The Foundry is a new initiative at Laurentian University, housed within the Jim Fielding Innovation & Commercialization Space. It is your first point of contact to develop and foster innovative and research ideas and connect you with industry experts. Whether you are in academia or industry, we have a broad range of services to support you in your innovation and/or research endeavors. We’re here to enable our university innovators to ideate, create, and develop ideas that can go on to become startup companies or social enterprises. The students, faculty, and alumni of Laurentian University have shown us that the capacity to achieve incredible things is here, and it’s time we provide them with a home.
Our programming is built to promote experiential learning and foster collaborations. Ours services provide .The Foundry will provide opportunities to engage with like minded fellows, explore new skills, and pursue opportunities that may have once been just an idea! We would love to work with you! If you have a business idea or are interested in learning more about our support services, send an email to foundry@laurentian.ca to start our collaboration today.
Programming
The programming consists of general activities/events that are valuable as marketable events and as opportunities for students to engage with marketable, versatile skills. If you are an entrepreneur, intrapreneur, curious but not yet committed to such a career path or looking for further practical learning, these activities/events are for you.
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.
This initiative brings industry experts into the 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).
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.
These events 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
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.
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Focus groups
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Hackathons
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Case studies
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Business Consultation
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Access to relevant courses and workshops
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Resource Libraries
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Market Research
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Mentorship
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P2P roundtables
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Demonstration days
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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.