The College of Toronto has been acknowledged as one of many prime 5 college enterprise incubators on the earth by UBI World in its newest world benchmark examine.
In its 2021-2022 examine, UBI World – a Swedish-based innovation intelligence firm with greater than 1,000 member organizations – assessed 1895 organizations from 90 international locations.
The highest organizations have been benchmarked throughout 21 key efficiency indicators in opposition to their international friends primarily based on the worth they supply to their innovation ecosystems and consumer startups.
“The UBI rating is a reinforcement of all the nice work that so many U of T college students, college and alumni entrepreneurs have been doing,” says Jon French, director of College of Toronto Entrepreneurship, the umbrella group for the incubators, accelerators and entrepreneurship packages throughout U of T’s three campuses. “It’s a recognition of how we fare in opposition to the most effective on the earth.”
The rating is especially notable, French provides, since UBI is likely one of the solely organizations analyzing each financial and social impression in its international evaluation of the post-secondary entrepreneurship house.
“The strategy that UBI takes is sort of holistic – they measure exhausting metrics, together with funding raised and jobs created, however in addition they check out standards equivalent to the place the mentor community is coming from and the way engaged the college’s alumni are,” French says, noting that U of T scored excessive on all such indicators within the UBI report and takes satisfaction in supporting innovators in any respect levels of their journey – everybody from idea-stage scholar entrepreneurs to college members and PhD researchers searching for to commercialize their work.
Over the previous decade, U of T entrepreneurs have created greater than 600 venture-backed corporations and secured greater than $2.5 billion in funding. U of T Entrepreneurship, for its half, helps present and aspiring entrepreneurs by offering: co-working, assembly and occasion areas; mentorship and advisory helps; pitch competitions and prizes; and entry to investor networks to safe funding.
U of T’s community of campus acccelerators and incubators within the Better Toronto Space are presently supporting greater than 500 groups engaged on potential startups.
“It will be important that our entrepreneurs have a way of group – they’re surrounded by like-minded people who find themselves enthusiastic about innovation and turning concepts and alternatives into corporations,” French says. “Throughout the 10-plus campus accelerators on our three campuses, we presently have over 500 groups which are engaged on tasks that might develop into corporations.”
UBI’s world benchmark examine is a third-party evaluation, primarily based on a complete survey, that analyzes the impression and efficiency of enterprise incubators and accelerators from 4 sectors: college, public, non-public and company. Its framework for evaluation was developed in collaboration with an advisory board comprising innovation thought leaders and trade specialists.
Different Canadian universities additionally ranked extremely of their classes within the UBI report, together with incubators from McGill College, York College, Memorial College and École de technologie supérieure.
Most of the U of T-backed success tales flagged for the UBI survey stemmed from the college’s energy in modern analysis fields equivalent to quantum computing, biotech, clear tech, superior manufacturing and machine studying. Particularly, French factors to the current announcement of $40 million in federal funding for U of T startup Xanadu Quantum Applied sciences – an alumnus of the Artistic Destruction Lab (CDL) on the Rotman Faculty of Administration that was based by former U of T post-doctoral physics researcher Christian Weedbrook – and the greater than 150 ventures supported yearly by the Well being Innovation Hub (H2i).
French famous that U of T’s dedication to entrepreneurship is longstanding, with a number of incubators and accelerators lately celebrating their 10-year anniversaries. They embody CDL, The Hatchery on the School of Utilized Science & Engineering and the UTEST accelerator.
“And now after we take a look at the brand new Schwartz Reisman Innovation Campus near opening on the St. George campus, that’s once more an instance of U of T doubling down on how vital innovation and entrepreneurship are to the college,” he says.
U of T’s world-leading innovation community – which incorporates U of T Scarborough’s The Hub and The Bridge, in addition to U of T Mississauga’s ICUBE – will probably be showcased throughout Entrepreneurship Week from March 6 to 9, that includes greater than 15 free in-person, hybrid and digital public occasions to show, encourage and have fun entrepreneurship on campus.
One flagship occasion returning in-person for the primary time in three years is the True Blue Expo on March 9, the place greater than 40 U of T startups, accelerators and group companions will probably be sharing data on their services and products.
“We’ll be highlighting groundbreaking corporations throughout Entrepreneurship Week, together with these led by ladies founders and startups linked to our Black Founders Community,” French says. “All three campuses are represented – it’s actually a snapshot of what makes U of T entrepreneurship so particular.”
