GUV Powerlist 2018: Rafi Hofstein

Rafi Hofstein, president and chief executive of non-profit commercialisation firm Mars Innovation is no stranger to coping with a large ecosystem. Having led Mars Innovation since 2009, Hofstein has helped bring the number of portfolio companies to 52, which have attracted a total of C$160m ($120m) in external funding.

Hofstein, who has found time over the years to contribute multiple guest comments to Global University Venturing and was shortlisted for GUV Personality of the Year 2018, was instrumental in establishing research translation initiative Lab150 in September 2017 together with drug discovery company Evotec and the $800,000 Mars Innovation–Pfizer Translational Research Fund in April this year.

Mars Innovation forms part of a wider program, Centres for Excellence in Commercialisation and Research (known as CECR and pronounced “Cesar”) and has 15 member institutions across Toronto, including York University, Ryerson University and University of Toronto.