|
EPICENTRE EVENTS
|
|
Check our
EVENTS
page for updates
|
|
|
| |
|
Your complete digital resource for keeping up with
everything that's going on this month at EPICentre
__________________________________________________
|
A Message from the Executive Director
May was a busy month, as we began planning our major competitions for the next year. The EPIC RBC Business Model Canvas Competition is slated for November 17-18, 2017, EPIC Health Innovation/Making and EPIC Robotics for Winter and EPIC MakerFaire for Spring
.
These competitions will involve post-secondary students from Windsor-Essex, Michigan, and Ontario. We're currently looking for prizes and sponsors. Stay tuned!!
EPICentre is a busy place these days, with members of our Discovery, RBC EPIC Summer Founders, and Incubation programs working on their businesses. There is a broad range of businesses, and will culminate in a Final Founders pitch day later this summer. Odette business consulting students are working at EPICentre on consulting projects with Hotel-Dieu Grace Healthcare, Highline Mushrooms, Radix, Windsor Pride, and the Town of Essex.
The 3D Print Club, originally located in the School of Creative Arts, will be moving to the Centre for Engineering Innovation until September. Led by alumnus Nic de Cosson, the club currently has 95 members. Please check out their website if you're interested in joining
!
We are delighted to welcome Juliet Garcia, an undergraduate business student from the University of Guadalajara
in Mexico, on a Global MITACs scholarship. This summer she will be helping us to research best practices and new campus and business community engagement strategies.
Finally, it's a pleasure to announce that Dave Kirby has returned to EPICentre as Entrepreneur-in-Residence. His own business experiences and wide network of contacts will be invaluable to our young entrepreneurs.
|
Biochemistry student creating health conscious skin care products
Natural. Affordable. Healthy. Fragrant. Safe. And most importantly, ingredients you can pronounce! These are some of the things that come to mind when talking about Harmoscent, one of the newest startups to participate in EPICentre's RBC EPIC Founders Program.
|
New website will allow travelers easy and fast booking for vacation properties
Have you ever shopped around for a vacation or cottage property? Were you extremely frustrated by the process? Or maybe you own a vacation property but are having difficulties getting maximum occupancy year-round?
A solution is on the horizon with one of EPICentre's newest Founders, Mike Citron, and his company, LodgeSmarter, as he looks to change the travel industry as it pertains to vacation properties.
|
New tech startup is ready to shake up the automotive industry
It all starts with an idea. Of course, sometimes the original idea doesn't always work out but that is not necessarily a bad thing, especially in the case of one of EPICentre's newest Founders, Scott Fairley, and his tech startup
Optimotive
Technologies.
Optimotive is currently comprised of four team members. They have their own office located in Downtown Windsor and are looking towards the future of the automotive industry through the research and development of innovative automotive applications.
|
New app in development to provide epic local experience for travelers
Have you ever
traveled
to another country or city but wanted to take in the local experience? Now you can with Amis Touring's latest creation. Amis Touring is an app-powered, on-demand tour guide service for smart phones. It provides a simple platform for
travelers
to connect with locals who know the region and can make the local experience for
travelers
more enjoyable and convenient.
|
Province creates partnerships to accelerate growth for social entrepreneurs
|
|
 |
|
Cristina Martins, Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Economic Development and Growth
|
|
The Ontario Ministry of Economic Development and Growth (MEDG) publicly announced on Friday May 26
th, that they will be supporting the development and growth of social enterprises in Ontario, through their new ONE Social Enterprise Partnership (ONE SEP) initiative. EPICentre is the campus-linked accelerator partner of the team that has been selected by the MEDG and tasked to develop a social enterprise network in Southwestern Ontario. EPICentre is a leader among university incubators and entrepreneurship centres across this region. The ONE SEP team is led by Pillar Nonprofit Network, leaders in social entrepreneurship in London, Ontario, and also includes the Huron County Small Business Centre and Innovate Niagara, both active drivers of social innovation.
|
EPICentre attends OCE Discovery 2017
The University of Windsor and EPICentre participated in the
Ontario Centres of Excellence Discovery Conference
on May 15 - 16, 2017. Discovery is Canada's leading innovation to commercialization conference, bringing together key players from industry, government, academia, investors, and entrepreneurs, to ultimately create innovative and positive societal change.
|
Introducing EPICentre's newest Entrepreneur-In-Residence
We would like to welcome Dave Kirby to our EPIC team as our newest Entrepreneur-In-Residence. Dave joins Gerry Simpson in providing EPICentre's students with business mentorship.
Dave has over 20 years of financial leadership experience with 14 of those years in senior CFO and CEO positions with Fortune 500 and medium-sized companies in the pharmaceutical industry. He has provided strategic leadership and direction in all aspects of a business. Dave was co-owner of a gelatin hard capsule manufacturer Pharmaphil, which supplied the nutritional and pharmaceutical hard capsule industry in Canada, USA and Mexico. He sold his business to Qualicaps, a global supplier of capsules, owned by the private equity firm, The Carlyle Group.
|
Hacking Health Windsor-Detroit III Wows
|
|
|
|
MediMeals team accepting their award
|
|
Over 100 creative and collaborative professionals and students from the health, tech and business worlds came together over the May 5th weekend for the third annual Hacking Health Windsor-Detroit.
MediMeals, a team of University of Windsor and St. Clair College students, received the prize sponsored by the University of Windsor's EPICentre which includes entry into the prestigious EPIC Founders accelerator program valued at $6,000. MediMeals also went home with the People's Choice Award.
|
Summer Startup Mashup
Startup Mashup introduces startups who need partners to students and alumni interested in joining new businesses. Join us for a drink and network with some amazing local talent at our summer Mashup at Rock Bottom Bar & Grill!
When: Wednesday, June 21, 2017 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Venue: Rock Bottom Bar & Grill
Where: 3236 Sandwich St, Windsor Ontario
Cost: Free
|
CNE Emerging Innovators Pitch Competition 2017
Canada's brightest young innovators converge in
The Garage over three days (August 18 - 20) to pitch their cutting edge inventions, as they compete for prize money and in-kind services.
Top winners of each category will win a $5,000 cash prize and will then go on to compete in the Ontario Semi-Finals on August 20th. To be eligible for the Ontario regional competition taking place August 18-20, 2017 in Toronto, entry forms must be received by 11:59pm on June 7th, 2017. Contestants will be responsible for their own transportation and accommodation to participate in this event.
|
Challenges Faced by Both Experienced and Inexperienced Entrepreneurs
 Whether you are a seasoned entrepreneur looking to grow your business into new areas or if you are a new entrepreneur young or experienced, we all face the same challenges.
|
The 5 Digital Marketing Strategies Entrepreneurs Need to Consider in their Marketing Plan
Digital marketing is one of the most affordable and accessible ways for an entrepreneur to market their startup, yet so many leave it out of their initial
marketing plan.
Once you have a website, how you attract, engage and generate leads from that website is where the real fun begins. We outline 5 digital marketing strategies all entrepreneurs need to consider within their marketing plan.
|
Check Your Brand Positioning in 5 Minutes
 Understanding brand positioning is very important if you want to correct misconceptions and off-brand opinions of your brand. You may have every intention of analyzing your brand to make sure that it is in a position of strength by participating in scientific research to that end. But first, as a litmus test, you might find it useful to do a little under the radar analysis to get a quick feel of your stakeholder's opinions regarding your brand positioning.
|
|
|
