WATERLOO, Ont. -- The University of Waterloo has launched a new company to support the innovative spirit of its students, faculty and staff and help bring their ideas to the marketplace.

Innovate Inc., described as "a novel approach to business pre-incubation within a university setting," seeks to encourage and nurture the entrepreneurial activities within the UW community.

The not-for-profit company's approach reinforces a UW policy on intellectual policy, specifically that it belongs to the individual who has created it. The company is governed by the university and based on campus.

"Our goal is ambitious. We want to establish the best infrastructure for entrepreneurship in Canada," said Prof. Paul Guild, UW's vice-president of university research. "We want to demonstrate new and effective approaches to technology transfer of university knowledge to productive application."

Guild says he is keen to recruit associations and professionals in the local community to become involved with the company.

The company's director, Prof. Doug Sparkes of management sciences, said that "by providing pre-incubation services, Innovate will help UW entrepreneurs develop their venture concepts in preparation for presentation to the investment community."

Services include courses and workshops, an "idea evaluation process," business plan preparation, mentoring and events at which ideas are put forward to catch the interest of investors.

"Innovate will help entrepreneurs to develop their venture concept, create business plans, sometimes assist development of initial prototypes and begin development of the venture team," Sparkes said.

"Once the venture has matured to the point at which the entrepreneurial team is comfortable putting forward their venture concept, introduction to potential investors will be facilitated. It is through these investors that the venture will progress to the next stage of venture incubation."

To add value from the entrepreneurs' perspective, Sparkes said that Innovate must be a "safe place" in which to explore the potential of start-up ideas. "Critical to this goal will be the code of confidentiality and behaviour agreed to by all participating parties."

The company will have both entrepreneurs and investors as members, making it make it easier for innovators and investors to locate each other.

"Although no claim is made that the ventures emerging from the pre-incubator program are without risk, we will endeavour to better prepare innovators for the incubation process," Sparkes said.

Guild said that the Entrepreneurs Association of UW has signed a memorandum of agreement with the university's research office for its involvement with Innovate. The association has grown to some 500 students since it was founded less than a year ago.

In addition, Innovate works closely with the Enterprise co-op program, which has been recently launched.

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UW Release no. 152 -- September 20, 2001