Make a world of difference

Register to pitch your business plan in any sector, location or stage, or to apply to join as an advisor or investor on April 22, 2021 to help provide guidance to new ventures. Startups, new ventures and SMEs looking to develop and commercialize novel agricultural, AI, biotech, green energy, and medical technologies are the most common, but all are encouraged to apply and obtain free expert advice from members of our panel of 150+ business mentors. 

Schedule on January 28, 2021

1:00-1:20 DiscoveryLab orientation and introductions chaired by Michael Overduin

Session 1 Chair: Trushar Patel, Associate Professor, ARRTI, University of Lethbridge

1:20-1:40 Pankaj Purwar, CEO, Farmer's Legacy Biotech

1:40-2:00 Steve Jakeway, CEO & Doug Abrams, VP, Medical and Regulatory Affairs, Reveal Medical Corp

Session 2 Chair: Michael Bosdet, TSGI

2:00-2:20 Drew Moxon, Finance Lead, Summit Nanotech

2:20-2:40 Rob Lavoie, CEO & Founder & Don Harfield, VP Technology and Operations, Airterra

2:40-3:00 Leanne Brownoff and Danielle Bragge, co-Founders, VR PATHWAYS

Session 3 Chair: Ana Clementin

3:00-3:20 Simba Nyazika, Lenica Research Group

3:20-3:40 Brian Bell and Sydney Hampshire, COO, Click&Push Accessiblity Inc.

3:40-4:00 Remant KC, RJH Biosciences

4:00-4:20 Discussion chaired by Sandra Spencer

Background on DiscoveryLab

DiscoveryLab is an open forum for academics, start-ups and SMEs to explore opportunities to commercialize new technologies and develop their plans to launch new products and services.

Michael Overduin and Cameron Smithers are at the University of Alberta, where they study proteins involved in signaling and disease progression; occasionally they have a bright idea to commercialize, and are looking to share their expanding network with like-minded colleagues.

We host open events each quarter where anyone can pitch their business plan in private to a panel of legal, business, marketing, financial and investment experts who give independent feedback.

Our panel of 150+ advisors offers $3 billion to invest, and there is the potential to attract significant support as well as practical advice and strategic guidance.

Anyone is welcome to pitch their idea and plan to scale their discovery to make a positive difference to society. Our events book up, so register soon and submit your executive summary to us confirm your slot.

Our next event is planned for June 24, 2021.

Aims

1. building trust and mutual understanding to ensure sustainable and rewarding multi-party relationships,

2. identifying major challenges that require innovative thinking,

3. mapping out precompetitive spaces for open-source collaboration,

4. developing fair and reasonable intellectual property strategies for progression and scalable funding,

5. structuring and optimizing core activities and facilities for supporting innovation, and 

6. increasing data quality, reproducibility and decisiveness while eliminating unnecessary duplication and costs.

We welcome collaborators and partners who are interested in working together to support the innovation ecosystem.

For clarity, DiscoveryLab does not recommend advisors, but can make introductions. Each person and company has the responsibility of obtaining legal advice and performing due diligence before signing contracts or taking investments.

Origins

DiscoveryLab was initiated by Michael Overduin, Cameron Smithers and coworkers with a grant from the John R. Evans Leaders Fund awarded by the Canada Foundation for Innovation, Alberta Innovates, Department of Economic Development and Trade, and the Province of Alberta. , as announced at NANUC by the Minister of Science Kirsty Duncan in 2016.