20 November 2015

The goal of the Université de Sherbrooke’s new entrepreneurship hub is to support up-and-coming entrepreneurs and local development. During Sherbrooke’s entrepreneurship week, the university announced investments of $60M over a 10-year period to foster the development of innovative entrepreneurial projects in the region.

The accelerator for the creation of technological businesses (ACET—Accélérateur de création d’entreprises technologiques) will be at the centre of the Université de Sherbrooke’s strategy, given its great success in the past few years. Since 2011, more than 50 companies have received help from ACET, including well-known businesses such as Rackam, Immune Biosolutions, and Imeka. In creating this new entrepreneurship hub, UdeS hopes to double the number of spin-off projects in the accelerator.

The university also aims to triple its research partnerships and double the number of inventions in the marketing phase.

Christian Dubuc (Osemi Canada), Luce Samoisette (Université de Sherbrooke), Simon Bousquet (Mitacs), Jacques Beauvais (Université de Sherbrooke)

A 10-point strategy, called Innovation, Partnership, and Entrepreneurship, was developed by the Université de Sherbrooke to achieve these goals. Many of this strategy’s points are related to developing entrepreneurship among its students, particularly through grants for creating prototypes, introducing new programs of study, and opening a design studio for engineering students. UdeS is also focusing on networking between entrepreneurs and researchers to support innovation in entrepreneurship. To achieve this goal, experienced entrepreneurs will be incorporated into research teams, and businesses will have easier access to the university’s laboratories and equipment.

Sherbrooke’s entrepreneurship hub will channel more of its efforts into a few key sectors: quantum technologies, information technologies, transportation, and medical technologies.

Source and photo credit: Université de Sherbrooke