Google / en Trend-spotting Google exec Colin McKay says 91Թ prepared him for dynamic career path /news/trend-spotting-google-exec-colin-mckay-says-u-t-prepared-him-dynamic-career-path <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Trend-spotting Google exec Colin McKay says 91Թ prepared him for dynamic career path</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/colin-mckay-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=VtYaunnn 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/colin-mckay-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=__aEKAp6 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/colin-mckay-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=tVDaJBAn 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/colin-mckay-crop.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=VtYaunnn" alt="&quot;&quot;"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>Christopher.Sorensen</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2022-05-26T09:19:51-04:00" title="Thursday, May 26, 2022 - 09:19" class="datetime">Thu, 05/26/2022 - 09:19</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">After studying history and international relations at 91Թ, Colin McKay went on to work for the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada and Google Canada (photo courtesy of McKay)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/peter-boisseau" hreflang="en">Peter Boisseau</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/our-community" hreflang="en">Our Community</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/alumni" hreflang="en">Alumni</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-arts-science" hreflang="en">Faculty of Arts &amp; Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/google" hreflang="en">Google</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/international-relations" hreflang="en">International Relations</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/trinity-college" hreflang="en">Trinity College</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p><strong>Colin McKay&nbsp;</strong>built an impressive career in government and industry by analyzing data and spotting trends – and he says his education in the 91Թ's Faculty of Arts &amp; Science contributed to his success.&nbsp;</p> <p>McKay obtained a B.A. with distinction in history and international relations at 91Թ as a member of Trinity College, followed by a master's in history. He&nbsp;worked for the&nbsp;Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada before moving to Google Canada, where he currently heads&nbsp;government affairs and public policy.</p> <p>“There is a clear trend line in my life because the work I was doing for my undergrad and graduate degrees was really about information collection, analysis and communications,” he says.&nbsp; “What I studied in terms of information and intelligence analysis translated into my early jobs, and that flowed into an opportunity with the privacy commissioner.”</p> <p>He started at the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada – which provides advice to individuals about protecting personal information and enforces federal privacy laws – in 2007, just a few years after the advent of Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. The rising popularity of social media prompted new questions and fuelled debate around privacy.</p> <p>“I felt I had insights into that policy dialogue, as well as the specific work, based in part on the studies I had done at 91Թ,” McKay says, adding that it also helped to be an early adopter of social media.</p> <p>“The work at the privacy commissioner helped me take a deep dive into the other side of information use and analysis, which added to the collection of skills that got me the job at Google.”</p> <p>McKay was drawn to the field of international relations because his father was a diplomat whose job took the family all over the world.</p> <p>“I also liked the multidisciplinary nature of being able to jump between economics, political science, history and specialist courses,” says McKay.</p> <p>“And I took my time at 91Թ, because I was taking all the courses that appealed to me intellectually, but also because I was viewing the subject matter from a variety of perspectives and disciplines.”</p> <p>One of McKay’s main roles at Google is understanding the evolving regulatory environment around privacy and data collection and how that affects the company and consumers. He’s also charged with navigating that landscape with policymakers, researchers and politicians drafting new policies and legislation.</p> <p>His 91Թ education is an important foundation for that work as well, he says.</p> <p>“There's a lot of conversation at the moment about how exactly we create a regulatory framework designed for 2022,” says McKay.</p> <p>“It all goes to the multidisciplinary nature of my international relations degree. Whether it’s political science, economics or history,” he says.</p> <p>“You have to work hard to understand the environment, the problems to be solved and the specific communities you deal with, to evaluate and execute decisions. That makes my role very interesting.”</p> <p>He says his focus on following his own personal interests and professional challenges throughout his school years and career also gives him insights into the changing expectations of younger Canadians in the workforce.</p> <p>“I'm not as confused as some of my peers about people being willing to abandon jobs or to fundamentally rethink what they want to do with their skills and their time. Because that's how I was initially trained and how I've behaved since then,” says McKay.</p> <p>Previously a board member and vice chair at Media Smarts, a non-profit that promotes digital and media literacy, McKay says it's important for the public to be given adequate tools and training to appreciate the benefits – and risks – associated with technology.</p> <p>“I think the overlap with the media literacy work I’ve been doing is that there is a level of expectation and burden on the individual to understand the implications for them of the technology they're using, both in the moment and in the future.”</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Thu, 26 May 2022 13:19:51 +0000 Christopher.Sorensen 174897 at Making music with code, exploring solar-powered cars – 91Թ hosts STEM event /news/making-music-code-exploring-solar-powered-cars-u-t-hosts-stem-event <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Making music with code, exploring solar-powered cars – 91Թ hosts STEM event</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2017-05-19-go-north.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=Ri10Av0U 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/2017-05-19-go-north.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=-DynbENK 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/2017-05-19-go-north.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=cGsU_Z2R 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2017-05-19-go-north.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=Ri10Av0U" alt> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>ullahnor</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2017-05-19T15:35:37-04:00" title="Friday, May 19, 2017 - 15:35" class="datetime">Fri, 05/19/2017 - 15:35</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">Students from 56 classes across the GTA came to the event, planned by 91Թ's Faculty of Applied Science &amp; Engineering, Google Canada and Actua (photo by Roberta Baker)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/our-community" hreflang="en">Our Community</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/stem" hreflang="en">STEM</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/students" hreflang="en">Students</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-applied-science-engineering" hreflang="en">Faculty of Applied Science &amp; Engineering</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/google" hreflang="en">Google</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>91Թ's Faculty of Applied Science &amp; Engineering&nbsp;hosted more than 1,200 Ontario students in Grades 4 to 8 on Friday&nbsp;for Go North, a day of hands-on activities, demonstrations and workshops designed to ignite curiosity about the vast potential of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).</p> <p>Students from 56 classes across the GTA came together to make music with code, develop video games, look under the hood of a solar-powered car and participate in workshops on robotics, structures and 3D-printing.</p> <p>Created in partnership with Google Canada and Actua, a national STEM charity, Go North is designed to encourage students to become the inventors, innovators and makers of tomorrow by playing and experimenting with technologies today.&nbsp;</p> <p>They also heard from inspiring speakers about the exciting career paths made possible by studies in STEM, and participated in a live science demonstration from Science Max host Phil McCordic.</p> <p>Participants shared their experiences on social media throughout the day using the hashtag #GoNorthU. Here's what they had to say:</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <script id="twine-script" src="//apps.twinesocial.com/embed?app=GoNorth2017&amp;showNav=yes"></script> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Fri, 19 May 2017 19:35:37 +0000 ullahnor 107681 at 91Թ students have 'Googliness,' says Google exec /news/u-t-students-have-googliness-says-google-exec <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">91Թ students have 'Googliness,' says Google exec</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/gertler-and-harrison.jpg?h=e95b51fc&amp;itok=_ztCHiBc 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/gertler-and-harrison.jpg?h=e95b51fc&amp;itok=qa-nbev- 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/gertler-and-harrison.jpg?h=e95b51fc&amp;itok=2jEq1_6z 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/gertler-and-harrison.jpg?h=e95b51fc&amp;itok=_ztCHiBc" alt="A picture of 91Թ president Meric Gertler and Google's Don Harrison"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>geoff.vendeville</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2017-03-10T15:30:44-05:00" title="Friday, March 10, 2017 - 15:30" class="datetime">Fri, 03/10/2017 - 15:30</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">91Թ President Meric Gertler spoke with Don Harrison, a graduate of 91Թ's Faculty of Law, at Google about his university experience (photo by Rebecca Wilkowski Photography)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/geoffrey-vendeville" hreflang="en">Geoffrey Vendeville</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-legacy field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Author legacy</div> <div class="field__item">Geoffrey Vendeville </div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/global-lens" hreflang="en">Global Lens</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/google" hreflang="en">Google</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/geoffrey-hinton" hreflang="en">Geoffrey Hinton</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/global" hreflang="en">Global</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/recruitment" hreflang="en">Recruitment</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/us-recruitment" hreflang="en">U.S Recruitment</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-subheadline field--type-string-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Subheadline</div> <div class="field__item">Don Harrison, a graduate of 91Թ's law school, speaks to prospective students</div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p><a href="https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/articles/missions-that-matter.html">"Googliness"</a> is hard to put your finger on. It’s a quality used to describe employees and new hires at the tech giant –&nbsp;a mix of passion, drive and creative thinking.</p> <p>The 91Թ and Canadian culture bring&nbsp;these traits out in students, according to <strong>Don Harrison</strong>, Google’s vice president of corporate development.</p> <p>Googliness isn’t just about being smart.</p> <p>“You also have to operate in a way that’s respectful, kind and builds consensus,” he said. “91Թ does a great job of producing that.”</p> <p>And he should know. He graduated from 91Թ’s Faculty of Law&nbsp;in 1997, then worked&nbsp;for a law firm that helped take Google public.&nbsp;He later joined the tech company&nbsp;and now leads its corporate development branch, managing global mergers and acquisitions, and working on the company’s largest transactions&nbsp;including Motorola and Deepmind, which specializes in artificial intelligence.</p> <p>Harrison&nbsp;hosted fellow alumni and American students interested in applying to 91Թ at an event in Sunnyvale,&nbsp;Calif., on Thursday. In conversation with 91Թ President <strong>Meric Gertler</strong>, he reflected on how his university experience set him up for a career at one of the world’s top-10 largest tech companies.</p> <p><img alt class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__3757 img__view_mode__media_original attr__format__media_original" src="/sites/default/files/Google-event-California.jpg" style="width: 750px; height: 500px;" typeof="foaf:Image"><br> <em>American students curious about studying at 91Թ attended an information session in Sunnyvale, Calif., this week (photo by Rebecca Wilkowski Photography)</em></p> <p>The university teaches its students to operate in diverse workplaces, and they would fit right in at Google, Harrison told&nbsp;<em>91Թ News</em>. One reason for that&nbsp;is the university’s location, at the heart of Canada’s largest city, where about half the population were born abroad.</p> <p>Another draw for students is the quality of the university's researchers, many of whom are laying the groundwork for a high-tech&nbsp;future.</p> <p>“91Թ has managed to be at the forefront of a bunch of trends,” he said. “Two that jump out at me, artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques, are more and more becoming the foundation of new products and industries.”</p> <p>The university is home to a pioneer in the field, <strong>Geoffrey Hinton</strong>, who is often referred to as the “godfather of neural networks” and whose work&nbsp;paved the way for Google Translate. Hinton now splits his time between teaching at 91Թ and working at Google as an engineering fellow.</p> <h3><a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2015/04/17/how-a-toronto-professors-research-revolutionized-artificial-intelligence.html">Read about Hinton in the Toronto Star</a></h3> <p>With professors like Hinton, 91Թ provides a world-class education in subjects like artifical intelligence, Harrison said.</p> <p>“I feel like, for a budding software engineer or computer scientist, 91Թ provides a good place to get training and background, and access to the best companies in the world,” he said.</p> <p><strong>Zoya Bylinskii</strong>&nbsp;can attest to that. A computer science graduate and panelist at a student recruitment event in Boston on Tuesday, she spent part of her undergraduate years developing an application allowing a computer to recognize objects by breaking it up into component parts.</p> <p>“It's using principles of perceptual organization, how people perceive the world, how they take parts and group things into a whole,”&nbsp;she explained.&nbsp;“It really goes to the depths of human object recognition and applies it to computational algorithms to make them smarter in a natural way.”</p> <p>After graduating from 91Թ in 2012, she is continuing her studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.</p> <p>“91Թ's computer science program does open up a lot of opportunities,”&nbsp;she said.&nbsp;</p> <p>Many American students seem intent to move in the opposite direction to study at the 91Թ. Earlier this year, 91Թ’s Vice-President-International <strong>Ted Sargent</strong> said applications from American students <a href="/news/months-after-us-election-american-interest-u-t-grows">were up 70 per cent</a>.</p> <p>The California event was the last&nbsp;in a series of student recruitment events held across the United States last week. The week&nbsp;kicked off with an event in New York City featuring alumnus and Saturday Night Live creator <strong>Lorne Michaels</strong>.</p> <h3><a href="/news/live-new-york-its-u-t-alum-and-saturday-night-live-producer-lorne-michaels">Read what Michaels had to say to prospective students</a></h3> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Fri, 10 Mar 2017 20:30:44 +0000 geoff.vendeville 105689 at 91Թ computer scientist takes international prize for groundbreaking work in AI /news/u-t-computer-scientist-takes-international-prize-groundbreaking-work-ai <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">91Թ computer scientist takes international prize for groundbreaking work in AI</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2017-01-18-hinton-portrait.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=-XIPFbyv 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/2017-01-18-hinton-portrait.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=4zFUvZl0 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/2017-01-18-hinton-portrait.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=J2xiEey1 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2017-01-18-hinton-portrait.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=-XIPFbyv" alt="photo of Geoffrey Hinton"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>lanthierj</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2017-01-18T09:48:25-05:00" title="Wednesday, January 18, 2017 - 09:48" class="datetime">Wed, 01/18/2017 - 09:48</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">(photo by Johnny Guatto)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/bbva-foundation" hreflang="en">BBVA Foundation</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-legacy field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Author legacy</div> <div class="field__item">BBVA Foundation</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/geoffrey-hinton" hreflang="en">Geoffrey Hinton</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/artificial-intelligence" hreflang="en">Artificial Intelligence</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/computer-science" hreflang="en">Computer Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-arts-science" hreflang="en">Faculty of Arts &amp; Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/google" hreflang="en">Google</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/research" hreflang="en">Research</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/awards" hreflang="en">Awards</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p><a href="/news/u-t-geoffrey-hinton-ai-will-eventually-surpass-human-brain-getting-jokes-could-take-time"><strong>Geoffrey Hinton</strong></a>, a <a href="http://www.provost.utoronto.ca/awards/uprofessors.htm">University Professor</a> in the department of computer science at the 91Թ and VP&nbsp;Engineering Fellow at&nbsp;Google, has received the <a href="http://www.fbbva.es/TLFU/tlfu/ing/microsites/premios/fronteras/galardonados/2016/informacion.jsp">BBVA Foundation Frontiers Award</a> in information and communications technology for his “pioneering and highly influential work” to endow machines with the ability to learn.&nbsp;</p> <p>It marks the second year in a row that a 91Թ computer science researcher has won the award. Last year, University Professor <a href="/news/u-t-computer-scientist-receives-international-award-pushing-frontiers-knowledge"><strong>Stephen Cook</strong> was honoured</a> for his pioneering and influential work on computational complexity. &nbsp;</p> <p>The BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Awards were established in 2008 to recognize outstanding contributions in a range of scientific, technological and artistic areas, along with knowledge-based responses to the central challenges of our times.</p> <p>The international award is the latest honour for Hinton, whose revolutionary contributions to artificial intelligence (AI) have enabled such developments as speech and image recognition systems, personal assistant apps like Siri, driverless cars, machine translation tools and language processing programs.&nbsp;</p> <p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/14/magazine/the-great-ai-awakening.html?_r=4">Read about Hinton in <em>The</em> <em>New York Times</em></a></p> <p>His&nbsp;work has also advanced the use of medical images to diagnose whether a tumor will metastasize and the search for useful molecules in new drug discovery. Virtually any field of research that requires identifying and extracting key information from massive data sets has benefitted from advances stemming from Hinton’s work.</p> <h3><strong>Hinton’s approach draws on the way the human brain is thought to function</strong></h3> <p>Known as deep learning, Hinton’s approach draws on the way the human brain is thought to function, with attention to two key characteristics: its ability to process information in a distributed fashion with multiple brain cells interconnected, and its ability to learn from examples.&nbsp;</p> <p>The computational equivalent involves the construction of neural networks – a series of interconnected programs simulating the action of neurons – and, as Hinton describes it, “teaching them to learn.”</p> <p>“The best learning machine we know is the human brain,” says Hinton. “And the way the brain works is that it has billions of neurons and learns by changing the strengths of connections between them.”&nbsp;</p> <p>“So one way to make a computer learn is to get the computer to pretend to be a whole bunch of neurons, and try to find a rule for changing the connection strengths between neurons, so it will learn things in a way similar to the brain.”&nbsp;</p> <p>The idea behind deep learning is to present the machine with lots of examples of inputs, as well as desired outputs. “Then you change the connection strengths in that artificial neural network so that when you show it an input it gets the answer right.” Hinton’s research has focused on discovering what the rules are for changing these connection strengths. He views this as the path leading to a new kind of artificial intelligence where the computer learns from its own experience.&nbsp;</p> <h3><strong>Neural networks are far from a new thing</strong></h3> <p>Although their most important applications have emerged only recently, neural networks are far from a new thing. When Hinton began working in artificial intelligence – spurred by a desire to understand the workings of the human brain that had initially taken him into experimental psychology – his colleagues were already moving away from the neural networks that he defended as the best way forward. The first results had not lived up to their promise, but Hinton chose to persevere against the advice of his professor and despite his failure to raise the necessary research funding in his home country, the United Kingdom.&nbsp;</p> <p>His solution was to emigrate, first to the United States and subsequently Canada, where he joined 91Թ and was at last able to form a team and advance his work on neural networks.</p> <p><img alt="photo of Hinton" class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__3183 img__view_mode__media_original attr__format__media_original" src="/sites/default/files/2017-01-18-hinton-embed-resized.jpg" style="width: 750px; height: 500px; margin: 20px 10px;" typeof="foaf:Image"></p> <p>By the mid-2000s, results came in that would draw scientists back to the neural network strategy. Hinton had created an algorithm capable of strengthening the connections between artificial networks enabling a computer to “learn” from its mistakes. In the resulting programs, various layers of neural networks processed information step by step. To recognize a photo, for instance, the first layer of neurons would register only black and white, the second layer would recognize a few rough features and so on until arriving at a face.</p> <p>In the case of artificial neural networks, what strengthens or weakens the connections is whether the information carried is correct or incorrect, as verified against the thousands of examples the machine has been provided. By contrast, conventional approaches were based on logic, with scientists creating symbolic representations that the program would process according to pre-established rules of logic.&nbsp;</p> <p>“I have always been convinced that the only way to get artificial intelligence to work is to do the computation in a way similar to the human brain,” says Hinton. “That is the goal I have been pursuing. We are making progress, though we still have lots to learn about how the brain actually works.”&nbsp;</p> <p>By 2009, the programs Hinton developed with his students were beating every record in the AI area. His approach also benefitted from other advances in computation: the huge leap in calculating capacity as well as the avalanche of data that was becoming available in every domain. Indeed many are convinced that deep learning is the necessary counterpoint to the rise of big data. Today Hinton feels that time has proved him right: “Years ago I put my faith in a potential approach, and I feel fortunate because it has eventually been shown to work.”</p> <h3><strong>Eventual triumph of personal assistants and driverless vehicles</strong></h3> <p>Asked about the deep learning applications that have most impressed him, he talks about the latest machine translation tools, which are “much better” than those based on programs with predefined rules. He is also upbeat about the eventual triumph of personal assistants and driverless vehicles: “I think it's very clear now that we will have self-driving cars. In five to 10 years, when you go to buy a family car, it will be an autonomous model. That is my bet.”&nbsp;</p> <p>As to the risks attached to artificial intelligence, particularly the scenario beloved of science fiction films where intelligent machines rebel against their creators, Hinton believes that “we are very far away” from this being a real threat.&nbsp;</p> <p>What does concern him are the possible military uses of intelligent machines, like the deployment of “squadrons of killer drones” programmed to attack targets in conflict zones. “That is a present danger which we must take very seriously,” he says. “We need a Geneva Convention to regulate the use of such autonomous weapons.”</p> <p><em>Condensed from BBVA release</em></p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Wed, 18 Jan 2017 14:48:25 +0000 lanthierj 103383 at Google DeepMind's AlphaGo: meet the 91Թ computer scientists who helped it win /news/google-deepminds-alphago-meet-u-t-computer-scientists-who-helped-it-win <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Google DeepMind's AlphaGo: meet the 91Թ computer scientists who helped it win</span> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>sgupta</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2016-02-02T08:20:25-05:00" title="Tuesday, February 2, 2016 - 08:20" class="datetime">Tue, 02/02/2016 - 08:20</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">Neural networks “learn principles and tactics,” 91Թ's Chris Maddison says. “They don’t just memorize – they comprehend.” (all photos by Nina Haikara)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/nina-haikara" hreflang="en">Nina Haikara</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-legacy field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Author legacy</div> <div class="field__item">Nina Haikara</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/features" hreflang="en">Features</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/google" hreflang="en">Google</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-arts-science" hreflang="en">Faculty of Arts &amp; Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/computer-science" hreflang="en">Computer Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/artificial-intelligence" hreflang="en">Artificial Intelligence</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-subheadline field--type-string-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Subheadline</div> <div class="field__item">Grad student, alumni among contributors to latest breakthrough in artificial intelligence</div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Go is one of the world’s oldest games, originating some 2,500 years ago in China.</p> <p>Now the latest in artificial intelligence – Google DeepMind’s AlphaGo – has set a milestone in the game once believed impossible for a computer to learn, beating European champion Fan Hui 5-0.</p> <p>“The rules of Go are very simple,” says computer science PhD student and Massey College fellow, <strong>Chris Maddison</strong>. “But it’s in that simplicity that complexity arises.”</p> <p>Maddison is third author of new research <a href="http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v529/n7587/full/nature16961.html">published in <em>Nature</em> </a>and <a href="http://googleresearch.blogspot.ca/2016/01/alphago-mastering-ancient-game-of-go.html">announced by Google Research </a>on&nbsp;Jan.&nbsp;27, detailing AlphaGo’s success at mastering the game and beating previous state-of-the-art Go-bots in 99.8 per cent&nbsp;of games with even stones.&nbsp;</p> <h2><a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/technology/science/the-go-bot-how-a-machine-cracked-the-most-complex-game-ever-devised-byhumans/article28412671/">Read <em>The Globe and Mail </em>story</a></h2> <p>Go is fundamentally a game of conquering territories. The game proceeds with two players, alternating the placement of either black or white stones on a 19 by 19 grid. The goal is to define territory using the stones, and whoever controls most of the board by the end of the game, wins.</p> <p>“You might think the right thing to do is to make big blobs to cover the board,” says Maddison. “But you can capture territory by completely surrounding your opponent’s connected stones. So, professional play leads to beautiful stringy patterns that cut and connect across the board.” &nbsp;</p> <p>Artificial intelligence research has a long history of using games as microcosmic testing-grounds. Games are very precisely defined and allow researchers to evaluate their success. Last year, Google DeepMind taught a machine to play and win at all 49 classic Atari computer games. Go has always been seen as the last classical game where humans consistently outperform algorithms.</p> <h2><a href="http://news.utoronto.ca/tags/artificial-intelligence">Read more about artificial intelligence research at 91Թ</a></h2> <p>Part of the reason Go is so difficult, is the sheer number of possible results. Every Go game is rare and extremely unlikely to repeat. AlphaGo beat Fan Hui on games it had never seen before.&nbsp;</p> <p>“The obvious thing to do would be to search all possible outcomes, but that’s not going to work in games like chess, and especially Go,” says Maddison.&nbsp;</p> <p>What distinguishes AlphaGo from previous Go-bot approaches are the use of neural networks, computationally layered, banks of knowledge – and an area of research advanced by his PhD supervisor, <a href="http://www.provost.utoronto.ca/awards/uprofessors.htm">University Professor</a> Emeritus <strong>Geoffrey Hinton</strong>, who is also a distinguished researcher at Google.&nbsp;</p> <h2><a href="http://news.utoronto.ca/tags/geoff-hinton">Read more about Geoffrey Hinton</a></h2> <p>“What neural networks allow us to do, is to narrow the number of outcomes we’re going to investigate. But what they’re also very good at, is generalizing to states they’ve never seen before. So these networks learn principles and tactics. They don’t just memorize – they comprehend.”&nbsp;</p> <p>AlphaGo on its own isn’t going to do much else. But like other neural networks that have proven to be successful in image and speech recognition, this latest test proves further confidence in these systems, which could lead to use in other applications, from disease prevention to smartphone technology.&nbsp;</p> <p>“It’s like showing motors can move very big, heavy things – now you can apply it to other big, heavy things.”&nbsp;</p> <p>Among the contributing authors are 91Թ cognitive science graduate&nbsp;<strong>Timothy Lillicrap</strong>, a member of the Google DeepMind team, and computer science graduate alumnus&nbsp;<strong>Ilya Sutskever</strong>, now director of research at OpenAI, a $1-billion non-profit dedicated to artificial intelligence research.&nbsp;</p> <p>Maddison, who took leave last year to intern at Google DeepMind based in London, England, says it’s thrilling to be part of a team that grew from a small-scale project two years ago, to the industrial-scale project of today with many researchers and engineers. And the result is most satisfying.&nbsp;</p> <p>AlphaGo will play again this March, when it challenges Lee Sedol, the strongest and most titled Go player of the last decade.</p> <p>“I’m not a particularly strong player of Go,” admits Maddison. “I think it speaks to the technology we used. I didn’t need to be. But it sparked an interest I’d like to study more.”&nbsp;</p> <p><img alt="photo of Maddison holding Go chip" src="/sites/default/files/2016-02-02_Go_stone_AlphaGo_600x400.jpg" style="width: 600px; height: 400px; margin: 10px 45px;"></p> <p>(<em>Nina Haikara is a writer with the department of computer science in the Faculty of Arts &amp; Science at the 91Թ</em>)</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-picpath field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">picpath</div> <div class="field__item">sites/default/files/2016-02-02-google-go.jpg</div> </div> Tue, 02 Feb 2016 13:20:25 +0000 sgupta 7627 at Google Demo Day for women gives top prize to Bridgit startup /news/google-demo-day-women-gives-top-prize-bridgit-startup <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Google Demo Day for women gives top prize to Bridgit startup</span> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>sgupta</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2015-12-10T08:45:50-05:00" title="Thursday, December 10, 2015 - 08:45" class="datetime">Thu, 12/10/2015 - 08:45</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">To develop their startup, Lauren Hasegawa and Mallorie Brodie sought help from Creative Destruction Lab and The Next 36 at the 91Թ</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/olivia-tomic" hreflang="en">Olivia Tomic</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-legacy field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Author legacy</div> <div class="field__item">Olivia Tomic</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/top-stories" hreflang="en">Top Stories</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/startup" hreflang="en">Startup</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/rotman-school-management" hreflang="en">Rotman School of Management</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/google" hreflang="en">Google</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/entrepreneurship" hreflang="en">Entrepreneurship</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/bbcie" hreflang="en">BBCIE</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/app" hreflang="en">App</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-subheadline field--type-string-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Subheadline</div> <div class="field__item">Construction app developed with help from 91Թ entrepreneurship experts</div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Bridgit – a communications app for construction workers – is the winner of the first women’s edition of Google’s Demo Day for entrepreneurs. &nbsp;</p> <p>Out of more than 450 applications from 40 countries, Bridgit was selected as one of just&nbsp;11 startup teams to pitch at the event, held at Google’s headquarters in Mountain View, California. &nbsp;</p> <p>They were the only Canadian team pitching alongside entrepreneurs from Brazil, Israel, Mexico, South Korea, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States.</p> <p>“Google Demo Day was an amazing opportunity to share the stage with entrepreneurs from around the world,” said <strong>Lauren Hasegawa</strong>, co-founder of Bridgit. “We're extremely thankful for the opportunity to present and it felt great to bring home the win to Canada.”</p> <p>For generations, construction workers have been building our cities. But while architecture, tools and materials have changed, communication between teams has largely remained the same.</p> <p>“From the day a project breaks ground to the day that it is completed, a team is expected to communicate mission-critical information with post-it notes, excel spreadsheets, email and walkie-talkies,” said <strong>Mallorie Brodie</strong>, co-founder of Bridgit.&nbsp;</p> <p>The Canadian startup is bringing construction sites into the 21st century with an app that allows developers, general contractors and subcontractors to access clear and documented information about a project.&nbsp;</p> <h2><a href="http://news.utoronto.ca/spotlight-startups-bridgit-app-lifts-construction-sites-cloud">Read more about Bridgit</a></h2> <p>The female founder duo first met thanks to The Next 36, headed by 91Թ’s <strong>Ajay Agrawal</strong>, and designed to foster the entrepreneurial spirit of high-potential undergraduates. &nbsp;</p> <h2><a href="http://news.utoronto.ca/tags/next-36">Read more about The Next 36</a></h2> <p>After graduating from the University of Western Ontario, they moved on to hone their partnership and business concept at Rotman’s Creative Destruction Lab, one of 91Թ’s nine campus-linked accelerators.&nbsp;</p> <p>Bridgit impressed all three demo day judges with their business solution marketed to&nbsp;both commercial and residential builders. Based on judging criteria including business model, team and traction to date, Hasegawa and Brodie won the judges' vote for the top prize of the day.&nbsp;</p> <p>“Overall, the judges commended Bridgit on both our traction and our approach to customer acquisition and sales growth,” said Hasegawa. “We believe these two things are core to building a successful company in Canada and are excited to continue to build on the strong foundation we already have in place.”</p> <p><strong>Karen Sievewrigh</strong>t, managing director of 91Թ’s Banting &amp; Best Centre for Innovation &amp; Entrepreneurship, said&nbsp;“Not everyone effectively leverages the many different opportunities and supports available for entrepreneurs in their school or region, but that cannot be said of Bridgit.</p> <p>“These two young women have worked to turn their potential as student leaders into a viable business with huge applications in the construction industry, a traditionally male-dominated field,” Sievewright said.&nbsp;“While they would likely have gotten to this stage on their own, we’re proud to have been able to help accelerate their growth through two 91Թ supported initiatives.”&nbsp;</p> <h2><a href="http://entrepreneurs.utoronto.ca/">Learn more about startups and entrepreneurship at 91Թ</a></h2> <p>Google Demo Day is held each year but this was the first time&nbsp;Google for Entrepreneurs chose to create a second event dedicated to female founders, addressing the fact that the vast majority of funding is invested in male-led ventures.&nbsp;</p> <p>“We know that women around the world are creating and building incredible tech companies,” said Mary Grove, director of Google for Entrepreneurs. “We aim to help connect them with mentors, access to capital and shine a spotlight on their efforts.”&nbsp;</p> <p>While Google Demo Day doesn’t offer any immediate prizes, Bridgit will reap the benefits of getting the tech giant’s stamp of approval. This could include getting their foot in the door with investors, attracting the attention of potential large corporate partners and being able to hire more quickly.&nbsp;</p> <p>Startups who have pitched at the previous two Demo Days have gone on to raise approximately $3.5 million dollars in funding from investors who attended the pitches, followed by an additional several million dollars after the event.&nbsp;</p> <p><img alt="photo of Bridgit co-founders with judges" src="/sites/default/files/2015-12-10-Judges-and-Bridgit.jpg" style="width: 630px; height: 420px; margin: 10px 25px;"></p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-picpath field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">picpath</div> <div class="field__item">sites/default/files/2015-12-10-bridgid-lead.jpg</div> </div> Thu, 10 Dec 2015 13:45:50 +0000 sgupta 7522 at Twitter buys Whetlab, artificial intelligence and machine learning startup /news/twitter-buys-whetlab-artificial-intelligence-and-machine-learning-startup <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Twitter buys Whetlab, artificial intelligence and machine learning startup</span> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>sgupta</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2015-06-17T12:07:33-04:00" title="Wednesday, June 17, 2015 - 12:07" class="datetime">Wed, 06/17/2015 - 12:07</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item"> 91Թ's Jasper Snoek, Kevin Swersky, Hugo Larochelle and Ryan Adams, four of Whetlab's five principals (photos courtesy Whetlab)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/nina-haikara" hreflang="en">Nina Haikara</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/brianna-goldberg" hreflang="en">Brianna Goldberg</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-legacy field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Author legacy</div> <div class="field__item">Brianna Goldberg and Nina Haikara</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/twitter" hreflang="en">Twitter</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/startup" hreflang="en">Startup</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/google" hreflang="en">Google</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/entrepreneurship" hreflang="en">Entrepreneurship</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/computer-science" hreflang="en">Computer Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/commercialization" hreflang="en">Commercialization</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/artificial-intelligence" hreflang="en">Artificial Intelligence</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/top-stories" hreflang="en">Top Stories</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-subheadline field--type-string-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Subheadline</div> <div class="field__item">Researchers behind startup include former students of Google’s AI expert, 91Թ professor Geoffrey Hinton</div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Twitter has&nbsp;scooped up a machine-learning startup called <a href="https://www.whetlab.com/">Whetlab</a>, launched by several alumni and a PhD student from the 91Թ.</p> <p>Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/TwitterEng/status/611202260907864065">announced the acquisition</a> June 17, 2015.&nbsp;</p> <p>Whetlab’s tech has, until now, only been available in a closed trial – or ‘beta’ –&nbsp;basis for selected users. But influential startup blog <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2015/06/17/twitter-acquires-machine-learning-startup-whetlab/">TechCrunch reports</a> that its capabilities assist computers in recognizing objects, processing speech and other “A.I.-like technologies that would make machine learning easier for companies to implement."</p> <p>A splash on the startup’s website read:</p> <p>“We are very excited to announce that we are joining forces with Twitter!&nbsp;Over the past year, we have created a technology to make machine learning better and faster for companies, automatically.&nbsp;Twitter is <em>the </em>platform for open communication on the internet and we believe that Whetlab’s technology can have a great impact by accelerating Twitter’s internal machine learning efforts.”</p> <p>The company added that its current services will be shut down July 15.</p> <p>Several of the startup’s co-founders, including 91Թ alumni <strong>Ryan Adams</strong>, <strong>Hugo Larochelle</strong> and <strong>Jasper&nbsp;Snoek</strong>, worked as postdoctoral researchers with renowned artificial intelligence and machine learning expert,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.magazine.utoronto.ca/feature/getting-smarter-computer-science-professor-geoffrey-hinton-is-helping-to-build-a-new-generation-of-intelligent-machines/">91Թ professor <strong>Geoffrey Hinton</strong></a>, winner of&nbsp;the Merck Prize, the Killam Prize and the Herzberg gold Medal for Science and Engineering.</p> <p>Hinton now&nbsp;splits his time between 91Թ and&nbsp;Google. His neural networks company, launched with two of his post-doctoral research students,&nbsp;was acquired by the California-based tech giant in 2013&nbsp;and made headlines around the world. But only recently have features appeared in the media as Hinton shares the specifics of his work and its advances thus far.&nbsp;(<a href="http://www.wired.com/2014/01/geoffrey-hinton-deep-learning/">Read the Wired feature on Hinton’s work</a>.) (<a href="http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2015/04/17/how-a-toronto-professors-research-revolutionized-artificial-intelligence.html">Read a Toronto Star article about Hinton and Google</a>.) (<a href="http://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/the-current-for-may-5-2015-1.3061292/deep-learning-godfather-says-machines-learn-like-toddlers-1.3061318">Listen to a CBC Radio interview with Hinton</a>.) (<a href="http://www.magazine.utoronto.ca/feature/getting-smarter-computer-science-professor-geoffrey-hinton-is-helping-to-build-a-new-generation-of-intelligent-machines/" target="_blank">Read the 91Թ Magazine story about Hinton</a>.)</p> <p>While Adams now teaches at Harvard and Larochelle teaches at Université&nbsp;de Sherbrooke, co-founder <strong>Kevin Swersky</strong> is&nbsp;still at 91Թ,&nbsp;pursuing his&nbsp;PhD with computer science researcher&nbsp;<strong>Richard Zemel</strong>. Zemel also refined&nbsp;some of the startup's technology, said <strong>Donna Shukaris</strong> at 91Թ's <a href="http://www.research.utoronto.ca/industry-and-partners/commercialization-at-u-of-t/">Innovations &amp; Partnerships Office</a>&nbsp;(IPO). Whetlab's&nbsp;technology&nbsp;builds on rigorous statistical methods related to machine learning that&nbsp;developed at the 91Թ, Shukaris explained, adding that the deal between Whetlab and Twitter was facilitated through the IPO.</p> <p>Swersky&nbsp;was unavailable for comment June 17. In a previous&nbsp;interview with 91Թ's computer science department, Snoek said he always knew he would pursue computer science as a career.</p> <p>“I was always excited about technology and trying to understand how things work. And I was fascinated by the Internet and how it so quickly revolutionized how we communicate and obtain information – I wanted to be a part of that revolution.”</p> <p>91Թ’s computer science program has been <a href="http://news.utoronto.ca/university-toronto-ranked-first-canada-24th-world">celebrated as one of the top 10 computer science programs in the world</a>. <a href="http://news.utoronto.ca/look-what-happens-when-researchers-one-worlds-top-ten-computer-science-departments-launch-cool-start">Read about another startup from researchers at the department that recently joined Google</a>.</p> <p>“Our world-class reputation in machine learning has led to numerous advances and innovations within the field,” said Professor&nbsp;<strong>Sven Dickinson</strong>, chair of 91Թ's&nbsp;computer science department. “We will continue to see the impact of the revolutionary work by our ML faculty and students.”</p> <p>Interested in learning more about entrepreneurship and startups at 91Թ? Visit <a href="http://entrepreneurs.utoronto.ca/">91Թ's&nbsp;Banting &amp; Best Centre for Innovation &amp; Entrepreneurship</a>.</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-picpath field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">picpath</div> <div class="field__item">sites/default/files/2015-06-17-whetlab-composite.jpg</div> </div> Wed, 17 Jun 2015 16:07:33 +0000 sgupta 7089 at Look what happens when researchers from one of the world's top ten computer science departments launch a startup /news/look-what-happens-when-researchers-one-worlds-top-ten-computer-science-departments-launch-cool-start <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Look what happens when researchers from one of the world's top ten computer science departments launch a startup</span> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>sgupta</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2015-01-26T06:29:16-05:00" title="Monday, January 26, 2015 - 06:29" class="datetime">Mon, 01/26/2015 - 06:29</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item"> Professor Craig Boutilier and Tyler Lu</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/elizabeth-monier-williams" hreflang="en">Elizabeth Monier-Williams</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-legacy field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Author legacy</div> <div class="field__item">Elizabeth Monier-Williams</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/top-stories" hreflang="en">Top Stories</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/startup-computer-science" hreflang="en">Startup. Computer Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/google" hreflang="en">Google</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/entrepreneurship" hreflang="en">Entrepreneurship</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/commercialization" hreflang="en">Commercialization</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-arts-science" hreflang="en">Faculty of Arts &amp; Science</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p> <a href="http://marsinnovation.com/about/">MaRS Innovation</a> and the 91Թ have announced that the founders of Granata Decision Systems Inc., a graduate of the <a href="http://utest.to/">91Թ Early-Stage Technology</a> (UTEST) start-up incubator program, have joined Google Inc.</p> <p> <strong>Craig Boutilier</strong>, a professor in 91Թ’s department of computer science, and <strong>Tyler Lu</strong>, a graduating PhD student in the same department, co-founded Granata Decision Systems in 2012 to develop their advanced decision-support technologies.(Read more about&nbsp;<a href="http://web.cs.toronto.edu/">computer science at 91Թ</a> and <a href="http://news.utoronto.ca/university-toronto-ranked-first-canada-24th-world">how it&nbsp;ranks among the world's top ten computer science departments</a>.)&nbsp;</p> <p> Granata’s software platform provided what are known as real-time optimization and scenario analysis capabilities for large-scale, data-driven marketing problems and group/organizational decision-making.</p> <p> <span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">“</span>The emerging spirit of entrepreneurship in the department is reflected by the many startup companies established by our faculty and students and rooted in our world-class research programs,” said Professor <strong>Sven Dickinson</strong>, chair of the computer science department. “Our strength in artificial intelligence is not only behind successful new startups, like Craig and Tyler’s, as well as <strong>Geoff Hinton</strong>'s, but behind exciting new entrepreneurship initiatives like the Watson Challenge.<span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">”</span></p> <p> (<a href="http://news.utoronto.ca/google-acquires-u-t-neural-networks-company">Read about how Google acquired&nbsp;a 91Թ neural networks company last year</a>.) &nbsp;(<a href="http://news.utoronto.ca/u-t-team-takes-second-place-ibm-watson-challenge">Read about the&nbsp;91Թ team taking&nbsp;second place in the IBM Watson challenge</a>).</p> <p> The company was part of the UTEST program’s first cohort. UTEST is part of 91Թ’s growing ecosystem of incubators and commercialization support services, and was named one of Canada’s top seven accelerators in 2013.</p> <p> “This is a significant milestone for the UTEST program and the wider MaRS Innovation portfolio,” said Raphael Hofstein, president and CEO of <a href="http://marsinnovation.com/about/">MaRS Innovation</a>. “We co-created the UTEST program with 91Թ to foster entrepreneurship in a meaningful way while encouraging students and professors to translate their academic ideas into commercial realities.&nbsp;</p> <p> “We hope Craig and Tyler’s success will motivate other researchers and students to consider working with MI and participate in UTEST and our other commercialization programs.”<br> &nbsp;<br> Jointly administered by MaRS Innovation and 91Թ, UTEST’s mission is to support early-stage startups in computer science. Through UTEST, aspiring entrepreneurs launch a company, develop a business strategy, meet with industry representatives to get feedback on their products, secure seed funding and opportunities for follow-on investment, receive mentorship and have use of office space in the MaRS Discovery District for a year.</p> <p> “Craig and Tyler’s success is an excellent example of what can be achieved when innovative ideas are transformed into reality by the kind of support UTEST provides during critical early stages of development,” said Professor <strong>Peter Lewis</strong>, interim vice-president of research and innovation at 91Թ. “We're thrilled to see them take their next steps with Google.”&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p> Unlike other start-up incubators, UTEST accepts companies in the very earliest stages of idea generation&nbsp;–&nbsp;before they’re ready for traditional incubators –&nbsp;and can be a springboard to other North American accelerator ecosystems, such as YCombinator, Creative Destruction and One Eleven. (Read more about startups and entrepreneurship at 91Թ.)</p> <p> <em>Watch a video from CBC's Lang &amp; O'Leary report (below) featuring Professor Boutilier and Granata.</em></p> <p> <iframe allowfullscreen frameborder="0" height="348" src="http://www.cbc.ca/i/caffeine/syndicate/?clipId=2421339464" width="620"></iframe></p> <p> <em>Elizabeth Monier-Williams is a writer with MaRS Innovation, a partner of the 91Թ.</em></p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-picpath field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">picpath</div> <div class="field__item">sites/default/files/2015-01-22-google-grantata.jpg</div> </div> Mon, 26 Jan 2015 11:29:16 +0000 sgupta 6745 at