The Foundry

Innovation and Entrepreneurship Programming at Laurentian University

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The Foundry is Laurentian University’s hub for innovation and entrepreneurship programming, located within the Jim Fielding Innovation & Commercialization Space. Students, faculty, and alumni at Laurentian University have shown incredible potential to achieve amazing things, and The Foundry provides a home to help bring those ideas to life.

The Foundry is here to help you develop and explore your ideas, connect with the right people, and access the resources you need to take your concepts further. Through one-on-one support, workshops, and connections across the innovation ecosystem, we can help you find the tools, mentors, and opportunities that fit where you’re at in your entrepreneurial journey.

Our programming gives you the chance to engage with like-minded peers, develop new skills, and turn ideas that may have once been just concepts into real-world projects, whether that leads to research commercialization, startups, or social enterprises.

We would love to work with you! If you have a business idea or are interested in learning more about our programs, email foundry@laurentian.ca to start collaborating today.

Programming

The Foundry offers workshops, events, and activities designed to help you develop practical skills, explore new ideas, and connect with like-minded peers. Whether you are an entrepreneur, intrapreneur, or simply curious about innovation, our programming provides hands-on learning opportunities to help you take your next steps.

Stay connected! Follow The Foundry on LinkedIn and Instagram to hear about upcoming events, workshops, and opportunities to get involved.

Guest Speakers

The Foundry invites speakers from the Laurentian community and industry to share their experiences and expertise in a wide variety of topics related to innovation and entrepreneurship. Past topics have included intellectual property, social entrepreneurship, public speaking  and entrepreneurs discussing their journeys.

Office Hours

This initiative brings industry experts into the Jim Fielding innovation space to interact with students, faculty and other community members face-to-face. This provides the opportunity for networking and possible collaborations. Past guests have included NORCAT, the Regional Business Center and the Ontario Center of Innovation (OCI).

Crash Courses/Technical Support

These activities focus on the skills and knowledge needed to safely use the equipment in the makerspace.They will range from short, introductory sessions to more detailed peer-to-peer workshops for specialized applications. Past courses include: 3D printing, laser cutting, graphic design and making an app.

Events

Events hosted by The Foundry provide the Laurentian community and entrepreneurs with knowledge and additional skills needed in the world of entrepreneurship as well as an opportunity to showcase their ideas and businesses. 

They will range from pitch competitions to external events related to Innovation and Commercialization. Past events include: Innovation for a Greater Sudbury (IGS), Voyageurs Innovation Challenge and Be Your Own Boss (BYOB) pitches.

Innovation and Entrepreneurship Support 

These support services focus on students, staff and faculty who have identified an interest in an entrepreneurial career path and are in the early stages of identifying opportunities and/or intend to move forward with their entrepreneurial career and are looking for more in depth skill sets to directly assist with developing, scaling, and growing a business. We leverage the expertise of our partner organizations to increase the value of these support services.

  • Focus groups
  • Hackathons
  • Case studies
  • Business Consultation
  • Access to relevant courses and workshops
  • Resource Libraries
  • Market Research
  • Mentorship
  • P2P roundtables
  • Demonstration days
  • Bootcamps


 

Intellectual Property and Commercialization

We support the development of relationships between industry and Laurentian, evaluate, protect and commercialize intellectual property developed at the university and disclosed to the Office of Research Services, and provide the coordination of provincially-led entrepreneurship activities.

Please visit the Intellectual Property and Commercialization webpage for more details.