What is the Summer Accelerator?

The Summer Accelerator is Velocity's immersive program helping recent & soon-to-be graduates make the leap to full-time entrepreneurship. This year, supported by Intellectual Property Ontario (IPON), we invite you to join us for a 3-month long program covering everything you need to know to successfully validate your venture opportunity and build readiness for the long journey ahead.

By the end of the summer, participants will reach key early milestones: securing letters of intent, signing first pilots, making first sales and raising pre-seed investment. This program is designed to help you confidently transition from student to full-time founder, equipping you with the skills, experience, and support you need to build and grow your startup. You will also join a close-knit community of peers that will last well beyond the program.

Join a cohort of up to 30 teams launching their journey as founders for a summer to remember!

Questions about the program? Email info@velocityincubator.com.

Teams will be provided a $12,000 fellowship grant to join the program.

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Program Overview

The Summer Accelerator includes:

• Mentorship from experienced founders and advisors
• Intellectual property education from IPON
• Access to co-working space in the Velocity Incubator, located in the Innovation Arena at 280 Joseph St. In Kitchener
• Weekly support through educational sessions and group coaching
• Community events for the summer accelerator participants plus invites to exclusive Velocity incubator events
• A final pitch to investors and a community demo day
• Support with next steps after the summer accelerator, including apply to incubators, filing intellectual property, incorporation, connecting with professional service providers, support with other plans apart from entrepreneurship

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Deadlines

Applicants must complete the form by 11:59 PM on Sunday, April 5th for consideration.

Applications will be reviewed during that week, and teams will be notified of their offer to join or waitlist status by end of day Monday, April 13th and will be required to accept their offer within a week before offers are made to waitlisted teams.

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Participant Eligibility Requirements

• Teams may consist of current students (undergraduate, masters, PhD), recent graduates or post-doctoral researchers
• Teams may come from any Ontario post-secondary institution (such as the University of Waterloo, Wilfrid Laurier University, Conestoga College and University of Guelph)
• Teams must complete 6-8 hours of virtual education modules on intellectual property topics, provided by IPON
• Teams must complete a customer validation sprint led virtually by the Velocity team between May 25 – June 18
• Teams must be willing to provide at least one member to participate full-time in-person for the program between June 22 - August 21
• Teams must agree to disclose the existence of potential IP to Velocity & IPON for reporting purposes
  
  • “The University of Waterloo has a [“creator-own” IP policy] (https://uwaterloo.ca/research/waterloo-commercialization-office-watco/intellectual-property). Velocity will not make any claims to equity in your business or ownership of your intellectual property. This requirement will involve sharing any patent or filing numbers generated as a result of your project during the summer accelerator, or within the 6-month follow-up period.
• Teams must also agree to complete a program completion survey and six-month follow up survey

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Summer 2026 Schedule

The Summer Accelerator session is divided into two phases:

Virtual Customer Discovery Sprint & IP Education (4 weeks)

The first weeks of the program lay the groundwork for a successful summer by engaging participants in a 3-week long customer discovery sprint to enhance their understanding of key business assumptions. Founders will also be enrolled in IPON’s intellectual property education modules and expected to complete them virtually online before the beginning of in-person programming on June 22.

Key dates for virtual programming include:

• Virtual Program Welcome & Onboarding Call – Week of May 18
• Virtual Customer Discovery Sprint – May 25 – June 18

In-Person Weekly Programming & Coworking (10 weeks)

After successful completion of the IP education modules and customer discovery sprint, teams are invited to join us in-person for co-working and the summer accelerator programming!

Key dates for the program include:

• In-Person Orientation Day – Monday, June 22^nd
• Demo Week (Investor Pitch, Community Demo Day) – Week of August 10^th
• Launch Days (Next Steps, Intellectual Property Consulation & Professional Services Support) – Week of August 17^th

Additionally, the program will include weekly events such as:

• Weekly learning sessions covering key topics for newly full-time founders (team building, market opportunities, business models, product development, IP strategy, psychological capital and more!)
• Group coaching sessions with founders in a similar space or stage
• Summer fun & surprises 🦩
• Other Velocity community events

Upon successful acceptance to the summer accelerator, teams will be provided with a detailed schedule for the program, onboarding instructions and access to the virtual education modules on intellectual property.

Apply to the Summer Accelerator Now!

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About IPON

Intellectual Property Ontario (IPON) is building business-centric IP resources designed to help business leaders and entrepreneurs leverage IP to drive their business forward. Learn more on their website.

This project is kindly supported by the Innovation Fellowship Program from IPON which is providing $12,000 fellowships to up to 30 teams to participate in this opportunity. The views expressed on this webpage, and in program materials are those of the Velocity and do not necessarily reflect those of IPON.