John MacRitchie
About John MacRitchie
John MacRitchie leads the Office of Zone Learning overseeing the institutional strategy and direction of the 10 innovation zones at Toronto Metropolitan University. The community-connected zones cover a full spectrum of sectors from a Biomedical Zone embedded in St. Michael's Hospital to the Social Venture Zone supporting social entrepreneurs and innovators and including the DMZ, ranked the #1 university-based business incubator in the world by UBI Global.
Previously, John led institutional initiatives at the Office of the Vice-President, Research & Innovation (OVPRI) including management of the Canadian Accelerator and Incubator Program and the Ontario Campus-Linked Accelerator (CLA) funding to the zones. John is also a founding director of I-INC, the national network connecting university-based innovation hubs across Canada. With his team in the OVPRI, he managed major institutional research programs including the Canada Foundation for Innovation, Canada Research Chair, and Canada Excellence Research Chair programs.
Prior to joining the university, John was Regional Director for a provincial innovation funding agency and in the private sector, spent over 15 years in international business development for large industrial control systems projects in China, United States, Brazil, Taiwan and Canada.
What is Zone Learning?
Zone Learning is a new model of experiential learning built to prepare students for the 21st century workplace by providing opportunities for them to work on real projects, causes, companies or startups. Zone Learning is:
- Meeting other like-minded individuals; excellent networking opportunities
- Tangible experience that strengthens your resume or portfolio
- Soft skill development, like teamwork, communication and problem-solving
- Getting others excited about your cause or idea
- Access to workspace, programs, mentorship and workshops to learn skills that grow your idea