CEWIL Project Showcase: Science Discovery Zone's Student Entrepreneur-in-Residence Program
For many young professionals and recent graduates, the fear of failure continues to be one of the biggest challenges. In particular, many students who express an interest in the field of entrepreneurship might shy away from taking risks in order to grow professionally, fearing the reward may not outweigh the risk.
In order to better mitigate this risk and break down this fear barrier, Science Discovery Zone (SDZ), a TMU incubator that fuels entrepreneurial discovery through mentorship and access to collaborative spaces, has spearheaded their own Student Entrepreneurs in-Residence (SEIR) program.
The SEIR program is part of a three-round funding initiative aimed at supporting work-integrated learning in post-secondary institutions, and is administered by the CEWIL iHUB, or the Co-Operative Education and Work-Integrated Learning Innovation Hub. This project is also supported by the Experiential Learning Hub, a resource area within the Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching.
Piloted in the Winter 2022 term, this program connects student entrepreneurs who demonstrate qualities of leadership, motivation, creativity, and perseverance with mentors and experts within Science Discovery Zone’s internal and external network to gain insight on challenges within the ecosystem as well as refine skills such as communications, project management, research and risk assessment.
The pilot welcomed students who were selected based solely on their curiosities and how this opportunity would contribute to their learning. According to Ashnie Badal, Coordinator at Science Discovery Zone, “the success of a program like this depends on the intrinsic motivation of the students involved, and so, the application process was designed to recruit students who are looking to be positively challenged.”
Irum Mahmood from TMU’s Computer Science program, and William Dallaire, from the Law and Business program, were part of the program during its inaugural term, after which, Science Discovery Zone continued working with them in different capacities.
By working with these students, SDZ staff were able to identify what areas they were most interested in getting involved with. Examples included intellectual property (IP) and cyber security for startups.
“One of the overarching goals for this program was to let students decide on the topic/research area for their work. This way, not only were they given the chance to identify what areas of their learning they wanted to strengthen, but since they were exploring industry-related challenges, they were able to apply concepts from the classroom and either build on them or practice relevant skills.”
Both students were able to develop their skills with ideators and startups such as The Legal Innovation Zone and the Social Venture Zone, both part of TMU’s Zone Learning Ecosystem, as well as Hay Health, (external link) AquaSignum (external link) , and New School Foods (external link) .
According to Badal, the program is focused on developing problem-solving skills, and students are not expected to be entrepreneurs to succeed as participants.
“This program was outlined and delivered as an exploratory program. There was no expectation for students to deliver a product or service, or prototype an idea or solution to a challenge, as it can be overwhelming. Instead, this was a chance for students to learn more about the industry and dive into topics that piqued their interest (which in most cases were potential career pathways).”
As the program continues to grow, Badal hopes to continue offering students new opportunities to foster their creativity by connecting them with like-minded individuals in their network, saying “I anticipate the program evolving into a model for supporting students as they explore their curiosities, learn about entrepreneurship and gain perspective on potential stepping stones in their careers.”
Learn more about other projects and programs on the Science Discovery Zone website.