Take your first steps toward entrepreneurship with the Building a Biotech Venture program. Regenerative or precision medicine-focused trainee teams at the University of Toronto and its affiliated hospitals learn from industry experts to develop their venture concepts, create a pitch deck and business canvas, and set milestones for building their company.
About Building a Biotech Venture
This program aims to support the next generation of researchers as they take their first steps toward building their technology into a product or venture.
Through this program, teams will:
- Learn how to think about their research in terms of a product or business;
- Build a business canvas and develop their product or venture concept;
- Receive guidance from industry experts on intellectual property, clinical translation, and early-stage stage investment, and preclinical experimental de-risking.
- Create a pitch deck and receive coaching on telling their venture story; and
- Receive regular mentoring from industry experts and entrepreneurs throughout the process.
The program will culminate in a pitch competition for selected teams where the top team will receive up to $25,000 (sponsored by PRiME Next-Generation Precision Medicine and Medicine by Design) in research funding to advance their venture.
The BBTV program is being led this year by the PRiME Next-Generation Precision Medicine in close partnership with Medicine by Design, the Health Innovation Hub (H2i), and Talk Boutique.
For questions about the program, email prime.initiative@utoronto.ca.
Program Schedule
Program information session and networking
Date: November 21, 3:30pm – 5:00pm
Venue: Donnelly Centre, Red Room (160 College Street, Toronto)
The information session will provide guidance on successfully applying to the program while getting an overview of the business canvas, which will be a key component of the application. In addition, you will be able to hear from previous years’ pitch finalists as well as network with other interested trainees and/or form a team.
Application to the program
Application deadline: January 10, 2025, by 11:59pm.
Email completed application form to prime.initiative@utoronto.ca.
Eligibility for the program
- Proposed product or venture concept must have an application to regenerative or precision medicine.
- We recommend that each team consist of 3-5 members. We encourage you to talk to your lab colleagues about joining the program with you.
- Each team must have at least one team member whose current supervisor has a faculty appointment at U of T or one of its affiliated hospitals. This supervisor must be willing to hold funding on behalf of the team should they receive funding through the pitch competition.
The Building a Biotech Venture Program occurs in two phases:
- Venture Development – 10 teams will develop their ventures with guidance and training through mentorship and workshop programming.
- Pitch Competition – Teams will receive pitch coaching, and compete in a pitch competition to a panel of industry experts. Teams accepted into the Venture Development phase of the program are eligible to participate in the Pitch Competition phase but will need to submit a separate application by March 18, 2025.
Venture Development
January – March, 2025
The 10 teams accepted into this program will develop their venture concepts, create a pitch deck and business canvas, and set milestones for building their company. All teams admitted into the program will be matched with a mentor, who will provide ongoing guidance over the course of the program. Teams will also receive additional dedicated mentorship opportunities from H2i Director, Paul Santerre.
The program will include the following workshops run by industry experts to help teams in scaling their ventures and prepare them for the pitch competition:
- Workshop 1: Developing a Business Canvas (February 13, 2-4:30pm)
- Workshop 2: Intellectual Property (February 20, 3-5:00pm)
- Workshop 3: Preclinical Experimental De-risking (February 27, 3-4:30pm)
- Workshop 4: Clinical Translation and Regulatory Affairs (March 6, 3-4:30pm)
- Workshop 5: Early-Stage Investment (March 13, 3-4:30pm)
- Workshop 6: Pitching and Presentation Skills (March 20, 3-4:30pm)
Pitch Competition: May 8, 2025
Six teams will be selected to pitch their venture concepts to a panel of industry experts. The first-place team will receive $25,000 and the second-place team will receive $10,000 in research funding to advance their product concepts. The research funding must be spent in a lab at U of T or its affiliated hospitals, with funding held by team member’s principal investigator.
Ahead of the pitch, venture finalists will have access to group coaching and one-on-one pitch coaching through Talk Boutique to refine their presentations.
Teams accepted into the Venture Development phase of the program are eligible to participate in the Pitch Competition phase but will need to submit a separate application by March 18, 2025.
If you have any immediate questions regarding this program, please contact prime.initiative@utoronto.ca.
FAQ – General Information
Do I need to have a defined venture concept and be ready to start a company to participate in this program?
No, the program is for those who are interested in conceptualizing a new product or company based on their research in regenerative or precision medicine. Those accepted into the program will develop their ventures with guidance and training through mentorship and workshop programing, as well as coaching for the pitch competition in the second phase of the program. Participants can include those already working in a team on a business plan as well as those who are just starting to consider how to translate their research into a product or venture.
If you are not interested in developing a real-world product concept and want to learn more generally about the business of regenerative medicine, we recommend our Summer by Design program instead. Summer by Design is a 2-week annual bootcamp that includes sessions on research translation, the stages of commercialization and entrepreneurship skills.
Can I still be part of the program if I didn’t attend the info session?
Yes, you can still participate in the full program if you missed the info session. Please email prime.initiative@utoronto.ca, if you have any questions.
Who can participate in this program?
You are eligible to apply to this program if your research/product concept is related to regenerative or precision medicine (see definitions in the FAQ below). Additionally, each team must have at least one team member whose current supervisor has a faculty appointment at U of T or one of its affiliated hospitals. This supervisor must be willing to hold funding on behalf of the team should they receive funding through the pitch competition.
How do you define regenerative medicine and precision medicine?
Regenerative Medicine
Medicine by Design has a broad perspective on the definition of regenerative medicine. The field includes the use of derivatives of stem cells and/or gene therapy to replace diseased tissues and organs, creating therapies in which cells are the biological product. Regenerative medicine can also mean triggering stem cells that are already present in the human body to repair damaged tissues or to modulate immune responses. This approach is often referred to as endogenous repair and can include novel small molecules and/or biologic candidates, as well as biomaterials. Increasingly, regenerative medicine researchers are using a stem cell lens to identify critical interactions or defects that prepare the ground for disease, paving the way for new approaches to preventing disease before it starts. Enabling technologies such as cell manufacturing platforms and stem cell-based organ-on-chip technologies are also important aspects of the field and areas of interest to Medicine by Design.
Precision medicine
Precision medicine is a personalized approach to prevention and treatment, tailoring care to each patient’s unique genetic, biological, and environmental characteristics. Advancing precision medicine depends on interdisciplinary teams and pioneering research to develop enabling technologies. Next-generation solutions in this field use cutting-edge tools for diagnosing diseases, identifying biomarkers, understanding patient populations, and gaining deeper insights into disease biology through integrated methods from the life sciences, engineering, and beyond.
This approach aligns with PRiME’s vision to drive innovation, training, and the translation of advanced technologies in drug discovery, diagnostics, and disease biology by combining leading-edge research with strategic partnership to propel new breakthroughs in healthcare.
If you have any questions about whether your venture concept fits regenerative or precision medicine, please reach out to prime.initiative@utoronto.ca.
How big should my team be?
We recommend that each team consist of 3-5 members We encourage you to talk to your lab colleagues about joining the program with you.
Are supervisors able to participate in this program?
While this program is designed primarily for trainees, supervisors are welcome to participate as a member of a team. We encourage supervisor participation in this program so that knowledge can be shared with their current and future trainees.
Does every member of the team have to attend every workshop session?
All team members are encouraged to participate in all the sessions if possible. We require at least one member of your team to be present for each workshop session to be eligible for the pitch competition.
If my team wins the pitch competition, what can we use the funding for?
The research funding must be spent in a lab at U of T or its affiliated hospitals. The award funding will be held by a trainee’s supervisor. As part of the pitch competition application, teams will be asked to outline how they would spend the $25,000 or $10,000 to advance their product concept.