Launchpad
Where ideas take flight & your future begins
Ready to launch?
Our flagship program empowers students and post-docs from all faculties and departments to become founders and changemakers in their fields. Through Launchpad, participants will bolster their resumes with early career experience as they build key entrepreneurial thinking skills.
Participants focus on skill-building & learning entrepreneurial thinking skills
Receive personalized coaching and mentorship
Launchpad culminates in the Liftoff! pitch competition with cash prizes
What is Launchpad?
Launchpad is a six-month co-curricular program aimed at building entrepreneurial thinking skills in undergraduates, graduate students, post-docs, and researchers from every faculty at the University of Calgary. Individuals and teams with a social venture or startup idea are encouraged to apply for the program in September.
Through a series of weekly Skills Clinics, workshops with coaches, an interactive online learning system, and a final pitch competition (Launchpad Liftoff!) in March, participants are able to hone their entrepreneurial skills to make an impact in their respective industries and fields of study.
The Launchpad program teams are supported with additional relevant workshops alongside the weekly presentations and have a dedicated coach to help create their Entrepreneurial Journey Plan, which contains the key deliverables they will build throughout the course.
Application Deadline
September 29, 2024
Program Start Date
October 3, 2024
Program End Date
March 28, 2025
2024 Launchpad Winners
RespiraLink clinched the top spot thanks to its pioneering product, COPDWatch, a Class II medical device that enables patients to take proactive control of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Caitlin Calder-Bellamy, Behina Tabatabaei, Dr. Matthew Fung, and Faith Luu, among others, demonstrated the power of interdisciplinary teamwork in showcasing the device's value.
Past Winners
Celebrating the success of past Liftoff! winners.
Witnessing tomorrow’s leading ventures today at Liftoff!
The Liftoff! pitch competition showcases the top ventures from the Launchpad program.
Entrepreneurial Thinking Month strikes a chord as startup ideas pour in from across UCalgary campus
Hunter Hub marks milestone month of exploring innovative solutions, pitching concepts, and networking
UCalgary community pitches innovative startup ideas at Launchpad Liftoff Competition
Seven teams participate in competition, with sustainable technologies startup Neocycle winning the grand prize
Liftoff! Alum
First PlacE: RespiraLink
Caitlin Calder-Bellamy, Behina Tabatabaei, Matthew Fung, Faith Luu
Audience Choice Award: Munitora Livestock Management Solutions
Luiz Felipe Gama Di Grado, Ana Clara Perrone, David San Kim, Diogo Jose Notario Guaitolini
CraftXR
Farzana Aktar, Hamza Afzaal, Yash Terase, Ryan Mabley
Glacial Armour
Aylin Habibiyan, Majid Mohseni
iResuscitate Consulting
Jennifer Bacon, Ian Blanchard, Taylan Cicek, Liam Harrison, Ryan Lee, Jeanine Zotzman
CardGuru
Michael Ocenar, Elvin Limpin
Vitalize
Risat Haque, Catherine Betancourt Lee, Jay Gurjar, Amy Miller, Rishabh Ruhela
Younme
Jay Chang, Yu-ming Chang
First Place: Autosoles
Hady Ahmed, Kyle Wu, Nashid Islam, Steven Ma
Audience Choice Award: Equusense
Nathalie Drzewiecki, Elian Dupre Sarmiento, Hamza Syed, Peter Shmerko, Ryan Baker
Advocacy and Innovation in Child Prosthetics (AICP) Foundation
Brandon Pentz, Devjyoti Dutta, Hemanth Veeraghanta
PELTA
Christian Aguilar, Gabriel Vanorio Cilento, Harsh Shah, Jay Chang, Long Tran, Rod Babic
Finberry
Haseeb Khan, Brooke Mitchell, Gary Wu, Hassan Tariq, Daniel Long
Hidden Gemz
Ranique Mclaughlin, Evan Lester, Arian Haghighat
Assemble Health
Winston Cheung, Brandon Pentz, Tina Wong
Climate Change Materials
Cigdem Demirkaya, Anna Ulrich, Jesus Guayaquil Sosa, Paola Herrera
First Place: Neocycle
Subasthika Thangadurai, Arshia Mostoufi, Ramin Kahidi
Audience Choice Award: ZOHRBS
Ameer Hashim Cheema, Syed Osaid Abdullah, Bilal Rauf, Rashidul Islam, Zain Kamran, Sahil Nazari
Dexpert Rehab
Michael Francis, Omar Al-Ghabari, Nizar Abdul-Halim, Maaz Ishtiaq, Hamza Mubarik, Luca Romano
MRKS Aviation
Michael Nikitenko; Reece Stefanyshyn; Kevin Le; Sheldon Glowatski
Packsy
Paijani Sheth, Meghana Kompally, Neel Marella
Serenity Solutions
Aditya Verma, Kunj Patel, Steven Duong, Puneet Kaushal, Utkarsh Kaushal, Muhammad Hassan
SYZTMic
Michael Gelfand, Tejus Gangadhariah, Zachary Lau, Yicheng (Bobby) Zhou
First Place: yOIL
Sara Far, Juan Sebastian, Andrew Symes, Michael Wahba
Audience Choice Award: bAlm
Gillian Alm
Ciclo Technologies
Camilla Fernandes de Oliveiria, Felipe Gomes Camacho, Milanpreet Kaur, Luis Daniel Virla Alvarado
EcoDomes
Misson Rahman, Firaz Farhan, Hassan Saeed, Temoor Tayyab
LunarOPV
Dr. Mahmoud Farhat, Francesco Tintori
MyBuild App
Giuseppe Dagalea, Gabriel Oblea
RenewCell
Ian Choveaux, Syed Atif Pervez
Stack-a-Pack
Atharva Naik, Lukas Kobler, Metro Anderson
Key information
Did we miss your question? Email us directly at [email protected] to let us know what you're curious about, and we'll get back to you with answers.
Don't forget to attend our info session to learn more about the program.
FAQ
Innovative individuals and teams who are eager to explore entrepreneurial thinking, build future ready skills they can bring into their respective careers, and expand on existing ideas are encouraged to apply for the program.
- Applicants must be part-time or full-time UCalgary undergraduate students, graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, faculty, staff, and alumni up to 5 years.
- Applicants and team members must be legally eligible to work in Canada.
- Applicants and team members must reside in Alberta and be available to engage in all Launchpad program activities and attend the final pitch session in person.
- Introduce entrepreneurial thinking and related skills to UCalgary participants via an interactive and engaging program
- Support participant’s efforts to make a positive social or business impact (i.e. find problems worth solving) in ways and areas that are meaningful to them
- Inspire the next generation of entrepreneurial leaders through engaging presentations and hands-on workshops delivered by UCalgary faculty and founders as well as those from the local ecosystem
- Reinforce the experiential aspect of the program through $1,000 investment (application required) in participants’ prototype/build ideas
Participants must be part-time or full-time UCalgary undergraduate students, graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, faculty, staff, and alumni up to 5 years.
Anyone at UCalgary can attend the Launchpad Live speaker series.
The weekly Skills Clinics will be in-person. The Launchpad workshops are offered virtually for program participants.
If you are applying as a team, have one member of the team complete the main application form.
Anyone at the University of Calgary is welcome to attend.