Lost in the woods? We can guide you.
Register to join us at DiscoveryLab's next meeting. Pitch a business plan (by Zoom) in any tech sector including biomedical, agriculture, environmental, life sciences, artificial intelligence or energy or to provide expert advice to a growing team. Check out the past presenters below. Many have gone on to build their teams and secure funding. You are welcome to join our growing community of researchers making a difference to society.
Testimonials
"Our project has picked up significantly since we last presented at DiscoveryLab. We have partnered to expand our program for the treatment of COVID-19 patients and we are now at 22 sites."
"Our DiscoveryLab presentation led to participation of 2 investors in our seed round, a strategic machine learning technology development partnership, a remote patient monitoring collaboration with a University, and this week’s announcement of an exciting product launch."
"We received a connection to TEC Edmonton which resulted in mentorship and admission into an accelerator."
"The suggestions I got from the DiscoveryLab meeting were great. Thanks!"
"I would like to thank you for organizing the pitch event. We were very happy about the outcome of the pitch. We wanted some advice and that's what we got. We would love to pitch again."
"I wanted to send a note to thank you very much for the opportunity to present yesterday. We enjoyed the experience and also were able to resolve an issue."
"My company got funding."
General Schedule for DiscoveryLab Events
Teams are welcome to present a plan in 15 minutes. A supportive panel of business experts and investors then provide free advice in a private round table discussion.
Early stage ventures, academics, start-ups and SMEs are welcome to present their plan and will be given tailored advice on how to commercialize, spin out, scale and reach new markets.
For clarity, DiscoveryLab does not recommend advisors or investors, 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.
DISCLAIMER: The plans, thoughts, and opinions expressed by presenters belong solely to the presenters. DiscoveryLab and Science Capital do not support or promote the research presented, we provide an open forum for discussion. A video recording of the web conferences will be given to Advisors, Funders & Investors to help them make decisions regarding allocation of advice and resources.
DiscoveryLab Presenters on April 22, 2021:
13:40 Grant Kelba, Regenitech Canada
Session 3 Chair: tbc
14:00 Barry Farquharson, CEO, Nova Green Inc.
14:20 John Ralston, CEO and Founder, PROTXX Inc.
14:40 Michael J. Weickert, PhD, CEO, Pacylex Pharmaceuticals
Session 3 Chair: Ana Clementin
15:00 Mathew Diggle, Founder & CEO, TestNTravel
15:20 Rineke Steenbergen, Li Ka Shing Institute of Virology
15:40 Danika Kelly, Co-Founder, My Normative Inc.
16:00 Stephen Ferry, Director, Hermod Medical
16:20 Ty McKinney, Co-Founder, 8 Bit Cortex
DiscoveryLab Presenters 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
New ventures, SMEs and startups at any stage are invited to registor as are advisors interested in joining our panel. No bystanders please, everyone is asked to participate actively.
Anyone is welcome to register to pitch a business idea or plan in any field, at any stage, and from any province.
An updated executive summary of your business plan must be submitted to finalize your pitching slot.
Note: Please tell us if you can't make it in to pitch, unjustified last minute cancellations and no-shows are subject to a charge of $20 as they prevent others from pitching to our advisors.
We thank those who presented in the past including:
- 2S Water: Anthea Sargeaunt
- 99bits: Abdullah Choudhry,
- 48 Hour Discovery: Samantha Kwok & Ratmir Derda
- Airterra CEO Rob Lavoie
- Alpine Innovative Research, Dane Bosman: Air Sniper
- Alberta Precision Labs, Clinical Microbiologist, Mathew Diggle
- Antibiddies Technologies: D Marchant, L Bilawchuk & F West
- Applied Pharmaceutical Innovation, Rakesh Bhat
- Autoimmune Hepatitis: A. Landi & A. Clementin
- Awele Technologies: Godfrey Okeke
- Bessie Founder Spencer Kerber
- BioAro, Amir Nezhad, University of Calgary
- BioImmuno Designs: Shairaz Baksh
- BioLargo: Richard Smith
- Biomedarmour, Simon Park, University of Calgary
- Biomimetic Exosomes: Kunal Karan & Arin Sen
- BitCan Geosciences & Engineering, Yanguang Yuan
- Bitcoin Air: Bretton Whervin
- Blindman Brewing: Kirk Zembal & Shane Groendahl
- Boron Heterocycles for Drug Discovery: Dennis Hall
- Biomarkers for Pediatric Cancer: Aru Narendran
- Breast Cancer Biomarkers: Carrie
- BYBOCAM CEO & Founder Ketsia Lombosso Engoya
- Canada NeuroTech: Yvonne Wong, CUE
- Canadian BioSample Repository: Bruce Ritchie
- Canadian Rockies Hemp Corp, Aaron Barr
- Carlos Cervera: Early use of Tocilizumab for COVID-19
- Cheminger Inc: Nataraj Pagadala
- Childhood Pneumonia Biomarkers: Qaasim Mian
- Chipcare, Lynn McNeil
- Click & Push: Martin Ferguson-Pell
- Click & Push Accessiblity Inc. COO Sydney Hampshire
- CliniSonics: Roger Zemp
- COMS: Centre for Online Mental health Support, Peter Silverstone
- Creative Protein Solutions, CEO, Daria Venkova
- Criticare Dx: Amir Nezhed
- Crowdblink, Trevor Macdonald
- Daphe Water Solutions, CTO, Luisa Orsini
- Dealcloser: Amir Reshef
- Drug Discovery Chemical Space: Dennis Hall
- Easy fMRI and Easy Data: Tony Yousefnezhad
- EcoVitro: Lion Budrass
- EHCAPS, Amrich by Tanveer Ahmad
- Elsius Biomedical, Alessandro Biglioli: ECMO
- ENTiD: Rahul Arora
- Entos Pharmaceuticals: John Lewis & Arun Raturi
- Farmer's Legacy Biotech, CEO,Pankaj Purwar,
- Flu Fighting Chickens: Katharine Magor
- FluroTech, CEO, Dan Dalla-Londa
- Fly and Fetch: Shelvie Fernan & Victoria Celi
- Food Wastes to Alternative Energy: Peter Johnson
- Fourien: Faheem Khan
- FREDsense Technologies Corp, Co-Founder, Robert Mayall
- Gane Ka-Shu Wong: nucleic acids based covid-19 diagnostics
- Guanqun Chen, Plant Biotechnology Lab, University of Alberta
- Health District: Khurram Jahangir
- Health Gauge: Randy Duguay & Bruce Matichuk
- Hempact: Nicole Sanchez, Jenny Li & Anka Chan
- High Density Power Conversion: Zhongyi Quan
- Human Cytomegalovirus: James Nieman
- illumiSonics: Roger Zemp
- IMBiotechnologies: Michael Stewart
- Giant Health: Inbound Trade Mission, Barry Shrier
- HOPE Project, Dawn Kingston
- Inclusion Playland: Rebecca Murray
- Inkubate Packaging, Travis Dahl
- InPlanta Biotechnology, Director, Igor Kovalchuk
- iYu Inc: Mike Wade, Concordia University Edmonton
- Kent Imaging, Pierre Lemire
- Khaled Barakat: small molecule inhibitor design
- KRS Biopharma: Tina Rinker
- Lenica Research Group: Simba Nyazika
- LKSAVI: Lorne Tyrell
- MagnetTx: Gino Fallone
- Mahdi Tavakoli: Robotic System Following Injury
- Medo.ai, David Quail & Jeevesh Kapur
- Meros Polymers: Afsaneh Lavasanifar
- Metric Technologies, Abdullah Saleh
- MITS: Jeremie Bourqui
- Metabolomic Technologies Inc: Lu Deng
- mmHg Inc: Peter Wood & Dr. Raj Padwal
- Nabati Foods, President, Ahmad Yehya
- Nanologaudio: Adam Brown
- Nanostics: Colin Coros
- Nectar, Co-Founder & CEO, Marc-André Roberge
- Neuraura CEO Pierre Wijdenes and COO Claire Dixon
- New Paradigm Hempery, Luc d'Abadie
- ofbrains: Alireza Bahramian
- OPTEL Group, Louis-Olivier Roy
- OrigamAi, CEO, Kyle McLeod
- Outbreaker Solutions: Brayden Whitlock
- OVA, CEO, Harold Dumur
- Palliative Care Matters: Konrad Fassbender
- Pacylex: M Weickert, J Mackey, R Heit & L Berthiaume
- PainWorth: Mike Zouhri
- PEARKO Therapeutics,Gavin Oudit
- Phelix, Co-Founder,Varun Pulapaka
- Pleasant Solutions, Thomas Stachura
- Polar Canadian Swine LLP: Alfred Wahl
- Praeventus Corporation: Jerome Yager, UofA
- Prominent: A Flynn, R Burrell, T McMullen & T Briggs
- Protxx: John Ralston
- Qualisure Diagnostics: David Bocking & Oliver Bathe
- Quantum Silicon Inc, Robert Wolkow
- Rafiq Ahmad: Smart Engineering Solutions to Cope with COVID-19
- Rapid Prototyping: Suresh Nayar
- Rashid Mirzavand: Multi-Parameter Wireless Bio-Sensor System
- RAZN Health Decision Modelling: Negin Razavilar
- Repertoire Immune Systems, Karsten Sauer
- Reveal Medical Corp, CEO Steve Jakeway
- Revive Wellness Inc: Loreen Wales
- RJH Biosciences: Juliana Valencia & Remant KC
- Roshan Water Solutions Inc: Amirreza Sohrabi
- Safe Contact Solutions, Kevin Maloney
- SafeSpaceHealth: Khurram Jahangir
- Sawback Technologies, Founder, Neil Keown
- SensorUp Founder & CTO Steve Liang
- Sialogene: Chris Cairo
- Siberian Meat Dumplings, Mark Friesen
- SMALP Network: Michael Overduin
- SN Biomedical: Hillary Sweet & Matthew Nickel
- SolAeroMed, John Dennis
- Solar Oxygen: Nicolas Conradi
- Staffing Call, CEO and Founder, Adam Balogh
- ST Innovations Business Development Manager, Jonathan Butterworth
- Story City: Emily Craven
- Summit Nanotech, Drew Moxon,
- Sunmor Research Inc, Medical Director, Kevin Morin,
- Surgical Simulation: Bin Zheng
- Swae CEO Soushiant Zanganehpour
- Symbiotic EnviroTek Inc., CTO, Jeremy Sluyters
- Syantra Diagnostics: Tina Rinker
- Syngli: Simon Overduin
- Targeting LPA Signaling: David Brindley
- Technology Shops, Steve Lloyd: CoronaHood
- Tele-Rehabilitation, Martin Ferguson-Pell
- Terrahub, Elena Dumitrascu
- ThermoReCON: Larry Unsworth
- ThyroSPEC: Paul Stewardson
- The TireGrabber: Darcy Goossen
- TMIC, James Harynuk
- Token Naturals, CEO & Co-Founder, Keenan Pascal
- Umay Care: Sharmin Habib
- Unit9: CoronaSaver, Martin Percy
- Vanier Institute of the Family, CEO, Nora Spinks
- Virtual Orthodontic Residency: Tarek El-Bialy
- WWiKY Theranostica: Len Wiebe & Piyush Kumar
- XoTech: Amir Sanati Nezhad
- ZAFA Rapid Biorefinery: Aman Ullah
- Zenxmed and Openxmed: Colm Murphy
- Zept, CEO,Gregg Oldring
Tips for pitching your plan
- Presenters are asked to give the organizers their business plan summary (1 or 2 pages) a week before and their slide-deck the day before the event. This way we can ensure technical compatibility and line up the talks to minimize any downtime.
- Feel free to bring your own Flash drive or computer with cable and adapter.
- Arrive about 10 minutes early to get oriented. You’ll be given a debrief and evaluation after your pitch.
- Stay on time (10 minutes for a full presentation, or 2 minutes for an elevator pitch) to ensure there is enough time for Q&A.
- Say a few words of background about yourself to start out the presentation.
- Focus on the business plan, not technical or proprietary detail (which you can cover in follow up meetings if desired). Show how this presented a unique and timely opportunity for scalable growth, investment and/or partnering.
- Turn complexity and jargon into plain English. Use accessible pictures or videos. Avoid technical terms and abstraction. Instead, give specific examples, numbers and explain.
- Be passionate. Present potential risks as well as plans and successes. Show confidence and ambition.
- Don't be boastful or flaunt your ego.
- Engage with your team and panel, listening carefully and taking constructive criticism.
- Don’t read your talk. Notes are ok. Rehearse beforehand to get the timing, clarity and impact right.
Slide guidance
- A graphic image or video communicates better than text. Avoid crowded collages.
- Text is not needed. Spoken words communicate more effectively. If text is used, a few lines should suffice. Avoid slides which consist of only a headline and list of bullet-points.
- Show several slides which each present a single idea, graph, image or data type, and form a progression, e.g. from challenge, opportunity, discovery, reality check, to future plan.
- Use no more than 1 slide per minute, i.e. 10 slides maximum.
- Keep a clear surrounding margin around text for increased legibility.
- Sans-serif fonts (e.g. Helvetica) are easier to read at a distance than serif fonts (e.g. Times).
- Use a simple background.
- Use high-resolution images that are from your work, are licensed, or else attribute the source.
- For data graphs or charts, use a text font size that can be read from the back of a board room, including labels on x- and y-axes and data points.