Innovation and Entrepreneurship
- Category: Innovation and Entrepreneurship
As part of the Leadership, Strategy and Sustainability course, nearly 150 Telfer School of Management students in courses ADM 4717, ADM 4317 and MBA 5211 participated in an interactive online simulation called Fishbanks.
It is a multiplayer web-based simulation during which each team of students plays the role of a company that owns and manages a fishing fleet. The teams compete to maximize their net worth during the simulation. They begin by defining their strategy for the next 10 years. They must plan their annual operations, mostly their fishing activities, by allocating their resources each year according to their initial strategy. They decide whether to buy, sell or build their ships, where to fish, and they negotiate with one another. Students focus on strategic thinking and decision making. The program automatically calculates all the annual financial results and indicators for each team. It simulates a real business system where marine natural resources are the main source of income for the companies. However, the goal of the simulation is not limited to merely raising students' awareness of the importance of strategic planning and the short- and long-term consequences of decisions. It is especially meant to expose them to the issues surrounding the dynamics of ecosystems and irrational exploitation of resources.
"We are preparing the decision-makers of tomorrow who will be managing businesses directly or indirectly involved in exploiting living ecosystems," said Dorra Jlouli, professor of course ADM 4717. "The interdependence of the system's different parameters is the main challenge of system dynamics, such as those in the management of natural resources. This simulation is an excellent tool that simplifies for students this complex aspect of the tragedy of the commons," she added.
The debriefing following the simulation is as important, if not even more important than the simulation itself, as students realize and understand the consequences of their decisions. "The players all tend to exceed the maximum size of the fleet for rational and sustainable exploitation of resources, despite having learned about renewal dynamics of fish stocks before the simulation. This is typical behaviour in different contexts in which this simulation is used, regardless of the level of knowledge of the subject matter," said Dorra Jlouli.
"When designing the course, we deliberately sought a teaching method that allows students to experience a certain cognitive dissonance between the type of leader they think they are and the real impact of their business decisions on the planet's future," said Daina Mazutis, professor of courses ADM 4317 and MBA 5211. "The Fishbanks simulation provides a learning experience that allows for profound personal reflection on the connections among leadership, strategy and sustainability," she added.
Fishbanks is a simulation created by the MIT Sloan School of Management. Renowned international universities use it mainly for management and sustainable development programs. It is also used by international institutions, chiefly GIZ, for strategic planning workshops pertaining to sustainable development and to explain the Tragedy of the Commons phenomenon.
- Category: Innovation and Entrepreneurship
During the Winter Study Week (February 20th - 23rd, 2018), the Telfer School offered a four-day intensive course entitled Global Marketing & Innovation Strategy: Learning about and from China, taught by Amy Karam, a Telfer alumnus, who is the author of the book, The China Factor. The course addressed the topic of whether: “There is a global economic power shift and whether Western-based businesses are being challenged in different ways by the rapid growth of China and other emerging entrants and what can they do about it?”
The course offering served as a guide for Western companies to understand how their Chinese competitors do business and how they can change their strategy to be more successful in international markets. A third of the class were BCom students from China who shared their expertise regarding the Chinese emerging market with other Canadian BCom students.
With the emergence of China, the rules of the global business and trade game have changed. Innovation and product superiority are no longer enough to win business in international markets – especially in emerging markets. Western companies need to re-evaluate their sales and marketing strategies and reposition themselves in the context of a new genre of competition and different customer demands. This course explored how China and other emerging entrants do business using the 5Ps of Global Marketing Framework while studying how a Western-based company can learn from them and adapt their strategy, all while incorporating competitive dynamics into their plan. Maintaining an innovation advantage is also a key success factor in the new global economy and students learned ways to become innovative at innovation by learning about new models.
Amy Karam, who is a speaker, consultant, author and corporate instructor of Stanford University professional development courses, taught this intensive seminar. She has advised and trained sales teams, executives and managers across North and South America, Europe, Asia and Africa and at companies such as Cisco, Apple, Visa, Nationwide, Capital One, SAP, Bell Canada and AT&T. Notably, she led a CEO-sponsored global competitive sales support program at Cisco Systems, the catalyst for her current practice. She has also led business development initiatives with the World Bank, ITU-D, government Ministers of emerging countries and high-technology companies, to foster public and private sector collaboration.
- Category: Innovation and Entrepreneurship
It was another great success for our Entrepreneurship Bridges Lecture Series, which brought together the co-founders and co-CEOs of Surmesur, François and Vincent Thériault, and the Elevator Pitch Competition presented by the National Bank.
The annual Elevator Pitch Competition showcases some of the University of Ottawa’s top talent. As a part of Global Entrepreneurship week, this competition allows young entrepreneurs to present their business ideas that are still in the early stages of development to a panel of judges and Rise to the Top. The winners are awarded with a generous cash prize that they can put towards furthering their business idea. “The competition is a great preview into what students are working on and what is to come. Entrepreneurs create jobs and grow economies and it’s encouraging to see that our students are building the next generation of businesses, both traditional for-profits and social enterprises”, mentions Stephen Daze.
The competition has two categories: validation and traction. Each category can make a big contribution to the development of a start-up, with prizes of $5,000 and $10,000 respectively.
Results:
Validation Competition: Swich
Swich is a carbon air filter company utilized for odor elimination across many industries. It’s the world’s first reusable and biodegradable can-styled carbon filter and is the most economic, efficient and environmentally sustainable option on the market.
“We are in the beginning of a Green rush, and when everyone in mining for gold you want to be the one selling them shovels and pickaxes. Or in our case Carbon filters”, said Adam Czach, Co-founder of Swich.
Traction Competition: Desk Nibbles
Desk Nibbles is a local uOttawa startup serving snacks across the country. They Strive to create the best customer experience and ensure providing their clients with the best snacks in Canada.
“Anyone can agree the work they do deserves to be treated with a snack once in a while. Desk Nibbles is a service that prides itself on delivering that treat straight to the employees of any office. Desk Nibbles delivers the best snacks to your office, so it can glow with varieties of taste tested, proven, premium healthy snacks. These snacks will energize the minds and bodies of the workplace. It’s also a simple, painless process, no need to lift a finger. Simply signup online or call a representative to place an order. Then receive bundles of the best healthy snacks for to any office hassle free.”
Visit their website at https://desknibbles.com/
- Category: Innovation and Entrepreneurship
This page is for the 2018 Entrepreneurship Foundry Course. For information on the upcoming session, visit this year's page.
The Entrepreneurship Foundry is a cross-campus initiative that leverages University and community resources to help you grow your business venture in a for-credit 13-week long course.
The Entrepreneurship Foundry course will act as an accelerator for your entrepreneurial venture; you will have access to external mentors at themed sessions as well as frequent access to “lab” time to allow you to focus on your business.
- Your venture will be evaluated by using a pre-survey and interview to determine where you are at with your venture and set goals.
- At the end of the course you will be interviewed to measure the progress
- Mandatory 3 slide check-ins on a bi-weekly basis; will allow you to develop your pitch skills, as well as gain valuable feedback from professors, mentors and peers.
An interview and acceptance process will ensure only those most committed to real entrepreneurship will be accepted.
The course will run this winter on Thursdays from 4-7 p.m. and space is limited to 25 students. Student teams are eligible and not all members need to be registered for the course to participate. The deadline to submit applications is December 12, 2017.
To learn more and to apply for the course, please contact Stephen Daze.
- Category: Innovation and Entrepreneurship
The University’s Co-operative Education Programs and the Entrepreneurship Hub have teamed up with RBC Royal Bank to launch an innovative CO-OP program designed to develop an entrepreneurial mindset. Read the complete article in the Gazette »
- Category: Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Given the recent surge in entrepreneurial activity on the University of Ottawa campus, it is appropriate to recognize and celebrate the culmination of each annual cycle of teaching, competitions, workshops and hard work that lead to exciting start-ups.
In the fall of 2015 and early 2016, we conducted the 2nd annual search for the Top 5 Start-ups on the uOttawa campus. This is a collaborative effort between the Telfer School of Management, the Faculty of Engineering, Startup Garage and the uOttawa e-hub.
“Each year the quality of start-ups on campus is improving” says Stephen Daze, the Dom Herrick Entrepreneur in Residence at the Telfer School. “Student interest, faculty programming and an increasing culture of entrepreneurship is contributing to this rise in quality and it’s encouraging to see our next generation of leaders creating their own opportunities”.
The Top 5 uOttawa start-ups, in no particular order, are:
Helix (Powered by MicroMetrics)
- Cofounders: Andre Richards, CTO (Honours Bachelor of Science 2011, uOttawa) and Artem Abramov, CEO.
- MicroMetrics is a software company with a focus on customer experience innovation. Working together with TripAdvisor, they’ve developed Helix – a robust guest experience management platform that empowers hotel staff to conduct real-time service recovery. Since its introduction, Helix has helped brands like Starwood and IHG deliver memorable guest experiences, improve occupancy rates and outperform their competitive sets at premier properties across North America.
GymTrack
- Cofounders: Lee Silverstone, CEO and Pablo Srugo, COO.
- Gymtrack is a platform that brings personal training to all exercisers through their gym and impacts the $80BN gym industry. Gymtrack provides gyms with virtual coaching that automatically tracks everything in an exerciser’s workout, from weight lifting to cardio and helps gyms reduce churn.
Go Give-Back
- Cofounders: Lemuel Barango, (Bachelor of Science 2015, uOttawa) and Liora Raitblat (Telfer BCom 2015, uOttawa).
- Go Give-Back (GGB) is providing a solution for charitable causes by offering a mobile donation platform that accepts donations, catering to the “in-the-moment” factor. GGB will include detailed demographics for the organization with “on the go” analytics used to retain and engage donors.
TruReach:
- Founder: Jeff Perron, MBA (Clinical Psychology PhD Candidate, uOttawa), Clinical Lead: Dr. Joti Samra, PhD, C. Psych.
- TruReach provides instant access to scientifically proven cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). It eliminates the stigma associated with mental illness and helps people get better, faster. TruReach cuts costs associated with the management of mental illness and their analytics give organizations data to prove it.
Spectrafy
- Cofounders: Richard Beal, CEO and Viktar Tatsiankou (B.A.Sc., M.A.Sc. in Electrical and Computer Engineering, uOttawa).
- Spectrafy has reinvented the way we measure sunlight and the atmosphere. Spectrafy’s solution, the SolarSIM, combines simple hardware and breakthrough software to slash the cost of measuring sunlight and the atmosphere by over an order of magnitude.
How were the Top 5 start-ups on campus selected?
A working committee of the 4 leaders on campus who run the various entrepreneurship activities select possible candidates from the start-ups they see in their programs. In addition, a public web-based call for nominations allowed start-ups to show their interest. The nominees were then evaluated by the committee and an initial long list of top start-ups was selected.
Feedback from various alumni and entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley was obtained before a final list of five “Top Start-ups” is selected. From the Top 5, selected start-ups will be invited to visit Silicon Valley for a learning and business development experience. The exact number of start-ups who are invited to go to Silicon Valley will be a function of available funding.
Photo: Liora Raitblat, Go Give-Back cofounder, at Startup Weekend 2015 (Feb 27 - March 1)
- Category: Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Startup Weekend is a non-profit organization headquartered in Seattle, Washington that brings people together for weekend-long workshops to pitch ideas, form teams, and start companies.
An exclusive edition of Startup Weekend is coming to uOttawa and is geared for current uOttawa students and recent graduates. The objective is to connect students across all faculties to encourage and promote entrepreneurship regardless of discipline of study. We look forward to seeing the different types of innovative ideas that can come to life when students branch out and connect with those around them with different skill sets and areas of expertise.
The event will be held February 27 to march 1, 2015.
http://www.up.co/communities/canada/ottawa/startup-weekend/5406
A can’t miss event for students interested in entrepreneurship
“Startup Weekends are an international phenomenon being held in the most innovative cities around the world” said Stephen Daze, the Dom Herrick Entrepreneur in Residence at the Telfer School of Management. “The Telfer School and the University of Ottawa are bringing this event on campus to provide our students an opportunity to learn, network, start a business, meet potential co-founders and much more.”
Entrepreneurs, innovators, makers and those curious about starting a new venture that attend this event will benefit from 54 hours of fast-paced start-up experience working with a team of like-minded students, mentored by seasoned veterans from the local start up community.
“Nowhere else can you experience entrepreneurship/start-up in a more concentrated and curated format” said Stephen Daze. “This venue brings together business students, coders and designers, and provides training and mentoring in a cool atmosphere targeted at creating start-ups.”
The Telfer School’s commitment to Entrepreneurship
We are committed to helping students succeed. For many, success will be starting a new venture or contributing to one as co-founder or team member. We provide the tools and resources you’ll need to learn, network and build your innovation and entrepreneurship skills. In addition to hosting Startup Weekend uOttawa, here are some of the other initiatives that are available:
Entrepreneurship Bridges Speaker Series – Co-hosted with the Faculty of Engineering, this 5-part annual speaker series is targeted at students looking to or considering entrepreneurship. The speaker series features local young entrepreneurs who tell their start-up stories and act as a source of inspiration, education and mentoring. The series is also the home for other entrepreneurship-related announcements and competitions such as the final pitches in the Entrepreneurs' Club Elevator Pitch Contest. The series averages 150 students per session and includes the formal talk or panel, as well as networking and refreshments.
Entrepreneurship Foundry Course - The Entrepreneurship Foundry is a new Telfer-led initiative that brings together collaborators from across campus to build, manage and deliver a semester-long, for-credit course that sees participants apply for entry in order to start a venture over 13 weeks. Working in multi-disciplinary teams, students will learn from experts in lecture and workshop environments and complete evaluated work leading to the start of their new venture. It is anticipated that the course will see 25 students in the first session scheduled for Fall 2015.
Start-up Tools Workshops - The 4-part workshop series is designed to teach students the tools and resources available for start-ups. Each session focuses on a specific theme and students and external resources are relied upon for content within the curated environment. Themes include: Tools of Validation; Web Design; Marketing and Analytics; and Software and Productivity. Each session is attended by approximately 25 students.
Telfer Business Traction Competition - This new business competition is a new take on traditional business plan competitions. It's open to full-time undergraduate students at the Telfer School of Management and/or teams comprised of at least 50% Telfer students. It is not about ideas and proposed business plans, it’s about traction. Contestants will demonstrate the achievement of real milestones towards starting, or validating their business ideas as well as realistic goals moving forward. Applicants can be at any stage of their business idea but must be able to demonstrate real milestones completed and future goals. External judges will determine the winner based on actual work to date and planned milestones. $10,000 in prize money is available to be won.
- Category: Innovation and Entrepreneurship
The Telfer School is pleased to announce that Stephen Daze has been appointed as the inaugural Dom Herrick Entrepreneur in Residence. Stephen Daze joined the Telfer School of Management in 2012 as the Entrepreneur in Residence, a position that has been renamed recently thanks to a generous donation from alumni Rob Ashe and Sandra Herrick.
Stephen teaches Entrepreneurship and is responsible for entrepreneurship strategy and program planning, providing counsel to students and faculty on business planning and business start-up issues, and working with the community to bolster support for the School’s entrepreneurship activities. His new mandate takes effect until 2017.
Additionally, the University of Ottawa announces the arrival of Luc Lalande as the first Executive Director of the Entrepreneurship Hub. Luc graduated from the Bachelor of administration (1984) and the Bachelor of Public Administration (1986) from the University of Ottawa's Telfer School of Management. He possesses a wealth of experience in creating successful start-ups, and coaching students who wish to enter the business world. He was previously the Director of the Innovation Transfer Office for 15 years at Carleton University.
- Category: Innovation and Entrepreneurship
We're pleased to have once again participated in the Nicol Entrepreneurial Award. Our winners, CigBins, will now be entered into the National Competition to be held late March in Ottawa. Congratulations to our other finalists: AllergyFree and Knowline!
- Category: Innovation and Entrepreneurship
W. Brett Wilson, iconic Canadian entrepreneur, philanthropist and three-season panellist on CBC's Dragons' Den, was invited as a guest speaker for the Entrepreneurship Bridges Lecture Series.
He shared his experiences in the business world and discussed what he would do differently if he could start over. Attendees of the January 30 event received a free copy of his book. Thanks to Mr. Wilson’s generosity, they had the opportunity to meet him personally at the end to get their book signed or to ask more specific questions.
Here are the top three tips for success proposed by Mr. Wilson:
1. Study marketing
2. Study entrepreneurship
3. Philanthropy is good business
- Category: Innovation and Entrepreneurship
On January 24 and 25, students from the Telfer School of Management and the Faculty of Engineering competed in the 4th annual Strat24 Case Competition. Strat24 Case Competition is a multidisciplinary competition run by Enactus uOttawa. The competition requires 2 engineering and 2 business students to work together for 24 hours to come up with a solution for the case at hand. This year’s case sponsor was Hydro Ottawa. “At Hydro Ottawa innovation is critical to our success as a leading and trusted energy service provider,” said Roger Marsh, Chief Energy Management Officer at Hydro Ottawa. “We’re proud to support events like uOttawa’s STRAT24 Competition that helps develop the talent that we need to meet the many challenges of the future.”
The winning team received a $4000 scholarship, jointly donated by the Telfer School of Management and the Faculty of Engineering. Congratulations to this year’s winners!
- Roger Marsh (Hydro Ottawa)
- Soonbum Cha (Team 8)
- Nicholas Guolla (Team 8)
- Mithun Kommular (Team 8)
- Anthony Tarasio (Team 8)
- Michelle Lim (Director of Strat24, Enactus uOttawa)
- Kathleen Kemp (Co-President, Enactus uOttawa)
- Ajmal Sataar (Co-President, Enactus uOttawa)
- Category: Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Ajmal Sataar and Kathleen Kemp will be attending the largest international undergraduate business plan competition in Canada: the Queen’s Entrepreneurs’ Competition (QEC), presenting their startup: Cigbins.
Now entering its 26th year, the Queen's Entrepreneurs' Competition brings together the brightest young entrepreneurs from around the world to compete for $25,000 in cash prizes. The QEC has received business plan submissions from as far as Australia, China, Thailand, Malaysia, Scotland, South Africa, India, Singapore, Portugal, Sweden, the Philippines, the U.S. and across Canada. The Telfer team made it past the preliminary business plan grading and will have the opportunity to attend the final weekend in Kingston, and to present their plan to Canada's leading business professionals. The QEC final weekend will be taking place on January 16-18, 2014.
The QEC is well-known internationally, and the New York Times hails it as “one of the longest-running and best-known undergraduate business plan competitions in the world”.
- Category: Innovation and Entrepreneurship
- Category: Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Telfer School professors shared their perspectives on innovation management with a South African delegation led by Dr. Phil Mjwara, Director-General of South Africa’s Science & Technology Department on September 13.
Following an introduction by Dean François Julien, Tom Brzustowski, RBC Financial Group Professor in the Commercialization of Innovation, provided an overview of innovation in Canada and the role of the universities.
Tyler Chamberlin highlighted the local dimension of commercialization and the ability of regions to adapt to changes in the international marketplace.
Margaret Dalziel examined how best to measure the impacts of government investments in innovation.
Joe Irvine, Director of the Technology Transfer and Business Enterprise (TTBE) office at the University of Ottawa, discussed the work of his team in advancing strategic partnerships that create value.
The South African delegation was in Ottawa as part of a study tour examining technology commercialization, innovation management and intellectual property management in Canada.
Photo: Viviana Fernandez, Research Facilitator, Phil Mjwara, Director-General of South Africa’s Science & Technology Department (DST), Professor Tom Brzustowski, Mmapitso Mokotedi of DST and Dean François Julien.