Regional Innovation Partners Host Sudbury Startup Summit on November 16

November 10, 2026 — Entrepreneurs, innovators, and business leaders will gather at Laurentian University on Monday, November 16, 2026, for the Sudbury Startup Summit.

The full-day event is a joint collaboration among Laurentian University, Cambrian College, Collège Boréal, NORCAT, and the Regional Business Centre, with CircuitIQ serving as the title sponsor. Additional community partners include Northern Ontario Angels, Ionic Technology Group, Innova, Flosonics, Intellectual Property Ontario, and Nickel Basin.

Designed to connect emerging entrepreneurs with local resources, financing, and mentorship, the summit features keynotes, panel discussions, and founder stories covering every stage of the startup journey.

"Starting a business can feel overwhelming when you try to navigate it alone, but Greater Sudbury has an incredible network ready to lift up new entrepreneurs," said event planner Anastacia Brunelle, Innovation and Commercialization Coordinator at Laurentian University. "This summit is all about building confidence and real relationships. We want every attendee to walk away knowing exactly who to call, where to find funding, and how to turn their vision into a reality." 

Event Highlights:

Keynote Presentations: 

• Opening keynote by Trisha Pitura (Mini Tipi) and closing keynote by Joe Eibl (Flosonics Medical).

Startup Support & Funding Panels: 

• Sessions covering support ecosystems, financing basics, pitch perfection, and idea validation featuring industry experts from the Business Development Bank of Canada, Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation, Futurepreneur, Northern Ontario Angels, and local venture hubs.

Founder Stories: 

• Real-world insights from regional entrepreneurs, including Sheri Tomchick (Plan A and StaffStat), Gabrielle Roy (Stitch and Stone), and Jonathan Gbedemah (Jonathan’s Kingsway Pharmacy).

Open Mic Session & Networking: 

• Interactive sessions giving local founders the opportunity to share ideas, and network with regional ecosystem partners.

Event Details:

• Date: Monday, November 16, 2026
• Time: 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. (Doors open and light breakfast at 8:30 a.m.)
• Location: Jim Fielding Innovation & Commercialization Space, Laurentian University
• Registration: Open to the public via Eventbrite.

The Jim Fielding Innovation & Commercialization Space is #5 on the attached Laurentian University campus map. Parking is available in either Lot A or Lot E, simply pay the meter via credit card or HotSpot.

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About the Partners 

About Laurentian University

Laurentian University serves over 8,000 students on its campus in Sudbury, Ontario, and is one of two bilingual universities in the province of Ontario. Committed to its bilingual, tri-cultural mandate, Laurentian University offers an outstanding university experience in English and French with a comprehensive approach to Indigenous education.

About The Foundry at Laurentian University

Located in the Jim Fielding Innovation & Commercialization Space, The Foundry is Laurentian University’s central hub for entrepreneurship and innovation. Designed to support aspiring student and community founders, The Foundry provides mentorship, commercialization guidance, and collaborative space to help turn innovative ideas into market-ready businesses.

About Cambrian College

Located in Greater Sudbury, Cambrian College is Northern Ontario’s largest college, with more than 80 programs, including degree-level programs. Cambrian is also a global institution, with students from 50 countries. Cambrian is also home to the Hanson Venture Lab. It is Cambrian’s dedicated centre for student entrepreneurship. It provides a dynamic, collaborative space where students explore entrepreneurial thinking, develop business ideas, and gain practical knowledge in launching and managing start-ups, all while building connections with industry partners who help enrich their learning experience. Cambrian R&D, the college’s applied research division, also works with industry partners to access funding, support, and skilled workers to facilitate research & development to help advance innovation and grow business.

About Collège Boréal

With 31 campuses in 26 communities across Ontario, Collège Boréal is a French-language college of applied arts and technology – a true educational, cultural and community hub serving Francophones since 1995. Through Entrepreneuriat Boréal, its entrepreneurship department, the College supports Francophone and bilingual entrepreneurs from idea to growth through coaching, training, incubation and Le Propulseur Boréal, a business accelerator. Having supported more than 2,380 entrepreneurs to date, Entrepreneuriat Boréal is launching its annual province-wide Business and Entrepreneurship Week at the Startup Summit.

“The Startup Summit is a great way to launch our annual Business and Entrepreneurship Week, which brings activities to Collège Boréal campuses across Ontario. By joining forces with our partners in Sudbury, we want every aspiring entrepreneur, Francophone or Anglophone, to know where to start and who can help them along the way,” said Mathieu Torres, Manager, Innovation, Research and Incubation Space (EIRI), Collège Boréal.

About NORCAT

As Sudbury's Regional Innovation Centre, NORCAT Innovation supports early-stage tech startups and the entrepreneurs behind them. We connect founders with the mentorship, resources, and networks they need to start, grow, and scale their ventures.

As a regional hub of Canada's Tech Network, NORCAT Innovation brings together startups, growing companies, investors, researchers, mentors, and service providers to foster collaboration, support innovation, and contribute to long-term economic growth in our community.

About the Regional Business Centre

The Regional Business Centre is an Ontario Small Business Advisory Centre (OSBAC) operating within the City of Greater Sudbury’s Economic Development Division. It supports entrepreneurs and small businesses across Greater Sudbury, Manitoulin and the surrounding region in both English and French, offering free advisory services, mentoring, workshops, networking opportunities and resources to help businesses start, grow and succeed.