Lab2Market Oceans welcomes 22 new ocean tech ventures

ST JOHN’S, NL (September 21, 2021) – The Ocean Startup Project announces 22 new teams kicking off year two of the Lab2Market Oceans program in 2021. Lab2Market Oceans teams are made up of researchers from academic institutions across Canada, faculty supervisors and industry mentors. The teams will work closely with a group of instructors who will provide feedback and coaching as they undertake the seven week program. 

During this intensive seven-week program, each team will take part in a training bootcamp, followed by five weeks of customer discovery and finish off with technical and business development workshops. Additionally, each team will receive $15,000 to support them throughout the process. By the end of the program, the teams will have the skills and experience needed to support the commercialization of research outcomes. 

“It is really exciting for Canada’s ocean sector to see so many teams coming together to commercialize ocean research,” said Don Grant, Executive Director at the Ocean Startup Project. “We’re seeing so much momentum in the ocean sector, including having some of last year’s Lab2Market Oceans founders on our 2021 Ocean Startup Challenge shortlist. We are on our way to making Canada the best place in the world to start, grow and foster ocean tech startups.” 

This year’s recruitment process led to a 45% increase in overall applications, along with a 50% increase in women faculty leads, almost doubling last year’s numbers. Students from Memorial University, Dalhousie University, Saint Mary’s University, University of New Brunswick, McGill University, Ontario Tech, York University, University of Alberta, and University of Lethbridge are participating in this cohort. 

The teams from these academic institutions are innovating sustainable solutions across all ocean sectors including, but not limited to, engineering, computer science, oceanography, and biosciences. Their research spans from marine oil spill management, microplastic sensors, to developing vaccines for fish and seafood waste recycling technology

“Memorial University is thrilled to once again host the national Lab2Market Oceans program in partnership with the Ocean Startup Project. With more than 40% of our research related to oceans, Memorial is at the forefront of ocean innovation and ready to develop highly-skilled entrepreneurs in this growing sector,” said Dr. Paula Mendonça, director of innovation and entrepreneurship with Memorial’s Technology Transfer and Commercialization Office. “After completing this seven-week program, participants will have the skills needed to explore their research ideas in a new way and identify new commercial opportunities.”

Teams in 2021 Lab2Market Oceans:

• University of Lethbridge, Allos Bio-Sensor
• Memorial University, Antioxidant Alternative
• York University, Bioinspired Unconventional Decontamination (BUD)
• University of Alberta, Cold Spray 
• Memorial University, Compound Connect Microplastics
• McGill University, Crustacean Upcycle 
• Memorial University, Fish Vaccines
• Memorial University, Green Crab Products
• University of Alberta, In-situ Sensor
• Memorial University, Magnetic Particles
• Memorial University, Ocean Wave Energy
• Memorial University, Oil-eating Fungus
• Dalhousie University, QUOREM
• Saint Mary’s University, ReCircle
• Memorial University, Salmon Collagen
• Dalhousie University, Scient 
• Memorial University, Sea Cage Impact
• Memorial University, Sea Ice Monitoring
• University of New Brunswick, Seabed Mapping
• University of Alberta, Smart Building
• Ontario Tech, Wastewater System
• Memorial University, Wind Predict

About Lab2Market and Lab2Market Oceans

Lab2Market was conceived as a four-month program to offer researchers access to world-class mentors, a community of like-minded entrepreneurs, and $15,000 in funding. To address the lack of deeptech entrepreneurship programs and support researchers at Canadian universities, the Innovate-Incubate Network of Canada (I-INC) developed the Lab2Market pilot program and partnered with VentureWell, an organization delivering a similar program in the United States. The program is developed and led by Dalhousie University, Memorial University, the University of Manitoba and Ryerson University. Supporters include the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA), FedDev, Western Economic Diversification Canada (WD), and Mitacs.

Lab2Market Oceans is a seven-week, ocean-focused version of the pilot program, involving original supporters like ACOA and Mitacs, with additional funding or support from Canada’s Ocean Supercluster, the Ocean Startup Project, and Springboard Atlantic. Lab2Market Oceans aims to be a world-class ocean research commercialization program. For more information, visit lab2market.ca.

The Ocean Startup Project inspires, initiates and invests to make Canada the best place in the world to start and grow an ocean tech business. The project team creates and delivers activities to support ideation through commercialization, for innovators and entrepreneurs from industry to academia. As a co-funded, pan-Atlantic collaboration, the Ocean Startup Project offerings complement existing industry accelerators, incubators and other support organizations across Canada’s world-class innovation ecosystem. Together with its founding partners – Creative Destruction Lab (CDL), Genesis, Innovacorp, New Brunswick Innovation Foundation, PEI BioAlliance and Springboard Atlantic – the Ocean Startup Project seeks to accelerate how homegrown startups get their technologies to market and attract international companies to Canada’s shores.