Algonquin College and L-SPARK partner to strengthen Ottawa’s entrepreneur ecosystem

Posted on Tuesday, March 5th, 2019

Leo Lax, Executive Managing Director at L-SPARK and Cheryl Jensen, President & Chief Executive Officer

Leo Lax, Executive Managing Director at L-SPARK and Cheryl Jensen, President & Chief Executive Officer, Algonquin College

Algonquin College’s School of Business is proud to announce a partnership agreement with L-SPARK, Canada’s leading Software-as-a-Service (Saas)-focused accelerator.

This partnership will leverage the expertise of both organizations in supporting entrepreneurs from within the College and throughout the Ottawa community.

Algonquin College will provide space to Ottawa-based L-SPARK in the DARE District, a new, state-of-the-art area dedicated to entrepreneurship. Erin Blaskie, Director of Marketing for L-SPARK, will also be lending her expertise to the College through her participation in its Business-Management Entrepreneurship Program Advisory Council, which aims to strengthen programming to better meet the needs of entrepreneurs. L-SPARK will also play a mentoring role with students through the College’s Entrepreneurship and Innovation Office.

The relationship opens the door to Algonquin students for potential co-ops and internships with L-SPARK-supported companies as well as access to special events via volunteering, such as at Canada’s largest SaaS conference, SAAS NORTH.

“We are excited to partner with L-SPARK as we have long admired the great work they do in Ottawa and nationwide to support entrepreneurs. This relationship further builds on our mission to be the best School of Business in Canada,” said Dave Donaldson, Dean of Algonquin’s School of Business.

“L-SPARK recognizes the value of providing experiential learning for entrepreneurship,” said Leo Lax, Executive Managing Director at L-SPARK. “Algonquin College has a unique approach to building such skills. This partnership is the platform that we will jointly use to foster entrepreneurship in Algonquin students, and I am honoured to be their partner in this initiative.”

L-SPARK and the Algonquin College School of Business will also work together to foster Software-as-a-Service companies within the student and external communities.

Software as a Service (SaaS) is a software distribution model that allows third-party providers to host applications and makes them available to customers over the Internet.

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For more information

Algonquin College:

Ruth Dunley, Communications Manager
Algonquin College
Office: 613-727-4723 ext. 6452
Mobile: 613-406-0970
dunleyr@algonquincollege.com

Chris Lackner, Communications Officer
Algonquin College
Office: 613-727-4723 ext. 2091
lacknec@algonquincollege.com

L-Spark:

Erin Blaskie
L-Spark
Director of Marketing,
erin@l-spark.com

 


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