Talk:MaRS Discovery District

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Major Overhaul

I've got an article of my own in the works, but before I cause a scandal by steamrolling over the present one, I thought I'd put it up here for some criticism. Here's what the text will be, more or less:

MaRS Discovery District is a not-for-profit corporation with the goal of maximizing the economic and social impact of Canadian innovation. It is located on the corner of College Street and University Avenue in the city of Toronto’s Discovery Distinct, adjacent to the University of Toronto and its affiliated research hospitals.

The name MaRS was originally drawn from a file name, and later attributed with the title “Medical and Related Sciences.” As MaRS also works in other fields such as Information and Communications Technology, Engineering, and Social Innovation, it has since abandoned this association.

Purpose

MaRS is often taken to be complex of research laboratories, but this is only partly true. While it provides full lab facilities for approximately 60 tenants, MaRS itself does not perform any research.

MaRS was created in 2000 by a private-public sector partnership to address the growing concern that while Canadian research institutions were producing excellent innovations, these were failing to effectively transfer into tangible commercial products. (The initial impetus to create MaRS came from thirteen individuals each committing $1,000,000 CAN of their own money to this effect.) MaRS’ stated vision is to see more research translate into products with ‘real-world’ utility, and to increase Canada’s competitiveness in the innovation economy.

MaRS seeks improve the means by which Canadian innovation is commercialized. Chiefly, its approach is to co-locate the research, capital and business communities in the MaRS centre, and to encourage collaboration between them by providing a range of services and resources. This ‘Convergence Innovation’ model seeks to address the common obstacles that innovation upstarts face in accessing capital, developing business resources and skills, and procuring market research. Additionally, it aims to provide a catalytic environment for innovation by encouraging a free flow of ideas and collaboration between its diverse tenants. Facilities

Phase I The MaRS development is comprised of two phases. Phase I includes the ‘Heritage Building’ (formerly a wing of the Toronto General Hospital from 1913 to 2002), the eight-storey ‘South Tower’ and the fifteen-story ‘Toronto Medical Discovery Tower.’ Approximately 700,000 square feet in size, it contains research facilities, professional services firms, investment companies, technology transfer offices, research and community networking organizations and established global companies (see tenant list below.) The MaRS Incubator provides lab and office resources for high-potential upstart companies, and the MaRS Collaboration Centre provides networking and conference facilities. Phase I began operations in 2005.

Phase II Phase II will constitute a 900,000 square foot addition to the MaRS centre in the form of a 23-story tower on the complex’s west wing. Construction is scheduled to begin in late 2007, finishing in 2010.

Services

The MaRS Centre In addition to the fact that it houses members of the research, capital and business communities, MaRS is designed to maximize socialization, networking and random collisions. Architectural details such as large public spaces, small offices and shared facilities (e.g. break rooms) contribute to this end, as well as events such as monthly tenant pub nights or coffee breaks.

The MaRS Venture Group The MaRS Venture group provides advisory services to upstart client companies, addressing the tasks of acquiring capital and developing business resources that have traditionally proven difficult for hitherto research-oriented enterprises. The MaRS Venture Group also provides market intelligence.

Programs and Networks Through the MaRS Collaboration Centre, MaRS puts on educational seminars, workshops and lectures on topics such as entrepreneurship, best practices and emerging technologies. Additionally, MaRS offers various online resources, including the MaRS blog, analyst reports, articles and interviews, ‘MaRS picks’ in literature and other media and event listings (see link below.)

List of Tenants

<Here>

Initiatives and Affiliations

<Here>

External Links

<Here>

I left out the bit about the criticism of MaRS over the US defense research. It cleared up a while back and isn't really relevant anymore.

Let me know if there's anything I should include/exclude/change

Chjovans 15:30, 18 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

MaRS is so much more than a collection of buildings and the activities performed there is much more than just research and spans all technologies, not just medical and biological.

I propose the following:

MaRS Discovery District was founded in 2000 by private and public sector leaders to maximize the economic and social impact of Canadian innovation. The MaRS community is anchored by the MaRS Centre, which opened in 2005 and is located in Toronto's Discovery District, adjacent to the University of Toronto and its affiliated research hospitals.

MaRS houses over 60 tenants from across the innovation spectrum, and offers educational programs focused on entrepreneurship.

Phase II of the MaRS Centre is targeted to open in 2009.

(Perhaps also add the blog link, which is the main area where content is posted: http://blog.marsdd.com)

38.116.199.130 18:03, 23 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Changes

I made some major changes. Much of the language, IMHO, sounded like an advert (see WP:ADVERT) and I believe was not from NPOV (see WP:NPOV).

I suppect the changes by User:Rpab {[1], [2]} were copyright violations (see WP:COPYVIO), as the text appears to be identical to the MaRS Discovery District FAQ (see: http://www.marsdd.com/portals/mars/faq/). Nephron T|C 16:48, 1 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

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