News

Trouw Nutrition, a global leader in animal feeding solutions and services, today announces it is stepping up and formalizing its collaboration with the University of Guelph, a leader in animal nutrition research. The new strategic partnership will match more researchers from the University and Trouw Nutrition, involve the sharing of research facilities, and enable the acceleration of key research and development activities.

In May 2019, the first annual Gryphon’s LAAIR Showcase and Pitch Competition drew a crowd of industry leaders, academics, government officials and entrepreneurs to the University of Guelph campus. Not only did the audience learn about many of the disruptive technologies that are emerging from our university labs and research stations, but they also had an opportunity to cheer on six founders as they pitched their businesses to top executives to win a total of $16,500 in prize money!

The Research Innovation Office is very pleased to announce that the winner of the 2019 Innovation of the Year prize is the U of G Asparagus Breeding program led by Professor Dave Wolyn, a plant geneticist in the Department of Plant Agriculture. Known for his work with asparagus and Russian dandelions, Wolyn and his team began their work on optimizing a breed of asparagus ideal for cold, northern climates in the 1980’s. The Millennium Asparagus breed that resulted from these efforts is the most popular breed being grown in North America.

If you’ve read our other blog post, Tips for your First Pitch Competition, you’ll know that we recently showcased our product at the Canadian National Exhibition. A few weeks later, we also presented at the Taste of Guelph, a smaller event highlighting the region’s culinary diversity. These were our first public events, and they were not quite what we expected!

Skills for Research Impact is a monthly workshop series for faculty, research staff and graduate students interested in enhancing the impact of their research. Through nine hands-on sessions facilitated by impact experts, participants will learn how to successfully plan, execute and evaluate knowledge mobilization (or knowledge translation and transfer) activities. Sessions will cover topics key to effective research communications and engagement of non-academic audiences, including policy, industry and community stakeholders.

On September 14, 2019 GuelphToday.com published an article by Owen Roberts highlighting the recent successes of Neophyto Foods Inc. A start-up developing a quality soy-based vegan cheese founded by U of G Master's students Kamil Chatila-Amos and Jane Ong. 

In spring 2019, the Research Innovation Office piloted an innovation capacity building program funded by Food from Thought, a $76.6 million project funded by the Canada First Research Excellence Fund.

The Research Innovation Office is happy to announce the launch of a new Guide to Research Partnerships with the University of Guelph. We published this guide to help businesses understand what constitutes a research partnership and what to expect when initiating a new project with our institution.

The University of Guelph is pleased to become an Innovation Champion Sponsor of the Innovation Expo 2019.

The second annual Innovation Expo on October 3, 2019, hosted by Innovation Guelph and Bioenterprise Corporation, celebrates the impactful success and growth of FedDev funded Seed Funding clients who have been supported by our two organizations since the program inception in 2016.

You've got a great idea, maybe even an MVP but you need money. The next logical step is to win pitch competitions! But, without a product in stores, no website or any experience under your belt, how will you even get into one? We're a young startup in that position and we just got in our first pitch competition, the Canadian National Exhibition's Emerging Innovators Pitch Competition. Here are some of our takeaways from that whole experience: