The MaRS mystery solved

By Michael Hammond, Record staff

I had heard what MaRS stood for before, but that piece of trivia had somehow managed to find its way back into my subconscious until this morning at a Communitech breakfast event. Ilse Treurnicht, chief executive officer of the Toronto-based MaRS Discovery District, spoke about her group's mandate.

When she finished her speech, her first question from the audience was an obvious one.

"What does MaRS stand for?" someone asked, with just a hint of derision in his voice.

Turns out, it initially stood for nothing, then stood for something, and once again stands for nothing. The name was given to the organization when its initial founders pooled their money together to buy an aging and crumbling Toronto hospital building to house a new organization much like Communitech, but with a decidedly more biotech focus. There's an interesting story behind how this group managed to acquire the property, which was slated to become a condominium project.

The group which aimed to start this group gave it the nickname the Mars project. At some point, the name took on the meaning of Medical and Related Sciences (which explains the small a in MaRS). At some point, the focus of the organization went beyond just biotech and the full name was dropped.

So, there it is. The mystery solved. That is, until I forget again.

mhammond@therecord.com