Entrepreneurship news

Over the past two decades, U of T Engineering has spun out more than 100 new companies. Programs such as our Entrepreneurship Hatchery, our Engineering Business minor and our Troost Institute for Leadership Education in Engineering (Troost ILEAD) provide rich opportunities to commercialize research and grow startups into thriving businesses.

Entrepreneurship at U of T Engineering

A health-care worker from Nicklaus Children's Hospital in Miami, Fla. with a package of donated Kerra skin cream. (Photo courtesy Quthero, Inc.)

Skin-care product based on U of T Engineering research donated to health-care workers fighting COVID-19

October 13, 2020

A U of T Engineering spinoff company has donated its entire stock of skin-care product to health-care workers fighting the global pandemic. Several years ago, Professor Milica Radisic (BME, ChemE) and her team developed a peptide-hydrogel biomaterial that prompts skin cells to “crawl” toward one another. The material was initially designed to help close the […]

As students around the world shift to online learning, two U of T Engineering graduates have designed a software platform for mathematics practice that provides real-time insights into student understanding. (Photo: Thomas Park via Unsplash)

New platform aims to help teachers gauge student understanding in virtual classrooms

October 8, 2020

Two recent graduates from U of T Engineering have created Kanak, an online math practice platform that uses AI to give teachers insights into their students’ progress

Themis team uses AI to create a Microsoft Office add-in that saves hours of time drafting legal papers. The students’ startup pitch took home the grand prize at this year’s Demo Day. (Photo courtesy Themis)

Four emerging startups to watch from Hatchery’s virtual Demo Day 2020

September 23, 2020

Top student-founded companies took home a total $42,500 in seed funding at this year’s pitch competition

Dubbed the Buddy Badge, the wearable device acts as a transponder, using a system of sensors connected to hand-washing stations, doorways, and critical routes to patient rooms. (Photo by Christine Sandu on Unsplash)

U of T startup’s wearable tech encourages hand hygiene to prevent the spread of COVID-19

April 13, 2020

As COVID-19 cases increases the workload for health-care professionals, an IBBME researcher has developed Buddy Badge to remind frontline workers throughout the day of opportunities to wash their hands

Honeybee Hub co-founders Weiwei Li (left) and Catherine Chan (right).

New web portal by U of T alumni connects study participants to COVID-19 research

April 7, 2020

Honeybee Hub, created by graduates from U of T Engineering and U of T Medicine, has more than 770 COVID-19 studies posted on their portal so far

Nanoleaf co-founder and CEO Gimmy Chu (ElecE 0T6) announced last week that the company is shifting its operations to providing masks, goggles and gloves to address shortages in Canadian and U.S. hospitals. (Photo courtesy of Nanoleaf)

Engineering alumni startup Nanoleaf to source more than one million masks amid COVID-19 shortages

April 1, 2020

Company will retool its operations to source equipment for hospitals in Canada and the U.S.

Isi Caulder (EngSci 8T9, ElecE MASc 9T1, LLB 9T5) addresses the crowd at Hatchery Demo Day 2019. Caulder is a partner at Bereskin & Parr, LLP which this year donated $50,000 to support the Hatchery.

Support from Bereskin & Parr enhances Entrepreneurship Hatchery programs

November 14, 2019

Donation by IP firm doubled through matching by U of T’s True Blue Fund

MapinHood is a new navigation app designed to take account of issues that affect pedestrians — from sidewalk construction to low-hanging branches — especially those that affect people with low vision. (Image courtesy iMerciv)

This U of T startup aims to make the world more navigable for pedestrians

November 13, 2019

iMerciv, co-founded by a U of T Engineering alumnus, is building a navigation app that focuses on the needs of people who travel on foot, especially those with low vision

Olugbenga Olubanjo (back row, second from left) poses for a photo with members of the Reeddi team, local community members and his startup's power-providing capsules during an August pilot project in Ayegun, Nigeria (photo courtesy of Olugbenga Olubanjo)

U of T Engineering entrepreneur creates his own job post-graduation: Delivering clean, affordable energy to Nigeria

October 30, 2019

Olubanjo is set to graduate with a job that he created: CEO of Reeddi, the startup he founded and incubated at the Entrepreneurship Hatchery to bring clean and affordable electricity to energy-starved communities in Nigeria and beyond

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