As a bit of an innovation-junkie, it’s hard for me to admit that the word innovation has become overused. I was in my vet’s office buying cat food last week, and it was being advertised as being “innovated to provide superior health benefits to cats.” Maybe that’s true, but it did get me thinking about just how often we hear the word innovation used as a buzz word when what we really mean is “what do we need to do to remain competitive or provide a good product?”
I’m a firm believer that innovation IS the key to the future, and one of the most important aspects of the health of an organization, a city or a country. To me that kind of innovation isn’t about changing the colour and marketing it as new and exciting, but more about the kind of innovation that truly changes the game for the future.
So of course I was excited to see that Toronto was listed as one of the top 10 cities for innovation by Innovation Leader Magazine. But what really peaked my interest was one of the key reasons for selecting Toronto as the only Canadian city to make the list, was our very own Xerox Research Centre of Canada.
The Xerox Research Centre of Canada (XRCC) is Canada’s leading materials research centre and home to a world-class team of scientists and engineers with broad expertise in materials chemistry, formulation design, prototyping, testing, and chemical process engineering. Their work focusses on delivering real-world solutions for businesses in areas such as security and authentication, electronic and sustainable materials, chemical processes, coatings, and novel technologies for the printing, electronics and manufacturing industries. The Centre has also been nurturing an on-site innovation hub, providing access to its labs and scale-up engineering pilot plant to start-ups and incubators. The growing hub features the well-known start-up accelerator RIC Centre as well as the green chemistry innovators GreenCentre Canada.
Every day the team at the XRCC focus on driving business growth through the commercialization of breakthrough materials, technologies, and services. They are continually pushing the envelope to invent and develop new materials platforms, exploring new ways to incorporate materials into functional prototypes, and pushing the limits of materials and ‘device’ performance.
“Innovation is our obsession,” says Dr. Paul Smith, Vice President of the Xerox Research Centre of Canada. “It’s not just about looking for new ways to do things, or new ways to apply materials science to business, it’s also about bringing ideas from concepts to commercialization and creating future technologies out of ideas that are just dreams today.”
Read more about how Toronto is becoming a centre for innovation in the report.
Find out how the Xerox Research Centre of Canada is helping Toronto become an innovation hub.
Source:: xerox news
