Cannon Lachapelle Award in Entrepreneurial Thinking
This $10,000 award recognizes four undergraduate students who embody entrepreneurial thinking.
About the award
The Cannon Lachapelle Award in Entrepreneurial Thinking is for undergraduate students who embody ingenuity and entrepreneurial thinking in their work and study. The successful applicants will demonstrate creativity and innovation in new ways of doing, helping, thinking, and supporting the UCalgary campus community and beyond. Applications for this award open in May each year, and applications from all disciplines are welcome.
The award was created in 2019 with a generous donation from Dr. M. Elizabeth Cannon and Dr. Gérard Lachapelle, with the aim of supporting the future of UCalgary undergraduate students by incorporating entrepreneurial thinking in their education experiences.
Starting in 2022-2023, one award will be available for an Embedded Certificate in Entrepreneurial Thinking student.
More information
Mina Mina
"For me, entrepreneurial thinking is a way of investigating the world around us – a way of viewing it with a vision for pioneering, creation, and value realization. The importance of entrepreneurial thinking lies in that it extends beyond oneself. It is found in employing one’s knowledge and experience to address challenges in our communities... The Cannon Lachapelle Award has given me a chance to participate in innovative extracurriculars beyond employment – work that serves the community and builds the solutions of the future." - Mina Mina, Cannon Lachapelle Award recipient, 2021
Anita Malekian
“Entrepreneurial thinking is crucial, as it is through unique and out of the box ideas that lead to opportunities and movements unseen before. The drive to innovate and create, despite setbacks and negative feedback, is how we, as a society push forward towards a better future. I’m incredibly honoured and thankful to have received the Cannon Lachapelle award this past year.” - Anita Malekian, Cannon Lachapelle Award recipient, 2021
Michael Wahba
“Since earning the Cannon Lachapelle Award, me and my colleagues have been able to accelerate the rolling out of our automated seed grading platform. We placed first in the Liftoff! pitch competition following the Launchpad program, we established a key partnership with another seed grading platform, and we now have the funds to upgrade our prototype and commit to vital market research." – Michael Wahba, co-founder of yOIL and Cannon Lachapelle Award recipient, 2020
Dr. Elizabeth Cannon, President Emerita, University of Calgary
“The Cannon Lachapelle Award is not only to reward some of the best ingenuity by undergraduate students, but is also a vehicle to highlight the growing, impactful innovation community at the University of Calgary,” said Dr. Cannon, President Emerita, University of Calgary. “Their innovation and creativity, along with potential impact of their entrepreneurial ideas, provide tremendous inspiration for the future of our city and province.”
Key information
Did we miss your question? Email us directly at [email protected] to let us know how we can help, and we'll get back to you with answers.
This award is open to all returning undergraduate students across all faculties at the University of Calgary. A minimum 2.60 GPA is required.
One $10,000 award is for an Embedded Certificate in Entrepreneurial Thinking student. The other three $10,000 awards are for returning undergraduate students in any discipline.
To submit your application, please send your name, faculty, program and graduation year and your answers to the questions below as a Word document to [email protected], and name the document as follows: Cannon Lachapelle Award 2022_Last name First name.doc. Deadline is Monday, June 6 at 12 p.m. MST.
There is a strict 1000-word limit for the total submission (all answers to the questions).
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The University of Calgary defines entrepreneurial thinking as “being creative in finding innovative solutions. It involves taking initiative, exchanging knowledge across disciplines, being resourceful and learning from experience.”
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What does entrepreneurial thinking mean to you and how have you been entrepreneurial during your time at UCalgary?
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Have you engaged with the entrepreneurial thinking supports at UCalgary? List any entrepreneurial thinking activities including relevant courses, co-curricular programs, events, and competitions.
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How will this award help you advance entrepreneurial thinking journey, educational and professional goals?
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Describe a challenge or problem that you have been working on understanding and solving to improve lives and benefit society. The problem or challenge could be from a research project, the creation of/participation in a social enterprise, startup or campus initiative, a social innovation project via a community organization or working with a government entity, and/or an intrapreneurship (innovation within an organization) example.
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What is the problem or challenge you identified and how did you identify and validate it?
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How did you deepen your knowledge of the problem or challenge? What research has been done?
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What solutions did you come up and why did you choose the solution you are working on?
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What partnership/s have you/will you pursue and why?
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What impact have you had to date? Or, if just starting out, what impact could this solution have?
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Where are you in your development of the solution and what are the next steps?
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One of the four awards available in the 2022-2023 academic year is for an Embedded Certificate in Entrepreneurial Thinking. Have you requested that the Embedded Certificate in Entrepreneurial Thinking be added to your program by emailing [email protected]? (Yes or no).
If you have any questions about the award or the application process, please email [email protected].