From FAST Research to Startup: A Step-by-Step Guide to Commercializing Research at Western University

This page documents a step-by-step process for members of the Free Appropriate Sustainability Technology (FAST) Research Group at Western University to move a research project out of the lab and into a registered Canadian company. The procedure is written from the perspective of a graduate student in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering who wishes to commercialize work conducted in FAST. The case study at the end describes how the founders of RenXera Inc., spun out of FAST to commercialize the open-source microgrid optimization tool SAMA (Solar Alone Multi-objective Advisor),^[1] used these same steps.

The page is intentionally written so that subsequent FAST founders can update each section with what they actually did, building a living record for the lab.

If you want to know how to make a business built on open source consider these business model papers:

• Emerging Business Models for Open Source Hardware
• Making the Tools to Do-It-Together: Open-source Compression Screw Manufacturing Case Study
• Business Models for Open Source Hardware Repositories
• Overcoming Limitations of Proprietary Scientific Hardware Funding

Before any government filing, three lab-specific items should be settled with your supervisor:

• Intellectual property (IP) status of your work. FAST has a strong public open source and open-access policy and publishes its research under open licenses where possible.^[2] Confirm with Dr. Pearce whether the underlying code, hardware, or data is already released under an open-source license (for example, the GNU General Public License v3 used by SAMA), and how that license shapes what your company can and cannot do. In general, all of the IP generated in the FAST group is under open licenses that allow commercialization.
• Conflict of interest and time commitment. Western University faculty, staff, students, and alumni are all eligible to participate in Morrissette Entrepreneurship programs, but most accelerator activities require a substantial time commitment that may overlap with thesis work.^[3] Talk to Dr. Pearce about this.
• Co-founders and roles. Decide who will be a director, who will be an officer, and who will simply be an early employee or contractor. Federal corporations have specific director residency rules (see Step 5).

No practical step in this guide matters without a clear motivation. Starting and running a Canadian corporation is a multi-year commitment with real time, financial, and emotional costs, and ventures tend to fail when the founders cannot answer two questions in plain language: what problem the company exists to solve, and how big they want it to become.

For FAST students, the motivation should be written down and shared with Dr. Pearce before any government filing. A useful one-page summary covers four elements:

• A real-world problem. A concrete sustainability, energy, or appropriate-technology problem that is currently underserved by existing tools, products, or services.
• A research-backed solution. A specific technology, dataset, model, or design that originated in FAST and has been validated in peer-reviewed work.
• Target users. The communities, researchers, practitioners, or industries who feel the problem most acutely and would adopt the solution first.
• An ambition statement. One sentence describing the change in the world that the venture aims to produce if it succeeds. For RenXera Inc., this statement is to make optimal sizing of hybrid renewable energy systems accessible to every researcher, designer, and homeowner who needs it, by commercializing the open-source SAMA tool developed in FAST.^[1]

This one-page document is also the foundation of the Western Accelerator application in Step 9 and should be revisited as the venture matures.

Before incurring any registration cost, book a free coaching session with a Morrissette Entrepreneurship advisor and discuss the venture with the Dr. Pearce. Morrissette Entrepreneurship is the cross-campus entrepreneurship hub at Western University, established in 1995 as the Institute for Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Growth at the Ivey Business School and later renamed in honour of donor Pierre L. Morrissette.^[4] Early-stage founders who do not yet have a minimum viable product can use one-on-one Entrepreneurship Advisor meetings to refine the concept before committing to a registration.^[3]

Three structures are commonly used by Canadian student startups:

• Sole proprietorship (one person operating under a business name). In Ontario, this is registered through the Ontario Business Registry for a fee of $60 and is valid for 5 years.^[5][6]
• General or limited partnership.
• Corporation (federal under the Canada Business Corporations Act, or provincial under the Ontario Business Corporations Act). Incorporation creates a separate legal entity with limited liability, lower small business tax rates, and the ability to bring on shareholders and investors.^[7]

For a venture that intends to seek investment, hire employees, license technology, or operate in more than one province, a corporation is generally the appropriate choice.^[7]

A federal corporation under the Canada Business Corporations Act (CBCA) can carry on business across all provinces and territories under one legal entity, and the corporate name is protected nationally once approved.^[7] An Ontario corporation under the Business Corporations Act (Ontario) is governed only by Ontario law and is the simpler choice for a business whose customers, operations, and team are located only in Ontario.^[5]

A federal corporation must still register extra-provincially in every province or territory where it carries on business. When you incorporate federally through the Corporations Canada Online Filing Centre, the application offers an integrated path to register the corporation in several provinces, including Ontario, at the same time.^[8]

A corporation can have a numbered name (for example "1234567 Canada Inc.") that Corporations Canada assigns automatically, or a word name that you propose.^[7] A word name must include a legal element such as Limited, Limitée, Incorporated, Incorporée, Corporation, Ltd., Ltée, Inc., or Corp.

If you choose a word name, a Newly Upgraded Automated Name Search (NUANS) report is required. NUANS is the Government of Canada's official business name and trademark search tool, and the search is integrated directly into most CBCA online incorporation applications, so a separate report does not have to be ordered in advance for federal incorporation.^[9] The federal name search costs $13.80 and a NUANS report is valid for 90 days.^[9]

For a named Ontario corporation, an Ontario-biased NUANS report is required; a federally biased report is not accepted by ServiceOntario.^[10]

Federal incorporation is filed through the Corporations Canada Online Filing Centre. The application requires:

• Articles of Incorporation, which set out the corporate name, share structure, classes and rights of shares, and any restrictions on the business or transfer of shares.^[7]
• A registered office address in Canada.^[7]
• Names and addresses of initial directors. Under the CBCA, at least 25% of directors must be resident Canadians, with a minimum of one resident Canadian where there are fewer than four directors.^[7]

The standard online federal incorporation fee is $200.^[7] Once approved, Corporations Canada issues a Certificate of Incorporation, a corporation number, and a federal Business Number from the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).^[8]

Ontario incorporation is filed through the Ontario Business Registry (OBR), which has been the province's online filing system since 19 October 2021.^[5]

Filing the Articles only creates the legal shell of the corporation. After incorporation, founders should:

• Issue shares and record share certificates.
• Adopt by-laws.
• Hold and minute the first directors' and shareholders' meetings.
• Set up a minute book containing the Articles, by-laws, resolutions, share register, director register, and Individuals with Significant Control (ISC) register. Privately held federal corporations are required to maintain an ISC register and to report this information to Corporations Canada.^[11]

For straightforward founder structures these documents can be prepared from Corporations Canada templates; for more complex cap tables founders should consider legal advice.

A federal corporation receives its 9-digit CRA Business Number (BN) automatically as part of incorporation.^[8] Beyond the BN, founders typically need to open one or more program accounts with the CRA:

• GST/HST account (RT): mandatory once worldwide taxable revenue exceeds the small-supplier threshold of $30,000 over four consecutive calendar quarters; voluntary registration is available before that point and allows you to claim input tax credits.^[12]
• Payroll deductions account (RP) if you will pay employees.
• Corporation income tax account (RC), usually opened automatically with incorporation.
• Import/export account (RM) if applicable.

Effective 3 November 2025, the CRA no longer accepts BN or program account registrations by phone; registration must be completed online through Business Registration Online (BRO).^[12]

Once a corporation is registered, Canadian banks generally require a separate business account. The major Canadian banks (RBC, TD, Scotiabank, BMO, CIBC) typically request:

• The Articles of Incorporation or Certificate of Incorporation.
• The CRA-issued Business Number.
• Two pieces of government-issued photo identification for each signing officer.
• Proof of business address.^[13][14]

Several Canadian banks run cash-back promotions tied to incorporation through their partner registration platforms, which can offset the federal incorporation fee for new founders. RBC offers up to $300 back when a business is registered or incorporated through Ownr (an RBC Ventures company) and a new RBC business deposit account is opened within 60 days, subject to the offer's terms and conditions.^[15] TD Canada Trust offers up to $300 cash back when a business is incorporated through ESC Corporate Services and a new TD Business Chequing account is opened within 60 days.^[16] Promotion amounts and eligibility criteria change from time to time, so founders should review the current offer pages before choosing a registration route.

The Western Accelerator is the in-person, on-campus accelerator run by Morrissette Entrepreneurship at the Ronald D. Schmeichel Building for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. It runs Fall and Winter cohorts of 6 to 8 teams over 13 to 14 weeks, with a full-time commitment from Monday to Wednesday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and occasional Thursday events.^[3] The program was launched in January 2017.^[17]

Eligibility requirements include:

• At least one founder must be a Western University student, faculty member, staff member, or alumnus.
• The applying venture must be a registered business (sole proprietorship or corporation), and proof of business registration is required upon acceptance.
• Teams should have a minimum viable product (MVP) ready to go to market.^[3]

Accepted ventures currently receive programming, mentorship, office space, and $12,000 in funding per team.^[17] The program ends with the opportunity to pitch at Western Angels' Demo Day.^[18]

Beyond Western, the GROW Accelerator is delivered by TechAlliance of Southwestern Ontario, the Province of Ontario's Regional Innovation Centre headquartered in London, Ontario. GROW is a 6-month accelerator that supports up to 18 early-stage startups per cohort across both urban and rural regions of Southwestern Ontario.^[19][20]

GROW is intended for ventures that have already demonstrated product-market fit, developed an IP strategy, landed first customers, and generated early revenue.^[21] Participants work with growth coaches in B2B/B2C sales, marketing, finance, and IP, and receive up to $10,000 in matched funding.^[21] A complementary Rural GROW Accelerator stream, funded in part by the Government of Ontario's Rural Economic Development Program, supports ventures based in Elgin, Huron, Lambton, Oxford, and Middlesex counties.^[22]

Founders should plan for the following recurring obligations:

• Federal corporations must file a CBCA annual return with Corporations Canada every year (separate from the corporate income tax return).^[7] Online filing of the federal annual return is currently $12.^[23]
• Ontario corporations and federally incorporated companies extra-provincially registered in Ontario maintain a profile in the Ontario Business Registry; if any registered information changes, it must be updated within 15 days.^[5]
• The corporate minute book and ISC register must be kept current.^[11]
• Once registered for GST/HST, the corporation must charge, collect, file, and remit GST/HST on schedule (monthly, quarterly, or annually depending on revenue).^[12]
• Business name registrations for sole proprietorships and partnerships in Ontario expire every 5 years and must be renewed.^[6]

In addition to the steps above, FAST students may benefit from:

• Dr. Pearce runs the Thompson Innovation Fund that can pay for physical prototyping. You must be a Western Engineering student to accept this funding.
• Morrissette Entrepreneurship Founders Program for full-time undergraduate students, which offers up to $20,000 in tuition bursaries over years 2 to 4 plus mentorship.^[24]
• Western Angels' Demo Day, held annually, which has helped Morrissette teams attract more than $6 million in funding since 2021.^[18]
• 52 Small Business Enterprise Centres across Ontario, which offer free guidance to entrepreneurs.^[5]

RenXera Inc. is a Canadian startup founded by Seyyed Ali Sadat (Ph.D. candidate, ECE, Western University) and Dr. Koami Soulemane Hayibo (FAST alumnus) to commercialize SAMA, the open-source microgrid optimization tool developed in FAST and published in Energy Conversion and Management in 2023 .^[1] SAMA is released under the GNU GPL v3 license and is documented at its Appropedia page.

RenXera was incorporated federally through the Corporations Canada Online Filing Centre, with the integrated NUANS name search and integrated extra-provincial registration in Ontario completed inside the same application. RenXera was subsequently accepted into the Western Accelerator program at the Morrissette Institute for Entrepreneurship, and was named the winner of the Western Accelerator Pitch Competition.

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