Stories of Innovation
INNOVATE® Washington DMV Edition
GW - George Washington University
Technology Commercialization Office and Office of Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Technology Commercialization Office and Office of Innovation & Entrepreneurship Inspire, Innovate, Impact The George Washington University (GW) GW is a vibrant hub of innovation and entrepreneurship. At the core of this dynamic institution are two offices founded in 2010: The Technology Commercialization Office (TCO), a powerhouse dedicated to transforming groundbreaking...
INNOVATE® South Carolina
First Class Recruiting
Elevating Talent, Powering Industry
In the heart of South Carolina’s booming Upstate region, where aerospace, manufacturing, and technology sectors thrive, First Class Recruiting is building more than just careers – it’s building futures. Helmed by U.S. Air Force veteran and industry trailblazer Lindsay Hansel, this boutique executive search firm has become synonymous with precision...
INNOVATE® Nashville
NASHVILLE ENTREPRENEUR CENTER
The Hub, the Heart, the Front Door - Nashville Entrepreneur Center is the City’s Home to Entrepreneurship
At the heart of innovation lies a problem and entrepreneurs are the needed visionaries that see a better way to live, work, or play. At the Nashville Entrepreneur Center, commonly known as “the EC,” we help entrepreneurs develop and build upon their business with an organizational vision to make our...
Global Innovation Spotlight
Latoria Williams — Chief Executive Officer, 1F Cash Advance
1F Cash Advance is a fintech company that provides short-term financial support for people who have trouble qualifying for traditional bank loans. The company was founded and is led by CEO Latoria Williams. Her business journey began with the realization that nearly half of Americans do not have an emergency...
INNOVATE™ Curitiba
HORUS SOLUTIONS
EXCELLENCE IN INFORMATION MANAGEMENT HORUS SOLUTIONS INNOVATES WITH THE FALCON SOLUTION
Horus Solutions is a national company that stands out as a specialist in information management solutions. Since its foundation in 1995, Horus has played an important role in the business scene, offering excellent services throughout the national and international territories. As an official partner of leading software companies such as...
INNOVATE® Nashville
NEW ORCHARD
Leaders are getting catfished by the promise of data. New Orchard helps lessen those odds
If 2020 proved anything, it’s that change is inevitable, whether that is decided on internally or not. “The ability to be resilient lies within confidently understanding where your organization is today, where it desires to be, the team that makes it up, and the processes that support it, fast,” says...
INNOVATE® Nashville
Snapshot
We bring clarity to complexity, and creativity to business goals.
In a small office tucked away in East Nashville’s Five Points neighborhood, Snapshot’s modest beginnings started as a video production company. At the time, Nashville had plenty of production houses producing great video, and a handful of large agencies infusing strategy into high-budget campaigns. But our founders saw a gap...
INNOVATION Quebec
OPTECH
CCTT EN OPTIQUE-PHOTONIQUE
Le centre collégial de transfert technologique (CCTT) Optech est un organisme à but non lucratif (OBNL) qui a été fondé en 2002 avec la mission de faire connaître les technologies reliées à l’optique – photonique et de contribuer à leur implantation afin de soutenir les efforts d’amélioration de productivité et...
INNOVATE® Washington DMV Edition
TECHNICAL.LY
THE DMV REGION: A GROWING HUB FOR STARTUP AND TECH INNOVATION
THE DMV REGION: A GROWING HUB FOR STARTUP AND TECH INNOVATION Authors: Sameer Rao & Kaela Roeder, Technical.ly The DMV region is a bustling hub of innovation, startups, and technology. It is home to over 6 million people and extends across three jurisdictions: the District of Columbia, the Maryland suburbs,...
INNOVATE™ Atlantic Canada
IGNITE
IF YOU’RE LOOKING FOR A ONE-STOP DESTINATION TO TURN BOLD IDEAS INTO GAME-CHANGING TECHNOLOGIES, LAUNCH THRIVING BUSINESSES, OR EXPAND ESTABLISHED COMPANIES GLOBALLY, LOOK NO FURTHER.
IF YOU’RE LOOKING FOR A ONE-STOP DESTINATION TO TURN BOLD IDEAS INTO GAME-CHANGING TECHNOLOGIES, LAUNCH THRIVING BUSINESSES, OR EXPAND ESTABLISHED COMPANIES GLOBALLY, LOOK NO FURTHER. Ignite equips entrepreneurs and businesses with the tools to succeed in an evolving marketplace. Together with our partners at Planet Hatch, we are committed to...
INNOVATE® Nashville
BOON LEGAL
MAKE MORE MISTAKES AND FAIL EARLY AND OFTEN IN SERVICE OF DISCOVERY
It’s all too easy to get swept up in the fervor of “innovation.” In the polished, produced world of prime-time, venture capitalists drop seven figures into start-ups while founders celebrate exits. Like most things that reach a level of celebrity status in our world of “reality” entertainment, the true story...
INNOVATE® Washington DMV Edition
MAGGIE O’NEILL
WHAT IF COLOR IS THE ANSWER?
Maggie O’Neill is a Washington, D.C.-based artist, designer, entrepreneur, and activist with 20+ years of experience supporting the city’s creative community through her multifaceted work. Her integral role as one of the District’s cultural leaders at the intersection of arts and hospitality is a culmination of her creative design firm...
INNOVATION Quebec
MONTÉRÉGIE ÉCONOMIQUE
THE INNOVATIVE ECOSYSTEM OF THE MONTÉRÉGIE
Espace régional d’accélération et de croissance de la Montérégie was established in 2020 and is powered by Montérégie Économique, which brings together economic development organizations from the MRCs and the agglomeration of Longueuil. The NPO supports economic operators, guides businesses towards business support and acceleration services and cooperates with key...
INNOVATE™ South Africa
THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIONAL ROADS AGENCY SOC LTD (SANRAL)
IN LINE WITH GOVERNMENT’S COMMITMENT TO TRANSFORM THE PUBLIC SECTOR, THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIONAL ROADS AGENCY SOC LTD (SANRAL) WAS ESTABLISHED IN APRIL 1998 BY AN ACT OF PARLIAMENT, AS AN INDEPENDENT STATUTORY COMPANY OPERATING ALONG COMMERCIAL LINES AND AT ARM’S LENGTH FROM GOVERNMENT
WITH A MANDATE TO FINANCE, DEVELOP AND MAINTAIN THE NATIONAL ROAD NETWORK OF OVER 22 000 KM, SANRAL LEADS THE WAY ON INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT IN A POST-COVID SOUTH AFRICA. Innovation is at the forefront of SANRAL’s agenda in the infrastructure development space. In recent years the Agency has increasingly...
INNOVATE® South Florida
NEPTUNYA - OCEAN POWER
OCTOPODZ: REVOLUTIONIZING OCEAN ENERGY WITH MIXED-MODE MARINE POWER SOLUTIONS
OCTOPODZ: REVOLUTIONIZING OCEAN ENERGY WITH MIXED-MODE MARINE POWER SOLUTIONS NEPTUNYA, an innovator in marine renewable energy, is transforming the future of ocean-based power with its OCTOPODZ energy converter—a groundbreaking device combining wind and wave power to deliver affordable and reliable offshore energy. As part of its ongoing development, NEPTUNYA will...
INNOVATE® Detroit
Driven
Ending legal debt traps with smart payments
In the U.S., over 11 million people havehad their driver’s licenses suspendeddue to unpaid fines. This isn’t just aninconvenience – it’s a direct hit to financialstability. Losing the ability to drive meanslosing access to jobs, education, andessential services. In cities like Detroit,where public transit is unreliable, asuspended license can mean...
INNOVATE™ Antwerp Vol.2
FORUM ADVOCATEN
WAS FOUNDED IN 2012 BY FOUR ASSOCIATES: REINER TIJS, FREDERIC ROSIERS, JANA KERN AND ILSE DE GEYTER. THEY DRASTICALLY CHANGED THE LEGAL LANDSCAPE WITH THEIR UNIQUE METHODOLOGY: THEY BASE THEIR WORK ON A RELATIONSHIP-ORIENTED APPROACH TO LAW
innovationsoftheworld.com
...INNOVATE® South Carolina
Build Carolina
An agile approach: Academy, Apprenticeship, Advisors
Bridging talent, training, and opportunity across the Palmetto State The team at Build Carolina sees possibilities all around. They see massive talent and drive across South Carolina—from individuals eager to build new careers in technology to companies working to innovate and grow. They see a future shaped by meaningful, sustainable...
INNOVATE® Puerto Rico
Very few people were talking about entrepreneurship in Puerto Rico when Grupo Guayacan, Inc. was born in 1996. Founded by Enrique “Ricky” Adsuar as a private sector mission-driven nonprofit organization, it has served entrepreneurs with a unique model that has coupled private equity investment with a series of programs to...
INNOVATE® Detroit
Newlab
Building the Future of Sustainable Mobility at Michigan Central
Newlab is a global network of purpose-built innovation hubs that accelerates climate and deep tech time-to-market. Newlab provides startups with physical infrastructure, direct investment opportunities, and pilot partnerships to drive meaningful commercialization outcomes and economic development in energy, materials, and mobility. Newlab established its Detroit home in 2023 to enable...
INNOVATE™ Vancouver Vol.2
TAKASA
UNLOCK A WORLD OF SUSTAINABLE POSSIBILITIES WITH TAKASA
Takasa is a premium organic lifestyle company that is devoted to sourcing the finest materials, partnering with fair-trade and clean manufacturers, and delivering exceptional value to customers. With a passion for exceptionally high-quality materials and socially conscious manufacturing processes, Takasa is focused on combining thoughtfully designed premium products for those...
INNOVATION Quebec
LA VAGUE
L’ACCÉLÉRATEUR INSULAIRE ÎLES-DE-LA-MADELEINE
La Corporation d’innovation et de développement des Îles, LA VAGUE, est un organisme qui crée un lieu de convergence pour favoriser la synergie entre les acteurs socioéconomiques des Îles-de-laMadeleine et d’ailleurs. Sa vision est orientée vers une économie insulaire durable et créatrice de richesses. Elle offre de l’accompagnement spécialisé pour...
INNOVATE® Seattle
DEFINED.AI
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® Puerto Rico
INVEST PUERTO RICO
WHY PUERTO RICO?
“ARMED WITH AN AMBITIOUS ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY, PUERTO RICO IS GIVING GAME-CHANGERS FROM MYRIAD FIELDS THE SUPPORT AND RESOURCES THEY NEED TO MAKE “IT” HAPPEN.” – ELLA WOGER-NIEVES – CEO, INVEST PUERTO RICO The day began like any other: a morning power-walk along the beach under a rising 7:00 a.m....
INNOVATE® Washington DMV Edition
GW - George Washington University
Technology Commercialization Office and Office of Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Technology Commercialization Office and Office of Innovation & Entrepreneurship Inspire, Innovate, Impact The George Washington University (GW) GW is a vibrant hub of innovation and entrepreneurship. At the core of this dynamic institution are two offices founded in 2010: The Technology Commercialization Office (TCO), a powerhouse dedicated to transforming groundbreaking...
INNOVATE® South Carolina
First Class Recruiting
Elevating Talent, Powering Industry
In the heart of South Carolina’s booming Upstate region, where aerospace, manufacturing, and technology sectors thrive, First Class Recruiting is building more than just careers – it’s building futures. Helmed by U.S. Air Force veteran and industry trailblazer Lindsay Hansel, this boutique executive search firm has become synonymous with precision...
INNOVATE® Nashville
NASHVILLE ENTREPRENEUR CENTER
The Hub, the Heart, the Front Door - Nashville Entrepreneur Center is the City’s Home to Entrepreneurship
At the heart of innovation lies a problem and entrepreneurs are the needed visionaries that see a better way to live, work, or play. At the Nashville Entrepreneur Center, commonly known as “the EC,” we help entrepreneurs develop and build upon their business with an organizational vision to make our...
Global Innovation Spotlight
Latoria Williams — Chief Executive Officer, 1F Cash Advance
1F Cash Advance is a fintech company that provides short-term financial support for people who have trouble qualifying for traditional bank loans. The company was founded and is led by CEO Latoria Williams. Her business journey began with the realization that nearly half of Americans do not have an emergency...
INNOVATE™ Curitiba
HORUS SOLUTIONS
EXCELLENCE IN INFORMATION MANAGEMENT HORUS SOLUTIONS INNOVATES WITH THE FALCON SOLUTION
Horus Solutions is a national company that stands out as a specialist in information management solutions. Since its foundation in 1995, Horus has played an important role in the business scene, offering excellent services throughout the national and international territories. As an official partner of leading software companies such as...
INNOVATE® Nashville
NEW ORCHARD
Leaders are getting catfished by the promise of data. New Orchard helps lessen those odds
If 2020 proved anything, it’s that change is inevitable, whether that is decided on internally or not. “The ability to be resilient lies within confidently understanding where your organization is today, where it desires to be, the team that makes it up, and the processes that support it, fast,” says...
INNOVATE® Nashville
Snapshot
We bring clarity to complexity, and creativity to business goals.
In a small office tucked away in East Nashville’s Five Points neighborhood, Snapshot’s modest beginnings started as a video production company. At the time, Nashville had plenty of production houses producing great video, and a handful of large agencies infusing strategy into high-budget campaigns. But our founders saw a gap...
INNOVATION Quebec
OPTECH
CCTT EN OPTIQUE-PHOTONIQUE
Le centre collégial de transfert technologique (CCTT) Optech est un organisme à but non lucratif (OBNL) qui a été fondé en 2002 avec la mission de faire connaître les technologies reliées à l’optique – photonique et de contribuer à leur implantation afin de soutenir les efforts d’amélioration de productivité et...
INNOVATE® Washington DMV Edition
TECHNICAL.LY
THE DMV REGION: A GROWING HUB FOR STARTUP AND TECH INNOVATION
THE DMV REGION: A GROWING HUB FOR STARTUP AND TECH INNOVATION Authors: Sameer Rao & Kaela Roeder, Technical.ly The DMV region is a bustling hub of innovation, startups, and technology. It is home to over 6 million people and extends across three jurisdictions: the District of Columbia, the Maryland suburbs,...
INNOVATE™ Atlantic Canada
IGNITE
IF YOU’RE LOOKING FOR A ONE-STOP DESTINATION TO TURN BOLD IDEAS INTO GAME-CHANGING TECHNOLOGIES, LAUNCH THRIVING BUSINESSES, OR EXPAND ESTABLISHED COMPANIES GLOBALLY, LOOK NO FURTHER.
IF YOU’RE LOOKING FOR A ONE-STOP DESTINATION TO TURN BOLD IDEAS INTO GAME-CHANGING TECHNOLOGIES, LAUNCH THRIVING BUSINESSES, OR EXPAND ESTABLISHED COMPANIES GLOBALLY, LOOK NO FURTHER. Ignite equips entrepreneurs and businesses with the tools to succeed in an evolving marketplace. Together with our partners at Planet Hatch, we are committed to...
INNOVATE® Nashville
BOON LEGAL
MAKE MORE MISTAKES AND FAIL EARLY AND OFTEN IN SERVICE OF DISCOVERY
It’s all too easy to get swept up in the fervor of “innovation.” In the polished, produced world of prime-time, venture capitalists drop seven figures into start-ups while founders celebrate exits. Like most things that reach a level of celebrity status in our world of “reality” entertainment, the true story...
INNOVATE® Washington DMV Edition
MAGGIE O’NEILL
WHAT IF COLOR IS THE ANSWER?
Maggie O’Neill is a Washington, D.C.-based artist, designer, entrepreneur, and activist with 20+ years of experience supporting the city’s creative community through her multifaceted work. Her integral role as one of the District’s cultural leaders at the intersection of arts and hospitality is a culmination of her creative design firm...
INNOVATION Quebec
MONTÉRÉGIE ÉCONOMIQUE
THE INNOVATIVE ECOSYSTEM OF THE MONTÉRÉGIE
Espace régional d’accélération et de croissance de la Montérégie was established in 2020 and is powered by Montérégie Économique, which brings together economic development organizations from the MRCs and the agglomeration of Longueuil. The NPO supports economic operators, guides businesses towards business support and acceleration services and cooperates with key...
INNOVATE™ South Africa
THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIONAL ROADS AGENCY SOC LTD (SANRAL)
IN LINE WITH GOVERNMENT’S COMMITMENT TO TRANSFORM THE PUBLIC SECTOR, THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIONAL ROADS AGENCY SOC LTD (SANRAL) WAS ESTABLISHED IN APRIL 1998 BY AN ACT OF PARLIAMENT, AS AN INDEPENDENT STATUTORY COMPANY OPERATING ALONG COMMERCIAL LINES AND AT ARM’S LENGTH FROM GOVERNMENT
WITH A MANDATE TO FINANCE, DEVELOP AND MAINTAIN THE NATIONAL ROAD NETWORK OF OVER 22 000 KM, SANRAL LEADS THE WAY ON INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT IN A POST-COVID SOUTH AFRICA. Innovation is at the forefront of SANRAL’s agenda in the infrastructure development space. In recent years the Agency has increasingly...
INNOVATE® South Florida
NEPTUNYA - OCEAN POWER
OCTOPODZ: REVOLUTIONIZING OCEAN ENERGY WITH MIXED-MODE MARINE POWER SOLUTIONS
OCTOPODZ: REVOLUTIONIZING OCEAN ENERGY WITH MIXED-MODE MARINE POWER SOLUTIONS NEPTUNYA, an innovator in marine renewable energy, is transforming the future of ocean-based power with its OCTOPODZ energy converter—a groundbreaking device combining wind and wave power to deliver affordable and reliable offshore energy. As part of its ongoing development, NEPTUNYA will...
INNOVATE® Detroit
Driven
Ending legal debt traps with smart payments
In the U.S., over 11 million people havehad their driver’s licenses suspendeddue to unpaid fines. This isn’t just aninconvenience – it’s a direct hit to financialstability. Losing the ability to drive meanslosing access to jobs, education, andessential services. In cities like Detroit,where public transit is unreliable, asuspended license can mean...
INNOVATE™ Antwerp Vol.2
FORUM ADVOCATEN
WAS FOUNDED IN 2012 BY FOUR ASSOCIATES: REINER TIJS, FREDERIC ROSIERS, JANA KERN AND ILSE DE GEYTER. THEY DRASTICALLY CHANGED THE LEGAL LANDSCAPE WITH THEIR UNIQUE METHODOLOGY: THEY BASE THEIR WORK ON A RELATIONSHIP-ORIENTED APPROACH TO LAW
innovationsoftheworld.com
...INNOVATE® South Carolina
Build Carolina
An agile approach: Academy, Apprenticeship, Advisors
Bridging talent, training, and opportunity across the Palmetto State The team at Build Carolina sees possibilities all around. They see massive talent and drive across South Carolina—from individuals eager to build new careers in technology to companies working to innovate and grow. They see a future shaped by meaningful, sustainable...
INNOVATE® Puerto Rico
Very few people were talking about entrepreneurship in Puerto Rico when Grupo Guayacan, Inc. was born in 1996. Founded by Enrique “Ricky” Adsuar as a private sector mission-driven nonprofit organization, it has served entrepreneurs with a unique model that has coupled private equity investment with a series of programs to...
INNOVATE® Detroit
Newlab
Building the Future of Sustainable Mobility at Michigan Central
Newlab is a global network of purpose-built innovation hubs that accelerates climate and deep tech time-to-market. Newlab provides startups with physical infrastructure, direct investment opportunities, and pilot partnerships to drive meaningful commercialization outcomes and economic development in energy, materials, and mobility. Newlab established its Detroit home in 2023 to enable...
INNOVATE™ Vancouver Vol.2
TAKASA
UNLOCK A WORLD OF SUSTAINABLE POSSIBILITIES WITH TAKASA
Takasa is a premium organic lifestyle company that is devoted to sourcing the finest materials, partnering with fair-trade and clean manufacturers, and delivering exceptional value to customers. With a passion for exceptionally high-quality materials and socially conscious manufacturing processes, Takasa is focused on combining thoughtfully designed premium products for those...
INNOVATION Quebec
LA VAGUE
L’ACCÉLÉRATEUR INSULAIRE ÎLES-DE-LA-MADELEINE
La Corporation d’innovation et de développement des Îles, LA VAGUE, est un organisme qui crée un lieu de convergence pour favoriser la synergie entre les acteurs socioéconomiques des Îles-de-laMadeleine et d’ailleurs. Sa vision est orientée vers une économie insulaire durable et créatrice de richesses. Elle offre de l’accompagnement spécialisé pour...
INNOVATE® Seattle
DEFINED.AI
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® Puerto Rico
INVEST PUERTO RICO
WHY PUERTO RICO?
“ARMED WITH AN AMBITIOUS ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY, PUERTO RICO IS GIVING GAME-CHANGERS FROM MYRIAD FIELDS THE SUPPORT AND RESOURCES THEY NEED TO MAKE “IT” HAPPEN.” – ELLA WOGER-NIEVES – CEO, INVEST PUERTO RICO The day began like any other: a morning power-walk along the beach under a rising 7:00 a.m....