First Product from Rotman School's New Creative Destruction Lab

TORONTO, Feb. 25, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Last September the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management quietly launched their new initiative for technology entrepreneurship, The Creative Destruction Lab.

Today, one of the ventures in the first cohort of this new initiative not so quietly has launched its first product, receiving attention from media including TechCrunch and Wired.

The MYO is the first product from Thalmic Labs. The device is an armband for gesture control that doesn't use cameras, but instead employs biosensors and accelerometers. Using Bluetooth, the armband connects wirelessly to other devices to enable user control based on their movements without directly touching the electronics. (Watch a demonstration here.)

"Thalmic quickly leveraged the Creative Destruction Lab and raised the majority of their seed capital from the Lab's G7 (coaching and investor group) including some of Canada's leading entrepreneurs like Daniel Debow, Senior Vice President of SalesForce.com, founder of Rypple and Rotman JD/MBA graduate, Tomi Poutanen, founder of Optimized Search Algorithms and Rotman MBA graduate, and Lee Lau, Director and Co-Founder of Alignvest Capital Management and founder of ATI, and their network," says Rotman Prof. Ajay Agrawal, Peter Munk Professor of Entrepreneurship and Academic Director of the Creative Destruction Lab.

To understand how devices such as the MYO could revolutionize how we interact with machines, you can read Rotman Prof. Joshua Gans' article at Medium.

The Creative Destruction Lab at Rotman is a venture lab that leverages: the business school's leading faculty and industry network; inventions and talent from the world-class, technology-oriented faculties at the University of Toronto such as Computer Science, Engineering, and the University Health Network; and, its location in the heart of Toronto – North America's third largest financial centre and one of the world's most culturally diverse cities, to achieve its mission.

In addition to Thalmic Labs, the Creative Destruction Lab is currently supporting nine other start-ups by providing guidance from experienced entrepreneurs on how to most effectively allocate scarce resources to maximize chance of venture success; access to early-stage investors; introductions to strategic relationships including customers, partners, recruits, investors; workshops on a variety of topics that are designed to increase the probability of venture success; as well as some professional services and office space.  To learn more about the lab, visit http://creativedestructionlab.com

The Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto is redesigning business education for the 21st century with a curriculum based on Integrative Thinking. Located in the world's most diverse city, the Rotman School fosters a new way to think that enables the design of creative business solutions.  The School is currently raising $200 million to ensure Canada has the world-class business school it deserves. For more information, visit www.rotman.utoronto.ca.

Follow the Lab on Twitter @creativedlab
Follow Rotman on Twitter @rotmanschool
Watch Rotman on You Tube www.youtube.com/rotmanschool

SOURCE Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto