Since the partnership launched in 2022, the eHub has placed 812 students in an entrepreneurial thinking placement and engaged 120 ventures and organizations in Ottawa. These numbers reflect more than participation, they represent students building confidence, gaining practical skills, and applying their knowledge to real societal challenges.
Ideas Labs: Turning Challenges into Opportunities
Ideas Labs bring together interdisciplinary teams for high-energy, challenge-based experiences focused on pressing real-world issues. This year, we hosted two Ideas Labs.
In our Sustainable Urban Development Ideas Lab, students explored how cities can become more sustainable, resilient, and inclusive. Over two intensive days, teams examined environmental and urban planning challenges, applied human-centered design principles, and pitched their solutions to industry and academic leaders. Partnering with the Telfer Green Academy gave students direct exposure to sustainability frameworks and business strategy, reinforcing how deeply climate action and entrepreneurship are intertwined.
Our Access to Justice Ideas Lab took on a different but equally complex challenge: breaking down barriers within the Canadian justice system. Working across disciplines, student teams developed solutions aimed at improving accessibility, equity, and how people navigate legal processes. The collaboration with uOttawa's Faculty of Law – Common Law Section was essential here, ensuring students grounded their ideas in real legal frameworks and lived realities. It was a powerful demonstration of what cross-campus partnerships can produce.
Solutions Lab: Addressing Gaps in Healthcare
Where Ideas Labs spark new thinking, our Solutions Labs go deeper. In our Healthcare Solutions Lab hosted this year, students worked directly with healthcare professionals, health tech innovators, and startup leaders to explore gaps in service delivery and patient experience. From user-informed solutions and early prototypes to full implementation roadmaps and strategic recommendations, students left with deliverables that mattered to our partner organizations. Working within a highly regulated, complex sector also gave students the kind of professional readiness that's hard to replicate in a classroom.
Match-Up: Connecting Talent with Startups
Match-Up operates on a simple but powerful idea: place motivated students with early-stage startups that need support. This year, students contributed across areas like marketing, web development, finance, research, and customer success. Students gain hands-on entrepreneurial experience while helping Ottawa's startup community grow. For students, it's a bridge between academic learning and real-world application. For startups, it's access to skilled, energized talent at a critical stage of growth. For Ottawa's innovation ecosystem, it's a stronger talent pipeline, built one placement at a time.
What Students Gained
Across every program, students developed problem-solving and critical thinking skills, the ability to collaborate across disciplines, confidence in communicating and pitching ideas, and a stronger sense of themselves as changemakers. At the eHub, entrepreneurship has never been just about launching ventures, it's about developing leaders capable of driving impact in any field they choose.
Student Testimonials:
“The part of my Experience Ventures placement that was most relevant to me was being exposed to the startup ecosystem at large and seeing all the different business models and individuals further along in their entrepreneurial journeys than me. This inspired me and showed me it is possible to attain my aspirations of launching my own startup in the future.
- “The Ideas Lab was a fantastic experience that challenged me to think creatively and strategically about problem-solving. Developing a model for an app required me to approach challenges with an entrepreneurial mindset—analyzing market needs, refining ideas through feedback, and considering scalability. The program emphasized collaboration and adaptability, which helped me strengthen my ability to innovate and think critically about real-world applications. Overall, it gave me a deeper understanding of the entrepreneurial process and equipped me with valuable skills in communication, teamwork, and business development.”
Looking Ahead
Reflecting on this year of partnership with Experience Ventures, we're proud of both the scale and depth of what we've built together. With 203 students engaged this year alone from all 10 faculties, we're continuing to grow a pipeline of innovators equipped to address society's most pressing challenges. We look forward to expanding these programs, deepening community partnerships, and creating more opportunities for students to move from ideas to action.
About Experience Ventures
Experience Ventures, powered by the Hunter Hub for Entrepreneurial Thinking - UCalgary, enables post-secondary students to make an impact alongside real-world innovators through entrepreneurial thinking placements. EV is funded by the Government of Canada and is delivered in partnership with post-secondary institutions nationwide.