Introducing
Experience
Ventures

Entrepreneurial thinking is being creative in finding innovative solutions. It’s about taking initiative, and exchanging knowledge across disciplines. It is essential to enriching lives and advancing society.

Experience Ventures, powered by the Hunter Hub for Entrepreneurial Thinking at the University of Calgary, enables post-secondary students to make an impact alongside real-world innovators through entrepreneurial thinking placements.

We believe entrepreneurial thinking isn’t limited to a personality type or a discipline or to entrepreneurs alone. It is an accessible set of skills that everyone can leverage to make an impact, big or small, in any career. The hallmarks of entrepreneurial thinking – creativity, resiliency and future vision – will be critical factors to ensuring Canada’s success today, and tomorrow.

Whether you are a student, startup or social venture, Experience Ventures offers a unique opportunity to create a connection between school and the new world of work, helping create the future today. Students receive an honorarium through Experience Ventures, while participating ventures are asked to provide in-kind support, such as time or expertise.

Become Future Ready

Hone entrepreneurial thinking skills, working alongside real world innovators.
Experience and contribute to new technologies.
Gain and apply digital skills.

Make an
impact

Design the future through work on cutting-edge projects.
Energize new ventures with the next generation of talent.
Innovate across disciplines to amplify impact.

Build innovation networks

Cultivate multi-dimensional innovation networks.
Promote creativity and collaboration in the workplace with multi-disciplinary talent.
Create a connection between school and the new world of work.

For Students

Become a changemaker

Experience Ventures creates entrepreneurial thinking placements (with honoraria) for post-secondary students with innovative ventures in Canada. Our goal is to inspire your creativity, resiliency and future vision – so you can seize your future with the right skill set.

For Ventures

Identify early talent

For Canada’s startups and social ventures, identifying the right talent–and the right mindset—is a priority. Your future depends on it. Experience Ventures works with you to create entrepreneurial thinking placements for students from top ranked post-secondary institutions.

How does experience ventures work

1

Students apply for an entrepreneurial thinking placement facilitated by their school, through Experience Ventures.

2

Startups and social ventures provide in-kind support, such as time, space or expertise, and benefit from having students work on projects at no cost, while students are paid for their time through Experience Ventures at their school.

3

Both students and ventures go through an onboarding process and participate in one of five types of entrepreneurial thinking placements. After they have completed the placement, both students and ventures evaluate their experiences.

What is an entrepreneurial thinking placement?

Experience Ventures facilitates entrepreneurial thinking placements at schools and new ventures across Canada.

Entrepreneurial thinking is being creative in finding innovative solutions. It involves taking initiative, exchanging knowledge across disciplines, being resourceful and learning from experience. It is essential to enriching lives and advancing society.

An entrepreneurial thinking placement is a structured, short term opportunity (with honorarium) with a startup or social venture that has partnered with a student’s school. The goal is to empower students to develop and apply entrepreneurial thinking skills aimed at making them future ready.

Experience Ventures offers five types of entrepreneurial thinking placements:

Hack-a-thon or Tech-a-thon

A one- to two-day event in which ventures present students with real world challenges and ask them to provide innovative solutions.

Challenges

Taking place over several weeks, these require students to build out more complete solutions to social, business, design or community challenges.

Projects

Ventures present students with a specific project, and the school matches it to talent from a variety of disciplines and backgrounds.

Student-in-Residence

Students selected by the incubator receive unique opportunities to work with several ventures over the course of a term.

Interdisciplinary Team Projects

Incubators create teams of students from more than one discipline and provide them with a project for a venture or group of ventures.

Entrepreneurial thinking placements create a connection between today’s needs and tomorrow’s challenges. Students experience innovation first-hand and learn how to apply its principles in their careers. Startups and social ventures can plan for the future knowing they have the right talent to power their growth.

Experience Ventures is funded by the Government of Canada and is delivered in partnership with post-secondary institutions nationwide.

What are entrepreneurial thinking skills?

Entrepreneurial thinking placements teach students five key entrepreneurial thinking skills and help them become future ready for careers in the innovation economy:

Resiliency

Develop a growth mindset to persevere through challenges.

Opportunity recognition

Design innovative solutions across traditional boundaries.

Action orientation

Accelerate learning through real-world feedback.

Risk management

Develop strategies to manage ambiguity.

Systems / trans-disciplinary thinking