Archive for February, 2013

Taking Over Toronto

Saturday, February 2nd, 2013

The Toronto Overlappers community has been seeing a resurgence of activity recently thanks to the initiative of Michael Dila founder of Foundery and the support of Overlappers like Leila Boujnane, CEO of Idee Inc., and Mathew Milan, CEO of Normative Design who hosted monthly dinners for the group in November and December 2012. On February 6th the Strategic Innovation Lab (sLab) at OCAD University will be hosting the next dinner gathering of the community.

In true Overlap fashion, no strict agenda was set for these gatherings. Beyond strengthening the bonds and introducing new friends into the community, the conversation that is starting to emerge is exploring the real potential for Toronto to become the global hub for an innovation for change movement and how the Overlap community could play a leading role in it. Stay tuned for what is certainly a very exciting and promising emergent thread.

Can We Catch Up With Angola?

Saturday, February 2nd, 2013

This was the title of a talk by Madelaine Droha, Canada correspondent for The Economist in January 2013 at the Gardiner Museum in Toronto. A provocative title for sure given that she was addressing a Canadian audience. Curiously enough this event on a mostly economic topic was co-sponsored by the LRC (Literary Review of Canada) and CIC (Canadian International Council).

Behind the provocative title the topic was about lessons Canada should learn from other global resource economies, in particular using sovereign wealth funds to create a development fund for the future.

Around the world wealthy countries like Norway as well as developing countries like Timor and indeed Angola have been putting at least part of revenues from non-renewable natural resources such as oil, gas, timber and mining products into a sovereign fund, whose investments yields would be used for preparing for a future without such resources.

Canadian governments have largely balked at saving such revenues and are “Spending like There’s No Tomorrow”, which is the title of the essay Ms. Drohan wrote for the Literary Review of Canada in January/February 2013 issue. The essay is based on her recently published CIC report “9 Habits of Successful Resource Economies”.  The report is available in print form and also electronically from CIC’s web site. It provides an interesting new perspective on Canada’s economy and the future.