Stories of Innovation
INNOVATE® Gaming & Esports
OAKWOOD UNIVERSITY
IF YOU BUILD IT, THEY WILL COME...” THIS MISQUOTED LINE DERIVED FROM THE MOVIE, FIELD OF DREAMS, IS OFTEN ASSOCIATED WITH STARTUP DEVELOPMENT. IT SOUNDS GOOD BUT UNFORTUNATELY IT IS NOT REALISTIC
What does work is the act of providing a reason for why they should come. That is the central theme of Oakwood University’s Entrepreneurship Center, OU Launchpad, and it is why gaming is at the heart of the center’s success. OU Launchpad is structured around ideation and microentrepreneurship. These two...
INNOVATE® Milwaukee
7RIVERS
THE CONFLUENCE OF DATA AND STRATEGY
7Rivers is pioneering a path for businesses to navigate the uncharted waters of a new era of technology.With a keen focus on data modernization and artificial intelligence, 7Rivers is not just a technology services company but a leader for organizations ready to embark on a transformative journey, helping solve some...
Global Innovation Spotlight
Technology and Family Leisure:
New Ways to Have Fun
Family time has never looked quite like this before. Screens, apps, and gadgets have moved far beyond solo entertainment — they’re now tools for connection, creativity, and shared adventure. Whether your household is full of toddlers or teenagers, there’s a digital experience waiting to bring everyone to the same table....
Vykon Performance Exhausts
From Humble Beginnings to a Global Brand
A New Chapter in Performance Excellence. Vykon Exhausts is not just a company; it’s a testament to a legacy of innovation, passion, and relentless pursuit of excellence. Founded by Brad Anassis, Vykon is a continuation and evolution of the remarkable engineering prowess that began with his late father, Gerry, and...
INNOVATE® Georgia
SCIENTIFIC GAMES
THE WORLD’S LARGEST LOTTERY GAMES COMPANY ATLANTA-BASED INNOVATOR POWERS THE GLOBAL GOVERNMENT-REGULATED LOTTERY INDUSTRY
More than 50 years of relentless innovation. Legendary performance. Unwavering security. And trusted partnerships. All built on a foundation of science. Since 1973, Scientific Games has integrated science into everything the company does. Its founders – a mathematician and an engineer – developed the world’s first secure lottery instant “scratch”...
INNOVATE® Milwaukee
DCI MARKETING
CELEBRATING ITS 80TH ANNIVERSARY IN 2024, DCI MARKETING FOSTERS A CULTURE OF INNOVATION FOCUSED ON SPECIFIC SOLUTIONS FOR FORTUNE 50 COMPANIES, MAJOR RETAILERS AND CONSUMERS.
As American forces crossed the English Channel to liberate France in June 1944, Milwaukee native Lloyd A. Sauer was thinking forward to a post-war era. Sauer purchased a small company called ColorPrint Products Printing and began producing window signage for shoe stores. But it was Cadillac and Harley-Davidson that propelled...
INNOVATE™ Adelaide
STEMSEL
Empowering Adelaide’s Youth through STEMSEL Foundation’s Revolutionary runlinc Technology
STEMSEL Foundation Inc is a not-for-profit organization based in Adelaide that is dedicated to empowering the youth through Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education. Founded by engineer and educator Peng Choo and Miroslav Kostecki in 2014, the foundation strives to engage and inspire young people to pursue STEM related...
INNOVATE™ Stockholm
SATOCCI
SCAN & PAY
THE SCANDINAVIAN RETAIL-TECH INNOVATOR SHAPING THE MIDDLE EAST’S CASHLESS FUTURE Emerging from Sweden’s dynamic startup landscape, Satocci Scan & Pay has become one of the most closely watched retail-technology ventures entering the Middle East. Founded and led by Swedish entrepreneur Melodi Askelöf, the company is redefining how consumers shop and...
INNOVATION Manitoba
Manitoba Association of Professionals
From Spark to Ecosystem: Building Manitoba's AI Future, Together
When the artificial intelligence revolution accelerated, Manitoba was home to exceptional AI talent, but there was no unified voice to connect professionals, engage industry, or help shape public policy. That gap inspired the creation of the Manitoba Association of AI Professionals (MAAIP), a volunteer-led and partnership-powered organization dedicated to ensuring...
INNOVATE™ Alberta
VizworX
Creating Visibly Better Enterprise Software Solutions Through Advanced Technology
Delivering enterprise-class digital experiences, VizworX is an advanced software solutions services company. Leveraging the latest in augmented reality, virtual reality, artificial intelligence, complex data visualization, web and mobile technologies and techniques, VizworX supports several industries around the world by turning complex data into easily understandable and actionable information. We enable...
INNOVATE™ Estonia
//KOOD
FROM TAXI DRIVER TO PROGRAMMER WITH //KOOD PEER-TO-PEER LEARNING
When //kood’s first coding school, kood/Jõhvi, was founded in Estonia, it was an ambitious experiment to see if a practical, flexible programming school could be built to adapt quickly to the needs of the modern job market. Instead of following a traditional academic calendar or rigid curriculum, the goal was...
INNOVATE™ South Africa
FLUX TRENDS
IS A BOUTIQUE TRENDS CONSULTANCY THAT SPECIALISES IN HELPING COMPANIES TO UNDERSTAND THE WORLD WE LIVE IN AND WHERE WE ARE HEADED
INNOVATE™ Antwerp Vol.2
VITO
VISION ON TECHNOLOGY FOR A BETTER WORLD
VITO is a leading international research centre. We focus on applied research and advice, bridging the gap between fundamental research and the industry. We accelerate the transition to a sustainable world; we provide knowledge and technological innovations that facilitate this transition to a more sustainable society. We de-risk innovation...
INNOVATE™ Antwerp Vol.2
THE CITY OF ANTWERP
A SMART CITY, WHERE CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION GO HAND IN HAND
Antwerp, just another historic city with a port? Think again. The urge to excel, a nose for opportunities and an impressive flamboyance make Antwerp an ideal breeding ground for creative ideas. Discover in this introduction the story of an extended network for innovation and entrepreneurship, across a wide range of...
INNOVATE® Washington DMV Edition
Fem Equity
Our vision is to close the pay gap for career women by $1 BILLION DOLLARS by 2030
Fem Equity, a pioneering career & workforce platform driven by artificial intelligence, has reached a significant milestone by generating over a million dollars in salary impact since its establishment. With a vision to narrow the pay gap for career women by $1 billion by 2030, Fem Equity is dedicated to...
INNOVATE® Los Angeles
WAVEMAKER THREE-SIXTY HEALTH
LA’s Go-To Health-tech Venture Capital Firm
The WHY L.A.’s healthcare innovation ecosystem is so incredibly strong thanks to remarkable institutions like UCLA Medical Center, CedarsSinai Medical Center, City of Hope, Keck Hospital of USC, SCAN, Amgen, and many more, plus world-class universities including Caltech, UCLA and USC. Yet for decades, the city was missing a venture...
INNOVATE™ Vancouver Vol.2
Filament Health
Is a natural psychedelic drug development company. Our mission is to see safe, natural psychedelics in the hands of everyone who needs them, as soon as possible.
Filament Health was founded by experts in botanical extraction and commercialization. We honed our expertise at Mazza Innovation, a natural extraction startup, which our team scaled from pre-seed to an exit in 2018. At Mazza, we developed and commercialized patent-protected extraction technologies at a 35,000 ft2 commercial-scale, GMP facility. After...
INNOVATE™ Toronto
AIRMATRIX
BUILDS THE WORLD'S MOST PRECISE DRONE ROAD SYSTEMS
Co-founded by University of Toronto graduates, Bashir Khan, Ayaan Haider and Shayaan Haider in 2018, AirMatrix builds the world’s most precise drone road systems. AirMatrix is innovating at the bleeding edge and is affiliated with Communitech, MaRS, IRAP and DMZ. AirMatrix is a member of Transport Canada’s action team on...
INNOVATE® South Florida
GLOBAL VENTURES
EMPOWERING SECOND-STAGE COMPANIES FOR GLOBAL SUCCESS
Also located in the Research Park at Florida Atlantic, Global Ventures is a second-stage incubator designed to support the growth of innovative second-stage companies that have established market traction. The primary goal is to skyrocket the growth of these high-potential companies by providing an array of resources, connecting them with...
INNOVATE® Milwaukee
RAPID RADICALS
UNLEASHING INNOVATION: RAPID RADICALS’ TORRENTIAL TRIUMPH
In July 2010, nine inches of rain fell in a very short amount of time, filling the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District’s (MMSD) service area pipes with some 64 billion gallons of water. A storm of this severity is only likely to occur once every 500 years, but the frequency is...
INNOVATE® Gaming & Esports
LIMPID FROG
AN ENTERTAINMENT STUDIO FOCUSED ON CREATING STORIES THAT TRANSCEND MEDIA - INTER-KNIT NARRATIVES AND CHARACTERS ACROSS FILMS, VIDEO GAMES, AR, VR & BEYOND
THE INCEPTION Founded in 2014, LimpidFrog emerged as an Art & Design service to gaming companies. In the beginning, our office was a 1-room apartment with a cooking stove for a table. A team of innovative minds and the common goal to take design to the next level got together...
INNOVATE® Washington DMV Edition
MASON ENTERPRISE
Building the Entrepreneurs of Today and Tomorrow
Mason EnterpriseTM is a George Mason University-based economic development division that focuses the energy, skills, and intellectual capital of Virginians on new company creation and small business expansion. Through 24 intertwined, complementary programs that include business counseling, workshops, training, and connection to university assets (research, class projects, interns), Mason Enterprise...
INNOVATE® Nashville
FIRSTBANK
PAVING THE WAY FOR A NEW WAVE
It’s not often you hear about companies that thrive for over a century, but FirstBank, from its humble start in rural West Tennessee in 1906 continues to evolve and conquer 117 years later. From its original mission of serving a small-town farming community, FirstBank, headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee with a...
INNOVATE™ Curitiba
VIASOFT
AND THE TECHNOLOGICAL REVOLUTION IN CURITIBA
A Vision for the Future Visionary Beginnings and National Expansion of VIASOFTSince 1990, VIASOFT has been a pillar of innovation in Brazil, born from the vision of Itamir Viola and Roberto Elias da Silva. Originating in Pato Branco, a small city in Paraná, and initially focused on enterprise systems, the...
INNOVATE® Gaming & Esports
OAKWOOD UNIVERSITY
IF YOU BUILD IT, THEY WILL COME...” THIS MISQUOTED LINE DERIVED FROM THE MOVIE, FIELD OF DREAMS, IS OFTEN ASSOCIATED WITH STARTUP DEVELOPMENT. IT SOUNDS GOOD BUT UNFORTUNATELY IT IS NOT REALISTIC
What does work is the act of providing a reason for why they should come. That is the central theme of Oakwood University’s Entrepreneurship Center, OU Launchpad, and it is why gaming is at the heart of the center’s success. OU Launchpad is structured around ideation and microentrepreneurship. These two...
INNOVATE® Milwaukee
7RIVERS
THE CONFLUENCE OF DATA AND STRATEGY
7Rivers is pioneering a path for businesses to navigate the uncharted waters of a new era of technology.With a keen focus on data modernization and artificial intelligence, 7Rivers is not just a technology services company but a leader for organizations ready to embark on a transformative journey, helping solve some...
Global Innovation Spotlight
Technology and Family Leisure:
New Ways to Have Fun
Family time has never looked quite like this before. Screens, apps, and gadgets have moved far beyond solo entertainment — they’re now tools for connection, creativity, and shared adventure. Whether your household is full of toddlers or teenagers, there’s a digital experience waiting to bring everyone to the same table....
Vykon Performance Exhausts
From Humble Beginnings to a Global Brand
A New Chapter in Performance Excellence. Vykon Exhausts is not just a company; it’s a testament to a legacy of innovation, passion, and relentless pursuit of excellence. Founded by Brad Anassis, Vykon is a continuation and evolution of the remarkable engineering prowess that began with his late father, Gerry, and...
INNOVATE® Georgia
SCIENTIFIC GAMES
THE WORLD’S LARGEST LOTTERY GAMES COMPANY ATLANTA-BASED INNOVATOR POWERS THE GLOBAL GOVERNMENT-REGULATED LOTTERY INDUSTRY
More than 50 years of relentless innovation. Legendary performance. Unwavering security. And trusted partnerships. All built on a foundation of science. Since 1973, Scientific Games has integrated science into everything the company does. Its founders – a mathematician and an engineer – developed the world’s first secure lottery instant “scratch”...
INNOVATE® Milwaukee
DCI MARKETING
CELEBRATING ITS 80TH ANNIVERSARY IN 2024, DCI MARKETING FOSTERS A CULTURE OF INNOVATION FOCUSED ON SPECIFIC SOLUTIONS FOR FORTUNE 50 COMPANIES, MAJOR RETAILERS AND CONSUMERS.
As American forces crossed the English Channel to liberate France in June 1944, Milwaukee native Lloyd A. Sauer was thinking forward to a post-war era. Sauer purchased a small company called ColorPrint Products Printing and began producing window signage for shoe stores. But it was Cadillac and Harley-Davidson that propelled...
INNOVATE™ Adelaide
STEMSEL
Empowering Adelaide’s Youth through STEMSEL Foundation’s Revolutionary runlinc Technology
STEMSEL Foundation Inc is a not-for-profit organization based in Adelaide that is dedicated to empowering the youth through Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education. Founded by engineer and educator Peng Choo and Miroslav Kostecki in 2014, the foundation strives to engage and inspire young people to pursue STEM related...
INNOVATE™ Stockholm
SATOCCI
SCAN & PAY
THE SCANDINAVIAN RETAIL-TECH INNOVATOR SHAPING THE MIDDLE EAST’S CASHLESS FUTURE Emerging from Sweden’s dynamic startup landscape, Satocci Scan & Pay has become one of the most closely watched retail-technology ventures entering the Middle East. Founded and led by Swedish entrepreneur Melodi Askelöf, the company is redefining how consumers shop and...
INNOVATION Manitoba
Manitoba Association of Professionals
From Spark to Ecosystem: Building Manitoba's AI Future, Together
When the artificial intelligence revolution accelerated, Manitoba was home to exceptional AI talent, but there was no unified voice to connect professionals, engage industry, or help shape public policy. That gap inspired the creation of the Manitoba Association of AI Professionals (MAAIP), a volunteer-led and partnership-powered organization dedicated to ensuring...
INNOVATE™ Alberta
VizworX
Creating Visibly Better Enterprise Software Solutions Through Advanced Technology
Delivering enterprise-class digital experiences, VizworX is an advanced software solutions services company. Leveraging the latest in augmented reality, virtual reality, artificial intelligence, complex data visualization, web and mobile technologies and techniques, VizworX supports several industries around the world by turning complex data into easily understandable and actionable information. We enable...
INNOVATE™ Estonia
//KOOD
FROM TAXI DRIVER TO PROGRAMMER WITH //KOOD PEER-TO-PEER LEARNING
When //kood’s first coding school, kood/Jõhvi, was founded in Estonia, it was an ambitious experiment to see if a practical, flexible programming school could be built to adapt quickly to the needs of the modern job market. Instead of following a traditional academic calendar or rigid curriculum, the goal was...
INNOVATE™ South Africa
FLUX TRENDS
IS A BOUTIQUE TRENDS CONSULTANCY THAT SPECIALISES IN HELPING COMPANIES TO UNDERSTAND THE WORLD WE LIVE IN AND WHERE WE ARE HEADED
INNOVATE™ Antwerp Vol.2
VITO
VISION ON TECHNOLOGY FOR A BETTER WORLD
VITO is a leading international research centre. We focus on applied research and advice, bridging the gap between fundamental research and the industry. We accelerate the transition to a sustainable world; we provide knowledge and technological innovations that facilitate this transition to a more sustainable society. We de-risk innovation...
INNOVATE™ Antwerp Vol.2
THE CITY OF ANTWERP
A SMART CITY, WHERE CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION GO HAND IN HAND
Antwerp, just another historic city with a port? Think again. The urge to excel, a nose for opportunities and an impressive flamboyance make Antwerp an ideal breeding ground for creative ideas. Discover in this introduction the story of an extended network for innovation and entrepreneurship, across a wide range of...
INNOVATE® Washington DMV Edition
Fem Equity
Our vision is to close the pay gap for career women by $1 BILLION DOLLARS by 2030
Fem Equity, a pioneering career & workforce platform driven by artificial intelligence, has reached a significant milestone by generating over a million dollars in salary impact since its establishment. With a vision to narrow the pay gap for career women by $1 billion by 2030, Fem Equity is dedicated to...
INNOVATE® Los Angeles
WAVEMAKER THREE-SIXTY HEALTH
LA’s Go-To Health-tech Venture Capital Firm
The WHY L.A.’s healthcare innovation ecosystem is so incredibly strong thanks to remarkable institutions like UCLA Medical Center, CedarsSinai Medical Center, City of Hope, Keck Hospital of USC, SCAN, Amgen, and many more, plus world-class universities including Caltech, UCLA and USC. Yet for decades, the city was missing a venture...
INNOVATE™ Vancouver Vol.2
Filament Health
Is a natural psychedelic drug development company. Our mission is to see safe, natural psychedelics in the hands of everyone who needs them, as soon as possible.
Filament Health was founded by experts in botanical extraction and commercialization. We honed our expertise at Mazza Innovation, a natural extraction startup, which our team scaled from pre-seed to an exit in 2018. At Mazza, we developed and commercialized patent-protected extraction technologies at a 35,000 ft2 commercial-scale, GMP facility. After...
INNOVATE™ Toronto
AIRMATRIX
BUILDS THE WORLD'S MOST PRECISE DRONE ROAD SYSTEMS
Co-founded by University of Toronto graduates, Bashir Khan, Ayaan Haider and Shayaan Haider in 2018, AirMatrix builds the world’s most precise drone road systems. AirMatrix is innovating at the bleeding edge and is affiliated with Communitech, MaRS, IRAP and DMZ. AirMatrix is a member of Transport Canada’s action team on...
INNOVATE® South Florida
GLOBAL VENTURES
EMPOWERING SECOND-STAGE COMPANIES FOR GLOBAL SUCCESS
Also located in the Research Park at Florida Atlantic, Global Ventures is a second-stage incubator designed to support the growth of innovative second-stage companies that have established market traction. The primary goal is to skyrocket the growth of these high-potential companies by providing an array of resources, connecting them with...
INNOVATE® Milwaukee
RAPID RADICALS
UNLEASHING INNOVATION: RAPID RADICALS’ TORRENTIAL TRIUMPH
In July 2010, nine inches of rain fell in a very short amount of time, filling the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District’s (MMSD) service area pipes with some 64 billion gallons of water. A storm of this severity is only likely to occur once every 500 years, but the frequency is...
INNOVATE® Gaming & Esports
LIMPID FROG
AN ENTERTAINMENT STUDIO FOCUSED ON CREATING STORIES THAT TRANSCEND MEDIA - INTER-KNIT NARRATIVES AND CHARACTERS ACROSS FILMS, VIDEO GAMES, AR, VR & BEYOND
THE INCEPTION Founded in 2014, LimpidFrog emerged as an Art & Design service to gaming companies. In the beginning, our office was a 1-room apartment with a cooking stove for a table. A team of innovative minds and the common goal to take design to the next level got together...
INNOVATE® Washington DMV Edition
MASON ENTERPRISE
Building the Entrepreneurs of Today and Tomorrow
Mason EnterpriseTM is a George Mason University-based economic development division that focuses the energy, skills, and intellectual capital of Virginians on new company creation and small business expansion. Through 24 intertwined, complementary programs that include business counseling, workshops, training, and connection to university assets (research, class projects, interns), Mason Enterprise...
INNOVATE® Nashville
FIRSTBANK
PAVING THE WAY FOR A NEW WAVE
It’s not often you hear about companies that thrive for over a century, but FirstBank, from its humble start in rural West Tennessee in 1906 continues to evolve and conquer 117 years later. From its original mission of serving a small-town farming community, FirstBank, headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee with a...
INNOVATE™ Curitiba
VIASOFT
AND THE TECHNOLOGICAL REVOLUTION IN CURITIBA
A Vision for the Future Visionary Beginnings and National Expansion of VIASOFTSince 1990, VIASOFT has been a pillar of innovation in Brazil, born from the vision of Itamir Viola and Roberto Elias da Silva. Originating in Pato Branco, a small city in Paraná, and initially focused on enterprise systems, the...