The Entrepreneurship Practice and Innovation Centre (EPICentre) will launch a program to support women-led startups in emerging technology space in winter 2019.

The Windsor Essex Economic Development Corporation (WEEDC) will receive up to $692,000 over four years to support local women entrepreneurs to start and grow their businesses in emerging technology sectors. This funding is part of a $19 million investment from the Government of Canada’s Women Entrepreneurship Strategy to support women entrepreneurs in Ontario.

EPICentre will create its program as part of WEEDC’s Windsor-Essex Women Emerge Initiative.

“We are excited to play an important role in supporting women-led startups in this region,” says EPICentre director Wen Teoh. “Women are underrepresented in the startup space, especially tech startups. This initiative will enable us to encourage more women in technology to consider entrepreneurship as a career path.”

The campus-based centre will lead the Start-up Stream 2 initiative: increase the number of women entrepreneurs interested in starting a company related to emerging technologies. Through the EPIC Women-In-Tech Founders Program, EPICentre will provide mentorship, workshops, incubation space, prototype development, and technical support services.

“I am absolutely delighted that EPICentre is engaging and promoting women’s technological entrepreneurship through this important initiative,” says K. W. Michael Siu, UWindsor vice president of research and innovation. “Increased representation of women in this emerging space promises to boost economic prosperity in our region and beyond.”

The program in currently under development; watch for details on the EPICentre website.