The Unlikely Innovators

On this week's episode, Mike and Steve welcome Frank Bach, a Lead Product Designer at Headspace, one of the world’s leading mindfulness and meditation apps. Frank spoke about his Northern Ontario roots, his early success starting up his own creative agency in Sudbury, and his journey out to Los Angeles, where he now works for Headspace. 

On this week's episode, Mike and Steve welcome Victoria Coleman, Vice President of Business Development at Verv Technologies, a Sudbury-based med-tech startup. The guys chatted with Victoria about her career path from a clinician to an executive, the growing importance of telemedicine, and how Verv's disruptive technology, a home biochemistry lab, will change healthcare by empowering consumers fro...

On this week's episode, Mike and Steve welcome Alicia Woods, founder and CEO of Covergalls Workwear . Alicia talked about her journey in the mining industry and how her experience as a woman led her to establish Covergalls - a coverall designed for women working in heavy industry. Alicia also talked about scaling her business, the importance of proper fitting workwear for women and how it can help...

On this week’s episode, Mike and Steve welcome Brian Lee, Entrepreneur in Residence (EIR) & Product Strategy at Normative , a Toronto-based innovation services firm. The guys covered a lot of ground from Brian’s early days working as a process engineer at Vale to starting and scaling teaBOT , an on-demand tea robot start-up. They also chatted about Brian’s early brushes with entrepreneurship,...

On this week's episode, Mike and Steve are joined by Denise Amyot, the president and CEO of Colleges and Institutes Canada , the voice of Canada's colleges, institutes, CÉGEPs, and polytechnics, and an international leader in education for employment in over 25 countries. Denise talked about common threads that stitch together colleges across Canada, the important role that applied research plays...

On this week's episode, Mike and Steve are joined by Karim Omri, president and principal engineer of Komri Engineering. They talked about Karim's path to engineering, scaling his business, what forensic engineering entails, and what the advent of electric vehicles means for engineers and the public. 

On this week's episode, Mike and Steve reflect on the podcast journey so far and highlight some of the things they have learned. They also answer a question from Charles Nyabeze on whether there is a survey out there to assess local business requirements for engaging in college applied research. Mike and Steve tackle that question and look ahead to the future of the podcast. Tune into next week's...

On this week's episode, Mike and Steve were joined by Dr. Nadia Mykytczuk, interim President and CEO of MIRARCO, a not-for-profit research arm of Laurentian University. During their conversation, they discussed Nadia's research in biomining, how she has adjusted to her new role as an executive, how applied research organizations such as MIRARCO and the Centre for Smart Mining can help mining compa...

On this week's episode, Mike and Steve welcomed Kati McCartney, founding President of FROSKR Corporation, an environmental consulting and technology firm. As part of their conversation, Kati talked about her non-linear career path, establishing an environmental startup in the mining industry, how mining plays a critical role in our new energy economy in the face of climate change, and her time on...

On this week's episode, Mike and Steve welcome Shelby Yee, founder and CEO of RockMass Technologies , a Toronto-based tech startup that offers a transformational data collection tool for the mining sector. The guys chatted with Shelby about her journey as a founder, some of the uniqueness involved in selling high-tech products to mines, the burgeoning investment ecosystem for mine-focused technolo...

On this week's episode, Mike and Steve were joined by Rob Roy, Partner and Director of Business at Studio 123 , who dropped in to talk about his entrepreneurial roots, creative philosophies, and how his passion for skateboarding shaped his career path. 

Charles Nyabeze is the guy to know in mining. As the Vice-President of Business Development and Commercialization at the Centre for Excellence in Mining Innovation (CEMI) , there are few trends in the sector that Charles doesn’t know about. On this week's episode, Mike and Steve talk to Charles about some transformational technologies facing the mining sector, the role academia can play in mining...

On this week's episode, Mike and Steve welcome Stella Holloway, Vice-President of Northern Ontario Operations at MacLean Engineerin g to the podcast. Stella has had an exciting and fulfilling career in the mining industry and she recommends it to anyone. The guys chat with Stella about the battery electric vehicle trend in underground mining, what makes the industry an attractive option for young...

For some, Ontario's colleges are still viewed as unlikely destinations for innovation. On this week's episode, Mike and Steve had the privilege to speak with Linda Franklin, President & CEO of Colleges Ontario , the advocacy association for Ontario’s 24 Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology. Since joining Colleges Ontario in 2007, Linda has witnessed some incredible transformations to the pr...

Entrepreneurs are an integral part of any vibrant innovation ecosystem. This week, Mike and Steve had the privilege to chat with one of Sudbury’s brightest business owners, Gabrielle Roy, founder and owner of Stitch & Stone , a modern fashion boutique with a subtle touch of bohemian charm.  In 2015, after a series of successful pop-up shops, Gabrielle opened Stitch & Stone, which quic...

Applied research being conducted at Canadian colleges has grown by leaps and bounds over the last decade, allowing institutions to better serve local companies and help them turn their ideas into reality. A major reason Canadian colleges have reached this capacity is chiefly because of the funding provided by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada’s (NSERC) College and Com...

In this week’s episode of The Unlikely Innovators, Mike and Steve are finally joined by a guest! The guys welcome Liam McGill, Manager of Investment & Business Development with the City of Greater Sudbury’s Economic Development Department to talk about his role in overseeing the city’s investment attraction and business expansion efforts and how Sudbury has evolved to become a vibrant city that bo...

As humanities graduates, Mike and Steve didn't initially envision themselves in the world of STEM. But after working in the world of applied research, they have come to realize the important role that humanities grads can play in innovation and R&D. In this week's episode, the guys touch on how the skills they developed in the humanities have shaped their careers and why they think it is impor...

Often intangible and difficult to map, regional innovation “ecosystems” are the networks of companies, entrepreneurs, academic institutions, and support organizations that coalesce in mature economies. These clusters of organizations contribute to the creation of new companies and investments and the retention and expansion of existing business. In this episode, the guys discuss the cornerstones o...

In the third episode of The Unlikely Innovators, Mike and Steve talk about how colleges can help industry partners navigate the funding world to make their R&D projects a reality. While exploring funding opportunities can sometimes be a daunting process for SMEs, the guys also talk about how, even for the colleges and the funders, it can be a hair-raising experience. If you have a question for...

In this episode of The Unlikely Innovators, Mike and Steve discuss NSERC's Technology Access Centre (TAC) program, a federally-funded initiative that establishes specialized research hubs affiliated with Colleges and CÉGEP’s across Canada. The guys chat about the value of TACs broadly and dig into the founding of Cambrian’s first TAC, the Centre for Smart Mining. Mike also shares some insights fro...

In the first episode of The Unlikely Innovators, Mike and Steve talk about how Canadian colleges are still often seen by some as unlikely destinations for innovation. Drawing from their experiences working in the college applied research world, they explain how this couldn't be further from the truth.  If you have a question for the show or want to connect with Cambrian R&D or the Centre...