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GreenSTEM

A pan-Alberta pilot to provide funding and support for technology company creation and high-tech entrepreneurial development.

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Business capital and mentoring

Intake status: Closed – Expressions of Interest are not currently being accepted.

Overview

GreenSTEM is an entrepreneurial pilot program for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) Masters and Ph.D. graduates. The pilot program enables entrepreneurship and provides a two-year commercialization runway for “deep technology” companies involved in science-based innovation that:

  • is expensive
  • has a lengthy development process
  • is more challenging to commercialize than conventional goods or software

Please note: For the purposes of the GreenSTEM pilot program, “deep technology” is characterized by tangible, science-based innovation with hardware component(s).

The program supports a cohort of entrepreneurially-inclined, technically-skilled participants across the province who are working on technologies with emissions reduction potential. GreenSTEM participants, or fellows, are hosted by one of Alberta’s research universities:

  • University of Alberta
  • University of Calgary
  • University of Lethbridge

For more information on the program, including evaluation criteria, program parameters and timelines, please refer to the GreenSTEM program guide and the GreenSTEM FAQs.

Learn more about our successful GreenSTEM fellows.

Support

The pilot program is supporting 25 eligible innovators that have founded 19 new technology companies through access to:

  • annual fellowship stipends ($60,000 including benefits for an individual or $90,000 for teams of 2)
  • up to $71,000 in annual seed funding to cover technology and business development expenses
  • technical facilities
  • technology-focused entrepreneurship programming
  • technical and business mentorship, including quarterly advisory sessions
  • networking opportunities with investors, venture capital organizations, service providers, and potential industry partners

Additional information on funding is outlined in the program guide.

Eligibility

GreenSTEM applicants can be individuals or teams of 2 founders, both of whom must meet the GreenSTEM eligibility requirements.

To participate in GreenSTEM, applicants must be:

  • a graduate of an advanced technical STEM degree program (Masters/Ph.D.) within the last 5 years
  • the primary technology innovator(s) of a science-based business/product concept with an emission reduction potential
  • a resident of Alberta with the legal right to work in Canada throughout the term of the program
  • able to demonstrate access or reasonable pathway toward the legal right to commercialize the underlying intellectual property
  • willing to commit to the GreenSTEM Fellowship as their full-time job
    • applicants will not be able to attend full or part-time educational training or maintain monetary-based affiliations with established companies during participation
  • prepared to relocate to Edmonton, Calgary or Lethbridge for the duration of the program and willing to travel within Alberta for quarterly events and meetings
  • prepared and able to incorporate their venture in Alberta or Canada once accepted into the cohort
  • committed to maintaining business operations in Alberta for 3 years following conclusion of the program

Successful applicants

  • Cohort 1

    12 fellows were chosen to take part in the first round of the fellowship pilot program for the January 2019 cohort. Below are the successful applicants and recent accomplishments under the program.

    Carbonova, Mina Zarabian:

    • Has been selected for the L-H accelerator to address global CO2 emissions in building materials and will work with 3 international companies: LafargeHolcim, China Communications Construction Company Limited, and Sika

    Copperstone Technologies, Nicolas Olmedo and James Yuen:

    • Have successfully rolled out robots-as-a-service and recently announced a significant investment from TECTERRA Inc.

    EnviCore, Shahrukh Shamim and Aseem Pandey:

    • Graduated from Creative Destruction Labs - Rockies and are in the process of executing a joint technology development agreement with an international mining company

    SeeO2 Energy, Beatriz Molero Sanchez and Paul Addo:

    • Participated in Equinor’s Techstars Energy Accelerator 2019 in Oslo, Norway and are working with several international industry partners on demonstrating their technology

    Synthergy, Gem Shoute:

    • Graduated from Creative Destruction Lab (CDL) – Prime: Toronto in 2020 and is working with an overseas industry partner

    TransEON, Vallen Rezazadeh:

    • Recently received funding to extend their technology into space applications through the Canadian Space Agency's Space Technology Development Program

    Wyvern, Kurtis Broda and Chris Robson:

    • Won a Space Technology Development Program Grant from the Canadian Space Agency valued at more than $200,000

    ZoraMat Solutions, Roger Mah:

    • Scaled manufacturing batch capacity by 1,000 times with an 80% increase in production efficiency and is pursuing promising international partnerships

    Meet the January 2019 GreenSTEM Fellows and learn more about their projects.

  • Cohort 2

    11 fellows were chosen to take part in the second round of the fellowship pilot program.

    The successful applicants for the July 2020 cohort include:

    Meet the July 2020 GreenSTEM Fellows

Contact

Connect with the GreenSTEM program:

Hours: 8:15 am to 4:30 pm (open Monday to Friday, closed statutory holidays)
Ms. Mariana Cernelev, Technology Relations
Email: [email protected]

Address:
Jobs, Economy and Trade
12th Floor, Commerce Place
10155 102 Street
Edmonton, Alberta  T5J 4G8

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