The inaugural Canadian Innovation Exchange (CIX) is on the calender for April 29 & 30th at the Carlu in Toronto and promises to focus on innovation. The two-day event will feature an innovation marketplace, flash-forward presentations on the state of technology, and facilitated networking opportunities. Key participants from the US and across Canada have been invited and confirmed attendees include: Mark Skapinker of Brightspark, Barry Gekiere of Ventures West, Bryan Kerdman of EdgeStone Capital Partners, Steve Hnatiuk of Yaletown Venture Partners, and Rick Segal of JLA Ventures.
CIX is intended to fill a void in the marketplace for an efficient and cost-effective meeting place leading to the development of innovative companies. The Toronto event will serve as a showcase of Canada’s top start-up companies. If you're interested in innovation, a founder of a fast growing start-up, or a member of the entrepreneurial ecosystem (banks, lawyers and VCs) you should attend. If your company is interested in presenting at the CIX, you have until March 24th to submit your registration.
Rob, I'm going to call you on this post. "a void in the marketplace for an efficient and cost-effective meeting place leading to the development of innovative companies" ?!?!
Are you kidding me? Please don't regurgitate the press release. And it's in Toronto and supposed to serve all of Canada? What's the plan for gathering participates from west of Waterloo? Or east of Ottawa, for that matter.
What organization is putting this on? Who are the people behind? What's their track record? The about page has some of that information, and mentions three or four other conferences they've done.
Let's do some follow up and value to these postings, shall we?
Hey Boris,
Thanks for your comment. I may be guilty of some PR regurgitation but don't shoot the messenger.
Vancouver-based events tend to be marketed as 'Western Canadian' whereas Toronto-based events are almost always hyped as 'Canadian' (Canada's Northern Voice this weekend is a timely exception).
With regards to an "efficient and cost-effective meeting place" - this remains true for their target audience, VC Firms. Just look at their Look Who's Coming page. No one from this list is complaining about Toronto hosting this inaugural event. Unfortunately, the innovative companies that will be presenting will likely be from Ontario only.
As far as the organization behind the event is concerned, Achilles Media is responsible for nextMEDIA (which Techvibes covered in December) and the Banff World Television Festival.
See you this weekend,
Rob.
I wanted to take a moment to answer your questions.
In general, Toronto tends to be where most national events at least start, for logistics of airlines for people from across the country.
CIX is working at making sure that there is a good cross section, there is an outreach committee working with many regional groups to continue to promote the event, and we have had a number of inquires from right across the country including the Maritimes, which is truly under represented in any event.
If you wish to know who is involved, have a look at the website. Currently, there are a number of key players on the national/international scene, either on a committee, speaking, or sponsoring the event. Feel free to contact me directly, if this doesn’t help give you more information, or if you wish to become involved to continue to promote this as a truly national event.
[...] What’s hot in Canadian tech? Yeah, a lot, but how can you learn about all the great stuff going on? At the end of April I think you’ll have your chance to see what’s hot now and what will be hot soon at the Canadian Innovation Exchange in Toronto: The inaugural Canadian Innovation Exchange (CIX) is on the calender for April 29 & 30th at the Carlu in Toronto and promises to focus on innovation. The two-day event will feature an innovation marketplace, flash-forward presentations on the state of technology, and facilitated networking opportunities. Key participants from the US and across Canada have been invited and confirmed attendees include: Mark Skapinker of Brightspark, Barry Gekiere of Ventures West, Bryan Kerdman of EdgeStone Capital Partners, Steve Hnatiuk of Yaletown Venture Partners, and Rick Segal of JLA Ventures. Source: Canadian Innovation Exchange [...]
