Nurturing entrepreneurial thinking across disciplines: The Hunter Hub’s mission at the University of Calgary
A warm welcome to The Hunter Hub for Entrepreneurial Thinking at the University of Calgary, a new Accelerator member of the UIIN Community. We sat down with Guy Levesque, Executive Director at the Hub to hear about their mission to foster entrepreneurial thinking across all disciplines, build strong local and global partnerships, and create impactful opportunities for students, faculty, and start-ups.
The Hunter Hub was created in 2017 through a philanthropic gift from the Hunter Family and is the largest single entrepreneurial thinking and entrepreneurship initiative in any Canadian university. The Hub aims to engage as many students as possible in entrepreneurship, ensuring everyone has the opportunity to explore and experience it firsthand.
A vision for university-wide entrepreneurship education
The university recognised the need to promote entrepreneurial thinking across all faculties. This led to the creation of the Hunter Hub as a university-wide hub that reaches students from every level—undergraduate, graduate, postdoc—and faculty.
The Hunter Hub occupies a 40,000 square ft open space on the fourth and top floor of the university’s Student Commons building. People come to the hub because they’re drawn to the energy and openness that it provides; it’s a space where students from all disciplines and backgrounds come together.
The Hunter Hub is not faculty-based or department-based — it’s a space without judgement, where passion and commitment matter more than your GPA.
Guy Levesque, Executive Director at the Hunter’s Hub
Importantly, the term “entrepreneurial thinking” is used intentionally. “Entrepreneurship” can be interpreted differently across faculties, so the Hunter Hub focuses on building capabilities—giving people the tools to pursue their ideas, whether it’s launching a social enterprise, forming a community group, founding a start-up, or even selling jewellery on Etsy.
The Hunter Hub’s strategic areas for growth
To achieve this mission and deepen their impact, the Hunter Hub has identified five priority areas:
- Telling stories
Celebrating and recognising entrepreneurial thinking across campus through storytelling—to showcase role models, build momentum, and highlight success in all its forms. - Multiplying partnerships
Working with internal and external partners to expand their reach. By aligning around shared priorities and leveraging each other’s strengths, the Hub can create more opportunities for students. - Scaling and optimising programmes
Enhancing the accessibility, impact, and reach of existing initiatives to ensure more people benefit from high-quality entrepreneurial experiences. - Supporting start-ups
Helping students and researchers move from idea to venture. The Hub plays a key role right the way through the entrepreneurial journey – by supporting the growth of start-ups that emerge from the university. - Engaging alumni
Inviting graduates to return, share their entrepreneurial journeys, and give back through mentorship, collaboration, or support.
Guy highlights the “virtuous circle” of entrepreneurship, and to this end, the Hub recently sourced trophies for a competition from a student-led start-up that designs and manufactures 3D-printed trophies—illustrating how the Hunter Hub can also become a client and champion of the university’s own ventures.
Our job is to help students move from curiosity, to being convinced, to being committed in pursuing their ideas and passion projects.
Guy Levesque, Executive Director at the Hunter’s Hub
Supporting students through ecosystem actors
The Hunter Hub collaborates with three key partner groups in the local entrepreneurial ecosystem: Entrepreneurs and business leaders who lead sessions and share expertise through workshops, guest lectures, or informal “lunch and learn” sessions; donors and philanthropic organisations exploring shared-impact initiatives; and broader ecosystem actors—like law firms, accelerators, and student-led funds—who support students and engage in Hub events.
Large corporate partners also play a role; for instance, TC Energy sponsors both the university’s Ingenuity Speaker Series and a major pitch competition, providing students with opportunities to engage with thought leaders and compete for substantial funding.
It is important for the Hunter Hub to collaborate with ecosystem actors as it is a priority of theirs to make sure that the students who come through the hub build high-value networks as early as possible at the start of their careers.
Great entrepreneurial ecosystems always have a research university at their heart. For Calgary, that’s the University of Calgary — and the Hunter Hub is its epicentre.
Derek Hunter, Trustee, Hunter Family Foundation
Looking forward
As part of their growth, the Hunter Hub is focusing on developing metrics to measure their success in their goals. As their core mission is to ignite passion, inspire action, empower students and faculty, and equip them with the skills needed to pursue entrepreneurial ideas, they plan to create impact metrics for each of these pillars – using both qualitative and quantitative data.
One key metric for success will be the stories and feedback from alumni who have been touched by the Hub’s programs. The more alumni return to give back—whether through mentoring, speaking, or collaborating—the more Guy feels confident that the Hub has achieved its mission and made a lasting impact.
The Hunter Hub also aspires to become a resource for all faculties and schools across the university, partnering with them to deliver workshops, hackathons, or competitions, further integrating entrepreneurial thinking across the campus. On a broader scale, the Hunter Hub aims to establish itself as a connector, builder, and leader within the Calgary ecosystem.
Connecting with peers across the globe
The Hunter Hub is an ambitious project, and the team is looking to learn from institutions internationally on how they are nurturing entrepreneurial thinking and action. By joining UIIN, the Hub seeks to connect with colleagues across the world to share insights and learn from best practices. Guy and his team are eager to participate in training sessions, masterclasses, and roundtable discussions that foster cross-institutional learning.
Interested in learning more? You can visit Hunter Hub’s website or contact them through their LinkedIn profile.
Ready for more?
In our podcast episode, How University of Exeter measures the success of its entrepreneurship programs, we explore their latest evaluation of entrepreneurship programs, revealing how student feedback is shaping their approach and uncovering new opportunities for growth.
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Tasha Day (author) is a Project officer at UIIN, where she undertakes research activities and creates content on a wide variety of topics including entrepreneurship education, sustainability and research valorisation.
