UNB’s celebrates culture of entrepreneurship
From the Springboard Content Lab
Springboard member University of New Brunswick is celebrating Global Entrepreneurship Week, a worldwide recognition of innovators who launch startups, drive economic growth and improve lives.
As part of this celebration, UNB is excited to share the incredible work of BioHuntress Therapeutics Inc., a biomedical innovation developing nature-inspired, better cures for devastating disease.
Led by Dr. Alli Murugesan, BioHuntress is making significant progress on its first innovation: the development of a scientifically validated, nature-inspired compound known as BG008 (derived from propolis, or bee glue).
This breakthrough therapy has the potential to provide immeasurable relief to those suffering from blood cancers—and if successful, will also drive regional economic growth in the Maritimes.
Dr. Murugesan is an academia-nurtured entrepreneur with a PhD in biotechnology and two postdoctoral fellowships in neuroscience and oncology. She has won a Mitacs Global Impact Entrepreneur Award (2018) for her outstanding innovation in cancer research and entpreneurship.
She also received a $100,000 grant from the Dalhousie Medical Foundation in 2022. This helped her achieve multiple milestones for her research.
UNB entrepreneurial ecosystem
BioHuntress is part of a thriving UNB entrepreneurial ecosystem that supports world-class programs and mentorships to help students, researchers, alumni, and entrepreneurs bring their ideas to life and transform their businesses into thriving ventures, offering a variety of programs and institutes to support innovators and ideas from concept to commercialization.
UNB Research Innovation and Partnerships – The Research & Innovation (R&I) Partnerships team facilitates access to experts and infrastructure at UNB, New Brunswick’s leading research university. The team brings these together, industry, community and researchers – facilitating access to research expertise – to maximize UNB’s contribution to our economy and our province.
The J Herbert Smith Centre for Technology Management & Entrepreneurship provides students and established business owners the opportunity to develop ideas and grow ventures through its programs. With an emphasis on hands-on learning experience, the Centre has supported over 275 startup projects and companies that have raised over $122 million to date.
The Summer Institute is an intensive accelerator that helps early-stage startups refine their business models and launch successfully.
Energia Ventures – An intensive three-month accelerator that provides mentorship, funding and programming to tech-driven entrepreneurs.
Scale-Up Atlantic – a six-month accelerator that service established businesses looking to grow
Harvard HealthLab Accelerator Canada – For student entrepreneurs focused on social impact.
International Business & Entrepreneurship Centre – offers entrepreneurship courses and competitions, speaker series and awards and scholarships.
The Mckenna Institute – drives economic development and social advancement through digital innovation. Through applied research, commercialization, emerging technologies and modernized public services, it strengthens the talent pipeline, empowers communities and shapes the digital future.
Barrett Chair in Entrepreneurship for Digital Transformation – supports entrepreneurial knowledge and business skills in graduate-level computer science students. It builds bridges and opens opportunities for students interested in joining start-ups or creating their own companies.
MBA in Entrepreneurship and Technology Management – A Master’s Business Administration program that encourages students to create a new product or service and learn the steps to bring their venture to the market.
Axis Accelerator helps startups in Saint John area raise their first rounds of funding and achieve sales success.
The Pond-Deshpande Centre supports youth who want to pursue innovation and entrepreneurship. It positions entrepreneurship as a solution to many of the region’s challenges.
Green Horizons supports small and medium-sized businesses to leverage sustainability to contribute to a stronger, greener economy in New Brunswick.
Social Enterprise New Brunswick helps social enterprises in the province launch, scale and finance revenue-generating ventures aligned with their missions.
The Wallace McCain Institute – supports entrepreneurs with leadership programs, peer-to-peer networking and mentorship opportunities designed to help business leaders scale their companies and contribute to the economic transformation of the Atlantic region.
University of New Brunswick is a member of the Springboard Network of 19 post-secondary institutions in Atlantic Canada. Our mission is to grow the economy through the commercialization of research and industry/community collaborations.