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SFU Launches New 'Innovation Strategy' & Expands VentureLabs to Make It BC's ‘Largest Business Accelerator’
Friday, October 9, 2015Company Profile | Follow Company
SFU's new innovation strategy and facility to advance technology entrepreneurism
Vancouver, BC, October 9, 2015--(T-Net)--Sensors that measure moisture content in farm fields - an inflatable vest that calms people with autism - a football helmet decal that prevents head and brain injuries - an eco-friendly self-watering planter for vegetables - and software that composes and performs music on command.
These are just some of the cutting-edge products and business ventures associated with Simon Fraser University that will benefit from the University's new innovation strategy, SFU Innovates, and a major new innovation facility in Harbour Centre Tower adjacent to SFU's Vancouver campus.
SFU President Andrew Petter says SFU Innovates will support a lifecycle approach to innovation and entrepreneurship, and create a network of innovation initiatives and partnerships that will establish SFU as a leader in developing talent, technology and transformative ideas.
SFU launched the strategy last week on Oct. 1 at the opening of a new 24,000-square-foot facility that enlarges the capacity of SFU's VentureLabs®—already rated a top-performing B.C. accelerator for job creation and capital formation—to make it B.C.'s largest business accelerator.
The facility represents the west coast hub of a new pan-Canadian business accelerator network operated by SFU, Ryerson University and the University of Ontario Institute of Technology.
With $10.7 million in funding from the Canada Accelerator and Incubator Program, the program connects partner universities' strengths in digital technologies.
The facility will link through SFU Innovates to a series of SFU and SFU-partner innovation initiatives.
These include:
“This new strategy and facility, combined with our pioneering programs to promote student entrepreneurship, represent a major step forward in SFU's commitment to be Canada's most community-engaged research university,” says Petter.
“Universities have an obligation to support their students and faculty researchers not only to generate great ideas, but also to put those ideas to use for the benefit of society.
Adds Joy Johnson, SFU v-p, research, “SFU has always had a strong commitment to contribute to society, and over the past 50 years has reached out to the community physically as well as through its educational programs and research ventures at all three SFU campuses,”
“That same commitment to engagement drives our entire innovation strategy and its network of labs, incubators and accelerators that create jobs and power our economy.”
FUNDING PARTNERS:
The new VentureLabs® facility and program are made possible in part by the Government of Canada's Canada Accelerator and Incubator Program (CAIP) delivered by the National Research Council-Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC-IRAP), and by the Province of British Columbia through the BC Innovation Council (BCIC).
Photo Credits: Simon Fraser University Communications
https://www.sfu.ca/sfunews.html
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