Ecobee's future of the connected home

Group creative workshops encourage employees to think about problems and solutions in different ways.

Ecobee co-founder and CEO Stuart Lombard plans to build the "helpful home," a house that will do more for you by predicting what you might want and help you save on heating and cooling bills.

Brainstorming new ideas at an afternoon hackathon at the Ecobee HQ.

Throughout the day, employees come in an out of the garage-like hardware lab at Ecobee to prototype new ideas.

In the Ecobee Hardware Lab, tinkering with ideas.

Access to the Hardware Lab allows testing and iteration of hardware concepts.

Sahaj Cheema, director of product management, inside the hardware lab, where Ecobee employees can tinker on new ideas.

A simple prototype in the hardware lab used an upside down wastebasket for a quick build.

The Changing Landscape of Disruptive Technologies report from Canadian advisory services firm KPMG calls Toronto a leader in technology innovation hubs.

Rohit Sriram shows us around the Ecobee audio lab at the company's headquarters in Toronto, Ontario.

Once the work day winds down, Ecobee employees gather in the expansive common area for beers and board games on Thursday nights.

Taking a ping-pong break at the Ecobee office.

"I'm more excited about our product roadmap and where we're going and the opportunities that lie ahead than I've ever been," says CEO Lombard.