Collaboration aims to accelerate scale-up and adoption of high-impact cleantech ventures
Vancouver, B.C., CANADA – September 29, 2020 — Foresight Cleantech Accelerator Centre (“Foresight”) and UBC (“UBC”) announced today at Entrepreneurship@UBC Immersion Week, a Memorandum of Understanding (“the collaboration”) committed to creating pathways to commercialization for breakthrough innovations coming out of entrepreneurship@UBC’s (e@UBC) new Climate Venture Studio.
The collaboration will leverage Foresight’s flagship accelerator programming and robust network of mentors and corporate partners - taking technological innovations that tackle widespread climate challenges from ideation to large-scale impact. Foresight will work in collaboration with entrepreneurship@UBC, to create opportunities for e@UBC ventures to successfully achieve market-readiness and address real-world sustainability challenges. Through the Innovation UBC network, this partnership will benefit from UBC’s collaborative, multidisciplinary engine of leading-edge research, including facilitating engagement with UBC Campus as a Living Lab. Together the organizations will work to ensure that early-stage companies formed through e@UBC’s Climate Venture Studio will have a strong hand-off as they grow and scale to become part of a vibrant cleantech community.
Foresight has worked with more than 500 cleantech ventures across Western Canada, and has a longstanding reputation for taking a market-driven, industry supported approach to innovation. With entrepreneurship@UBC’s remarkable track record of propelling over 400 research-based innovations out into the world, the organizations will be able to strengthen the pipeline of fundable, scalable ventures in climate positive solutions.
“By building an innovation ecosystem where BC’s cleantech business can survive and thrive, we are not only creating jobs, and intellectual property value, we are shaping the future of the green economy,” says Jeanette Jackson, CEO, Foresight. “We have an opportunity to be global leaders, and Foresight's partnership with e@UBC Climate Venture Studio will propel exciting climate based innovations from incubation through to impact.”
“entrepreneurship@UBC’s excellence is in translating research and innovation from the university, and incubating and accelerating it up to the point of Series A financing”, says Kari LaMotte, Managing Director, entrepreneurship@UBC. “Foresight excels at taking market-ready technology and accelerating it to large-scale commercial impact. This collaboration is the perfect opportunity to connect researchers, industry partners, talent, and networks to ensure a strong handoff occurs from early-stage university company creation to the larger scale-up next step.”
Kicking-Off at Entrepreneurship@UBC Immersion Week
The Foresight and e@UBC collaboration was announced at Entrepreneurship@UBC Immersion Week; a week-long event where BC's innovation ecosystem comes together with the purpose of demystifying entrepreneurship in the innovation economy. CEO of Foresight, Jeanette Jackson participated in A Bold Green Recovery, Roundtable Discussion with Toby Heaps, hosted by Paul Needham & Dr. Shannon Bard, urging attending researchers and students to contemplate their unique role in addressing the climate emergency.
To learn more about the e@UBC and Foresight collaboration, please contact:
Astrid Nunez
Foresight, Marketing & Events Manager
604-358-5079
anunez@foresightcac.com
Michelle Sklar
entrepreneurship@UBC, Entrepreneur in Residence, Head of Brand Marketing
604-418-8526
michelle.sklar@ubc.ca
About Foresight Cleantech Accelerator Centre
Foresight is Western Canada’s Cleantech Innovation Centre which supports the identification and validation of cleantech opportunities and the successful commercialization of solutions. We bring together industry, government, academia and technologists to innovate and enable a responsible, more sustainable tomorrow. Find out more at www.foresightcac.com and follow on Twitter @ForesightCAC.
About entrepreneurship@UBC
entrepreneurship@UBC propels UBC innovations out into the world through venture creation, providing UBC students, researchers, faculty members, alumni and staff with the resources, networks, and funding they need to succeed.
As one of the world’s top 40 research universities with 80,000 students, faculty and staff and over $650M annual research funding, UBC has long been a catalyst for innovation. Part of the Innovation UBC network, entrepreneurship@UBC supports UBC ventures and entrepreneurs to generate social and economic impacts in B.C. and around the world. To date, entrepreneurship@UBC ventures have raised more than $221 million in funding, generated more than $30 million in revenue and hired more than 500 employees, stimulating the economic and social landscape of B.C. while building anchor companies that have a global impact. To learn more, visit www.start.entrepreneurship.ubc.ca and follow us Twitter @ubcentrepreneur or LinkedIn entrepreneurship-at-ubc.
