Emily Tang never expected to find herself in the world of startups. A former ER nurse and Master of Health Leadership and Policy (MHLP) student at UBC, she joined CDL-Vancouver’s investment course with almost no exposure to entrepreneurship.

“It was a new world to me, entrepreneurship and venture capital. It felt like it was a new language that I had to learn,” she recalls.

Her team worked on a venture developing millimeter-precision cancer cell removal technology. They secured $50,000 in funding—but for Emily, the real win was perspective.

“It opened my understanding of how healthcare ventures work,” says Emily. “It expanded my network because I only understood what the public healthcare system looks like. I didn’t understand truly how innovation works, especially in the entrepreneurial venture capital space.”

Stories like Emily’s show the human side of CDL-Vancouver. Behind the numbers are people pushing society forward. CDL-Vancouver alumni are making real-world impacts across BC. 2S Water is helping the mining industry detect metals in water in real time, AxCell Labs is advancing reconstructive surgery with safer, faster tissue implants, and FireSwarm Solutions is using drones and AI to improve wildfire suppression.

When the UBC Sauder School of Business launched the Creative Destruction Lab-Vancouver in 2016, it was a bold experiment—one championed by Paul Cubbon, longtime faculty member, Entrepreneurship & Innovation, whose leadership helped bring the program to campus. Ten years later, it has grown into a powerhouse of innovation, helping transform research into scalable companies that strengthen British Columbia’s economy—and improve people’s lives.

But CDL-Vancouver is no ordinary incubator. It’s a mentorship-driven program designed to unlock the potential of science-based startups.

As Executive Director Darrell Kopke puts it: “CDL-Vancouver exists to translate research out of deep tech labs for the betterment of the human condition. We’re a mentorship program for massively scalable deep tech ventures.”

The approach is both simple and demanding. More than 130 mentors—entrepreneurs, operators, venture capitalists and experts—devote over 5,000 hours each year to founders. In eight-week sprints, they help teams strip away distractions and focus on top priorities. Darrell calls this process CDL-Vancouver’s “currency for entrepreneurial judgment.”

The results are impressive. Since launch, CDL-Vancouver has supported more than 420 ventures, generating $6.69 billion in equity value by April 2025. “This is our 10th year of operations and we’ve supported in the creation of just under $7 billion Canadian of equity value … That translates into thousands of jobs,” says Darrell.

Despite its scale, CDL-Vancouver takes no fees or equity, which makes donor support essential.

“We cannot overstate the importance of donors to our operation. It is everything,” Darrell says.

Philanthropy sustains the mentorship-driven model that makes CDL-Vancouver unique—covering the costs of bringing together world-class entrepreneurs, investors and scientists, who help founders turn research breakthroughs into viable companies. Donor support also enables CDL-Vancouver to expand its reach across UBC, helping more researchers and students translate their ideas into real-world impact.

On average, every dollar CDL-Vancouver spends on operations translates into $100 of outside investment. That impact extends beyond ventures to students—like Emily—whose lives and career trajectories are transformed through CDL-Vancouver’s courses and programming. Thanks to donor generosity, CDL-Vancouver continues to fuel innovation that strengthens BC’s economy and creates opportunities for the next generation of entrepreneurial leaders.

From a single stream with 25 ventures, CDL-Vancouver now supports 80 ventures annually across Compute, Climate, Biomedical Engineering, and Minerals, plus two global streams: Advanced Therapies and Cancer.

“UBC Sauder School of Business is innovation forward and our programming is just beginning,” says Darrell. “All this is only possible if donors rally behind this cause and help build our innovation sector in this province.”