The Foundry Program at Carleton - Helping Take Innovative Ideas to the Next Level

I’m currently working as an intern for the Foundry Program at Carleton, its an amazing opportunity for students and since I had never heard of it before this semester I wanted to let everyone else in on it.

The Foundry Program at Carleton University helps students bring innovative ideas to market and the community. Students, recent graduates and staff members can receive $10 000+ grants to help build prototypes, hire a consultant, develop a patent or whatever else they need to continue working towards their goals of either starting their own business or developing their project until it can be sold to a company already established in the Industry. But the foundry program is a lot more than a start up funding program. Two teams of interns work with students from the time they apply, until they receive the money and even afterwards to give them every chance to succeed.

Students, recent graduates and staff members can receive
$10 000+ grants to help build prototypes, hire a consultant,
develop a patent or whatever else they need

The Innovation Interns look for possible flaws or blank spots in the student’s logic then with the student and various advisors in residence to make sure those flaws are resolved. They also help do the background research of what competition or roadblocks the projects might face when it goes to market, as well as for additional opportunities. These interns will poke and pry at an idea to make sure that there are no surprises later on. But They aren't just doing this because it is a job and pays the bills, All of the foundry interns are passionate about the program and want to help these projects to succeed. We're part of the Foundry program because it gives us an opportunity to see what other students are passionate about and get to help a project develop into a business and with a bit of luck not only succeed but become the next big thing (with the inventors' permission next week I'll be posting a blog about one of our program participants that has made international news over the past year). The other team of interns work to get the participants stories to the public, students put a lot of time, heart and soul into these projects and there are some pretty neat stories about how some of the ideas came about.

You don't have to have the next big technologically
revolutionary idea to apply.

The awesome thing about the Foundry is, you don't have to have the next big technologically revolutionary idea to apply. You also don't need a business plan. All you need is a project or idea that you are passionate about. The Foundry Program Director, Luc Lalande is fond of saying you need "an idea that's really real". Ten thousand dollars is a lot of money, so you obviously can't go 'I'm a bit short on rent this month I'll apply to the foundry with whatever I dreamt up in class this week". You need to have put a good amount of thought into what you want to do with your project, what your goal is, how you might achieve it or how the foundry could help you achieve it and have put enough work into it to show you're serious.

The Foundry interns start working on a project when a student decides to apply for the grant. We'll help you develop your business plan and even work on a proposal until the team believes it will be selected for funding. We can help develop a business plan if that's what the student needs or help them attain a patent. For projects in the earlier stages the teams can help develop prototypes or marketable products through their own research or by calling on the Foundry programs network to find someone with the required expertise to work with the student as a mentor.

Students are never required to follow the suggestions given them by the interns and the Foundry Program maintains applicant’s confidentiality and never attaches hidden strings or legalities. At the same time we will not just give a student false hopes if we do come across a fatal flaw or if the project is not right for the program, in these cases the student still leaves having gained some expertise and always has the opportunity to apply again.

All you need is a project or idea that you are passionate about.

If you haven't guessed being an intern is also awesome job and an excellent way to get introduced to the Ottawa Tech and Entrepreneurial Communities. Students from any level or Science, Business and Engineering are selected for Innovation Interns, and students from journalism, media, and communication related fields are selected for Communication Internships.

Find out more at the Foundry Program Wiki:
http://www.ottawatechcommunity.ca/wiki/index.php?title=Foundry_Program.