Sponsor
Lab2Market Validate / NSERC
Description
This national Lab2Market Validate program was developed in partnership with NSERC as an alternative stream to their I2I Market Assessment Grant. This 4-month program offers research teams that wish to be involved in the commercialization activities of their projects the opportunity to assess their technology’s commercial potential themselves rather than outsourcing this activity to an external consultant. In this way, the team learns the entrepreneurial skills needed to take their innovations to market. This carefully curated 16-week experience is complemented by funding, exercises, workshops, and mentorship from industry experts — all with exploration at its core. The program will take participants through the process of unlocking the business potential of a research idea — from meeting customers, building a network, and most importantly, developing entrepreneurial grit.
Participants in the program receive:
- $15,000 in funding
- The opportunity to assess product-market fit
- A world-class curriculum delivered by innovation leaders
- Access to best-in-class advisors, industry experts, and funders
- Access to a vast entrepreneurial network and community
- The opportunity for future funding through the NSERC I2I Phase I grant.
The 16-week program is a full-time commitment broken into the following phases and will start in March 2024:
Phase 1: Pre-Program (4 weeks) – Get inspired to take the first steps toward validating your idea. You will be welcomed into a community of like-minded and driven individuals with diverse research backgrounds, hearing from successful founders who have been there and done it. You will learn principal market research methodologies and techniques to put into practice.
Phase 2: Core-Program (8 weeks) – “Get out of the building” and put your learnings into action by meeting with your customers. This is an intense and fast-paced period, but you will be supported by a vast entrepreneurial network of industry experts and will also receive in-depth presentations on various entrepreneurial topics.
Phase 3: Post-Program (4 weeks) – Analyze your findings and determine the appropriate path forward for your project and celebrate your successes with the Lab2Market community.
For full program details, please consult the Information Package.
Eligibility
Lab2Market Validate is offered free of cost and is open to researchers (Masters, Ph.D., and Postdocs) in Canada, with the National Lab2Market Health Cohort being open specifically for those with pharmaceutical, medical device, med-tech, human and animal health, and health IT projects. The program will be run nationally, hosted by Dalhousie (Atlantic Canada), the University of Toronto (Ontario), and the University of British Columbia and Simon Fraser University (Western Canada).
Deadlines
If College-level review is required, your College will communicate its earlier internal deadlines.
| Type | Date | Notes |
|---|---|---|
External Deadline | U of G applicants should inform research.services@uoguelph.ca if their application is selected to proceed. Each application or proposal to be submitted to a research sponsor (government, industry, business, foundation, private or other) must be approved by the University (Research Services Office) before the application is forwarded to the sponsor. To allow time for RSO review and processing, full applications (including an OR-5 Form, research proposal/application, and a budget) should be submitted to research.services@uoguelph.ca two weeks in advance of external deadlines. For any IP considerations, consult with Steve De Brabandere (sdebrab@uoguelph.ca), Director, Technology Transfer and Industry Liaison prior to submitting your application. |
Attachment(s)
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
 L2M Validate Spring 2024 Info Session.pdf | 6.07 MB |