Our innovation ecosystem depends on you

Our students and programs couldn’t do it without the community partners who provide advice, support and expertise in everything from maker spaces and materials, to legal advice, financing and hands-on help.

Funders/Donors

Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency

ACOA is working with ecosystem partners and high-potential firms to make Atlantic Canada a hotbed for successful innovation-based startups. The Agency supports organizations that provide programing to help founders accelerate and commercialize innovations through mentorship, technical knowledge, operational experience, access to capital, and a network of professionals ready to support and guide them through each stage of growth.

Mitacs

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Morrison Park

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Build Ventures

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Ecosystem Partners

I-INC

The Incubate Innovate Network of Canada (I-INC) is a pan-Canadian, internationally connected network of high-performance university-linked accelerators and incubators. I-INC creates an ecosystem for the efficient commercialization of university-based and science and technology-enabled innovation. Founded in 2014, the network has expanded to include 13 universities across Canada.

Invest Nova Scotia

Invest Nova Scotia offers programs, services, advice, and other resources that Nova Scotia companies need to grow. Start-ups are a key focus area for the organization, supporting them through venture capital, incubation facilities, expert advice, and other acceleration initiatives. Invest Nova Scotia’s venture capital fund targets deep technology opportunities at the angel through Series A stages.

Volta

Volta is one of Canada’s largest startup hubs, located in downtown Halifax, Nova Scotia. We are focused on early-stage tech founders and their teams in Atlantic Canada. Our goal is to help more founders drastically improve the probability of building a high-growth start-up. We do that by providing tailored support that helps founders implement proven methods into deliberate practice. Since being founded in 2013, Volta’s alumni and residents have raised over $374 Million and have created 3,200+ jobs. Learn more at www.voltaeffect.com.

Tribe Network

Tribe Network is a community of racialized people pursuing entrepreneurship and innovation in Canada. We advance inclusive entrepreneurship and innovation by providing our members access to relevant resources where they can connect, work and learn.

Futurpreneur

Futurpreneur is a national, non-profit organization that provides collateral-free financing, mentorship and resources to diverse young entrepreneurs, aged 18-39, looking to start, acquire or grow their businesses in Canada. With a mandate to help young entrepreneurs bring their business ideas to life, Futurpreneur provides bilingual (English and French) support and resources to help business owners start and succeed. 

Springboard Atlantic

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Ulnoweeg Foundation

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Creative Destruction Lab

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Emera ideaHUB

Unique in Atlantic Canada and one of only a few early-stage deep tech incubators in Canada, the Emera ideaHUB welcomes diverse founders to access the resources, expertise, and connections they need to innovate. As an incubator for physical product innovation, we bring the right mix of hands-on support, immersive workshops, and industry partnerships to each founder we welcome into our space.

IDEA

Hosted by the Faculty of Engineering: IDEA is a multidisciplinary initiative that integrates NSCAD Design with the Faculty of Engineering and the Rowe School of Business at Dalhousie University. IDEA is built around project based learning and provides workshops, mentorship, and experiential learning opportunities for students to explore engineering, design, making, and manufacturing. IDEA helps everyone develop a personal toolbox of skills to support any career path. 

Surge

SURGE is Dalhousie’s Innovation Science Sandbox. We offer a range of programs that give students real life applications of the science knowledge they receive in the classroom. We focus on skills necessary to succeed in the 21st century — a world full of major challenges and rapid change. SURGE provides applied training in the skills needed to develop innovative solutions to real problems, and make those solutions a reality through entrepreneurship, social enterprise, not-for-profits, or other means.

Pulse

Pulse is a network of health professionals who are working together to translate innovative ideas into real impact. Pulse helps create, develop, and scale ideas and projects by offering educational, experiential, advisory, and funding opportunities in the aging, medtech, therapeutic, and social health innovation spaces.

ShiftKey Labs

ShiftKey Labs is a Nova Scotian sandbox focused on computer science and technology. Based in the Faculty of Computer Science at Dalhousie University, ShiftKey aims to offer students across the province chances to experiment with innovation and entrepreneurship in a safe environment. To this end, ShiftKey offers three broad types of programming: technical skills development, career development training and early-stage startup support. From hackathons to 1-on-1 startup coaching sessions, ShiftKey is there for any student with idea and the drive to do something with it. By working directly with students, ShiftKey aims to create strong talent for Nova Scotia’s growing tech industry, thereby making a positive impact on the economic future of Atlantic Canada.

Cultiv8

The Cultiv8 interactive and interdisciplinary sandbox inspires and supports Dalhousie Agriculture students to build competencies through multidisciplinary innovation and entrepreneurship exercises that focus on strong communication, creativity, and collaborative problem-solving in the food and agriculture space. Our students are enabling the businesses they own or work for to make better decisions and improve efficiencies while encouraging sustainable agriculture problems.

Mindframe Connect

MindFrame Connect is a Canadian not-for-profit focused on upskilling Canadians by providing access to expert training, resources, and tools designed to improve performance. MindFrame Connect was started to solve current gaps in the Canadian entrepreneurial ecosystem. The program is focused on the psychology of entrepreneurship – the resilience, mindset and grit required to succeed, as well as exploring what it means to be a mentor/leader in the current innovation economy, and the skills required to be effective. Everything MindFrame Connect offers provides a refined, practical view on improving one’s ability to perform and is developed and vetted by entrepreneurs and mentors.
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Oceans - CDL
Work with mentors active in the ocean industry to sharpen objectives, prioritize time and resources, raise capital and engage with experts.

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