News

Winners named in first virtual i2I Venture Pitch competition

Nov 5, 2020

The annual i2I Venture Pitch Competition went ahead in a virtual format for the first time this year, as scientist-entrepreneurs graduating from the Invention to Innovation program at SFU’s Beedie School of Business pitched their research-based innovation ideas to a panel of judges with science commercialization, seed investment, and legal expertise. The year long, part-time Invention to Innovation (i2I) program develops entrepreneurial mindset in graduate scientists and engineers and enables them to create and commercialize solutions […]

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Award-winning entrepreneur training program celebrates inaugural year and expands

Sep 24, 2020

Mitacs and the Beedie School of Business at Simon Fraser University (SFU Beedie) have renewed a partnership to offer the Invention to Innovation (i2I) program for graduate students. Over seven months, i2I Skills Training equips participants with the frameworks, perspectives, and techniques to develop an innovation mindset and commercialize their inventions while overcoming marketplace challenges. Created by SFU Beedie, the program recently won international recognition after AACSB International — the world’s largest business education network — highlighted […]

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SFU brings international innovators together to turn science into solutions

Aug 11, 2020

With a growing urgency for universities to address global challenges with breakthrough innovations, the demand for entrepreneurial scientists is on the rise. On Aug. 4 and 5, the Beedie School of Business’ Charles Chang Institute for Entrepreneurship drew together 395 attendees from 38 countries in 22 time zones at the digital 2020 R & D Management Symposium, Invention to Innovation: Creating the Conditions for Impact, to re-define how universities, policymakers and industry can advance research-based innovation and respond […]

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Rising sales for gluten free bread entrepreneur

Jun 10, 2020

Sonia Mastroianni (BBA 1992), co-founder of specialty bread company Aidan’s Gluten Free Inc., didn’t set out with the intention of becoming an entrepreneur. While studying in the undergraduate program at SFU’s Beedie School of Business, she took advantage of the opportunity to complete co-op employment terms, and one of those led to her lining up a permanent role after graduating. She worked in a corporate sales position in Calgary for three and half years, before […]

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Award-winning innovation training program expands nationally

Jun 1, 2020

Aspiring scientist and technology entrepreneurs across Canada can now access SFU Beedie’s ground-breaking skills training program, Invention to Innovation (i2I). The announcement follows the successful completion of a pilot program offering the program in British Columbia and Alberta in partnership with Mitacs, a not-for-profit organization that fosters growth and innovation in Canada by solving challenges with research solutions from the best academic institutions. The i2I Mitacs Skills Training Pilot is based on the i2I Graduate […]

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Entrepreneurial Mindset Overcomes at SFU’s Largest Student Entrepreneurship Showcase

Apr 28, 2020

Opportunity Fest, the largest event hosted by SFU’s Charles Chang Institute for Entrepreneurship, overcame adversity this year by switching to remote format in order to go ahead in the face of COVID-19-related restrictions. The organizers drew on their entrepreneurial mindset and resourcefulness to overhaul their plans and connect over 200 students and industry experts via online platforms, to showcase SFU’s emerging entrepreneurs. The annual event brings students from all faculties together with industry, academic and alumni […]

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SFU Beedie entrepreneurship program wins global award, expands with Mitacs partnership

Apr 21, 2020

Invention to Innovation (i2), offered by SFU’s Beedie School of Business, has won international recognition after being highlighted among the annual Innovations That Inspire named by AACSB International (AACSB)—the world’s largest business education network. i2I is a transformational entrepreneurship experience that equips graduate scientists and engineers with the frameworks, perspectives and techniques to develop an innovative mindset and commercialize their inventions while overcoming marketplace challenges. Innovations That Inspire, an annual initiative run by AACSB, recognizes […]

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SFU Beedie alumnus takes healthy eating to the great outdoors

Dec 16, 2019

From tree planting in remote areas of BC to pitching his start-up business on CBC’s Dragons’ Den—via the European Union and a stint in corporate banking—Denis Mikhailov’s career path has been anything but orthodox. Mikhailov, a graduate of SFU Beedie’s Full Time MBA program, is the Founder and CEO of Nomad Nutrition Ltd, a venture that creates healthy dehydrated meals aimed at outdoor enthusiasts. A keen climber and adventurer who would take week-long excursions into […]

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Creating an entrepreneurial mindset through community

Nov 13, 2019

Many people hold a misconception of entrepreneurs as lone pioneers, working in isolation on their business ideas. It is a romantic and enduring image, but it is also largely a myth. The reality is that most successful entrepreneurs are supported by communities and networks of peers and established business people, and learn by hearing about the experiences they share. This was certainly the case for SFU Beedie alumnus Charles Chang, BBA’95, President & Founder of […]

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Scientist entrepreneurs pitch ideas at venture competition

Nov 4, 2019

Entrepreneurs in the Invention to Innovation program at SFU’s Beedie School of Business pitched their science-based ventures to a team of expert judges, vying for prizes at the i2I Venture Pitch Competition. The event, which took place on October 23, 2019, brought together six scientist-entrepreneurship students who have recently graduated in the fourth cohort of the invention to Innovation (i2I) program at SFU Beedie’s Segal Graduate School. This graduate certificate program aims to equip scientists […]

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