A hybrid summer entrepreneurship program helping immigrants, first-generation and Italian descendant students in the GTA.
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Italia360 is an 8-week incubation program that helps first-generation and Italian heritage student entrepreneurs create innovative and disruptive businesses. At Italia360, students tap into their potential and learn how to develop and market business ideas with the help of other young innovators, industry mentors and successful entrepreneurs. This is an opportunity for students to start real companies and gain experiential learning opportunities to apply what they’ve learnt and solve the world’s biggest problems.This program has been developed in partnership with the Canadian Italian Business & Professional Association Of Toronto (CIBPA), The DMZ and YSpace, York University.
At Italia360, students tap into their potential and learn how to develop and market business ideas with the help of other young innovators, industry mentors and successful entrepreneurs. This is an opportunity for students to start real companies and gain experiential learning opportunities to apply what they’ve learnt and solve the world’s biggest problems.
This program has been developed in partnership with the Canadian Italian Business & Professional Association Of Toronto (CIBPA) and the DMZ.
What's in it for you?
- 1:1 mentoring with DMZ staff, alumni companies, and Italia360 mentors
- Connection to Toronto Metropolitan University's 10 entrepreneurial zones
- Bi-weekly mentor meetings with DMZ staff and Italia360's advisory council members
- Opportunities to engage with other leading startups and experts from across Canada
- Exclusive workshops conducted by Italia360 mentors
What you'll learn
Sales and negotiation
strategies

Legal advice

Marketing strategies

Product and brand
management

Value proposition
design

And so much more

Week by week
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Program Validation & PrototypingWeek 1: Entrepreneurship 101 & Goal Setting
Week 2: Design Thinking & Customer Discovery
Week 3: Stream Specific Workshop -
Go To MarketWeek 4: Pitching & Storytelling
Week 5: Product Launch & Sales (Stream-specific)
Week 6: Messaging & Marketing -
Pitching & StorytellingWeek 7: Financing & Legal + Pitch Practice
Week 8: Italia360 Finals!
Application criteria
Students interested in the program must:
- Have at least one team member commit to the program part-time (2-4 hours/week),
- Be entering a higher education institution in the fall or have graduated post-secondary within eight months of the program start dates, AND Be between 18-35 years old,
- Identify as at least one of the following:
- An immigrant, or
- A first generation Canadian (child of immigrant), or
- Having Italian heritage / being of Italian descent
- Have a business or project idea, an existing business or project or the desire to expand and grow the existing business or project.
- Have a driven, coachable, and collaborative team
Ready to validate your business?
APPLICATIONS OPENTimeline
ADMISSION PROCESS
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Application DeadlineMay 19
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Interview DatesWeek of May 26
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Final DecisionJune 2nd
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Italia360 OnboardingWeek of June 16

About the DMZ
The DMZ is a world-leading incubator for tech startups around the world. We help startups build great businesses by connecting them with customers, capital, experts and a community of entrepreneurs and influencers. For us, this means creating an environment where you can focus on scaling your business. We help with the rest.

About Italia360
Italia360 is an 8-week incubation program that helps first-generation and Italian heritage student entrepreneurs create innovative and disruptive businesses. At Italia360, students tap into their potential and learn how to develop and market business ideas with the help of other young innovators, industry mentors and successful entrepreneurs. This is an opportunity for students to start real companies and gain experiential learning opportunities to apply what they’ve learnt and solve the world’s biggest problems.This program has been developed in partnership with the Canadian Italian Business & Professional Association Of Toronto (CIBPA), The DMZ and YSpace, York University.