U of T Entrepreneurship

Rankings

Research & Innovation

The ��Ƶ has earned the 13th spot in a new ranking by Inc. and Fast Company magazines that highlights the top 50 institutions transforming entrepreneurship.

The Ignition Schools list highlights academic institutions from around the world with the biggest impact on business and ideas that define the future, writes Brendan Vaughan, the editor-in-chief of Fast Company. He said the 50 schools in the inaugural list “don’t just produce elite students and groundbreaking research; they also are economic engines that generate the ideas, businesses, and opportunities that move cities, regions, and countries toward a better future.”

The list’s methodology assesses how the schools foster new technologies and industries while nurturing the individuals and companies that bring them to market. Out of a pool of approximately 900 institutions, schools were scored based on factors such as their performance in producing founders and entrepreneurs, companies launched by students and alumni and the amount of venture capital raised.

Having created more than 650 companies with the support of 12 accelerators, U of T was the highest ranked Canadian university on the Ignition Schools list.

Inaugural AcceleratorFest aims to inspire budding entrepreneurs at U of T

rahul.kalvapalle — Fri, 13 Sep 2024 19:17:46 +0000

Inaugural AcceleratorFest aims to inspire budding entrepreneurs at U of T

rahul.kalvapalle Fri, 09/13/2024 - 15:17

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The inaugural AcceleratorFest, organized by U of T Entrepreneurship, will include a startup showcase, panel discussion and tours of the ONRamp co-working and collaboration space (photo by Alyssa K Faoro)

Topic

Schwartz Reisman Innovation Campus

Entrepreneurship Week

ONRamp

Subheadline

“With students back on campus, this is an opportunity to expose the internal entrepreneurial ecosystem to all the different accelerator programs we have at the university”

The new school year is typically associated with lectures, textbooks and study groups – but at the ��Ƶ, students are also encouraged to think about how all that knowledge can be wielded to start game-changing companies that address important challenges, create jobs and foster innovation.

That’s one of the goals behind the inaugural AcceleratorFest, which takes place Sept. 18 at the Schwartz Reisman Innovation Campus.

Organized by U of T Entrepreneurship – which is ranked among the top five university business incubators in the world – AcceleratorFest offers a handy introduction to U of T’s thriving entrepreneurship scene.

“With students back on campus, this is an opportunity to expose the internal entrepreneurial ecosystem to all the different accelerator programs we have at the university,” says Jon French, director of U of T Entrepreneurship.

There are 12 campus-linked accelerators across the tri-campus, and the number of startups emerging from them continues to balloon – in 2019, U of T supported 380 entrepreneurial teams; last year, that number rose to nearly 1,000.

“This is one of the rare opportunities where we can bring staff, alumni, accelerator leads and companies to talk to the next generation of up-and-coming entrepreneurs about resources and tools and the different accelerators in a classic ��Ƶ way,” French says.

AcceleratorFest features three key elements.

In classic trade show fashion, booths will be set up for attendees to chat informally with entrepreneurs about their startups.

Later in the afternoon, attendees can hear from Zain Zaidi, CEO of document verification and management startup Transcrypts, and Catherine Chan, founding CEO of clinical trials startup Honeybee (which was recently acquired by global clinical trials firm Leapcure), at the Desjardins Speaker Series.

Finally, an open house on the seventh floor of the Schwartz Reisman Innovation Campus will invite visitors to check out ONRamp, a co-working and collaboration space for U of T’s entrepreneurship community.

(photo by David Lee)

Registration to AcceleratorFest includes a raffle ticket, with potential to win some unique swag (think a MOTUS U of T hoodie or Nanoleaf smart bulb) and a ticket to one of the tech industry’s premier events, Elevate Festival.

French says he encourages everyone in the U of T community to check out the event, noting U of T Entrepreneurship has a “no-wrong-door philosophy” – no matter what you’re studying or where you are in your entrepreneurial journey, “there's a door that you can open in the entrepreneurial ecosystem and there are people and alumni and resources that can support you.”

AcceleratorFest is the first of several exciting entrepreneurship events on the calendar for the upcoming academic year. A key date to watch out for: Oct. 15, which is when applications for the Desjardins Startup Prize will open for companies vying to win $100,000 in non-dilutive funding.

The prize is one of the highlights of the annual U of T Entrepreneurship Week, which will take place March 3-7.

Add new author/reporter

Adam Elliott Segal

Back-to-school 2024: 6 things every U of T student should know

mattimar — Wed, 21 Aug 2024 16:37:14 +0000

Back-to-school 2024: 6 things every U of T student should know

mattimar Wed, 08/21/2024 - 12:37

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U of T's ASKme Anything booths are a great resource for help and information on all three campuses (photo by David Lee)

Mariam Matti

Topic

Back to School 2024

There’s always more to discover at the ��Ƶ – whether you’re setting foot on one of its three campuses for the first time or have been here for years.

With its diverse opportunities, expansive resources and vibrant community, there are nearly endless ways for students to make the most of their time at one of the world’s top universities.

The following list, though by no means exhaustive, is meant to serve as a starting point for those who are looking for tips on everything from answering basic questions to finding their community – and even starting their own company.

Navigating campus life

Need help finding your way around? U of T’s tri-campus map tool is a great resource when it comes to figuring out where to go – and don’t forget that most lectures start 10 minutes after the hour to make sure students have time to get where they need to be.

“Where do I get a…?”

U of T's ASKMe Anything ambassadors aim to build a warm and welcoming community for students on all three campuses (photo by David Lee)

Starting out at U of T can be both exciting and a bit overwhelming – and many students have a lot of questions.

“How do I find out about orientation events and activities?”

“What is a TCard and where do I get it?”

“How much time is there to walk from class to class?”

Fortunately, U of T’s ASKme Anything booths and ambassadors are here to help. The initiative is all about building a warm and welcoming community for students on all three campuses.

ASKme Anything booths will be operating on the St. George campus from Aug. 19 to Sept. 9 on weekdays, plus Saturday, Aug. 24 and Sunday, Aug. 25. They will be conveniently located at the campus gate at King’s College Road and College Street, at St. George and Ursula Franklin Streets and near Sidney Smith Hall at St. George and Willcocks Streets.

At U of T Mississauga, students are encouraged to visit the Hub Hello Desk in the Student Services Hub to have their questions answered and to connect with student services on campus. The desk is open from 9:30 to 5 p.m.

At U of T Scarborough, ASKme Anything booths will be set up in Scarborough Circle, the lobby of the Sam Ibrahim Building, the front vestibule of the Instructional Centre and in the Bladen Wing hallway just outside of Tim Horton's from Sept. 3 to Sept. 14.

There are also welcome booths at Toronto Pearson International Airport in Terminals 1 and 3.

Finding your community

Students attend Clubs Day at the U of T Mississauga campus (photo by Nick Iwanyshyn)

Diving into university life by joining a club provides the opportunity to learn new things, connect with others and enrich the student experience. From sports and the arts to social causes, there are hundreds of community-oriented clubs and student groups across the three campuses – meaning there’s literally something for everyone.

Interested students should check out the Clubs Carnival on Aug. 30 at King’s College Circle on Front Campus. At U of T Mississauga, students are invited to the Student Groups Fair to find out more information on clubs on Sept. 5 and 6 outside the Communication, Culture and Technology Building.

U of T Scarborough students will get to explore groups and clubs on campus on Sept. 23 at the UTSC Clubs Fair. The location of the event has yet to be determined.

The Student Organization Portal is a great resource to discover campus groups and includes information on what each group does and how to go about joining it.

Explore U of T’s thriving startup scene

Exhibitors gather at the True Blue Expo during U of T Entrepreneurship Week

U of T Entrepreneurship (UTE) is hosting AcceleratorFest on Sept. 18 from 12 to 6 p.m. at the Schwartz Reisman Innovation Campus.

The event offers an opportunity for aspiring and established entrepreneurs – as well as those who are merely curious about what it takes to effectively create your own job while attending university – to explore the many resources, spaces and programs available to them across U of T’s tri-campus network.

There will be representatives from more than a dozen campus accelerators, founders who turned their ideas into impactful businesses and a tour of ONRamp, UTE’s co-working and community spaced housed inside the Schwartz Reisman Innovation Campus.

Stay in the know with UTogether and connect with U of T on social media

There are many ways to connect with the U of T community and stay in the loop for events happening across the three campuses.

The UTogether web page is a hub of information and helps connect students, faculty members, staff and librarians with important resources – such as health and wellness supports – as well as news and messages from U of T leadership.

The social media directory is useful for those looking to find and connect with the various university accounts on social media. Use keywords and filters to search or browse the listings. Below are the quick links to the main social media accounts on each campus.

On Instagram

On TikTok

First day of classes (now the same across all three campuses)

Students on the first day of classes at the U of T Scarborough campus (photo by Ruilin Yuan)

So when does the fall term actually begin? For the first time, students on the St. George campus, U of T Scarborough and U of T Mississauga will begin on the same day: Sept. 3.

The alignment follows a review that recommended standardizing critical dates such as the start and end of classes, exam periods, reading weeks and fee deadlines across the three campuses.

The new, more co-ordinated approach is expected to provide a more streamlined and predictable academic experience for the university community.

U of T startup Honeybee acquired by global clinical trials firm Leapcure

rahul.kalvapalle — Fri, 16 Aug 2024 14:55:48 +0000

U of T startup Honeybee acquired by global clinical trials firm Leapcure

rahul.kalvapalle Fri, 08/16/2024 - 10:55

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(photo courtesy of Leapcure)

Topic

Temerty Faculty of Medicine

Health Innovation Hub

Impact Centre

ONRamp

Subheadline

Co-founded by Catherine Chan and Weiwei Li, Honeybee Trials' platform helps clinical trial recruiters find, screen and manage patients for their research

Honeybee Trials, a ��Ƶ startup that connects research teams with patients and study participants, has been acquired by global clinical trials company Leapcure in a deal that is poised to drive more inclusive and affordable trials that’s ultimately applicable to a broader population.

Co-founded by U of T alumni Catherine Chan and Weiwei Li, Honeybee built a web and mobile platform to help clinical trial teams attract, screen, recruit and manage study participants. Since its founding in 2019, the startup has connected over 30,000 patients and participants to more than 1,000 clinical trials across North America.

Leapcure, headquartered in California, offers an array of solutions that combines people-backed services with data-driven technologies to fill clinical trials for global sponsors and CROs, but can now expand affordable patient recruitment to institutional sites, private sites and biotech firms. Moreover, their work alongside patients and advocacy groups has significantly helped to reach underrepresented communities – a focus that will receive a boost following the purchase of Honeybee.

Chan, who earned a master’s degree in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine’s department of nutritional sciences, says the deal grew out of a desire to partner strategically with a larger company that could provide access to broader sectors within the clinical research world.

Catherine Chan (L) and Weiwei Li (supplied image)

“At Honeybee, we offered competitive pricing for academic and hospital sites, local CROs [contract research organizations] and biotech firms,” Chan says. “With this partnership, we’re able to provide services across all of the different types of trial scopes and sizes.”

She adds that both Honeybee and Leapcure have placed a strong focus on diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility by helping researchers attract study participants of different ethnicities, ages, genders and sexual orientations – helping make clinical trials more equitable and reflective of the wider population.

“It’s important to us that there's a mission and vision alignment between the companies... it couldn’t be a better fit,” Chan said.

The asset purchase deal for an undisclosed amount, which was announced in an Aug. 13 press release, will see Chan transition from CEO of Honeybee to senior director of product at Leapcure.

“We’re excited to join forces with Catherine and Honeybee. They’ve been really focused on the newest recruitment technologies that are most impactful for both patients and research,” said Leapcure CEO Zachary Gobst. “A big reason that things came together was our alignment on impact first. It’s a credit to how they’ve been approaching their business the right way from the beginning."

Honeybee evolved out of the frustrations that Chan faced in recruiting study participants for her master’s thesis. Motivated to explore solutions, Chan created a prototype that would help match participants with trials; she then enrolled in a one-week accelerator program in the Impact Centre (now the Centre for Entrepreneurship) in the Faculty of Arts & Science.

She soon teamed up with Li, who earned his bachelor’s and master’s of applied science degrees from the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, to co-found Honeybee. The startup later joined the Health Innovation Hub (H2i) accelerator and operated out of office space in U of T Entrepreneurship’s ONRamp facility prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

With COVID-19 measures encouraging the adoption of digital tools by clinical research teams, Honeybee found itself well-placed to play an important role. “The pandemic provided an opportunity for many tech companies to scale as the market became more open-minded and ready to adopt technologies to help connect them day-to-day," Chan says. "We saw a rapid adoption of Honeybee’s technology during this time where people moved away from traditional recruitment and patient communications to the current age.

“Although digital adoption across other industries has grown quite rapidly, healthcare has lagged behind, rightfully so and for many reasons, but we’re glad the transformation is happening. Just five years ago, clinical trial coordinators were still using paper handouts to recruit on the street and paper calendars to schedule patients.

“The pandemic expedited researchers being able to meet people where they are.”

Chan says the acquisition by Leapcure will enable the rollout of tiered services ranging from low-cost, self-serve tiers – targeting research teams with more modest budgets – to higher levels of service that include dedicated management.

“I’m really excited about the solutions we now have to offer together as well as the next steps in how we’re going to disrupt clinical trials.”

Professor Paul Santerre, co-founder and director of H2i, hailed Chan as "a model outcome" of the accelerator's mission to empower innovators in translating their ideas into products and companies that tackle important problems.

“Catherine and her team’s achievements are transformative in terms of democratizing the recruitment of patients for clinical study cohorts," said Santerre, the Baxter Chair for Health Technology and Commercialization at the University Health Network and professor in the Faculty of Dentistry and Institute of Biomedical Engineering who is cross-appointed to the department of chemical engineering and applied chemistry.

"She has much to still teach us about the power of digital tools and their ethical use to achieve impact in clinical research trials – and this acquisition will accelerate that outcome."

With U of T innovators front and centre, Collision conference wraps up five-year Toronto run

rahul.kalvapalle — Fri, 21 Jun 2024 14:52:23 +0000

With U of T innovators front and centre, Collision conference wraps up five-year Toronto run

rahul.kalvapalle Fri, 06/21/2024 - 10:52

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U of T alumna Nuha Siddiqui, co-founder and CEO of Erthos, on stage at the Collision tech conference (photo by Johnny Guatto)

Adina Bresge

Topic

Institutional Strategic Initiatives

Faculty of Arts & Science

Computer Science

��Ƶ

Innovations & Partnerships Office

Research & Innovation

Budding entrepreneurs, leading scientists and future business leaders from the ��Ƶ community played a leading role at the 2024 Collision tech conference in downtown Toronto.

Running over three days this week, the conference drew some 40,000 attendees from across the spheres of tech, business and media, including more than 1,600 startups and 700 investors.

The rapid development of artificial intelligence technologies and their impact on business and society were key themes for many of the conference’s keynotes and exhibits – so it was no surprise that U of T’s AI luminaries were front and centre.

They included U of T alumnus Aidan Gomez, co-founder of language processing startup Cohere – which has raised hundreds of millions from investors and generated significant industry buzz.

He urged businesses to commit to adopting AI tools to support their workers.

“Making sure that you’re delivering the tools that your employees need to be competitive and effective is crucial,” Gomez said during his talk on Tuesday.

He added that augmentation of workforces with AI co-pilots and assistants is inevitable – including in industries that might not stand out as obvious adopters of the technology. He shared the example of a natural resources insurance firm that built an AI co-pilot – powered by Cohere – to help their actuaries speed up their research, craft more accurate bids and win more contracts.

“I never would have thought a natural resources insurance company would be adopting LLMs [large language models], but they are, and it’s having an impact. It’s actually helping them win more business,” Gomez said. “So I think the technology is completely horizontal.”

Gomez also cited the medical sector – particularly, drug discovery – as another area that’s poised to benefit massively from AI advances.

Aidan Gomez, a U of T alumnus, talked about how AI will be used to augment the workforce (photo by Polina Teif)

University Professor Emeritus ��Ƶ, the influential computer scientist often dubbed the “godfather of AI,” also identified medical care and productivity as two key areas that will see significant improvements thanks to AI. However, much of his discussion, titled "Can We Control AI?", focused on his previously-cited concerns about how AI development could ultimately wrest control from humans given the current race to develop the technology and the absence of sufficient safeguards.

“Even if I’m totally benevolent and I just want to achieve what you asked me to achieve, I’ll realize that if I get more control, it will be easier to do that,” Hinton said of AI agents.

“And actually, if these things are much smarter than us, they’ll realize: Just take the control away from people and it will be much more efficient … and that seems to be like a very slippery path.”

��Ƶ warned of the existential dangers posed by unchecked AI development (photo by Johnny Guatto)

Gomez, for his part, said he doesn’t believe AI poses a serious threat.

“The notion that the technology is going to start self-improving, that it’s going to start manipulating people, that it’s going to take over, seize power and displace humans: that’s a sci-fi narrative,” he said. “I am empathetic to it – we’ve been writing stories about that exact scenario for decades, since before computers, and so it’s very deeply embedded in our cultural brainstems ... I just don’t think it’s true.”

Earlier at the conference, Raquel Urtasun, founder of self-driving trucking startup Waabi, spoke about generative AI and how Waabi is applying the technology to autonomous trucks. Her keynote took place following the company’s announcement that it raised US$200 million in Series B funding to support the deployment of driverless trucks in 2025.

“Everything will be controlled by generative AI systems inside the vehicle and nothing else. This is a breakthrough for the industry, where such a thing has never happened before,” said Urtasun, a professor in the department of computer science in U of T's Faculty of Arts & Science.

Raquel Urtasun spoke about her self-driving truck startup Waabi (photo by Polina Teif)

The conference also featured demos from other promising U of T startups including Erthos, which has invented sustainable alternatives to plastics and is now using machine learning to accelerate biomaterials discovery.

“Our platform allows us to design effective biomaterials five times faster and with 92 per cent less cost compared to our industry,” said co-founder and CEO Nuha Siddiqui.

Collision’s final year in Toronto was expected to draw some 40,000 attendees (photo by Johnny Guatto)

During the conference, U of T’s booth near the main stage featured exhibits from campus-linked accelerators, institutional strategic initiatives, academic divisions and the Innovations and Partnerships Office. U of T’s Black Founders Network was also at Collision as one of the organizers of the Black Innovation Zone.

Collision 2024 marked the fifth and final edition of the annual conference in Toronto.

Think big and harness community: Eva and Allen Lau share top tips for entrepreneurs

mattimar — Tue, 18 Jun 2024 19:41:30 +0000

Think big and harness community: Eva and Allen Lau share top tips for entrepreneurs mattimar Tue, 06/18/2024 - 15:41

Topic

Entrepreneneurship

Eva and Allen Lau, business leaders and co-founders of Two Small Fish Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm, have some advice for entrepreneurs at the ��Ƶ: leverage the U of T community.

“Notice your classmates, your professors,” Eva says in a newly released video. “One day they could be your customers, your co-founders, your business partners.”

“It’s up to you to leverage all the resources within the U of T ecosystem so that it can drastically improve the success rate of your startup,” Allen adds.

The U of T alumni and spouses are widely known for their roles in launching Wattpad, a digital storytelling platform co-founded by Allen in 2006, with Eva as one of its founding members, and sold in 2021 in a US$600-million deal.

Last week, the venture capitalists announced Two Small Fish Ventures had secured the final close of its third venture fund, meeting its $40-million target.

Earlier this year, the pair delivered a keynote titled “School of Fish: Lessons from Swimming Upstream” at the Desjardins Speaker Series during U of T’s Entrepreneurship Week.

In the video, the Laus share their top tips for entrepreneurs and startup founders, including the importance of picking the right key performance indicator (KPI), taking investors through your story and thinking big.

“In the pitch, what I’m looking for is, will the startup be the category winner or – even better – the category creator?” Allen says.

“What I’m looking for are people who are ambitious, who want to be the game changer,” Eva adds. “To me, that’s what innovation looks like.”

U of T’s AI thought leaders take centre stage at Collision 2024

Christopher.Sorensen — Fri, 14 Jun 2024 14:14:37 +0000

U of T’s AI thought leaders take centre stage at Collision 2024

Christopher.Sorensen Fri, 06/14/2024 - 10:14

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Left to right: ��Ƶ, Aidan Gomez and Raquel Urtasun – all U of T community members who are leaders in the AI field – are among the most anticipated speakers this year's Collision tech conference (photos by Johnny Guatto, Piaras Ó Mídheach/Collision via Sportsfile and Polina Teif)

Mariam Matti

Topic

Computer Science

Creative Destruction Lab

Entrepreneurship

��Ƶ

Research & Innovation

Subheadline

“U of T is Canada's leading engine for research-based tech and AI startups and talent - and you see that reflected in both the lineup for Collision speakers, and the entrepreneurs who attend”

Some of the most anticipated speakers at this year’s Collision tech conference are artificial intelligence luminaries from the ��Ƶ – and they will be sharing their insights on how the revolutionary technology is poised to transform industry and society.

Known as the "godfather of AI," ��Ƶ, a cognitive psychologist and U of T University Professor Emeritus of computer science, will host a session on June 19 titled “Can We Control AI?” that explores the potential benefits and risks inherent in AI advancement.

Aidan Gomez, one of Hinton’s former interns at Google Brain, is speaking on June 18 about the real-world impact of AI. He’s CEO and co-founder at Cohere, which he and two U of T alumni founded, and which has been dubbed one of the “buzziest AI startups around right now.”

And Raquel Urtasun, a U of T professor of computer science and the founder and CEO of self-driving truck company Waabi, which launched with one of the largest rounds of seed funding in Canadian history, will share her insights on the trajectory of AI-driven transportation solutions during a session on June 19.

Jon French (photo by Brian de Rivera Simon)

“U of T is Canada's leading engine for research-based tech and AI startups and talent - and you see that reflected in both the lineup for Collision speakers, and the entrepreneurs who attend,” says Jon French, director of U of T Entrepreneurship.

He adds that the conference also gives the university an opportunity to promote “our innovative ecosystem and connect with corporate partners from around the world and investors looking to grow their pipelines, governments and academic institutions at home and aboard.”

Anticipated to draw more than 40,000 attendees, Collision runs from June 17 to 20 at the Enercare Centre in Toronto and will feature startup founders, business leaders, investors, scientists, journalists and celebrities, including tennis star Maria Sharapova.

Before the conference officially kicks off, U of T Entrepreneurship will host two tours of the Schwartz Reisman Innovation Campus in partnership with the City of Toronto and the Government of Ontario. It will also have a booth at Collision to showcase U of T’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, featuring self-driving lab and robot demos from the Acceleration Consortium and CRAFT Microfluidics – both U of T institutional strategic initiatives – and a “Startup Spotlight.”

U of T’s Black Founders Network is part of a group of community organizers leading the Black Innovation Zone, which will have its own booth with programming for Black innovators.

French says the conference provides U of T startups and entrepreneurs a chance to pitch their ideas and connect with global mentors, advisers, investors, partners and peers.

“For many founders, it is an eye-opening conference that gets them thinking bigger about the markets they serve and often leads to participating in programs and opportunities in geographies around the world,” he says.

Nuha Siddiqui (photo by Nick Iwanyshyn)

Nuha Siddiqui is among the U of T-connected entrepreneurs participating in Collision this year. She is the co-founder and CEO of Erthos, which has developed a plant-based resin that can be used as a substitute for traditional plastics when manufacturing everyday products. She launched the company with Kritika Tyagi while they were studying at the university and received support from U of T’s entrepreneurship community, including the Creative Destruction Lab at the Rotman School of Management.

Siddiqui said she’s “incredibly thankful” for U of T’s continued support to Erthos’s growth.

“My co-founder and I started Erthos years ago while we were still students, and since graduating, U of T has continued to broaden our network, contribute to meaningful media coverage and remain active champions of our success,” she says.

“It's an absolute honour to represent the entrepreneurship community on the main stage at Collision this year and to have the opportunity to amplify our mission towards building a more material-conscious future."

Here are just a few other U of T faculty, alumni and other community members who will be shaping the dialogue around innovation, tech and entrepreneurship at this year’s conference:

Christian Weedbrook, founder and CEO at Xanadu and a former U of T post-doctoral researcher, will discuss the future of data centres and how quantum computing can be leveraged to avoid future economic and climate issues.
Mike Murchison, U of T alum and founding CEO of Ada, which received support from the Creative Destruction Lab, will discuss the evolution of AI customer service agents and their implications for brands and consumers.
Curtis VanWalleghem, co-founder and CEO at Hydrostor and a U of T alumnus, will speak about Hydrostor’s innovative technology that utilizes underground spaces for a sustainable long-term energy storage.
David Wong, chief product officer at Thomson Reuters and U of T alumnus, will explore the transformative power of AI and offer insights on how organizations can unlock its full potential for business operations.
Mara Reiff, U of T alumna, chief customer officer and interim co-CEO at Freshbooks, and Dan Richards, assistant professor, teaching stream, at the Rotman School of Management, will discuss how to empower small business owners to make smart decisions.

Making waves: U of T entrepreneur uses quantum chemistry, AI to purify drinking water

rahul.kalvapalle — Tue, 23 Apr 2024 19:51:46 +0000

Making waves: U of T entrepreneur uses quantum chemistry, AI to purify drinking water

rahul.kalvapalle Tue, 04/23/2024 - 15:51

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U of T's Diana Virgovicova, the founder and CEO of XAtoms, is using quantum computing and AI to discover water-purifying molecules in a bid to improve access to clean drinking water around the globe (photo courtesy of Diana Virgovicova)

Topic

Entrepreneurship Week

Electrical & Computer Engineering

Lester B. Pearson International Scholarship

Quantum Computing

Subheadline

At age 17, Diana Virgovicova discovered a molecule that can eliminate pollutants from water when exposed to sunlight

It’s not a bullet point that appears many resumes, let alone one belonging to a teenager: “Utilized quantum computing to discover a molecule that could revolutionize water treatment.”

But that’s exactly what Diana Virgovicova accomplished at age 17 when she modelled a molecule that can eliminate pollutants from water when exposed to sunlight.

Originally from Slovakia, Virgovicova later made her way to the ��Ƶ to study computer engineering on a Lester B. Pearson International Scholarship and founded Xatoms, a startup using quantum computing and AI to discover water-purifying molecules in an effort to solve a long-standing global health problem.

“We want to be the leading water purification company in the world, offering affordable and efficient solutions and reaching some of the most vulnerable communities in the world,” says Virgovicova.

The young company is already making waves.

In March, Xatoms took home the top prizes for early-stage startups at the Desjardins Startup Prize and Pitch With a Twist competitions at U of T’s annual Entrepreneurship Week. A few days later, it was selected for the inaugural Compute for Climate Fellowship awarded by the International Research Centre on Artificial Intelligence, an organization backed by Amazon Web Services and UNESCO.

Virgovicova’s growing list of accolades also includes being selected for the NEXT 36 entrepreneurship program, the 776 Climate Fellowship (backed by Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian) and a Stockholm Junior Water Prize, which she received from Sweden’s Crown Princess Victoria.

She says she first recognized the urgency of the global water crisis when she was 14. She and her mother travelled to India, where she was confronted with a heavily polluted beach in Mumbai. “It really made me think about how we can solve this problem,” she says. “I decided to make cleaning polluted water my life’s mission.”

Upon returning home, Virgovicova contacted the University of Slovakia to enquire about water treatment research. A professor told her how quantum chemistry could be used to identify photocatalysts – materials that use sunlight to kickstart a chemical reaction that degrades pollutants.

Virgovicova says she began teaching herself to use quantum chemistry software and, within three years, used it to model a novel photocatalytic molecule.

How does it work? Most existing photocatalytic substances required ultraviolet (UV) radiation, but the structure that Virgovicova modelled works when exposed to simple visible light. “What I did was to remove this necessity of having an expensive UV reactor by modelling structures which would work when exposed to radiation from the sun,” she says.

The next step was to explore creating a company based around the discovery, which Virgovicova says influenced her decision to come to U of T. “I knew I wanted to build a company in the water space, so I chose U of T because it’s one of the best research-based universities in the world when it comes to entrepreneurship,” she says.

Xatoms, which was part of The Bridge accelerator program at U of T Scarborough, builds on Virgovicova’s photocatalyst discovery by incorporating AI to discover more – and more efficient – materials and molecules. “It’s now much more advanced and it’s not just about one material – it’s about multiple [materials] because different types of environments will need different types of materials to clean the water,” she says.

Xatoms now comprises a three-person team that includes co-founder and chief technology officer Kerem Topal Ismail Oglou, a computer engineering student at U of T, and chief operations officer Shirley Zhong, a Western University student.

The goal is to create two product lines: an industrial water-treatment powder that can eliminate viruses, pesticides and bacteria, and a portable water filter for consumer use. To that end, the company is collaborating with Alexandra Tavasoli, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at the University of British Columbia, to synthesize photocatalytic molecules in the lab – a process that Virgovicova estimates will take several months.

Xatoms is also pursuing partnerships with water treatment organizations in South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria and India, and working with foundations in the U.K. and the Netherlands.

Virgovicova says access to safe drinking water isn't just a health issue but one of gender equality since women and girls often shoulder the burden of securing water for their households in many parts of the world.

“We want to see the number of people who lack access to clean drinking water to be reduced, and to see fewer women and girls investing their time – up to eight hours [a day] in some cases – to bring home a single container of water,” Virgovicova says. “Our goal is to have a big impact and introduce more and more solutions to reach as many people as possible.”

Kidney therapy startup Atorvia named inaugural recipient of U of T Mississauga's Blue Ticket program

rahul.kalvapalle — Fri, 19 Apr 2024 16:23:12 +0000

Kidney therapy startup Atorvia named inaugural recipient of U of T Mississauga's Blue Ticket program

rahul.kalvapalle Fri, 04/19/2024 - 12:23

Cutline

Biotech company Atorvia was recently named the first-ever winner of the SpinUp Blue Ticket program, sponsored by Merck (photo by Chokniti Khongchum via Pexels)

Kristy Strauss

Topic

Entrepreneurship

U of T Mississauga

Subheadline

Atorvia is developing novel treatments that target the molecular causes underlying kidney damage

Acute kidney injury can be devastating for patients, resulting in chronic kidney disease, end-stage renal disease, stroke and heart attack.

There’s currently no effective treatment for the condition, which the World Health Organization estimates affects some 78 million people each year. The only option is supportive care like dialysis which requires patients to rearrange their lives around lengthy hospital treatment sessions.

Atorvia is looking to change that. A woman-led biotech startup headquartered in the Ottawa area, Atorvia is developing novel treatments that target the molecular causes underlying kidney damage.

The company was recently named the inaugural winner of the Blue Ticket competition at the ��Ƶ Mississauga’s SpinUp wet lab incubator. Sponsored by pharmaceutical company Merck, the Blue Ticket program aims to empower the next generation of global health innovators.

As prize winner, Atorvia receives a free one-year membership to SpinUp, an up-front cash prize and mentorship from scientific and business leaders at Merck.

“This opportunity is game-changing for us,” said Jane Lapon, founder of Atorvia. “It will help us to accelerate faster.”

Among Atorvia’s key innovations is a treatment that addresses acute kidney injury that occurs as a complication of cardiac surgery. The company is developing medicine that can be administered before a patient undergoes cardiac surgery, in order to help prevent kidney failure.

While preliminary experiments have been carried out, the company needed dedicated space and equipment to conduct further lab work – something that’s hard to come by for biotech startups with limited financial resources. “The fact that SpinUp was there with availability, and was subsidized, was fantastic,” Lapon said.

“Because we’re getting the mentoring with Merck as well, it means that we can develop this medicine and hopefully get it to patients sooner. We’ve got this expertise to help us along the way.”

Lapon said startups often face a “very lonely journey,” but that the mentorship and financial resources provided by Merck, as well as SpinUp’s vast network, will provide much-needed support. “One of the advantages of SpinUp is that we’ve got access to ��Ƶ researchers and the potential to then partner with some of the researchers, as well as students and co-op students,” Lapon said. “With the resources we have, there is a very high probability that we would have this ready to go into trials during our first year at SpinUp.”

She said team is currently gearing up to re-run previous experiments and conduct new ones in order to validate the medicine and prepare for filing with health authorities.

Kent Moore, vice-principal, research at U of T Mississauga, said he looks forward to tracking Atorvia's progress. “Strong partners like Merck enable us to enhance the support SpinUp offers to propel promising early-stage startups,” said Moore. “We're delighted to be working with Merck to help drive Atorvia’s innovative approaches forward through Merck’s mentorship support and SpinUp’s wet lab capabilities and programming.”

U of T Entrepreneurship Week 2024: 10 startups to watch

rahul.kalvapalle — Fri, 01 Mar 2024 20:00:17 +0000

U of T Entrepreneurship Week 2024: 10 startups to watch

rahul.kalvapalle Fri, 03/01/2024 - 15:00

Cutline

HDAX Therapeutics, a startup that grew out U of T Mississauga’s department of chemical and physical sciences, is developing a drug that could prevent nerve damage caused by chemotherapy (photo by Matthew Volpe)

Topic

Temerty Faculty of Medicine

Entrepreneurship Week

Dalla Lana School of Public Health

Computer Science

Entrepreneurship

Faculty of Arts & Science