Meet Permjot Valia, Your Summer 2021 Path2Innovation Facilitator

Applications are now open for the Summer 2021 Path2Innovation program. In preparation, we caught up with Permjot Valia, an experienced investor, and dynamic leader in the start-up space. Permjot will be our facilitator for the program and is guaranteed to pique your interests on core subject matter and spark lively discussions with the group. You won’t want to miss the chance to learn the value of entrepreneurial thinking from a mind like Permjot.

Tell us a little bit about what brings you to Path2Innovation

I started investing in start-ups about 20 years ago. Through investing and a long career in working with start-ups, I’ve learned lots of lessons about the fundamentals that companies based on research, coming out of universities need to learn. I’m an Economist by background and sit on the board of some great companies in both Nova Scotia and in my place of birth, London. I’m the co-founder of Flight and Partners, a London based fund manager, with $50m under active management. I’ve worked with universities around the world, and I assure you, my passion and enjoyment for working in this space will become clear within the first 10 minutes of our meeting.

What do you enjoy most about facilitating the Path2Innovation program?

I love working with very smart people. I love working with people where I get to learn just as much as I am teaching. Path2Innovation allows me to do that. The inventions and ideas many of the participants are working on is simply awesome and very exciting to learn from. I also like the intense nature of the program. It enables great relationships to develop even over a medium like Zoom.

What topic do you most look forward to exploring with the Path2Innovation cohort?

I like the first topic which looks at the factors that can drive your idea to become successful. It starts everyone thinking about the big picture and where their idea fits in and how they can ‘pitch’ the idea as part of an answer to a macro trend.

In your experience, what does it take to be successful in the Path2Innovation program?

I hope to find individuals who approach the course with enthusiasm and a willingness to learn new things. I try to make the course as interactive as possible and having a high level of engagement makes it great fun for everyone.

Path2Innovation is supported by the Government of Canada through the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency and delivered by Dal Innovates. Applications for Path2Innovation are now open and will remain so until July 19th, 2021. 

Sign up for our newsletter and stay up to date with Dal Innovates.

About Dalhousie University

Dalhousie is the only East Coast member of Canada’s U15, the country’s leading group of research-intensive universities. With more than 250 million dollars in annual research funding, we are Atlantic Canada’s engine of discovery and innovation. Anchored in Halifax, Nova Scotia, with additional agricultural and medical campuses and academic and clinical programs across the province and beyond, we drive positive change in the communities we serve locally, nationally, and around the world. Our faculty work within a highly collaborative research community supported by major infrastructure, including Canada’s largest aquatic research facility and advanced platforms accelerating discoveries in health and the physical sciences. Researchers contribute to and benefit from a growing network of centres, institutes, and hubs driving discovery and industry partnership in areas like battery innovation and clean technologies, carbon capture and storage, additive manufacturing, AI and semiconductors, vaccine and immunotherapy development, genomics, cancer treatment, and much more.

Tell us what you’re looking for: