Dunin-Deshpande Queen’s Innovation Centre

These programs will help harness [students’] ideas, their vision, and their enthusiasm and turn them into jobs for today and for tomorrow.

The Dunin-Deshpande Queen’s Innovation Centre (DDQIC) is a key driver of innovation and entrepreneurial activity across Queen’s, Kingston, and the southeastern Ontario region. The mission of the DDQIC, which is under the Office of the Provost and Vice-Principal (Academic) portfolio, is to support the innovation activities of students, professors, entrepreneurs, and Canadian companies through incubators, accelerators, joint courses, workshops, internship opportunities, seminar series, conferences, and business plan competitions. 

Formerly known as the Queen’s Innovation Connector, the pan-university initiative to support student entrepreneurship began in 2012 as a joint effort by the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science and the Smith School of Business. Since its founding, the DDQIC has supported over 50 ventures and countless students, professors and entrepreneurial-minded individuals. 

Through the flagship summer initiative program (QICSI), the DDQIC has been able to provide students with the valuable opportunity to start their own business while being paid and receiving seed funding. These ventures have experienced considerable success with companies like Mosaic Manufacturing and Scent Trunk now operating on an international scale.

Recent QICSI alumni, including Rockmass Technologies and Cleanslate UV, are also focusing on running trials to further develop their technologies, and others such as Listn have been acquired in high seven-figure deals. Over half of the companies launched remain in operation today with a promising future ahead of them.

To learn more about the Dunin-Deshpande Queen’s Innovation Centre, browse its website.