Championing Entrepreneurs
Ryerson is proud of its entrepreneurial environment. Students and faculty engage in programs and networks that help incubate or accelerate their ideas, such as through our Zone Learning ecosystem or the Incubate Innovate Network of Canada (I-INC). Through these programs, hundreds of jobs are created, and new products and services are brought to thousands of customers in Canada and around the world.
Ryerson Zone Highlights
In the 2018-19 fiscal year, the companies supported by the Ryerson Zones have reported:
431 Full-time jobs created
95,571 New national and international customers
690 New products and services brought to market
The number of new national and international customers saw an almost threefold increase over the previous fiscal year.
I-INC is Canada’s leading university-based incubator network, helping startups in the areas of science and technology scale up their ventures. The I-INC network is comprised of 11 universities across the country, as well as eight international partners and 13 incubators and accelerators. In the past year, I-INC supported the Ryerson Zone Learning ecosystem through programs such as the Ontario Campus-Linked Accelerator and Canadian Accelerator and Incubator Programs.
432 Programming events delivered
105 New digital technology and gaming clients
While the increased use of electric vehicles (EVs) on roadways has benefits over the use of vehicles powered by fossil fuels, the Lithium ion batteries used to power EVs entering landfills pose potential risks. Electrefy, a startup developed at the Clean Energy Zone, helps give a second life to used EV batteries by transforming them for use in residential solar energy storage or off-grid adoption, such as at construction locations and emergency response sites.
Tech startup Hostaway offers property managers of vacation rental properties an all-in-one management software that integrates major accommodation channels, such as Airbnb, Expedia and Trip Advisor, and helps users keep track of their businesses. Incubated through the DMZ, Hostaway has grown into a 30-person team speaking over 10 languages, with offices in Barcelona, Helsinki, Kiev, Melbourne and Toronto.
Creators of Manage My Pain, the first pain management and monitoring app for Android, ManagingLife was accelerated through the Biomedical Zone and has since been made available as a multi-language-supported iOS version. Several major Ontario hospitals are researching use of the app for patients at risk of developing chronic post-surgical pain and opioid dependence.