Participate

Faculty, as well as entrepreneurs from industry are welcome to participate in SURGE programming, including SURGE Discover and Deep Dive events. We also like to engage partners from academia and industry for our Deep Dive events as mentors and judges. This can be a great way to participate without a full-weekend commitment, but still tap into the energy and excitement of these events. 

Run an Event

Do you have an idea for a weekend Deep Dive event, like a hackathon, makeathon, or a startup weekend? If so, please contact us to discuss.

Keep in mind that even though the term ‘hackathon’ could mean working with code, we define it much more broadly. For instance, hacking also means breaking things apart, playing with them, and creating something new. This approach can be applied to an existing technique, instrument, or a scientific problem that can be disrupted innovatively by unleashing creativity.    

Bring Us Problems

Even if you aren’t interested in running an event, we are always looking for interesting problems for students to tackle. Please keep in mind that the focus of SURGE is on trainee-driven, commercialization-oriented problem solving. This means that we are looking for big problems and needs in the world. We aim to solve such problems through viable business models that have high growth potential and where the costs of research and development can be recovered through revenue streams. So if you are looking for students to solve specific problems in your lab or have them work on basic research, there are better options such as lab volunteers, independent research projects, and co-op students. 

Intellectual Property 

SURGE has a strong preference for student teams to develop independent leadership skills, and hold their own IP. If you have ideas that you would like to hold IP for, and/or be directly involved in commercializing, you are welcome to pitch them to SURGE teams with the expectation that you would be an active member of the team as well. We are more than happy to discuss these issues with you. If you are interested in commercialization as a faculty member, we also suggest that you contact Dalhousie’s Industry Liaison and Innovation office.