Championing Entrepreneurs
Ryerson has created a campus-wide system to provide support and unique opportunities to up-and-coming entrepreneurs and innovators while advancing economic development through spin-off companies and job creation.
Through 2015-16, we continued to grow the Incubate Innovate Network of Canada (I-INC), a commercialization and incubation hub for the digital technology and gaming sectors created in partnership with Simon Fraser University (SFU) and the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT).
I‐INC incubators delivered 117 programming events and admitted 137 new digital technology and gaming clients to their programs. Jointly with the Ontario Campus‐Linked Accelerator (CLA) program, I‐INC has supported the growth of Ryerson’s incubation capacity from five zones in 2012-13 to 10 zones in 2015-16 that host well over 200 startup teams. The DMZ is the largest of Ryerson’s zones — DMZ-supported companies have raised more than $172 million over the past six years, and its startup teams have created more than 400 jobs over the past fiscal year.
Highlights
In the past fiscal year, the companies supported by the Ryerson zones have reported:
583
Jobs created by 279 companies
220+
New products and services to market
10,000+
New national and international customers
Ryerson once again hosted Ontario’s Summer Company Program, providing youth who are returning to school with funding and coaching to develop their business ideas. The program provided support to more than 50 budding entrepreneurs to help them create businesses over the summer in 2015.