APSC 486: New Venture Design is a UBC course started by professors Peter Lawrence and Darren Dahl, which allows engineering and business students to build a product and essentially a company that utilizes students’ academic strengths. This collaboration enables engineering students to provide expertise on what is actually possible, while business students provide knowledge on what will make a strong business model.
Successful student ventures, such as PeerFX, have been presented at various business plan competitions and the CBC television show, ‘The Dragons’ Den’. PeerFX is an online currency exchange where peers come together to complete transactions, which ultimately save a large percentage of transaction fees.
New Venture Design challenges students to apply their knowledge and build ventures that are beneficial and valuable to society.