Written by News From Lab2Market
Through the Lab2Market (L2M) Program, Ryerson University is supporting a group of talented researchers and teams from across the nation who are tackling a diverse set of problems in the deep tech space.
Toronto, November 10, 2020 – Ryerson University launched its first Lab2Market (L2M) cohort in September 2020, consisting of 18 teams led by promising researchers from universities across Canada. These universities include Dalhousie University, Ryerson University, Queen’s University, York University, McMaster University, University of Waterloo, and The University of Ontario Institute of Technology.
The Toronto 2020 cohort is industry agnostic, and includes teams working on a diverse set of problems, ranging from cultivated meats to controlled drug delivery. The team’s projects reflect this diversity, with technologies focusing on energy optimization, life sciences, clean technologies, transportation, digital media, agriculture, advanced materials and more.
At the beginning of the L2M Program, the teams were introduced to entrepreneurship with a customized program designed to help them identify the key assumptions they need to address to bring their research to market. While learning tools and frameworks that organize the process of bringing a product to market, the teams also learned how to interact with and gain useful feedback from customers, pitch and finance their business, and more.
These learnings equipped the teams with the necessary knowledge to move forward in their journey with VentureWell, who has been delivering NSF I-Corps program in the United States for the past eight years. In this stage of the L2M Program, the teams underwent intensive training that included lectures/workshops and one-on-one meetings with industry leaders and successful founders, to support their journey in conducting market research to test their assumptions about the market opportunity.
“Going into Lab2Market, I was confident about which customers would see value in my technology, and assumed that the values I saw in my research matched the consumers.” says Jaddie Ho, a PhD student at Queen’s University, participating in the L2M Toronto cohort, “Without the Lab2Market Program, I would not have realized that I was wrong. Lab2Market helped me get out of the lab and academic setting, so I could realize who my customers may actually be. Through these findings, I can now pivot my research and create value for my new customers.”
Currently, the teams in the Toronto cohort are reaching the final stretch of their journey with the L2M Program and are transitioning into finding the right path forward for their projects.
“Ryerson University is dedicated to supporting researchers in bringing their innovations to life. With the Lab2Market Program, we aim to foster entrepreneurship within researchers across the nation, and support a diverse range of deep-tech projects.” says John MacRitchie, Assistant Vice-President of Zone Learning and Strategic Initiatives at Ryerson University.
Ryerson University is pleased to be a part of this collective initiative in bringing Canadian innovations to life and helping researchers discover their dreams. Along with the success of the past and current cohorts, and with more to come, the L2M Program will continue to support this growing pool of bright and talented researchers, unlock their potential, and help to foster entrepreneurship and innovation across Canada.
Meet the Teams
| Abdelrahman Abdou | Ryerson University | AutoMate: A physiological fatigue detection system for drowsy driving prevention. |
| Adnan El Makdah Kai Zhang | Queen’s University | Hybrid low-Inertia Turbine Storage System (HITSS) |
| Alireza Shahin-Shamsabadi | McMaster University | A scalable lab-grown meat with tuneable fat content using tissue engineering techniques. |
| Anum Khan | Ryerson University | Monitoring system for “flushable” consumer products in urban wastewater collection systems. |
| Ashraf Elshorbagy | Ryerson University | A crosscutting three-modes-of-operation unique LiDAR-based 3D mapping system. |
| Dariush Firouzi Panashe Mudzi | McMaster University | Development of ballistic/knife resistant composite panels for personal protective equipment (PPE). |
| Faisal Mahmood | Ryerson University | Multi-level concussion mitigating football helmet: a novel design. |
| Hao Guo | Dalhousie University | Optical device for accurate and real-time assessment of liver fat content in human subjects. |
| Jaddie Ho | Queen’s University | CO2-responsive agents for protective coatings. |
| Jhi Yong Loke, Chee Hau Teoh | University of Waterloo | Commercial-scale spatial atomic layer deposition technology. |
| Matthew Hammill Kristen Nazareth Charlene Fernandez | The University of Ontario Institute of Technology | Red-shifted azobenzene gene-silencing agents for controlling drug activation. |
| Morgan Richard | McMaster University | High-speed confocal microscopy system. |
| Nakisa Samadi | York University | Portable thermo-photonic device for on-site detection and quantification of Cannabis consumption. |
| Parham Mohamadi | York University | A wide bandgap based step-up power converter with enhanced self-reconfigurability for medium voltage renewable power network. |
| Reeda Mahmood | Ryerson University | Dye-sensitized solar cells. |
| Tamaghna Gupta Rakesh Sahu | McMaster University | Rapid 3D bioprinting of cells into structures for drug screening, wound healing and in vitro models. |
| Vinay Patel | McMaster University | In-field real time phosphate monitoring system for algal bloom prevention. |
| Yang Chen | Queen’s University | 65W digital PD (power delivery) adapter. |
SOURCE Lab2Market