New On-Campus Mentorship for Aspiring Design Entrepreneurs

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By Michelle Cyca

Posted on September 19, 2018 | Updated August 06, 2019, 9:07am

Living Labs is hosting their first-ever Discovery Foundation Entrepreneur in Residence for the Fall 2018 term.

This fall, Living Labs is launching the first-ever Discovery Foundation Entrepreneur in Residence at Emily Carr. This innovative new program will provide dedicated support for ECU students as they create, refine and launch the next generation of technology-driven businesses, products, projects, platforms or initiatives.

From September 28 to December 14, technology entrepreneur Ian Bell will be available to students and faculty who would like input on their ideas from a technology, startup, product, financial or digital strategy perspective. Ian is a co-creator of RingCentral and the founder of start-ups RosterBot and Tingle.

The residency enhances Living Labs’ partnership with the Discovery Foundation, which has supported the Art, Design, Business Speaker Series since 2016. It is part of Living Labs’ newly-established Discovery Foundation Mentorship Program, which will also encompass the speaker series. The residency is embedded in the Shumka Centre for Creative Entrepreneurship, an ongoing project of Living Labs to support the development and launch of creative projects.

During his residency Ian will be available from 3:00-5:00PM on Fridays, or by appointment. He will also participate in other Shumka Centre programming. To make an appointment with Ian, send him an email or drop by room C4218.

About Ian Bell

Ian Andrew Bell is a co-creator of RingCentral (NYSE:RNG), the world’s most popular cloud telephony platform. He also founded and launched RosterBot, the world’s first online team management platform; and Tingle, the first dating app for the iPhone. He has worked with more than a dozen early-stage ventures and helped several of them from conception to fundraising to successful exits. Early in his career he was a Product Manager at Telus and Cisco Systems, and was an Apple Research Fellow. He co-authored a book on web design & development in 1996, and is a graduate of SFU’s School of Communication.

About Living Labs

Living Labs is one of four research centres at Emily Carr University, with a focus on developing innovative partnered projects between design and industry. Director Kate Armstrong has extensive experience leading programs and initiatives and has worked with partners including Microsoft Canada, Rogers, Vision Critical, The Next Big Thing Foundation, Mozilla, GrowLab, Lighthouse Labs, Google, and Highline. As a researcher at Emily Carr, Armstrong’s focus is on developing connections between design, art, and entrepreneurship. Living Labs was a TEP Partner in 2016 and 2017, when we ran the Art, Design, Business Series, and 2015, with the Discovery Foundation Product Design and Development Workshops.

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