Toronto's Creative Destruction Lab accelerator network will open its first UK-based location through a partnership with University of Oxford after expanding into the US with NYU in 2018.

University of Toronto’s Creative Destruction Lab (CDL) accelerator is set to open an artificial intelligence (AI)-orientated branch in the UK under an agreement with University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School. The initiative, named CDL-Oxford, will be the seventh accelerator under the CDL banner, adding to a location at New York University’s Stern School of Business established in 2018 and other branches in Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal and Halifax. CDL-Oxford will begin accepting applications for its initial cohort later in 2019, and could with time expand its remit beyond AI-focused businesses. Founded in 2012, CDL is a nine-month program providing science and technology-orientated startups with resources modelled on those available to their counterparts in Silicon Valley. These include access to a diverse pool of experts, such as scientists and investors, and the assessment of entrepreneurs through a set of clearly-defined objectives. CDL started at Toronto’s Rotman School of Management before drawing interest from other universities keen to replicate its services including University of Calgary, which now operates an energy-focused accelerator seemingly well-aligned with the province of Alberta’s natural resources industry. Ajay Agrawal, the founder of CDL and a professor of strategic management at the Rotman School of Management, predicted the introduction of accelerators in the US and UK would also improve flows of people and capital into the Canada-based CDL initiatives. To date, the CDL network has helped spawn startups collectively worth $3.4bn in equity value. In addition to AI and energy, it includes streams dedicated to future tech, space tech, blockchain, smart cities, health and quantum computing. Thomas Hellmann, a professor at University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School, said: “We are very enthusiastic about the model. In terms of big picture, this is trying to create a learning community that sits about between the university and commercial world. “Each of the participants have their own motivations, but bringing them together in a way that is actually interesting for each of them is what creates the magic.

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