i3 - May/June 2018 - 13

By Mark Chisholm

Tech

I N T E R N AT I O N A L FO C US

L'Oreal Acquires
Augmented
Reality Firm
ModiFace, a Toronto-based
augmented reality (AR) and
artificial intelligence (AI) firm,
has been acquired by French
cosmetic company L'Oreal.
ModiFace focuses on AR
and AI applications in the
beauty industry. ModiFace
enables users to try cosmetic
products including lipstick
and eyeshadow virtually
through smartphone apps
and in-store mirrors equipped
with AR technology.

Map: Peter Hermes Furian/Getty Images. Downtown Brampton: Picture Library/Alamy.

Financial Tech
Startup Partners
with Mastercard
Dream Payments, a Torontobased fintech startup, is partnering with Mastercard, to make
use of the Mastercard Send
service to transmit insurance
payouts to transform the way
insurance claims are handled
across the country. The Dream
Payments Hub - through the
Mastercard Send service - will
streamline the process by
which insurance claims are reimbursed. The service also
provides an alternative method
for insurers to receive premiums
from customers.

TORONTO,
CANADA
Booking.com
President and Chief
Executive Officer
Gillian Tans

BOOKING.COM CELEBRATES
WOMEN IN TECH

E-commerce giant Booking.com celebrated
International Women's Day on March 8th by honoring women in technology. Events and initiatives
based in Toronto including mentorship opportunities recognized the achievements of women in the
tech sector. A partnership with Canada Learning
Code produced a two-part workshop to teach coding skills. "Connecting with strong female role
models is crucial to help women advance their
careers, especially in the tech industry. Our
research revealed that 90 percent of female respondents would be inspired to chase their dreams just
by seeing more women in leadership roles," says
Booking.com CEO Gillian Tans.

Canada's Smart
Cities Challenge
A hackathon was recently
held in the City Hall of
Brampton, in the greater
Toronto area. The hackathon was part of the
nationwide Smart Cities
Challenge, a competition
open to all local and
regional governments
across Canada that impels
communities to address
issues with smart city
technologies. The 12-hour
competition featured
teams of students from
grade 8 through the first
year of university competing for up to $2,000 in
prizes. The Smart Cities
Challenge offers a top
prize of $50 million to the
community that adopts
the best smart city
inspired approach to
social, environmental and
other challenges.

Google Plans Smart Neighborhood in Toronto
Sidewalk Labs - an "urban innovation organization" owned by Google's parent
company Alphabet Labs - plans to build a "smart neighborhood" on the Lake
Ontario waterfront. The company has committed $50 million to the neighborhood, named Quayside. Plans include cameras and sensors to enable selfdriving cars, as well as improvements to the traffic system and electrical grid.
Sidewalk Labs CEO Dan Doctoroff says the intention is to make Toronto the "first
truly 21st century city." The plans are pending approval from the city of Toronto.
C TA . t e c h / i 3

MAY/JUNE 2018

http://www.Booking.com http://modiface.com/ http://www.BOOKING.COM http://www.dreampayments.com/ http://www.Booking.com http://www.Booking.com https://www.sidewalklabs.com/ http://cta.tech/i3

i3 - May/June 2018

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