In the blink of an eye, our 2025 Immersion Week has come to a close. Over the course of two days, we saw over 500 ecosystem builders, community members and leaders join us across 14 sessions at UBC Robson Square.
At its core, Immersion Week underscores the importance of collaborating across networks and convening all levels of academia, startups, investors, government and the wider community to explore challenges we must collectively tackle to drive meaningful impact. This fall’s conference dissected the latest trends, topics and themes transgressing industries, diving into AI & Security and its impact on climate, health, HR, Indigenous perspectives, ethics and more intersecting topics, creating conversations and connecting our ecosystem to drive change.
Immersion Week at a glance
Our sixth annual Immersion Week opened with welcome remarks from our steadfast MC’s, Innovation UBC’s Head of Marketing and Communications Michelle Sklar and Lead Entrepreneur in Residence, Chang Han, followed by a grounding ceremony from Indigenous Elder, Roberta Price. We then jumped into our opening keynote, moderated by renowned Globe and Mail tech journalist and author of novel turned film ‘Blackberry’, Sean Silcoff, with guests Tiffany Scarlett of Caseway, Dr. Nicholas Weilinger of CereCura Nanotherapeutics, Dr. Kevin Leyton-Brown, Professor of Computer Science at UBC and Dr. Sudip Shekhar, Co-founder, Dream Photonics and Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at UBC.
"AI, Security and the Next Generation - Challenges for Innovators"
The momentum continued throughout the morning with sessions on AI & Robotics, leading into a special announcement with our Day 1 Lunch Sponsor, CENGN, Canada's Centre of Excellence in Next Generation Networks, who announced a special partnership with UBC through its CENGN Living Lab Initiative, supercharging innovation in BC and Canada.
Day one dove into topics including AI’s impact on Canadian security, disrupting the VC model, Innovator Spotlights and AI in the future of farming. The day closed off with a vibrant session in collaboration with the Vancouver Entrepreneurs Forum, welcoming Sean Silcoff back to the stage with panelists Olivia Norton of Sanctuary AI, Hans Knapp of Yaletown Partners and Rochelle Grayson of Mosaic Accelerator and Circles of AI.
Day two carried forward the high energy of our community, opening with Fractal Adaptive Intelligence Founder and Futurist Genevieve Ennis Hume with her keynote, “Love our Monsters: AI Risk and Adaptation”. This was followed by exciting sessions on AI and work, the future of health, Indigenous data sovereignty and ‘Who’s watching the Machines’, a deep dive on AI and ethics.
Innovation on full display
Across both days at UBC Robson Square, attendees were able to literally walk through the innovation happening across the ecosystem through our Showcase Displays. Attendees met our partners at CENGN in ‘CENGN Corner’, the School of Nursing and the Faculty of Land and Food Systems in ‘Innovation Alley’ and featured ventures Bayes Studio, Sarcomere Dynamics and Echobot Translation in ‘Robotics Row’.
Hearing from our third co-host - you!
AI as a topic is broad and easily oversimplified despite its rapid and broad expansion into every industry and our daily lives. Through a variety of discussions with researchers, business leaders and industry experts, we were able to broach the theme, weaving together the nuance and critical thinking this conversation demands.
A central player of 2025? Our audience.
Through Slido, our 500+ participants fueled the discussion engaging in Q&As, polls, quizzes and word clouds to add your own insights on the theme. What we found?
- 78% identified as beginner to intermediate in AI, while 12% called themselves experts
- 63% told us they’re more excited (than worried) about the rise of AI and
- 57% predicted healthcare as the industry most likely to be transformed by AI.
We saw more than 300 contributions to our Q&As throughout the course of the conference, igniting a variety of discussions both on and off the theatre stage helping to shape the conversation and channel the next steps we must take as a community.
Key takeaways
With close to 60 speakers joining us, we explored a range of perspectives and insights on AI. Some moments that stood out included:
What’s up next
With the start of the academic year kicking off, we are only getting started! Mark your calendars for November 25 to join us at our Venture Showcase featuring a range of innovators in our program who are creating companies based on UBC research and innovation.
Feeling inspired to start your own journey? Applications are open for our Spring 2026 Venture Founder Cohort. Join our Info Session October 17 and apply by October 27 on our website.
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Thank you to everyone who joined us to make this event a success! We look forward to hosting you next year.
