Dentprenuer
Different disciplines. Different perspectives. One challenge.
What happens when undergraduate students from dentistry, engineering, arts and science, and business bring their different perspectives together to solve real oral health challenges? 
Ideas become solutions.
You don't need to arrive with an idea. You don't need experience. And you don't need a background in oral health. Bring your perspective.
Dentpreneur brings together undergraduate students from the College of Dentistry, College of Engineering, College of Arts and Science and Edwards School of Business to form interdisciplinary teams, working together to create innovative solutions.
Dentpreneur is not a traditional course
It is a hands-on entrepreneurial experience designed to give you the experience, mentorship and resources to explore what it takes to transform an idea into something that can create real-world impact.
Working in a team, you will move through the innovation process from identifying a meaningful problem to validating the opportunity, developing and testing solutions, prototyping, exploring commercialization and ultimately determining how your idea could be implemented in the real world.
Build skills for life
Along the way, you will develop skills in:
- Problem identification and validation
- Innovation and design thinking
- Entrepreneurship
- Customer and stakeholder discovery
- Team-based problem solving
- Prototyping and testing
- Business model development
- Commercialization
- Pitching and communicating ideas
- Bringing a new product, service or solution to market
These are skills that can serve you wherever your life takes you.
How Dentpreneur works
Commitment: two six-hour workshops plus approximately four to 10 hours of assignment work.
Dates: Oct. 3 and Nov. 21, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Students are introduced to innovation versus research, entrepreneurship fundamentals, design thinking, lean start-up principles, intellectual property, lean analytics, opportunity statements, problem hypotheses, stakeholder interviews, commercial innovation, venture capital and commercial partnerships.
Students participate individually during Phase 1, conduct stakeholder interviews, develop an opportunity statement or problem hypothesis, and connect with other entrepreneurial-minded students.
Students who attend both Phase 1 sessions can apply for Phase 2. Selection is based on the quality of applicants, engagement during Phase 1 and available program capacity. Interdisciplinary teams are announced in December.
Commitment: approximately 10 hours of workshop time plus 40 to 60 hours working with the team and mentors.
At the Innovation Showcase, teams pitch their ideas to industry, investors, alumni, OPUS, faculty, university leadership and sponsors.
Phase 3 invitations are sent in April. Teams are evaluated on the strength of their idea and their Innovation Showcase presentation.
Selected teams will recieve a 1-month internship in Toronto with Highline DentalTech to develop their concepts. Housing and flights will be covered.
Registration
Ready to become a Dentpreneur?
Getting started is easy. Complete the registration form with your contact information and tell us briefly:
Why are you interested in participating in Dentpreneur?
There are no right or wrong answers. We simply want to learn a little about what interests you, what you hope to gain from the experience and what excites you about working with students from other disciplines to tackle real-world challenges.
No previous entrepreneurship experience, business experience or idea is required. Just bring your curiosity and your perspective.
Frequently Asked Questions
No. However, you will receive a participation certificate for each phase completed.
- Participants are expected to attend all sessions.
Partners
