Scotiabank announced that it is dedicating $1.75 million to establishing the Scotiabank Disruptive Technologies Venture at the Roman School of Management.
The Venture will support programs and initiatives at the school, including the Creative Destruction Lab, the creation of a design thinking internship, independent research in the area of design thinking, and sponsorship of the school’s AI conference. The money will also go toward independent study of machine learning and AI and the school’s Behavioural Economics in Action Research Group.
“Successful businesses in the digital economy are creating new products and services, and reimagining how existing ones are delivered. This requires a new generation of talent that has the knowledge to understand the possibilities of a digital world and the skills to seize them,” said Tiff Macklem, dean of the Rotman School of Management. “This investment by Scotiabank will help us scale up our very successful experiential learning programs in technology-based entrepreneurship and design thinking.”
The Creative Destruction Lab will receive five years of support thanks to the funding, while the design thinking summer internship will be established with Rotman’s DesignWorks, the school’s business design studio.
“Consumers expect the same frictionless experience whether they’re paying for a coffee, booking a hotel room, ordering a taxi or signing up for a credit card,” said Brian Porter, president and CEO of Scotiabank. “As we work to deliver the best experience to our customers, we recognize the tremendous value of working closely with post-secondary institutions and their students. Partnerships like the Scotiabank Disruptive Technologies Venture at the Rotman School of Management support the development of leading talent and digital research. It also provides students hands-on experience to prepare them for job opportunities in the digital world. Scotiabank’s partnership with Rotman is an important piece of our digital strategy, and we are optimistic that it will produce great results.”