While no longer No. 1 in the world, DMZ remains as the only university incubator in Canada included in the top five ranks
Ryerson University’s startup accelerator DMZ dropped from the top spot as the best university-based incubator in the world, according to UBI Global 2019 rankings.
UBI Global is a Stockholm-based data and advisory firm that specializes in mapping business incubators and accelerators. The rankings for 2019-2020 were released this month at the World Incubation Summit in Doha, Qatar.
Taking the DMZ’s place at the top is the United Kingdom-based incubator The SETsquared Partnership, which is run by the University of Bath, University of Bristol, University of Exeter, University of Southampton and University of Surrey.
However, DMZ executive director Abdullah Snobar remains optimistic about DMZ’s ranking.
“The DMZ continues to hold its title as a leading organization in the ‘top university-based incubators’ category, the most coveted award at UBI Global,” he said. “UBI Global continues to recognize DMZ as one of the primary organizational benchmarks for up-and-coming incubators around the world.”
A total of 1,580 programs from 82 countries were assessed in the benchmark study.
The final 364 participants were then compared using 21 key performance indicators, including jobs created and sustained, sales revenues, client startups accepted, seed funding attraction and partners.
According to UBI Global, incubators included in its top rankings have achieved “outstanding” impact and performance relative to other incubators.
“These programs outperform their global peers with regard to the value they provide to their innovation ecosystems and client startups,” UBI Global stated.
Other incubators by Canadian universities include Centech (École de Technologie Supérieure, Montreal), the McGill Dobson Centre for Entrepreneurship (McGill), TEC Edmonton (University of Alberta) and University of Toronto Entrepreneurship (University of Toronto). Only DMZ made it to the top five.
DMZ said it will not update current promotional materials about its ranking, such as information on its website and posters across Yonge and Dundas streets, until February 2020.
“The ranking won’t come into effect until February 2020 and all updates will be made at that time,” Ahmed Saleh, DMZ public relations officer, said.