Innovation /innovation/taxonomy/term/351/all en When Hearing Is Healing /innovation/article/when-hearing-healing <p>Ask the parent of any newborn child, and they will often tell you that the most satisfying sound a child makes is when they are sleeping. Something in the simple act of a baby’s breathing fills the heart with quiet joy. But it is not the same for many preterm infants, whose lungs are not yet developed. Breathing for these children can be fraught with problems and often only possible with some kind of mechanical assistance.  </p> Tue, 22 Apr 2025 16:30:25 +0000 Sara Bauman 74698 at /innovation MIF Lunch & Learn 14: Finding non-dilutive funding /innovation/channels/event/mif-lunch-learn-14-finding-non-dilutive-funding-355347 <p>In the early days of a spinoff or start-up business, <strong>securing </strong>adequate funding is critical. But in many cases, founders have to give up some ownership of their company to investors.</p> Mon, 12 Feb 2024 15:22:34 +0000 junji.nishihata@mcgill.ca 73978 at /innovation Fourth edition of the MIF puts spotlight on life science /innovation/article/fourth-edition-mif-puts-spotlight-life-science <p>Entrepreneurial spirit is thriving at ɬ﷬, as shown by a record-breaking 31 applications to the ɬ﷬ Innovation Fund (MIF) this year. Since its inception in 2020, the MIF has been a catalyst for cutting-edge innovation, and this year’s cohort marks the most competitive pool of candidates yet. The seven selected teams are all in the area of life science working to deliver groundbreaking technologies and solutions to global challenges.</p> Mon, 20 Jan 2025 15:25:36 +0000 Junji Nishihata and Sara Bauman 74682 at /innovation From Here to Paternity /innovation/article/here-paternity <p>Disruption. If there is one buzzword in the modern economy, this is it. Every entrepreneur claims to be doing it, every investor is looking for it, but how many are actually capable of it? And what does it really mean anyway?</p> <p>The phrase ‘disruptive innovation’ has been bandied about since the late 1990s thanks to Harvard professor Clayton Christensen, who identified it as a process whereby a product or service takes root at the bottom of the market and eventually displaces established competitors.</p> Wed, 20 Nov 2024 19:24:10 +0000 Junji Nishihata 74667 at /innovation MIF Lunch & Learn 17: What Many Founders Forget - The Hidden Risks of Skipping Insurance and HR /innovation/channels/event/mif-lunch-learn-17-what-many-founders-forget-hidden-risks-skipping-insurance-and-hr-360670 <p>Launching a startup requires many elements to come together: a team, a business plan, customers but fail to consider safeguarding their venture with insurance and HR tools.</p> Fri, 25 Oct 2024 16:13:07 +0000 junji.nishihata@mcgill.ca 74598 at /innovation MIF Summer Networking Session 2024 /innovation/channels/event/mif-summer-networking-session-2024-357123 <p>UPDATE: We have a speaker for the MIF Networking Session. Please join us for a fireside chat with <strong>Dr. Paul A. Kruszewski</strong>, a serial frontier AI entrepreneur with 3 exits.</p> Mon, 29 Apr 2024 20:47:54 +0000 junji.nishihata@mcgill.ca 74142 at /innovation MIF Lunch & Learn 15: Finding dilutive funding /innovation/channels/event/mif-lunch-learn-15-finding-dilutive-funding-356174 <p>Before finding customers, many startup and spinoff businesses need to find funding.</p> Fri, 15 Mar 2024 15:55:48 +0000 junji.nishihata@mcgill.ca 74044 at /innovation MIF Team in search of unicorn battery technology /innovation/article/mif-team-search-unicorn-battery-technology Professor Philippe Ouzilleau and Yee Wei Foong are creating an alternative to lithium-ion batteries which is less environmentally costly, and simpler to both manufacture and recycle. With the help of the ɬ﷬ Innovation Fund (MIF) the team is getting closer to making this a reality. Fri, 15 Mar 2024 16:39:17 +0000 Charlotte Bawol 74046 at /innovation As a Matter of Fact, it is Rocket Science: Iron-Based Fuel Powered by MIF /innovation/article/matter-fact-it-rocket-science-iron-based-fuel-powered-mif New technology by ɬ﷬ entrepreneurs and their spinoff Altiro Energy uses iron as a fuel alternative to greenhouse gas producing fossil fuels. With support from the ɬ﷬ Iinnovation Fund (MIF), they aim to test the project on a commercial scale and decarbonize the future of energy. Thu, 01 Feb 2024 18:35:05 +0000 Charlotte Bawol 73941 at /innovation Don’t Throw Nutrients Out with the Growing Water: Making Hydroponics More Efficient /innovation/article/dont-throw-nutrients-out-growing-water-making-hydroponics-more-efficient <p>If you go to the grocery store in Montreal, you will likely buy fresh produce. Let’s say, you get a pack of Driscoll strawberries. You may not realize it, but those strawberries are grown in California and had to travel over 4,500 km to get to you, polluting the environment every kilometer of the way.</p> Mon, 18 Dec 2023 20:50:10 +0000 Charlotte Bawol 73868 at /innovation Passing the torch: MIF welcomes 2nd cohort /innovation/article/passing-torch-mif-welcomes-2nd-cohort <p>The ɬ﷬ Innovation Fund (MIF) officially entered its second year of operation with a kick-off event at the Faculty Club on Thursday, February 2nd. The two-part experience began with an advisor matchmaking session that brought together the ten recipient teams with a room full of experienced entrepreneurs, all of whom volunteered to attend the introductory workshop.</p> Thu, 09 Feb 2023 18:52:49 +0000 Junji Nishihata 64131 at /innovation Made in Quebec: Building a better future, one CMU at a time /innovation/article/made-quebec/made-quebec-building-better-future-one-cmu-time <p>There is simply no escaping the fact that 2022 has started out with a completely different sound than a resounding and joyful ‘bang!’ Perhaps we can charitably say it began with a dull, familiar thud – likely caused by the simultaneously slapping of foreheads across the world when the latest wave of pandemic restrictions were announced. As the famous baseball player and manager Yogi Berra once said, “It’s like déjà vu all over again.”</p> Wed, 23 Feb 2022 15:38:57 +0000 Junji Nishihata 33348 at /innovation Made in Quebec: Illuminating hidden brain cancer cells /innovation/article/made-quebec/made-quebec-illuminating-hidden-brain-cancer-cells <p>It's a scene that plays out daily in operating rooms around the world: a surgeon removes a malignant brain tumour. But rather than registering the satisfaction of having saved a patient’s life, hanging in the air is an all-too-real statistic; in 99.5% of these operations, unseen cancer cells remain. That hidden cancer will eventually grow and spread, and the operation will have become only a short reprieve for the patient and their family.</p> Wed, 17 Nov 2021 14:47:24 +0000 Philip Fine 23923 at /innovation Can 3D printers help find a cure for cancer? /innovation/article/can-3d-printers-help-find-cure-cancer <p>Cancer. If ever there has been a disease that has dogged human life, it is this one. Seemingly random, often hidden, it is an all too often lethal illness that is almost older than life itself. There is evidence from 70-80 million years ago that even the mighty dinosaurs suffered from this scourge.</p> Mon, 09 Jun 2025 14:21:40 +0000 Sara Bauman 74707 at /innovation Better Health in the Blink of an Eye? /innovation/article/better-health-blink-eye <p>We’ve all experienced the frustration of using eyedrops—missing the eye, feeling the liquid spill down our cheeks, or even tasting the medication moments after application. But what if this wasn’t just a minor inconvenience, but a fundamental flaw in drug delivery? </p> <p>65 million people use eyedrops, with applications ranging from dry eye relief, allergy and infection treatment, and even post-surgical care. Despite their widespread use, eyedrops are exceptionally inefficient by design, leading to considerable treatment waste.  </p> Mon, 28 Apr 2025 19:15:27 +0000 Sara Bauman 74701 at /innovation