Entrepreneurship at Ryerson
Ryerson prides itself in having entrepreneurship in its DNA. That holistic approach was celebrated on June 13, 2017 when Ryerson received the Entrepreneurial University Award at the Deshpande Symposium Awards (external link) .
The award recognizes institutions that integrate entrepreneurial education into their strategic plan, in the curriculum and through student engagement more broadly. It was presented as part of the Deshpande Symposium for Innovation & Entrepreneurship in Higher Education (external link) —an annual conference of academics, policy planners, and practitioners held June 12-14 at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. Cornell University and Northeastern University were the other two finalists. Through their Deshpande Foundation, Gururaj (Desh) and Jaishree Deshpande have encouraged use of innovation and entrepreneurship as catalysts for social change in Canada, the U.S. and India since 1996.
The Department is just one piece of a comprehensive entrepreneurial ecosystem across all of Ryerson. We have a variety of incubators, which we call Zones that are a complete program of your learning that takes prospective start-ups all the way from initial investigation and prototyping to launch and growth. The DMZ is recognised as the world’s number one university-based incubator. Our current incubators currently host more than 400 start-ups and have successfully graduated more than 400. Startup Funding at Ryerson has exceeded $500 million. In addition students have access to more informal resources available through the Sandbox and the library as well as a variety of funding sources.
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Discover what it takes to create social change, contribute to a big idea or launch a startup with Zone Learning. Ryerson is home to 10 zones – each with a distinct focus – that provide opportunities to shape initiatives from the ground up and gain experience that prepares you for the real world.
Download an (PDF file) PDF fileaccessible campus map of all zones.
For more information on non-academic entrepreneurship activities at Ryerson you can also click on this link. (opens in new window)
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Startup Certified: TRSM students are given the opportunity to go through a unique and intensive program from the DMZ's Entrepreneurs In Residence and DMZ founders through a semester. Upon completion of the program, students are placed in a talent pool where they're matched with the city's top tech startups to gain critical real-life experience and implement the skills they learned.
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Fifteen TRSM students travelled to Munich, along with Professor Steve Gedeon and Dr. Charlene Nicholls-Nixon, as part of an intensive week-long design thinking bootcamp hosted by the Academic Program for Entrepreneurship (APE) (external link) at the Strascheg Center for Entrepreneurship (external link) (SCE).