Stories of Innovation

INNOVATE® Detroit

Plug and Play Detroit

Driving the Future of Mobility

A city synonymous with automotive innovation, Plug and Play’s Detroit operation is making waves with its groundbreaking approach to mobility. As a global leader in fostering innovation, Plug and Play has established itself as a critical player in the tech ecosystem. However, in Detroit, the organization is doing more than...

INNOVATION Quebec

CHAIRE DIAMENT

HUMANISER L’INNOVATION NUMÉRIQUE EN SANTÉ MENTALE

La Chaire Diament est la Chaire de recherche stratégique de l’UQAM en design pour la cybersanté mentale. Son titulaire est le professeur Stéphane Vial. Mission et visionCréée en janvier 2020, la Chaire Diament est hébergée à l’École de design de l’Université du Québec à Montréal, et rattachée au Centre de...

INNOVATE® Chicago Vol.1

CHICAGO FURNITURE BANK

CHICAGO FURNITURE BANK-TURNING HOUSES INTO HOMES SINCE 2018

TURNING HOUSES INTO HOMES SINCE 2018

The mission of the Chicago Furniture Bank (CFB) is to provide dignity, stability, and comfort to Chicagoans facing poverty by allowing our clients to handpick an entire home’s worth of furnishings for free. As the country’s largest furniture bank, we furnish 15 client homes per day through partnerships with our...

Global Innovation Spotlight

How Worldwide Economic Ecosystems Are Affected by Cryptocurrency Adoption

10 Ways Cryptocurrency Adoption Has Affected Global Economic Ecosystems

From a local trend to a worldwide financial movement, the fast growth of cryptocurrencies has changed. From small companies to whole national economies, the ripple effects of decentralized digital currencies have changed financial landscapes. The global economic ecology undergoes several changes—some good, others complicated—as conventional structures change to fit this...

INNOVATE™ Estonia

MINISTRY OF ECONOMIC AFFAIRS

ESTONIA’S INNOVATION POLICY: DESIGNING A FUTURE-READY NATION

When Estonia regained its independence in the early 1990s, it faced a dauntingquestion: how can a nation so small, with so few resources, stand out in theworld? The answer did not come in steel or oil, but in imagination and boldness.Out of necessity, Estonians learned to skip steps others had...

INNOVATE® Seattle

DEFINED.AI

ENABLING CREATORS OF THE FUTURE - TRANSFORMING AI TRAINING, ONE DATASET AT A TIME

At Defined.ai, our commitment is to enable the builders of AI with ethically sourced data and deliver conversational AI to digitally low-resourced markets. I had the idea of founding the company when I realized how the Conversational AI market was becoming mainstream, and everyone was building multilingual voice search and...

INNOVATE® Seattle

FOUNDERS LIVE

FOUNDERS LIVE POWERS THE PULSE OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP AROUND THE WORLD

Founders Live is a global ecosystem for early-stage founders, startups, and entrepreneurs. They are on a mission to elevate entrepreneurship around the world, connecting entrepreneurs to the people, resources, capital, and exposure they need to truly become successful. The vast (and quickly growing) global platform, spanning 120 cities across more...

INNOVATION Quebec

CYBERECO

A UNIQUE AND INNOVATIVE CYBERSECURITY CATALYST IN QUEBEC AND CANADA

The genesis of CyberecoIn 2018, Desjardins Group, National Bank, Deloitte and RHEA Group decided to join forces to advance cybersecurity by creating Cybereco. The initiative was motivated in particular by the founders’ desire to work together to meet the challenges of the talent shortage, to improve the cyber resilience of...

INNOVATE® Maryland

Grove

Redefining How the Internet Connects Itself

When Arthur Sabintsev describes Grove, he leans into vivid analogies. “Imagine an open-air bazaar,” says the CEO and co-founder. “Vendors are hawking their blueberries or camels or rugs, and you need chocolate from Bolivia. You go to a local guide, and that guide takes you to the best Bolivian chocolate...

INNOVATE™ Adelaide

CROPIFY

ELIMINATING SUBJECTIVE TESTING OF PULSE AND GRAIN CROPS

CHALLENGEGlobally, grain and pulse crops are classified to determine the grade of a crop. This grade determines the financial return to the seller / farmer. The classification process currently consists of approximately 53% subjective and 47% objective testing. Subjective testing leads to disputes and a lack of confidence in the...

INNOVATE™ Curitiba

IDERIS

6-YEARS OF HISTORY OF BRAZIL’S LARGEST MARKETPLACE INTEGRATOR

Ideris was born in Curitiba, the capital of the state of Paraná, located in the southern region of Brazil, in the year 2017. The company is the result of the Tecnoparque program, which drives innovative local projects. Curitiba is a reference for innovation in Brazil, and in 2023, it was...

INNOVATE® Nashville

Nashville Stars

Building a Brand, Creating a Venue, Inspiring a City

When the story of Nashville’s first Major League Baseball franchise is finally written, one theme will stand above the rest: innovation. Music City Baseball (MCB), the local ownership foundation behind the Nashville Stars, has approached the challenge of bringing MLB to Tennessee with a strategy that goes beyond the traditional...

INNOVATE® Jacksonville

ArtRepublic - Empowering The Artists Shaping Contemporary Culture

ArtRepublic - Empowering The Artists Shaping Contemporary Culture

Artists First We believe that by empowering artists the world can be a better place. We help artists thrive by giving them access to today’s leading-edge technology and abundant resources to create. We are a passionate collective of artists and industry experts with many years of first-hand experience producing ambitious...

INNOVATE™ Vancouver Vol.2

DGPR

REDEFINING STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS FOR CANADIAN TECH

The Canadian tech sector is booming, there’s no question about that. In 2021, despite the impacts of the pandemic and the general economic downturn, the information and communications technology (ICT) reflected a total 5.3% of the national GDP — that’s $104.5billion. This number, alongside a teeming collective of businesses that...

INNOVATE® Chicago Vol.1

GIGI'S PLAYHOUSE

GIGI'S PLAYHOUSE- The True Definition Of Innovation Can Be Found At GiGi’s Playhouse

The True Definition Of Innovation Can Be Found At GiGi’s Playhouse, Where Changing The World Is In The Palm Of Your Hand

What started in 2003 as a mother’s vision to change the world’s perception of individuals with Down syndrome and create opportunities for her daughter, GiGi, evolved into a global movement of acceptance for all. GiGi’s Playhouse started in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, and has catapulted to an entrepreneurial network of 60...

INNOVATE® Jacksonville

Platypus Labs

Platypus Labs - Innovation is mission critical

Innovation is mission critical

We provide holistic, fully-orchestrated programs to help harness and deploy innovation. Similar to the platypus, we believe that the greatest innovations are an amalgamation of seemingly disparate insights and ideas, that together create surprisingly, unexpected outcomes enabling organizations to deliver their own toxic blow and outpunch the competition. We live...

INNOVATE™ South Africa

WHYFIVE INSIGHTS - BRANDMAPP

WHYFIVE INSIGHTS - BRANDMAPP- A WEALTH OF CONSUMER INSIGHTS

A WEALTH OF CONSUMER INSIGHTS

Where do brands and marketers look to understand middle-class consumers go to find actionable, realistic, useful data? That was the question the team at WhyFive Insights asked almost a decade ago when they launched a unique annual survey and data set called BrandMapp. “We were working in media at the...

INNOVATE™ Antwerp Vol.2

HERAN PARTNERS & THE FUTURE OF HEALTHCARE

HERAN PARTNERS & THE FUTURE OF HEALTHCARE -HERAN PARTNERS WAS LAUNCHED IN 2020 WITH THE MISSION TO INVEST IN THE FUTURE OF HEALTHCARE BY FOCUSSING ON DISRUPTIVE INNOVATION ON THE VERGE OF LIFE SCIENCES AND DATA

HERAN PARTNERS WAS LAUNCHED IN 2020 WITH THE MISSION TO INVEST IN THE FUTURE OF HEALTHCARE BY FOCUSSING ON DISRUPTIVE INNOVATION ON THE VERGE OF LIFE SCIENCES AND DATA

HERAN empowered and took the investment experience and track record of its founders into the future. As an investment firm active in the Venture Capital space, HERAN aims to fuel growth of innovative technologies by supporting start-ups & scale-ups. HERAN’s sole focus lies within the healthcare market with investments ranging...

INNOVATE® Jacksonville

Once Troubled

Andrew Jackson High School Evolves Into Advanced Technology Magnet

Video games are anything but child’s play for students at Andrew Jackson High School of Advanced Technology where computer coding, animation and simulation programming are the daily classroom lessons. ELEVATOR PITCH Andrew Jackson High School of Advanced Technology, a top-performing magnet school in Duval County, paves the way for its...

INNOVATION Quebec

UQAT

INSTITUT DE RECHERCHE EN MINES ET EN ENVIRONNEMENT (IRME)

L’IRME, des solutions pour un développement minier durableLocalisé au cœur d’un centre minier de calibre international, l’Institut de recherche en mines et en environnement (IRME-UQAT) a été créé en 2012, une décision stratégique démontrant l’engagement de l’institution envers le développement durable du secteur minier. Avec une croissance continue et forte...

INNOVATE™ Stockholm

EDSVÄRD

THE MILLION-DOLLAR SMILE

“Don’t worry I am not gonna steal it,” says one of Edsvärd’s co-founders to a man who sits by himself at a table. He is holding on to his backpack for dear life. The man cracks into a warm, bubbly laughter showing off his flawless white smile. His name is...

INNOVATION Quebec

2 Degrés

IS A CLEANTECH SPECIALIZED INCUBATOR IN THE PROVINCE OF QUEBEC

2 Degres supports early-stage startups that propose an innovative solution showing a strong potential for growth and impact in the energy, waste and water sectors. Based in Quebec City, 2 Degres was cofounded in 2019 by young business people driven by a strong desire to have a concrete impact and...

INNOVATION Quebec

UQAT - NOUVEAUX MÉDIAS

CREATION AND NEW MEDIA

A pioneer in university teaching in video games, digital creation and 3D creation, UQAT’s Creation and New Media Teaching and Research Unit has been contributing to the development of the digital and cultural industries for over 20-years. The expertise of the teaching team, based in Montreal and Rouyn-Noranda, is internationally...

INNOVATE™ Adelaide

APXIUM

THE “SAAS+FINTECH” PLAYBOOK TAKING ON THE BANKS AND GOING GLOBAL

From joint manager of the world’s largest gold hedging book – to precious metals trader of a global commodities group in the U.K. – Jeremy Coombe is not your typical tech startup Founder. So, how does one break the mould of the “institutionalised mindset” that is the very cause of...

INNOVATE® Detroit

Plug and Play Detroit

Driving the Future of Mobility

A city synonymous with automotive innovation, Plug and Play’s Detroit operation is making waves with its groundbreaking approach to mobility. As a global leader in fostering innovation, Plug and Play has established itself as a critical player in the tech ecosystem. However, in Detroit, the organization is doing more than...

INNOVATION Quebec

CHAIRE DIAMENT

HUMANISER L’INNOVATION NUMÉRIQUE EN SANTÉ MENTALE

La Chaire Diament est la Chaire de recherche stratégique de l’UQAM en design pour la cybersanté mentale. Son titulaire est le professeur Stéphane Vial. Mission et visionCréée en janvier 2020, la Chaire Diament est hébergée à l’École de design de l’Université du Québec à Montréal, et rattachée au Centre de...

INNOVATE® Chicago Vol.1

CHICAGO FURNITURE BANK

CHICAGO FURNITURE BANK-TURNING HOUSES INTO HOMES SINCE 2018

TURNING HOUSES INTO HOMES SINCE 2018

The mission of the Chicago Furniture Bank (CFB) is to provide dignity, stability, and comfort to Chicagoans facing poverty by allowing our clients to handpick an entire home’s worth of furnishings for free. As the country’s largest furniture bank, we furnish 15 client homes per day through partnerships with our...

Global Innovation Spotlight

How Worldwide Economic Ecosystems Are Affected by Cryptocurrency Adoption

10 Ways Cryptocurrency Adoption Has Affected Global Economic Ecosystems

From a local trend to a worldwide financial movement, the fast growth of cryptocurrencies has changed. From small companies to whole national economies, the ripple effects of decentralized digital currencies have changed financial landscapes. The global economic ecology undergoes several changes—some good, others complicated—as conventional structures change to fit this...

INNOVATE™ Estonia

MINISTRY OF ECONOMIC AFFAIRS

ESTONIA’S INNOVATION POLICY: DESIGNING A FUTURE-READY NATION

When Estonia regained its independence in the early 1990s, it faced a dauntingquestion: how can a nation so small, with so few resources, stand out in theworld? The answer did not come in steel or oil, but in imagination and boldness.Out of necessity, Estonians learned to skip steps others had...

INNOVATE® Seattle

DEFINED.AI

ENABLING CREATORS OF THE FUTURE - TRANSFORMING AI TRAINING, ONE DATASET AT A TIME

At Defined.ai, our commitment is to enable the builders of AI with ethically sourced data and deliver conversational AI to digitally low-resourced markets. I had the idea of founding the company when I realized how the Conversational AI market was becoming mainstream, and everyone was building multilingual voice search and...

INNOVATE® Seattle

FOUNDERS LIVE

FOUNDERS LIVE POWERS THE PULSE OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP AROUND THE WORLD

Founders Live is a global ecosystem for early-stage founders, startups, and entrepreneurs. They are on a mission to elevate entrepreneurship around the world, connecting entrepreneurs to the people, resources, capital, and exposure they need to truly become successful. The vast (and quickly growing) global platform, spanning 120 cities across more...

INNOVATION Quebec

CYBERECO

A UNIQUE AND INNOVATIVE CYBERSECURITY CATALYST IN QUEBEC AND CANADA

The genesis of CyberecoIn 2018, Desjardins Group, National Bank, Deloitte and RHEA Group decided to join forces to advance cybersecurity by creating Cybereco. The initiative was motivated in particular by the founders’ desire to work together to meet the challenges of the talent shortage, to improve the cyber resilience of...

INNOVATE® Maryland

Grove

Redefining How the Internet Connects Itself

When Arthur Sabintsev describes Grove, he leans into vivid analogies. “Imagine an open-air bazaar,” says the CEO and co-founder. “Vendors are hawking their blueberries or camels or rugs, and you need chocolate from Bolivia. You go to a local guide, and that guide takes you to the best Bolivian chocolate...

INNOVATE™ Adelaide

CROPIFY

ELIMINATING SUBJECTIVE TESTING OF PULSE AND GRAIN CROPS

CHALLENGEGlobally, grain and pulse crops are classified to determine the grade of a crop. This grade determines the financial return to the seller / farmer. The classification process currently consists of approximately 53% subjective and 47% objective testing. Subjective testing leads to disputes and a lack of confidence in the...

INNOVATE™ Curitiba

IDERIS

6-YEARS OF HISTORY OF BRAZIL’S LARGEST MARKETPLACE INTEGRATOR

Ideris was born in Curitiba, the capital of the state of Paraná, located in the southern region of Brazil, in the year 2017. The company is the result of the Tecnoparque program, which drives innovative local projects. Curitiba is a reference for innovation in Brazil, and in 2023, it was...

INNOVATE® Nashville

Nashville Stars

Building a Brand, Creating a Venue, Inspiring a City

When the story of Nashville’s first Major League Baseball franchise is finally written, one theme will stand above the rest: innovation. Music City Baseball (MCB), the local ownership foundation behind the Nashville Stars, has approached the challenge of bringing MLB to Tennessee with a strategy that goes beyond the traditional...

INNOVATE® Jacksonville

ArtRepublic - Empowering The Artists Shaping Contemporary Culture

ArtRepublic - Empowering The Artists Shaping Contemporary Culture

Artists First We believe that by empowering artists the world can be a better place. We help artists thrive by giving them access to today’s leading-edge technology and abundant resources to create. We are a passionate collective of artists and industry experts with many years of first-hand experience producing ambitious...

INNOVATE™ Vancouver Vol.2

DGPR

REDEFINING STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS FOR CANADIAN TECH

The Canadian tech sector is booming, there’s no question about that. In 2021, despite the impacts of the pandemic and the general economic downturn, the information and communications technology (ICT) reflected a total 5.3% of the national GDP — that’s $104.5billion. This number, alongside a teeming collective of businesses that...

INNOVATE® Chicago Vol.1

GIGI'S PLAYHOUSE

GIGI'S PLAYHOUSE- The True Definition Of Innovation Can Be Found At GiGi’s Playhouse

The True Definition Of Innovation Can Be Found At GiGi’s Playhouse, Where Changing The World Is In The Palm Of Your Hand

What started in 2003 as a mother’s vision to change the world’s perception of individuals with Down syndrome and create opportunities for her daughter, GiGi, evolved into a global movement of acceptance for all. GiGi’s Playhouse started in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, and has catapulted to an entrepreneurial network of 60...

INNOVATE® Jacksonville

Platypus Labs

Platypus Labs - Innovation is mission critical

Innovation is mission critical

We provide holistic, fully-orchestrated programs to help harness and deploy innovation. Similar to the platypus, we believe that the greatest innovations are an amalgamation of seemingly disparate insights and ideas, that together create surprisingly, unexpected outcomes enabling organizations to deliver their own toxic blow and outpunch the competition. We live...

INNOVATE™ South Africa

WHYFIVE INSIGHTS - BRANDMAPP

WHYFIVE INSIGHTS - BRANDMAPP- A WEALTH OF CONSUMER INSIGHTS

A WEALTH OF CONSUMER INSIGHTS

Where do brands and marketers look to understand middle-class consumers go to find actionable, realistic, useful data? That was the question the team at WhyFive Insights asked almost a decade ago when they launched a unique annual survey and data set called BrandMapp. “We were working in media at the...

INNOVATE™ Antwerp Vol.2

HERAN PARTNERS & THE FUTURE OF HEALTHCARE

HERAN PARTNERS & THE FUTURE OF HEALTHCARE -HERAN PARTNERS WAS LAUNCHED IN 2020 WITH THE MISSION TO INVEST IN THE FUTURE OF HEALTHCARE BY FOCUSSING ON DISRUPTIVE INNOVATION ON THE VERGE OF LIFE SCIENCES AND DATA

HERAN PARTNERS WAS LAUNCHED IN 2020 WITH THE MISSION TO INVEST IN THE FUTURE OF HEALTHCARE BY FOCUSSING ON DISRUPTIVE INNOVATION ON THE VERGE OF LIFE SCIENCES AND DATA

HERAN empowered and took the investment experience and track record of its founders into the future. As an investment firm active in the Venture Capital space, HERAN aims to fuel growth of innovative technologies by supporting start-ups & scale-ups. HERAN’s sole focus lies within the healthcare market with investments ranging...

INNOVATE® Jacksonville

Once Troubled

Andrew Jackson High School Evolves Into Advanced Technology Magnet

Video games are anything but child’s play for students at Andrew Jackson High School of Advanced Technology where computer coding, animation and simulation programming are the daily classroom lessons. ELEVATOR PITCH Andrew Jackson High School of Advanced Technology, a top-performing magnet school in Duval County, paves the way for its...

INNOVATION Quebec

UQAT

INSTITUT DE RECHERCHE EN MINES ET EN ENVIRONNEMENT (IRME)

L’IRME, des solutions pour un développement minier durableLocalisé au cœur d’un centre minier de calibre international, l’Institut de recherche en mines et en environnement (IRME-UQAT) a été créé en 2012, une décision stratégique démontrant l’engagement de l’institution envers le développement durable du secteur minier. Avec une croissance continue et forte...

INNOVATE™ Stockholm

EDSVÄRD

THE MILLION-DOLLAR SMILE

“Don’t worry I am not gonna steal it,” says one of Edsvärd’s co-founders to a man who sits by himself at a table. He is holding on to his backpack for dear life. The man cracks into a warm, bubbly laughter showing off his flawless white smile. His name is...

INNOVATION Quebec

2 Degrés

IS A CLEANTECH SPECIALIZED INCUBATOR IN THE PROVINCE OF QUEBEC

2 Degres supports early-stage startups that propose an innovative solution showing a strong potential for growth and impact in the energy, waste and water sectors. Based in Quebec City, 2 Degres was cofounded in 2019 by young business people driven by a strong desire to have a concrete impact and...

INNOVATION Quebec

UQAT - NOUVEAUX MÉDIAS

CREATION AND NEW MEDIA

A pioneer in university teaching in video games, digital creation and 3D creation, UQAT’s Creation and New Media Teaching and Research Unit has been contributing to the development of the digital and cultural industries for over 20-years. The expertise of the teaching team, based in Montreal and Rouyn-Noranda, is internationally...

INNOVATE™ Adelaide

APXIUM

THE “SAAS+FINTECH” PLAYBOOK TAKING ON THE BANKS AND GOING GLOBAL

From joint manager of the world’s largest gold hedging book – to precious metals trader of a global commodities group in the U.K. – Jeremy Coombe is not your typical tech startup Founder. So, how does one break the mould of the “institutionalised mindset” that is the very cause of...

Ecosystems