The Canadian federal budget was delivered on Tuesday and we start the show with a quick look at two items that may not get a lot of attention but may have a big impact on the startup ecosystem. It wasn't said directly, but it looks like the CAIP program will not be renewed next year. It has provided millions of dollars in funding to organizations like Communitech, MaRS, … [Read more...]
Ep 13: Launching Saskatchewan’s First Tech Incubator with Jordan Dutchak of Co.Labs
It wasn't that long ago that you couldn't run a hackathon in Saskatoon without raising eyebrows about what you were planning to hack into. Now a startup community is emerging in the city and the province has provided $250,000 to the first tech incubator in Saskatchewan—Co.Labs—which will officially launch in September. We talk to Jordan Dutchak, the executive director, who … [Read more...]
Ep 09: Incubating Startups at the Arctic Circle with Jens Lundström of the Arctic Business Incubator
Arctic Business Incubator isn't an exaggeration—they're incubating new technology businesses at the Arctic Circle in Sweden, and have been for the last 12 years. It's affiliated with the Luleå University of Technology and runs accelerator and incubator programs in four locations, with startups covering a broad range of sectors from gaming to space to cleantech and many more. We … [Read more...]
Ep 07: Lessons Learned Running the Velocity Incubator with Mike Kirkup
For over four years, Mike Kirkup was the director of Velocity—the startup incubator at the University of Waterloo. It's been a huge addition to the Waterloo startup community since opening in 2008. He stepped down just over a year ago to become CTO at Encircle—a Velocity graduate—and on this week's show looks back at lessons learned from Velocity's growth (and how a huge space … [Read more...]
Ep 05: Superclusters and Scale-ups with Steve Bailey of the Lazaridis Institute
On this week’s podcast: The Canadian government has come out with some of the details of its $950 million Innovation Superclusters program. Five superclusters are going to be selected and provided with well over $100 million apiece in federal funding, and startups are required to be included. We look at some of the details of the program that are particularly relevant to … [Read more...]
Ep 01: Halifax Startup Ecosystem with Jesse Rodgers of Volta Labs
Will Halifax become Canada's next great startup centre? Jesse Rodgers says it has all the right ingredients and a lot of momentum. Jesse is the CEO of Volta Labs in Halifax—"Halifax's tech superhub." Jesse was a long-time member and builder of the Waterloo startup community and the former director of the Creative Destruction Lab in Toronto and Velocity in Waterloo. He talks … [Read more...]
