Entrepreneur Postdoc Fellowships

• Type of program: postdoctoral funding to support research and development conducted to create a business enterprise (startup) and built a prototype based on the applicant’s prior doctoral or postdoctoral research.
• Target areas: this program will support researchers making innovative and audacious contributions to the advancement and expansion of R³AI research themes. The general description of the R³AI initiative, Shifting Paradigms for a Robust, Reasoning and Responsible Artificial Intelligence and its Adoption, and its scientific framework are available on the Canada First Research Excellence Fund website. Priority will be given to innovative product and service development initiatives based on potentially disruptive scientific advances with significant commercialization potential.
• Responsibilities: Next AI or another entrepreneurship support organization connected to IVADO will oversee the entrepreneurship component. An academic supervisor will oversee the scientific component of the program.

The goals of this program are to:

• Enable the candidate to complete a marketable prototype of their doctoral research along with proof of concept, while undergoing training in business creation within the framework of a program offered by an entrepreneurial support organization linked to IVADO. The business proposal should be in the area of artificial intelligence and its applications.
• Encourage young researchers to invest themselves in Montréal to develop new businesses based on scientific advances.
• Participate in the development of scientific entrepreneurship and encourage the transfer of scientific knowledge and/or intellectual property developed in academia to the market.

• Opening of applications: April 29, 2024
• Deadline for submitting documents: June 10, 2024 at noon
• Date of notice that an application has been accepted for evaluation: week of June 17, 2024
• Interviews with chosen candidates: July 4 and 5, 2024
• Funding award notification date: week of July 22, 2024
• Funding start date: between September 1, 2024 and January 1, 2025

Amounts and duration

• Two funding opportunities per year are awarded to produce a marketable prototype resulting from doctoral research. Salary funding amounts to $105,000, including benefits, for a period of 18 months, plus a budget of up to $30,000 in research funds.
• Under certain conditions, an agreement with the Arbour Foundation supplements the available research funds.

Terms of payment

The funds will be transferred to the research office of the supervisor’s home university, and the university will pay the postdoctoral researcher according to its specific rules. For projects requiring ethics approval, funds will not be released until approval is granted. Funding may be reduced, withheld, delayed, or rescinded under specific circumstances, which will be outlined in the letter of award.

For the candidate

• You must be eligible to register as a postdoctoral fellow at HEC Montreal, Polytechnique Montréal, Université de Montréal, McGill University or Université Laval, on the funding start date;
• You must have submitted your doctoral thesis by the start date of funding;
• You own or will own a significant share of the company founded or co-founded. If the company is already founded, it must be very recent and it must not have carried out any significant commercial activities;
• Some flexibility will be granted in the case of applicants who provide adequate explanation for a career interruption or particular circumstances. Please include this explanation (e.g., parental leave, sick leave) in your application.

For the professor (supervisor)

• You must be a faculty member at one of the following institutions: HEC Montréal, Polytechnique Montréal, Université de Montréal, McGill University or Université Laval, at the time of the start of funding.
• All professors are eligible, except associate professors.
• If you meet the preceding criteria and are the PhD candidate’s thesis director or co-director, you are also eligible.
• You may not submit more than one application for this competition.

For the eventual co-director, there are no restrictions.

Apply by email to entrepreneuriat@ivado.ca!
/!\ If your submission file does not meet the requested length, your submission will be automatically disqualified.

The application package must include the following three components:

• A cover letter (maximum three pages, single-spaced, in 10-point Century Gothic) including the following:
  • A description of the product to be developed as part of the fellowship (including its innovative aspects). The applicant must explain the work that has been / will be done as part of their doctoral studies and that remaining to be completed during the fellowship period to achieve at least a functional prototype ready for testing by a client. The applicant must provide a draft working plan demonstrating the feasibility of producing a prototype during the funding period.
  • An explanation  of how the product aligns with IVADO’s R3AI objectives, AI that is robust, reasoning and responsible.
  • An explanation of the target market for the product, the need that it addresses, and any interest already expressed by a potential client (include a contact at that company). Are there similar products on the market? If yes, how will the product developed differ from existing ones? What disruptive impact will it have on the market?
  • An explanation of the reasons motivating the applicant to become an entrepreneur and any relevant experience they possess.
  • Any additional information deemed relevant to the application.
• A CV detailing the applicant’s academic and extracurricular activities.
• A letter of support from the professor who will be supervising the postdoctoral fellowship.

1/ Quality of the project (50%)

• Originality and anticipated commercial impacts of the project;
• Feasibility of prototype development and relevance of the host laboratory and supervisor;
• Alignment of the project with the Canada First program guidelines.

2/ Application package (40%)

• Suitability of the project with the doctoral thesis and academic excellence of the candidate;
• Applicant’s entrepreneurial qualities, motivation to develop a business, extent and scope of experience (e.g., multidisciplinary, professional, extracurricular), and knowledge of the project’s business area.

3/ Alignment of the project with the IVADO framework and the Canada First / Apogée program (10%)

• Promotion of multidisciplinary collaboration;
• Contribution to diversity;
• Environmental and social impact of the project.

Applications will be evaluated by a review committee made up of 1) at least one representative of an organization providing support to entrepreneurs (e.g., accelerator, incubator); 2) one representative from the start-up investor community; and 3) one member of the academic community. The committee will be chaired by the IVADO Technology Transfer and Entrepreneurship Advisor.

Note on the basic intellectual property (IP) principles applicable to the work undertaken as part of this program. This policy has been approved by HEC, École Polytechnique and Université de Montréal.

The basic principles are as follows:

1. The objective is to create a business enterprise based on the results of the project led by the postdoctoral fellow, which constitutes an applied research initiative. The results and intellectual property (IP) stemming from the project may be fully owned by the business enterprise once it is created (i.e., when the project’s technological outcomes and the fellow’s entrepreneurial qualities are sufficiently realized to support the business plan). This means that the Institution shall retain the IP rights until the business enterprise is created. Doing so prevents the need to implement a rights transfer process should the results not support the start-up process. In such cases, the Institution has no counterpart in the assignment of the IP rights. Should the IP rights not be assigned, they shall be jointly retained according to the institutional policies in effect for future marketing purposes.
2. Should the postdoctoral project be based on pre-existing IP, the new business enterprise must obtain the rights to develop the pre-existing IP according to the standard technology transfer process. Doing so will ensure fair returns for those who contributed to the pre-existing IP with regard to the IP that the fellow will develop. In most cases, the more generic and cross-cutting findings will remain the property of the Institution in order to enable the pursuit of research in the academic context. These findings may be published and, if useful, the business enterprise may be granted a free licence agreement.
3. Any other major contributions to the fellow’s project (e.g., by the supervisor, other students, other research funding programs) shall be subject to specific agreements prior to the start of the project.

* McGill’s intellectual property guidelines will follow the terms of the institution.

Postdoctoral researcher

• Maintain a full-time focus on the research project;
• During the course of funding, notify IVADO prior to any changes to the research fund budget as submitted and accepted. IVADO reserves the right, after reviewing a modification request, to adjust its financial contribution or even suspend it if the modifications are no longer compatible with the terms and conditions of the competition;
• Complete the mid-term and end-of-funding scientific progress report in the requested format and timeframe;
• Contribute to the IVADO community and our activities, including, e.g.:
  • Giving presentations on your research;
  • Taking part in consultations as well as training and knowledge dissemination activities;
  • Providing support during various activities that are normally undertaken by career researchers (e.g., mentorship, participation in evaluations, co-organization of events);

• Acknowledge that you are a member of an academic community to which you contribute;
• Comply with the Tri-Agency Open Access Policy on Publications. You are encouraged to publish your research findings (e.g., papers, recordings of presentations, source code, databases) in compliance with the intellectual property rules governing your specific situation;
• Acknowledge the support of IVADO and the Canada First Research Excellence Fund / Apogée when disseminating research results and, more broadly, in all activities in which you take part.

Supervisor

• Provide a work environment conducive to completion of the project;
• Oversee the postdoctoral researcher’s work.

IVADO’s commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion

To ensure that all members of society benefit equally from the advancement of knowledge and opportunities, IVADO promotes the principles of equity, diversity and inclusion in all its programs. IVADO is committed to providing a recruitment process and research framework that are inclusive, non-discriminatory, open and transparent.

List of laureates

Le financement postdoc entrepreneur.e d’IVADO me permet de me concentrer à 100% sur la transformation d’une technologie issue de ma recherche doctorale en un produit médical qui pourrait changer la vie des gens. Il permet à mon entreprise, NeuralDrive, de poursuivre le développement de sa technologie dans un cadre académique de calibre international tout en étant clair sur la gestion de la propriété intellectuelle qui en découle. C’est un véritable atout pour l’entrepreneuriat scientifique.

• Marco Bonizzato, co-fondateur NeuralDrive