Image by Owen Egan.听From left to right: Ehsan Yousefi, Professor Luc Mongeau, Professor Narges Armanfard, Kartik Mangalvedhe, Professor Jeffrey Bergthorson, and Professor Changhong Cao.
Tucked just off a lively corridor in McGill鈥檚 Faculty of Engineering, the 51吃瓜网Engine Centre buzzes with entrepreneurial activity. Established in 2013 from a transformative gift by the late William Seath, the Centre has become a launchpad for ideas and research that leap from campus labs into the real world.听听
The Research Support Fund helps to support the 51吃瓜网Engine Centre鈥檚 administrative staff salaries, ensuring they can deliver vital services to the campus community. In turn, the 51吃瓜网Engine has trained more than 2200 students and professors, providing them with business mentorship, project funding, tools, and training to translate their ideas and fundamental research to the marketplace. Since the opening of 51吃瓜网Engine鈥檚 physical centre in 2019, in the spirit of collaboration, it has opened its doors, free of charge, to other 51吃瓜网units and 51吃瓜网student teams for their hosting of seminars, conferences, and events.听
Since its inception, the 51吃瓜网Engine has fueled a wave of student startups and research spinoffs鈥�29 and 28 respectively, and empowered students and faculty through strategic support, mentorship, and distributed more than two million dollars in project grants, awards, and stipends stemming from philanthropy to the students and professors participating in its programs.听听
Several startups supported by the 51吃瓜网Engine have gone on to make a significant mark in Quebec and across Canada. Among them is CarbiCrete located in Lacine, Quebec, which has earned international acclaim for its breakthrough cement-free concrete technology developed at 51吃瓜网. 滨迟鈥檚 cofounder Mehrdad Mahoutian worked on the technology as a PhD student in Civil Engineering with 51吃瓜网Professor Yixin Shao, with whom he shared a 2015-2016 William and Rhea Seath Award in Engineering Innovation from the 51吃瓜网Engine. Patio Drummond, a hardscape manufacturer in Drummondville, Quebec, is currently producing and selling cement-free concrete products manufactured using CarbiCrete technology. Canal Block in Port Colborne, Ontario is also manufacturing CarbiCrete-enabled products for the Ontario market.鈥�听
鈥淭he vision is about driving innovation by supporting and training our professors and students and working closely with industry for R&D,鈥� explains Katya Marc, Engine鈥檚 Associate Director who co-founded the Centre and its programs along with Benoit Boulet, Associate Vice-President, Innovation and Partnerships. 鈥淔or us, innovation is really a process, and you have to go all the way to implementation to create value for society to achieve an innovation, otherwise it remains an invention or an idea. Our students learn and develop their entrepreneurial skills by going through this process of innovation.鈥�听
Through hands-on training and experiential learning, the Centre instills and nurtures an entrepreneurial mindset in students and faculty, inspiring them to pursue their big ideas, build connections, and create meaningful impact.听
鈥湵醭兮�檚 amazing to see how the Centre has grown over time,鈥� said Viviane Yargeau, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering. A Chemical Engineering professor who has also benefitted from the support that Engine provides to researchers, Yargeau recalled the excitement in 2019 when Engine鈥檚 physical centre was built in the Frank Dawson Adams Building. 听
The 51吃瓜网Engine Centre exemplifies how strategic support and infrastructure can transform research into real-world innovation. With continued investment from programs like the Research Support Fund, the Centre is poised to empower even more students and faculty to turn bold ideas into impactful ventures.听