Stu Clark Webinar Series

Currently Playing: Stu Clark Webinar: You are not alone! Get Connected to Your Entrepreneurial Community

It takes a village to raise an entrepreneur and there are many organizations that can help you on your journey. In this panel discussion, meet some of the key players in the Manitoba entrepreneurial support ecosystem as they share their thoughts on effectively launching a business and share some of the valuable support programs available to help you bring your breakthrough ideas to the market. Meet the panelists: Yvette Shang – Senior Advisor, MITACS Mitacs is a national, not-for-profit organization that designs and delivers research and training programs in Canada. It connects industry and academia to further research, addresses the needs of small- and medium-sized enterprises and fosters the overall growth and success of Canada’s innovation ecosystem. Yvette’s job is to promote research and innovation through building partnerships between industry, community, and academia. At the same time, creating new businesses and internship opportunities to retain talent and advance economic growth in Canada. Yvette obtained her PhD in the field of integrative biology from the University of Manitoba. Darren Fast – Director, Partnerships and Innovation Office The Partnerships and Innovation office works toward increasing the number of partnerships between our researchers and groups outside the University of Manitoba and moving inventions from research labs into practical applications that can be used around the world. Dr. Fast joined the University of Manitoba as director of the Partnerships and Innovation in 2012. He has over 20 years of experience assessing and moving research-based technologies into the private sector as well as facilitating collaborative research partnerships with industry. Brenda Frisk – Head, Lab2Market West Lab2Market MB (L2M MB) is a 16-week program to help researchers validate their ideas with the purpose of finding business/commercial value, and then bring those ideas from the lab to market. Whitney Moir – Program and Communications Director, North Forge North Forge Technology Exchange – an incubator accelerator and a powerhouse entrepreneur community fuelling Manitoba’s innovative science-based, technology-enabled, and advanced manufacturing startups. Whitney Moir is the Program and Communications Director of North Forge Technology Exchange, an incubator accelerator and innovation partner for the Province of Manitoba. Whitney has had various roles in North Forge since joining in 2019, and now oversees the four-stage Founders Program, the Startup Visa Program, communications, and marketing as well as special projects.