UIT startup program on hiatus
Didn’t attract enrolment originally expected when launched
The UIT startup immersion program will go on hiatus for the next academic year, as officials review why it didn’t attract the enrolment originally expected when it was launched.
Cape Breton University partnered with alumnus Gavin Uhma to launch the program in 2014. It was intended to develop startup founders through a program where students learn the technical and business skills used by the successful startups.
George Karaphillis, dean of the Shannon School of Business at CBU, said the intention was to enrol up to 30 students in the program each year, but it never managed to reach that level.
“The enrolments didn’t materialize, although we had a strong start in the first year, without any major preparation with one month’s notice, about 15 students were on board the very first year,” Karaphillis said.
The program was offered at the New Dawn Centre for Social Innovation.
Uhma was the co-founder of tech startup, GoInstant, which was acquired by Salesforce.com in 2012.
“It was Gavin Uhma’s vision and idea and we supported it,” Karaphillis said.
Following that initial year, the numbers dropped by a few students a year to as low as eight.
“It just was not sustainable so we took a hiatus for one year,” Karaphillis said.
He said they intend to carry out some research to see what tweaks may need to be undertaken in order to relaunch it. No decisions about restarting UIT will likely be made before next spring, Karaphillis added.
“Gavin is very committed to doing something for the youth in Cape Breton who try to start a digital business and he put a lot of time, effort and money into it,” he said. “The idea is to learn from that experience and try to do some more work because we moved very fast on it the first time.”
That work will include consultations, Karaphillis said. He said the local information technology and digital business community is growing and is the strongest in the province outside of Halifax.
“The eco-system is getting more populated and more organized and more complete, with Momentum and Navigate House,” he said. “We’re going to work with all of the actors and see if we can relaunch that in a year’s time.”
It was recently announced that Momentum, a hub for entrepreneurs, had attracted $1.395 million in funding over three years from the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency’s business development program and an additional $500,000 from the province through Innovacorp.
Programs similar to UIT generally do very well in metropolitan areas, Karaphillis said.
He said the two most successful technology startups in Nova Scotia were local — InfoInteractive started by CBU alumnus Bill McMullin, and Uhma’s GoInstant.
UIT was not a traditional classroom environment, Karaphillis said, noting it was very hands-on. Most of those who have gone through the program, including someone who came from Ontario to be a part of it, remain in the area, he said.
It is technology companies that are now the economic powerhouses and it’s important to have a strong technology sector as Cape Breton tries to rejuvenate its economy, he said.