Banting and Best Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship Banting and Best Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship The Banting and Best Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship is an initiative of the University of Toronto which facilitates business mentorship and the development of commercially viable innovations. The goal of the Centre is to foster start-up companies by supporting new ideas as they are developed and then during the incubation phase on through commercialization. The centre was launched in September, 2012, in the Banting and Best buildings on College Street, Toronto. The 50,000 square foot Centre was named after Frederick Banting and Charles Best, co-discoverers of insulin, a treatment for diabetes
Frederick Banting George V. Frederick Banting was born on November 14, 1891, in a farm house near Alliston, Ontario. The youngest of five children of William Thompson Banting and Margaret Grant, he attended public high schools in Alliston. In 1910, he started at Victoria College, part of the University of Toronto, in the General Arts program. After failing his first year, he petitioned to join the medical program in 1912 and was accepted. He began medical school in September 1912. In 1914, he attempted to enter the army on August 16, and then again in October, but was refused due to poor