|
Your complete digital resource for keeping up with
everything that's going on this month at EPICentre
__________________________________________________
|
A MESSAGE FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
We've established a number of new activities, including a
EPIC LAW Lunch and Learn Series open to students and to the Windsor Essex Business Community on Intellectual Property Strategy. This series, co-ordinated by Prof. Myra Tawfik, will consider not just the 'how-to's' - it will focus on the strategic management of various types of IP portfolios. Prof. Tawfik recently led a research team at the Centre for International Governance and Innovation in Waterloo that identified significant strategic challenges for mid-size Canadian companies as they attempt to innovate and scale-up.
Our students have commenced classes, and among these are experiential opportunities for multi-disciplinary and international innovation. In addition to Odette consulting opportunities with local and cross border businesses, we have business, nursing and law students working with bioscience students from Oxford Brookes University in Oxford, U.K. This course involves commercialization of bioscience discoveries, and although much of the course is virtual, UWindsor students will travel to Oxford to meet their clients later this month. Anyone interested is invited to check out their official blog,
'From Bio to Business', where you can find blog posts and updates from students participating in this international collaborative project.
Another course, meant to demonstrate how 'nimble' the university can be in responding to a business challenge, involves a team of engineering, law, and business students who are working with a client to develop a certain commercializable product. These courses demonstrate the unique strengths of UWindsor, in that we can surmount disciplinary and institutional silos; truly unique compared to other Canadian universities.
I'd like to welcome Prof. Nicole Anderson back to the EPIC team! She carries a dual role, teaching first year business classes at Odette, and developing new programs, events and activities at EPICentre. If you are looking for her, she is now physically located in the Odette School of Business Building, Office 443. Last week Nicole represented the University of Windsor at the Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centres.
Finally, this month EPICentre is honoured to host the Fall 2016 Ontario Centres of Excellence Meeting at the University of Windsor. OCE has been our largest external funder, providing close to $2.17 million for the period 2012 to 2018. This meeting will involve approximately 80 visitors from most Ontario post-secondary institutions that have established entrepreneurial programming and incubation spaces on campus. We will begin with a cross-border tour of Techtown in Detroit, and then return to Windsor for the main meeting.
-Francine Schlosser
|
EPICENTRE SEEKING COMMUNITY PARTNERS
EPICentre is looking for community partners to help fund a unique program meant to retain our young entrepreneurs in the Windsor Essex community. We'd like to demonstrate to youth entrepreneurs that it is possible to build and grow their business in Windsor, while still having regular access to customers, mentors, partners and investors in Toronto. EPIC has arranged for 'hot desk' space at the
Ryerson DMZ
, one of the largest business incubators in the world located in downtown Toronto. This space includes a temporary desk to work from, as well as increased access to mentoring and investors. We are looking for a partner that would fund travel grants for Windsor start-ups to go to Toronto to build their market. For $150 return flight, entrepreneurs can travel to Toronto early in the morning and return late the same day. For example, if an individual travels once every two weeks for a year, but lives and builds their business in Windsor, the travel cost is less than $4,000. The benefits are obvious. We welcome tangible financial help from the Windsor-Essex business community to support young entrepreneurs attempting this arrangement.
|
New CIGI Paper Addresses Gap in Canada's Innovation Strategy, Provides Basis for Online IP Course
|
Roy Verstraete Fall Founders Update:
Shibley Righton LLP Award for Community Impact
The Roy Verstraete 2016 Fall Founders cohort members are a month into the program and have been working daily on validation and development of their businesses. The five members have each been matched with a
community mentor to help support and grow their business throughout the program.
We are also pleas
ed to announce that the 2016 Shibley Righton Award for community impact
has been granted to Cassidy Logsdon and her business, Sharedome, a social enterprise that aims to reduce consumer waste and create a stronger sense of connection within communities.
|
During the last weekend of September, EPICentre's Program Director Nicole Anderson represented EPICentre at the
Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centres (GCEC) in Rochester, NY. With over 450 constituents from entrepreneurship centres across the globe, Nicole learned about entrepreneurship across campus, centre structure, funding and operation, centre outreach and community impact, global collaboration, social entrepreneurship, supporting unconventional entrepreneurs and pivotal moments for entrepreneurship centres.
|
RBC EPIC BUSINESS MODEL CANVAS COMPETITION: LAST CALL FOR APPLICATIONS
The University of Windsor's business incubator, EPICentre, will be hosting its inaugural business model canvas competition on November 25
th - 26
th, 2016.
The main goal of the RBC EPIC Business Model Canvas Competition (BMCC) is to educate entrepreneurs and provide them with tools to help launch more successful ventures. The BMCC invites Ontario student entrepreneurs to apply for this competition via submitting a brief video (e.g. PowerPoint with voiceover) demonstrating how they have used the lean start up method and the business model canvas in their own business venture. Semi-finalists will then be chosen to participate in live presentations at the University of Windsor based on the content of their video submissions.
This competition has a number of large sponsors, including The Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) and Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE), leading to several large cash prizes, including a top prize of $10, 000 for your venture. First place will also receive, among other prizes, an automatic qualifying entry to Canada's Business Model Competition in Halifax. Other non-cash prizes for top winners also include consulting services from KMPG, incubation space at the University of Windsor, Postmedia advertising, and much more! In addition, teams will be mentored by prominent business figures prior to their pitches which will help them both in the competition and with their venture's real-life success. All entries outside of the Windsor area will also qualify for up to $1,000 towards travel and accommodations during the competition.
Information about the competition, how to prepare your video submission, eligibility, etc. can be found at our website:
www.epicbmc.ca
The DEADLINE TO APPLY is October 17th!
|
EPIC LAW SERIES LUNCH & LEARN
EPICentre will be holding its first ever EPIC LAW Lunch and Learn Series that will feature various sessions on legal issues facing startups and new ventures. The EPIC LAW Series focuses on intellectual property for startups, inventors, creatives, programmers, engineers and students from ANY discipline. Lunch will be provided for registered attendees.
Oct 18th: Copyright or Patent?: How To Protect My Software
Have you ever wondered how to legally protect a line of code, an app or an interface? Join us for our first session in the EPIC LAW Series as we discuss these issues and how they apply to our techcentric world!
Guest Speaker:
Jenna Wilson, Lawyer at Dimock Stratton LLP
Oct 25th: Copyright - Hero or Villain?: Fundamentals for Entrepreneurs, Artists & Creators
The session will feature an engaging discussion on copyright fundamentals to help you understand how copyright applies to your creations and practical tips on managing copyright in your creative work and/or business.
Guest Speaker: Catherine Ozimek, Lawyer at Mitchell & Associates
Cost: Free
Nov 8th: Strategic Ways to Use Industrial Designs to Build IP Value
An industrial design protects original visual features of shape, configuration, pattern or ornament applied to a variety of finished articles including shoes, chairs, toys, electronic devices, and digital interfaces. We will discuss ways to strategically layer industrial design protection with other types of intellectual property rights to build IP value for company assets. We will also review freedom to operate principles with respect to third party industrial designs.
Guest Speaker: Maya Medeiros, Lawyer & Patent/Trademark Agent at Norton Rose Fulbright
Nov 29th: What's In A Name?: Examining The Intersection between Branding and Trademarks
Every new startup, venture or project will require some sort of branding. This session will focus on how trademarks can influence branding strategy and what startups should consider when developing their brand.
Guest Speaker: Jenna Wilson, Lawyer at Dimock Stratton LLP
|
MedHealth Challenge Info Session
The MedHealth Summit will bring together health care organizations and innovators
to spur the development of innovations and technologies that use health IT, digital
platforms, and medical devices to solve key health care challenges in Southeast
Michigan and Southwest Ontario. The MedHealth Summit will serve as a catalyst for
collaborative innovation, providing a myriad of opportunities for networking and
education about the medical device and digital health innovation in our region.
The MedHealth Challenge is seeking innovative medical device and digital health solutions to help consumers, caregivers, providers, and supporting institutions know more about their health, driving appropriate utilization and improved health care options.
Applications will be accepted for the MedHealth Challenge from November 7, 2016 through January 6, 2017.
The University of Windsor will be hosting an information session on October 28th from 4:00PM - 6:00PM at EPIC Innovation (Joyce Entrepreneurship Centre, 2nd Floor).
|
3D Scan and 3D Print Demo Night @ Hackforge
On Oct 28th from 5pm-8pm, Hackforge is proud to host UWIN_3D Print for a night of face scanning, 3D printing, and demos of printed objects. Drop in, have your face scanned, and learn more about this exciting technology! Great for all ages.
UWIN_3D Print is a University of Windsor based 3D printing club. Their goal is to promote the concepts and practices of 3D Printing, as well as to facilitate an educational hands on experience via workshops and events to those with an interest in 3D printing.
|
Shine 5 Productions is seeking sales reps
Shine 5 Productions
specializes in high-quality and affordable videos for business. They are currently looking for educated sales reps in Windsor to talk to local businesses and generate leads.
They have 3 full-time positions
available and offer generous commission and real sales experience. If you feel you have what it takes, please apply. We are looking for people to start immediately.
|
GLOBAL STUDENT ENTREPRENEUR AWARDS
The
Global Student Entrepreneur Awards (GSEA)
is the premier global competition for students who own and operate a for-profit and/or social enterprise structured business while attending college of university. Nominees compete against their peers from around the world in a series of local and/or national competitions in hopes to qualify for GSEA Finals.
There is no entry fee to compete and the winner for Canada gets to pitch in Bangkok.
|
IDeA UWindsor Competition
The University of Windsor in partnership with the Council of Ontario Universities and the Government of Ontario, is excited to announce the Innovative Designs for Accessibility (
IDeA
) student competition for the 2016-2017 academic year.
We are seeking to challenge the creative and innovative minds of our undergraduate students to identify accessibility related-barriers and create inclusive, practical, cost-effective and unique solutions to them.
The developed solutions should address one (or several) barriers to accessibility identified by the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disability Act (AODA), which are:
- Organizational/Systemic
- Architectural/Physical
- Information and Communications
- Technology
- Attitudinal
|
Emerging Technologies in Automation Conference in Windsor-Essex
Windsor-Essex is an international hub for Automation with over 300 companies involved in the engineering, designing,
and production of cutting-edge industrial manufacturing systems across many sectors. The Windsor-Essex Economic Development Corporation is hosting a showcase of the latest developments in this industry that is changing the face of manufacturing around the world.
When: Tuesday, November 29, 2016
Where: Caesars Windsor, Augustus I & II
Attendee Cost: $25.00 + HST
|
|
I'd like to highlight what's been happening at EPICentre this month. Incubator members have pitched their innovations at the 
