Stories of Innovation

Intention 2 Impact (I2I) is a dynamic social change organization at the forefront of impact measurement. Founded in October 2018 by the visionary Nina Sabarre, I2I is a minority, women-owned small business known for disrupting the status quo in philanthropy through innovative and equity-centered monitoring, evaluation, research, and learning (MERL)...

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...

They both grew up in the suburbs of Chicago and met in high school. When Barrett Lombardo and Andy Crestodina graduated, they headed off to the University of Iowa together.   They shared a dorm room and one of those boxy Macintosh computers. It was the early 1990s. Most people...

A National Movement to Expand Educational Opportunity This year, Teach For America marks its 35th anniversary – a milestone that celebrates a movement of leaders working alongside communities to expand opportunity for all children. Since its founding in 1990, Teach For America has recruited, developed, and supported a diverse network...

Innovations in the electric energy as well as electric and smart transportation sectors are the driving force behind the energy transition underway in Quebec and elsewhere in the world. InnovÉÉ’s mission is to stimulate, support and finance collaborative research projects in the fields of electric energy as well as electric...

Brass City Gamers Tournament’s mission is to educate our local community in STEM learning including digital media, gaming, coding, and information technology, our aim is to foster strong computer competency skills to prepare for the developing new-collar jobs of the 21st Century. We are a 501c3 nonprofit organization located in...

3 Surprising Innovations for Better Sleep Tonight Maya Liu, a robotics founder, blanked during a crucial investor pitch due to exhaustion. Chronic sleep debt saps an innovator’s edge faster than almost anything else. Her turnaround began not with coffee, but with smarter sleep technology. Tonight, you can tap into similar...

Abarca was founded to deliver a better way in healthcare. For more than fifteen years, the pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) and technology company has been delivering on that promise for its health plan clients and their members through: A smarter platform: Abarca built DarwinTM, its healthcare technology platform, in-house from the...

Gene editing holds the potential to cure a wide range of genetic diseases by altering DNA in the genome inside cells – but today’s gene editors have limitations. To better realize the significant opportunity of this therapeutic approach, and allow for its application to new therapeutic areas, Specific Biologics (“Specific”)...

Chicago HOPES for Kids is the only organization in Chicago that provides educational after school and remote learning programs for students experiencing homelessness in grades Kindergarten through 9th, directly to the shelters and communities where they live. It is our mission to provide students with the resources and encouragement they...

Founded nearly four decades ago, the ISACA Atlanta Chapter has evolved significantly over the years while steadfastly adhering to its mission of serving its members, partners, and communities. With nearly 3,000 members across the state, this mission has only gained importance, prompting the current board to innovate and reinforce the...

Nearly 18,000 people work, practice, study and work here. The CHUM offers the best specialized and super specialized care to all Quebecers and improves their health, based on scientific knowledge that is constantly updated by a research and teaching community. The CHUM Research Centre is the largest research center in...

PlutoVets is rewriting the rules of veterinary care by combining in-home visits, digital-first convenience, and a full-service clinic into one seamless, empathetic experience. The mission is simple: to deliver care that puts both pets and pet parents first. The Convenience Revolution Taking a stressed animal to the clinic is one...

Founded in 2012, the PHI Centre is dedicated to innovation at the frontiers of creative production and fosters the design, development, production, and presentation of a wide variety of disciplines and forms, with an emphasis on digital technologies and new media. Its programs and architecture are designed to be agile,...

Pathwaves is a Miami-based Biopsychology Digital Therapeutics company providing Mental Health as well as Performance Improvement Services utilizing neurotechnology equipment combined with timeless cognitive behavioral therapy and/or coaching techniques. Neural Empowerment is their proprietary process which begins with a Quantification of Mental Function. A vision for the future “Our goal...

A PLACE FOR NEW BEGINNINGSSamyr Qureshi is a proud Gator (University of Florida) graduate and the Co-Founder & CEO at Knack, an education technology startup that helps institutions power and scale peer-to-peer tutoring programs. I moved to the United States when I was six years old, and Tampa was the...

Grâce à l’expertise de ses membres des domaines public, privé et académique, Réseau Environnement fait le pont entre l’expertise technique et les politiques publiques. Par sa place dans le secteur environnemental, notre association se doit d’être à l’avant-garde, et cela passe aussi par une collaboration avec les entrepreneurs, les innovateurs...

The Canadian tech sector is booming, there’s no question about that. In 2021, despite the impacts of the pandemic and the general economic downturn, the information and communications technology (ICT) reflected a total 5.3% of the national GDP — that’s $104.5billion. This number, alongside a teeming collective of businesses that...

Phigitals [Physical + Digital] is a web3 enabled B2B Saas solution for sustainable fashion resale, allowing e-commerce retail platforms to recapture margin in the circular economy, boosting profits while reducing their carbon footprint by up to 86% per transaction (source: Financial Times). The company tethers individual fashion items to NFTs...

ELEVATOR PITCH Caribu helps children age 0-7 to read and draw with their parents and grandparents through a video-call when they’re not in the same location. Caribu is a game-changer for the hundreds of millions of global families that are separated by distance and need to make memories together with...

Playmaker Recruiting was born from the broken system that is college athlete recruiting, with the mission to help students and coaches navigate the complicated recruiting process, and provide greater access to opportunities at the next level. Having seen friends and family go through the college recruiting process, it was apparent...

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...

The founder’s father was raised in a one-room home in the country side of a small town in Ethiopia that is unknown to most people. Tin roof, mudded walls. The founder’s mother from another town where education wasn’t supposed to be the path for women. His parents didn’t have access...

Despite significant progress in the fight against poverty in Latin America, inequality remains stubbornly high. In 2018, Santiago Alvarez and Virgilio Barco created impact fund manager ALIVE Ventures to channel investment to innovative companies tackling some of the most pressing challenges facing low-income communities in Latam, helping to reduce inequality....