Students interested in entrepreneurship, innovation, or alternative career paths may want to investigate SPARK at Vancouver Island University (VIU) . VIU SPARK is a recently expanded initiative offering mentorship, workshops, networking, and a pitch competition on campus.
The initiative, launched September 2025 through VIU’s Scholarship, Research, and Creative Activity (SRCA), encourages students to turn research into a business idea and get it off the ground. SPARK is designed to strengthen connections between academic learning and industry engagement.
Peggy Janssens, a VIU MBA student with 20 years of entrepreneurship experience, works as entrepreneurship advisor for VIU SPARK. She said, “You don’t have to start with millions straight away. You can start very small.”
Using campus resources to develop an idea helps students gather information about their prospective start-up, can clarify if an idea can realistically move forward, and what next steps should be taken.
Advertising for the event reports workshops will help would-be-entrepreneurs develop ideas, identify target audiences, learn business fundamentals, and develop pitching techniques for industry professionals. They look at how entrepreneurs shape early ideas into opportunities by identifying real problems, thinking about potential customers, and clarifying the value a business could offer.
This helps entrepreneurs explore the early thinking that helps move an idea from concept to something that could potentially become a business. The session is open to the entire VIU community, including students, staff, faculty, alumni, and the wider community.
According to the SPARK website topics include:
- identifying problems worth solving
- understanding who your customers might be
- defining the value your idea offers
- testing your idea early
- first practical steps to move forward
Information Technology and Applied Systems (ITAS) students at VIU attended one of the SPARK workshops offered on March 2nd. Justin Ridgeway, a first-year ITAS student, said he was excited by the scope of the program: “All students from VIU can participate in all kinds of entrepreneurship experiences.”
Luke Faulhaber, another first-year ITAS student, said connecting with entrepreneurs gave students first-hand feedback. “Getting to connect with actual local business owners helps people visualize their ideas and makes their entrepreneurship seem more feasible,” he said.
Yadhukrishnan Sivan, also a first-year student, said, “It’s a pretty good opportunity for students to explore their ideas” early on in their academic career.
Initiatives like SPARK coordinate mentorship, offer practical training, support experiential learning, and link academics to student creativity and industry expertise to prepare graduates for the rapidly evolving employment landscape.
For more information about SPARK and this semester’s workshops contact Peggy Janssens at Peggy.Janssens@viu.ca.
