Dal Innovates turns promising ideas into revenue-generating businesses

They’ve also founded promising new companies developed and launched through the Halifax-based university’s Dal Innovates initiative.

“The reason I came to Canada is because of Dalhousie’s reputation for research and development,” says Dr. Kempaiah, who came from the University of Chicago where he pursued his PhD in battery technology.

Noting that Dalhousie is a world centre for battery technology, Dr. Kempaiah says it was the ideal place for him to found Zen Energy – a battery maker for e-bikes and other two-wheeled vehicles. Dal Innovates programs like Lab2Market Launch, Emera ideaHUB and Creative Destruction Lab-Atlantic give entrepreneurs like Dr. Kempaiah the support they need to turn promising ideas into revenue-generating businesses.

Similarly, Dr. Andrade credits Dal Innovates’ programs for helping turn her post-doctoral research in biomedical engineering into Myomar Molecular Inc., offering the world’s first diagnostic tool for muscle degeneration.

Their success illustrates how Dal Innovates’ three-staged innovation ecosystem – Explore, Grow and Venture – supports promising researchers, providing mentorship and infrastructure to launch successful enterprises.

“Dal Innovates is not so much about creating companies as it is about developing people with the skills and desire to make a bigger impact, transforming their ingenuity into tangible reality,” says Jeff Larsen, assistant vice-president of innovation and entrepreneurship at Dalhousie.

The fruits of those efforts are on display this month during Dalhousie Innovation Week.

‘If they see it, they can be it’

Running September 16 to 21, Dalhousie Innovation Week showcases Dal Innovates’ suite of programs and the work of the school’s students and researchers, who have turned their ideas into growing businesses contributing to Nova Scotia’s and Canada’s economies.

“It’s a full circle event where we showcase newly launched enterprises from the previous year for arriving new students,” Mr. Larsen says. “It’s an ‘if they can see it, they can be it’ approach to inspiring the next generation of innovators.”

Researchers-turned-entrepreneurs like Dr. Andrade are indeed demonstrating how hard work in the lab can be transformed into marketable technology to improve the lives of others.

The company already has a lab-based test and Health Canada approvals. By next year, Myomar Molecular will have a “pee-on-a-stick” test in drugstores for people to use at home. Normally, muscle loss is monitored with expensive imaging systems like an MRI or CT scan, Dr. Andrade says. But this product, which measures biomarkers in urine, works like a home pregnancy test, allowing clinicians, personal trainers and individual patients to monitor muscle damage, recovery and overall health simply and easily.

Without Dal Innovates, she says the enterprise would not be where it is today.

“I am a scientist doing research to improve people’s lives – not a businessperson,” says Dr. Andrade, who came to Dalhousie from Brazil. “But Dal Innovates gave me the skills to translate my research into a business.”

Recently awarded the Mitacs Outstanding Entrepreneur Award, Dr. Andrade is now seeing her fledgling firm take flight amid growing opportunities. That includes working with the Canadian Olympic speedskating team. As well, Myomar Molecular recently won a competition to develop muscle strength testing for the Canadian Space Agency.

Dal Innovates programs including the Emera ideaHUB – part of the ‘Grow’ stage – provided the space, equipment and mentorship for Dr. Andrade to build prototype products.

And the Creative Destruction Lab – the ‘Venture’ stage – “exposed the company to investors interested in technology that could have a meaningful impact for society,” she adds. “They invested early on, allowing me to build the business to where it is today.”

The impacts have been significant, Mr. Larsen says. “Over the last seven years, companies coming through the Creative Destruction Lab at Dalhousie have raised over a quarter of a billion dollars.”

From lab bench to factory floor

Dr. Kempaiah notes Dal Innovates ‘Explore’ stage programs for helping sharpen Zen’s focus to develop a product with the greatest likelihood of success.

“Lab2Market Launch, for example, was a great experience because we were first an electric bike company but realized through this program that scaling up to manufacture e-bikes would be very challenging,” he says. “It helped me look at the bigger picture.”

Mentorship and other support from Dalhousie researchers like Drs. Jeff Dahn and Chris Burns, two world-renowned battery technology scientists, have also been instrumental. Dr. Dahn’s groundbreaking work is partially funded by electric vehicle giant Tesla, and Dr. Burns co-founded NOVONIX, a maker of high-performance, rechargeable batteries that’s listed on the NASDAQ.

Their research and mentorship helped shape Zen’s biggest new venture: a removable battery pack for two- and three-wheel vehicles. It’s a massive addressable market, Dr. Kempaiah adds, with about 300 million of these vehicles in Asia and Africa alone and only about two per cent are electric.

Now, Zen is poised to bring that battery technology to the world with a massive manufacturing facility set to open in India in large part due to the support of Dal Innovates programs.

It’s not just Zen and Myomar; the Dal Innovates network has supported thousands of students and supported nearly 500 ventures, Mr. Larsen says. These companies are making the leap from lab bench to factory floor, demonstrating how Dal Innovates is helping bridge the innovation gap that has for years hampered research and development in Canada, he adds.

“Canada has long been a global leader for research but struggled commercializing it. Dal Innovates is changing that, one innovative company at a time.”

To learn more about Dal Innovates, including investment opportunities, visit dalinnovates.ca.