Launchpad Bannlauner

Launchpad

Where ideas take flight & your future begins

Ready to launch?

Our flagship program empowers students and post-docs from all faculties and departments to become founders and changemakers in their fields. Through Launchpad, participants will bolster their resumes with early career experience as they build key entrepreneurial thinking skills.

Skills Icon

Participants focus on skill-building & learning entrepreneurial thinking skills

Startup Icon

Receive personalized coaching and mentorship

Pitch Icon

Launchpad culminates in the Liftoff! pitch competition with cash prizes

What is Launchpad?

Launchpad is a six-month co-curricular program aimed at building entrepreneurial thinking skills in undergraduates, graduate students, post-docs, and researchers from every faculty at the University of Calgary. Individuals and teams with a social venture or startup idea are encouraged to apply for the program in September.

Through a series of weekly Skills Clinics, workshops with coaches, an interactive online learning system, and a final pitch competition (Launchpad Liftoff!) in March, participants are able to hone their entrepreneurial skills to make an impact in their respective industries and fields of study.

The Launchpad program teams are supported with additional relevant workshops alongside the weekly presentations and have a dedicated coach to help create their Entrepreneurial Journey Plan, which contains the key deliverables they will build throughout the course.

Application Deadline
September 29, 2024

Program Start Date
October 3, 2024

Program End Date
March 28, 2025

Launchpad 2024 Winners

2024 Launchpad Winners

RespiraLink clinched the top spot thanks to its pioneering product, COPDWatch, a Class II medical device that enables patients to take proactive control of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Caitlin Calder-Bellamy, Behina Tabatabaei, Dr. Matthew Fung, and Faith Luu, among others, demonstrated the power of interdisciplinary teamwork in showcasing the device's value.

Past Winners

Celebrating the success of past Liftoff! winners.

2024 Liftoff winners

Witnessing tomorrow’s leading ventures today at Liftoff!

The Liftoff! pitch competition showcases the top ventures from the Launchpad program.

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AutoSoles, the 2023 winners of Liftoff

Entrepreneurial Thinking Month strikes a chord as startup ideas pour in from across UCalgary campus

Hunter Hub marks milestone month of exploring innovative solutions, pitching concepts, and networking

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Members of Neocycle at Liftoff! 2022

UCalgary community pitches innovative startup ideas at Launchpad Liftoff Competition

Seven teams participate in competition, with sustainable technologies startup Neocycle winning the grand prize

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Liftoff! Alum

First PlacE: RespiraLink 
Caitlin Calder-Bellamy, Behina Tabatabaei, Matthew Fung, Faith Luu 

Audience Choice Award: Munitora Livestock Management Solutions 
Luiz Felipe Gama Di Grado, Ana Clara Perrone, David San Kim, Diogo Jose Notario Guaitolini 

 

CraftXR 
Farzana Aktar, Hamza Afzaal, Yash Terase, Ryan Mabley 

Glacial Armour
Aylin Habibiyan, Majid Mohseni 

iResuscitate Consulting 
Jennifer Bacon, Ian Blanchard, Taylan Cicek, Liam Harrison, Ryan Lee, Jeanine Zotzman 

CardGuru 
Michael Ocenar, Elvin Limpin 

Vitalize 
Risat Haque, Catherine Betancourt Lee, Jay Gurjar, Amy Miller, Rishabh Ruhela 

Younme 
Jay Chang, Yu-ming Chang 

First Place: Autosoles
Hady Ahmed, Kyle Wu, Nashid Islam, Steven Ma 

Audience Choice Award: Equusense
Nathalie Drzewiecki, Elian Dupre Sarmiento, Hamza Syed, Peter Shmerko, Ryan Baker

 

Advocacy and Innovation in Child Prosthetics (AICP) Foundation
Brandon Pentz, Devjyoti Dutta, Hemanth Veeraghanta 

PELTA
Christian Aguilar, Gabriel Vanorio Cilento, Harsh Shah, Jay Chang, Long Tran, Rod Babic 

Finberry
Haseeb Khan, Brooke Mitchell, Gary Wu, Hassan Tariq, Daniel Long 

Hidden Gemz
Ranique Mclaughlin, Evan Lester, Arian Haghighat 

Assemble Health
Winston Cheung, Brandon Pentz, Tina Wong 

Climate Change Materials
Cigdem Demirkaya, Anna Ulrich, Jesus Guayaquil Sosa, Paola Herrera 

First Place: Neocycle
Subasthika Thangadurai, Arshia Mostoufi, Ramin Kahidi  

Audience Choice Award: ZOHRBS
Ameer Hashim Cheema, Syed Osaid Abdullah, Bilal Rauf, Rashidul Islam, Zain Kamran, Sahil Nazari  

 

Dexpert Rehab
Michael Francis, Omar Al-Ghabari, Nizar Abdul-Halim, Maaz Ishtiaq, Hamza Mubarik, Luca Romano  

MRKS Aviation
Michael Nikitenko; Reece Stefanyshyn; Kevin Le; Sheldon Glowatski 

Packsy
Paijani Sheth, Meghana Kompally, Neel Marella 

Serenity Solutions
Aditya Verma, Kunj Patel, Steven Duong, Puneet Kaushal, Utkarsh Kaushal, Muhammad Hassan

SYZTMic
Michael Gelfand, Tejus Gangadhariah, Zachary Lau, Yicheng (Bobby) Zhou 

First Place: yOIL 
Sara Far, Juan Sebastian, Andrew Symes, Michael Wahba 

Audience Choice Award: bAlm
Gillian Alm 

 

Ciclo Technologies 
Camilla Fernandes de Oliveiria, Felipe Gomes Camacho, Milanpreet Kaur, Luis Daniel Virla Alvarado 

EcoDomes 
Misson Rahman, Firaz Farhan, Hassan Saeed, Temoor Tayyab 

LunarOPV 
Dr. Mahmoud Farhat, Francesco Tintori 

MyBuild App
Giuseppe Dagalea, Gabriel Oblea 

RenewCell 
Ian Choveaux, Syed Atif Pervez 

Stack-a-Pack 
Atharva Naik, Lukas Kobler, Metro Anderson 

Key information

Did we miss your question? Email us directly at hunterhub@ucalgary.ca to let us know what you're curious about, and we'll get back to you with answers.

Don't forget to attend our info session to learn more about the program.

FAQ

Innovative individuals and teams who are eager to explore entrepreneurial thinking, build future ready skills they can bring into their respective careers, and expand on existing ideas are encouraged to apply for the program. 

  • Applicants must be part-time or full-time UCalgary undergraduate students, graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, faculty, staff, and alumni up to 5 years.
  • Applicants and team members must be legally eligible to work in Canada.  
  • Applicants and team members must reside in Alberta and be available to engage in all Launchpad program activities and attend the final pitch session in person.
  • Introduce entrepreneurial thinking and related skills to UCalgary participants via an interactive and engaging program 
  • Support participant’s efforts to make a positive social or business impact (i.e. find problems worth solving) in ways and areas that are meaningful to them  
  • Inspire the next generation of entrepreneurial leaders through engaging presentations and hands-on workshops delivered by UCalgary faculty and founders as well as those from the local ecosystem 
  • Reinforce the experiential aspect of the program through $1,000 investment (application required) in participants’ prototype/build ideas

Participants must be part-time or full-time UCalgary undergraduate students, graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, faculty, staff, and alumni up to 5 years.

Anyone at UCalgary can attend the Launchpad Live speaker series.

The weekly Skills Clinics will be in-person. The Launchpad workshops are offered virtually for program participants. 

If you are applying as a team, have one member of the team complete the main application form.

Anyone at the University of Calgary is welcome to attend.