Helping Innovation Succeed
The Innovation Synergy Centre in Markham has assisted a wide variety of companies, all with their own set of challenges and obstacles. What you will understand as you review these five case studies is that the Synergy Centre engages a highly experienced team of mentors that are able to identify and prioritize business needs and respond to challenges as they happen.
Our first example is of a geomatics company that was started within a university - and was then acquired by the world's largest software company.
GeoTango International Corporation · York University, Ontario
GeoTango International Corp. developed a unique technology that it is able to turn location-based information streamed from anywhere on the Internet, as well as satellite images or aerial photos, into high-quality, interactive computer images and three-dimensional (3D) models.
Introduction to the ISCM
The founder of GeoTango was working out of York University’s Earth and Space Science and Engineering Department as Canadian Research Chair Professor in Geomatics, when he developed the technology. While GeoTango’s technology was strong, the GeoTango team lacked knowledge and experience in marketing and sales, leading York University Vice-President, Research & Innovation Stan Shapson to refer the company to ISCM. ISCM advisors, including Bob Glandfield, Paul Rivett and Allan Wilson, conducted an initial two-day discovery session to determine GeoTango’s needs and recommend future directions
Scope of Work
ISCM quickly recognized the growing market for GeoTango’s products and the strong potential for the company, but realized what was lacking was GeoTango’s business savvy to take the company to the next level. So, the ISCM team helped GeoTango hone in on a clearer vision and target market for the company, hire experienced senior executives in Marketing, Sales and Business, and develop a presentation to raise investment funding to build the business. At the same time, ISCM encouraged GeoTango to begin discussions with larger companies to see if there was any interest in strategic alliance, licensing technology or perhaps early acquisition.
Results
As a result of these efforts, GeoTango’s business grew rapidly, and the company was acquired in December 2005 by Microsoft Corp.– which continues to market and sell the technology. ISCM continues to act as a resource for the GeoTango founder on an as-needed basis.
