Stories of Innovation

The UNF Step Lab, housed in the UNF College of Education and Human Services, positions UNF to continue to be a major contributor to the STEM Education ecosystem in the Northeast Florida community. It is a place where regional preK-12 students, teachers, university faculty and students, and community/business partners can...

PechaKucha was born in 2003 because people talk too much. That’s what happens when passionate people gather together to share ideas and creations. PechaKucha, which means “chit-chat” in Japanese, was founded in Tokyo by architects Mark Dytham and Astrid Klein of Klein Dytham architecture. It originated as a “20×20’’ live...

How to Use Fireflies.ai: The AI-Powered Meeting Assistant That Works While You Work In today’s fast-paced work environment, meetings can feel overwhelming. Managing note-taking, tracking tasks, and ensuring follow-ups can quickly become chaotic. Enter Fireflies.ai, the AI-powered meeting assistant designed to streamline your workflow by automating the most tedious aspects...

Mill Village Ministries is a family of nonprofit social enterprises that was founded in 2012 by Furman University Alum Dan Weidenbenner. Weidenbenner serves as the Executive Director of the West Greenville based “umbrella” nonprofit. The organization is a faith based family of enterprises that aims to elevate the whole community...

500 Startups is a venture capital firm on a mission to discover and back the world’s most talented entrepreneurs, help them create successful companies at scale, and build thriving global ecosystems. It is one of the most active venture capital firms in the world. Ana Paula Gonzalez, Innovation & Partnerships...

GAMING APPEALS TO OUR INNATE SENSE OF HUMANITY. IT INSPIRES CREATIVITY, PLAY, CONNECTIVITY, AND COMMUNITY These also happen to be the fundamentals of today’s video games. This wasn’t designed by accident, either. Playing video games empowers people no matter their backgrounds, religion, politics, race, gender or location. Sugar Gamers exemplify...

Solvis provides customized devices, kiosks, and a customer feedback and experience management platform. Solvis’ story has a unique start: In the late 90s, a customer voiced dissatisfaction with a toy shop in Curitiba. Initially dismissed as gossip, the complaint prompted the CEO of Solvis, Leonardo Vilas Boas Badotti, the former...

OUR GOAL Our goal is helping companies to solve their mechanical challenges. Our innovation culture, eye for detail and focus on quality is what attracts customers such as Total, CNH, DEME, ArcelorMittal or Pfizer. From the moment a customer submits a problem to us, he feels the eagerness of our...

EpiPaws is on a mission to increase the health span of pets with the next generation of health monitoring tests. Started by an epigenetic scientist, Dr. Andria Beal started her journey studying epigenetics in sharks and dolphins during her PhD studies. Andria was interested in understanding environmental effects on health...

Since 1947, Denmark Technical College has been a lifeline for education and economic mobility in South Carolina’s rural corridor. Established as a training center for African American veterans returning from World War II, Denmark Tech has grown into a proud HBCU with a legacy of service, resilience and transformation. For...

The Giant Flag is a world-first green innovation project that celebrates the spirit of South Africa, her land and her people, while bringing together job creation, climate change mitigation, clean energy and tourism. The Giant Flag will be made up of millions of coloured desert plants, agricultural tunnels, a tourism...

The organization was created in 2018, following a regional consultation and consensus-building process to establish the proper positioning of the organization. The complementarity of the organization’s mission along with all the partners of the development and innovation ecosystem in the region led to the creation of a new entity in...

FURUKAWA ELECTRIC-INNOVATION AND CUTTING-EDGE TECHNOLOGY ARE PILLARS OF FURUKAWA ELECTRIC LATAM, A TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMPANY WITH HEADQUARTERS IN CURITIBA. Innovation is in the DNA of Furukawa Electric LatAm (FEL), which has been present in Brazil for 50-years and remains at the forefront of technology by offering connectivity solutions that anticipate market...

Leidos Australia, a wholly owned subsidiary of Fortune 500 company Leidos, has been a trusted partner to the Australian Government for over 25 years, having delivered some of the most complex software and systems integration projects in Australia. Led by a local leadership team, Leidos delivers projects and services through...

Ericsson has been a critical part of Canada’s innovation and R&D story for 69 years. We are committed to driving the country’s digital agenda through turning-point technologies such as 5G. This means enabling Canada’s industries and service providers to lead on the world stage, supporting major service providers on their...

The Institut de recherche sur l’immigration et sur les pratiques interculturelles et inclusives (IRIPII) was created in 2009 at Collège de Maisonneuve. As an interface between the research community and the various client communities, our CCTT is one of the few organizations in Quebec that can cover all stages of...

The Calgary Innovation Coalition (CIC) is striving to create a healthy, inclusive, globally recognized innovation ecosystem supporting thriving ventures in the Calgary region. To accelerate the venture’s journey we leverage the connectivity, experience, and knowledge of our member network to identify and address ecosystem needs, enhance connections, and enable venture...

Take it from someone who knows: Scaling a firm from simple startup to unicorn status isn’t for the faint of heart. For Olugbenga “GB” Agboola, the founder and CEO of the African e-payments platform Flutterwave, earning a valuation of more than $1 billion wasn’t about having the best idea or...

In the late 1990s, a visionary goal was conceived by a group of business and academic leaders in Washington state: to cultivate a flourishing landscape of thriving, innovation-driven enterprises within the expanding economy of Washington. At that point, the Washington state economy was based on manufacturing (primarily airplanes), agriculture (wheat,...

It acts as a vehicle for collaboration to foster innovation, industry recognition, expanded opportunities, commercialization, and business competitiveness. Promote the export of electronics goods, services, and innovations to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the North American restructuring of electronic systems supply chains. ISEQ was created by the Ministère...

Innovation and the promotion of corporate development are ingrained in the ethos of the Trade and Business Associations Federation of the State of Paraná (FACIAP). Headquartered in Curitiba, FACIAP represents over 75% of the municipalities in Paraná. Since its establishment in 1959, FACIAP has recognized innovation as a crucial factor...

Depuis 2016, nous avons la conviction que la collaboration et la mutualisation des pratiques et des ressources (le mouvement) de tous ceux et celles qui par leur accompagnement permettent de réaliser en moins de temps qu’il n’en faudrait autrement (les accélérateurs), peuvent décupler l’impact des startups (l’innovation) de toutes les...

Foresight is elevating the sales profession by arming reps with their buyer’s unique needs and pain points so they can have more effective meetings. In the information age, buyers want consultants (not sales reps) to guide them through the process. We make that vision a reality. Freshly baked sourdough and heirloom...

UP Catalyst is a European deep tech company headquartered in Estonia that produces climate-neutral carbon materials—such as battery-grade graphite and carbon nanotubes—directly from industrial CO2 emissions. Founded in 2019 by Dr. Gary Urb, Dr. Sander Ratso, Dr. Kätlin Kaare and Dr. Ivar Kruusenberg, the company is on a mission to...