This event is brought to you in partnership with NSERC (Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada).

Register now at the early bird rate of $45 – Express Registration

In conjunction with NSERC, VEF is offering a student discount of $35 for pre-registered tickets. Please contact the VEF Manager for registration code – Contact Us

Accelerators can play a key role in growing early-stage companies, university research and intellectual property into market ready ventures, but not all accelerators follow the same model or offer the same services.

Hear from our panel of BC accelerators from both Industry and University sectors as they discuss the approaches they take to address some of the key issues faced by local entrepreneurs. The panel will also debate the success of BC in growing Silicon Valley-style accelerators and connecting entrepreneurs with industry mentors and financing.

Moderated by Brent Holliday – Capital West Partners and a VEF Board member, our panelists include:

Brad Lowe, Wireless Accelerator Architect – Wavefront
Darrell Kopke, Skool Principal – instituteB
Todd Farrell, Chief Acceleration Officer – Entrepreneurship@UBC
John Seminerio – Venture Labs
Jason Bailey, Founder & Principal – GrowLab

In addition, attendees will have the opportunity to tour the presenting accelerator facilities shortly before the VEF event. Tours so far will include:

Wavefront at 1400-1055 W Hastings St, Vancouver (Map). Tour starts at 4.30pm (arrival contact: Brad Lowe).

Other tour details to come.

VEF in conjunction with NSERC will be holding a draw prize on the night for two VEF Memberships. This is applicable for pre-registered students ($35 student discount offer). Please contact the VEF Manager for the registration code – Contact Us

Please note that invited local Accelerators will be presenting during our Lightning Pitch segment of this event. Applications for future Lightning Pitches will be accepted for our March event onwards.

VEF is supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada for our February event.

Please click Continue Reading to see full bios of event speakers.

The recording of the ‘Cleantech – An Industry Update’ from our January event is now posted for viewing:

Video Part 1
Video Part 2
Video Part 3
Video Part 4

Some quotes from our recent Cleantech Industry Up Date event panelists:

“It was a great opportunity to share different perspectives on the Cleantech Industry and to meet with individuals interested in Endurance and our Wind Turbine Energy business” – Peter Tyszewicz (COO) – Endurance Wind Power

“VEF is a great evening out to connect in person with so many in the Vancouver tech scene…” – Paul Austin (Regional Director, Partnerships) – SDTC

“I found the VEF experience very worthwhile. As we try to encourage innovation and commercialization these opportunities for the exchange of ideas will contribute to our collective success.” – Donald McInnes (Executive Vice-Chairman) – Alterra Power Corp.

“The VEF’s “Cleantech – An Industry Update” on January 24, 2012 was timely, appropriately provocative and full of valuable insights for an appreciative audience in excess of 200 cleantech professionals from BC industry, various branches of provincial and Federal government, and the finance sector. The evening’s four panelists were leaders from very different segments of BC’s cleantech community, yet they predominantly agreed on key challenges facing cleantech development in this province. Not unlike the highly renowned U.S. emerging technology intelligence firm Lux Research, the panelists offered the audience a lesson in how to be a “hype buster,” while also providing a realistically optimistic prognosis of future opportunities. A most worthwhile evening…” – Walter Cicha (Strategic Intelligence, Energy Innovation) – IRAP Pacific – NRC Canada

More details of our February ‘Accelerator’ event are coming soon with panelists and Accelerator site visits prior to the VEF event.

Our February event is supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Council of Canada (NSERC)

Listed below are the Lightning Pitch presenters from our January 24th event:

• Babak Rezania, Prongineer Ltd.
• Kambiz Taheri & Connie Linder, Polymer Research Technologies Ltd.
• Michael Tattersfield, Crosswind Power Systems Inc.
• Domingo DeTorres, Greentail Environmental Inc.

Dave Thomas from the VEF Board highlighted two up coming events:

Canadian Financing Forum on February 2nd and 3rd
Cities Summit on February 1st and 2nd

Speaker details coming soon on our February 28th event – ‘Accelerator Idol’. Registration now open.

Express Registration

Some tickets have become available for our Cleantech Industry Up Date event tonight.

Event day registrations are priced at $50 and tickets are sold at the door, payable by cash, credit card or check.

Please note administration staff are not guaranteed to be available before the event, due to event set-up.

Details of future VEF events can be found on our News & Events tab.