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2008 winners |
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| Focus: Hearing Aid Technology Concord, ON | 5 employees | Acquired: April 2008 www.vitasound.com |
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President & CEO: Gora Ganguli VitaSound Audio is being honoured this year for disrupting the hearing product market through its innovations in both products and distribution channels. The company patented a neural model-based hearing compensation technology developed at McMaster University that compensates for hearing loss due to noise trauma and normal aging. In addition, VitaSound has an exclusive, world-wide license for a technology that enables the molding of an earpiece to the shape of an ear canal in minutes, rather than the weeks required with other techniques. VitaSound’s technology not only provides more effective and affordable ways to treat hearing loss, but also enables a new generation of audio products customized to the user's physiology to significantly enhance the listening experience. This innovation also opens up new retail channels that provide greater convenience for customers. |
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| Focus: Health Network Provider Toronto, ON | 5 employees | Founded: October 2003 www.imdhealth.ca |
Founder: Sandro Micieli The inspiration for iMD Health’s ground-breaking product came during a visit by company founder Sandro Micieli to his doctor, during which the doctor fumbled through thick medical books looking for visual aids to help explain a medical condition. Today, iMD Health provides a new technology that enhances physician- patient communication about patient health. The system uses a terminal with a touch-activated interface to display specific regions of the human body, along with conditions, illnesses and diagnoses. This visual, interactive system helps physicians explain more clearly and effectively the health issues that concern their patients. |
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| Focus: Marine Evacuation System Technology St. John's, NL | 13 employees | Incorporated: July 2002 www.madrock.ca |
President & CEO: Dean Pelley More people have been killed on lifeboats than have been saved by them; many of these fatalities happened during training drills and maintenance. These unfortunate facts motivated the founders of Mad Rock Marine Solutions to entrepreneurial success. |
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2007 winners |
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| Focus: Executive search and recruitment Toronto, ON | 14 Employees | Incorporated: 2001 www.iqpartners.com |
| To attract and retain top talent for their own firm, leading recruiters IQ PARTNERS practice what they preach. “We always have to demonstrate leadership – but especially in our own HR processes,” says founding partner Bruce Powell. “That means applying internally the same hiring and management disciplines that we advocate for others.” The results are beneficial for IQ PARTNERS – and their clients. To stay current with HR trends, IQ PARTNERS leverages Internet-based applications, and connects with companies sharing similar values. Having cultivated many executive contacts, Powell often exchanges ideas and tools that contribute to effective client service. “Connecting with CEOs and entrepreneurs in Canada and around the world gives us brainpower and ability far beyond traditional limitations,” he says with pride. Internally, IQ PARTNERS holds 9-minute all-staff huddles at 11:51 a.m. every day, to identify “need-to-knows” and “must-dos” – which is also a tremendous catalyst in developing people chemistry. Always looking for intelligent recruits, Powell’s team applies a unique approach to secure the best people. “Our disciplined process, our smartFACTOR™ assessment methodology, and our experience make us extremely effective at evaluating compatibility,” says Powell. “As a result, we align successful people who perform especially well together.” The innovative leadership practiced at IQ PARTNERS may seem subtle to some, but the outcome is well recognized. |
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| Focus: Software for learning and development Fredericton, NB | 18 Employees | Incorporated: 2004 www.autismpro.com or www.vecinc.com |
| It was a classic “eureka” moment for Cynthia Howroyd, a New Brunswick speech language pathologist who was working with autistic children. When an auto accident prevented her from visiting her clients, Howroyd realized just how diffi cult it was to ensure consistent support for families requiring professional services like hers. Immediately, she knew that Internet-based technology was an ideal solution for providing reliable therapeutic collaboration from any location. To make it happen, Howroyd founded Virtual Expert Clinics and engaged both clinicians and programmers, who traditionally worked in different worlds, to create flexible software for unpredictable, nonlinear therapy. The result is the revolutionary online program called AutismPro™ that involves parents, teachers and therapists in different locations on an ongoing basis, and enables shared insight and collaboration to help advance patient progress. Firmly believing this is only the beginning for Internet-based programming, Howroyd encourages innovators to take their big ideas forward. “Don’t waste time in your basement perfecting a prototype,” she advises. “Develop a proper business plan and find the venture capitalist who can turn your vision into reality.” Coming from a successful entrepreneur, these are truly inspiring words. |
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| Have questions about the Innovations@Work Award? Contact us at: innovations.award@rci.rogers.com |   |