The Markham Space Race Story

It's another frosty Canadian morning in January. The skate is over and the players are regaling over the events of the early morning hockey game. Who scored what goal and what was he thinking on that shot? It's a scene played in every town and city in Canada every day. But this morning was different. This morning was the birth of an idea - an idea that will change some people's lives and their companies forever.

The arena is the Angus Glen Community Centre in Markham, Ontario and the players have just finished their early morning hockey game. Jim Brown, a Colliers International office-leasing specialist, has been looking for ways to assist high-tech companies. He mentions the idea of a competition for office space to David Bergeron, Leasing Director with GWL Realty Advisors (owners of over 2 million square feet of Class A office space in Markham). Later, at a local Tim Horton's restaurant, Dave and Jim meet with two other hockey players; Darren Ciastko, Senior Economic Development Officer with the Town of Markham and Peter Sheedy, owner of Fit by Design, an office design and construction company. After several more meetings at Tim Horton's in typical Canadian fashion, an idea is born and a team is created. Colliers has the idea, GWL the office space, FIT the furniture and the Town of Markham the coordination and promotional expertise.

The team is in place with a very good idea but a critical component was missing. Darren suggested that the team talk to Bob Glandfield of the Innovation Synergy Centre in Markham. Anyone who knows Bob knows that if you bring him a good idea, you will soon have a great idea. And while Bob liked the idea of a competition for office space, he was not content to have it be like any other business competition. You see Bob works with technology companies and knows that successful companies always have innovative and compelling plans to grow. He understands that creating a growth strategy is very difficult and suggested that this business competition focus on growth plans. And so, from the arena to Tim Horton's to the boardroom, the Markham Space Race was born - a uniquely Canadian competition where the winner of the competition is the company with the most compelling growth strategy. This is not a start-up competition. It is open to technology companies that have been in business for a minimum of two years and have at least three full-time employees on the payroll. The winning company receives the use of a fully furnished, 1,000 square foot office in GWL Realty's Class A office space in Markham's technology corridor free for one year!

The Markham Space Race is all about growth and we invite you to grow with us. Please feel free to call any of the Markham Space Race Founders and help us grow.

The Markham Space Race Founders are:

Jim Brown, Colliers International email: jim.brown@colliers.com 416-492-2000

Dave Bergeron, GWL Realty Advisors email: david.Bergeron@gwlra.com 905-475-4023

Chris Mildon, The Insurers Financial Group email: cmildon@ifgcanada.com 905-707-5141 ext: 1011 

Suzanne McCrimmon , Town of Markham email: smccrimmon@markham.ca 905-477-7000 ext: 2655