 888-4567, ext. 32531
Cell: (519) 829-5658
E-mail: dgdixon@uwaterloo.ca

June 24, 2014

Prime Minister Announces Advancing Selections for Canada Accelerator and Incubator Program

Source: Prime Minister News Release

Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced the organizations that have been chosen to advance in the selection process for the Canada Accelerator and Incubator Program (CAIP) which is designed to help outstanding small- and medium-sized Canadian enterprises to grow, prosper and create jobs. He made the announcement at Communitech, a hub for the commercialization of innovative technologies in Waterloo, Ontario. The Prime Minister was joined by Ed Holder, Minister of State (Science and Technology), Peter Braid, Parliamentary Secretary for Infrastructure and Communities and Member of Parliament for Kitchener-Waterloo, and Stephen Woodworth, Member of Parliament for Kitchener Centre.

The following organizations have been chosen to advance in the selection process under the CAIP:

BC Technology Industry Association (BCTIA) (Accelerator)
Bioenterprise Corporation (Accelerator)
Centre d’entreprises et d’innovation de Montréal (CEIM) (Incubator)
Centre for Drug Research & Development (CDRD), in collaboration with CDRD Venture Inc. (Accelerator/Incubator)
Communitech Corporation, in collaboration with University of Waterloo Velocity, Laurier LaunchPad and the Waterloo Accelerator Centre (Accelerator/Incubator)
Corporation Inno-Centre du Québec (Accelerator/Incubator)
GrowLab Ventures Inc., in collaboration with Extreme Startups (Accelerator)
Invest Ottawa, in collaboration with Wesley Clover, PARTEQ Innovations and InnovationPark at Queen’s University (Accelerator/Incubator)
Manitoba Technology Accelerator (MTA) (Incubator)
Prince Edward Island BioAlliance Inc. (Incubator)
Propel ICT (Accelerator)
Ryerson University, in collaboration with Simon Fraser University and University of Ontario Institute of Technology (Accelerator/Incubator)
The Next 36 (Accelerator/Incubator) University of Alberta, in collaboration with TEC Edmonton and Innovate Calgary (Accelerator/Incubator)
Wavefront Wireless Commercialization Centre Society (Accelerator/Incubator)
– See more at: http://www.pm.gc.ca/eng/news/2014/06/20/pm-helps-canadian-start-companies-grow-and-prosper#sthash.bmwzBFRz.dpuf

Read the full news release here

Check out a 24 SEVEN exclusive video on Why Accelerators Matter here

June 18, 2014

Accelerator Centre Graduate Clearpath Robotics Celebrates 5th Birthday with an Interactive Twitter Robot

Source: CBC News
Author: Andrea Bellemar

Watch the live video from TwitBot CPR on twitch.tv
Kitchener’s Clearpath Robotics counts the Canadian Space Agency and the Department of National Defence among its clients, plans to add more employees over the next eight months and has recently built its 1,000th robot, no small feat for a company that is now marking its fifth anniversary this June.

“It was a bit of landmark for us, especially as we approached our five-year anniversary,” said Meghan Hennessey, the communications coordinator for Clearpath Robotics. “It’s a lot of robots.”

To celebrate five years, engineer Ilia Baranov modified a robot so that Twitter users can control its movements through their tweets. (To watch the robot in action, watch the live video feed at the top of the page. Instructions on how to move the robot are below.)

Domo Arigato, Farmer Roboto
The company was founded in 2009 by four grads from the University of Waterloo’s mechatronics engineering program. Currently, the company lists nine different robots on its website, including unmanned ground and aerial vehicles, an unmanned robotic boat, and lab devices like a robotic arm and a haptic controller.

Clearpath Robotics currently employs 50 people and six co-op students, and is planning to grow to 65 employees. The move to a bigger space was needed – the company assembles the robots in Kitchener.

Hennessey says the company will launch a new kind of robot vehicle in August or September and has just launched a new division for custom services.

“We are starting to work with larger conglomerates within mining, military and agricultural divisions,” said Hennessey.

“So we could design both the hardware and the software, or just the software or perhaps just help them out with the design elements of it,” she said, adding she couldn’t expand on the exact nature of the work due to confidentially.

How to move the robot

To get the robot to move, tweet @ClearpathRobotics, use the hashtag #moverobot, and give the robot a command, such as “forward” or “backward”, “left” or “right” to move it. The lights on the robot can also be changed by tweeting a colour.

“I got one that actually said, “Make it twerk” which I thought was hilarious. Who knows, that might pop up in the next couple days,” said Hennessey.

The robot will be controllable online until the end of June.

Check out the video and read the full article here.

June 12, 2014

TitanFile Reflects on their Accelerator Centre Experience

Source: TitanFile Press Release
Author: Olga Lioudvinevitch

TitanFile was welcomed into the Accelerator Center (AC) in December of 2011 and we are grateful for having had the opportunity.

Starting out on the East coast – in Halifax, Nova Scotia, we chose Waterloo because we wanted to be closer to the core of the Canadian innovation community. Here, we would look for the talent and mentorship instrumental to our success, and the Accelerator Program seemed to have it all.

Our first point of contact was a gentleman named Josh Wright; co-founder of a great up-and-coming company named Blitzen. Suffice it to say, we were more than a little excited to have gotten in. “When we joined we did not have many customers or revenue and now we have both” says CEO Tony Abou Assaleh, “the AC really made an impact on that.”

The Accelerator program gave us support through mentorship, networking opportunities, connections to capital; services including access to office facilities, education, and commercialization expertise.

Our space at Communitech became a second home – an experience most startups can attest to. Working deep into the night, on weekends, only to come back to the grind again on Monday.

As you can imagine, leaving here garners mixed feelings. There is something about this place though, an electric energy – something that motivates you to keep going. You feed off the successes of your peers while knowing you have all the tools and support to achieve the same thing.

We’d like to thank our capable entrepreneurs in residence David Littweiler and Jaafer Haidar along with our public relations mentor Ellyn Winters-Robinson, finance adviser Kevin Elop, HR mentor Jackie Lauer,and Kevin Hood – our sales and marketing expert for giving us continuous guidance through our time with the AC.

We would also like to thank Frank Erschen, Communitech’s Pitch Coach, for working with us and helping us connect with angel groups in the region.

And special thanks to: Tim Ellis – CEO – Accelerator Center Gary Pooley – CFO – Accelerator Centre Andrew Jackson – Vice President of Client Services – Accelerator Center For making the program an ongoing success.

We could not have achieved what we have without the wonderful people of Communitech and the Accelerator Center, many of whom have gone unmentioned in this particular blog post. Thank you to all, from the bottom of our hearts.

Our graduation is this Thursday June 12, at 9:30 AM at the Accelerator Center. If you can make it, we’d love for you to join us!

Read the press release here: https://www.titanfile.com/blog/graduation-day-titanfile/

June 12, 2014

Intellijoint Surgical and TitanFile Graduate from the Accelerator Centre

The Accelerator Centre Graduates Intellijoint Surgical and TitanFile

Waterloo (Ontario), CANADA, June 12, 2014 – World renowned for its cultivation of technology entrepreneurship, Waterloo’s Accelerator Centre today celebrated the graduation of Intellijoint Surgical and TitanFile from its award-winning tech start-up accelerator program.

Founded by University of Waterloo mechatronics grads Armen Bakirtzian, Andre Hladio and Richard Fanson, Intellijoint Surgical is setting the new standard for surgical hip alignment. Intellijoint’s technology provides surgeons with affordable, smart tools that improve precision and accuracy in joint replacement surgery, lowering the possibility of complication and improving patient outcomes. Intellijoint Surgical received its Health Canada Medical Device License in December 2013, and the company’s technology has been used in more than 100 joint replacement surgeries.

TitanFile is on a mission to build better ways for people and companies to communicate securely. The company allows users to easily connect and securely share files from any device, ensuring that privileged information remains private at all times. TitanFile’s technology has been adopted across a wide range of industries, from healthcare for the secure and HIPAA-compliant transfer of patient information, to lawyers for secure collaboration, to educational institutions for secure research collaboration.

“We are incredibly proud to celebrate Intellijoint and TitanFile’s graduation from the Accelerator Centre today. Each company has approached its respective market opportunity with tenacity – taking full advantage of the Accelerator Centre’s educational programming and unique cross-disciplinary mentorship model to transform their ideas into viable, sustainable businesses,” says Gary Pooley, Acting CEO, the Accelerator Centre.

About the Accelerator Centre

The Accelerator Centre (AC) is dedicated to building and commercializing technology startups. The AC provides an essential combination of mentorship, educational programming, professional office space, networking, and access to funding, with a goal of building successful companies. Over a 2-3 year period, we help entrepreneurs move from start-up to scale-up, accelerate their time to market, and attract customers, investment and revenue.

Since 2006, the Accelerator Centre has developed and nurtured over 130 early-stage technology start-ups, creating 1100+ new jobs, generating over $120 million in revenue, and attracting over $180 million in investment. Thirty-six companies have graduated from The Accelerator Program, and more than 85 percent of these companies have remained in Waterloo Region. For more information visit our website at www.acceleratorcentre.com.

For further information, please contact:

Ellyn Winters-Robinson
Communications Advisor, Accelerator Centre
Phone: 519-574-2196
Email: ewinters-robinson@acceleratorcentre.com
@ellynjane