Author: xitdemo

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Stratford Accelerator Centre to join University of Waterloo Stratford Campus

WATERLOO, Ont.  — An innovative collaboration will provide University of Waterloo students and entrepreneurs the opportunity to work together when Stratford’s Accelerator Centre relocates to the University of Waterloo Stratford Campus this spring.

“This initiative of the Stratford Accelerator Centre and the University of Waterloo creates a unique opportunity—a community based on the networking and collaboration so critical to entrepreneurial success, with the added benefit of being housed within the highly innovative culture that exists on our campus,” said Ginny Dybenko, executive director of the Stratford Campus. “We’re creating and supporting an environment that will help startups reach their goals through interaction with our students, and our students will benefit through direct access to these entrepreneurs.”

With its unique Master of Digital Experience Innovation (MDEI) and Global Business and Digital Arts (GBDA) programs, the campus supports business, technology and arts students who have projects that are ideal for commercialization. The move will give the campus direct access to The Accelerator Program®, an award-winning incubation program for technology startups, with its entrepreneur in residence, mentors and programming support to provide a ready pathway to transform research into commercial reality.

“We are incredibly excited by the potential of blending our startups, experienced team and in-house mentors with Stratford’s students in an on-campus setting,” said Tim Ellis, CEO of the Accelerator Centre. “The interactions and exchange of ideas that will come from this initiative will strengthen the bond on both sides, providing students with another important avenue for applying their learning, and offering startups access to cutting-edge, digital arts expertise, and a pipeline of strong, up-and-coming talent.”

The startups from the Stratford Accelerator Centre are expected to move to the campus at the end of March.

About the Stratford Accelerator Centre

The Stratford Accelerator Centre is a ground-breaking facility dedicated to developing and commercializing technology start-ups. Through The Accelerator Program®, early-stage companies benefit from in-depth business coaching and seamless support services including access to office facilities, coaching and mentoring, education, connections to capital, networking, R&D support and outreach, talent recruitment, technology transfer assistance, and commercialization expertise, enabling technology start-ups to move to market faster, create jobs and stimulate economic activity.

To learn more about the full Accelerator Centre offerings visit www.acceleratorcentre.com

About the University of Waterloo

In just half a century, the University of Waterloo, located at the heart of Canada’s technology hub, has become one of Canada’s leading comprehensive universities with 35,000 full- and part-time students in undergraduate and graduate programs. Waterloo, as home to the world’s largest post-secondary co-operative education program, embraces its connections to the world and encourages enterprising partnerships in learning, research and discovery. In the next decade, the university is committed to building a better future for Canada and the world by championing innovation and collaboration to create solutions relevant to the needs of today and tomorrow. For more information about Waterloo, please visit www.uwaterloo.ca.

Media Contacts

Joanie Gerber
Director of Operations
Stratford Accelerator Centre
519-275-3694
jgerber@acceleratorcentre.com
@AC_Stratford

Pamela Smyth
University of Waterloo
519-888-4777
psmyth@uwaterloo.ca
www.uwaterloo.ca/news
@uWaterlooNews

For great local coverage read The Beacon Herald‘s article announcing our move.

 

 

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Accelerator Centre Graduate Clearpath Robotics partners with Thalmic Labs to drive a robot with gestures

Source: Techvibes

Kitchener based companies and University of Waterloo startups, Thalmic Labs and Clearpath Robotics have joined forces to prove gesture controlled robots are possible.

Thalmic Labs, developers of Myo Gesture Control, released the Myo alpha developer unit to Clearpath Robotics for testing. Clearpath has successfully integrated the Myo armband with their Husky Unmanned Ground Vehicle to start, stop and drive the vehicle using simple arm movements.

To read the full article and watch the video demonstration, click here.

More on this topic in the February 21st edition of the Exchange Morning Post.

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Partnership agreement allows Accelerator Centre Graduate LoyaltyMatch to break into Europe and Brazil

Kitchener, Ontario–LoyaltyMatch Inc. and Innovagency announced today that they have signed a Reseller Agreement to sell the LoyaltyMatch OnDemand loyalty program Software as a Service (SaaS) solution in Europe and Brazil. The agreement provides Innovagency clients with access to LoyaltyMatch OnDemand solutions, as well as implementation and support services.

LoyaltyMatch OnDemand helps companies of all sizes motivate their customers with incentives given through online and offline activities, while providing the marketing tools to increase engagement and lift revenue. OnDemand can be deployed as a standalone solution or integrated with existing social, web,mobile, e- and m-commerce, or POS systems.

“We help brands and organizations build, innovate and win in the digital world,” said Pedro Barbosa, Head of Product Development of Innovagency. LoyaltyMatch has done an outstanding job in designing their LoyaltyMatch On Demand SaaS package. We believe that we are adding another piece to the strong foundation that our clients need to win in their markets and we are eager get be working with the LoyaltyMatch team.”

About LoyaltyMatch Inc.

LoyaltyMatch Inc. is a privately held loyalty and engagement-computing company with a product portfolio that includes LoyaltyMatch On Demand and Social Loyalty. LoyaltyMatch OnDemand (www.loyaltymatchondemand.com) provides a cloud-based loyalty management and gamification platform. Social Loyalty (www.social-loyalty.com) deepends engagement to Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and other social services. Together they offer their clients, such as Clarins USA, eTix, I.M.P Productions and Digital Currency Solutions, the fastest path to the development and delivery of loyalty and engagement initiatives and have revolutionized the way businesses manage customer value. LoyaltyMatch Inc. is based in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada.

About Innovagency S.A.

Innovagency (www.innovagency.com) is a leading digital services company with offices in Portugal and Brazil. We believe that digital should be an integral part of any modern business strategy and that the combination of multidisciplinary skills is essential to finding the best strategies and solutions. Combining technological expertise, design and user experience and marketing and communication, Innovagency promotes innovation, creativity and business sense to respond to customer’s needs throughout the lifecycle of digital initiative and assumes the role of a digital business enabler, helping brands and organizations to succeed in the digital world.

Media Contact:

Bill Warelis
Director, Corporate Communications
LoyaltyMatch Inc.
+1.905.599.9757
bill.warelis@loyaltymatch.com

 

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Accelerator Centre Client Intellijoint Surgical Inc., receives Health Canada Medical Device License for their flagship product, Intellijoint HIP™

Source: Marketwired.com

WATERLOO, ONTARIO–Intellijoint Surgical, Inc. (formerly Avenir Medical) an innovator in smart tools to improve joint replacement surgery, announced today it recently received a Health Canada Medical Device License for its flagship product, Intellijoint HIP™.

The Company also announced early results for its ongoing clinical study with surgeons at Mount Sinai and selected Toronto Area Hospitals showing the Company’s smart tool to be significantly more accurate in determining leg length and offset equivalency than traditional measurement methods used in hip replacement.

Intellijoint’s proprietary device enables surgeons to quantify the key measurements needed for accurate primary and revision hip replacement. “Receiving Health Canada’s license to launch Intellijoint HIP™ in Canada, and our ongoing studies in Toronto Area Hospitals are exciting milestones. ” said Armen Bakirtzian, CEO of Intellijoint.

Read full article here.

 

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Accelerator Centre Graduate Energent to provide software for 10 Ontario universities

On January 15, 2014, McMaster University, on behalf of 10 leading Ontario universities, announced the selection of Energent’s energy management information system to be commissioned for all 10 institutions – McMaster, Carleton, Ottawa, Waterloo, Trent, Queens, Lakehead, Brock, Laurentian and Windsor.

Energent’s best in class modeling and analytics solution will enable these universities to reach their individual and collective energy management goals, by tracking their individual energy performance as well as benchmarking and comparing their usage across the full portfolio of the 10 campuses. The insight provided by the software, and the technical expertise of Energent’s Energy Analysts, will provide each university with the information necessary to reduce their energy spend. Energy Managers and Facility Managers will now be able to share best practices between their respective universities more easily.

With the Energent system these universities will be able to quickly comply with Ontario’s mandatory 397/11 reporting requirements, introduced in July 2013, which require that all public buildings report their energy usage and carbon emissions, as well as their energy management plan to reduce those on an annual basis. Energent’s automated data collection and reporting system will eliminate the costly manual effort that was previously required for complying with the regulation, freeing up valuable time for more strategic initiatives.

There is also a plan to engage the campus community in reducing energy consumption and adopt energy conservation initiatives through the use of an interactive marketing campaign. The highly intuitive dashboard of the Energent system will provide a “kiosk” capability to broaden awareness of the importance of reducing energy and carbon emissions.

The UEDBS program has a very fast-track timeline as well as a demanding set of functional and operational requirements. The initial inquiry for pre-qualification was issued to a wide array of suppliers, and resulted in a short list of 5 to respond to a formal RFP. “We evaluated several energy management information systems and benchmarking software suppliers for our University Utility Energy Database and Benchmarking System (UEDBS). We found Energent to best satisfy our technical requirements within the project timeframe and budget” stated Shahid Naeem, Energy Management and Sustainability Engineer at McMaster University, and project lead for the UEDBS program.

“Energent is very pleased to have been selected for such a prestigious project with these prominent Ontario institutions.” says Chris Reid, President and CEO at Energent. “Our selection by the UEDBS team validates our belief that the Energent suite of software and services is recognized across North America as the best in class in energy management information systems. We look forward to delivering a world-class system for analyzing and benchmarking their energy use.”

About Energent:

Energent is a leading provider of energy management technologies in North America for industrial, institutional, and commercial customers. Based out of Waterloo, Ontario, Energent provides its state-of-the-art technology via software-as-a-service (SaaS), ensuring cost effective deployments and valuable ongoing services. Energent has leading companies as customers across all sectors and regions in Canada and the US. For more information, please visit www.energent.com.

 

J. Christopher Reid

President and CEO

T: 519-725-0906 ext. 2011 | C: 289-221-1675

115 King Street South, Suite 208

Waterloo, Ontario

Canada

N2J 5A3

Energent

Enabling The Intelligent Use Of Energy

Web | Facebook | Twitter

 

 

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Accelerator Centre Client TitanFile Inc. announces collaborative communications system for corporate legal departments

Source: marketwired.com

SAN FRANCISCO, CA and WATERLOO, ON – Putting the user firmly in control with hassle-free, hacker-proof security combined with powerful information sharing functionality, Hitachi Solutions America, Ltd. and TitanFile Inc. are announcing a collaborative communications system built for today’s corporate legal departments. Secure client communications are essential to successful law firm operations and the new joint effort allows confidential file sharing anytime, anywhere with the user maintaining control of the encryption key to further safeguard confidentiality.

“One way law firms can mitigate their risks and stand out from their competitors is to offer a higher level of security for their clients’ sensitive documents and an information sharing system that allows staff to provide better, faster and more convenient client service,” said Yuji Nakagawa, vice president, Security Solution Department of Hitachi Solutions America.

With the integrated solution, users will be able to directly control who can access and view files while conveniently sharing documents with clients, legal teams and company management. Sensitive files will automatically remain in an encrypted state as they are distributed across platforms or shared on mobile devices.

Read full article here.

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Accelerator Centre Graduate Clearpath Robotics to provide robots for lifesaving humanitarian research

(Kitchener, ON, Canada – January 23, 2013)  The University of Coimbra’s Institute of Systems and Robotics is working diligently to automate the extremely dangerous and manual job of clearing minefields for humanitarian demining efforts. Canadian robotics makers, Clearpath Robotics, sponsored the project by providing the mobile robotic base.

“Minesweeping is an extremely dangerous and time-intensive process,” said Lino Marques, Senior Lecturer at the University of Coimbra, and academic liaison for the project. “Robots do not get tired; they can be extremely thorough performing their jobs, and their cost is infinitely smaller than that of a human life. For these reasons, robots are a perfect solution for the minesweeping problem.”

The group at University of Coimbra set out to accomplish three key tasks with their mobile robot: Perceive terrain characteristics, navigate across the terrain, and utilize the vehicle to detect and localize landmines. The first round of field tests in 2013 was interrupted due to issues with their custom robotic arm. Once adjustments are in place, a second round of field tests will take place (expected mid-2014).

“We are very proud to be supporters of Dr. Marques’ humanitarian research into demining robotics.” said Matt Rendall, CEO at Clearpath Robotics. “Clearpath Robotics was originally founded with a focus to clear landmines using a swarm of small mobile robots – that’s how we got our name – so it’s very exciting for us to work with the University of Coimbra to advance this incredibly noble research.”

The mobile robotic base was outfitted with navigation and localization sensors, ground penetration radar, and a custom robotic arm with an attached metal detector. The entirety of the robot is designed with open source software using the Robot Operating System (ROS).

The group received the mobile base, known as Husky Unmanned Ground Vehicle, as part of the 2012 Partnerbot Grant Program, inaugurated to support advancement in robotics research. Within the Partnerbot program, the group was also named winners of the Special Award for Humanitarian Contribution.

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, corporate, industrial, 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 robotic vehicles and autonomous solutions that are engineered for performance, designed for customization, and built for open source. Visit Clearpath Robotics at www.clearpathrobotics.com, follow us on Twitter @clearpathrobots or like us on Facebook.

Contact:

Meghan Hennessey

Marketing Communications

519-513-2416

press@clearpathrobotics.com

www.clearpathrobotics.com

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Accelerator Centre Client TeTechS launches its first Terahertz Spectrometer system

Revolutionary terahertz technology enables imaging and sensing applications never achieved with other imaging technologies.

Waterloo (Ontario) CANADA, January 18, 2014 – TeTechS Inc., a terahertz technology solution company, announced today that the company released its first terahertz spectrometer system.

The TeTechS Rigel 1550 terahertz spectrometer is portable, modular, compact, fast, and reconfigurable for analysis of solids, liquids, powders, and gases. With its revolutionary fiber coupled terahertz sensor technology, Rigel 1550  provides higher performance and flexibility than the state of the art in terahertz systems, allowing better discrimination, less complex signal analysis, and enabling applications which cannot be robustly achieved with previous spectrometry technology.

The fiber coupled movable transmitter and receiver heads can be mounted around the sample under test, for the cases where bringing the object/sample/process under test inside the spectrometer head is not feasible. The distance between the transmitter and receiver heads can be adjusted to create working space needed for different measurement settings.

TeTechS Rigel 1550 is an innovative and reliable turnkey system with a built‐in 1550 nm femto‐second fiber laser, a fiber laser beam distribution chassis with fast and slow scan modules, and built‐in lock‐in and low‐noise amplifiers, with a controlling and operation software. The system is permanently aligned to provide a collimated terahertz beam between the transmitter and the receiver heads. The user has access to the collimated terahertz beam inside the spectrometer head where the interchangeable and easy to use transmission, reflection, and attenuated total reflection (ATR) measurement modules can be placed.

“Rigel 1550 can be used for a wide range of applications including material characterization, material sensing, non‐destructive test, hidden object detection, product inspection, manufacturing quality control, thickness measurement and uniformity analysis, coating and thin film analysis, additives analysis, and electronic chip fault analysis” says Dr. Daryoosh Saeedkia, founder and CEO of TeTechS Inc. “It can also be used for material verification and identification, such as: plastics, pulp and paper, gels, organic powders, and adhesives, to name a few” said Saeedkia.

About TeTechS Inc.

TeTechS Inc. is a leading innovator of advanced terahertz technology solutions committed to developing terahertz sensor and imaging systems for industrial and scientific applications. TeTechS Inc. draws on the distinctive characteristics of leading‐edge terahertz technology to develop unique non‐destructive and non‐invasive sensing and imaging solutions. The systems can see features of interest behind enclosures or inside packages, which are invisible to other imaging modalities. The Customers’ problems can be solved in ways that cannot be addressed by other imaging modalities such as X‐Ray and infrared imaging. The company’s vision is to become a major terahertz technology solutions provider to the industries worldwide through developing innovative terahertz imaging and sensing system solutions.

For further details please contact:

Daryoosh Saeedkia, PhD
President & CEO
TeTechS Inc.TeTechS Inc.
Tel: +1 (519) 584‐0791
Toll Free: +1 (855) 574‐1764
Fax: +1 (519) 513‐2421
Email: info@tetechs.com
Web: www.tetechs.com
Twitter: @TeTechS
LinkedIn: TeTechS

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Accelerator Centre Client Sober Steering's technology being used in New York State education system

Technology Ensures School Bus Drivers Are Sober Behind the Wheel

By: Peter Lawrence
Source: School Transportation News

Recently, I attended a presentation at the Rochester Area Transportation Supervisor’s Association in New York State on Drug and Alcohol awareness to meet U.S. federal requirements as stated in law §382.603

At the meeting, we had the opportunity to see a new technology being used to monitor and notify carriers if an operator or mechanic has alcohol in their bloodstream. The state-of-the-art technology was originally designed to detect chemical weapons from sensors that were dropped from aircrafts.

Sober Steering, a company based out of Canada, developed this product that acts as an alcohol interlock for school buses and other vehicles. They accomplish this through transdermal sensors that are built into the steering wheel. The sensors detect alcohol through direct contact with the skin. With this alcohol interlock, in the event that a driver tries to start a vehicle with alcohol in their bloodstream, the transmission will not be able to shift out of park and an electronic notification is sent immediately to their employer. Another neat feature of this system allows for randomized rolling tests where the operator can provide a sample while the vehicle is in motion.

Read the full article here.

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Stratford Accelerator Centre Client BuildCircle Inc: Does balance exist for an entrepreneur?

The Art of Compromise

By: Angela Pause
Source: youinc.com

“Balance [for an entrepreneur] doesn’t exist,” says Dan Heitbohmer. ”It’s like taking oil and water and shaking them up, trying to keep them mixed. Impossible.”

Heitbohmer, 38, has learned the hard way that the elusive “balance” the media and healthcare professionals encourage is for a different type of person than the entrepreneur. It might work for the nine-to-fiver, but as the president of BuildCircle Inc, a cloud-based software that manages the complex series of communications that accompany any construction project, Heitbohmer says the only option available to him is simple compromise.

It was a tough lesson to learn, he says. Heitbohmer “crashed and burned” in December 2012, after a six-month stint of working 19-hour days at his company, while also helping his wife, Melissa, with their newborn and five-year-old twins. Ignoring his failing health, he was eventually diagnosed with pneumonia and spent two weeks in bed – all the while stressing about work, and feeling guilty about not being a fully engaged father and husband.

Read the full article here.