The Shumka Centre for Creative Entrepreneurship  at Emily Carr University of Art + Design would like to invite applications from early to mid-technology startup companies interested in participating in the Design for Startups Program running from January 16th – April 10th, 2025. This program is funded by the National Research Council of Canada’s Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC-IRAP).

Since 2013, Design for Startups has successfully partnered with 120+ companies. This initiative brings the transformative power of design to SMEs by connecting them with designers to produce deliverables that will have an impact on their businesses, products, services, and platforms.

We invite interested companies to fill out this Expression of Interest form by 5PM on November 12, 2024. The Spring 2025 program will begin January 16, 2025, and run for 12 weeks. Details can be found below. This program is hybrid and open to all companies incorporated in Canada; work outside of Metro Vancouver will be conducted remotely. 

Program Dates: January 16 – April 10, 2025
Expression of Interest form – Extended Deadline: 5 PM on November 12, 2024

 How it works

• Companies identify a design problem they would like solved  
• Emily Carr matches companies with a designer who has skills in that area 
• Student designers join company teams and work closely with companies and stakeholders to find solutions 
• Student designers meet with other designers weekly in a lab setting, where they are supported by Emily Carr faculty to keep the projects on track  
• This is not an internship program: it is a design lab that happens in partnership with participating companies and Emily Carr, students will work on solving your scoped out design problem and not work on day-to-day tasks  

This program will help companies to 

• Improve the usability and user experience of products or platforms to improve customer engagement 
• Prototype and test new products such as mobile apps or user interfaces for hardware products  
• Develop and optimize user interfaces and workflows to improve efficiency and user interaction 
• Align core products with the needs of target customers using design-led methods of user research and testing 
• Participate in a co-creative process of user research to transform a brand  
• Design and test an MVP for a mobile app, new feature, or user flow for an existing digital platform  
• Communicate information, data, and metrics, including data visualization 

Results for companies involve improved products and processes, better market fit, improved marketing and communications materials, improved data visualization and analytics, innovative physical and digital prototypes, and improvements to human-computer interactions.

What skills do our designers have?

Our student designers are usually completing their 3rd or 4th year of undergraduate studies or first year of graduate studies, with expertise in interaction design, service design, and communication design, interface and usability, user testing, branding, user research and profiling, ideation and selection, and prototyping. Our design approach is human-centered, where design researchers undertake an iterative process of user research, ideation, prototyping, and testing.

Program Details

• 11 companies will be accepted to the Spring 2025 Cohort 
• Cost for a company to participate is $2,520 (including GST), with NRC IRAP covering the remaining balance of the total project cost 
• Each company will work with an NRC IRAP Industrial Technology Advisor, must be incorporated, and must meet IRAP eligibility requirements 
• Each company will be matched with a designer 
• Interviewing, hiring, and administration is taken care of by Emily Carr 
• Designers work onsite in the Metro Vancouver area or remotely (if outside of Metro Vancouver) with your company for 12 hours a week for 12 weeks (January 16 - April 10, 2025) 
• Designers are supported by studio sessions with Emily Carr faculty to ensure successful deliverables 
• Companies are expected to provide the designer with access to relevant internal and external stakeholders, potentially including existing customers for purposes of user research and testing

What we need from you 

• Designers must be invited to your weekly team meeting 
• Best results happen when you engage your designer in your company team as much as possible 
• We require that designers be given freedom to develop and test ideas within the area of focus that has been set out for the 12-week period 
• You need to be available: designers will need to connect with key stakeholders at various points during the project 

How to apply

To participate, please fill out this Expression of Interest form by  5PM on November 12, 2024. Interviews begin November 18, 2024. 

Please direct any questions about the program to Cemre Demiralp and Jennifer Martin at shumka@ecuad.ca 

Please direct any IRAP-related eligibility questions to the IRAP ITA Representatives, Dusanka Firaunovic at Dusanka.Firaunovic@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca and Anja Haman Anja.Haman@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca   

This program is generously supported by the National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC IRAP) from Fall 2024 through Spring 2026.