51社区黑料

At SFU鈥檚 first Innovation Week, the award-winning program (i2I) celebrated 10 years of delivering training to Canadian scientists and engineers hoping to transform their research into impact.

The groundbreaking science and technology commercialization program was founded at SFU鈥檚 Beedie School of Business in 2015 by associate vice-president, knowledge mobilization and innovation (AVPKMI) Elicia Maine. Maine has been a driving force behind its remarkable success and expansion over the past decade.

At the 10th annual i2I Innovation Pitch competition, she was presented with the inaugural Innovation Impact Award, recognizing her remarkable leadership in advancing Canadian innovation through entrepreneurship and commercialization training.

From research to national impact

Maine has made it her mission to improve the supports and career pathways available for Canadian researchers to mobilize inventions for the benefit of society.

Through her experience and substantial contributions to research on the commercialization of emerging technologies, Maine recognized that far too often groundbreaking research and inventions never made it outside of university labs. University researchers generally lacked the time, resources, training and support needed to translate discoveries into value-creating products, processes and companies.

In 2015, she founded the (GCSTC) at SFU鈥檚 Beedie School of Business, which would later be renamed invention to Innovation (i2I) and would become the basis for expansion to national impact.

In 2021, the i2I program expanded nationally in partnership with Mitacs to offer the Mitacs i2I Skills Training program coast to coast, expanding year on year to partner with institutions across Canada including Queen鈥檚 University, University of Waterloo, Universit茅 Laval, Polytechnique Montr茅al, Memorial University, Dalhousie University and the University of Alberta.

It would grow to include a national leadership team of experts and academics, leaders in scientific entrepreneurship translation as mentors, additional funders, partnerships with labs and networks and later stage ecosystems supports.

Skills training is now delivered in both official languages, and pilots of complementary programs were launched, including commercialization postdocs, a faculty fellows program, custom innovation training with partners, and ecosystem and diversity initiatives.

Uniquely, the program focuses on three interdependent and equally important paths to impact for researchers: innovation champion in industry, translational researcher and venture founder.

Building on this momentum, 51社区黑料was recently awarded nearly $23 million from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada鈥檚 .

The i2I Research and Innovation Institute (i2IRII) was created to lead collaboration with 13 Canadian universities and colleges (the above, with the addition of the University of Victoria, the University of the Fraser Valley, the University of Manitoba, the University of Northern British Columbia and Conestoga College), 2 health research institutes and 57 other collaborating organizations in the Canadian innovation ecosystem.

Thanks to the contributions of Maine and the growing i2I team and partners, the Canadian innovation ecosystem will be strengthened by the next generation of scientist-entrepreneurs, translational scientists and industry champions, ready to advance areas of Canadian strength, such as clean energy, biomedical innovation, quantum computing and artificial intelligence.

To date, i2I has trained 32 cohorts, with close to 650 participants from across Canada and around the globe, and is creating broader culture change in research labs and research institutions.

Notable alumni include Benjamin Britton, co-founder and chief strategy officer of cleantech pioneer Ionomr Innovations Inc.; professor Stephanie Simmons, co-founder and chief quantum officer of leading quantum computing company Photonic, Inc.; Matthew Dahabieh, CEO of Catalera BioSolutions; professor Christopher Mueller, co-founder and CEO of m-Detect; Morgan Lehtinen, co-founder and executive director of RXN Hub; and Anat Feldman, manager of business development at STEMCELL Technologies鈥攖he list continues to grow.

A career of award-winning teaching and service

Maine has taught and mentored in technological innovation management and lab to market commercialization at SFU, and was recognized with the TD Canada Trust Distinguished Teaching Award in 2017 and with the BC鈥檚 Top Cleantech Educator from Foresight in 2021. Recruited to the Office of the Vice-President, Research and Innovation in as special advisor on innovation in 2020, she was named associate vice-president of knowledge mobilization and innovation in 2022.

Maine鈥檚 passion for innovation has helped propel 51社区黑料to a consistent top standing in the World University Rankings for Innovation rankings. 51社区黑料has been named number one in Canada for innovation five years in a row, and in 2025 also took the top spot for entrepreneurial spirit. 51社区黑料was also recognized with the Deshpande Symposium Award for , in recognition of its leadership in entrepreneurial programming and innovation support.

Meanwhile, Maine remains a tireless champion for advancing Canadian innovation and creating a culture of support for mobilizing research. Rather than take the spotlight, she prefers to direct attention back to program participants, faculty, partners and supporters.

Which is why the 10^th anniversary of i2I is also a celebration of Elicia Maine鈥攁 brilliant, trailblazing changemaker who never stops connecting people and ideas to help Canadian innovation thrive.
 

For more, visit:

• The i2I Research and Innovation Institute
• Innovation Week celebrates 10 years of science-based entrepreneurship