Dalhousie University, ShiftKey Labs and Lab2Market are launching a new program called AI2Market to help students across Atlantic Canada develop AI-focused enterprises.
The new program is modeled on Lab2Market, which Dal co-founded with other universities in 2019 and has grown into a national program for research-based innovation. It’s being offered in collaboration with ShiftKey Labs, one of the “sandboxes” set up by the Nova Scotia government to help encourage innovation among post-secondary students.
“Students participating in the AI2Market program will be equipped with both AI fluency, critical thinking, and the entrepreneurial skills necessary to transform their ideas into market-changing innovations,” said Jeff Larsen, assistant vice president of innovation and entrepreneurship at Dal. “These innovators are not just preparing for an AI-driven economy; they will be actively driving the future of AI innovation in Atlantic Canada.”
The organizers stress that setting up an AI-driven company involves a lot more than just adding ChatGPT to a customer support desk. It calls for the use of artificial intelligence across an entire business operation. AI2Market will aim to assess the viability of a business idea then help the student-entrepreneurs to apply AI-driven components to their businesses and get their product to market.
Mirroring the Lab2Market model, the new program involves taking the entrepreneur through three phases of instruction:
- Discover, in which participants learn the core components of AI and gain a full understanding of how speed is essential to strategy;
- Validate, in which participants use AI-based tools for competitive research, trend forecasting, and rapid hypothesis testing;
- And Launch, in which the student employs AI tools, machine learning fundamentals, data strategy, and AI-first product design to build lean, market-ready businesses.
AI2Market is open to students from any Atlantic Canadian university or college. Applications, which can be found here, must be submitted by Sept. 15.
