519.997.2863   |   info@wetech-alliance.com   |   FRANÇAIS
Site logo
Sticky header logo
Site logo
  • Who We Are
    • Our Purpose
    • Our Team
      • WEtech Alliance Team
      • Venture Success Team
    • Our Board
    • Our Impact
    • Our Partners
  • What We Do
    • Tech Acceleration
      • Founders Night
      • i.d.e.a. Fund
      • Innovation Outposts
      • ScaleUP
      • SWO Black Entrepreneurship Network
      • Roadmap to MVP
      • Innovation Catalyst
      • Ignition Program
        • Ignition Challenges
        • Ignition Solutions
      • Digital Main Street | Future Proof
      • Women Entrepreneurship
        • Roadmap to MVP
        • Canada/US Power Panel
        • F5: Refresh and Reload
        • Women Entrepreneurs Holiday Gift Guide
        • RISE Windsor-Essex
      • MedHealth
    • Tech Talent
      • Nerd Olympics
      • FIRST Robotics
      • Hacking Health
      • Tech Connect
    • Tech Community
      • Tech Week YQG
      • Tech Awards
      • Founders Week
      • Tech Connect
      • Regional Alliance Windsor-Essex
      • Where Canada Begins
  • How We Help
    • Client Perks
    • Tech Jobs Board
    • Opportunity Alerts
    • Resources
      • Links
      • Winnovation Map
      • Entrepreneur’s Toolkit Library
      • Employer Support Programs Matrix
      • Entrepreneur Support Network
      • WEsearch
  • Get Connected
    • Tech Connect
    • Tech & Innovation News
    • Tech Events
    • Tech Blog
    • Tech Podcasts
    • TECH IT OUT! Newsletter
    • Français
    • Contact Us
  • Tech Jobs
  • Become a Client
PrevCDMN Soft Landing program applications now open27 July 2015NextRMRD Tech Partners with MatterHackers to Power 3D Printed Wind Turbines in Nicaragua31 July 2015
  • Blog

Maker City: Windsor is a Place of Ideas and Innovation

July 27, 2015in Blog 0 Comments

Maker-City-header-for-blog

By Yvonne Pilon and Irek Kusmierczyk

Mention innovative regions and people think San Francisco, New York and Waterloo.

But Windsor can also stake claim to being an ideas town.

Chances are your medicine cabinet has Palm-N-Turn child-proof containers invented by Dr. Henri Breault who was the chief of pediatrics at Hotel Dieu Hospital and founder of the Ontario Association for the Control of Accidental Poisoning.

The region produced Canada’s first electric streetcar, first winery and first international underwater tunnel as well as the first floating fountain and first mechanized fire truck.

Today, that mantle of innovation is carried forward by local entrepreneurs who are succeeding on the global stage.

Radix Inc. inspects 284 billion gummy bear candies per year with its high-speed vision technology.

The Collavino Group built the foundations and support structures for the One World Trade Center in New York.

Red Piston marries augmented reality with mobile applications to bring virtual appliances into a shopper’s home for Lowe’s and other international retailers.

Spot-welding technology invented by global manufacturing company CenterLine is now an industry standard and was used to weld subway cars traveling the Chunnel from Paris to London.

Valiant Machine and Tool received multiple PerformanceExcellence Awards from The Boeing Company for innovative products such as its groundbreaking cargo loader.

Dr. Fouad Tayfour, founder of the Windsor Laser Eye Institute, was the first surgeon in North America to perform the LASIK surgical procedure.

Netmon Inc. provided the environmental monitoring system for the London Olympics in 2012.

Lou Tortola created the RoundTail racing bike that significantly cuts down vibration.

We’ve barely scratched the surface.

That mantle of innovation will be passed to the next generation of innovative entrepreneurs, and the future looks bright.

Alex Deans, 16, received the prestigious Ontario Science Centre’s youth innovation award for inventing a belt that aids the visually impaired.

Windsor hosts the largest robotics regional competition in Canada that each year draws 1,500 high school students on 50 robotics teams – with each robotics team being run like a technology startup.

3dandersonmain
Windsor needs to foster its ideas people. Here, Paul Anderson, facility manager for Windsor Hackforge, looks through a 3D printer the group made. (DAN JANISSE/The Windsor Star)

The draft framework of the city’s 20-year strategic vision plan aptly describes the City of Windsor as a Maker City.

Indeed, for close to a century, Windsor was known as an auto town that made cars and car parts better than any other city in Canada. We know how to build things. That is our strength. But in addition, Windsor is also a creative ideas town, a city of visionary entrepreneurs who make their mark on an increasingly competitive global market through innovation.

To lift a line from a recent Chrysler commercial, we are born makers and inventors.

One hundred years of Windsor-based innovation tells us that building partnerships and platforms that support our homegrown entrepreneurs is a good investment.

That is a vision we can all rally around.


Yvonne Pilon is the President & CEO and Irek Kusmierczyk is the Director of Partnerships at WEtech Alliance.

Learn more about the amazing innovations coming out of this region in our free, downloadable presentation: “WINnovation: The Local Innovation You Don’t Know About”

WINnovation-Title-Page-FINAL

0 Likes

Categories

  • Blog
  • CleanTech Blog
  • Client News
  • Ivy's League Blog
  • Opportunity Alerts
  • Our Impact
  • Siri Blog
  • StartUP Blog
  • Tech News

Recent Posts

Recent WECAN Event Showcases Angel Investing and Networking to Local Investors
Recent WECAN Event Showcases Angel Investing and Networking to Local Investors
When Innovation and Sustainability Collide
When Innovation and Sustainability Collide
Windsor-Essex Regional Chamber of Commerce Announce Business Excellence Awards Finalists
Windsor-Essex Regional Chamber of Commerce Announce Business Excellence Awards Finalists
UWindsor secures $5M partnership with TELUS to propel 5G research and innovation in agriculture, advanced manufacturing and connected and autonomous vehicles
UWindsor secures $5M partnership with TELUS to propel 5G research and innovation in agriculture, advanced manufacturing and connected and autonomous vehicles
Workforce WindsorEssex Launches Report Identifying the Benefits of Remote Work in Our Community
Workforce WindsorEssex Launches Report Identifying the Benefits of Remote Work in Our Community

Connect with Us

TECH IT OUT! Monthly Newsletter

Get the latest Tech News, Events, Talent & Tech Jobs in Windsor-Essex & Chatham-Kent delivered directly to your inbox each month.

SIGN UP

Wetech Alliance Logo

Navigation

  • Home
  • Who We Are
  • What We Do
  • Tech & Innovation News
  • Events
  • Contact

Location

Footer Map
Click here for a detailed map.

Contact

Joyce Entrepreneurship Centre
2455 Wyandotte Street West
Located inside EPICentre, 2nd Floor
Windsor, ON N9B 0C1

Office: 519.997.2863

Connect with us:

ALL IMAGES, DESIGNS AND CONTENT COPYRIGHT © 2023, WETECH ALLIANCE.