Important Dates

• Application close: December 2,2025
• Interviews to be held during the Week of December 8, 2025
• Program starts: January 26, 2025 (8-10 week duration)
• Application Link: https://forms.gle/ZXUNtZdzFhf5aMRw7

The Ingenuity Ascend Accelerator is a 10-week business development program designed for entrepreneurial-minded Lakehead University students and recent alumni. Whether you're in the idea stage or working on an early-stage startup, Ascend helps you transition from concept to viable business.

Each cohort accepts up to four business ideas, and selected ventures are eligible to receive up to $5,000 in funding to support business development activities.

The program is designed to:

• Support the launch and growth of student-led ventures
• Offer hands-on business training and mentorship
• Provide a collaborative, resource-rich environment

What We Offer:

• Weekly mentorship and milestone meetings
• Business workshops covering marketing, IP, revenue models, business structure, and more
• Access to Ingenuity's Makerspace, Media Room, and co-working space
• Connections to community partners and local entrepreneurs

What to Expect as a Participant

Throughout the 10-week program, early-stage companies can expect to:

• Participate in networking events
• Attend business development workshops
• Connect with experienced entrepreneurial mentors
• Join milestone meetings with Ingenuity staff to track progress
• Access up to $5,000 in non-repayable funding (restrictions apply)

Eligibility Requirements:

• At least one founder must be a current Lakehead student or alumni (within one year post-graduation)
• Must be willing to commit to the program for 10 weeks
• Must participate in all workshops, events, and pitch competitions
• Must have decision-making authority for the venture
• Must meet the legal requirements to start and run a business in Canada

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Does it cost anything to join the program?
A: No. The Ascend Accelerator is completely free for eligible Lakehead students and recent graduates.

Q: Do I need to have a business already running to apply?
A: No. We welcome applications from all stages, including early idea development.

Q: What is the time commitment like?
A: The program includes one milestone meeting per week (up to 1 hour), plus several scheduled workshops. Ingenuity works with participants to find mutually agreeable times that respect academic and work obligations.

Q: Is this program only for business students?
A: Not at all! Ingenuity supports students from all academic backgrounds.

Q: Does Ingenuity take equity in my company?
A: No. Ingenuity does not take equity or royalties from any participant.

Q: Who can I contact for more information?
A: Please reach out to info.ingenuity@lakeheadu.ca for all general inquiries.

Apply today and take the next step in turning your idea into a business!

OVERVIEW:

• Lakehead University biologist Dr. Michael Rennie was the chief scientist on a recent expedition of the Blue Heron research vessel
• Dr. Rennie is doing critical research into the Superior Shoal—a 300-metre-high mountain in Lake Superior nicknamed the "Freshwater Everest"
• Data from the Superior Shoal expedition will be used to develop strategies to conserve Lake Superior and other threatened large-lake environments

Behind the Scenes on Dr. Michael Rennie's Unprecedented Expedition

Dr. Michael Rennie has just returned from the nautical adventure of a lifetime.

In early September, he was the chief scientist on a mission to explore a hidden ecosystem. He and a research crew set sail across Lake Superior on the Blue Heron research vessel owned by the University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD).

During the week the research crew (above) was at the Superior Shoal, its ROV submersible did two to three dives per day. Left to right: Zach Melnick (Inspired Planet), Yvonne Drebert (Inspired Planet), Lisa Sundberg (UMD), Tom Frantti (UMD), Jason Agnich (UMD), Gwen Phillips (U Vermont), Dr. Bianca Possamai (U Vermont), Rual Lee (UMD), Ted Gephart (UMD), Lydia Paulic (U Windsor), Dr. Michael Rennie (Lakehead). Photo Credit: Zach Melnick

This voyage was the culmination of over a year of planning for Dr. Rennie, who is a Lakehead University professor in the Department of Biology.

It took a day to load the equipment on the boat and a full day to sail to their destination, 70 kilometres from the Canadian shore.

The Superior Shoal is part of the Lake Superior National Marine Conservation Area and was formed from the lava of a long-ago volcanic eruption. Photo Credit: Zach Melnick

A Soaring Mountain Rises from the Abyss

The Superior Shoal, nicknamed the "Freshwater Everest," reaches 300 metres upward from the lake floor and is rumoured to have caused shipwrecks like the infamous 1975 sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald.

"It's this strange cryptic environment," Dr. Rennie says. "If you were sailing near it on a freighter, you'd never know it was there, even though its highest peak is just six metres below the surface.

It's swarming with fish, and it's a hotspot of biological activity. This kind of biodiversity can also be found on seamounts in oceans."

Dr. Michael Rennie says that Lakehead has an important role to play as the only research-intensive university on the Canadian side of Lake Superior.

A key goal of Dr. Rennie's expedition was to test his hypothesis that the same conditions that create abundant life on seamounts—geological features combined with currents, light, and water columns—are also responsible for the Superior Shoal's biodiversity.

"It's probable that the algae covering the shoal supports an extensive food web, and the shoals act as a spawning ground for fish."

The expedition was a collaboration between Dr. Rennie and researchers from the University of Minnesota Duluth, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, the University of Vermont, and the University of Windsor. Other partners included the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, and Parks Canada.

"It takes a village," Dr. Rennie says.

A Filmmaking Odyssey

To view the Superior Shoal, the Blue Heron used a remotely operated vehicle (ROV)—a small submersible equipped with a high-resolution camera—capable of diving among the shoal's perilous peaks and canyons.

Although Dr. Rennie is a certified scuba diver, regulations make the cost of research dives prohibitive. "This means the ROV footage we shot is even more crucial." Above, Dr. Rennie helps prepare a stationary up-looking hydroacoustic submersible to detect concentrations of fish above the shoal. Photo Credit: Yvonne Drebert

The ROV was operated by Zach Melnick and Yvonne Drebert, the filmmakers behind Inspired Planet Productions. "They were absolutely fantastic to work with," Dr. Rennie says.

The filmmakers—with the sponsorship of Parks Canada, Science North, and Canadian Geographic—produced the first-ever livestream of the Superior Shoal during Dr. Rennie's expedition.

A Haven for Lake Trout

The research crew dropped off acoustic receivers at the Superior Shoal. These receivers detect tags that have been surgically implanted in lake trout, enabling scientists to see where fish like the redfin trout (above) travel, and learn more about their behaviour. Photo Credit: Zach Melnick

Dr. Rennie is investigating whether the Superior Shoal ecosystem is crucial to the well-being of the entire lake.

"We know that the shoal is filled with many species of lake trout. This is encouraging since Lake Superior's lake trout fishery collapsed in the 1960s and has only recently rebounded."

On the expedition, the researchers collected genetic material from lake trout to test how similar or different they are to near-shore lake trout populations, and to determine if these lake trout can help repopulate other areas of Lake Superior.

The Mysteries of the Deep

"Seeing the multitude of fish on the shoal, including sculpins, burbot, and rare redfin, siscowet, and humper lake trout species was amazing," Dr Rennie says.

"The most astounding sight for me, though, was pinky-orange hydras pulsing like a vast garden on the shoal," he says of the tiny anemone-like creatures.

Above, carnivorous hydra cover one of the shoal's cliff faces. Award-winning filmmakers and Royal Canadian Geographical Society Fellows Yvonne Drebert and Zach Melnick hope to make a film about Dr. Rennie's Superior Shoal expedition. Photo Credit: Zach Melnick

The research crew was also transfixed by a never-before-seen hunting behaviour of the redfin lake trout.

"They dragged their fins through the algae to chase out organisms so that they could eat them. Until now, no one knew they used this ingenious hunting method."

Dr. Rennie's work has laid the groundwork for future expeditions that will yield unique insights.

"Our research has the potential to create scientific strategies to successfully conserve Lake Superior and other large-lake environments that face threats such as climate change, pollution, and overfishing."

Watch the historic livestream of the Superior Shoal dive.

Dr. Michael Rennie's Superior Shoal research and expedition was made possible by funding from the University of Minnesota Duluth, the Great Lakes Fisheries Commission, and a Discovery Grant and Ship Time grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC).

"As a kid, one of my hobbies was taking apart and building computers," says Lakehead-Georgian computer science student Omid Latifi.

One of Omid’s favourite pastimes is wrestling. “Wrestling and computers sound like polar opposites, but wrestling has given me the discipline, mental toughness, and confidence to pitch ideas and lead teams to success, whether it’s a hackathon or leading a team of developers as a project manager.”

Recently, his stellar performances in hackathons and competitions have been attracting national and international attention, even though until 2021, Omid had been planning to become a doctor.

"I switched career paths because I liked the idea of being able to change the world right from my living room. I think about problems in my community and try to come up with original ways to solve them," adds Omid, who grew up in Barrie. "Henry Ford said that if you asked people what they wanted, they would have said, 'Faster horses.' I always strive to build solutions with the same innovative mindset."

Omid develops many of his products through competitions. "I've been in hackathons and entrepreneurship contests at the University of Toronto, Waterloo, McMaster, and across Ontario, but in my opinion, Lakehead-Georgian hosts the most interesting and well-organized events."

Protecting Canada's Arctic Sovereignty

On September 20, Omid made waves with his technological prowess.

He won The Icebreaker Defence Tech Hackathon—Canada's first-ever military defense tech hackathon.

Pratik Das (left), Omid Latifi (centre), and Miran Qarachatani (right) teamed up to win The Icebreaker Defence Tech Hackathon for their Arctic Overwatch app. In 2024, Omid and his teammate Brandon Hann won first place in the Innov8 competition for DriveMind, which uses AI to fight traffic congestion.

Competitors were asked to create a maritime-surveillance system to help the Canadian Armed Forces detect dark vessels in Arctic waters. These are ships that engage in illegal activities such as unregulated fishing, smuggling, and human trafficking.

"We developed Arctic Overwatch," Omid says. "It's a multi-modal machine learning application featuring an interactive global real-time notification system and an AI-powered dark vessel detection dashboard. In addition, it has a custom vessel-fingerprint system that uses a ship's wake patterns to identify its model, engine, and dimensions."

Crushing the Competition

In 2025, Omid and his teammate Pratik Das created a smart capacity management app to track attendance at city recreation centres in real time. These facilities are often overcrowded, but Omid and Pratik's app addresses this challenge by using existing CCTV surveillance cameras and AI to do automatic headcounts.

"It also predicts future headcounts and has an AI receptionist available 24/7 to answer questions about occupancy levels and the availability of services."

Ahmed Abduljader (left) and Omid (right) won in the Best Use of Emerging Technology category in the TerraHacks 2025 competition for Arnold AI, a personal fitness and physical rehabilitation companion. Other recent competitions where Omid has excelled include the 2025 AutoHACK competition.

Omid and Pratik won first place in both the Bright Minds City of Orillia competition and the 2025 Innov8 competition, which is part of Georgian College's Research, Innovation, Scholarship and Entrepreneurship (RISE) symposium.

Omid won third place in the same Innov8 competition for another app—called Project Abel—making history by becoming the first-ever participant to win multiple awards in a single year.

From California to Outer Space

Project Abel is an international collaboration with Momchil Gavrilov, a research associate at the University of California (UC), Davis. "I met Momchil in grade 10 when we both tried out for our high school wrestling team. We've been great friends ever since."

Abel is an AI-powered legal assistant that will help ordinary people build legal cases—dramatically reducing their legal costs and increasing access to the justice system.

As part of the development of Project Abel, Omid and Momchil surveyed over 200 law professionals in California.

Abel was inspired by Momchil's frustrating attempts to get an international visa after he graduated from UC Davis and wanted to stay in the United States as a researcher.

After discovering that 92 per cent of legal issues faced by underrepresented groups went unresolved, the pair expanded Abel's capabilities. It will now encompass landlord disputes, contract misunderstandings, and basic human rights issues.

Project Abel made it to the third round of the Big Bang! competition at UC Davis, one of North America's top student entrepreneurship contests. "We're working with intellectual property lawyers at UC Davis to get it market-ready," Omid says.

In 2024, Omid had another breakthrough when he and fellow Lakehead-Georgian student Miran Qarachatani entered the NASA International Space Apps Challenge hosted on the Lakehead Orillia campus.

Their Project Orbit is an educational interactive 3D-web app, called an orrery, that shows how moons and planets revolve around the sun.

Watch the NASA International Space Apps Challenge presentation given by Omid (right) and his teammate Miran Qarachatani (left). 

It won the Innovation Award in the NASA Space Apps Challenge Orillia site pitch and was selected to move forward to the global competition, placing among the top 943 of all global projects submitted. "Out of the approximately 94,000 global competitors, there are only 10 winning teams," Omid explains.

Now, Omid is taking this year off from school to work as a product manager at SOTI—a Mississauga tech company. "I want to use the skills I'll learn there to give back to the community before finishing my final year at Lakehead-Georgian."

Congratulations to this rising tech star!