Toronto’s 50 Most Influential: #43, Iain Klugman
Iain Klugman
President, Communitech
43Klugman runs a tech hub in a former Kitchener tannery that houses 177 businesses, including 11 established companies, and offers rent-free space to students building start-ups. The result is a critical mass of jobs and money that helps keep graduates from leaving the area. One of his successes, Thalmic Labs, the maker of the Myo armband, raised $120 million in September. GM has opened a lab at Klugman’s tech hub focused on driverless electric cars (in June, the premier and prime minister showed up to the ribbon-cutting ceremony in a Chevy Bolt). Klugman has teamed up with the City of Toronto and MaRS on the Toronto-Waterloo Region Corridor, a branding initiative aiming to bring more capital and infrastructure to the area.
Up next:
Pushing all levels of government for a high-speed rail line connecting Toronto and Waterloo.
