We covered lots of new and interesting subjects on our blog last month. Contributor Caroline Kealey discussed the importance of measurement for communications people. Terry Lavineway shared important information on business incentives in the federal budget. David French further explored the world of patents and explained how get value for your money. Our Francis Moran covered recent developments in Waterloo and shared counsel on the importance of having a good startup team, while Alexandra Reid examined the importance of social media images and interviewed startup champion Victoria Lennox on Startup Canada’s cross country tour and launch, happening this week in Ottawa. Plus, we had our regular monthly check-ins with startups Genevolve, Screenreach and NanoScale.
These topics merely scratch the surface of our coverage last month. If you missed any of our posts, here is a handy roundup.
April 3: Getting ready for the big show by Francis Moran and Leo Valiquette
April 12: Learning how to deal with the unexpected by Francis Moran and Alexandra Reid
April 25: Do you know how to dance with angels? by Francis Moran and Leo Valiquette
And on a related note…
In addition to our series, our associates and guest bloggers were also busy writing on a great range of topics. Here are our other posts from April, as ranked by the enthusiasm of our readers:
April 19: What’s going on in Waterloo? by Francis Moran
April 24: There is no magic recipe for a successful company, only good cooks by Francis Moran
April 16: Innovation and the budget by Denzil Doyle
April 23: Tales from the trenches: New associate joins our team by Jeff Campbell
April 17: Social media strategy: Why meeting in the ‘real world’ matters by Alexandra Reid
April 2: Making measurement work for communications professionals by Caroline Kealey
April 5: How to municipimp your municipality by Alexandra Reid
April 18: What an entrepreneur can learn from a literary conference by Leo Valiquette
April 30: From whiteboard to customers: a perspective from the startup world by Jesse Rodgers
April 9: Are we getting value for all the money we’re spending on patents? by David French
April 4: There were other business-related incentive tidbits in the federal budget by Terry Lavineway
April 26: Victoria Lennox: Startup champion by Alexandra Reid
April 13: The importance of developing a social media image strategy by Alexandra Reid
This is the fifth article in a continuing monthly series chronicling the growth path of Genevolve Vision Diagnostics, a life sciences startup based in Albuquerque, NM that is commercializing cutting edge genetic research to develop new diagnostic tests and gene therapies for colour blindness.
By Francis Moran and Leo Valiquette
It’s been a busy couple of months for Matt Lemelin, CEO of Genevolve Vision Diagnostics, as he hustles across the U.S. to raise Genevolve’s profile and, ideally, its bank account.
A year ago he made the mistake of letting his fundraising efforts lose steam after he secured a short-term investor. But those funds quickly ran out and he found himself scrambling without any fresh prospects in the pipeline. In our last post, we also talked about how Genevolve’s plans for a big launch at the annual meeting of the American Academy for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus in March had been derailed by delays in the lab.
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By Denzil Doyle
It was encouraging to see the emphasis that was placed on innovation in the recent budget and in subsequent discussions with the federal finance minister, Jim Flaherty. On the other hand, it was discouraging to read the cover of Maclean’s Magazine that appeared shortly afterward. It read, “Your kids are angrier than you think.” What was equally discouraging was that neither party made the connection between innovation in the Canadian economy (or lack thereof) and youth unrest.
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By Terry Lavineway
While last week’s federal budget contained widely anticipated changes to the Scientific Research and Experimental Development (SR&ED) tax credit, it also contained many other aspects of funding and incentives to encourage innovation and commercialization.
$400 million to help increase private sector investments in early-stage risk capital, and to support the creation of large-scale venture capital funds led by the private sector.
The government recognizes that access to capital for small and medium-sized businesses in Canada is both critical for growth and difficult to find. The venture capital and angel investor industries in Canada have been inconsistent for many years for many valid reasons. This budget commits $400 million to help address this problem. At the time of the budget, the government was not clear how, where or when to deploy this capital to incentivize private sector investments, other than to allocate $100 million for Business Development Bank of Canada venture capital activities. Certainly this amount of money is worth tracking to see how it will be deployed to help companies in need achieve their growth objectives.
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March was an exciting month, full of changes and new developments.
In the commercialization ecosystem, all eyes were on the federal and Ontario budgets, which shook up government investment and spending in Canadian business and innovation. In social media, the Stop Kony 2012 campaign went viral, spurring fervent debates between its supporters and critics all around the globe. Facebook also unveiled its new brand pages, leaving many businesses scrambling to update their pages and understand the new format on deadline. We covered all of these subjects and more last month on this blog. If you missed any of our posts, here is a handy roundup.
March 22: What an IP co-ordinator should know, confidentially speaking By David French
March 14: Looking for that sweet spot to get market traction by Francis Moran & Leo Valiquette
March 01: Yikes … we forgot the demo! by Peter Hanschke
And on a related note…
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We covered lots of new and interesting subjects on our blog last month. Contributor Caroline Kealey discussed the importance of measurement for communications people. Terry Lavineway shared important information on business incentives in the federal budget. David French further explored the world of patents and explained how get value for your money. Our Francis Moran covered recent developments in Waterloo and shared counsel on the importance of having a good startup team, while Alexandra Reid examined the importance of social media images and interviewed startup champion Victoria Lennox on Startup Canada’s cross country tour and launch, happening this week in Ottawa. Plus, we had our regular monthly check-ins with startups Genevolve, Screenreach and NanoScale.
