Launch your business into the real world

The Campus2Market Launch cohort begins in May, with some pre-training sessions leading up to the core program. The core program will run virtually from June 1 to August 31. The program concludes with a Demo Day at Dalhousie University, Halifax, in September.

Applications open  –  November 4, 2026

Applications close  –  January 12, 2027

Acceptance confirmed by  –  February 2027

Orientation and Pre-training Session  –  May 20, 2027

Kick off Event (in person) at Dalhousie University  –  May 27, 2026

Core Program  –  June 1, 2027 to August 31, 2027

Demo day (in person) –  September 2027 (Date TBD)

• The applicant must be a current student or a recent graduate (i.e. graduated within the past two years as of June 2027) of an Atlantic Canadian academic institute.
• The program is funded, in part, through the Mitacs Business Strategy Internship (BSI) program. As a result, the lead applicant must be eligible for Mitacs funding and participate full-time to qualify for the stipend.
• Each team must have a faculty supervisor willing to support their application. This faculty member must be eligible to hold Tri-Council funding to facilitate the disbursement of funds to the team. The faculty advisor is not required to attend any program sessions unless they are also one of the applicants.
• Founders are expected to commit a minimum of 30 hours per week to their startup throughout the program, plus complete 3-5 hours of synchronous programming each week, and must be present at the in-person Kick-Off Day in May and Demo Day in September. 
• Teams must have some understanding of the entrepreneurial process and must demonstrate familiarity with common frameworks (Lean Startup, Business Model Canvas, etc.).
• Teams should have done a minimum of 30 initial customer discovery interviews to validate their idea and be able to provide evidence to support their claims.
• Each venture dedicated to a specific idea can undergo the Launch program only once.

In advance of filling out the online application, please prepare to respond to the following: 

• Your team (+ faculty info) 
• Your idea 
• The problem you are trying to solve, and what inspired you to solve this problem 
• Your proposed solution, and why you believe this solution might support a sustainable, stand-alone business. 
• A 3 minute video submission on your venture and what you hope to get out of Campus2Market Launch.  

Applications are reviewed by a team of evaluators. Shortlisted teams will be invited to interview with us during the review phase and will be confirmed in February.  

Notes:

1. You cannot save your application and complete sections at a later date. We recommend you prepare answers to the longer questions in a separate document and copy/paste when ready to submit. Once the form has been submitted, no changes can be made.

2. Applications should be written in a manner that does not reveal any proprietary information or disclose information that is not yet publicly disclosed or covered by a patent/provisional patent. Consider any information that you disclose to be non-confidential. 

3. Don’t worry about being too formal in your video submission – we want to see the real you! Just be yourself and let your passion shine through. For the video submission, you will submit a Zoom recording or a video recorded on your phone.