TEP Agents are industry organizations or educational institutions experienced in offering educational programs to technology entrepreneurs. Discovery Foundation looks for Agents that can teach technology entrepreneurs the business skills and practices essential to grow world-scale BC-based businesses. Agents and programs are selected in a yearly competition by the Foundation to help deliver its educational mandate.
ACETECH
ACETECH is BC’s only not for profit organization formed by CEOs for CEOs of companies innovating with technology. We help CEO’s lead better, grow faster and feel empowered by offering a proven growth strategy program; transformative event experiences; and a trusted peer group for ongoing support.
The Discovery Foundation’s Leadership Development Program is 6 full-day workshops; 4 in Vancouver and 2 in Victoria. They use practical tools and proven methods to transform leaders and enhance company performance. ACETECH hopes this Program will become an industry standard for leadership development in BC.
SFU'S COAST CAPITAL SAVINGS VENTURE CONNECTION
Coast Capital Savings Venture Connection presents the Discovery Foundation Tech4Impact Program – a blended program of speaker series, embedded mentors and workshops/hackathons aiming to support and accelerate the development of innovation skills in every student, paving the way to entrepreneurship.
LIVING LABS, EMILY CARR UNIVERSITY OF ART + DESIGN
Living Labs, ECUAD supports creative projects, social venture and entrepreneurship driven by art and design. They build projects and partnership models that use art and design as a mechanism for innovation and community building.
The Discovery Foundation’s Mentorship Program engages experts in business, tech, interaction design, industrial design, and materials-based research in order to transfer knowledge to emerging entrepreneurs particularly in the connected devices space between hardware and software. A new addition this year is the Mentor-in-Residence who will actively work with entrepreneurial designers during the program.
Women’s Enterprise Centre
Women’s Enterprise Centre is the leading business resource for existing and aspiring BC women entrepreneurs. They provide business loans up to $150K, business skills training, personalized business advice, mentoring, practical business resources and a supportive community to help women business owners gain the skills, mindset, financing and networks they need to realize their business potential.
The Discovery Foundation’s EM3 (Entrepreneurial Mindset Mastery & Mentoring) Program is a mentoring program for women who own technology businesses that have been operating for 1-5 years. Women’s Enterprise Centre has been conducting a version of this Program successfully since 2007 and will enhance it with proven leadership mentoring and mastermind methods. This Program will be offered in Victoria, Kelowna and throughout Greater Vancouver.
INDIGENEXT
Indigenext is an indigenous business accelerator that helps connect the vision of growth and community balance with opportunities, partners, mentors, and investors. They are a team of storytellers and technologists involved in business and social impact. They recognize the value of being seen and heard, information and story can transform lives and communities. The combine long term vision with near term actions to create measurable results.
The Discovery Foundation’s Before Vancouver Program is a technology training program which will train indigenous students to create a Virtual Reality experience of their traditional villages. This was a very successful program in the San Francisco Bay area a few years ago and will be operated in conjunction with the Native Education College in Vancouver. Click here to see how the program went!
VANCOUVER ECONOMIC COMMISSION
Vancouver Economic Commission works to strengthen the city’s economic future by helping existing businesses, attracting new businesses, researching the business environment and making policy recommendations.
The Discovery Foundation Capital Mentorship Program continues from 2017 and is designed to help entrepreneurs become more strategic in raising the capital critical to accelerating their ventures. This program is for CEOs and founders of growth-oriented tech companies who have already launched their productor service. Generally, they should be generating revenue, ready to seek external sources of funding and looking to raise a minimum of $1M in capital in the next six months.
JUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT BC
Junior Achievement BC prepares and inspires youth to succeed in a global economy through business education programs focused on financial literacy, work readiness and entrepreneurship, giving them the skills and confidence they need to become leaders of tomorrow.
The Discovery Foundation JA Success Skills Program provides grade 9 and 10 students with the opportunity to learn the soft skills that will complement their digital literacy skills and provide them with a more robust skillset necessary to succeed in the workforce of the future. This program will be offered as a capstone experience to students who attend the hugely successful JABC TechWorks. This will be their first program aimed at high school students, a target group recommended to them by their advisory committees, to spark an interest in entrepreneurship in technology at an early age, especially girls.
PURPOSEFIVE
PurposeFive works with purpose-driven organizations to help them scale successfully and accelerate their online revenue growth. As a social enterprise, Purpose Five is committed to gender balance and promoting women to lead roles on our executive and technical teams. They are inspired by partnering with and supporting organizations doing good in the world.
The Discovery Foundation’s Women Leaders in Tech ‘BLAST (Business Leadership and Strategic Technology)’ Program is a continuation from their successful work on our behalf in 2017 with further discovery interviews and events such as the FLIP the SWITCH Women in Tech Mastermind Intensive.
NEW VENTURES BC
New Ventures BC runs the annual BCIC-New Ventures Competition, the largest and longest-running tech competition in BC, awarding $300,000 in cash and prizes to early-stage startups. They also offer a mentored, online Venture Acceleration Program focused on customer discovery and Market Validation Training.
The Discovery Foundation Start-up Connector Program will connect top-tier start-ups with the network and investment leads they need to raise capital and accelerate. 50% of seats in this program will be reserved for women CEOs.
WOMEN IN COMMUNICATIONS AND TECHNOLOGY, BC CHAPTER
Women in Communications and Technology (WCT) is committed to advancing women in Canada by providing opportunities for members to remain relevant and connected through strong relationships and continuous learning. WCT is a national association uniquely focused on providing networking, mentoring and educational opportunities for women in the telecommunications, media and technology (TMT) industries.
The Discovery Foundation’s Speed Mentoring Program in collaboration with WCT is a series of speed-mentoring sessions for women in technology.
WOMEN TECH FOUNDERS
The Discovery Foundation’s Women Tech Founders Leadership Series will be full day, in-depth educational seminars targeting specific obstacles Women tech founders experience.