Institutional Recommendations

Jim Banting, Assistant Vice-Principal (Partnerships and Innovation), Queen’s University

"To support women faculty members with an interest to learn more about the potential commercialization of their ideas and inventions, Queen’s University introduced an initial cohort of 8 women faculty members to the From Lab 2 Fulfillment (FL2F) Workshop in 2022. Hosted by Dr. Orly Yadid-Petch and her team, FL2F provided an opportunity for researchers from different Faculties across the University to connect in a supportive space for women to learn and explore pivoting their research into commercial interests. We are pleased to provide support to the FL2F program in Eastern Ontario with recently announced funding from the WeBC’s Capital, Community, Capacity (C3) Project, under the Women Entrepreneurship Strategy (WES) Ecosystem Fund"

L. Kilcrease, CEO Alberta Innovates

"We see a need for programs like FL2F that focus on the needs and realities of female entrepreneurs... FL2F could be an important complement to Alberta Innovates’ support of funding high potential, high growth technology companies."

Renae Barlow, VP, Entrepreneurship & Innovation, Economic Development Lethbridge (ED

"The Women Entrepreneurs-in-STEM program (WESTEM), through Economic Development Lethbridge (EDL), is pleased to recommend the From Lab to Fulfillment (FL2F) workshop series that you offer. This workshop provides a valuable opportunity for women from academic, research and STEM backgrounds to network, collaborate and explore the possibilities of entrepreneurship and patent creation. Women face various obstacles in both STEM fields and entrepreneurship across Canada, and the WESTEM program aims to limit the barriers that women face in these areas. For this reason, we were very pleased to have Dr. Yadid-Pecht offer her workshop to our clients and look forward to having her offer it again. FL2F has proven to be an accessible and valuable workshop for women as they explore and transition from academia, research, or STEM careers to entrepreneurship."

Dr. Susan Skone, Associate Vice-President (Research), University of Calgary

"Academic professionals are busy people. Maintaining a healthy work-life balance takes hard work to do well. Taking the time then to also bring their ideas and innovations into the marketplace can seem overwhelming. This is why your workshop is so useful. We have many women who desire to take their hard work and turn it into market-ready opportunities, start businesses, work with students to realize their careers and support each other. One of their prime obstacles is not knowing how these goals can be achieved; another is the sense that they must do it on their own. By providing them with specific strategies that they can use in their entrepreneurial journeys, active coaching related to their actual interests and opportunities, encouragement and a connection to other women in the same situation, these women can begin to imagine, prepare and take their ideas out of their labs. As they take action, these women grow personally and contribute to each other, their families, students, and communities; they strengthen their sense of accomplishment and realize the potential their work has. Their roles within the university also transform how we as an academic institution can reach out and benefit the communities that support us and that we serve. We become more entrepreneurial as a university. We become recognized for our research and its impact with a variety of benefits - social, economic, health, or environmental."

Dr. Ephraim Zehavi, Dean of Engineering, Bar-Ilan University

"I would like to whole heartfully recommend the FL2F workshop that Dr. Yadid-Pecht offers. It has been my pleasure to observe the women from Engineering and Science faculties connect and form a support group for entrepreneurship with Orly's guidance. I also observed the growth and the change of thinking the women demonstrated throughout and after the workshop. A few of them said that it changed their way of thinking about their research and their projects, and if this way of thinking spreads out, I believe our university will gain a lot from this change in perspective and focus on real market needs."