Championing Entrepreneurs
At Ryerson, we support our students and faculty in establishing and accelerating new businesses, creating jobs, and transforming scholarly, research and creative activity into marketable products and services. We have built a strong innovation ecosystem and substantial infrastructure and networks through initiatives like our Zone Learning model and the Incubate Innovate Network of Canada (I-INC).
Incubate Innovate Network of Canada (I-INC)
Led by Ryerson and Dalhousie University, the Lab2Market program launched in fall 2019 for delivery of its first cohorts in mid-2020. The program supports researchers and graduate students in rapidly evaluating the commercial potential for their research through direct customer engagement. It is supported by FedDev Ontario, the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA) and Mitacs.
Ryerson Zone Learning
779 Programming events delivered
419 New products and services brought to market
369 New full-time jobs created
$16.3M Revenue reported by incubator members
Ryerson Zone Highlights
Enhanced Medical Nutrition, a startup accelerated through the Biomedical Zone, develops and commercializes perioperative and post-operative nutrition products to help patients prepare better and recover faster from surgery. The company raised a $1.2 million seed round led by medical device distributors and angel investors from Toronto, Texas and Illinois, and was the winner of the 2020 MAKO Student Innovation Award.
OAK AR, a mixed media mobile game designed to engage children with the natural world when they are tasked with growing and designing a virtual oak tree, received $1 million in funding from the Canada Media Fund. OAK AR’s creators incubated their augmented reality (AR) game at Ryerson’s Transmedia Zone, alongside Ryerson’s Children’s Media Lab, George Brown College and production company Cream Productions.
Vesta Social Innovation Technologies is an information and reporting platform that provides a safe and secure digital space for those who have experienced sexual assault or gender-based violence. Co-zoned by the Social Ventures Zone and the Legal Innovation Zone, Vesta received $1 million in funding from the federal government's Women and Gender Equality Canada initiative.