Resources & Funding
Information for Startups
This section lists:
- Relevant university programs
- Innovation ecosystem resources and funding programs
- Policies and tools
University Programs
- Cultiv8 Sandbox, Faculty of Agriculture
- Shiftkey Labs Sandbox, Faculty of Computer Science
- SURGE Sandbox, Faculty of Science
- IDEA Sandbox, Faculty of Engineering
- Creative Destruction Lab, Faculty of Management
- The Norman Newman Centre for Entrepreneurship, Faculty of Management
- Emera IdeaHUB
Innovation Ecosystem Resources
Dal Innovates
The Dal Innovates website links to Dalhousie-specific resources as well as other innovation ecosystem supports. These include (but are not limited to):
- Lab2Market
- Innovacorp Early Stage Commercialization Fund
- Atlantic Canadian Opportunities Agency (ACOA)
- NSERC’s Idea2Innovation (I2I) *
- Springboard Atlantic *
* = must be applied for by Dalhousie University and require IP assignment. IP Assignment is managed by OCIE.
Mitacs Accelerate Entrepreneur (E-Accelerate)
The Mitacs Accelerate Entrepreneur program supports graduate student/post-doctoral fellow (PDF) entrepreneurs whose start-ups are hosted in an eligible incubator facility. In such cases, the graduate student or PDF will receive up to $15,000 per 4-6 months of work spent on a research project focused on their entrepreneurial initiative.
Check out the full list of eligible incubators in Canada at the Mitacs website.
Policies & Tools
Intellectual Property Transfer Agreements (IPTAs)
Intellectual Property Transfer Agreements are used when the original owner of IP decides to transfer (i.e. assign) that IP to another party. Generally speaking, Dalhousie operates on a creator-owned IP practice. As a result, researchers usually own the IP they generate unless they transfer or grant rights to either a third party or Dalhousie to fulfill a contractual obligation. If there’s an interest to commercialize the technology with Dalhousie, the OCIE will manage the associated IP protection (usually patenting), licensing, and commercialization activity.
Dalhousie uses the specially-designed IPTA for spin-off companies in cases where Dal inventors intend to create their own company but first require commercialization support from the university for their IP (e.g. IP protection, commercialization funding sources, and other commercialization advice). Upon termination of the Spin-off IPTA and recovery of direct costs, the IP can be reassigned to the inventors in exchange for 2% equity in the spin-off company and a promise to pay it forward. If there’s a successful liquidity event, the university re-invests this value back into OCIE’s patent legal fund, which then supports the next opportunity for patenting, licensing and commercialization within the Dalhousie research community.
Conflict of Interest Policy
A conflict of interest exists when the personal interests of a university member contradict the member’s obligation to uphold the interests and mission of the university.
Learn more on the Office of Research Services website