Ryerson’s Digital Media Zone students drawing interest from angel investors

TORONTO—Technology companies looking for new products and services for next-generation consumers may want to turn their attention to the innovative student projects at Ryerson University. The university opened a new business incubator called Digital Media Zone (DMZ) this month that offers hard-nosed business mentoring and 24-hour access to a fully wired, high-tech environment. Students are encouraged to commercialize their ideas, and representatives from Google, Apple, Microsoft, Rogers, as well as other major technology companies, were on hand for the DMZ’s opening. “Every company that came by was stunned by the creativity and speed with which students were developing their ideas,” said Sheldon Levy, president of Ryerson University. “Imagine if we had 10 times that number of business incubators throughout the country. Imagine what level of innovation we’d be able to deliver.” Levy is on a mission to prove that these types of programs can stimulate innovation and viable business startups. But he said he’s not focusing on securing philanthropic funds from the private sector to support the DMZ. “That’s not our model. We want companies to come by and say, ‘My God, that’s a great idea, and we want to do a joint venture with that student.’” The DMZ is funded entirely from Ryerson’s operating budget, and although students don’t pay to participate, they need to present viable business ideas, he said. “We want to demonstrate that this program is worthy of financial support from government, not just at Ryerson, but at other universities.” The DMZ is currently supporting 50 student projects. A majority of them utilize wireless technology and smart phone applications, and several projects are already making money and attracting major customers and angel investors. “Other university co-op programs typically have students work at a big company, but at the DMZ, we already have growing student businesses that are hiring other students for co-op terms,” Levy said. One example is TeamSave.com, a social group-buying site officially launched last week by Chris Nguyen, a recent graduate of Ryerson’s information technology (IT) faculty. Retailers can offer special deals at reduced prices through the site, provided customers can promise to organize groups of buyers within short time-frames—typically 24 hours. The idea is simple but powerful: to harness economies of scale. “It’s easy to get a group of 50 buyers by passing a message virally via Facebook, Twitter, e-mail or other social media,” said Nguyen. “Group buying has always existed, but what’s different now is that customers can buy with people they don’t even know.” Through the site, retailers now have a cheap but effective avenue to reach customers, instead of paying for billboards and newspaper ads to move inventory, he added. “Almost 35 per cent of the traffic is from social media, so anyone who doesn’t understand the impact of Facebook will see it now. It will be huge.” Nguyen said his team has grown from two to six people over the past two months, and the project has attracted angel investors. “I could be working away in a garage, but being in the DMZ’s environment helped speed things up. There are like-minded people around who can help with technical issues and minimize mistakes.” Another project that’s making money is being developed by Jonathan Ingham, an master’s student in media production. Ingham has a project that projects interactive images onto a floor or wall, which react to the sweep of a foot or hand. For example, water will ripple and fish swim away when a visitor places their foot on the projected image of a pool on the floor. The projections use infrared emitters to blanket a surface and create an image. The software is programmed to react when the emission is blocked by a hand or foot. Ingham has used the technology to develop advertisements for Sony, Adidas, Harley-Davidson and other brands, and is in discussion with cinema chain Cineplex to launch a pilot at one of its major theatres. “With billboards, the value is calculated on estimated foot traffic. But since these interactive projections are all digital, advertisers can now get solid metrics by tracking precisely how many people stopped and how long they played with the ad. And they can send coupons and other messages to their smart phones to get them to buy the product.” He added that there are also practical applications. “Stores, hotels, transit systems and other organizations often offer some kind of concierge service to give people directions,” Ingham said. “These projections can be beamed onto walls or floors so people can interact with them to get information, like in the movie Minority Report.” Ingham’s interactive imaging is also being incorporated into another successful project developed by Hossein Rahnama, a Ryerson post-doctoral student in computer engineering. The Paris Metro Travel Assistant is a mobile application designed to help passengers with disabilities navigate the Metro system, and will be rolled out in Paris in late May. The smart phone application is context-sensitive, and reacts to changing environments to deliver information and directions within subway stations. In the Greater Toronto Area, transit authority Metrolinx is interested in developing a similar application. Project teams typically work in silos at many university incubators, said Rahnama. “What makes Ryerson different from other incubators is that we make an effort to create cross-disciplinary teams from different areas. With my background in computer science, I probably wouldn’t have met or collaborated with Ingham, who has an arts background.” The students are well positioned to see what kind of technology needs to be developed, said Valerie Fox, director of the DMZ. “These are the very people who will be rising up to be new consumers,” she said. “Young people interact differently with technology. Although I have tons of experience in digital design, I don’t think like a 20-year-old. These kids are designing all these inventions because they’re things they need or want, but aren’t available to them yet.” news@thewirereport.ca

Ryerson’s Digital Media Zone students drawing interest from angel investors

Broadcast | April 16, 2010

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