The Dunin-Deshpande Queen’s Innovation Centre (DDQIC) has announced it will expand its summer entrepreneurship program abroad to the Bader International Study Centre (BISC). 

The Queen’s Innovation Centre Summer Initiative (QICSI), which is held annually, will be held on the University’s main campus for a week before students travel to the castle, where they will continue the experience for another week. The University hopes to attract 20 students for the first offering of the program. 

It will implement entrepreneurship and innovation courses, networking opportunities and mentorship from DDQIC’s Global Network London chapter. The program will conclude with a pitch competition with a seed-funding price for the winners’ businesses. 

To accommodate students, the castle will be implementing working and makerspace on the castle grounds. 

In an interview with the Queen’s Gazette, Executive Director of DDQIC Greg Bavington said “This new offering combines cutting-edge training and skills with the strengths of our historic environment and tight-knit campus community, as well as access to Queen’s alumni network in the U.K.” 

He added the experience abroad for students would be important. 

“Many Canadian undergraduate students have not had the benefit of an international experience necessary to be successful in entrepreneurship abroad,” Bavington told the Gazette.  “The [program] is intended to give them that experience and gain a historical and international context for innovation and entrepreneurship in London, the cradle of the industrial economy.”