Stories of Innovation

INNOVATE® Gaming & Esports

OAKWOOD UNIVERSITY

OAKWOOD UNIVERSITY-IF YOU BUILD IT

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

VizworX - Creating Visibly Better Enterprise Software Solutions Through Advanced Technology

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

The Flux research methodology falls under six pillars T.R.E.N.D.S. - Technology, Retail & Marketing, Economy, Natural world, Diplomacy and Sociocultural. These six pillars encapsulate all the business and consumer trends that companies need to be cognisant of....

INNOVATE™ Antwerp Vol.2

VITO

VITO-VISION ON TECHNOLOGY FOR A BETTER WORLD

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

THE CITY OF ANTWERP-A SMART CITY

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

Filament Health- Is a natural psychedelic drug development company. Our mission is to see safe

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

AIRMATRIX- BUILDS THE WORLD'S MOST PRECISE DRONE ROAD SYSTEMS

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

LIMPID FROG-AN ENTERTAINMENT STUDIO FOCUSED ON CREATING STORIES THAT TRANSCEND MEDIA - INTER-KNIT NARRATIVES AND CHARACTERS ACROSS FILMS

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

FIRSTBANK-PAVING THE WAY FOR A NEW WAVE

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

OAKWOOD UNIVERSITY-IF YOU BUILD IT

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

VizworX - Creating Visibly Better Enterprise Software Solutions Through Advanced Technology

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

The Flux research methodology falls under six pillars T.R.E.N.D.S. - Technology, Retail & Marketing, Economy, Natural world, Diplomacy and Sociocultural. These six pillars encapsulate all the business and consumer trends that companies need to be cognisant of....

INNOVATE™ Antwerp Vol.2

VITO

VITO-VISION ON TECHNOLOGY FOR A BETTER WORLD

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

THE CITY OF ANTWERP-A SMART CITY

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

Filament Health- Is a natural psychedelic drug development company. Our mission is to see safe

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

AIRMATRIX- BUILDS THE WORLD'S MOST PRECISE DRONE ROAD SYSTEMS

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

LIMPID FROG-AN ENTERTAINMENT STUDIO FOCUSED ON CREATING STORIES THAT TRANSCEND MEDIA - INTER-KNIT NARRATIVES AND CHARACTERS ACROSS FILMS

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

FIRSTBANK-PAVING THE WAY FOR A NEW WAVE

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...

Ecosystems