DiscoveryLab

This hybrid event is being held on zoom and at the Dow Theatre at NAIT on May 7. Eighteen teams will pitch to an audience of about 100 investors, business advisors, industry experts and those looking to support innovators.

This pitch event in being held in conjunction with Advancing Healthcare through Simulation: A Provincial Summit in the NAIT Feltham Centre. Register for the live event here.

The focus for the hybrid pitches in the afternoon is on biomedical imaging and digital health companies. In the morning companies focused on a wider set of sectors including biotech, cleantech and foodtech are presenting in 10 minute zoom slots.

The morning virtual pitch session runs from 9:35 am - 12 pm and the afternoon hybrid pitch session runs from 1 - 4pm. All 18 pitches are viewable from the Dow Theatre or your desk by zoom. The detailed agenda is updated regularly at www.discoverylab.ca.

Program:

Virtual Session 1 chaired by Stephen Urquhart, Manager, IRDC

9:45 Anuj Guruacharya, Principal Scientist, Nanil Health
9:55 Khaled Barakat, CEO, Thoth Biosimulations
10:05 break

Virtual Session 2 chaired by Maddie Renouf, Senior Business Partner, Health Innovation Talent, Alberta Innovates

10:10 Amir Ghahari, CEO & co-founder, Joyhall
10:20 Anil Sedha, Founder, PRACSNS
10:30 break

Virtual Session 3 chaired by Jyoti Tailor, Senior Business Partner, Health Platforms, Alberta Innovates

10:35 Rebecca Ung, Founder/CEO, Kumu Corporation
10:45 Kim Solez and Habba Mahal, University of Alberta
10:55 break

Virtual Session 4 chaired by Manan Upadhyaya, BSc Student, University of Alberta

11:00 Mary Ani-Amponsah, University of Alberta
11:10 Nasim Maslehat, Co-founder, Color Your Motherhood
11:20 Discussions followed by close of virtual sessions

Lunch at NAIT

Hybrid Session 5 chaired by David Chang, Director, Innovation & Partnerships, University of Alberta

12:55 Opening by Riya Ganguly, Associate Dean, JR Shaw School of Business, Northen Alberta Institute of Technology
13:05 Aaron Purchase, CEO & Co-founder, MagnetaMR
13:20 Andrew Karesa, CEO, blueBell Village
13:35 break

Hybrid Session 6 chaired by Christine Reimer

13:45 Dawn Osland, Founder, Osland Medical Billing Tools Inc.
14:00 Sagittal Dynamics
14:15 break

Hybrid Session 7 chaired by Nicola McFarlane, Sr. Business Innovation Lead, Acute Care Alberta

14:25 Patrick Kirkwood, CEO, The BioSport
14:40 Shameem Sampath, Founder and CEO, Airehab
14:55 break

Hybrid Session 8 chaired by Thach Lang, Government of Alberta

15:05 Wessam Hamid, Founder, Polymorph
15:20 Marc Curial, CEO, MACH32 Inc.
15:35 Ryan Mabley, Head of Finance & Business Development, CraftXR

15:50 Discussions and networking

This event is being held in the Dow Theatre in the Feltham Centre at NAIT, which offers a 136-seat lecture theatre with video wall for in-person or remote pitching and an entry area for registration, lunch and coffee breaks.

Public Transportation: Metro Line Northwest Extension to the NAIT/Blatchford Market Station, then a 10 minute walk in a northeast direction. 

Parking: Parkade M across from the Feltham Centre on 103 St NW.

Wifi connectivity is available. Please bring usb or usb-c sticks or computer to present. 

Format

Morning pitch slots are 10 minutes, with half for pitching and the rest for questions with the assembled business advisors, industry experts and investors who are given the reports, feedback, plans, decks and videos.  

Afternoon in-person pitch slots are 15 minutes and are prioritized for companies with a focus on biomedical imaging or digital health. 

Confidential disclosure agreements are not provided, but information exchanged at this private event should be considered privileged and should not be shared publicly.

Evaluation forms for each pitch will be shared and collated anonymized scores and feedback will be shared with the presenters and registered investors and advisors.

Testimonials:

"Our previous pitch connected us with three companies that are now pursuing collaborative work with us as well as accelerating our consumer testing lab at the University of Alberta. This is a major step forward as we engage customers and fine-tune our products to meet the needs of our users." -TM

"We had the pleasure of presenting at your Discovery Lab events, what a fantastic experience! A few highlights are meeting with new advisor and now we are working on a paid project with them. We also connected with folks from Edmonton Global and from there additional meetings lead to me introducing them to an Investor from Singapore who we are trying to attract to Edmonton. Now we have multiple efforts looking to bring at least part of their $100 million health fund to Alberta! " -JM

"Our DiscoveryLab presentation led to participation of 2 investors in our seed round, a strategic machine learning technology development partnership, a remote patient monitoring collaboration with a University, and this week’s announcement of an exciting product launch."

"Our project has picked up significantly since we last presented at DiscoveryLab. We have partnered to expand our program for the treatment of COVID-19 patients and we are now at 22 sites."

"The suggestions I got from the DiscoveryLab meeting were great. Thanks!"

"I would like to thank you for organizing the pitch event. We were very happy about the outcome of the pitch. We wanted some advice and that's what we got. We would love to pitch again."

“you did an admirable job of putting this together. From the quality of the participants/viewers to the administration of the process and the follow-up, I'm impressed. I have two meetings as a direct result of my presentation. Thanks for including me, and for inviting me to the next one; I fully intend to present at the next meeting.”- KH

“Thank you again for the opportunity to pitch. Actually, we are having a couple of followup calls with stakeholders from your region.” - HL

"I wanted to send a note to thank you very much for the opportunity to present yesterday. We enjoyed the experience and also were able to resolve an issue."

“This is by far the best run pitch event I’ve ever been to!” - Presenter

“Cool pitches, great people.”

“Love the feedback and analytical breakdown”

“Excellent time management and ability to make adjustments on the fly. Well done!”

"My company got funding."

Organizer:

This event is being offered by DiscoveryLab in partnership with NAIT and ERIN. For questions feel free to contact Michael Overduin (at michael at discoverylab.ca) or Richard Roy (at Richard at discoverylab.ca).

Fine print:

For clarity, DiscoveryLab does not recommend advisors or investors, but can make introductions. Each person and company has the responsibility of obtaining legal advice and performing due diligence before signing contracts or taking investments.