Building Quebec’s Bioeconomy Ecosystem
Over the past several years, District 3 has built a community of scientific entrepreneurs from the ground up. In collaboration with the Fonds de recherche du Québec, the Quebec Scientific Entrepreneurship Program (QcSE) launched in 2019.
Sharifahmadian notes that when she came to District 3 in 2017, there were only a handful of life sciences startups. Today, there are many ranging in focus from synthetic biology to agrifood to medtech.
“Life sciences and biotech encompass a wide range of startups set to become the new artificial intelligence. In the coming decade we’ll see an enormous boom in startups entering life sciences as it becomes the next big industry disrupter,” says Sharifahmadian.
The QcSE is an online program for scientists and STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) researchers to explore entrepreneurship and help them transform their scientific discoveries to create a positive impact beyond the lab.
In less than a year and a half, the program trained over 300 scientists and researchers from across 10 Quebec universities, with 10 new biotech startups created.
“We launched the QcSE two years ago and have introduced an entrepreneurial spirit into the province’s life sciences sphere,” Sharifahmadian says. “Now that we’ve given our scientific entrepreneurs training and motivation, we need to offer them support throughout their journey to grow their ideas and bring them to market.”
“Not having access to lab space prevents biotech startups from even getting started. District 3 has filled that crucial gap,” says Kevin Chen, CEO and co-founder of Hyasynthbio, which creates synthetic cannabinoids.
Margaret Magdesian, founder of Ananda Devices, another District 3 startup, echoes Chen’s sentiments. “As a startup with limited funds, being able to access equipment is critical as it saves time and allows us to dedicate our resources toward sales and growth.”
Magdesian benefited from the entrepreneurial support she received “When starting a company, there are a lot of unknowns and I had to learn things I didn’t know as a scientist. District 3’s training and services provided me with the skills and knowledge to fill in the gaps I was missing to build a successful business.”