Deadline: 20-Jul-22
MaRS has launched the Women in Cleantech Accelerator Program.
MaRS mission is to seek out and help a diverse group of women advance breakthrough ideas into market-ready cleantech products with the potential for global impact.
To solve the world’s climate challenges, they need more than just good ideas. They need diversity of thought to deliver meaningful impact. This means women and individuals from underrepresented communities, more than ever, need to be part of the solution.
They are currently recruiting a mix of 7-10 exceptional women entrepreneurs and will coach them through an intensive 24-month program, connecting them to top government laboratories, investors and corporate partners.
While Canadians are world leaders in cleantech innovation, the community must change to match Canada’s own diversity. Some key figures:
- Only one in 10 cleantech founders is a woman.
- Only 19 percent of Canadian cleantech companies have at least one female founder.
- Still, the green products and services space boasts the highest proportion of women founders
Objectives
The Women in Cleantech Accelerator has five main objectives:
- Seek out the best, most driven women entrepreneurs, balanced with BIPOC representation.
- Enable their dedication to the mission.
- Leverage existing federal research assets and networks of expertise, maximizing use of existing public resources to advance their R&D goals.
- Build support for their success via a curated mix of mentorship, educational programming and access to market intelligence.
- Make timely connections to the investors and corporate partners that matter.
Benefits
As part of this exclusive cohort, you get access to:
- A lead business advisor with deep sector knowledge to help build your business and develop your product.
- Potential no-cost opportunity to work with a federal government lab facility that is matched to your specific R&D needs.
- Significantly enhanced profile through the Women in Cleantech brand, including highlights in press releases and industry events focused on cleantech.
- Workshops through a curriculum designed to build business skills necessary for success. This curated curriculum was designed with feedback from MaRS subject-matter experts, and the inaugural Women in Cleantech Challenge finalists, with the goal of helping your company gain an edge in markets that are hard to crack.
- Curated introductions to domestic and international investors and corporations.
- Access to mentor networks through investor showcases and curated events with influential women business leaders and industry experts.
- Opportunity to build relationships with other selected ventures, as well as the inaugural Women in Cleantech Challenge finalists.
- Potential to participate in the Canadian Tech Accelerators program(s) organized by Global Affairs Canada (Trade Commissioner Service) to introduce you to opportunities in key U.S. markets.
- Access to market intelligence, capital, talent and communications services offered through MaRS, North America’s largest urban innovation hub based in Toronto.
Who are they looking for?
- Woman-identifying and/or non-binary leaders who are working to commercialize a cleantech innovation with potential for global impact.
- You are the leader of a business that is registered as a Canadian corporation.
- You are looking to join a one-year intensive program to help accelerate the growth of your company.
Eligibility Criteria
- MaRS is looking for entrepreneurial technical leaders who have the drive and ability to build a transformative technology and lead a team in its development.
- MaRS will also work to ensure that the initial project concept is technically sound, reasonably differentiated, and addresses a well-framed problem with potential for significant long-term impact.
- This Accelerator is open to residents of Canada, including the Province of Quebec.
- You identify as a woman and/or non-binary person.
- You are the main technology innovator or individual leading/co-leading a Canadian business.
- You are part of a business venture that is registered as a Canadian corporation.
-
In addition to applicant eligibility, your technological innovation should:
- Fall under the definition of “cleantech” which, for the purposes of this Accelerator, is defined as “A company that is focused on the creation of intellectual property and new products that protect and/or increase efficient utilization of land, energy, water and natural resources while improving economic performance and reducing the environmental footprint relative to the baseline.”
- Be proprietary and/or patentable.
- Have potential to scale globally for major impact.
-
Fall within TRL3 and TRL5 on the nine-point Technology Readiness Level spectrum
- TRL3: active research and development is initiated
- TRL4: basic testing to validate the technology in a laboratory/controlled setting
- TRL5: component and/or validation in a simulated environment
For more information, visit MaRS.
For more information, visit https://www.marsdd.com/service/women-in-cleantech-accelerator/