Village Gamer

Following a five-week-long call for applications, The Canadian Youth Business Foundation has announced the names of the 30 young entrepreneurs who will form the official Canadian delegation at the G20 Young Entrepreneur Summit (G20 YES) in Nice, France this fall.

Thirty dynamic young Canadian entrepreneurs have been selected to participate in the G20 YES, an annual international summit that brings together dedicated and influential entrepreneurs of the G20 countries, between October 31 and November 2, 2011. At the summit, delegates will be working together to identify the ways that governments and business communities can best harness the potential of young entrepreneurs, while also driving public policy, raising awareness and providing a voice for young entrepreneurs around the globe. The resulting recommendations will then be officially handed to the G20 leaders on November 3^rd in Cannes.

Representing Canada will be:

• Arjun Kumar: CEO of Kela Medical Inc. in Whitby
• Armen Bakirtzian: CEO of Avenir Medical Inc. in Toronto and CYBF Entrepreneur
• April Glavine: CEO of Lean Machine Healthy Vending Service Inc. in Moncton and CYBF Entrepreneur
• Barbara Mclean-Stollery: President of Executive Airways Grooming Services in Calgary, CYBF Entrepreneur and G20 YES 2010 participant
• Devon Brooks: Co-Founder of Blo Blow Dry Bar in Vancouver and CYBF Mentor
• François Baron: President of 3Dvisionic in Montréal and CYBF Entrepreneur
• Harry Chemko: Co-Founder and CEO of Elastic Path Software Inc. in Vancouver, G20 YES 2010 delegate and CYBF Board Member
• Jackie Cook: Chief Production Officer of Thread Media in Saskatoon
• Jean-René Lemire: Theobroma Chocolat, G20 YES 2010 participant
• Kassandra Linklater : Co-founder and Director of D.L. Strategic Online Media Corporation in Surrey
• Ken Leblanc: CEO of PropertyGuys.com Inc. in Moncton G20 YES 2010 participant, CYBF Entrepreneur and CYBF Board Member
• Kendal Netmaker: Founder and CEO of Neechie Gear in Saskatoon
• Kévin Paquet: President of AL-Peintre Inc. in St-Gédéon-De-Beauce and CYBF Entrepreneur
• Lesley Steele: President of Eastern Passage Village Veterinary Hospital in Eastern Passage and CYBF Entrepreneur
• Lisa von Sturmer: Founder and CEO of Growing City in Vancouver and CYBF Entrepreneur
• Martin Thibault: President of Absolunet in Boisbriand
• Marty Park: President and CEO of Evolve Business Group in Calgary and CYBF Mentor
• Matthew Hudson: Founder and CEO of Invenia Technical Computing in Winnipeg and CYBF National Best Business Award winner
• Meghan Athavale: President of PO-MO Inc. in Winnipeg and CYBF Entrepreneur
• Mike Wahl: Co-Owner of Definitions Wellness Safety Services in St. Johns, Newfoundland
• Milun Tesovic: Co-Founder and CTO of MetroLeap Media Inc. in Burnaby and G20 YES 2010 participant
• Monica Mei Chiu: CEO of WhatImWear.in, Owner of Aime Luxury and Founder of M Project in Toronto and CYBF Entrepreneur
• Mylène Chaumont: President of Sentinelle Santé in Gatineau and CYBF Entrepreneur
• Olivier Letard: Chairman of PCO Innovation in Montréal
• Roxanne Tétreault: Artistic Director of Esprits Libres Communications in Granby and CYBF Entrepreneur
• Stéphane Elie: President of Symbiose Communication in Longueuil, Québec and CYBF Entrepreneur
• Toby Reid: President and CEO at Solegear Bioplastics Inc. in Vancouver and CYBF Entrepreneur
• Tod Caton: President of Backside Tours in Edmonton
• Wael Badawy: President and CEO of IntelliView Technologies Inc. in Calgary and CYBF Mentor
• Valérie Bellavance: Senior Director, Quebec of Canadian Youth Business Foundation in Montréal

“The Canadian Youth Business Foundation is proud to have some of Canada’s most driven, resourceful and influential young entrepreneurs participate in the G20 Young Entrepreneur Summit,” explains Vivian Prokop, chief executive officer of the Canadian Youth Business Foundation and founding chair of the G20 Young Entrepreneurs’ Alliance. “These dynamic young delegates have been selected for their role as Canada’s job creators and innovators. Hailing from the four corners of our country and focused in diverse sectors of our economy, they have an impressive depth of experience and insight to offer to the G20 leaders and their fellow entrepreneurs. In November, these 28 young entrepreneurs will come home with strengthened knowledge, a credible platform and the voice to become a leader who drives change to the culture of entrepreneurship in Canada.”

CYBF hosted the inaugural G20 YES in Toronto in June 2010, inviting 200 young entrepreneurs and the organizations that represent them from the G20 countries to participate in the development of a communiqué delivered to the G20 leaders. The Summit also resulted in the creation of the G20 Young Entrepreneurs’ Alliance, an international network of like-minded organizations supporting youth entrepreneurship.

Learning Tree International, Inc. will be presenting five informative sessions at Showcase Ontario 2011, providing key insights on the best in public and private sector business training practices and solutions. Showcase Ontario takes place this September 7th through 9th at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre and will offer participants access to career-focused education sessions, world-class speakers and a dynamic exhibition.

Defining Clear Project Goals with Larry Barnard
Wednesday, September 7, 9:00a.m. – 12:00p.m.
Description:This interactive session will help create clear goals for projects, and explain how to use these goals to ensure successful projects and achieve smooth project closure.

Managing Emotional Intelligence with Larry Barnard
Two Sessions: Wednesday September 7, 1:00pm – 4:00pm & Thursday September 8, 9:00am – 12:00p.m.
Description: This session will help participants learn to combine strong interpersonal skills with technical skills, and to apply Emotional Intelligence to motivate and engage teams, foster cooperative working relationships and improve overall effectiveness.

Planning for Project Success with Larry Barnard
Thursday, September 8, 1:00p.m. – 4:00p.m.
Description: This intensive mini-course will discuss strategies for planning for project success, as well as common project pitfalls to avoid.

Cloud Computing Overview: Evaluating the Opportunities with Boles Sykora
Friday, September 9, 10:00a.m. – 1:30p.m.
Description: This half-day event features live demonstrations of current cloud computing products such as Salesforce.com, Microsoft Azure, Google & Amazon EC2 to help you evaluate the options, benefits and decisions involved with incorporating cloud computing.

The Montreal International Game Summit (MIGS), presented by the Canada Media Fund, unveiled programming for the 8th annual event, which takes place this November 1st and 2nd at the Hilton Montreal Bonaventure. Once again, MIGS is bringing together industry experts to create a educational event of unparalleled quality with presentations in six key areas of the business.

“One of the key objectives of MIGS is to expand the knowledge of developers so they will go back to work with their heads full of new and innovative ideas,” says Marie Claude Bernard, Director of MIGS. “With this year’s collection of inspiring speakers and our series of amazing events, the eighth edition of the MIGS is sure to be a great success.”

Participants will have the opportunity to hear the following experts:

* Arts & VFX:

• Alex Alvarez – Founder, President and CEO of Gnomon School of Visual Effects
• Hiroshi Matsuyama – CEO of CyberConnect2
• Raphael Lacoste – Art Director at Ubisoft

* Audio *NEW this year:

• Amaury LaBurthe – CEO and Assistant Professor at AudioGaming
• Jean-François Guay – Audio Expert and Programmer at Ubisoft
• Mona Mur – Composer
• Paul Weir – Audio Director, Composer and Audio Designer at Eidos

* Business:

• Jesse Divnich – Vice-President at EEDAR
• Marc Jackson – Managing Director at  Seahorn Capital Group
• Raphael van Lierop – Founder and Creative Director of HELM|Studio

* Design:

• Alex Epstein – Screenwriter
• Craig Morrison – Creative Director and Executive Producer at Funcom
• Nels Anderson – Lead Designer at Klei Entertainment

* Production:

• Andrée-Anne Boisvert – Associate Producer at Playdom
• Patrick Hsieh – Producer at Playdom
• Keith Fuller – Production Consultant for Fuller Game Production, LLC
• Scylla Costa – Development Director at Bioware

* Technology:

• Jeff Timanus – Software Developer for Google Canada
• Mike Ruangutai – Technical Director for  GameSpy Technology
• Renaud Bédard – Programmer at Polytron Corporation

Telefilm Canada is enhancing its participation in the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) with two new initiatives created to promote Canadian talent. A first for this year, 12 films to be shown at the Festival were promoted to the New York industry as part of Telefilm’s Eye on TIFF initiative, in which festival Co-Director Cameron Bailey took part.

Telefilm is also proud to announce that renowned Canadian director Atom Egoyan will launch its new Talent to Watchinitiative, which will spotlight the creative talent of the country’s emerging and established filmmakers, with Canadian and international media in attendance.

Back again for a 12^th consecutive year is festival favourite Telefilm Canada PITCH THIS!, which encourages industry support for new feature film ideas. Two additional activities will keep Telefilm in contact with its clients: Copro 101 information sessions will explore the ins and outs of co-producing with Canada, while Meet and Greet sessions provide opportunities to meet Telefilm’s top executives in one-on-one sessions.

“We’re enthusiastic about these two new initiatives that reaffirm Telefilm’s commitment to innovate and to promote the Canadian industry,” said Telefilm Canada’s Executive Director Carolle Brabant. “TIFF makes it possible, year after year, to support the industry’s growth by captivating international audiences, by forging ties within the industry, and by celebrating both up-and-coming and veteran talent.”

Director Atom Egoyan added: “Canadian filmmakers have always relied on the visibility and attention they can draw at film festivals.  This is a bold and vital initiative that fully understands the crucial role of promising young talent. ”

“We’re delighted to partner with Telefilm Canada on these exciting new projects,” said Cameron Bailey, Co-Director of the Toronto International Film Festival. “Eye on TIFF is helping to build profile for our best emerging talent, and is sure to open up new foreign sales opportunities for Canadian films. Our work will go a long way towards helping TIFF achieve one of its core missions: building audiences for Canadian filmmakers.”

Talent to Watch
Dates: September 9, 12 and 14, 2011
Time: 12:00 to 12:45 pm
Location: The Filmmakers’ Lounge, Hyatt Regency Hotel
Photocall: 12:00 pm
Talent to Watch spotlights the creative talent of our country’s emerging and established filmmakers. Don’t miss our “In conversation with…” sessions at the Filmmakers’ Lounge, which promise to take an insightful and perhaps even critical look at why Canadian cinema is applauded around the world. Atom Egoyan, one of Canada’s most renowned directors, will attend the first session, The New Face of Canadian Cinema, and will deliver opening remarks. Panellists will be announced shortly.

Telefilm Canada’s Eye on TIFF
This event was held in New York City on August 23^rd as an exclusive pre-festival mixer for Canadian film teams and the New York acquisitions, festival and exhibition community – a chance for some key decision-makers to sneak a peek at what Canada has to offer at TIFF 2011. TIFF Co-Director Cameron Bailey and Telefilm Canada Executive Director Carolle Brabant were co-hosts for the occasion.

TIFF Rising Stars
Dates: September 8 to 11, 2011
Telefilm is a partner in TIFF Rising Stars, a new initiative designed to discover the next generation of made-in-Canada talent. At this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, TIFF Rising Stars will showcase four Canadian actors who have proven themselves ready to expand into international careers. Sarah Allen, Katie Boland, Sarah Gadon and Keon Mohajeri will receive intensive professional development and mentoring from casting directors, agents, managers, producers and filmmakers.

Telefilm Canada PITCH THIS!
Date: September 13, 2011
Time: 12:00 pm
Location: TIFF Bell Lightbox
Telefilm Canada PITCH THIS! returns to TIFF for the 12^th consecutive year. Six participating teams have six minutes each to pitch their feature film ideas to a live audience of over 200 industry professionals. The winning team is selected by a jury of international industry experts and receives $10,000 CAD from Telefilm to further develop their projects.

Talent Lab
Telefilm is a partner in Talent Lab, an intensive four-day professional development program that provides emerging talent with an unparalleled opportunity to learn from the world’s best film creators. Talent Lab leads participants in group discussions on a range of topics focused on the creative aspects of filmmaking, sharpening the skills and confidence of a new generation of filmmakers.

Meet and Greet with our executives
Dates: September 9, 11, 12 and 13, 2011
Telefilm’s Meet and Greet is a series of 15-minute one-on-one meetings with some of Telefilm’s top executives during TIFF, in order to discuss topics in their respective areas of expertise.

Copro 101
Dates: September 10, 12 and 13, 2011
Time: 9:30 to 10:30 am
Location: Filmmakers’ Lounge, Hyatt Regency Hotel
Marielle Poupelin, Deputy Director, Coproduction Certification, and Sandra Karr, National Director, Business Affairs, will lead hour-long discussions on the ins and outs of coproducing with Canada. Whether you’re a visitor interested in doing business with Canada, or a Canadian seeking international partners, these group sessions will introduce you to the world of coproduction.

Canadian emerging technology CEOs are finding it more difficult to add new qualified employees to their payroll, according to a PwC report exploring talent management issues for the Canadian emerging technology sector. The report found 44% of CEOs listed recruiting new talent and management team members as their biggest hiring issue. What’s more, an overwhelming majority (72%) either don’t have a talent management strategy in place or aren’t sure if their existing strategy is effective.

“It is interesting to hear that IT entrepreneurs are challenged with finding qualified people,” says Peter Matutat, National Emerging Company Practice Leader, PwC. “At the heart of the issue may be that IT grads are coming out of school with a skill set that isn’t quite what employers are looking for.”

“The nature of emerging technology companies means they aren’t just seeking people with the technical know-how, but employees who are more well-rounded,” adds Matutat. “Start-up companies also highly value softer skills like creativity, an entrepreneurial spirit and business acumen.”

Tobi Day-Hamilton, director of advancement at the University of Waterloo Stratford Campus, says change needs to happen at the university level to ensure grads are equipped with the skills technology companies are looking for.

According to Day-Hamilton, “We’re seeing a skills gap in what grads learn in post-secondary and what companies are now requesting in employees. In recent years, we found students were specializing in one area of technology, which meant grads were lacking general business and creativity skills. Increasingly, these are attributes that are becoming must-haves for many employers.”

Day-Hamilton also stresses the importance of co-op education throughout the university experience. “Employers want new hires to come in and hit the ground running, which is difficult to do if you don’t have the practical experience,” she says. “The more experience you can get before graduating, the better.”

The University of Waterloo has developed new program offerings to address this skills gap issue. The university is launching its Masters of Digital Experience Innovation this September and its Bachelor of Global Business and Digital Arts next year.

For job seekers, the industry looks positive. Turnover continues to be low with 81% of CEOs reporting less than 10% turnover and close to 70% with less than 5% turnover. The primary reasons for staff voluntarily leaving their companies last year were for higher compensation and new challenging opportunities (both 21%). Involuntary staff turnover was mostly attributed to poor performance (32%) rather than cost containment (11%), and 35% of respondents indicated they had no involuntary turnover at all.

Accessible Media Inc. will be participating in three Canadian showcases for greater accessibility in media anywhere. Each “a11y” event – be it conference, unconference (self-organized forums for idea sharing, networking, learning, speaking, and demonstrating) or camp – is full of speeches, presentations and demonstrations that lead to great advances in software and website accessibility.

“Accessibility is often shortened to ‘a11y’ because 11 letters are replaced,” explains Robert Pearson, Director of Accessible Digital Media. “An ‘a11y’ event is a great opportunity for members of the design/development, usability, accessibility, other IT and end-users within disabilities communities to interact and learn from each other, and AMI wants to be there, where the future of new kinds of accessibility is shaped.  The community that requires accessibility has been patient long enough. It is time to meet their needs and ensure that no one is left behind, that everyone feels included and that the world becomes a more accessible place.”

“At AMI, we make media accessible to all Canadians and allow everyone to consume media equally.  We also deeply believe in supporting and promoting the work of others who strive to achieve inclusion, including people in the groundbreaking ‘a11y’ movement,” adds David Errington, AMI President and CEO.

In addition to supporting May’s A11yCamp Guelph, which AMI sponsored as part of the Aiming for Accessibility Conference, AMI will be taking part in the following Canadian events this fall:

August 26 in Montreal: Web Accessibility and e-Governance: For Truly Accessible Web Services conference. AMI will sponsor the afternoon’s facilitation, beginning at 1:20pm with Robert Pearson as a featured speaker.

September 24 in Toronto: Accessibility Camp Toronto. AMI will be sponsoring the ASL interpretation for the day, and AMI’s President and CEO, David Errington will be a featured speaker in the morning to discuss AMI’s role in Making Media Accessible to all Canadians.

December 2 in Ottawa: Ottawa’s first accessibility unconference. AMI will be a sponsor at this event.

The Currency Museum of the Bank of Canada officially opens Fakes & Forgeries: Yesterday and Today, a Royal Ontario Museum-produced exhibition featuring 115 real and fake objects running the gamut from historical specimens and cultural artifacts, to household items and designer name brands.

Eleven displays are featured, each devoted to a different category of artifacts and their corresponding forgeries. Each display offers hints on how to tell the real from the fraudulent and a chance for visitors to see if they can pick out the authentic piece from the forgery. The exhibition is on display to the public from 26 August to 9 December 2011.

BCIC and Wavefront (the Canadian wireless commercialization centre) launched its second annual entrepreneurship@Wavefront Program today.  A 12-month program, entrepreneurship@Wavefront is designed to support and nurture early-stage B.C. wireless companies from product concept to market entry. After a successful pilot, the accelerator program is expanding to support 12 companies this year and will be working closely with the BC Regional Science and Technology Network to increase accessibility of the program for participants outside the Lower Mainland.

“The first year program enabled eight entrepreneurs to turn their product ideas into successful emerging wireless companies,” said Mark Payne, Acting CEO of BCIC.  “Wavefront has done a great job working with these startups in our program, which have collectively generated over half a million dollars in external investment, over $350,000 in revenues, 18 new jobs, and new products that are penetrating growing markets.”

Among the first year graduating class is Vancouver-based RewardLoop, this year’s B.C. TIA Award winner for ‘Most Promising Startup’.

“The entrepreneurship@Wavefront was the catalyst that enabled us to work full time on bringing RewardLoop to market.  We have already signed deals with some of North America’s largest retail chains and are expanding our reach through international distribution partnerships , “ said Nigel Malkin, CEO and Co-Founder, RewardLoop. “The guidance, feedback, and support we’ve received from the program at Wavefront were invaluable to us in making these accomplishments possible in such a short period of time.”

Companies selected this year will receive office space in Wavefront’s downtown accelerator centre, access to their wireless expert advisory, training, and testing services, sales and marketing coaching, and connections to key industry contacts. Program participants also benefit from BCIC’s Mentor Program, a network of seasoned entrepreneurs and industry experts who provide entrepreneurs with support that is critical for growing a successful company.

“The wireless solutions being developed by the entrepreneurship@Wavefront companies span from Machine-to-Machine (M2M) to next generation networks to enterprise applications that address issues faced across many industries.  We continue to work closely with BCIC to ensure cross-sector opportunities, creating an environment within our accelerator centre that fosters collaboration and success,” said Jim Maynard, President of Wavefront.

Full details and applications for the entrepreneurship@Wavefront program are available online. The deadline for applications is Friday, August 26th at 11:59 p.m.   Selected companies will be announced September 7, 2011 with the program and access to Wavefront’s downtown Vancouver offices beginning immediately after.

Notesolution.com, an online note sharing platform for post-secondary students is about to launch its free service to over 20 universities across Canada. Notesolution is a Toronto based start-up, originally exclusive to the University of Toronto, but now with over 10,000 active users sharing 12,000 study documents.

“From Facebook to Foursquare, people are looking to their peers for the best source of information. Notesolution is the next natural progression for this concept of social learning” says Jack Tai, CEO and co-founder of Notesolution. Notesolution believes the future of education should revolve around the concept of peer-to-peer learning and will be releasing Notesolution 2.0 later this week.

Notesolution.com currently holds the largest collection of university notes in Canada. Students share their own study guides, lecture and textbook notes to earn credits which they use towards downloading notes from their peers. Students earn credits every time their notes are downloaded and can also exchange the credits for gift cards through Notesolution’s reward program. The Notesolution reward program encourages students to take quality notes.

“We believe that experience is the best teacher, so why not learn from the experiences of fellow students? Notesolution is a gateway for students to exchange study materials with each other, connecting and enhancing their university life.”  said Kevin Wu, COO and co-founder of Notesolution.

The Canadian Wireless Trade Show is happening this September 15th-16th in Toronto, and this year the conference is doing a lot more than changing the wireless communications industry in Canada – it’s gone global. Over the years, the Canadian Wireless Trade Show has attracted retailers, wholesalers and startups from around the world. Nokia, Samsung, Otterbox, and RIM among many others have all registered to gather under one roof at the Toronto Congress Centre for this year’s event.

With free attendee registration available to everyone, the 3000+ expected attendees will experience a sold out exhibition floor, seminars on the latest trends and directions for the wireless, mobile and telecom industry, a live mobile app competition and more.

The festivities will be hosted by two of Canada’s most-prized tech tongues: WEBNATION’s Maurice Cacho on September 15th and Tech Guru Marc Saltzman on September 16th. Only those in attendance will get a chance to network with the world’s top mobile, telecom, and wireless leaders of today; discover hands-on experience of the world’s most-advanced technologies and newest gadgets; receive free prizes; and be a part of wireless communications history!