The University of Toronto and local commercialization community offer multiple programs, competitions, resources, and services to help researchers and trainees at the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy translate their discoveries into commercial ventures. Please contact a member of the Research Office for more information (Mike Folinas, Sam D’Alfonso, or Lia Cardarelli).
Commercialization Resources
- University of Toronto Innovations and Partnerships Office (IPO)
- IPO’s "Guide to Technology Transfer"
- IPO's "Researcher’s Guide to Industry Partnerships"
- University of Toronto Libraries Entrepreneurship Support
- PRiME Entrepreneur Resources
- University of Toronto Startup Guidebook
Commercialization Opportunities
- BFN Accelerate
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BFN Accelerate follows a structured cohort-based accelerator model offering Black founders capital, capacity-building and community to grow their businesses. Through a competitive selection process, 10 startups from the BFN community with at least one Black-identifying founder will be chosen to participate in an impactful four-month program. BFN Accelerate is designed to be complementary to other opportunities within the entrepreneurship ecosystem and can be completed concurrently with initiatives delivered by other U of T and community accelerators.
Applications for our 2026 Accelerate cohort are open from Jan 23 to March 9, 2026.
- BFN Smart Start Awards
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The Black Founders Network (BFN) Smart Start Awards, supported by KPMG, aim to provide financial and non-financial support to early-stage Black entrepreneurs and their ideas. Each award is valued at $4,000 CAD and determined through a comprehensive evaluation and community selection process based on entrepreneurial merit. In addition to funding, award recipients will receive access to tailored mentorship and BFN Core programming to support the development of their business, product or service.
Recipients will receive membership to the ONRamp community and co-working space at the Schwartz Reisman Innovation Campus in the heart of downtown Toronto.
Applications for the 2026 Smart Start cohort are open from Jan 23 to March 9, 2026.
- Company and Competitor Research Webinar
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For participants of all disciplines interested in learning more about researching companies and finding competitor information. Includes an overview of subscription databases and publicly available resources for company research.
You’ll learn how to:
- Evaluate different types of company information and understand the differences between public and private companies
- Find both direct and indirect competitor information
- Practice finding company documents and reports
Location: Online via Zoom (participants will receive a link prior to session start)
Instructor: Annalisa Gatti, Engineering Librarian, annalisa.gatti@utoronto.ca; Carey Toane, Entrepreneurship Librarian, carey.toane@utoronto.caThis workshop is part of an Entrepreneurship Research Skills Co-Curricular Record (CCR) as recognized by the University of Toronto. They are open to all U of T students, faculty, and staff, but only current students are eligible to enroll in the CCR. A valid UTORid is required to access library databases.
Thursday, February 19, 2026, 12-1PM
Register here.
- CSL Research Acceleration Initiative
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CSL is a leading global biotech company delivering innovative therapies to help people with life-threatening conditions live full lives. The CSL Research Acceleration Initiative supports earlystage biotechs and research organizations to fast-track the discovery of groundbreaking biotherapies. The 2026 Research Acceleration Initiative will focus on research proposals that align with a CSL Therapeutic Area:
- Transplant & Immunology
- Cardiovascular & Renal
- Hematology
- Immunoglobulins
Successful applicants can receive up to $400,000 USD in non-dilutive funding over 2 years to advance their innovative programs.
Interested researchers are invited to:
- Attend an information webinar (choose one of two sessions)
Thursday, 29 January 11:00AM EST – Click to join
Thursday, 5 February 1:00PM EST – Click to join
- Submit a non-confidential, 500-word abstract via the CSL online application portal by 24th February 2026.
For information on the webinar and/or questions regarding this engagement, please contact Kristy Reynald kristy.reynald@utoronto.ca, University of Toronto Business Development Officer.
For additional information or enquiries, please reach out to: RAI@CSL.COM.AU
- Data Resources for Entrepreneurs Webinar
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Preparing a business pitch and developing a business idea requires you to have data on your target market. You need data to inform decisions on your business plan, data on your competitors, and if you want to be innovative in your industry you need data to tell you a story on performance and opportunity. Data literacy for entrepreneurs is essential. This session will help you identify your data needs, find relevant data using specialized library resources, and evaluate and synthesize data using critical thinking.
Learning outcomes:
- You will describe types of data in order to understand why you need data to inform your business idea.
- You will identify your information need and find the data that best addresses your startup research question.
- You will use logical judgment and critical thinking to synthesize and analyze data from multiple sources.
Instructor: Elizabeth O'Brien, Liaison Librarian, elizabeth.obrien@utoronto.ca
Location: Online via Zoom (participants will receive a link prior to session start)This workshop is part of an Entrepreneurship Research Skills Co-Curricular Record as recognized by the University of Toronto. A valid UTORid is required to access library databases. Registration is required.
Tuesday, February 10, 2026, 12-1:30PM
Register here.
- Derrick Rossi Innovation Awards
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The Derrick Rossi Innovation Awards provide funding of up to $300,000 over two (2) years to support proof-of-concept research projects focused on accelerating the implementation and/or commercialization of high-potential, cutting-edge research, with the promise of significant socio-economic impacts. Awards will support research and/or commercialization activities with a focus on knowledge mobilization, deployment and implementation.
Proposals will be evaluated based on innovation, addressing a critical unmet need, potential impact, feasibility, strategic partnerships and team capability. Successful projects will have strong socio-economic or commercial potential, enabling the research or technology to make a positive impact on society.
Applicants can request up to $300,000 per project. Applicants requesting more than $100,000 will require strong evidence of a significant value inflection point, including the potential to attract partnerships, additional grants and the strong potential to attract additional investments (e.g. letters of support).
The proposed project must be based on an existing invention or copyright disclosure filed with the Innovations & Partnerships Office (IPO) by Friday February 13, 2026.
For each project, a Notice of Intent (NOI) must be submitted to IPO by Monday, March 2, 2026. Full applications are by invitation only and will be due by Monday, March 30, 2026.
Program Materials:
- Innovation OnBoard UofT Pitch Competition 2026
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Innovation OnBoard UofT Pitch Competition is now open
$3,000 in cash prizes and partnerships across 6 UofT incubators, including Health Innovation Hub (H2i) and the Centre for Entrepreneurship at U of T.
Finalist Perks
Win cash prizes & Receive a free semester-long membership to the Centre for Entrepreneurship at U of T co-working space — the perfect place to build, iterate, and level up your venture!
Eligibility
At least half of your team must be current UofT students or recent alumni
Pre-revenue companies only
Last year’s teams are welcome to compete again!
Apply by Feb 16th. - Intellectual Property Education Program
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UofT’s IP Education Program introduces the different types of IP, how to protect it, and how to get the most value from it.
The online program was built by UofT Entrepreneurship (UTE) and the Innovations & Partnerships Office (IPO) with input from legal professionals and entrepreneurs.
Divided into two complimentary levels, IP Foundations and IP Strategy and Application, the program is integrated with Quercus (U of T’s online learning portal), allowing for inclusion into assignments, workshops, or classroom settings. In addition, U of T students who complete a module can have it recognized on their Co-curricular Record (CCR).
Program overview:
- Intro to patents, trademarks, copyright, industrial design, and trade secrets.
- Requires no prior knowledge and can be completed in ~2 hours.
- Endorsed by the Province of Ontario’s IP Action Plan.
Level 2: IP Strategy and Application
- IP strategy and commercialization, including best practices for inventors and entrepreneurs.
- Learners must complete Level 1 before advancing to Level 2.
- Intellectual Property: Protect, License and Fund with IPO
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The Innovations & Partnerships Office (IPO) is your first stop for research commercialization at U of T. IPO helps turn innovations into patents, licenses, and startups, building successful relationships between researchers, industry, and investors.
What you need to know:
- It starts with a disclosure: If a new technology, method, or product was created using U of T facilities or funding administered by U of T, a Confidential Invention Disclosure is your first step toward commercializing your research.
- Ownership: U of T has a modern, flexible invention policy that is ‘Inventor’s Choice’ – in absence of pre-existing IP rights, inventors may choose to take personal ownership, or have U of T lead commercialization.
- Intellectual property (IP) and patents: While there are many types of IP, patents may be affected by presenting and publishing. It is best to involve IPO early to help review, file, and protect your invention.
- Funding: IPO can help maximize budgets by licensing technologies and leveraging internal, public, and private funding opportunities for research and startups.
- Network: Access U of T’s growing international network of industry, mentors, and VCs to support technology validation, product development, and go-to-market.
In 2021, U of T inventors made over 180 invention disclosures, with IPO managing 74 priority patent applications, more than 39 licensing and option agreements, and 290 ongoing commercialization projects. In the last 5 years, companies based on U of T Research have secured more than $1.5 billion in investment and capital.
- Lab2Market Discover
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Are you interested in exploring the market viability of your research? As a researcher in emerging technologies, you may be considering an alternative career path beyond academia. With Lab2Market Discover, you’ll learn a new way of thinking and determine if you have a passion for business.
Lab2Market Discover’s online exploratory program helps you explore entrepreneurship and the potential of transforming your academic research into a world-changing tech-focused business.
Lab2Market Discover is offered free of cost and is open to current students and recent graduates in Canada pursuing research (Masters, Ph.D., and Postdoc). The program is tailored for individuals interested in understanding the necessary steps to commercialize research and determining whether entrepreneurship is a path they can or should pursue. Designed specifically for researchers completing their studies full-time, the program includes online readings, practical assignments, and interactive webinars, with a maximum time commitment of three hours per week.
Lab2Market Discover is run nationally and runs various cohorts throughout the year, check out the website to find the program for you.
- OCI Life Sciences Innovation Fund
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Ontario Centre of Innovation (OCI) Life Sciences Innovation Fund is an early-stage co-investment fund that supports companies in Life Sciences and Healthcare Technologies sectors related to human health. The fund is aimed at addressing the unique challenges faced by life sciences entrepreneurs moving innovative and capital-intensive investments from a conceptual stage through to commercialization. Through the fund, OCI co-invests with angel and other investors to help de-risk the opportunity, assisting start-ups in becoming investor and customer ready and allowing them to attract follow-on investment.
ABOUT THE FUND
Eligible companies will receive up to $500,000 in early stage risk capital to scale their made-in-Ontario health solution both at home and in global markets. This will further grow the sector and strengthen its competitiveness in key areas such as cancer treatment, regenerative medicine, neuroscience and medical technologies.
BEST SUITED FOR LIFE SCIENCES AND HEALTHCARE TECHNOLOGIES COMPANIES RELATED TO HUMAN HEALTH THAT:
- Are Ontario or Canadian incorporated for-profit companies headquartered in Ontario
- Currently raising a pre-seed or seed investments (total round sizes ranging from $1 million to $5 million)
- Have raised less than $3 million in third-party capital
- Researcher-Company Matchmaking Initiative: SRIC/Mitacs/OCI Innovation Challenge (Tech/AI Focus)
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The Schwartz Reisman Innovation Campus, in partnership with Mitacs and the Ontario Centre of Innovation (OCI) invites researchers to participate in a matchmaking initiative on February 12 (11am-2pm) to connect Ontario-based startups and scaleups with University of Toronto researchers to catalyze partnered research projects.
With a focus on tech/AI, participating companies are seeking academic expertise in the following subjects:
- Automated ontology learning & neuro-symbolic AI
- Privacy & security in AI model design
- Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) AI flight augmentation
- ML research data management (user testing)
- Custom LLM development, tailored to K-12 STEM curricula
- Machine intelligence solutions for robotics, multi-agent orchestration, and embedded intelligence
- Development of generative models to design peptides with non-canonical amino acids
- Development of AI-driven skin profiling and formulation design tools for skincare
U of T researchers are invited to register for this matchmaking event to learn more about each of the unique tech/AI-focused innovation challenges put forth by the participating companies. During the event, you'll learn about each company and their respective innovation challenge, and have an opportunity to discuss in person with their teams. Projects arising from this event may be eligible for funding programs such as OCI’s Collaborate 2 Commercialize (C2C) or Mitacs.
Event Details:
Date: Thursday, February 12, 2026
Time: 11:00am - 2:00pm EST. Light lunch provided.
Location: Schwartz Reisman Innovation Campus (2nd Floor), 108 College St. Toronto
To learn more and register, please complete this form by Thursday, February 5.
Please contact Hayley McKay (hayley.mckay@utoronto.ca) if you have any questions.
- UofT Entrepreneurship Week March 2-6, 2026
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Join U of T’s entrepreneurship community March 2-6, for a week of events to showcase, celebrate, and reward innovation and startup activity, including:
- True Blue Impact Day – a day of high-impact events showcasing U of T startups hosted at the Schwartz Reisman Innovation Campus.
- Inspirational stories from women-identifying founders in celebration of International Women’s Day.
- Tri-campus pitch competitions awarding more than $100k+ in cash prizes to U of T’s top startup founders.
- Fireside chats and insightful conversations with founders, investors, and industry experts.
All are welcome at this week of public events – students, mentors, alumni, business leaders, investors, and anyone else who wants to be inspired and learn why U of T is the ultimate place to innovate.
UTE Week events are hosted across the tri-campus. There is no general registration for UTE Week as a whole, attendees are required to register separately for each event.
- UofT Research Security Self-Assessment Tool
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The Division of the Vice-President, Research & Innovation is pleased to announce the launch of the Research Security Self-Assessment tool.
Before applying for federal or provincial research funding, researchers are strongly encouraged to use this tool to help them identify research security policies that may be applicable to their project.
Researchers applying for research funding or requesting non-funded agreements may access this tool directly from the Research Security web page or via a new page in My Research Applications & Agreements (MRA). The new page in MRA provides helpful resources and does not collect new information for your application/agreement.
If you have questions, U of T’s Research Security Team is here to help you navigate research security requirements for funding applications and non-funded agreements. For assistance, please contact them early in your application process at researchsecurity@utoronto.ca.
