On November 7th, The Leaders Circle hosted its fourth Annual Recognition Gala at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, bringing together a roster of Canadian professionals who’ve been successful in promoting the merits of the city through conventions, meetings, and tourism experiences. With the estimated economic impact of events like these throughout Toronto reaching $1.076 billion, the Leaders Circle Recognition Gala aimed to celebrate those who’ve helped to propel the city’s reputation, making it a hub for global leaders.

Throughout the evening, a total of 13 honorees were celebrated, representing a broad range of professional sectors. These attendees each played a part in events that have attracted international attention, bringing great minds together to facilitate business connections and investments, as well as positive societal and academic impact. This included the 2020 Human Right Watch Global Council Summit, 27th International Conference on Atomic Physics, 34th International Papillomavirus Conference (IPVC), and the 50th Annual Meeting of the International Society for Pediatric Neurosurgery.

The Leaders Circle Grant Recipient, Professor Dimitri Androutsos, was also recognized for his research project on breast cancer that works to broaden the understanding of techniques for automatic nuclei segmentation, which would enable the “large-scale analysis of nuclear properties in tumors of breast cancer subjects.” With breast cancer being the second most common cause of cancer death in the country, research projects led by professionals like Androutsos are vital in progressing diagnosis and treatment options for patients. As the recipient of the Leaders Circle Grant, Androutsos and his team will be able to further this research.

Similar benefits have been shared by Mr. Jim McArthur of the Canadian Hospital Engineering Society and Dr. Ann Burchell of the Department of Family & Community Medicine at the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute. By connecting with like-minded researchers to share ideas and inspire one another at such events, they've had the opportunity to expand their networks, increase their impact, and benefit the communities that they serve.

In all, the gala was a celebration of some of the city’s most influential professionals, an opportunity to consider the history of international events and the impact they’ve had, as well as a chance to look into the future. Masters of Ceremonies Kathy Nicolay and Loren Christie helped to facilitate conversations regarding these topics throughout the evening, highlighting key takeaways from the honorees who were present to share their thoughts. With so many inspiring leaders recognized throughout the evening, it’s clear that The Leaders Circle continues to function as an important network, which brings bright minds together, provides them with the resources they need to reach new heights, and position Toronto as a city that’s synonymous with innovation.

Adobe XD will be receiving Alexa integration to the platform. Adobe XD is a developing tool used for prototyping apps. Support on the Adobe XD platform is now available for both the Echo Dot as well as the Echo Show. This increases the number of voice prototyping tools that were already on the platform. Previously Adobe XD added integration with Alexa skill. Adobe conducted a survey and found that there was a large degree of user interest in voice technology.

The new Alexa integration will add Alexa skill as well as Alexa XD plugins, which will make it easier for users to move voice prototypes to Alexa. It is possible that integration for other smart assistants could come to the platform but the company has not announced anything in the works.

The Gumpo 'Flipchart' is a distinctly minimal unit for the workplace or classroom that puts a focus on ideation and organization to keep users on the right track towards their next great idea. Designed by Gerhardt Kellermann and Ana Relvao for Gumpo, the chart is comprised of just three panels in total; two vertical ones that are held in place by a third horizontal one that also acts as a surface for writing utensils. The vertical panels have wheels on one end for easily moving it around a space to ensure that brainstorming can be done anywhere within a space instead of designated rooms.

The Gumpo 'Flipchart' has a fuss-free design that speaks to the rise of workplace minimalism as professionals seek to eliminate unnecessary clutter in favor of a more efficient environment.

RepuGen is a software system that keeps all healthcare reputation reviews in one place in order to accurately match patient satisfaction with the reviews online. Its overall mission is to deliver the most authentic approach to healthcare practices.

This allows for better control of businesses' online reputation, patient care and satisfaction, and recovery. Some of the features include protection from negative reviews, patient insights, service recovery, closer patient interactions, and much more. RepuGen works with IPAs, Urgent Care Centers, Hospitals, Private Practices, Medical Groups, and Dental Practices. It also recognizes that the most vocal patients are those that were unsatisfied, often resulting in a skewed overall review. To combat that, RepuGen aims to create a more accurate reputation of the healthcare industry through regular review generation and proactive management.

Coming up with great ideas can be a difficult process, so the Myndset ideation playing cards have been created as a way to accelerate the brainstorming process. The game works by guiding players through each phase of the ideation process to ensure they don't get sidetracked or lost along the way, which could effectively stimulate planning for a wide array of users. This could include design professionals, students, entrepreneurs, consultants, startups and much more to help gamify the brainstorming process.

The Myndset ideation playing cards work with an accompanying smartphone app to let users learn more about the various cards in play as they go for a more holistic approach to gameplay. The simple method of gameplay could help players to come up with great ideas or solve problems in just 30 minutes, which is sure to satisfy efficiency aficionados.

Creating enterprise apps often requires ample time and developer skills, but the 'Zvolv' platform aims to change this with an interface that is streamlined and incorporated with the power of AI.

The platform will enable users to create apps in mere days, while also allowing them to integrate analytics, cognitive automation, document management, AI and much more into the project. The platform can be used for creating apps for Android and iOS, but doesn't require users to know how to code to make it a powerhouse of efficiency for professionals of all kinds to utilize.

The 'Zvolv' platform allows for maximum flexibility and control to make the schedule move more swiftly for organizations of all sizes when it comes to ideation, implementation and execution.

Luxury auto brand Lexus has recently added to New York City's trendy meatpacking district with its new venture, Intersect by Lexus. Unlike the chic boutiques, art galleries and various clubs in the area Lexus is focusing on fostering creativity in its new space. This new venture into experimental marketing will set up Intersect by Lexus as a hideaway for creative minds to come together, exchange ideas and seek inspiration. The hub will seve as the brand's larger goal of supporting innovation through local and global events.

Housed in a fairly expansive space, this installation is intended to draw in those with or without an interest in cars. The space is elegantly welcoming and invites people to come in and enjoy food while also crossing paths with creators of fashion, art, design, entertainment, technology and more.

The IKEA Creative Hub in Malmo, Sweden, is a freeing space wherein many of consumers' most beloved designs from the Swedish furniture giant have found their beginnings. The space serves as the center of ideation for the international company, with features explicitly designed to encourage creativity and brainstorming as much as possible.

One of the most notable aspects of the IKEA Creative Hub is the lack of whiteboards. This isn't to say that IKEA discourages writing on boards during thought sessions, though. Quite the opposite: in the Creative Hub, employees are encouraged to write wherever they see fit, with one of the rooms covered entirely in a whiteboard-like material.

The space also has several different rooms for meetings of various sizes and a library where more introspective individuals can take a moment to read and reflect.

With sustainability and scientific design, researchers at Bristol Robotics Laboratory have begun looking into the possibility of 'pee-power' and explorations of how urine can be used to produce energy.

To test their studies, the research team implemented portable toilets that could harness this power at Glastonbury Festival. The design features cylinders filled with energy-producing electro-active micro-organisms. The bathroom stations use the collected urine to power festival displays that gave the attendees information about the event. In the 40-person terminal, about 1,000 liters of waste was collected daily, providing enough energy to power about 10 displays.

The technology is still in the prototyping phases, however, researchers believe it has great potential to serve as a natural resource with an unlimited supply, that's cheap and readily available.

At Cisco Live, AT&T announced that is launching an IoT project Starter Kit for developers to that will provide 4G LTE connectivity for Internet of Things applications.

The AT&T IoT Starter Kit promises to kick-start the prototyping process for an idea by providing everything from humidity and temperature sensors to a prepaid SIM card that is compatible in over 200 countries. Alongside supplying physical hardware that does not need to be sourced from multiple vendors, the plug-and-play kit also supplies developers with tools for designing, building and managing IoT project prototypes.

Martyn Etherington, the head of IoT cloud marketing at Cisco says: "IoT developers play a critical role in the development of applications that deliver new, valuable services through connected devices. With this all-in-one Starter Kit, we're helping to accelerate IoT success for developers looking to build or enable connected service businesses."

While other innovation accelerators focus on disadvantaged demographics like developing countries or female empowerment, this ideas hub encourages Dutch locals and refugees to work together. Located in a recently closed, repurposed prison (Bijlmerbajes) in Amsterdam, business incubator and cultural center Lola Lik is next door to the Wenckebachweg refugee center.

In addition to social entrepreneurs, vocational trainers, event planners and craftsmen, artists are helping refugees integrate into society through education, entrepreneurship and work opportunities. So far, the ideas hub has produced everything from a public restaurant to a language school, and kickboxing space.

This is not only an example of how cities can accelerate the integration of refugees, but also how to alleviate housing issues for creative citizens.

Those who are looking to create a lean startup will likely find the IdeaLevels Startup Box to be an effective way to get started with the endeavor. Packed with custom designed tool as well as step-by-step directions, the IdeaLevels Startup Box helps to keep the ideation process hyper-focused on the tasks that need to be completed first.

The number of startups is only on the rise with more small companies being developed each and every quarter. As such, a growing number of entrepreneurs are looking for ways to effectively hone in on what they need to do in order to develop a lean startup that's focused on success.

The IdeaLevels Startup Box packs everything needed to get start on refining an idea, building a product and finding customers.