What is Experience Ventures
Experience Ventures empowers college and university students to impact real-world innovation through entrepreneurial thinking placements. Elevate your entrepreneurial potential and earn an honorarium through this thrilling opportunity!
Experience Ventures is funded in part by the Government of Canada's Innovative Work-Integrated Learning Initiative, powered by the Hunter Hub for Entrepreneurial Thinking at the University of Calgary and delivered in partnership with Conestoga College.
Eligibility criteria
Any student from any discipline and faculty who is:
- A Canadian citizen, permanent resident, or person on whom refugee protection has been conferred under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.
- Legally entitled to work in Canada in accordance with relevant provincial or territorial legislation and regulations.
- Currently enrolled in a full-time or part-time post-secondary program.
Why should I participate?
Benefits for students:
- Apply in-class learning to the challenges and opportunities facing ventures.
- Explore Canada’s evolving innovation economy.
- Network and meet industry leaders and employers.
- Discover the latest technologies being incubated in Canada.
- Enhance your resume with a unique experience.
- Develop your work-ready skills.
- Receive compensation for your placement upon successful completion.
Benefits for companies:
- Engage students with minimum impact on your time and resources.
- Diversify the talent pool that seeks to work in social impact and/or tech innovation.
- Recruit early talent to your local innovation economy.
- Contribute to the success of your campus-linked incubator.
- Tap into the different insights and perspectives of students.
- Evaluate prospective talent.
- Give your up-and-coming team members the opportunity to develop their managerial skill set.
How does Experience Ventures work?
For students:
- Students apply for one of five types of placements, depending on availability
- Get approved
- Complete onboarding
- Participate in their entrepreneurial thinking opportunity with company
- Complete two post-experience evaluations
- Receive an honorarium upon successful completion
The honorarium amount varies based on the type of placement.
For companies:
- Companies apply
- Get approved
- Decide on project for students, and structure project for student opportunity (in-kind)
- Complete onboarding
- Participate in entrepreneurial thinking opportunity
- Complete two post-experience evaluations
What is an entrepreneurial thinking placement?
Experience Ventures offers five types of entrepreneurial thinking placements—short-term, structured opportunities (with an honorarium) where students collaborate with startups or social ventures partnered with their school. These placements help students develop and apply entrepreneurial skills to prepare for the future.
Upasna Parikh, business administration, marketing student
I enjoyed collaborating with Foqus Technologies to help innovate and develop resources that enhance their brand and company. Working with a Canadian small business focused on improving MRI resonance and impacting thousands of individuals was a rewarding experience. Throughout this process, I learned many new skills, including time management, and stepped outside of my comfort zone by engaging with aspects of the business and services that were less familiar to me. I was also excited to apply my knowledge and skills in storyboarding, content creation, and incorporating feedback from my mentors and leaders. This experience was insightful and invaluable in numerous ways. I would highly suggest anyone to grab this experience as this has helped build my confidence and professional portfolio.
Mae Drost, social media marketing student
It's important to soak up experiences as a student! I was introduced to Experience Ventures through one of my social media marketing professors. I am so thankful to have this opportunity to grow my skills in a field that I love. Through my social media marketing role, I worked with two companies! I created social media pages, researched, was part of a focus group, designed content and a few little other things along the way. Two of my biggest takeaways was the opportunity to create content in industries I have never worked in and be part of team meetings. I learned so much! A huge thank you to Conestoga for this opportunity and AiimSense and Hexaverse for letting me be part of the team! This was 100% worth it.
Henrique Bilbao, CEO of Playmove
We participated in the Experience Ventures program, where six students each contributed 80 hours in various areas of our business. What they delivered was truly impressive—they helped us navigate complex challenges and brought valuable insights to our team.
This experience was exceptional, and the students’ contributions played a key role in helping us introduce our product to the Canadian market!
Learn more about Experience Ventures
For inquiries about available the Experience Ventures program or opportunities, please contact experienceventures@conestogac.on.ca
Experience Ventures team
