Ten years ago, many of the folks who passed by this corner were more reminiscent of Yonge Street’s rougher past. It was an area in transformation when it launched a decade ago last week. Today, the space caters to a built-in audience of millennials in a consumer state of mind. And marketers have taken notice….“If you’re going to try and stage something, where are you going to stage it in this city?” asked Schulich School of Business Professor Robert Kozinets in the Toronto Star June 6. “Young-Dundas Square, in my opinion, is transforming itself into sort of Toronto’s Times Square experience.” Read full story.
Health teams pitch innovations in Dragon’s Den
Four health-care teams from Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre got a chance to experience the nerves and adrenalin rush of pitching their medical innovations to a panel of judges during a session modelled after CBC’s popular “Dragon’s Den” TV show….The session on Tuesday, June 4, was part of the inaugural Schulich Innovation Research Day, a venture between the Sunnybrook Research Institute and the health industry management program at York University’s Schulich School of Business, reported the North York Mirror June 7….The pitches included a catheter guided by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and a tablet that can remotely monitor wounds caused when patients with pacemakers develop infections around the site of the implants. Read full story.
Your database as powerful business tool
Trying to run a profitable practice without a database, says Alan Middleton, executive director with the Schulich Executive Education Centre at York University, is like trying to fly an airplane without proper navigation. “In modern times, your database is your compass,” Middleton said in Investment Executive June 6. “It is your No. 1 aid.” The information you hold on clients – in your client relationship management system, for example – is a goldmine of data that can be organized to help you run your business more profitably. Today, Middleton says, data and analytics are being used more and more to mine for new business. Read full story.
Toronto’s Portugal Day has a long history
Gilberto Fernandes, a director with the Portuguese Canadian History Project, who is also a PhD student in history at York University, is writing about the history of Portuguese communities in North America. The origins and celebrations of Portugal Day are something that figure greatly into his research. He explained Portugal Day started in the country in 1910 and has been celebrated ever since on June 10….“The idea of Portugal Day was to celebrate the nation and they picked that day to coincide with the death of Luis de Camoes, a poet in the 16th Century who shaped much of the Portuguese language and literature,” said Fernandes in the Parkdale Villager June 6 Read full story.
Whitehead says suspension ‘harsh’, unexpected
Councillor Terry Whitehead says he wasn’t given any warning that his conduct was under scrutiny – nor was he given the chance to address the allegations against him – before he was suspended from the police services board….Immediately handing a suspension to police board members who are undergoing an investigation is extremely unusual, said Richard LeBlanc, professor of law, governance and ethics at York University, in the Hamilton Spectator June 7. He says that rule prevents due process and treats people like Whitehead as though they’re guilty until proven innocent….”It’s a dangerous precedent. It chills people from being critical if their colleagues can remove them,” said LeBlanc. Read full story.
Scarborough could have been home to wind turbines in lake: Toronto Hydro
A wind farm could have worked off the Scarborough Bluffs after all, at least according to monthly wind speed measurements Toronto Hydro released this week, reported the Scarborough Mirror June 6….On Wednesday, June 5, Toronto Hydro released a summary of data, checked by York University researchers, which showed average monthly wind speeds of 7.4 m per second, close to the 7.5 the utility said the Ontario Wind Atlas and satellite images had predicted. Read full story.