Finalist

Innovation Ecosystem of the Year Award

Atlantic Canada's Hub for Innovation & Entrepreneurship Training - Dal Innovates

Finalist of the Innovation Ecosystem of the Year Award

Dal Innovates - Canada

"Creating innovators with a venture skillset and visionary mindset"


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@DalInnovates
(Official Dal Innovates Twitter account)
@DalhousieU
(Official Dalhousie University Twitter account)
https://www.linkedin.com/company/dal-innovates/
(Official Dal Innovates LinkedIn account)
https://www.linkedin.com/school/dalhousie-university/
(Official Dalhousie University LinkedIn account)
https://www.instagram.com/dalinnovates/
(Official Dal Innovates Instagram account)
https://www.instagram.com/dalhousieu/
(Official Dalhousie University Instagram account)
https://www.facebook.com/DalhousieU
(Official Dalhousie University Facebook account)
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DalhousieU
(Official Dalhousie University YouTube account)
@DalVPR
(Official Twitter account of Vice President - Research and Innovation at Dalhousie University)

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The Award Ceremony for this entry (award category "Innovation Ecosystem of the Year ") will take place on 27 June 2023, 18:45 to 19:45 CEST.

Summary

In a short period of time Dal Innovates and alumni have made a measurable impact in the Atlantic Canadian innovation ecosystem. Since its formation in 2020, over 400 students and faculty from 25 universities across Canada have participated in Dal Innovates programming. Ventures from Dal Innovates’ core programming, Lab2Market (2020-2022) and Ready2Launch (2020-2021) cohorts, have already raised $6.8 million CAD in private and public funding, with over $34 million CAD in equity created via these ventures.

In total Dal Innovates has supported over 100 ventures in Atlantic Canada including 39 incorporated companies which are at the forefront of socially innovating technologies. In 2022, Dal Innovates was internationally recognized as the winner of the Deshpande Symposium Award for Technology Commercialization.

To make this a reality, Dal Innovates works closely with tech transfer offices, offices of commercialization & industry engagement, faculty, industry associations, government, and the private sector to create cohesive opportunities for students so they may build on their learning and go on to receive additional supports. Over 150 industry mentors and board members have been engaged in Dal Innovates programming to better service an involved community.

Dal Innovates is proud that many teams from our programs move on to later stage global accelerators and competitions, raise funding, and create jobs in our region. As Dal Innovates alumni move on to more advanced accelerators, they continue to give back to the Dal Innovates community by donating their time to mentor and speak to the next generation of entrepreneurs.

Key People


Dr. Alice Aiken
Vice President Research & Innovation
Office of the Vice President Research & Innovation,  Dalhousie University



Jeff Larsen
Assistant Vice President Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Office of the Vice President Research & Innovation,  Dalhousie University



Spencer Giffin
Director of the Office of Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Dal Innovates ,  Dalhousie University



Nasil Nam
Associate Director of the Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Dal Innovates,  Dalhousie University


Acknowledgements

The work of Dal Innovates is made possible by our funders, the Government of Canada through the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, Mitacs, and Springboard Atlantic, and enhanced with our network of mentors, and board members from a range of industries across Canada. Thank you to all our donors including Brigus Capital, Build Ventures, Christopher Huskilson, the Dobson Foundation, and Morrison Park Advisors.

Images

Dal Innovates Winter Collide program wrapped up on March 15, with 90 students graduating from a six-week introduction to entrepreneurship training experience.

Dal Innovates hosted the first Collide Camp on March 11 and 12 in the form of a weekend bootcamp. Students spent time inside their business and met a network of entrepreneurs and mentors.

Participant Shubhra Singh pitches her business idea at the Collide Program wrap up on March 15.

In 2022, program participants joined Dal Innovates from 25 post-secondary schools across Canada.

In 2022, Dalhousie’s Lab2Market cohort focused on supporting 11 women-led research teams from across Canada.

In 2022, Dalhousie University was proud to receive the Deshpande Symposium Award for Technology Commercialization.

Dal Innovates Ready2Launch program alumni hollo medical and PragmaClin Research win 1st and 2nd place at the Global Student Entrepreneur Awards (GSEA) Canadian National Championship.

Dal Innovates alumni event in partnership with local innovation hub Volta.

IMPACT STORY

Impacting lifes

At Dal Innovates, we’ve designed our core curriculum to offer an interdisciplinary learning experience for students. The expectation is that programs will be filled with those from diverse post-secondary institutions and faculties in locations across four provinces, and in some cases across Canada. In doing so, these students bring unique perspectives and learning from their disciplines for a more holistic perspective on innovation and entrepreneurship. Over 80% of Dal Innovates programming is offered virtually so that as many students and faculty members as possible can participate.

In 2022, Dalhousie’s Lab2Market cohort focused on supporting 11 women-led teams from across Canada in finding commercial value for their research. The program supported women in research with their mentors, facilitators and entrepreneurial leads all being leading women in their fields as they completed customer discovery activities with the goal of bringing their research to the market. The cohort went on to complete a record number of customer discovery interviews, making it the highest performing cohort since the first Dal Innovates Lab2Market program in 2020.

One of our hardworking teams included Lisa Chen, a Marine Management graduate student at Dalhousie University with a platform that utilizes citizen science to maximize the removal and diversion of marine debris from the environment. She was no stranger to innovation exploration having first participated in four programs from the Dal Innovates suite of programming to hone her skills. She went on to participate in Dal Innovates Ready2Launch program where she received $15,000.00 to further launch her business.

LEARNINGS

Lessons learned

Dal Innovates is proud to have embraced the power of partnerships in fostering an innovation ecosystem that allows students to thrive. What started as an entrepreneurship centre more recognized in the traditional sense, with a physical location in Nova Scotia at Dalhousie University, has transformed into an integrated offering with the ability to reach students and faculty from universities and various fields of study across the Atlantic Canada region and beyond.

We do this by working closely with those that share our philosophy and excitement for the power of student innovation and entrepreneurship. According to Dr. Alice Aiken, Vice President of Research and Innovation at Dalhousie University, empowerment has become the hallmark of Dal Innovates. Empowerment to approach challenges more boldly, to have the courage to turn research-based ideas into products or services that improve the world.

We bring this perspective to the table nationally, as Dal Innovates proudly sits on the Canada-wide steering committee for the I-Inc Network, a research commercialization ecosystem supporting Canada as a global leader in innovation and technology. This work has contributed to students outside of traditionally understood ‘innovation and entrepreneurship’ disciplines participating in innovation and entrepreneurship training in an unprecedented manor.

Now, with the addition of Dal Innovates offering, students, researchers, and faculty in our region can explore the commercial potential of their ideas on a larger, more targeted trajectory. With that, the notion of a traditional entrepreneurship centre was challenged and the evolution to Dal Innovates was born.

FUTURE PLANS

What's coming?

At Dal Innovates, we feel that Canada’s next generation of innovators are here — and they’re springing out of our universities. In 2022, over 200 motivated masters, PhD, postdoctoral and undergraduate students from 25 schools across Canada committed to building the skills and mindsets needed to thrive in the growing innovation economy. Through Dal Innovates’ programming, they explored their ideas outside of laboratories and classrooms, and many are successfully bringing their ideas to market.

Since its creation, Dal Innovates has been developing the right mix of programming to help talented young people build the skills they need to commercialize research, start ventures, and think like innovators. We’ve become the fastest growing student innovation hub for research commercialization in Atlantic Canada, and we’re not slowing down — introducing two new national programs in the last year alone.

In 2023, we’ll dig in nationally as a founding member of the Canada-wide Lab2Market network, which will support more graduate students, postdocs and researchers to develop innovation and entrepreneurship skills, commercialize their research, and start new science and tech companies. This will bring extracurricular innovation and entrepreneurship opportunities to more post-secondary’s, building capacity in priority industries like health and finding more ways to help undergraduate students take their ideas to the next level.

KEY STATISTICS

400

Program participants since 2020

39

Startups supported since 2020

$6.8 million+

Funds raised by Dal Innovates startups since 2020

$34 million+

Equity value created by Dal Innovates startups since 2020

150+

Industry mentors & board members from across Canada since 2020

40+

Faculties & programs of study represented in 2022

25

Post-secondary schools from across Canada represented in 2022

Triple E Awards

The Triple E Awards are a global recognition of efforts toward the quest for entrepreneurship and engagement in higher education. It is the first award to focus specifically on different dimensions of the universities' third mission. Implemented regionally, the Triple E Awards aim to foster change in universities and to emphasize their role in their communities and ecosystems.

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