UNB's Summer Institute adds cleantech program to campus accelerator

The University of New Brunswick in Fredericton has opened applications for the 2016 cohort of its Summer Institute, a three-month accelerator that this year will include a program dedicated to clean technology.
The Summer Institute is led by Dhirendra Shukla, the Dr. J. Herbert Smith ACOA Chair in UNB’s engineering department and an ex-employee of Nortel Networks.
“We are so appreciative of how much everyone cared,” says Summer Institute 2014 graduate Kyle MacNevin of Wear Your Label. “Dhirendra and the mentors would go through hell and high water for you. That was really validating – that they believed in us.”
MacNevin’s company, Wear Your Label, a line of “conscious clothing” focused on both mental health and fashion, which is currently participating in the Fashion Zone at Ryerson University’s Digital Media Zone (DMZ).
Located in the J. Herbert Smith Centre in the University’s Engineering department, the program promises to be very collegial, with a strict taboo on the “dog eat dog” ethos pervasive in business, and a healthy emphasis on sharing meals and taking case-study field trips together.
It runs from May 2-July 22.
In addition to the previously existing Foundry program, which tests the viability of participating business ideas, a program called Spark has been added, dedicated to business ideas with an emphasis on environmental sustainability.
The Summer Institute demands no equity stake in businesses that finish the program.
Anyone over the age of 19 can apply by the March 14 deadline. The Summer Institute is not limited to UNB students.
If you are a UNB student, however, the program can count towards the course TME 3913: Experiential Learning – Technology Management and Entrepreneurship.
Participants will be given a full-time wage, plus living expenses, and will be eligible for up to $2,000 in prototyping costs.
There is the possibility of arranging on-campus residency housing. The UNB campus, incidentally, is one of the more beautiful university campuses in Canada.