MaRS Discovery District is a unique organization: it’s a community that exists to make the world a better place by helping entrepreneurs launch, grow, and scale their ventures into global market leaders.
Every day, more than 2,500 people from the worlds of science, technology, entrepreneurship and business—as well as investors and members of the innovation community—come to work at the 750,000-square-foot complex.
MaRS’ programs and services for startups are humming—everything from entrepreneurship education (in person and online), market intelligence briefings, hands-on advisory services and access to risk capital. Today, more than 1,300 young companies use MaRS’ advisory services, while more than 10,500 people attended MaRS’ educational events in 2011.
“It was apparent from the start that T4G’s mindset around innovation matched our own. We decided that T4G was the right firm to bring us to the forefront of technology without pushing us toward the ‘bleeding edge.”
When MaRS Centre Phase 2 opens in fall 2013, the facility will more than double in size to become one of the world's largest urban innovation hubs, commercializing research and accelerating the growth of startups in life sciences, ICT, cleantech and social enterprise.
MaRS is growing. Fast.
To manage this growth while maintaining and improving the facility’s IT infrastructure and security , MaRS required a partner that could support not only its own needs as a growing company, but also its diverse community of tenant organizations. Enter T4G.
“MaRS sits at the intersection of innovation and history, of people and place, of science and capital, and of structure and self-organization,” says Geoff Flood, President of T4G Limited. “At T4G, we like to think of ourselves as a great mix of entrepreneurs and creative thinkers, technology leaders and subject matter experts, a team of both young talent and seasoned veterans. We see much of ourselves in MaRS; we believe in what they’re doing, and we wanted to be a part of it.”
MaRS Chief Information Officer, Mark Zimmerman, agreed: “It was apparent from the start that T4G’s mindset around innovation matched our own. We decided that T4G was the right firm to bring us to the forefront of technology without pushing us toward the ‘bleeding edge.’ This partnership will keep us agile and open to improvements over time.”
Through the partnership, T4G is responsible for the full range of IT solutions (including Cloud Hosting and Managed Services) at the MaRS Centre — everything from the big picture to the tiny details. T4G helps set MaRS’ long-term IT strategy, makes technical recommendations, and supports end users for both hardware and software.
For more information about MaRS and T4G contact Robert Wyse, T4G’s Engagement Manager.