The Institute

Mount Royal University’s award-winning entrepreneurship program has a rich history of success. Building on this success, the Institute was launched in 2012 with active involvement of the entrepreneurial community, consultation with top-10 entrepreneurship schools across North America, and a generous donation by the RBC Foundation for start-up funding.

The Institute’s goal is to foster an entrepreneurial mindset, and graduate innovators and leaders who will dramatically impact their businesses and communities.

The Institute’s goal is accomplished by:

• Providing unmatched experiential learning
• Providing entrepreneurial students with opportunities to establish new business and social ventures
• Providing a physical space that fosters creativity, collaboration and innovation
• Engaging business and community leaders in the education of students
• Building an entrepreneurial community of students, faculty, alumni and industry experts
• Advancing the scholarship of entrepreneurial education

Director

Ray DePaul has delivered revolutionary high-tech products to the market in his successful 25-year career. Prior to his Directorship of the Institute, DePaul was the President and CEO of RapidMind Inc., a spin-off company from the University of Waterloo.

He achieved $11M of venture funding, significant market growth and positioned RapidMind as an industry leader. As a result, RapidMind has received many prestigious awards including the Ontario Centers of Excellence Mind to Market award, and the Premier's Catalyst Award. Intel Corp. later acquired the successful RapidMind.

Prior to RapidMind, DePaul spent five years with Research In Motion (RIM). Responsible for product management of the iconic BlackBerry, he steered RIM’s business plans, product strategies and product launches. DePaul helped to guide BlackBerry through the challenging early adopter phase in 1999, and established the BlackBerry brand as the smart phone market leader.

DePaul has assisted startup companies at the MaRS Incubator, in Toronto and University of Waterloo’s Commercialization Office. He also mentors and advises several technology, consumer product and social enterprise entrepreneurs.

DePaul holds a Bachelors of Mathematics degree in Computer Science from the University of Waterloo and a Masters of Business Administration from Wilfrid Laurier University. He was the recipient of the 2011 MBA Alumnus Award for Outstanding Innovation and Achievement.