Even in a year that venture capitalists’ go-to bank collapsed, and venture capital funding slowed to a trickle, the disruptive power of startups has never been clearer. The 2023 CNBC Disruptor 50 list was the eleventh iteration of the list, and the top spot should come as no surprise. The generative artificial intelligence company OpenAI is the maker of ChatGPT, and no new technological application has created more buzz since the dawn of social media – or even the web itself.

The McGill Dobson Centre for Entrepreneurship is launching a new hands-on program for entrepreneurs wanting to launch sustainability-driven businesses. Funded with a $1 million gift from the Weston Family Foundation, the new Weston Family Entrepreneurial Innovation & Sustainability Program will help aspiring changemakers accelerate the development of their startups through two 8-week sessions.

When a parent pays a tutor directly, they are helping their own child succeed. But not every parent can afford to do that, and Montreal-based EdTech company Paper has a vision to address this inequity. The academic support platform, a finalist in the 2014 Dobson Cup, sells its services directly to school boards, so that all students in a district are able to access them. “Charging students’ families doesn't align well with our values,” said Paper co-founder Philip Cutler (BEd’13) in a story by Prof.

After naming McGill Canada’s top university earlier this month, Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) has ranked Montreal as the most desirable Canadian city to be a student, and one of the most sought-after and praised destinations for international students in the world. 

Alejandra Huerta and Isabela Dominguez envision a future where the shade of your nails can change with a tap of your phone. During Huerta’s PhD in chemistry, she considered how organic materials could be used to change the colour of cosmetics. But by brainstorming with her sister Dominguez, a computer engineer, they determined that wearable electronics could be a better approach.

On March 28^th and 29^th, 24 startups competed in the final round of the Dobson Bootcamp and Cup Program for over $200,000 in funding across 18 prizes. The winners were announced at the Dobson Cup Awards Ceremony on March 30^th, presided by McGill University Principal, Suzanne Fortier, Dean of the Desautels Faculty of Management, Yolande E. Chan, as well as the program’s contributors, donors, and sponsors.

For International Women's Day last week, Poets and Quants spoke with a number of female business school graduates who have successfully started their own enterprises. Aurélie Hélouis (MBA’16), Founder and CEO of infinityQ, a quantum analog computing start-up, shared how her time at Desautels helped her discover how to apply the skills she acquired as a former senior officer and CTO in the French Navy to her entrepreneurial endeavours and develop her own business.