Innovation, Entrepreneurship & Impact Fund

Innovation & Impact dean’s fund

The Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Impact (IEI) Fund serves as a foundation for launching start-up companies in the UBC Okanagan community.  Starting in 2023, the IEI Fund will partner with e@UBCO to provide support to existing ventures that successfully complete e@UBCO programming and demonstrate strong potential in commercializing their technology, product, or service.

The IEI Fund will offer up to $10,000 in funding commitment per venture and assist each venture in preparing a Mitacs Accelerate Entrepreneur application. The Mitacs Accelerate Entrepreneur is a funding program in which Mitacs matches the start-up’s investment by 50% and releases a research award to student or post-doctoral entrepreneurs through four-month internships, valued at $15,000 per internship. Funding will only be released to ventures whose Mitacs Accelerate Entrepreneur application is successful.

Learn about IEI 2021 projects

It is more than just funding; it is an investment in students through establishing partnerships with faculty mentors, successful entrepreneurs and organizations such as Entrepreneurship@UBCO.

Eligibility:

Student and postdoctoral entrepreneurs must hold ownership in their start-up, and hold responsibility for the management and/or operations of the company. Full-time employees with no ownership or responsibility for the company’s management and/or operations are not eligible for Mitacs Accelerate Entrepreneur funding. This program targets the stages in a start-up’s journey where big impacts can be made:

• Piloting and testing a new product, service or technology
• Iterating and improving on an existing product, service, or technology
• Making the most out of limited budgets

For details on eligibility for the Mitacs Accelerate Entrepreneur funding, please see the following: https://www.mitacs.ca/en/programs/accelerate-entrepreneur

applications will be considered from ventures by invitation only. ventures currently enrolled in e@UBCO programming will be invited to submit a letter of intent to the IEI Fund in early 2023.

Questions?

Questions can be directed to Student Professional Development Officer Grant Topor at grant.topor@ubc.ca.

Learn more about the progress of 2021 IEI Funded Teams.