The Pond, an Octopz blog on communication, collaboration and coworking online.

A new report by IT market research firm IDC names Octopz as one the 10 Canadian Web 2.0 Companies to Watch. The ten companies profiled in the report include AdHack, dthree Inc., Octopz, Overlay.TV, PlanetEye, Ramius Corporation, SceneCaster, Standout Jobs, Tomoye Corporation and Tungle.

The IDC report is part of The Canadian Technology Innovation Watch series and highlights smaller companies that have the potential to make an impact in the broader information and communication technology (ICT) market. According to the report’s author, IDC analyst Krista Collins:

Emerging Canadian businesses are changing the dynamics of the ICT market, and we are seeing a rapid increase in the availability of collaboration solutions. The companies in this study, including Octopz, are differentiating themselves from the myriad of other solutions in the market, guiding users through the adoption stage to help them understand how the various features and functions relate to them, and developing strategies that give users compelling reasons to stay engaged over time.

Octopz CEO Ron Octopz had this to say in our news release about our inclusion in the IDC report:

For an up-and-coming company such as Octopz, it is a thrill to receive this recognition from one of the world’s most respected sources of information about the technology industry. This report brings IDC’s research and insight to senior managers of ICT companies providing them with best practices and recommendations on innovative Web 2.0 technologies. It’s a phenomenal endorsement.

The full Octopz news release is here.

In addition to being included in the IDC report, so far this year Octopz has also turned up on the KPMG & Backbone’s 2008 PICK20 awards list, Startup North’s Ten Web Startups to Watch, the inaugural Canadian Innovation Exchange (CIX) and Branham’s Top 25 Up and Comers.

Octopz has been chosen as one of the top Canadian Web 2.0 pioneers in the first annual PICK 20 Awards. Other winners include b5media, FreshBooks, Kaboose, NowPublic and StandoutJobs. The full list of winning companies is here.

According to the offical news release:

PICK20 winners will be formally recognized in Vancouver at the Wosk Centre on Sept 16th 2008, and in Toronto during TorontoTechWeek at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre on Sept 22nd, 2008

PICK 20 is a roundup of Canada’s up and coming Web 2.0 pioneers, produced by Backbone magazine and KPMG. The winners on this year’s list were selected by a diverse range of industry pundits including Dave Forde, Michael Geist, Mitch Joel, Sean Moffitt, Michael O’Connor Clarke, Rick Segal, Ron Shuttleworth and Kate Trgovac. You can read the judges’ bios and their comments on the chosen companies here.

In related news, Canadian technology uber-evangelist David Crow wrote about Ten Startups to Watch in StartupNorth earlier this month, and included Octopz on the list. It’s really a thrill to be acknowledged for our efforts, nearly at the same time, both by established organizations and independent pundits.

It all began innocently enough in 2003, when Matt Harding (aka Dancing Matt) left his job as a video game developer to travel the world. Almost as an afterthought, he began videotaping himself (with the help of others) doing his own particular dance jig in front of different landmarks.

Harding then shared the clips on his website with family and friends who wanted to keep up with his worldly adventures. On his return, he created a compilation video, Where the Hell WAS Matt?, of 15 dance scenes, set to catchy background world music.

Word of the strange, hypnotic dance video spread virally by email and eventually landed a sponsorship for Harding. This allowed him to take a second trip around the world, and in turn make another travel/dancing video, Where the Hell is Matt?, in 2006. By this time, video sharing sites like YouTube were online and on the rise, garnering Harding an even bigger audience and a steady stream of emails and tribute videos from around the world.

In 2007 Harding announced that he would do another world dancing trip. He used the internet and his website to coordinate dance meetups with fans and fellow dancers around the world; fourteen months and 42 countries later, he released the video above, Where the Hell is Matt? (2008).

So one guy shared a simple and slightly crazy idea with family and friends and then went on to dance with thousands and entertain millions. Don’t you just love it when the virtual and the real world come together like this?

Update: The New York Times reports on the Matt Harding travel/dance videos.

Previously on The Pond: Just for fun, All together now . . .