From idea to impact: Marking Global Entrepreneurship Week at McMaster

At McMaster, innovative thinkers are working hard to turn brilliant ideas into reality.

As we mark Global Entrepreneurship Week, we are shining a light on the community members working to make positive change through their inventions, startups and emerging innovations.

Stay tuned to this page as we share stories all week long about the exciting research, innovation and student-led projects helping to make a brighter world.

Foresight Lab embraces uncertainty as it looks to the future

A unique program at the DeGroote School of Business offers the only foresight-thinking-focused hub in Canada, where people from across sectors can share ideas and advance their thinking about ways to navigate the future. Learn more

All work and some play: How Boardball’s overnight success turned into a viable business

Mac grad Amanda Nguyen invented a game that became an overnight viral success, serving up an irresistible business opportunity. Learn more

Opinion: How a ‘professor-entrepreneur’ career track will help solve Canada’s innovation problem

In an opinion piece for The Globe and Mail, associate professor of engineering Tohid Didar writes that a new form of professorship — the professor-entrepreneur — would help researchers bring their innovations to the marketplace more efficiently. He explains how it could work here.

McMaster engineering graduate wins 2022 James Dyson Global Sustainability Award

Mechanical engineering graduate Swaleh Owais and co-inventor Yang Cheng’s invention, Polyformer, recycles plastic bottles into precious 3D printer filament. Read here.

McMaster start-up developing new cancer treatments

Triumvira Immunologics Inc., a Hamilton biotech firm started at McMaster University, is developing a next-generation immunotherapy treatment to tackle solid-cell cancers. Read here.

Startup Survivor winner makes it easy to put your best foot forward

Five innovators. One grand prize. Five minutes to win it. These are the student-founded startups that took home $35,000 in cash awards for their innovative business ventures at the Forge Startup Survivor. Read here.

Mac grad’s robotic arm offers students a chance to solve the problems of tomorrow

Jetson Infinity offers easily programmable robotic arms that be used to solve day-to-day problems. Read here.

Brain health assessment technology developed at McMaster gives the brain ‘a voice’

A trailblazing technology developed at McMaster offers clinicians a way to perform objective brain health assessments — a game-changing advancement when it comes to diagnosing and developing treatment plans for patients with brain injuries resulting in cognitive dysfunction such as memory loss. Read here.

McMaster grads & business owners hit the road to give to communities in need

For every toque the company Toques For Warm Hearts sells, they give another to someone in need. Recently, the company’s co-founders, who are McMaster graduates, drove all the way to Halifax as part of their goal to spread warmth across the country. Read here.

So you want to be an entrepreneur?

Now is the best time in history to be an entrepreneur, says expert Goran Calic. And here’s what it actually takes. Read here. 

At-home blood test to help those with endometriosis get diagnosis years earlier

AIMA Labratories, a business incubator client of the McMaster-funded The Forge, has developed an at-home diagnostic blood test that could help women with endometriosis get a diagnosis much sooner. Read here.

McMaster Seed Fund invests $1.27 million in three startup companies

Three McMaster startups – AIMA Laboratories, LLIF Healthcare and 20/20 OptimEyes Technologies – have received a combined $1.27 million in the second round of McMaster Seed Fund investments. Read here.

McMaster researchers celebrated at 12th annual Innovation Showcase

McMaster’s 12th annual Innovation Showcase highlighted innovative McMaster research through expert panel discussions, a startup and technology showcase, poster competition and innovator awards ceremony. Read here.

McMaster and adMare partner to bring life sciences innovations to the market

With the support of adMare’s industrial scientific expertise, research infrastructure and critical funding, Sheila Singh and Jakob Magolan will work on preventing the formation of metastases in brain cancer patients. Read here.

Mechanical engineering alumni win National James Dyson Award

Their invention — a knife guide designed to improve the lives of people suffering from Parkinson’s disease, hand tremors or other mobility issues — was created as a group project in a product design class. Read here.

McMaster’s Innovation Showcase returns in-person this November

The 12th annual Innovation Showcase, an event highlighting McMaster’s groundbreaking research, technologies and start-up companies, returned to McMaster Innovation Park. Read more here.

Meet the nominees of McMaster’s Innovation Showcase awards

McMaster’s top innovators, including nominees for Innovator of the Year award and Lifetime Innovator award, were honoured for their outstanding contributions in their fields of research at this year’s Innovation Showcase. Read here.