Stories of Innovation

A PARTNER AND BACKER OF FOUNDERS AT THE INNOVATION, EARLY AND ACCELERATION STAGES. Madrona starts working with leadership teams before the first investment, supporting them with capital and hard work. We have been doing this since 1995 and actively invest in AI, enterprise technology, marketplaces, and more. As the tech...

THE QUESTIONHave you ever had to throw your best work away? I have. It’s demoralizing, but sometimes things you can’t control go wrong and there’s nothing to do but let it go. You can start to think, “why bother?” I’ve seen it happen to our clients too. As a device...

Stockholm is globally recognized as a hub for innovation, particularly in sustainability, and Next Agents plays a pivotal role in advancing this ecosystem. Sustainability-driven innovation lies at the heart of Next Agents’ mission to empower businesses to create solutions that benefit people, the planet, and profitability. Central to this approach...

Nestled in the heart of Vilvoorde, just outside Brussels, voco™ Brussels City North offers a unique stay at the Living Tomorrow Innovation Campus—the innovation hub for futuristic developments and forward-thinking technology. Whether you’re visiting for business or leisure, voco™ Brussels City North provides a welcoming atmosphere designed to make your...

Founded in 1919 in Milwaukee, Baird’s financial advice and expertise has helped guide clients through changing market cycles and unexpected events across generations. Today, Baird is actively investing in many initiatives throughout Wisconsin to position the state as a center for innovation. These activities are part of the firm’s ongoing...

TALE+ is a teletherapy company made up of a group of licensed, bilingual, speech language pathologists whose mission is to help others be more confident in their language of choice, while also supporting the professional growth of speech pathologists. Founded and based in Puerto Rico, TALE+’s focus is twofold: expanding...

At Janssen, we never stop creating a future where disease is a thing of the past....

The Co-Op at Shoal Creek was born from the pandemic’s unprecedented surge in home-based businesses, offering a sanctuary for growth, innovation, and community. It provides co-working offices, conference rooms, and event spaces thoughtfully designed to inspire and elevate work experiences to new heights. “We exist to help small businesses thrive...

Driving Growth and Connectivity Across South Carolina For nearly two centuries, CSX has been a cornerstone of America’s economic engine, connecting businesses and communities with safe, efficient, and innovative freight solutions. Today, as one of North America’s leading railroads, CSX continues to deliver what matters most—reliability, flexibility, and value—while powering...

Artenso est un acronyme signifiant art et engagement social. Le CCTT croit activement au pouvoir de la culture comme vecteur de développement économique et social des collectivités. Affilié au cégep de Saint-Laurent à Montréal, Artenso se démarque par son expertise croisée dans les champs des politiques publiques, des pratiques artistiques...

Transformative, innovative and disruptive. The tech industry has become a strategic driver of the economy and an integral part of our society’s functioning. With the rise of artificial intelligence, 5G, smart devices, big data and asynchronous work modes, among other emerging technologies, we can expect an ever-growing demand for technological...

“Interning at Illuminate helped me row both as an individual and professional by giving me a platform to test my leadership skills, and most importantly by providing me with an invaluable network of connections at my disposal. Believe it or not, but the most important lesson I took from my...

The genesis of EvidenceCare came one night while Dr. Brian Fengler was working in the emergency room of Saint Thomas Midtown Hospital in Nashville, and a young woman presented with extreme shortness of breath and fast heart rate. She had a massive blood clot between her heart and lungs. She...

ELEVATOR PITCH We document a plan for efficiency and success. That plan could include hardware, software, app development, or just the use of apps that offer better efficiency. We measure our progress, document the improvement, profitability, and savings that are produced by our efforts. Then we help our customers identify...

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...

Rafael Santa Ana Architecture Workshop (RSAAW) is a Vancouver-based architectural practice that creates expressive, contemporary interventions that contribute to our communities in thoughtful and meaningful ways. The practice’s diverse team pursues projects where design can be developed, including residential, commercial, institutional, industrial, and mixed use development programs. RSAAW seeks creative...

The tires that came with your vehicle are likely labeled “All-Season.” It’s a comforting term that suggests they are ready for anything the calendar throws at them—from the heat of summer to the chill of winter. However, for drivers on the Vancouver North Shore and across Canada, relying on All-Season...

Laquila was founded in 1980, with a small 100m² store, focused on selling motorcycle parts, in Rio Grande do Sul. With determination and a vision of the future, they expanded to 200m² and, later, to an even larger space, adopting the wholesale model. After 12 years in the capital of...

Craig Mandeville, CEO of Jacksonville, Florida-based healthcare technology provider Forcura founded his company for personal reasons, hoping to lessen the time his wife spent driving back and forth to her employer’s home healthcare agency. In her role at the time, Heather Mandeville helped patients who were leaving a hospital transition...

SuperNOVA: Empowering Youth Through STEM Education Across Atlantic Canada SuperNOVA, a non-profit organization based at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and a network member of Actua, has gained widespread recognition for providing high-quality STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) programming across Atlantic Canada. Founded in 1996, SuperNOVA provides hands-on...

Le CEDFOB est un CCTT affilié au Cégep de Baie-Comeau qui a pour mission de réaliser, en collaboration avec les milieux, des travaux de recherche et de développement sur la forêt boréale et mettre en valeur ses ressources dans une optique de développement durable. Le but est de favoriser l’appropriation...

GÉNOME QUÉBEC a été fondé en 2000, dans la foulée du premier séquençage entier du génome humain. Membre du réseau pancanadien chapeauté par Génome Canada, notre mission consiste à soutenir le développement stratégique et scientifique de la génomique au Québec. En collaboration avec ses partenaires, Génome Québec a investi plus...

Cities are being asked to undergo profound transformations in the coming decades, to adapt to major environmental changes resulting from a development model based on continuous growth and to attenuate the negative externalities of urbanization. It should be possible for cities to participate in the regeneration of ecosystems and the...

OmniChat is a company founded in Curitiba, in 2017, with the mission of transforming conversations into sales through chat commerce. Official provider of Meta since 2021, the startup offers the most advanced conversational technology on the market, capable of centralizing the management of all chat channels, including WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram...