Startup Canada – Another Startup Nation (#StartUpNations) Launches!

You may have recently heard about a grass roots startup movement, by entrepreneurs and for entrepreneurs, called Startup Canada (@Startup_Canada). Sister organisation to Startup Britain (@StartupBritain), Startup Canada is an effort that’s been gaining momentum for a little over a year (the first mention of them on this blog would have been in relation to our Startup Nations event, in Liverpool, March of this year), that I have had the honour of watching develop from the glimmer in someone’s eye (that someone being Victoria Lennox) (@VLennox), to being launched in full force recently, at the University of Ottawa (check out the Twitter buzz around the event using hashtag #StartUpLaunch)!

I’m sure you’re asking yourself what’s the Canada/UK connection here?

Well, Victoria Lennox, one of Startup Canada’s co-founders (the other Startup Canada co-founder is Cyprian Szalankiewicz) is a Commonwealth Scholar, studied at Oxford, is the Founder and Chair of the UKs National Association of College and University Entrepreneurs (NACUE), the Co-founder and Chair of the International Consortium of University Entrepreneurs (ICUE), Entrepreneur in Residence at London Metropolitan Business School,
and the first Canadian and one of the youngest recipients of a Queen’s Award for Enterprise Promotion (2011)!

On May 5th, I attended Startup Canada’s Ottawa Launch event (their cross Canada tour has been going on since March, and continues until September – check out tour dates for stops in your Canadian city!) a packed event, with some fantastic guest speakers for the occasion, including the Honourable John Baird (@JohnBairdOWN), Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Last summer, following her receipt of the Queen’s Award for Entrepreneurship Promotion, we had the opportunity to speak with Victoria, about her Award, her Canada/UK connections, and her ongoing activities! Here she is in an interview with our Science & Innovation Intern, Alexandra Weirich: