If you had all the time and money in the world, what would you be doing?
Ian Graham asked this question during his presentation to aspiring entrepreneurs at the Incubatorfest 2016. The third edition of the event was held on Jan. 20.
“Incubators is where you have an idea and you get to understand market and product fit. You have an idea and you kind of get to the prototyping stage,” said Jonathan Milne, the managing director innovation for Invest Ottawa.
More than half a dozen incubators presented the opportunities available in Ottawa to ambitious moguls who want to accelerate the growth of their business and for those who are interested in evolving their idea into a business.
“We started this journey to create a culture where it would be easier for students to start companies or do what they want,” said Andrew Foti, the executive-in-residence for Algonquin. “As we know traditional jobs are disappearing and a lot of millenniums want more freedom. It’s going to become something we’d like to be known for.”
One example is GymTrack which was developed by Algonquin alumni. They offer a product which can be attached to gym equipment to track different aspects of a workout session. The company used Ottawa’s incubator ecosystem to help grow their business.
Last year, GymTrack transformed Algonquin’s training facility into a cellphone compatible smart gym.
GymTrack is one of the many reason Algonquin is opening its new entrepreneurship centre on Feb.11.
“It’s going to be a place that anybody within Algonquin or outside Algonquin can come in and if there’s an entrepreneur and they have any questions, we either will be able to help them through our program, services, resources that we have within the centre or the school or we’ll be able to direct them as to where they can go,” said Leanna Verruci, Algonquin’s Entrepreneurship Manager.