2026 Expo Recap
LaunchLab Expo 2026 Recap
On Tuesday, March 31st, the John F. Wood Centre hosted the third annual LaunchLab Expo, a dynamic showcase of student entrepreneurship and innovation.
The Wood Centre, part of the Gordon S. Lang School of Business and Economics at the University of Guelph, supports entrepreneurial thinking, and student-led innovation. Through its Hub Incubator, a business incubator for students and recent graduates, entrepreneurial-minded students receive support to develop their early-stage ventures with access to mentorship, funding, and hands-on learning opportunities. The final program, LaunchLab, focuses on helping founders build their business from the ground up - making key decisions around financial plans, go to market strategies, branding and prototyping. This work culminates in the flagship event of the year, the LaunchLab Expo and a pitch competition,where student founders showcase their new products and ventures for the very first time.
This term, 14 student founders representing 9 start-ups completed the LaunchLab program, creating ventures across industries such as food and beverage, sustainable beauty, equine technology, AI automation software. This highlights the diversity of ideas coming from students at the University of Guelph.
This year’s ventures included an automated equine horse jump system, a high protein product designed for easy integration into everyday meals, and a fun convenient approach to probiotics. Other ventures focused on clean-label, sustainable, and circular products with a strong emphasis on wellness and health, alongside AI software designed to eliminate repetitive tasks and generate simple automated workflows that reduce tedious work in seconds. Over the 11-week program, each founder focused on gaining essential entrepreneurial knowledge and strong foundations, which they showcased creatively at the Expo as they shared their next steps beyond the Hub.
“The LaunchLab Expo is a moment that reflects the creativity and commitment of our student entrepreneurs. Watching them move through the program—building their ideas, speaking with customers, developing and pivoting their concepts to strengthen their products, and growing in confidence—makes showcasing at the Expo especially meaningful.”
— Erin Young, Business Incubator Services Manager
The Expo is made possible through a generous grant from The John Dobson Foundation, which provided founders with a ‘Boost Budget’ to access to professional services such as web design, product photography, copywriting and legal services. Students used these resources to collaborate with experts and strengthen their ventures.
Held in the University Centre, the LaunchLab Expo brought together students, faculty, staff, mentors, community members, and industry professionals. Attendees experienced a lively showcase where founders presented their ventures, offered samples, and connected directly with guests. Senior leadership, including University of Guelph President Dr. Rene Van Acker, was also in attendance, underscoring the importance of entrepreneurship within the university community.
A highlight of the event was the pitch competition, where founders presented their ventures to a panel of industry judges, as they moved from booth to booth to hear each pitch. The Best Pitch Award, given to the founder who delivered the most compelling and well-executed pitch, was awarded to Grace Meyers and Greg Thase of Smart Jump. The Warren and Deborah Jestin Impact Award, which honours a venture demonstrating strong environmental, social, and community impact alongside a sustainable business model, went to Daniel Grygorachyk and Luca Ghizzardi of Brewed Beauty. The People’s Choice Award, voted on by Expo attendees and given to the venture that made the strongest impression, was presented to Thanuja Fernando of Glory Bakes.
The LaunchLab Expo continues to be a cornerstone event for the Wood Centre, celebrating the next generation of entrepreneurs and the innovative ideas emerging from the University of Guelph that will make a positive impact to society .
To learn more about the LaunchLab program, follow the founders throughout their journey and stay up to date on the John F. Wood Centre’s entrepreneurship programs, follow us on social media and visit our website.
The John F. Wood Centre for Business and Student Enterprise is developing innovators and entrepreneurs at the University of Guelph. We look for innovative and sustainable solutions to economic, social and environmental problems. It is through this mission that we empower a new generation of business leaders committed to community engagement and a sustainable future. We instill in our students a sense of social responsibility and leadership, character-building values that help develop citizenship. We help to bring ideas to life!