The Science of Startups: Introducing the First Cohort of Concept Science Teams

From ideation to product development, Concept is where University of Waterloo students and faculty can find the support they need to bring a concept to reality. With that, we are so excited to share our first cohort of Concept Science teams whose projects show great potential!

Offered through a longstanding partnership with the Faculty of Science, the Concept Science pre-incubator program is an evolution of Velocity Science and is available to undergraduate students, graduate students, post-docs, and faculty founded teams. We have incorporated five years of learnings from the successes and shortcomings of the Velocity Science program into Concept Science, which will offer our campus community valuable and more customized resources to support both the business and technical development of the student projects.

In the Concept Science program, all product ideas must have an element of biology, chemistry, or physics attached to them. In our inaugural cohort, ideas range from a sticker that alerts you when meat is no longer safe to eat, to a natural pigment product for textile dyeing. Throughout our program, the below teams will work with both business and technical advisors to establish milestones that will be evaluated on a term by term basis. They will each receive mentorship from an experienced science startup advisor, complete goal-setting exercises, be connected to useful campus recourses and receive support in applying to an incubator or accelerator program.

Concept Science teams

Diffusiv
Diffusiv is developing a sticker that changes color when meat goes bad.

IuvoDerm
Iuvoderm is developing a wound dressing for people with diabetes that reduces the recovery time for chronic foot ulcers.

Material Futures Lab
Material Futures Lab is developing a natural pigment product for textile dyeing using micro-organisms.

Qoltom
Qoltom is developing an automated wheel locking device to reduce the risk of falling in the aging population.

Scope
Scope is developing lenses whose optical power is electronically tunable.

This sounds cool, how can I join?

Simply apply online with your idea! We accept applications on a rolling basis with the option for renewal each term based on performance. Bonus - by applying, The Faculty of Science may also be able to provide valuable lab space to work on your project. What are you waiting for?