Are you a natural problem-solver who dreams of developing novel solutions?
Check out the New Venture Design course. Students work in interdisciplinary teams to develop their creativity, and learn about market definition, financial projections, the design cycle, product marketing, manufacturing, distribution to develop their own products to take to market. Find mentors, develop your ideas and build contacts.
Teams have seen success in competitions including CBC’s Dragon’s Den, New Ventures BC, Lee Kuan Yew Global Business Plan Competition in Singapore, and Queens University to name a few, and many have started their own businesses from projects developed in the course.
Check out this recent article about one of our NVD alumni: https://www.sauder.ubc.ca/news/school-news/reimagining-role-pharmacists-patient-care
Students from all faculties welcome.
The application process for 2023-24 opened January 5, 2023 and applications will be due no later than 11:59pm on May 12, 2023
Click here for application information.
Upcoming Events and Information Sessions:
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Information Session :
- This event will take place on March 9, 2023 (NEW DATE) at the Sauder School of Business at 12:30-1:45pm (NEW TIME) in room HA491. The recording of the 2020-21 session can be seen by <clicking here>.
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Demo Day:
- This event is open to all who are interested in the NVD program. It will take place on March 28, 2023 at the Sauder School of Business in rooms DL009* and DL005*. The event begins at 6:30pm and will run until around 8:00pm. Students will be demonstrating their projects in a trade fair format. The 2020-21 teams’ project overviews can be seen by <clicking here>.
*The David Lam Learning Labs are located in the basement of the Sauder Building, below Tim Hortons and WhiteSpot. While the Labs are in the Sauder compound, access cannot be gained from the main building. To access the learning labs, enter the Robert H Lee Graduate School doors to the left of the restaurants (not the main Sauder entrances) and take the stairs or the elevator down to the basement. Alternatively, you can walk around the back of the building past WhiteSpot (West on Agricultural Road) and take the first pathway at the back of the building down into the learning labs
More about New Venture Design
This course is an interdisciplinary project course open to students from ALL faculties (i.e. not limited to APSC and Sauder) that has the primary goal of providing students with knowledge and practical experience related to the formation of an entrepreneurial enterprise based on the development of a new product or process. Working in teams of 6 students (typically 3 Engineering/Science/etc students and 3 Commerce/Arts/Law/etc students), the end-target in the course is to produce a viable product prototype and the necessary business plan to ensure its success in the marketplace.
The course is 6 credits and will encompass the entire school year. Students from the Sauder School of Business who take this course can obtain equivalent course credit for Commerce 468 (3) and 497 (3). Students from Applied Science may be able to obtain credit for an applicable capstone project course within their Department (e.g., MECH457, EECE496, …). Please consult your department for precise conditions and rules. Generally, MECH students may opt to take a 9-credit version of the course (APSC486 and APSC 496A) that satisfies requirements for both NVD and MECH 45X, while ECE students may take the 10-credit (APSC486 and APSC 496E) that satisfies requirements for both NVD and the ECE capstone course. There are additional work requirements for both APSC496A/E.
How will this course be taught?
This course is a combination of both lecture instruction and dedicated lab-time in which student teams will advance their new venture concept toward market introduction. Lectures will draw upon knowledge from both the engineering and business disciplines. Projects and assignments will be conducted in a team-learning format. For the coming year, we anticipate running two cohorts of 7 teams with 6 students per team and three instructors per cohort.
Dedicated class time for the first term is scheduled for Tuesday 6:00 – 9:00 pm each week. Lecture sessions are interspersed throughout the term and significant class time is also allocated to team meetings with instructors. Consultation with course instructors can be done during scheduled hours or by appointment. This course requires significant independent effort and effective team management skills.
Please note that because the course is built around team activities, weekly attendance is required and is NOT optional. You must make a serious and firm commitment to be present each and every class. Students will have one ‘free pass’ to use during the year (which may be exercised at the student’s discretion). Beyond that, a significant grade penalty will apply for each unexcused absence; excuses will only be granted for reasons of illness or other circumstances beyond a student’s control. In addition, we take in precisely enough students to form properly balanced teams. Once the term starts, we cannot add students from the waitlist, and it is often difficult to add students from the waitlist as the start of term approaches, so we strongly discourage course withdrawals. By accepting a place in this course, you are potentially denying another student the opportunity to register, so please do not accept an offer of admission without fully intending to enrol and be committed to the course.
2022-23 Course Instructors
APSC:
- Konrad Walus (ECE)
email: konradw@ece.ubc.ca - Paul Lusina (ECE)
email: paull@ece.ubc.ca
Sauder:
- DJ Miller
email: djmiler@sauder.ubc.ca - Fraser Pogue
email: fraser.pogue@sauder.ubc.ca - Blair Simonite
email: blair.simonite@ubc.ca
Instructors for the next year and typically announced in June.
To review the 2022-23 syllabus, please <click here>
