The first edition of the Dobson Scientific Venture Awards took place at Concordia’s District 3 Innovation Hub on April 13, with more than $60,000 up for grabs. The event was hosted by V1 Studio, who presented the funds to five start-ups from the Scientific Venture Program. The initiative is geared at helping postdocs commercialize and scale their research-fueled business ideas.
About the awards
The awards were established thanks to a generous gift given by the John Dobson Foundation to the Campaign for Concordia: Next-Gen Now in late 2022. Of the $500,000 received through last year’s gift to support researchers as they bridge the gap between academia and the marketplace, up to $67,000 is being allocated annually to help startup-minded researchers commercialize their ideas.
“Great ideas don’t necessarily come out of the business school,” explains Ari Kiriazidis, chief operating officer and chief compliance officer of Formula Growth Limited and president of the John Dobson Foundation.
“We’re pretty good at managing businesses, but not necessarily at having solutions to a problem. Typically, those come from other faculties like math, computer science, medicine, engineering. They have been given the skills to create those solutions. We want to support the postdocs. They’re brilliant.”
‘Impactful innovation that is made in Canada’
Both Kiriazidis and Randall Kelly attended the awards on behalf of the John Dobson Foundation. They were joined by a panel of esteemed evaluators including John Molson’s Ehsan Derayati and Corinne Charette, and District 3’s Fredérik Plourde.
“It’s encouraging to see that scientific entrepreneurship is thriving in Quebec, and the Dobson Scientific Venture Awards play a crucial role in supporting and recognizing the important work being done by these startups,” Plourde shared.
Charette, adjunct professor in the John Molson School of Business’s Department of Supply Chain and Business Technology Management, highlighted “targeted, impactful innovation that is made in Canada at Concordia” as a distinct point of pride.
