Innovation &amp; Entrepreneurship

Rankings

Entrepreneurship Hatchery

The University of Toronto has earned the 13th spot in a new ranking by Inc. and Fast Company magazines that highlights the top 50 institutions transforming entrepreneurship.

The Ignition Schools list highlights academic institutions from around the world with the biggest impact on business and ideas that define the future, writes Brendan Vaughan, the editor-in-chief of Fast Company. He said the 50 schools in the inaugural list “don’t just produce elite students and groundbreaking research; they also are economic engines that generate the ideas, businesses, and opportunities that move cities, regions, and countries toward a better future.”

The list’s methodology assesses how the schools foster new technologies and industries while nurturing the individuals and companies that bring them to market. Out of a pool of approximately 900 institutions, schools were scored based on factors such as their performance in producing founders and entrepreneurs, companies launched by students and alumni and the amount of venture capital raised.

Having created more than 650 companies with the support of 12 accelerators, U of T was the highest ranked Canadian university on the Ignition Schools list.

3D-printed soil? U of T startup expands sustainable urban farming footprint in Toronto

Christopher.Sorensen — Wed, 11 Sep 2024 15:07:18 +0000

3D-printed soil? U of T startup expands sustainable urban farming footprint in Toronto

Christopher.Sorensen Wed, 09/11/2024 - 11:07

Cutline

Leo Hua and Adnan Sharif show off fresh basil that was grown with Lyrata’s sustainable farming system at Toronto’s Casa Loma (photo by Liz Intac)

Topic

Sustainability

U of T Scarborough

Subheadline

With new installations at Casa Loma and U of T Scarborough, Lyrata is supplying freshly grown produce to local caterers and restaurants

A startup co-founded by a University of Toronto graduate student has its roots in an experience that is all too common for many of us.

He kept forgetting to water his plants.

“I was working in a plant immunity biology lab, so if I didn’t water them, I’d have no plants to do experiments with,” says Adnan Sharif, who is pursuing a master’s degree in the department of chemical engineering and applied chemistry in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering.

He says his solution was inspired by his father.

“My dad is a mechanical engineering professor at a university in Japan, and he knows a lot about manufacturing materials with porous, three-dimensional structures,” he says. “That’s how I got the idea to make my own 3D-printed soil construct, which could retain water for a week or more.

“That way, I wouldn’t have to go into the lab and water the plants so often.”

The innovation – which Sharif came up as an undergraduate working in the lab of Keiko Yoshioka, a professor in the department of cell and systems biology in U of T’s Faculty of Arts & Science – is one of several that now underpins Lyrata, a startup that grows fresh produce for caterers and high-end restaurants across the Greater Toronto Area.

The company, which got its start in a greenhouse on U of T’s St. George campus, has recently expanded with operations at U of T Scarborough and Casa Loma, a museum, event space and historic site in midtown Toronto.

Growing plants without soil, known as hydroponics, is a technique commonly used in greenhouses worldwide. But Sharif and his team see an opportunity to make the industry more sustainable, starting with the soil replacement that the plants grow in.

“The product that almost everyone uses today is basically the same as house insulation,” Sharif says. “It’s made from rocks that are mined in remote places and shipped hundreds of kilometres to a production facility, where they are heated to thousands of degrees in a giant furnace to make a porous, chemically inert material. This material then needs to be shipped again to where it’s needed, and when you’re finished, you throw it in the garbage.”

By contrast, Lyrata’s SmartSoil is 3D-printed using biopolymers such as polylactic acid, which is derived from corn. These materials can be locally sourced and require much lower temperatures to melt and form into porous structures.

When the growing cycle is complete, the product goes through a low-heat proprietary cleaning process and can be used again. Sharif says that SmartSoil has a total lifespan of about two years, after which it can be composted along with crop residue. Together, these changes greatly lower the carbon footprint of indoor farming.

In 2020, Sharif and his co-founders brought his idea to The Entrepreneurship Hatchery, U of T Engineering’s startup incubator and one of several entrepreneurship hubs across U of T’s three campuses. Through the Hatchery’s Nest process, they were connected with business mentors, including alumnus Xavier Tang, a consultant and venture capitalist who still advises the company today.

Over the next few years, the team evolved, with some original members leaving and others joining. They include Leo Hua, who has been pivotal to speeding the development of 3D printable soil. The concept evolved, too, as the team realized that producing food was a better business for Lyrata than rather than selling their growth medium to other farmers.

The Hatchery team – in particular, Executive Director Joseph Orozco, Go-To-Market Lead Erika J. Murray and a team of work-study students, mentors and legal externs – helped Lyrata develop their technology and business. In 2022, the Hatchery provided $155,000 in seed funding, enabling the founders to be employed by their company and further supporting business development. The funding also enabled the company to rent greenhouse space on campus, where they began growing lettuce to provide to Spaces and Experiences at U of T.

Lyrata also developed something new: a modular unit that works exclusively with their SmartSoil and contains everything required to produce a variety of indoor crops – from lights and growth medium to irrigation systems.

“None of these technological and business developments would have taken place without the generous support of the over 50 Hatchery mentors, work-study students, and legal externs who contributed to our success,” says Sharif.

“Our current concept is what we call farming-as-a-service,” Hua adds. “The SmartGrow unit we developed is small enough to fit into a standard parking spot. Our clients sign a contract with us to place a unit on their site and we take care of everything from planting to harvesting.

“For a flat fee, they get a self-contained farm that provides a reliable quantity of their desired crop over a set period of time.”

In addition to providing a locally sourced, sustainable product, Sharif says the approach can also help mitigate fluctuations in the price of wholesale produce.

“In Canada, most of our lettuce comes from California, which has been dealing with drought and many other issues,” says Sharif. “Supply chain disruptions due to COVID-19 were also a big challenge for restaurants, which have very thin margins to begin with. At one point, the price of lettuce increased by a factor of six, so you can imagine the effect that would have.”

So far, Lyrata has produced more than 15 different types of crops, including basil, parsley and mizuna, also known as Japanese mustard greens.

Support from the U of T Engineering community has been key to Lyrata’s success.

For example, it was a U of T Engineering alumni connection that recently led to Lyrata launching an installation at the historic Casa Loma museum and landmark in Toronto.

“Lyrata’s competitive edge is that they provide an on-site, full service and they do not take up very much space,” says Nikol Watlikiewicz, Casa Loma’s horticulture and grounds manager. “In a small corner of our potting shed, we were able to build two grow units that provide a good yield weekly, without having to train our staff on the complicated system.

“Growing indoors gives us the stability and control that traditional agriculture does not. It’s an excellent example of how engineers can help solve the global food crisis with innovative thinking.”

In August, Lyrata launched another growing unit at U of T Scarborough, located within the Harmony Commons Dining Hall.

The priority for the next few years is growing Lyrata’s crop offerings and client base with ongoing support from The Hatchery. The incubator has facilitated graduate student placements through Mitacs, with matching funds. It also backed a recent $167,500 project with the Ontario and Canadian governments through the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership program to further advance the yield and efficiency of the SmartSoil system.

“The fact we’ve been able to come this far in such a short time is in large part due to the help we’ve had from U of T Engineering, and especially the Entrepreneurship Hatchery,” says Sharif.

“Whether it was getting seed funding, finding mentors, hiring work-study students or making important connections through their alumni network, we wouldn’t be here without their support.”

U of T startup Honeybee acquired by global clinical trials firm Leapcure

rahul.kalvapalle — Fri, 16 Aug 2024 14:55:48 +0000

U of T startup Honeybee acquired by global clinical trials firm Leapcure

rahul.kalvapalle Fri, 08/16/2024 - 10:55

Cutline

(photo courtesy of Leapcure)

Topic

Temerty Faculty of Medicine

Health Innovation Hub

Impact Centre

ONRamp

Subheadline

Co-founded by Catherine Chan and Weiwei Li, Honeybee Trials' platform helps clinical trial recruiters find, screen and manage patients for their research

Honeybee Trials, a University of Toronto startup that connects research teams with patients and study participants, has been acquired by global clinical trials company Leapcure in a deal that is poised to drive more inclusive and affordable trials that’s ultimately applicable to a broader population.

Co-founded by U of T alumni Catherine Chan and Weiwei Li, Honeybee built a web and mobile platform to help clinical trial teams attract, screen, recruit and manage study participants. Since its founding in 2019, the startup has connected over 30,000 patients and participants to more than 1,000 clinical trials across North America.

Leapcure, headquartered in California, offers an array of solutions that combines people-backed services with data-driven technologies to fill clinical trials for global sponsors and CROs, but can now expand affordable patient recruitment to institutional sites, private sites and biotech firms. Moreover, their work alongside patients and advocacy groups has significantly helped to reach underrepresented communities – a focus that will receive a boost following the purchase of Honeybee.

Chan, who earned a master’s degree in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine’s department of nutritional sciences, says the deal grew out of a desire to partner strategically with a larger company that could provide access to broader sectors within the clinical research world.

Catherine Chan (L) and Weiwei Li (supplied image)

“At Honeybee, we offered competitive pricing for academic and hospital sites, local CROs [contract research organizations] and biotech firms,” Chan says. “With this partnership, we’re able to provide services across all of the different types of trial scopes and sizes.”

She adds that both Honeybee and Leapcure have placed a strong focus on diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility by helping researchers attract study participants of different ethnicities, ages, genders and sexual orientations – helping make clinical trials more equitable and reflective of the wider population.

“It’s important to us that there's a mission and vision alignment between the companies... it couldn’t be a better fit,” Chan said.

The asset purchase deal for an undisclosed amount, which was announced in an Aug. 13 press release, will see Chan transition from CEO of Honeybee to senior director of product at Leapcure.

“We’re excited to join forces with Catherine and Honeybee. They’ve been really focused on the newest recruitment technologies that are most impactful for both patients and research,” said Leapcure CEO Zachary Gobst. “A big reason that things came together was our alignment on impact first. It’s a credit to how they’ve been approaching their business the right way from the beginning."

Honeybee evolved out of the frustrations that Chan faced in recruiting study participants for her master’s thesis. Motivated to explore solutions, Chan created a prototype that would help match participants with trials; she then enrolled in a one-week accelerator program in the Impact Centre (now the Centre for Entrepreneurship) in the Faculty of Arts & Science.

She soon teamed up with Li, who earned his bachelor’s and master’s of applied science degrees from the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, to co-found Honeybee. The startup later joined the Health Innovation Hub (H2i) accelerator and operated out of office space in U of T Entrepreneurship’s ONRamp facility prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

With COVID-19 measures encouraging the adoption of digital tools by clinical research teams, Honeybee found itself well-placed to play an important role. “The pandemic provided an opportunity for many tech companies to scale as the market became more open-minded and ready to adopt technologies to help connect them day-to-day," Chan says. "We saw a rapid adoption of Honeybee’s technology during this time where people moved away from traditional recruitment and patient communications to the current age.

“Although digital adoption across other industries has grown quite rapidly, healthcare has lagged behind, rightfully so and for many reasons, but we’re glad the transformation is happening. Just five years ago, clinical trial coordinators were still using paper handouts to recruit on the street and paper calendars to schedule patients.

“The pandemic expedited researchers being able to meet people where they are.”

Chan says the acquisition by Leapcure will enable the rollout of tiered services ranging from low-cost, self-serve tiers – targeting research teams with more modest budgets – to higher levels of service that include dedicated management.

“I’m really excited about the solutions we now have to offer together as well as the next steps in how we’re going to disrupt clinical trials.”

Professor Paul Santerre, co-founder and director of H2i, hailed Chan as "a model outcome" of the accelerator's mission to empower innovators in translating their ideas into products and companies that tackle important problems.

“Catherine and her team’s achievements are transformative in terms of democratizing the recruitment of patients for clinical study cohorts," said Santerre, the Baxter Chair for Health Technology and Commercialization at the University Health Network and professor in the Faculty of Dentistry and Institute of Biomedical Engineering who is cross-appointed to the department of chemical engineering and applied chemistry.

"She has much to still teach us about the power of digital tools and their ethical use to achieve impact in clinical research trials – and this acquisition will accelerate that outcome."

With U of T innovators front and centre, Collision conference wraps up five-year Toronto run

rahul.kalvapalle — Fri, 21 Jun 2024 14:52:23 +0000

With U of T innovators front and centre, Collision conference wraps up five-year Toronto run

rahul.kalvapalle Fri, 06/21/2024 - 10:52

Cutline

U of T alumna Nuha Siddiqui, co-founder and CEO of Erthos, on stage at the Collision tech conference (photo by Johnny Guatto)

Adina Bresge

Topic

Institutional Strategic Initiatives

Faculty of Arts & Science

Artificial Intelligence

Computer Science

Geoffrey Hinton

Innovations & Partnerships Office

Budding entrepreneurs, leading scientists and future business leaders from the University of Toronto community played a leading role at the 2024 Collision tech conference in downtown Toronto.

Running over three days this week, the conference drew some 40,000 attendees from across the spheres of tech, business and media, including more than 1,600 startups and 700 investors.

The rapid development of artificial intelligence technologies and their impact on business and society were key themes for many of the conference’s keynotes and exhibits – so it was no surprise that U of T’s AI luminaries were front and centre.

They included U of T alumnus Aidan Gomez, co-founder of language processing startup Cohere – which has raised hundreds of millions from investors and generated significant industry buzz.

He urged businesses to commit to adopting AI tools to support their workers.

“Making sure that you’re delivering the tools that your employees need to be competitive and effective is crucial,” Gomez said during his talk on Tuesday.

He added that augmentation of workforces with AI co-pilots and assistants is inevitable – including in industries that might not stand out as obvious adopters of the technology. He shared the example of a natural resources insurance firm that built an AI co-pilot – powered by Cohere – to help their actuaries speed up their research, craft more accurate bids and win more contracts.

“I never would have thought a natural resources insurance company would be adopting LLMs [large language models], but they are, and it’s having an impact. It’s actually helping them win more business,” Gomez said. “So I think the technology is completely horizontal.”

Gomez also cited the medical sector – particularly, drug discovery – as another area that’s poised to benefit massively from AI advances.

Aidan Gomez, a U of T alumnus, talked about how AI will be used to augment the workforce (photo by Polina Teif)

University Professor Emeritus Geoffrey Hinton, the influential computer scientist often dubbed the “godfather of AI,” also identified medical care and productivity as two key areas that will see significant improvements thanks to AI. However, much of his discussion, titled "Can We Control AI?", focused on his previously-cited concerns about how AI development could ultimately wrest control from humans given the current race to develop the technology and the absence of sufficient safeguards.

“Even if I’m totally benevolent and I just want to achieve what you asked me to achieve, I’ll realize that if I get more control, it will be easier to do that,” Hinton said of AI agents.

“And actually, if these things are much smarter than us, they’ll realize: Just take the control away from people and it will be much more efficient … and that seems to be like a very slippery path.”

Geoffrey Hinton warned of the existential dangers posed by unchecked AI development (photo by Johnny Guatto)

Gomez, for his part, said he doesn’t believe AI poses a serious threat.

“The notion that the technology is going to start self-improving, that it’s going to start manipulating people, that it’s going to take over, seize power and displace humans: that’s a sci-fi narrative,” he said. “I am empathetic to it – we’ve been writing stories about that exact scenario for decades, since before computers, and so it’s very deeply embedded in our cultural brainstems ... I just don’t think it’s true.”

Earlier at the conference, Raquel Urtasun, founder of self-driving trucking startup Waabi, spoke about generative AI and how Waabi is applying the technology to autonomous trucks. Her keynote took place following the company’s announcement that it raised US$200 million in Series B funding to support the deployment of driverless trucks in 2025.

“Everything will be controlled by generative AI systems inside the vehicle and nothing else. This is a breakthrough for the industry, where such a thing has never happened before,” said Urtasun, a professor in the department of computer science in U of T's Faculty of Arts & Science.

Raquel Urtasun spoke about her self-driving truck startup Waabi (photo by Polina Teif)

The conference also featured demos from other promising U of T startups including Erthos, which has invented sustainable alternatives to plastics and is now using machine learning to accelerate biomaterials discovery.

“Our platform allows us to design effective biomaterials five times faster and with 92 per cent less cost compared to our industry,” said co-founder and CEO Nuha Siddiqui.

Collision’s final year in Toronto was expected to draw some 40,000 attendees (photo by Johnny Guatto)

During the conference, U of T’s booth near the main stage featured exhibits from campus-linked accelerators, institutional strategic initiatives, academic divisions and the Innovations and Partnerships Office. U of T’s Black Founders Network was also at Collision as one of the organizers of the Black Innovation Zone.

Collision 2024 marked the fifth and final edition of the annual conference in Toronto.

U of T Entrepreneurship Week 2024: 10 startups to watch

rahul.kalvapalle — Fri, 01 Mar 2024 20:00:17 +0000

U of T Entrepreneurship Week 2024: 10 startups to watch

rahul.kalvapalle Fri, 03/01/2024 - 15:00

Cutline

HDAX Therapeutics, a startup that grew out U of T Mississauga’s department of chemical and physical sciences, is developing a drug that could prevent nerve damage caused by chemotherapy (photo by Matthew Volpe)

Topic

Temerty Faculty of Medicine

Entrepreneurship Week

Dalla Lana School of Public Health

Artificial Intelligence

Computer Science

Entrepreneurship

Faculty of Arts & Science

Translational Research Program

Sustainability

ThisIsThePlace

U of T Mississauga

U of T Scarborough

Preventing nerve damage caused by chemotherapy. Using artificial intelligence to help people who are Deaf communicate with machines through sign language. Accelerating the adoption of electric vehicles in urban communities.

These are some of the innovations being advanced by members of the University of Toronto’s thriving entrepreneurship community.

Ranked among the top five university business incubators in the world, U of T Entrepreneurship is preparing to celebrate these and other startups during the eighth annual Entrepreneurship Week from March 4 to 7. The week-long celebration includes more than 15 events, including pitch competitions, startup showcases, workshops and more.

Here are 10 exciting U of T-affiliated startups to keep an eye on in 2024:

HDAX Therapeutics

(photo by Matthew Volpe)

Chemotherapy kills cancer cells, but it can also cause irreversible nerve damage that results in pain, loss of sensation and even paralysis. HDAX Therapeutics, co-founded by alumnae Pimyupa Manaswiyoungkul and Nabanita Nawar, is looking to tackle the problem with a preventative drug that has delivered promising results in pre-clinical studies.

Waabi

(photo by Polina Teif)

Waabi is a self-driving technology startup founded by Raquel Urtasun, a professor of computer science in U of T’s Faculty of Arts & Science and co-founder of the Vector Institute who headlined the Desjardins Speaker Series at last year’s Entrepreneurship Week. Her company operates at the intersection of autonomous driving, AI and commercial transportation. In September, it announced a 10-year strategic partnership with Uber Freight to accelerate the adoption of autonomous technologies in the trucking industry.

Kiwi Charge

(supplied image)

Kiwi Charge is looking to boost the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) via a charging-as-a-service model that caters to people living in apartments and condos. Founded by Abdel Ali, Kiwi Charge helps building owners offer EV charging amenities while avoiding hefty infrastructure costs, allowing tenants to enjoy a hassle-free charging experience. The startup was part of the 2023 cohort of the Nobellum Innovator Program, which provides support and capital to Black founders. Kiwi Charge will be at the True Blue Expo on March 7.

BlueDot

(photo by Matthew Volpe)

BlueDot is using AI to detect infectious disease outbreaks, carry out risk assessment and provide actionable insights to clients in public health, the pharmaceuticals and life sciences industries and global companies more generally. The company was founded by Kamran Khan, a scientist at Unity Health Toronto and professor in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine and the Dalla Lana School of Public Health. Khan is scheduled to speak at Entrepreneurship Week, where he will take part in a panel discussion about mental health and wellness for startup founders.

Deaf AI

(photo by Alyssa K Faoro)

Deaf AI is using AI to train machines in sign language to improve human-machine communication for people who are Deaf or have hearing impairments. The company made an impression at the Desjardins Startup Prize Pitch Competition at Entrepreneurship Week 2023, winning first-place in the late-stage category as well as the Dongjun Wang Family True Blue Prize (People’s Choice Award). It was co-founded by Azadeh Bojmehrani, who earned a master of health science degree in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine’s translational research program (which is hosting a networking lunch event for health-care innovators and entrepreneurs on March 8 to cap off this year’s Entrepreneurship Week action).

Transcrypts

(supplied image)

TransCrypts, too, has enjoyed success at U of T Entrepreneurship pitch competitions, taking home the second-place prize in the later-stage category for the UTE Startup Prize during Entrepreneurship Week 2022. Co-founded by Ali Zaheer and Zain Zaidi, the company aims to enhance digital privacy and security by automating document verification – ultimately giving users ownership and access to their own data. The pair have participated in the Y-Combinator accelerator in Silicon Valley and raised more than $3-million in funding from investors that include Mark Cuban, owner of the NBA Dallas Mavericks and a “shark” on Shark Tank.

Genecis

(photo by Matthew Volpe)

Genecis is a climate-focused biotech startup that converts organic waste into sustainable and biodegradable plastics. Founded by CEO Luna Yu, who earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from U of T in only four years, Genecis aims to provide plastic manufacturers with competitively priced bio-plastics, while helping waste management companies save on their organic material disposal costs. Since competing in U of T pitch competitions back in 2017, Genecis has raised more than $22 million.

Reeddi

(photo by Polina Teif)

Founded by U of T Engineering alumnus Olugbenga Olubanjo, Reeddi is bringing affordable and clean electricity to under-resourced communities by renting out solar-powered energy capsules that can power household devices and appliances. Currently based in Nigeria, Reeddi aims to eventually expand its presence to other countries in Africa and beyond. The company was a finalist in Prince William’s Earthshot Prize, which recognizes efforts to tackle environmental problems.

Erthos

(photo by Matthew Volpe)

Co-founded by alumnae Nuha Siddiqui and Kritika Tyagi, Erthos is helping tackle the global plastic pollution crisis with its novel plant-based resin, which serves as a sustainable alternative to single-use plastics. After starting with a focus on packing peanuts, Erthos has expanded its offerings to include cutlery, clothes hangers and packaging for consumer products, among others. In September, the company announced $6.5 million in Series A funding.

Ardra Bio

(photo by Matthew Volpe)

Co-founded by alumnus Pratish Gawand and Radhakrishnan Mahadevan, a professor of chemical engineering and applied chemistry in U of T’s Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, Ardra Bio is developing technologies to produce sustainable biochemicals and novel food products including heme, a plant-based product that matches the flavour, colour and iron nutrients of meat, and leaf-aldehyde, which is used as a flavouring ingredient for foods and beverages and as an ingredient in the fragrance industry.

Learn more about U of T Entrepreneurship Week

Five things to look forward to at Entrepreneurship Week 2024

rahul.kalvapalle — Mon, 26 Feb 2024 17:31:12 +0000

Five things to look forward to at Entrepreneurship Week 2024

rahul.kalvapalle Mon, 02/26/2024 - 12:31

Cutline

U of T’s annual Entrepreneurship Week takes place March 4 to 7 and features more than 15 events across U of T’s three campuses, including pitch competitions, startup showcases, keynote speeches, workshops and panel discussions (supplied image)

Topic

Schwartz Reisman Innovation Campus

Entrepreneurship Week

Entrepreneurship

The University of Toronto is gearing up for its annual tri-campus Entrepreneurship Week, a four-day showcase of U of T’s diverse and extensive entrepreneurship ecosystem.

Taking place from March 4 to 7, Entrepreneurship Week features more than 15 events across U of T’s three campuses, including pitch competitions, startup showcases, keynote speeches, workshops, panel discussions and more.

All events are free and open to students, entrepreneurs, investors, business leaders and anyone else interested in learning about – and being inspired by – the startups, founders and research-based entrepreneurship ecosystem that have made U of T one of the top five university startup incubators in the world.

“There is no wrong door for the entrepreneurs in our community. Regardless of what and where you study or how far along you are on your journey, there is a place for you,” says Jon French, director of U of T Entrepreneurship. “This week is an opportunity to showcase the calibre of our talented founders and the breadth and depth of opportunities we can offer over 600 teams annually.”

Here are some of the key events and themes for the upcoming edition of U of T’s annual celebration of all things entrepreneurship:

Watch startups compete for funding and prizes

U of T Entrepreneurship’s marquee business pitch competition is the Desjardins Startup Prize, which will see startups and their founders vie for more than $100,000 in cash prizes.

This year’s shortlist includes companies that are innovating across an array of important areas including neurodegenerative disease treatments, greenhouse gas monitoring, oral hygiene and AI chatbots. The competition, which is split into early-stage and later-stage startup categories, will take place during True Blue Impact Day on March 7.

On March 6, U of T Mississauga’s ICUBE accelerator will host Pitch with a Twist, an annual pitch competition for women entrepreneurs that is judged by an all-women panel. The event, which marks the lead-up to International Women’s Day on March 8, will also feature a keynote address by Catherine Addai, founder of the women’s clothing company Kaela Kay.

Hear from entrepreneur-investor power couple Eva and Allen Lau

(photo supplied)

This year’s Desjardins Speaker Series address will be delivered by Eva and Allen Lau, spouses who are both alumni, successful entrepreneurs and co-founders of Two Small Fish Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm.

In a keynote titled “School of Fish: Lessons Learned from Swimming Upstream,” the Laus will discuss an array of topics including the story of digital storytelling platform Wattpad – co-founded by Allen Lau, with Eva Lau as one of its founding members – from its inception in 2006 to its $600-million exit 15 years later.

The Laus will also offer their advice for early-stage founders, discuss the current investment climate and explore opportunities and challenges in the Canadian innovation ecosystem – including their thoughts on key industries and technologies such as AI, quantum computing and electric vehicles.

The hybrid event will take place on True Blue Impact Day on March 7.

Get inspired by leaders from underrepresented groups

U of T Entrepreneurship continues to celebrate and advocate for equity, diversity and inclusion in the entrepreneurship world through its Entrepreneurship Week programming.

At U of T Scarborough on March 5, attendees can take in an International Women’s Day panel discussion featuring Fennella Bruce, media consultant and founder of FKB Media Solutions, and Melanie Ratnam, founder of the researcher-focused software platform Indaggo and president the Society for Canadian Women in Science and Technology. The event will also feature opportunities to network with women leaders and entrepreneurs.

Meanwhile, on the St. George campus, the second day of Entrepreneurship Week will feature the return of the popular Fireside at FemSTEM conversation series featuring special guest Yasaman Soudagar, co-founder and CEO of the neuroscience startup Neurescence who completed her PhD in experimental quantum optics at U of T and École Polytechnique in Montreal.

Another moderated conversation on March 7 will examine women who are transforming Canada’s music and arts landscape. The discussion, titled “I’m first cause I’m a L-A-D-I-E: Leadership, Entrepreneurship and Female Empowerment in Canada’s Hip Hop and Black Music Industries,” will feature: Tinesha Richards-Morris, director of 925 Agency Inc. and former managing director the arts and culture non-profit Manifesto; Annalie Bonda, label manager for independent record label Golly Geng Inc. and former executive director of arts training organization The Remix Project; and Keysha Freshh, a solo emcee and member of all-female hip-hop crew The Sorority. Audience members will have the chance to network with key figures in Canada’s music industry, learn how to navigate its barriers and discuss the role of gender in the Canadian music landscape.

Learn about mental wellness, stress management and how to deal with failure

This year’s Entrepreneurship Week will kick off with a keynote address and panel discussion on a critical but often overlooked topic in the world of entrepreneurship: stress management and mental wellness. The session will begin with a keynote from Lauren Brown, lead facilitator and program co-ordinator of mindfulness, meditation and yoga for U of T’s Division of Student Life, that will explore how entrepreneurs can harness their intuition and tackle stress. The keynote will be followed by a moderated discussion with a panel of founders.

Themes of wellness and resilience will also be explored during “Redefining the 'F-word’ (Failure, not the other one),” a fireside chat with U of T Scarborough's entrepreneur-in-residence Elina Chow and executive coach Matthew Fuller. The chat will include a candid exploration of failure in entrepreneurship.

Experience the new Schwartz Reisman Innovation Campus

(photo by David Lee)

For the first time, this year’s Entrepreneurship Week will see several events hosted at U of T’s new Schwartz Reisman Innovation Campus.

The result of a historic $100-million donation by Gerald Schwartz and Heather Reisman, the Schwartz Reisman Innovation Campus serves as a hub for entrepreneurship, innovation and advancement in AI and related fields.

The building’s west tower will serve as the anchor location of Entrepreneurship Week 2024, hosting events including the curtain-raiser on mental wellness on March 4 and the entire slate of events on True Blue Impact Day on March 7, including the Desjardins Startup Prize and Speaker Series as well as the True Blue Expo featuring more than 40 startups, 12 campus-linked accelerators and numerous community partners.

Learn more about U of T Entrepreneurship

U of T entrepreneurs credit Adams Sustainability Innovation Prize for energizing sun-care startup

Christopher.Sorensen — Fri, 24 Feb 2023 22:31:55 +0000

U of T entrepreneurs credit Adams Sustainability Innovation Prize for energizing sun-care startup

Christopher.Sorensen Fri, 02/24/2023 - 17:31

Cutline

Kristina Knox and Stephanie Tien, co-founders of sun-care startup Arbre, say their second-place finish in last year's Adams Sustainability Innovation Prize competition paved the way for the launch of their debut product (photo courtesy of Arbre)

Adina Bresge

Topic

Adams Sustainability Celebration

Sustainability

Kristina Knox and Stephanie Tien say the feedback they’ve received from pitch competitions has only made their sustainable sun-care brand Arbre better – and that includes the rejections.

As second-place winners at the University of Toronto’s Adams Sustainability Innovation Prize competition last year, Knox and Tien say the experience paved the way for the upcoming launch of Arbre’s debut sun-care product, Spruce, a mineral-based powder dry shampoo with SPF that protects the scalp from sunburns.

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The co-founders stress it was their second time vying for an Innovation Prize – and are encouraging this year’s participants not to get discouraged if they don’t take home a win during the next contest on March 3. The same goes for those who weren’t selected as finalists.

“For people who didn't make it into the competition, just keep trying. Just because you got rejected doesn't mean your idea isn't good,” says Knox, a PhD student in cognitive psychology.

“It's an opportunity to learn from that and figure out how you can better refine your business – and how you communicate it.”

The annual competition, hosted by the President’s Committee on the Environment, Climate Change & Sustainability (CECCS), awards a total of $25,500 in prizes to support University of Toronto students’ ideas for a more sustainable future.

In the case of Arbre, Knox and Tien – who earned her master’s degree in pharmacology in 2020 – are betting that their SPF dry powder shampoo will be a hit with consumers. Made with reef-safe ingredients and recyclable packaging, Knox says the first orders are set to be shipped out in biodegradable mailers this spring.

It’s a milestone that the two friends have been working toward since a skin-peeling burn during a 2019 beach getaway spawned the idea for their sustainable, innovative and inclusive sun-care brand.

Tien says Arbre – which received support from U of T Mississauga’s ICUBE incubator and the Hub at U of T Scarborough – used the $7,500 in Innovation Prize money to pay for the process of obtaining for Health Canada approval and the early stages of manufacturing.

The duo’s participation in the Adams Sustainability competition also helped them prepare for the 2022 Startup Global Pitch Competition, where their third-place finish came with a $10,000 cheque and exclusive in-kind support.

“We were so grateful to be able to participate in the [Adams Sustainability Innovation Prize],” says Tien. “The funds went a long way for us, and we’re really appreciative of that and excited for all the other finalists that get to participate this year.”

The 2023 Adams Sustainability Celebration Innovation Prize pitch competition and award ceremony, which is supported by the donation of Wendy Adams, takes place on March 3 in Hart House’s Great Hall.

This year’s finalists are:

Inwit: Billed as Toronto’s first zero-waste takeout-ordering platform, Inwit allows customers to order food from restaurants in metal containers that are returned and reused in exchange for rewards.
EVOLVERE Mental Health: A digital mental health platform that offers resources and support tailored to the student experience.
Mission-E: A web app designed to help recommend to farmers the optimal amount of fertilizer application in their fields. The platform helps farmers save money on excess fertilizers and reduces nitrous oxide emissions
Negup Chufa: A venture working with small-scale farms in Ghana to produce sustainably grown tigernut oil. The oil is packed with heart-friendly monounsaturated fats and has a similar profile to olive oil.
Sparked: This startup says its palm-sized device can screen for the risk of cardiovascular disease using a saliva sample, providing rapid results without relying on a traditional laboratory.
Tuuli: A building material data platform that serves as a one-stop solution for consultants, architects and suppliers to discover, manage and share environmental data, making it easier to select sustainable materials amid a boom in the green building market.

U of T among top 10 research organizations cited by global innovators

siddiq22 — Fri, 17 Feb 2023 18:14:00 +0000

U of T among top 10 research organizations cited by global innovators

siddiq22 Fri, 02/17/2023 - 13:14

Cutline

(Photo by Johnny Guatto)

Topic

Rankings

Institutional Strategic Initiatives

The University of Toronto is among the top 10 research organizations most often cited by the world’s most innovative companies and institutions, according to Clarivate, an international data analytics company.

For the first time, Clarivate has identified the 50 global research organizations whose work is most often cited by the companies on its annual Top 100 Global Innovators list.

The only Canadian institution in the 2023 version of the list, U of T ranked 10^th among the research organizations most often cited by the companies and institutions at the pinnacle of the global innovation landscape – including U of T partners Fujitsu and Merck, among others.

U of T’s 10^th-place rank is up considerably from a similar analysis by Times Higher Education in 2017 that placed U of T 18^th in the world.

“The University of Toronto’s world-leading research is driving innovations that power the global economy across a wide range of sectors – from health care to computing,” said Leah Cowen, U of T’s vice-president of research and innovation, and strategic initiatives. “Few universities in the world can rival U of T’s strength in research and innovation across such a broad spectrum of disciplines.

“Having U of T’s work regularly cited by the world’s most innovative organizations demonstrates both the scope and scale of our researchers’ global impact.”

In Clarivate’s 2023 report, U of T was the only institution outside the United States and Asia to place among the top 10 most-cited research organizations – ahead of institutions in the U.K. and Europe.

The Top 100 Global Innovators report, which Clarivate has released since 2012, is based on enriched data from global indexes used by research leaders, scientists, engineers and their advisers daily to direct and guide their work. The ranking uses a comparative analysis of global invention data to assess the strength of every patented idea, using measures tied directly to their innovative power.

Companies that qualify must have filed more than 500 inventions since 2000 and had more than 100 inventions granted in the 2023 five-year evaluation window.

In the past five years, U of T’s research has been cited in more than 120,000 publications as well as in nearly 3,000 patents by companies in more than 20 sectors, including biology, chemistry, medicine, immunology, molecular biology and genetics, neurosciences, psychiatry and space science.

U of T is one of the world’s top-ranked public universities in the five most closely watched international rankings: U.S. News & World Report’s Best Global Universities, Times Higher Education’s World University Rankings, QS World University Rankings, ShanghaiRanking Consultancy’s Academic Ranking of World Universities, and National Taiwan University World University Rankings.

U of T brings together researchers and policymakers to discuss how GTA can advance Canada's quantum sector

siddiq22 — Tue, 14 Feb 2023 18:46:52 +0000

U of T brings together researchers and policymakers to discuss how GTA can advance Canada's quantum sector

siddiq22 Tue, 02/14/2023 - 13:46

Cutline

(Photo courtesy of Xanadu Quantum Technologies)

Tabassum Siddiqui

Topic

Global Lens

Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy

Chemistry

Creative Destruction Lab

Faculty of Arts & Science

Mathematics

Physics

Quantum

With quantum technologies rapidly becoming one of the fastest growing advanced sectors globally, experts and policymakers recently gathered at the University of Toronto to discuss Canada’s new National Quantum Strategy and the university’s role in supporting it.

Attended by federal and provincial government stakeholders, the discussion drew on the findings of a recent report commissioned from Deloitte Canada that compared Canada’s centres of quantum research. The GTA was the country’s strongest quantum hub, supported by U of T’s global research leadership, the report found.

Timothy Chan

“Quantum research at the University of Toronto places the university among the world’s leading producers of impactful knowledge in this domain,” said Timothy Chan, associate vice-president and vice-provost, strategic initiatives and a professor of mechanical and industrial engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering.

“The quantum ecosystem is strong here – not just because of our world-leading quantum expertise, but because we have the best scientists in other fields that will integrate quantum technologies and their applications.”

In January, the federal government launched the $360-million National Quantum Strategy to support the sector in an increasingly competitive global market. It aims to boost research, talent and commercialization in quantum and solidify Canada’s position in the field.

A rapidly emerging and economically promising field, quantum science and its applications draw on the unintuitive principles of quantum mechanics to solve problems too complex for everyday computers.

By 2045, quantum applications – including artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, medical imaging and many more – are projected to be a $138-billion market, leading to more than 200,000 jobs in Canada, according to a study commissioned by the National Research Council of Canada.

The findings from the Deloitte report were presented during the U of T event, which was hosted by the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy as part of its New Frontiers series, which promotes dialogue between decision-makers and U of T researchers on how to advance public policy priorities. The report’s analysis of Canada’s centres of quantum research ranked the country fourth in the world in the strength of its research in quantum science and technology.

Canada is ranked No. 4 in the world in the impact of its research on quantum science. Thanks to the policymakers, researchers & startups who came together today to think about how to turn that advantage into economic growth. pic.twitter.com/PHHlVWaALA
— U of T Government Relations Office (@uoftgro) February 1, 2023

U of T is a key contributor to Canada’s performance, with the university’s research impact in quantum-related sciences ranked fifth globally.

The breadth of expertise across quantum fields is one of the university’s strengths, said Anna Dyring, quantum strategic initiative lead at U of T’s Centre for Quantum Information and Quantum Control (CQIQC).

CQIQC’s activities, which promote research collaborations in the sector, encompass U of T’s departments of chemistry, physics, mathematics and computer science in the Faculty of Arts & Science, as well as the departments of electrical engineering and materials science in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering.

“Quantum computing is a field where you need many different types of thinkers and knowledge in order to innovate and lead,” Dyring said.

U of T and partners such as the Vector Institute are leading in AI, data sciences, regenerative and precision medicine, climate change, pandemic preparedness and advanced materials – just some of the fields the university is supporting through its Institutional Strategic Initiatives, Chan told attendees. U of T's Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society also convenes and facilitates research on how these technologies improve human lives.

“Our approach is interdisciplinary because the challenges Canada and the world face cannot be solved by remaining within our disciplinary boundaries. We aim to transform how we solve problems, and to work at the frontiers of knowledge – that is where quantum research currently resides.”

(Photo by Geoffrey Vendeville)

Other countries are making major investments in the quantum sector as the field becomes increasingly competitive globally, the discussion heard. Large companies in Europe, Asia and the United States are interested in research and development and in being early adopters, while there has been more caution about quantum tech adoption in Canada.

However, Canada remains a strong location for startups – and the GTA boasts the largest number of quantum companies in the country. U of T is behind many of these successful startups, thanks to initiatives such as the Rotman School of Management’s Creative Destruction Lab (CDL) – the only dedicated early-stage quantum incubator in the country.

"CDL’s mission is to enhance the commercialization of science for the betterment of humankind. Our objectives-based mentorship process has the potential to positively impact a startup's trajectory at the very early stages of their journey,” said Sonia Sennik, CDL’s executive director.

CDL’s graduates include Xanadu Quantum Technologies – founded by former U of T post-doctoral physics researcher Christian Weedbrook – which recently received $40 million in federal funding to support its cutting-edge quantum computing technology. Xanadu is one of Canada’s unicorn companies, valued at over $1 billion.

Christian Weedbrook, founder and CEO of Xanadu, at the Collision tech conference in 2022 (photo by Lukas Schulze/Sportsfile for Collision/Getty Images)

“The GTA is a great place for innovative companies to start and grow because all the ingredients are here: talent, investors, public and private partners, customers and support networks,” said David Asgeirsson, manager of research partnerships and intellectual property at Xanadu.

To stay competitive in the sector, Canada will need further investments to create quantum-literate talent, including funding for graduate students and the scaling of successful partnerships with industry to integrate quantum-ready talent into existing companies.

“It’s critical that we have the funding to recruit top researchers to the quantum hubs in Canada,” Dyring said. “Having strong faculty to continue adding new courses in this emerging field – and to ensure students have opportunities to work on research at the graduate level – is important in growing the field, because we will need more people trained in this area going forward. And we’re seeing that there’s growing interest from students to explore studies and research in quantum.”

U of T alumna Tina Singh drew on her graduate studies to create helmet for Sikh kids

Christopher.Sorensen — Mon, 06 Feb 2023 17:00:38 +0000

U of T alumna Tina Singh drew on her graduate studies to create helmet for Sikh kids

Christopher.Sorensen Mon, 02/06/2023 - 12:00

Cutline

Frustrated by her inability to find a properly fitted helmet for her sons, U of T alumna Tina Singh drew on her background in occupational therapy to design one for Sikh children (photos courtesy of Tina Singh)

Tabassum Siddiqui

Topic

Temerty Faculty of Medicine

Diversity and Inclusion