Partners

CDL helps to future-proof partner organizations by educating leadership on frontier technologies and creating meaningful engagements between partners and the global start-up community.


Founding Partners
  • John Harris
  • Threshold Impact – Dr. Ray Muzyka & Leona De Boer
Corporate Partners
  • adMare BioInnovations
  • Amazon Web Services
  • BDC
  • Bank of Canada
  • Canada NRC
  • Canadian Special Operations Forces Command
  • KPMG
  • Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP
  • Prosus
  • RBC
  • Royal Canadian Navy
  • TD Bank
Founding Partners
  • Frank Blake
  • Sid Mookerji
Corporate Partners
  • Amazon Web Services
  • Truist
Legal Partner
  • Morris, Manning & Martin LLP
Founding Partners
  • George Armoyan
  • Mark Dobbin
  • Chris Huskilson
  • John Risley
  • Ken Rowe
  • Frank Sobey
  • Rob Sobey
  • Jim Spatz
  • Rob Steele
Corporate Partners
  • BDC
  • BMO
  • Builders Initiative
  • Canada’s Ocean Supercluster
  • Canadian Special Operations Forces Command
  • ExxonMobil
  • KPMG
  • Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP
  • Royal Canadian Army
Supporters
  • Atlantic Canada
  • Innovacorp
  • InvestNS
  • John Lindsay
  • Opportunities Agency
  • Volta
Founding Partners
  • Taavet Hinrikus
  • Sten Tamkivi
Government & Corporate Founding Partners
  • Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications
  • VABAMU
Founding Partners
  • BMO
  • Espace CDPQ
  • National Bank
  • Power Coproration of Canada
  • RBC
With the financial support of:
  • Province of Quebec
  • Scale AI
Corporate Partners
  • Bank of Canada
  • BDC
  • Canadian Special Operations Forces Command
  • Dentons
  • Fasken
  • Prosus
  • Royal Canadian Army
Founding Partners
  • Michael and Jacqueline Broadfoot
  • Kevin Campbell
  • Michael and Heather Culbert
  • Chen Fong
  • “Kanovsky Family Foundation” as represented by Michael Kanovsky
  • Craig Senyk
  • Sharon Siebens
  • Alison Sunstrum
  • “Viewpoint Foundation” as represented by Mac Van Wielingen
Corporate Partners
  • BDC
  • Borden Ladner Gervais (BLG)
  • Canadian Natural Resources
  • Canadian Special Operations Forces Command
  • Cassels
  • Cenovus Energy
  • Coril Holdings
  • CPP Investments
  • FCC
  • Enbridge
  • Imperial Oil
  • KPMG
  • The Mancal Group
  • Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP
  • Royal Canadian Army
  • Suncor
Legal Partners
  • Cassels – Prime
  • Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP (Global) – Ag
  • BLG – Energy
Catalyst Partners
  • Nutrien
Founding Partners
  • John McCall MacBain
Corporate Partners
  • Amazon Web Services
Founding Partners
  • Dennis Bennie
  • John Harris
  • Dennis Kavelman
  • Fred Dawkins
  • Dan Debow & Jordana Huber
  • Michael Hyatt
  • Anthony Lacavera
  • John Francis
  • Richard Hyatte
  • Neil Wainwright
Corporate Partners
  • adMare Bioinnovations
  • Amazon Web Services
  • Bank of Canada
  • BDC
  • Canadian Cancer Society
  • Canadian Special Operations Forces Command
  • Canadian Tire
  • CCS
  • GM
  • KPMG
  • MDA
  • Medicine by Design
  • Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP
  • Prosus
  • RBC
  • Royal Canadian Army
  • Scotiabank
  • TD
Partners
  • The Rotman Catalyst Fund
Supporters of the Geoffrey Taber Chair in Entrepreneurship and Innovation
  • Dennis Bennie
  • Haig Farris
  • Chen Fong
  • John Francis
  • John Harris
  • Anthony Lacavera
  • Jevon MacDonald
Technology Partners
  • D-Wave
  • IBM Q
  • Rigetti
  • Xanadu
  • Zapata
Founding Corporate Partner – CDL Health
  • TD
Corporate Partners
  • adMare BioInnovations
  • Amazon Web Services
  • BDC
  • Canadian Cancer Society
  • Canadian Special Operations Forces Command
  • Evok Innovations
  • Fasken
  • Genome British Columbia
  • HSBC Canada
  • Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe
  • Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP
  • Providence Health Care
  • Royal Canadian Army
  • TD
  • Vanedge Capital
Legal Partners
  • Fasken – Canadian Climate Ventures
  • Faskin – Health Ventures
  • Orrick – U.S. Climate Ventures
  • Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP (Global) – Prime
Founding Partners
  • Christopher Bissonnette
  • Charles Chang
  • Phil Christopher
  • Jim W. Davidson
  • Colin Harris
  • Bruce Hoeschen
  • Paul Lee & Moe Kermani
  • Rodney Payne
  • Leigh Sauder & Patrick Robinson
  • Bill Sauder
Sustaining Partners
  • Christopher Bissonnette
  • Chen Fong
  • Robert Friesen
  • Colin Harris
  • Bruce Hoeschen
  • Bill Sauder
Supporters
  • Bill Brown
Founding Partners
  • Peter Davies
  • Mark Evans
  • Dennis Kavelman
  • Robin Klein
  • John McCall MacBain
  • Patrick Pichette
  • Kjell Skappel
  • Niklas Zenneström
Corporate Partners
  • Amazon Web Services
  • Barclays
  • Goodwin
  • Novartis
  • Prosus
  • Shore Capital
Government Partners
  • Research England
Founding Partners
  • Artie Buerk
  • Neal Dempsey
  • The Foster Foundation
  • Bill McAleer
  • Debra and Arnie Prentice
  • Rob Short
  • Steve Singh
Corporate Partners
  • A12 Incubator
  • Amazon Web Services
  • The Foster Foundation
  • Microsoft
  • Washington Research Foundation
University Partners
  • College of Engineering – University of Washington
  • Commotion – University of Washington
  • Foster School of Business – University of Washington
  • Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science and Engineering – University of Washington
Founding Partners
  • American Family Insurance
Corporate Partners
  • Amazon Web Services
  • Exact Sciences
  • HealthX Ventures
  • Tokio Marine HCC
  • Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF)

Founding Partners
  • John Harris
  • Threshold Impact – Dr. Ray Muzyka & Leona De Boer
Corporate Partners
  • adMare BioInnovations
  • Amazon Web Services
  • BDC
  • Bank of Canada
  • Canada NRC
  • Canadian Special Operations Forces Command
  • KPMG
  • Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP
  • Prosus
  • RBC
  • Royal Canadian Navy
  • TD Bank

Modules

The CDL Partners Program is designed by world-leading academics to provide insights on the economic impact of new technology.
Partners Education Modules are the key educational component of the CDL Partners Program. The purpose of the modules is to help partners understand the ‘simple’ economics of an emerging technology area - specifically, the key costs and benefits that change with the adoption of the new technology and, in turn, the types of industries, businesses, investments and jobs that are likely to be impacted.
Oct2021
Simple Economics of Energy

Peter Tertzakian, Executive Director at Arc Energy Research Institute

Both corporate and start-up innovation in the energy space is gaining momentum. Yet there is much uncertainty —policy, capital markets, geopolitics, resource costs and of course technology.

How do you evaluate an investment in hydrogen versus biofuels? How will the next generation of small modular nuclear reactors impact investments in renewables? How will oil and gas innovations play into a net-zero future?

The Simple Economics of Energy module distilled the complexity of large-scale societal transformation into easy-to-understand concepts that can be used by stakeholders in – and connected to – the energy business. This course addressed the following objectives:

  • How to think about energy economics in terms of pathways that connect primary energy sources to end-use appliances, machines and vehicles
  • Where the most promising new pathways are emerging, and what factors (environmental policies, technologies, capital markets, and so on) are driving the changes
  • What stakeholders need to consider when assessing the viability of investing in any segment of the evolving energy landscape
Nov2021
Simple Economics of FinTech

Pinar Ozcan, Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Saïd Business School, Oxford University

Digitization, datafication, machine learning, and changes in the regulatory environment have resulted in an explosion of technology start-ups operating in the ‘fintech’ space. In 2020 alone, $105 billion USD of venture capital was invested into fintech. Some fintech start-ups are emerging as real competitors to traditional financial services providers with companies like Klarna and Stripe now valued at $45.6 billion and $95 billion respectively. Besides start-ups, the world’s largest technology companies, such as Apple, Google, Amazon and Facebook, are also starting to offer financial products targeted at businesses and/or consumers.

The Simple Economics of Fintech explained the ‘fintech revolution’ in terms of the fundamental economics of the financial services industry and how technological and regulatory changes interact with these economics to enable new businesses and new business models. In particular, the module covered the following topics:

  • The role of informational asymmetries in impacting financial service provision and how new technologies impact these informational asymmetries, thereby enabling new competitors, products, and businesses
  • Typical challenges that fintech start-ups face
  • The complex relationship between start-ups and incumbents in the fintech space
  • The entry of companies like Apple, Google, Amazon, and Facebook into financial services, their incentives for doing so, and the implications for both start-ups and incumbents
Nov2021
Simple Economics of Blockchain

Joshua Gans, Chief Economist at Creative Destruction Lab and Professor at Rotman School of Management

Blockchain technologies are an advance potentially more significant than the hype surrounding cryptocurrencies. Instead, they represent a potential massive reduction in the cost of verification; that is, the ability for parties to a contract to confirm the performance of obligations by others. This verification opens up the possibilities for machine validation of performance and a reduction in the transaction costs associated with deal-making.

The underlying benefits of the blockchain for providing security, interoperability, and incentive provision were explained in The Simple Economics of Blockchain. In addition, the module highlighted innovations in economic mechanism and market design to give the blockchain value. The learning objectives were as follows:

  • Understand when it is that a blockchain is an opportunity for innovation
  • Learn why blockchain is a potential advance in contracting technology
Jan2022
Simple Economics of Quantum

Roger Melko, Professor at University of Waterloo & Francesco Bova, Associate Professor at Rotman School of Management and Academic Lead at CDL-Toronto

The first generation of quantum technology gave the world the transistor – an invention that led to the creation of the semiconductor industry. Today, the second generation of quantum technology is emerging from laboratories. The innovations from this generation offer the potential for a fundamental improvement in sensing, communications, and the ability to solve intractable computational problems. Although the technology is still being developed, a number of companies are already leveraging current quantum hardware to create value.

The Simple Economics of Quantum lecture discussed this emerging second quantum revolution. CDL-Toronto Academic Lead Francesco Bova and CDL-Quantum Scientific Lead Roger Melko illustrated how companies are utilizing current quantum hardware to create value. The discussion highlighted real-world examples, including alumni from CDL Quantum. The learning objectives were as follows:

  • Understand how quantum computers might be able to solve problems that were deemed to be intractable for classical computers to solve.
  • Learn, via examples, how companies are utilizing existing quantum hardware in the areas of combinatorial optimization, advanced materials discovery, and finance.
Feb2022
Simple Economics of Space

Chris Hadfield, former Commander of the International Space Station

At the first iteration of this module, we focused on the single most important economic feature driving investment in space-related industries – the rapidly falling cost of launch. This year, we turned our attention to another key shift that will impact investment in space: competition. We are at the starting line of a new Space Race. The original Space Race began in 1957, when the Soviet Union launched the first successful artificial satellite, Sputnik 1, into Earth-orbit. In response, the US established NASA and then the Apollo program. This kicked off an avalanche of public and private investment in space.

Today, the US is not racing with Russia, but China. China is building the Tiangong space station, the first module of which was launched last year. Around the same time, China and Russia agreed to jointly build a research station on or around the Moon, in direct competition with the US’s Artemis program, which is focused on returning humans to the Moon by 2025. These initiatives, and others, have set the stage for a new Space Race. Thus, the world’s two superpowers will become super customers, amplifying demand for space-related products and services up and down the supply chain. Against this backdrop, one company, Space X, exerts increasing market power in launch. Falcon plans to launch about once a week on average in 2022, delivering ~2/3 of all Earth payload to orbit. And Starship, expected to begin commercial launch in a couple of years, is designed for such a high payload mass capability and such a low potential operating cost that it will create a new paradigm for investment and innovation in space. Together, the blossoming competition in space between two global superpowers on the one hand and the growing dominance of a single company in the commercial launch market, on the other hand, will shape a new dynamic for investment and innovation in space.

Apr2022
Simple Economics of Advanced Materials (Matter)

Alan Aspuru-Guzik, Professor, Department of Chemistry, Computer Science and Chemical Engineering and Applied Science, University of Toronto; Co-founder Zapata Computing and Kebotix

The chemical and materials industries – and the wide range of industries they are connected to – are being disrupted by frontier technologies. Advances in robotics and automation, artificial intelligence, and high-throughput computation are fundamentally changing the way advanced materials are being discovered, produced, and brought to market. The growth of materials databases, a key complement to these technologies, will further accelerate the pace of discovery and development of molecules and materials. Demand for green materials and greater reusability (ie: a circular economy) are creating a host of new commercial opportunities. While the opportunities are considerable, the presence of large and powerful incumbent buyers at the end of many advanced materials value chains can pose challenges for start-ups’ ability to capture value from their innovation.

The Simple Economics of Advanced Materials (Matter) introduced participants to the technological changes that are transforming the advanced materials space and explain how they impact the economics of creating and capturing value in the advanced materials industry. Drawing on recent examples, Professor Aspuru-Guzik highlighted both the opportunities and challenges for technology start-ups and suggest a number of factors entrepreneurs and investors should consider when evaluating the potential of a start-up in this space.

May2022
Simple Economics of Risk

Joan Schmit, American Family Insurance Distinguished Chair in Risk Management and Insurance, Wisconsin School of Business, University of Wisconsin-Madison

The availability and access to ever-increasing sources of new data and technology are transforming society’s ability to predict, mitigate, and transfer risk (the latter, most often through insurance). This, along with an increasing understanding of behavioral economics, is changing how we most effectively and efficiently can manage it – leading to greatly enhanced outcomes in the human condition at large.

With a better sense of where, when, and how losses might occur, individuals, governments, and organizations are able to employ their resources more effectively and efficiently to mitigate and often prevent losses from occurring. Furthermore, the digitalization of manual processes allows for better, faster, cheaper management of risk.