Creative Destruction Lab Vancouver

In September 2016, the UBC Sauder School of Business launched the Western Canada extension of the Creative Destruction Lab (CDL). Started in 2012 at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management, CDL helps high-calibre technology start-ups activate their commercial potential and benefit to society. After the success of the first expansion test in Vancouver, CDL now operates at 13 sites around the globe, anchored at research-intensive universities across North America and in the UK, Europe and Australia. Today, CDL-Vancouver hosts six streams: Compute, Biomedical Engineering, Advanced Therapies, Climate, Minerals and Cancer focusing on the convergence of technologies that improve human health and wellness and advance solutions to preserve our natural world.

CDL is an objective-based mentorship program that supports participating ventures in accelerating their trajectory as they work to scale ambitious tech-based businesses. Over a period of nine months, participating ventures attend five full-day Sessions during which CDL Mentors – a collective of leading entrepreneurs, experienced operators and subject matter experts – help to set three objectives for ventures to prioritize over the following eight weeks. Participating ventures have the opportunity to interface with, and learn from, individual and corporate partners, UBC students and pedigreed guests who bring a wide range of domain expertise and ecosystem connections.

Since launching in 2016, CDL-Vancouver has accepted 420+ ventures into the program. As of October 2023, the CDL-V Ventures have generated over $5.09 billion in equity value. Amongst the ventures that have participated in CDL sites across the network, over $28 billion has been generated in total equity value. This success of CDL-Vancouver companies is a direct result of the support of over 130 mentors who have committed 5,000+ hours annually to supporting the site's ecosystem.

For founders who seek to commercialize new computing hardware and/or software technologies that will impact humankind in the same ways the printing press, the personal computer, and the internet did. The Compute Stream at CDL-Vancouver, interdisciplinary by design, featuring both hardware and/or software solutions changing how and where the computing happens. 

For founders commercializing engineering innovations to improve the quality, speed, cost, or accessibility of healthcare. The Biomedical Engineering Stream is particularly suited for highly-skilled entrepreneurs and researchers who are developing innovative technologies based on engineering principles and multidisciplinary sciences to solve health, biological and medical needs.

For founders solving biological, medical, and healthcare problems using cutting-edge therapeutics, including cell and gene therapies, biologics, drug-antibody conjugates, and other biological products. The Advanced Therapies Stream operates across four CDL sites (CDL-Oxford, CDL-Toronto, CDL-Vancouver, and CDL-Wisconsin) and aims to accelerate the translation of science and technology innovations from across the therapeutic value chain.

For founders developing high-impact, scalable solutions that tackle climate change and environmental degradation, to help preserve and protect our natural world. The CDL Climate Stream at CDL-Paris, CDL-Oxford, and CDL-Vancouver will unlock the potential of cutting-edge research and accelerate its path to commercialization. The Climate Stream is particularly suited to technical founders who are tackling climate, natural resource and environmental challenges predicated on novel innovations across a wide variety of enabling technology categories.

For founders who seek to commercialize hardware or software innovations that are enabling step-change improvements in the efficiency, safety, productivity and sustainability of the mineral exploration and mining industry spanning 1) ore body discovery and definition, 2) mineral extraction and processing, and 3) sustainability and post-mining activities such as water stewardship, waste to value and tailings management. Solutions may be applied to greenfield or brownfield metallic and industrial mineral projects.

For founders working to commercialize new tools, techniques or products that enable better research, detection, diagnosis, prevention, access, care delivery, treatment and/or offer a potential cure for any cancer. CDL Cancer will also accept technologies or platforms that improve patient quality of life during and after treatment. This stream is tailored towards early-stage companies (pre-seed to seed) or even projects (pre-incorporation); however, startups at all levels of maturity with cutting-edge technological innovations in the cancer space will be considered.

CDL is a mentorship first program; participating ventures will have the opportunity to interact directly with CDL Mentors to identify and customise achievable but challenging, and most importantly relevant, practical objectives. CDL Mentors are the highest calibre resource for judgement; they have built significant technology companies themselves and / or contributed novel technical and scientific advancements, and are better positioned than anyone to help Venture Founders, who are trying to solve big problems, make meaningful progress in building a disruptive, scalable business. The CDL-Vancouver mentor group also boast many UBC and Sauder alumni, including, but not limited to, Paul Geyer (Fellow, BME), Ali Pejman (Associate, Compute), John Lefebvre (Associate, Climate), Ali Tehrani (Fellow, Advanced Therapies) and Ajay Agrawal (Founder of the CDL and Professor, Rotman School of Management).

The CDL Course offers students at the undergraduate and graduate levels real-world exposure to high-potential deep tech science and technology start-ups in the process of rapid growth and investment, by providing them the opportunity to support the ventures with market analysis, customer development, financial analysis, and other core activities related to building early stage start-ups. Since 2016, over 300 students have participated in the course at UBC. The CDL course has provided a platform for undergraduate and graduate level students from across UBC faculties to develop market entry plans, investment memos, and early stage financing decks for local and international ventures. And now, beginning in 2023, students will be tasked with allocating seed investment dollars into CDL ventures and will present their due diligence and memos to a panel of local venture capitalists. The CDL course provides experiential learning about start-up life.