Creative Destruction Lab Expands Across Canada to Unlock Economies of Scale
Today the Creative Destruction Lab at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management announced a cross-country expansion.
The expansion includes CDL-Rockies at the University of Calgary’s Haskayne School of Business, CDL-Montreal at HEC Montréal, and CDL-Atlantic at Dalhousie University’s Rowe School of Business in Halifax. These three add to CDL-West at the University of British Columbia’s Sauder School of Business and the original CDL program in Toronto.
“The national expansion of the Creative Destruction Lab unites several of Canada’s top business schools to transition scientific insights out of the academy and into the economy in order to positively impact the human condition,” says says Darrell Kopke, Chief Operating Officer of the Creative Destruction Lab.
All five programs will use the methodology established at the Rotman School, which employs an objectives-based mentoring process led by entrepreneurs and angel investors focused on developing scalable, science-based startups, often predicated on ideas developed over years of university research. The program is laser focused on a single goal: equity value maximization.
“The PhDs, masters, post docs, faculty, and other inventors whom we are mentoring will leave a meaningful legacy,” says Kopke. “They are developing new products and services to enhance health, education, transportation, safety, communication, entertainment, and agriculture through innovations in areas such as wearable computing, high fidelity sensors, quantum computing, artificial intelligence, and regenerative medicine.”
The national expansion will enable at least three sources of economies of scale, according to Kopke: better company-investor matching; attraction of top talent to Canada; and an expanded pool of specialized talent from Canada’s top universities.
CDL-Rockies will focus on startups employing technological innovations focused on addressing opportunities in the energy market; CDL-Montreal will focus on data science-oriented startups; and CDL-Atlantic will build on Dalhousie’s strengths, particularly in clean, ocean, and agriculture -related technologies.
