About Vice-Principal ResearchKINGSTON, ONTARIO (FEBRUARY 22, 2023) – Queen’s Partnerships and Innovation (QPI) is pleased to welcome the winter 2023 cohort of companies to the Wings Accelerator program, launched on February 6, 2023.
The Wings program is offered by Queen’s under the Scale-up Platform, an initiative led by Invest Ottawa in Eastern Ontario and in which QPI is a regional partner, and supported by the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario). Wings participants are also part of the Queen’s Startup Runway program, the WE-CAN Project at Queen’s University, and/or the Health Innovation Kingston Project where they have access to QPI’s curated resources and supports, also made available with support from FedDev Ontario.
In its fifth iteration as Wings, the cohort accelerator program provides early-stage founders with resources and tailored guidance to help them assess the feasibility of their business idea, validate their proposed value proposition, and begin the development of a viable business model. Program creators Elza Seregelyi, Andrew Jackson and Mike Laginski are delivering the cohort program virtually, which makes it very accessible to participants. In addition to group workshops, founders also receive support via 1:1 mentoring sessions.
“Having group learning sessions where peers can discuss concepts while also getting 1:1 mentorship that is tailored to their business is something that past participants have said was key to their success,” says Elza Seregelyi.
“We are really excited to have Elza and Andrew back for our final session of Wings,” says Rick Boswell, Assistant Director of Operations and Programs for QPI. “They bring a wide breadth of expertise to our startups.”
To qualify, entrepreneurs or founders must have an emerging or established technology-, hardware-, or science-based company or solution to participate in the program. The following eight companies will be participating in the program over the next two months, which will conclude with a pitch day on March 28, 2023.
Demagel Inc. – a company that has developed cost-effective, sustainable materials solutions that have minimal to no environmental effect for clean energy applications
HealthSmart – a company that is using data analytics to manage healthcare services with a goal to increase efficiency and access to care
Insite Consulting – a company developing tools to streamline professional engineering services for land development
KiefCake Co. – a 3D printing/ manufacturing company that produces cannabis/tea related accessories
Lotusyn – a software development company providing both consulting and software development services in the beauty and wellness space
Next Knowledge – a learning company dedicated to enabling deep learning and comprehension that remains out of reach for too many learners by improving the way individuals learn and process information
Gogokar – a SaaS company developing an app that offers city-to-city rideshares and parcel service in Canada
We Mean Fitness (Mantis Mirror) – a fitness company developing a novel bicycle mirror to increase cyclist safety
With support from external funding, QPI offers numerous services, resources and programs to support entrepreneurs both from within Queen’s University and from the greater Kingston community, and to accelerate the growth of startups and small to medium-sized enterprises within Kingston and Eastern Ontario. To learn more about the QPI programs and services, please visit our webpage for entrepreneurs, startups and SMEs.