News

SFU’s leadership in impactful entrepreneurship recognized with international award

Jun 8, 2023

Simon Fraser University is being recognized with the 2023 Deshpande Symposium Award for The Entrepreneurial University, in recognition of its leadership in entrepreneurial programming and innovation support. The award, accepted June 6 by Director of Entrepreneurship Sarah Lubik on behalf of SFU, is given to a university that demonstrates excellence in curriculum innovation and student engagement in entrepreneurship. The award is announced annually during the Deshpande Symposium on Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Higher Education, held this year […]

More...

Coast Capital Venture Prize winner creates seaweed solution to ocean plastics

Apr 21, 2023

A company co-founded by an SFU biology graduate student and partnering with local Indigenous communities to develop bio-based plastic from seaweed—a product capable of breaking down in home compost in just four weeks—is the top winner of SFU’s 12th annual Coast Capital Venture Prize competition. PhyCo Technologies will use a $10,000 cash award to further develop its product. Coast Capital Venture Prize is SFU’s largest entrepreneurship competition open to the university community. This year’s competitors represented students, staff, […]

More...

MOT MBA graduates make aerial intelligence accessible with drone software start-up

Mar 16, 2023

For Bill Lakeland and Peter Szymczak, SFU Beedie’s MOT MBA program proved to be exactly what they were looking for—a place where they could network with other business-minded individuals and gain valuable knowledge on the marketplace. They met in the program and co-founded Spexi Geospatial, a SaaS start-up that’s shaking up the geospatial data industry with an innovative software platform that uses drone technology to make aerial intelligence more accessible. The geospatial data industry has […]

More...

Chasing opportunity: Pandemic opens doors for BBA student entrepreneur to co-found health tech start-up

Sep 6, 2022

Michelle De la O’s entrepreneurship journey started with bad news. A travel enthusiast, she had been excited to go on two student exchanges during her undergraduate degree—one in France and one in Italy. But those plans were quashed when the COVID-19 pandemic broke out and international travel came to a halt. With student exchanges no longer available, De la O looked for other options to enrich her experience at SFU’s Beedie School of Business. Eventually, […]

More...

SFU Chang Institute for Entrepreneurship and Coast Capital Venture Connection alumnus Kaito Cunningham raises $23m to fund crypto start-up

Jun 22, 2022

Decentralized autonomous organizations, otherwise known as DAOs, are a type of blockchain-based organization without leadership or management that allows for decision-making purely by shareholder voting—think of it like a digital co-operative. But just how does a company that decentralizes a majority of their operations handle payroll, accounting and other basic back office tasks? 23-year-old former SFU Beedie student and SFU Charles Chang Institute for Entrepreneurship alumnus Kaito Cunningham has co-founded a cryptocurrency start-up, Utopia Labs, […]

More...

Medical tech startup takes home top SFU entrepreneurship competition award

Apr 13, 2022

ODEN Health Solutions Inc. has been named Top Venture in SFU’s 11th annual Coast Capital Venture Prize competition, taking home a $30K prize package. ODEN is a medical device company committed to providing life-saving assistance for everyone regardless of social or economic situation or geographical location. Its inaugural product in development is a self-contained wearable device that is capable of monitoring vital signs of users, detecting opioid overdoses, and notifying emergency services of the overdose in order […]

More...

SFU entrepreneurs named Changemakers by The Globe and Mail for innovative startups in tech and sustainability

Feb 25, 2022

Two SFU alumni have been named in The Globe and Mail’s Report on Business Magazine‘s 2022 Changemakers, an annual list of emerging leaders transforming business today. Rene Blanco and Sumreen Rattan, entrepreneurs from The Charles Chang Institute for Entrepreneurship, are two of 50 Canada-wide award recipients comprised of entrepreneurs, academics and executives who are striving to find innovative solutions to the world’s most pressing issues. Both Blanco and Rattan developed their startups through SFU’s Coast […]

More...

Zennea Technologies takes top prize at SFU’s largest entrepreneurship competition

Feb 21, 2018

Zennea Technologies, a Simon Fraser University student venture aiming to improve sleep quality for those with sleep apnea, has taken the best overall venture prize valued at $35,000 at the annual Coast Capital Savings Venture Prize competition. Co-CEO of the company, Rachel Chase, is student at the Beedie School of Business and is completing the Charles Change Certificate in Innovation and Entrepreneurship. “We’re incredibly grateful for the mentorship, support, and resources that we’ve received from […]

More...

SFU’s Coast Capital Savings Venture Connection client Orello takes first prize at Hong Kong-Canada pitch competition

Jun 20, 2017

SFU’s Coast Capital Savings Venture Connection client Orello Hearing Technologies took home first place at the 2017 Hong Kong-Canada Investment Pitch Competition held earlier this month. In all, four SFU-affiliated companies made the prestigious top-six final. The competition is part of the Hong Kong-Canada Business Association (HKCBA) National Conference. Orello won a $10,000 cash prize, $5,000 in legal assistance and a trip for two to Hong Kong to attend HKCBA’s annual flagship event in December. Orello is a socially-driven technology company whose […]

More...