DMZ ranked top university-based incubator in the world

The DMZ at Ryerson University is ranked the number one university-based incubator in the world by UBI Global, tying for first with the U.K.’s SETsquared. Up from third place in 2015, the DMZ is now the leading incubator program managed by a university out of more than 200 programs in its category.

"Excelling across all impact and performance categories, the DMZ at Ryerson University has once again demonstrated why it is one of the best university-managed incubation programs in the world. A truly impressive accomplishment evident by successful startups such as Sampler, Borrowell and Sensibill, all incubated at the DMZ," says Ali Amin, co-founder, UBI Global (external link) .

UBI Global is a leader in performance analysis of business incubators around the world. The Stockholm-based research organization looks at more than 20 key performance indicators including funding raised by startups, jobs created, survival rate of companies, number of coaching hours per company per month and many more.

“At the DMZ, we understand that economic vitality is fueled by growth-driven incubation and acceleration programs that accelerate the success of the next generation of innovative businesses and prepare them for global expansion,” says Abdullah Snobar, executive director, DMZ. “The UBI ranking is helping us better understand ways to push boundaries in order to create impact not just for our entrepreneurs, but also for our country’s contribution to the global startup ecosystem.”

Other Canadian incubators that have ranked in the ‘incubator program managed by a university’ category include McGill Dobson Centre for Entrepreneurship (#8) and University of Toronto (#4).

Since the last UBI ranking in 2015, the DMZ has created an advisory council comprising of the top tech and business minds in North America; opened an office in New York City to support Canadian entrepreneurs; focused on startup scale and growth by launching its flagship sales accelerator program; and developed partnerships with companies like Facebook and large Canadian banks to develop accelerator programs in digital news, fintech and early market validation for women-led founders.  

As the DMZ heads into its eighth year in the startup ecosystem, it will focus on its flagship sales accelerator for high-growth companies, with pre-accelerator and incubation programs supporting the full journey of an entrepreneur from ideation to validation to growth.