Our Story

People ask us all the time, "How did you come up with your company name IGLOO?"

Inuit people in Canada's far north traditionally built igloos (in the Inuit language iglu means house) for many reasons. They provided shelter or a meeting place to discuss and collaborate on vital community issues. Igloos remain an enduring symbol of community, cooperation and resourcefulness.

Simple in design, yet complex in architecture, the igloo is an iconic part of the Canadian identity and instantly recognizable around the world. Igloos ranged in size from small, one-person overnight shelters to large community structures linked by smaller igloos, connecting communities of people together to feast, sing, dance, play games and perform various rituals. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igloo

What's in a Name

We chose the IGLOO to represent our collaborative suite of web 2.0 tools for several reasons. Our unique background as a not-for-profit means our simple-to-use platform was designed to help globally diverse organizations solve complex problems. But finding better ways to collaborate is a challenge faced by all organizations in our increasingly mobile world. Our founding goals remain the same - making it easy for teams of people to work together to solve business problems regardless of the size of the organization. Our integrated suite was designed with Web 2.0 principles from the ground up to help individuals and teams become more resourceful, productive and knowledgeable regardless of geographical or hierarchical boundaries.

Our Mission

Simply put, IGLOO's mission is to help organizations improve productivity and achieve business results using web 2.0 social networking tools. Web 2.0 principles are focused around a technology that uses the web as a secure platform, creates a network based on participation where users are the driving force and is delivered using lightweight applications that are fast to set up, easy use and extremely cost effective. Cooperation, not control, is at the foundation of Web 2.0 technology. IGLOO is all of the above.

Building a Strong Foundation-Brick by Brick

Like the symbol of our technology, IGLOO's history is uniquely Canadian. Its humble beginnings started with a not-for-profit research centre called the Centre for International Governance (CIGI) founded by Jim Balsillie, Co-CEO of Research In Motion (RIM).

In 2003, CIGI, wanted to create a free online research network. Based on the belief that the Internet and other technologies offer tremendous potential for supporting and facilitating change, this global network connects researchers, educators and practitioners around the world. The network was named IGLOO (International Governance Leaders and Organizations Online.)

A diverse group of technology organizations came together to build IGLOO, which is headed up by our current CEO, Dan Latendre. These organizations include CIGI, Open Text, the University of Waterloo, and the Government of Ontario (the Ministry of Research and Innovation) .

Today, this IGLOO network connects more than 120,000 researchers, academics and practitioners from around the world in the not-for-profit, education and government sectors.

Network Highlights

• Membership: over 120,000 registered members from around the world focusing on global issues
• Partnerships: 175 leading organizations actively participate as contributors
• Open Access Library: members can browse and search over 20,000 free documents donated by our partners
• Blogs: 150 experts blog on global issues of the day
• Communities: free online spaces to collaborate and work on research, education and in the field

Communities that Work™

In 2008, with a strong heritage of solving global issues behind it, IGLOO Inc. has evolved into a for-profit software company. Based on its Web 2.0 and social networking experience (blogs, forums, wikis, content and content management), IGLOO is ideally placed to leverage social networking and offer a world class enterprise solution with a defining mission - provide the tools to help people change the way we do business today.

IGLOO is supported by a strong management team with decades of experience in both technology and management. Jim Balsillie, co-CEO of RIM, a Waterloo-based company that succeeded in changing the way the world communicates, chair's IGLOO's board with RBC Venture Partners providing venture capital funding.