Registration - Idéation Program (free activity)
The Ideation Program - Institut nordique du Québec, offered in collaboration with Entrepreneuriat ULaval, provides three immersive days designed to explore scientific entrepreneurship and transform a real-world challenge into an initial solution concept.
Thanks to the support of Transforming Climate Action (TCA), participation in the program is completely free of charge.
Why participate?
The program will help you develop innovation skills while working on real-world challenges related to northern environments and oceanography.
- Discover the fundamentals of scientific entrepreneurship;
- Explore new ways to mobilize your knowledge and expertise;
- Collaborate with participants from different disciplines;
- Strengthen your ability to tackle complex challenges;
- Transform a real-world problem into an initial solution.
Who is this program for?
The program is intended for individuals who would like to explore entrepreneurship as a way to mobilize and enhance their knowledge, expertise, or research.
- Students from the 16 member universities of Institut nordique du Québec;
- Postdoctoral fellows;
- Research professionals;
- Faculty members.
This program is for you if...
- you are interested in northern or ocean-related issues;
- you enjoy solving real-world challenges;
- you would like to explore entrepreneurship without necessarily creating a business;
- you are looking for new ways to put your expertise into action;
- you enjoy working in a collaborative environment.
No business idea is required to participate.
What you will accomplish over three days
Explore
Discover the foundations of scientific entrepreneurship and examine different challenges to identify an issue to address as a team.
Understand and design
Analyze stakeholder needs, deepen your understanding of the challenge, and develop a solution that addresses a real need.
From concept to presentation
Refine your solution, prepare your pitch, and present your project to fellow participants.
By the end of the program, each team will have developed an initial solution to a real-world challenge while gaining practical tools to further advance their ideas.
Examples of challenges
Teams will work on challenges related to northern environments and oceanography, including:
How can additional revenue streams be generated to support research activities?
How can the extraction of small organisms from water samples be automated?
How can particles of different sizes, from 1 micron to 1 millimetre, be analyzed simultaneously?
A hands-on approach
The program emphasizes experimentation rather than lecture-based learning.
Through practical workshops and teamwork, participants will use approaches inspired by design thinking, customer discovery and pretotyping to rapidly advance their ideas.
Each team will present its solution at the end of the program and leave with a better understanding of the resources available to help pursue future entrepreneurial or innovation initiatives.
Registration
Space is limited.
Registration deadline: October 16, 2026.
Participation is free thanks to the support of Transforming Climate Action (TCA).
The Ideation Program is offered in collaboration with Entrepreneuriat ULaval.
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