Spark Centre proudly celebrated the graduation of Cohort 2 of the FedDev Ontario-supported Landing Pad Accelerator Program (LPAP) through a hybrid event that brought together founders, partners, advisors, and members of the EOIC community both in person and virtually. This milestone marked the successful completion of the program by an all-female cohort of founders who spent months building, refining, and advancing their businesses startups. The graduating companies represented a diverse range of advanced technologies, including cleantech, AI, XR education, sustainable consumer products, autonomous robotics, and digital platforms.
The participants all got to take advantage of workshops, individual advisory sessions, and access to market research, financial forecasting, and go-to-market planning. This helped the founders achieve several meaningful milestones, including validating their markets, advancing their product development, establishing commercialization strategies, finalizing hiring and financial plans, identifying intellectual property assets, and building partnerships that will support their next stage of growth.
Speaking at the graduation, Chantal Queen, Program Manager of the Landing Pad Accelerator Program, told the graduates “Completing this program is no small feat. You showed up, leaned into the process, and embraced every opportunity to learn and grow—and it shows.”
Spark Centre’s executive director, Martin Yuill presented a keynote address titled Collaboration as a Competitive Advantage. Yuill emphasized the critical role collaboration plays in startup success. He told the participants: “the startups that succeed in today’s economy are the ones that are deeply anchored in solving customer pain points,” and reinforced that “collaboration is no longer a nice to have – it is a performance multiplier.”
Across the cohort, founders achieved meaningful milestones such as validating markets, advancing product development, establishing commercialization strategies, finalizing hiring and financial plans, identifying intellectual property assets, and building partnerships that will support their next stage of growth.
As part of completing LPAP, each company will receive a $10,000 grant through FedDev Ontario. “This investment represents the confidence we have in your businesses – and in the impact you will create as you continue to grow,” Queen told the graduates.
At Spark Centre we are proud to celebrate their achievements and recognize the impact they are already making across the innovation ecosystem.
If you want to check out any of the companies that completed the program, click on their logos here:
The Landing Pad Accelerator Program is supported by the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario in partnership with Spark Centre, Launch Lab and PARO Centre For Women’s Enterprise Canada.
Learn more about the Landing Pad Accelerator Program and find out if you qualify here.
About Spark Centre
Spark Centre is a regional innovation center dedicated to supporting entrepreneurs and startups in the Durham Region. Through mentorship, resources, and strategic partnerships, Spark Centre empowers businesses to grow sustainably and contribute to the economic development of the region.
