Elevate Festival returns to Toronto from September 22–24, 2026, bringing together world-class innovators, industry leaders, founders, investors, and the brightest minds in tech to celebrate and accelerate the future of Canadian innovation. For three unforgettable days, the Festival will put a global spotlight on Canada’s rapidly growing tech ecosystem through bold ideas, transformative conversations, and powerful connections that drive what’s next.

As a proud partner of Elevate Festival, the University of Toronto will have a considerable footprint featuring talks from our thought leaders and startups. Come say hello to our staff and entrepreneurs at the Defy Gravity booth.

Get 20% off your ticket to Elevate using discount code ELEVATEUOFT26, redeemable via the Elevate Festival website.

• Industry-Leading Speakers
• Cutting-Edge Content
• Startup Opportunities
• Next-Level Networking

Feature Event
Rocket Pitches: University of Toronto

Thursday September 24 | 11:15 a.m.

Meridian Hall, 1 Front St E, Toronto, ON M5E 1B2, Lower Lobby

Get a glimpse at the early-stage startups that will be making headlines and raising funding in the months and years ahead. This showcase will feature some of the most promising ventures from across the University of Toronto in areas including bioprinting, AI powered translation solutions, superconductors, organic waste processing, and data intelligence. Get to know these companies before your competitors do!

Moderated by Jon French – Director, University of Toronto Entrepreneurship (UTE), the central office that represents a tri-campus network of 13 accelerators supporting over 1400 teams annually.

Featured U of T Startups

• Aiko Translations – is building a healthcare-compliant conversational translation device for care home environments serving older adults, including long-term care, assisted living, memory care, and home care.
• MEISSNER – combines artificial intelligence, quantum simulations, and experimental synthesis to dramatically accelerate the search for new superconducting materials.
• SymBL Innovations – is a biotechnology start-up revolutionizing organic waste processing by converting traditional anaerobic digestion processes into efficient, high-value chemical manufacturing systems.
• VRiT – is a Canadian medtech startup developing a handheld, in situ bioprinting platform for autograft-free skin regeneration, enabling surgeons to directly deposit conformal regenerative biomaterials and cell therapies onto complex wounds.
• Wamiri – builds applied intelligence for finance and operations, with its flagship product, ALK, turning complex documents into auditable work.

U of T – Affiliated Speakers

• Anita Chauhan – Fractional CMO, InGoodCo.
• Christian Weedbrook – Founder & CEO, Xanadu
• Danielle Klein – Director of Product Design, 1Password
• Ellen Hlozan – Director of Strategic Alliances, Trax
• Francesco Iorio – CEO & Co-Founder, Augmenta
• Ivan Semeniuk – Science Reporter, The Globe and Mail
• Jessica Yip – Co-Founder & COO, A&K Robotics
• Juanita Lee – Chief Operating Officer, Growclass
• Kath Intson – CEO, Sentinel R&D
• Kesem Frank – CEO, Canada Stablecorp
• Lior Ron – CEO, Waabi
• Martin Rutter – Director, Business Development, National Research Council of Canada
• Melissa Sariffodeen – Founder, Arcbright
• Michael Pelosi – Country Manager, Canada, Cohere
• Mina Mitry – Co-Founder & CEO, Kepler Communications
• Olivia Leng – CEO, MEISSNER
• Parnian Majd – Founder & CEO, Fibra Inc.
• Rahul Goel – CEO & Founder, NordSpace
• Shevonne Chin – Founder & CEO, Flik Industries
• Sushant Singh – CEO, Vrit Inc.
• Tolu Alebiosu – Founding Partner & CEO, Wamiri
• Tracey Black – President, GFH Group Inc.
• William Ma – MD, MaRS Investment Accelerator Fund (iAF)