Lab2Market Validate program bridges gap from tech innovations to commercially viable products

Article by Gillian Rutherford from Folio at University of Alberta. Full article is available here.

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Eighteen grad students will explore the market potential of their inventions as a step towards turning them into useful products that meet customer needs.

Anyone who’s ever done a breast self-exam knows how hard — and stressful — it can be to tell whether a lump is something to go to your doctor about or just part of normal monthly changes. Somayeh Raiesdanahopes to make that process much easier and more accurate. 

The University of Alberta master’s student has invented a portable device to obtain images of the breast that are then analyzed using artificial intelligence to determine whether cancer is likely present. The device could be used by women in their homes or by doctors for clinical breast examination in screening plans, specifically in developing countries where they may not have easy access to mammography, the gold standard in breast screening. 

It’s a great idea with huge potential, but the challenge for Raiesdana is how to get her product into the hands of people who need it. That’s where a program based at the U of A is aiming to help.

The Lab2Market Validate program allows graduate student and postdoctoral innovators to assess the commercial potential of their technology and determine the appropriate path forward — a first step to bridge the gap between coming up with a great idea and having a product that’s ready to sell.

Thanks to funding from PrairiesCan, Alberta Innovates and Mitacs with delivery partners at Innovate Calgary, the University of Lethbridge and Edmonton Unlimited, Raiesdana and 17 other students and postdoctoral fellows from the U of A, the University of Calgary and the University of Lethbridge are part of the first 16-week cohort. 

They get one-on-one mentoring and workshops from business people with tech startup experience, learning entrepreneurial skills like how to build and refine a business model, and carrying out market research on their products by speaking directly with 100 potential customers.

“It’s really about understanding the market and what they’re going to need to demonstrate to get traction in that marketplace,” says Darren Fast, associate vice-president of innovation, knowledge mobilization and partnerships at the U of A.

“My scientific background — especially technological knowledge — is solid. But on the commercialization procedures here in Canada, I need more help,” says Raiesdana, who came to the U of A in 2022 as a visiting professor from Iran, where she was an associate professor of biomedical engineering at Qazvin Islamic Azad University. 

“This screening device is not only a brilliant project from a scientific perspective but also for making a difference in women’s lives,” says Vivian Mushahwar, professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation, and co-supervisor of Raiesdana’s thesis. Mushahwar is Canada Research Chair in Functional Restoration and director of the U of A’s Institute in Smart Augmentative and Restorative Technologies and Health Innovations. She herself developed Smart-e-Pants for the prevention of pressure injuries which is now marketed under the name Prelivia, and is now working on a hairlike micro-implant that could restore walking ability in patients with spinal cord injuries.

“Lab2Market Validate is going to help people like Somayeh who are serious about taking innovations to market, to really understand what the process is, to demystify it and allow them to say, ‘yes, it’s difficult but it’s doable,’” says Mushahwar. “These are skills that I would love for every student to have — including myself when I was a student.”

A virtuous circle

Developing new technology is a risky business — less than 20 per cent of products succeed, according to Bruce Alton, a product development adviser, angel investor, and co-founder and CEO of RoBIM Technologies, an Edmonton startup that develops robotics for the construction industry. Alton is one of the facilitators for Lab2Market Validate in Alberta. 

“Often innovators fall in love with their technology but don’t understand what it takes to build a product,” says Alton. “The first step is to go out and talk with potential customers to understand the problems they face and how your product might solve them.”

By getting external validation that they are on the right track at the outset, the students will have much better odds of succeeding, says Alton, and he sees that as a potential win for the whole community. 

“If we can get those students establishing businesses here in Edmonton and putting roots down in the city, that’s where we build that virtuous circle of making new jobs, creating wealth and generating tax dollars — which then leads to more education, more research and more products commercialized here,” Alton explains. 

The goal for each Lab2Market Validate participant is to determine the best path forward for their technology. That may mean starting a company, conducting further market research, licensing the technology to attract partners or continuing to do the research within academia. All of these outcomes will be considered a success because they will be backed by strong market feedback, says Fast.

Along with Raiesdana’s breast cancer screening device, there’s a new system to remove traces of pharmaceuticals from wastewater, an AI tool that identifies fungal yeast pathogens, and more. 

“We run the program on a cohort basis to encourage peer learning, and we really emphasize the importance of community building — by connecting them to mentors and the local innovation ecosystem,” says Claire Kay, program manager for Lab2Market Validate. “And the participants learn that customer discovery is about listening to stakeholder perspectives, and not pitching their solution — yet.”

Participants receive a stipend of $15,000 each so they can devote their full attention to Lab2Market Validate for four months, before they complete their studies.

“We know that only a handful — about 15 per cent — of graduate students will go on to an academic career,” says Fast. “So this is a real opportunity for that other 85 per cent to get skills that will help them once they enter the workforce.”

Based on the National Science Foundation’s Innovation Corps in the United States, Lab2Market Validate is a Canada-wide program now available at 30 post-secondary institutions. After running the program at the University of Manitoba for six years, Fast was hired last year to boost innovation at the U of A.

“Canada has had a long history of doing really great research but has been quite poor at translating that research into things that benefit Canadians and the rest of the world,” he says, noting the U of A has many programs aimed at overcoming that barrier. 

“Lab2Market Validate is just one way of taking the expertise we have here at the university — with all of these very bright researchers who understand their subject matter deeply and are creative problem solvers — and connecting them with business.”

Raiesdana knows that the road to commercializing her invention may be hard, but she’s determined to do it with the tools, network and skills she gains through Lab2Market Validate. 

Mushahwar is delighted to see student innovators like Raiesdana benefiting from a program that wouldn’t have existed back when she started her own academic career.

“Now we understand that if you have knowledge that could improve quality of life for somebody, you can’t just sit on that knowledge.”