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Becoming an entrepreneur takes a lot of ambition. The best time to start was yesterday. The next best time to start is May 5!

The ‘Master the Entrepreneur Skillset’ is a six-week online program that will introduce you to the tools and mindset required to succeed as an entrepreneur. You do not need an idea or a pre-existing team to join the program. Just an open mind and a willingness to learn and explore your full potential. For a limited time, our program is being offered for free to Western alumni, students, faculty, and staff (all tuition and fees waived). Space is limited. Sign-up today to claim your spot.

Our team has compiled a list of funding opportunities to help combat the impacts of COVID-19. This list will be updated as opportunities become available.

The Ontario government has set up an Expert Panel on Intellectual Property with the mandate of the panel being to protect home-grown innovation and maximize commercialization. The panel is looking at various opportunities to improve in the post-secondary education sector including at incubators, accelerators, technology transfer offices, and innovation centres.

The panel is looking to make recommendations to the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities to improve the generation and commercialization of research and intellectual property.

By Debora Van Brenk

For Duncan Hunter, it has all been worth the wait – and now the university community gets to join in the celebration.

The Chemistry professor emeritus – a researcher who “exemplifies what it means to be an innovator” – has been named the 2019 Vanguard Innovator of the Year for his work in developing the cancer drug Azedra. Celebrated at an event Monday afternoon, the annual honour is presented by WORLDiscoveries.

“Of course, I am very excited – I am so pleased to receive the honour, but I am even more pleased that people are going to be receiving the drug the honour celebrates,” Hunter said.

The Western Medical Innovation Fellowship (MIF) immerses talented young scientists, engineers and clinicians in training and research environments that build innovation leaders and create novel medical technologies. Now at the end of their 10.5 month program, the 2018-19 Western Medical Innovation Fellows are looking to move onto their next adventure – entrepreneurship. As part of their program, the fellows consulted with clinicians across the local healthcare industry and developed two projects to address needs they discovered throughout the process that fit within their areas of expertise. These two projects are being spun-off into two London-based innovative medical startups thanks to the support of BURST, an incubation program for high-potential medical technology startups through the TechAlliance of Southwestern Ontario.

A plan to bring to market a revolutionary device to help premature babies – and their parents – breathe easier placed a team of Western and McMaster students among those earning top honours at the Proteus Innovation Competition.

Developed by McMaster University, the artificial placenta is a medical device that attaches to the blood vessels in the baby’s umbilical cord after delivery to help get the oxygen they need. The baby’s own heart pumps their blood through the artificial placenta, where oxygen is then introduced into the blood through the air before being returned back into the baby’s body.

Duncan Hunter chokes up a little when it is suggested that work he began at Western three decades ago will now, finally, be applied to saving hundreds of lives. “It’s a good thing,” said the Chemistry professor emeritus after a long pause. “It took 30 years and had its ups and downs. So, yes, it’s emotional.”

Last week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the use of Azedra, a new compound developed by Progenics Pharmaceuticals Inc., for patients with rare tumours of the adrenal glands.

By Paul Mayne

Make it another innovation-and-commercialization win for PhD candidate Patrick McCunn and Alex Moszcynski, PhD’17.

After taking one of the top spots in last year’s Proteus Innovation Competition with their plans to commercialize a cloud-based data collection app, the pair returned this year and teamed up with PhD candidate Adam Paish to win yet again – this time, tackling the marketability of a Western-developed tool to improve precision and efficiency in joint replacement.