TORONTO, ON--(Marketwired - July 20, 2016) - The Impact Centre at the University of Toronto has had a busy summer of training researchers and students to bring their science to society.
Starting at the end of May, the Impact Centre delivered a "Scientific Entrepreneurship Workshop" at the IC-IMPACTS Summer Institute at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. The summer institute had 25 students from India and 25 from across Canada working in areas of integrated water management, public health and safe and sustainable infrastructure. The module took teams through ideation to pitching their "new company" while teaching key entrepreneurial skills that they can directly translate into their research.
Techno2016 had 17 teams working with the Impact Centre during an intensive weeklong program in June. These teams, made up of graduate students, researchers and faculty, are working to commercialize their knowledge in areas from medical diagnostics to environmental technologies. The Techno program began in 2010 with the mission to educate scientist-entrepreneurs and provide them the support to transform their latest science into transformative products and services. It has since become the flagship entrepreneurship training program offered by the Impact Centre. Over the course of the week the teams participated in hands-on workshops on topics ranging from intellectual property, product development, corporate governance and pitching. On June 24 the teams made their first pitches to a room of fellow entrepreneurs and invited guests and are now on the path to building and growing their companies.
In keeping with the Impact Centre's international focus, on June 28 the Impact Centre hosted a half-day entrepreneurship workshop to an enthusiastic group of international students. Held in partnership with the City of Toronto's Economic Development and Culture Division, the students learned the process of innovation, products, services and markets, intellectual property and new venture creation. An interactive session on essentials in written and verbal communication skills in a cross-cultural society helped provide a foundation for a semi-formal networking session that included both entrepreneurs and educators.
Finally, in early July the Impact Centre delivered the pitch training session during AGE-WELL's National Centre of Excellence EPIC Summer Institute in Mt Tremblant. The inaugural summer institute's theme was "Living Well With Dementia." Over the course of a week of lectures and workshops students were led through a user-centered design process, including problem identification, working with end-users and the final pitch competition.
"Over the past few months the Impact Centre has delivered its most diverse set of training programs to date," said Dr. Richard McAloney, director of entrepreneurship at the Impact Centre. "The common thread, and most enjoyable part, is in guiding students to tell the story behind their vision and watching the transition as students take their idea and turn it into something concrete."
These training sessions are part of a larger suite that is offered by the Impact Centre. To learn more visit http://www.impactcentre.ca/learners/.
About the Impact Centre:
The Impact Centre is a research institute at the University of Toronto that strives to bring science to society through industry projects and partnerships, entrepreneurial companies, and unique training programs. We connect exceptional research, talent, innovative companies, and government to create products and services both for existing industry partners and as the basis for startups.
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Contact Information:
Contact Information:
Scott McAuley
Communications Coordinator
Impact Centre
smcauley@imc.utoronto.ca
