Each fall holds immense promise at Ivey and Western as students begin their academic journey, and our hope is that their horizons, and limitations are challenged every day.
In the last few months, we have seen those results in very tangible ways. This September, we hosted our largest edition of the Entrepreneurship Bootcamp with a variety of alums, and students from across Western. For many of them, this was their first interaction with entrepreneurship, and we trust that the experience has changed the way they see the world; its problems and opportunities.
Additionally, we recently had a three-fold increase in applications for our Graduate Student Innovation Scholars, which helps develop expertise in entrepreneurship, commercialization and knowledge transfer for graduate students involved in research.
Our New Venture Program has attracted over 200 students in the MBA and HBA sections. With the final presentations scheduled for late-November, I look forward to thanking many of our Entrepreneurs-in-Residence, who make all of this possible, and relevant for our students.
I’ve also had the opportunity to get involved with our Ivey Entrepreneur Podcast, and you can listen to the latest episode with QuantumShifter Matt Phillips of Phillips Brewing and Malting Co. A special thanks to Eric Janssen, HBA ’09 for really pushing this initiative forward. It has been very enjoyable for all of us involved, and we’ve got great feedback from our listeners. We have a great line-up for the winter and spring, so stay tuned.
With the growing relationship between Ivey and Western, we took an important step in forging together our two Advisory Boards. We have some major opportunities and challenges as we continue expanding entrepreneurship across campus, and I’m very happy to have the support and strategic insights of our combined Western Entrepreneurship Advisory Board.
Speaking of Western, we will be celebrating Global Entrepreneurship Week throughout campus between November 18-25, 2019, with workshops, speaker events, startup showcases, and a major hackathon.
We are also looking forward to our Ivey Business Plan Competition Weekend on January 24-25, 2020. It’s an annual highlight for many of our students and alumni judges, as we meet aspiring entrepreneurs from across Canada, the U.S., and beyond. If your interested in knowing how you can be involved, please feel free to contact the institute through iveyentre@ivey.ca