Fifty-eight workshops attended by 1120 young entrepreneurs; 43 competitions with over 800 participants; 55 presentations to over 8800 students and 3 cohorts of emerging entrepreneurs with more than 105 participants. Some of the results of our first three years that have helped make 2016 an exciting year for Brock University’s business incubator, BioLinc.
2016 was a great year for our resident companies at BioLinc. ColdBlock Technologies, a resident company that joined BioLinc in 2015, successfully launched their 6- and 18-channel workstations and were a semifinalist in the 43North Pitch Competition. ColdBlock Technologies and their scientific advisor at Brock University, Dr. Ian Brindle published 5 publications and they have received funding from OCE, MaRS, IRAP and NSERC. BioLinc also had 3 students participate in the Founders Institute and one student was part of the Next36 2016 cohort. CEO of CHAR Technologies, Andrew White was also named Young Entrepreneur of the Year at the Ontario Business Achievement Awards.
In March 2016, BioLinc completed the second cohort of the Kick-Starting Entrepreneurship program with Entrepreneurship Week. A collaboration between BioLinc, ncTakeOff, Brock University Students’ Union and Niagara College Student Administrative Council, Entrepreneurship Week was a week-long burst of youth entrepreneurship activities across the Niagara region. The week also included Brock University’s two pitch competitions, Blueprint and Monster Pitch, where Brock’s top entrepreneurs were given the opportunity to pitch their business ventures. In September 2016, BioLinc launched the third cohort of the Kick-Starting Entrepreneurship program, supporting over 35 young entrepreneurs to advance their early-stage business ventures.
As we look forward to the next year, we are excited with the recent announcement at Brock University for Brock LINC project which will see a new 30,000 square foot Innovation Atrium at Brock University. This expansion at Brock University will increase the innovation and commercialization space and the Brock LINC facility will support entrepreneurs looking to connect, collaborate and commercialize. This $19-million Brock LINC project is planned for completion in early 2018.
Helped with creating a good investment pitch, which helped get the funding required. Access to marketing data was helpful for successful grant proposals.”SP-Nanobiotech Inc.
ColdBlock Technologies offers a novel and innovative technology for sample digestion – ColdBlock Digestion. ColdBlock Digestion dissolves solid matter into solution for multi-element analysis and is applicable to numerous industries including mining, environmental, agriculture and food. Currently ColdBlock Technologies is working with customers in the mining and environmental space, providing a safer, faster, effective and accurate means for sample digestion.
Milestones/Successes to date
6-channel system and 18-channel workstations launched, commercially available, and installed at client sites
Awarded Build in Canada Innovation Program (BCIP) Contract with Geological Survey of Canada (GSC); ColdBlock rated 9/10 by GSC
Awarded funding from OCE (Market Readiness Program), MaRS (Embark; Embedded Executive Funding Program), IRAP (Market Research; 24+ Channel Project), NSERC (Lead in Drinking Water)
Semifinalist in 43North Pitch Competition
Five publications in peer-reviewed journals; 3 conference presentations with 2 ‘Best Technical Paper’ awards
Named by Mining Magazine in 2015 as a ‘Top 10 Innovation to Watch’
How has Innovate Niagara / the Generator at one helped you?
Innovate Niagara and BioLinc have been instrumental to our success. Biolinc has connected us with valuable resources and opportunities (ie, 43North Competition), facilitated networking and provided us with space to call home. Facilities are available to us to conduct our business. The office space and boardroom have allowed us to have potential clients and collaborators meet with us in ‘our space’ and advance our business. The wet lab space houses our Demonstration Lab, where we work with clients to demonstrate our technology with their real world samples. BioLinc staff have been very generous with their time, advice, and support in sharing our story, working to ensure our continued success.
Complete Grab was founded in 2016 and aims to ease the use of consumer products through ergonomic design.
Milestones/Successes to date
October 2016: Design was approved by manufacturer
November 2016: Ready to apply for legal protection
How has Innovate Niagara / the Generator at one helped you?
As a recipient of the Deborah E. Rosati Entrepreneurship Scholarship, I was fortunate to spend a summer term working on my business full time at BioLinc, the business incubator at Brock University. This work term was instrumental to the early success of my business. BioLinc provided me with mentorship, guidance, a collaborative work space and design software which enabled me to develop my idea into a reality. Through BioLinc I made valuable connections with numerous industry professionals who offeredinsight on the product manufacturing and retail buying process. Innovate Niagara connected me with a business analyst and a lawyer who were integral in the development of a comprehensive business plan and provided me with the necessary information and guidance to begin the patent process.
Curexe helps businesses send money to their suppliers, employees or partners in other countries, in different currencies, from any mobile device.
Milestones/Successes to date
Launched our product with 33 business customers sending money around the world from any mobile device. Banked $75,000 of our $1 million SEED round with a group of investors verbally stating they want to close the entire $1 million by end of year. Founder was the first Brock student to go through the Next 36 (now called NextCanada) and Curexe has secured office space at the DMZ, known as the #1 incubator in North America.
How has Innovate Niagara / the Generator at one helped you?
BioLinc provided the office space for the founder to work until 3am every night in a motivating environment. They consistently were there to provide suggestions and make connections and gave an all around feeling that it is possible to build something from nothing. I owe the success of Curexe to BioLinc believing in us in the early days when we were just an idea.
Matt Clarke Michael Jakuszewski Dylan Moffatt Derek Saundercock
Year founded
2015
Business description
We are a technology focused delivery company that provides alcohol, grocery, and restaurant deliveries to the Niagara region. We use our website to connect people to whatever restaurant they want to order food from and we then place the order and deliver the food. The delivery market is very fragmented and we hope to centralize and streamline the delivery industry to make it more efficient and effective for both the customers and restaurants.
Milestones/Successes to date
Our milestones to date include having four permanent executives, four contract drivers, and one web designer contractor working for us. We have completed over 5,000 deliveries and over $150,000 in goods delivered. We have over 500 customer accounts on our website, and 6 areas served with 75 restaurants on our website. We have surpassed 200 deliveries a week and are formulating our plan to expand to a new city next year.
How has Innovate Niagara / the Generator at one helped you?
Innovate Niagara and BioLinc have helped us succeed in many ways. Innovate Niagara helped us by providing the Mars series workshops for us to learn from. They also provided mentorship and guidance in preparing for and pitching at Ignite Niagara. BioLinc provided us with many learning sessions, pitch events, and networking opportunities in their Kick-Starting Entrepreneurship cohort program. Both Innovate Niagara and BioLinc provided support and encouragement as we started and grew our business by giving us constant advice and mentorship.
Kick-Starting Entrepreneurship
The Kick-Starting Entrepreneurship program targets Niagara youth (ages 18-29) and encourages them to explore their innovative ideas and advance their early-stage entrepreneurial aspirations. The program provides up to 35 youth with two intensive training weekends, monthly seminars and events, plus a mentor and advisory services from BioLinc and Innovate Niagara, Niagara's Regional Innovation Centre.
A Day in the Life of a BioLinc Entrepreneur
Meet the 2014/15 Kick Starting Entrepreneurship Cohort
Huzaifa Faizan
Huzaifa Faizan is a Brock student with an interest in fashion. He hopes to start a fashion business selling all sorts of fashion accessories.
Ian Farr
Ian Farr is a third you business student at Brock University. With his partner Sultana Naimi, Ian is creating an application called Incounter. Incounter is an app created to help people meet at networking events.
Reece Fisher
Reece Fisher has a passion for filmmaking which lead him to create his company, Instillment Productions, which specializes in films for professional clients.
Ethan Foy
Ethan Foy is a biology student at Brock University. Along with his studies, Ethan is the founder of InnovatorX, a service which connects entrepreneurs allowing them to create effect startup teams.
Madi Fuller
Madi Fuller is a Brock Student and a co-founder of Cross Border Housing. Cross Border Housing is a company which aims to help ease the transition for international students by helping them find a good place to live before they move to Canada to attend school.
Joshua Giancola
Joshua Giancola plans to leverage students and their skills to help SMEs receive quality help at a lower cost than hiring and employee or consultant.
Mohamad Hamade
Mohamad Hamade is a student with a passion for entrepreneurship. He is a member of the Brock entrepreneurship club and is currently on the look out for his next venture.
Steven Hann
Steven Hann is the co-founder of Brock Delivery. Brock Delivery delivers food to students who don't own a car but want food from a restaurant that does not provide its own delivery service.
Johnathan Holland
John is a business student at Brock and also the president of the Finance Club. He is currently working on his business SmartPay, which aims to help international students save money by lowering their currency exchange rates.
Carlin Jessop
Carlin Jessop hopes to help children achieve their goals and dreams by providing them with direction through a combination of in-person and online resources.
Chris Jia
Chris Jia is a business student at Brock with an interest in web development. This interest has led Chris to create Hero Bootcamp, a company that teaches coding to non-technicals in the Niagara Region.
Xiahezi (Cherry) Kuai
Cherry Kuai and her team developed a product to replace conventional pesticides. The product promises to be cleaner and safer for the environment than current options.
Nancy Lan
Nancy Lan is a graduate from the MBA program at the Goodman School of Business. Along with her studies, she is the founder of IoBras, a company which performs 3D scans of women and builds them a personalized bra with a perfect fit.
Selena Liu
Selena Liu is a Brock student with an idea for an innovative hair brush.
Rebecca Morkunas
Rebecca Morkunas is working with John Raimondo to provide educational services.
Alex Mohr
Alex Mohr is a Brock Student and a co-founder of Cross Border Housing. Cross Border Housing is a company which aims to help ease the transition for international students by helping them find a good place to live before they move to Canada to attend school.
Sultana Naimi
Sultana Naimi is in her final year at Brock University where she is the current president of the Marketing Club. Sultana is working with Ian Farr to create Incounter, an app designed to help professionals meet at networking events.
Bowe Nsame
Bowe Nsame is a Brock student and the founder of JNF. JNF is a not-for-profit which teaches values and life skills to the youth of Bowe's home country Cameroon.
Harrison Olajos
Harrison is a Brock student and a serial entrepreneur. He is the founder of a landscaping company as well as the co-founder of Cross Border Housing which wants to help international students find a place to live when they make their move to Canada.
Colton Proveau
Colton Proveau is a student and co-founder of Brother's Brewery. Alongside his twin brother, Asa, Colton makes craft beer in the Niagara Region.
Shawn Quait
Shawn Quart is the founder of TributeTree, a company with the goal of helping plan all aspects of funerals for those who have recently lost a loved one.
Kyle Rose
Kyle Rose is a Brock student and the president of the Brock University Students Union. He is also the founder of Golden Rose Enterprises which is a company that hires students to clean windows and solar panels.
Abbey Stansfield
Abbey Stansfield is a Brock student and the Founder of Modern Memory. Modern Memory aims to professionally archive your personal belongings so they can be appreciated for generations to come.
Arvinder Singh
Arvinder Singh is a Brock student with a very unique business idea. With his team, Arvinder has developed a product which allows for hallucinations without the need for drugs.
Aimee Wesson
Aimee Wesson is a Brock student who is passionate about horses. She hopes to breed horses for high-level competitions.
