Risk Takers and Innovators: Great Canadian Business Ventures Since 1950

Alex Curran is a former member of both the National Advisory Board on
Science and Technology and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research
Council. He was chair of the Telecommunications Sectoral Advisory
Committee on Free Trade and the first recipien

Innovation is the challenging process that begins with the recognition
of a commercially interesting idea and concludes with the successful
introduction of that idea to the marketplace. This small book presents
the stories of 17 successful innovations, ranging from the low-tech
makeup mirror to the technologically complex IMAX project. In spite of
the diversity of these ventures, the difficulties faced by the risk
takers and innovators were remarkably common.

Don Chisholm’s contributions to digital networks, Val O’Donovan’s
contributions to microwave components, and the contributions of Terry
Matthews and Mike Cowpland to the conversion of Kanata from farmland to
enterprise are among the great ventures not included in the book. So,
while Risk Takers and Innovators is a valuable teaching aid to budding
risk takers and innovators, it is not, as the subtitle would suggest, a
definitive list of great Canadian business ventures since 1950.