Calgary’s UTI and TEC Edmonton internship programs spark creation of new ventures
As the global economy fluctuates, it’s more important than ever to diversify Alberta’s economy and create new opportunities in the technology sector.
Encouraging talented graduates to consider entrepreneurship – and providing opportunities to prepare them - is crucial to this process.
“If we can steer them onto that entrepreneurial path we are helping to play a part in creating new technology ventures,” says Nancy Collier, a TEC Edmonton’s Manager of the TEC Student Entrepreneurship Program (SEP).
Of course, some graduates will always prefer well-paying, stable employment to starting their own venture. But Collier says TEC Edmonton’s SEP takes some of the risk out of it for those weighing their options.
SEP connects student inventors, with MBA students interested in technology and seasoned entrepreneurs, who act as mentors. The cornerstone of the program is a paid internship that allows MBA students to work with new ventures at all stages of development.
In Calgary, University Technologies International (UTI), offers a parallel internship program for students offering direct exposure to all aspects of technology commercialization. “They get a lot of practical experience being involved in company development - from the due diligence stage to the nitty-gritty of start-up activity,” explains Helen Shannon, who oversees UTI’s internship program.
Both programs have received critical funding through the Ingenuity Enterprise initiative – a partnership between TEC Edmonton, UTI and the Alberta Ingenuity Fund.
As an intern at UTI, MBA graduate Andres Cortes participated in the development of business plans and marketing strategies for projects with technologies at all stages of development. “Some projects were at very early-stages; others were ready for external investment” he says.
Cortes left the internship with a good working knowledge of the technology commercialization process – particularly in terms of patents and the regulatory process.
These days, Cortes is senior marketing specialist at Smart Technologies, a Calgary company known for its interactive whiteboard product. He says his internship experience has prepared him well for his current role, which requires both a broad and deep knowledge of commercialization. It will be of great benefit if he eventually decides to go the entrepreneurship route.
“If at some point in the future, I decide to become an entrepreneur in Alberta, I’m sure my learnings from activities performed at UTI will be invaluable ,” he says.
Like Cortes, Eric Petz worked with many emerging technology ventures during his internship at TEC Edmonton. For the most part, his work entailed market assessment for new ventures and project development with TEC Edmonton and its partners.
Petz applied for the internship after leaving the field of public relations. “I wanted to switch over to a marketing and business development role at a technology firm,” he explains.
Now he’s working as a marketing and sales specialist at Calgary’s XSensor, which makes pressure-imaging systems for applications like mattress manufacturing and automotive tire testing.
Petz says the internship eased his career transition and prepared him for success.
“It taught me that I needed to work in a really clear process, in terms of identifying opportunities for the implementation of technology into certain areas,” he says. “It also taught me a lot about the nuts and bolts of doing market assessment. Having seen that planning aspect in my internship, now that I’m inside that process, I really see how that works – both the 5,000-ft view and the view from the inside.”