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 Growth Essential Program is a series of 11 professional development workshops held in both Vancouver and 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 Charles Chang Institute for entrepreneurship
The Charles Chang Institute for Entrepreneurship (CCIE) is the interdisciplinary home,“club house” and educational hub for high-impact entrepreneurship and innovation at SFU.
The Charles Chang Institute for Entrepreneurship (CCIE), SFU presents the Discovery Foundation Tech 4 Impact & Inclusion Program – a blended program of tech challenge field trips into real-world situations, inspirational ideastorms/design jams, a ‘Warriors of Science and Tech’ speaker and mentorship series, mentor sessions linked directly to the SPARK online early stage entrepreneurship resources and lastly, the expansion of the highly successful Discovery Foundation Embedded Mentors Program.
SPRING ACTIVATOR
Spring uses business as a force for good to empower social impact leaders with the know-how, network and support needed to build a better business.
Spring is pleased to introduce The Discovery Foundation Tech For Good Program which will bring training and support to communities that have been previously under-served in funding, training, and support. These communities hold significant opportunity to advance the technology innovation ecosystem in British Columbia. In this program, two under-served communities will be addressed: small ‘fly over’ communities, and the autism and learning disability community.
KIDS CODE JEUNESSE
Kids Code Jeunesse is a national charity determined to give every Canadian child access to digital skills education, with a focus on girls and underserved communities.
Elementary Teachers in BC have tremendous influence over a child’s self-confidence and identity when it comes to coding. Although the current Applied Design Science and Technology (ADST) curriculum empowers teachers to introduce coding in the classroom, there isn’t sufficient capacity or training to meet this need. The Discovery Foundation’s Code Create Educate Program is a series of professional development workshops that will ensure non-specialist teachers are confident in introducing coding at the elementary level.
radius sfu
As an agent of the Discovery Foundation, RADIUS will collaborate with the First Nations Technology Council (FNTC) to hire four recent student graduates from FNTC's tech programs. Interns will work closely with early stage social enterprises on projects that support the venture's business and social goals, including web development, user interface/design, and online marketing. RADIUS will provide training to ventures and staff to help create a supportive, culturally safe environment for students. Also, check out the one time workshop Discovery Foundation’s Making Shift Happen, a social innovation workshop for SFU students who want to tackle complex issues our society is facing.
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 in its 3rd year 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 product or 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 Discover Your Pitch Program is a capstone experience to teach youth the art of the elevator pitch and how to pitch to business investors. There will be a competition complete with judges, awards and scholarships!
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.
Trailblazrs, a collaborative project between bctech fund, kensington capital partners, discovery foundation and the centre for digital media.
Trailblazrs is a digital hub of short and to-the-point videos of funders and founders who are looking to inspire and destigmatize women who want to become entrepreneurs or venture capitalists in technology and finance.
The purpose of the Trailblazrs project is to help close the significant gender gap which currently exists in the number of women-led technology companies that are successful in securing financing, and the number of women investors in venture capital and other areas of finance with actual investment decision-making power. This digital media interactive web-based resource aims to inspire women to become technology entrepreneurs and venture capitalists and will focus on presenting realistic and accessible role models to young women.
KOOTENAY ASSOCIATION FOR SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY (KAST)
KAST has partnered with the Nelson Tech Club, to support barrier-free public hackerspace for people of all ages to learn, share and play using technology. Discovery Foundation’s Tech Time will be all-ages, inclusive programming offering introductory education in technology.
The goal of Tech Time is to more deeply promote, engage and inspire experiences in technology for members of our community so they can in turn mentor and share their knowledge with others and surrounding communities. It will also significantly impact their ability to access the wide variety of resources and tools that KAST and Nelson Tech Club offer such as circuitry, 3-D printing, LED technology, Arduino, robotics, design, autocad, digital design and more.
LIVING LABS, EMILY CARR UNIVERSITY OF ART + DESIGN
The Shumka Centre for Creative Entrepreneurship is about fostering the movement of creative people into systems and situations where their work and ideas can have the most impact. Developed by Living Labs, the Centre has launched in 2018 to act as a hub for activities relating to entrepreneurship and enterprise at Emily Carr University with the aim of establishing a place where creatives can find community and knowledge, as well as a connection to the resources they need to launch their projects in the world– whether those are products, companies, events, curatorial initiatives, non-profit organizations or other initiatives. The Shumka Centre was awarded a three year grant from the Vancouver Foundation in 2018.
Living Labs + Shumka Centre for Creative Entrepreneurship, Emily Carr University of Art + Design is pleased to present the 5th year of The Discovery Foundation’s Mentorship Program which 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.