Stories of Innovation

INNOVATE® South Carolina

Denmark Technical College

Reimagining the Rural College Landscape

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...

INNOVATE® Seattle

Madrona

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 footprint in Seattle has grown, so have we. Madrona opened a Silicon Valley...

Practical AI for Non-Techies

Fireflies.AI

The AI-Powered Meeting Assistant That Works While You Work

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...

INNOVATE® South Carolina

Benore Logistic Systems, Inc.

Driving Excellence

Benore Logistic Systems, Inc. stands as a testament to unwavering commitment, family heritage, and industry-leading innovation. Founded with a vision to redefine logistics, the company has grown into a powerhouse, seamlessly integrating transportation, warehousing, and supply chain solutions for some of the world’s leading industries. From its inception, Benore Logistic...

INNOVATE™ Bristol & Bath

Cognisess

The complete predictive people analytics platform for hiring

Cognisess provides human resource and recruitment professionals with the data and insights they need to make better-informed decisions about their people. The journey to ethical AI begins with good data collection. Including more than 60 assessments measuring over 120 attributes, it helps you identify, retain, and maximise the performance, potential,...

INNOVATION Quebec

SCALE AI

VERS UNE ÉCONOMIE PROPULSÉE PAR L’IA POUR LE CANADA

En tant que grappe d’innovation mondiale du Canada en IA, Scale AI agit comme un pôle d’investissement et d’innovation pour accélérer l’adoption et l’intégration rapide de l’intelligence artificielle dans les chaînes d’approvisionnement, à travers des projets porteurs pour l’économie d’ici. Véritable lien pancanadien entre les différents piliers de la communauté...

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™ South Africa

MAHLAKO A PHAHLA

MAHLAKO A PHAHLA - AN ORGANISATION THAT IS AFRICAN WOMEN-OWNED

AN ORGANISATION THAT IS AFRICAN WOMEN-OWNED, MANAGED AND INSPIRED, THAT PROMOTES AFRICAN AND WOMEN EMPOWERMENT, ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND EXCELLENCE

Mahlako a Phahla, founded by sisters Makole Mupita and Meta Mhlarhi, is named after our mother Mahlako to pay homage to her pioneering and entrepreneurial spirit in building a successful family business at a time when it was difficult for many black people to do so.   Mahlako is an...

INNOVATE® Northern Virginia

Buzzy Rocket

Strategic marketing for startups shaping the future

Buzzy Rocket is a boutique startup marketing firm dedicated to helping early-stage and high-growth companies build awareness, engagement, and momentum through clear, credible storytelling and strategic execution. Founded in 2011, the firm partners with founders who are developing innovative solutions to real-world problems, positioning those companies so the audiences who...

INNOVATION Quebec

PROPULSION QUÉBEC

Propulsion Quebec in briefCommitment on the part of the Quebec industry and government to accelerate the development of the Quebec Electric and Smart Transportation (EST) sector led to the creation of Propulsion Québec, the industrial cluster for electric and smart transportation in Quebec, on April 20, 2017. As an industrial...

INNOVATION Quebec

Innofibre

INNOFIBRE-Créé en 1989

Créé en 1989, Innofibre – Centre d’innovation des produits cellulosiques, est un centre collégial de transfert de technologie qui collabore avec les entreprises, les organismes publics et les institutions de recherche publiques et privées pour le développement et la mise à l’échelle de produits biosourcés et de bioprocédés

Innofibre a pour vision de contribuer au développement de l’économie biosourcée au Québec en accompagnant les PME et les grandes entreprises dans l’innovation. L’équipe d’Innofibre a les habiletés et les aptitudes pour réaliser des projets multidisciplinaires et interordres et réalise chaque année un grand nombre de projets avec plusieurs institutions...

INNOVATE® Miami

SnapLeads

SnapLeads - Helps businesses unlock marketing opportunities with big data

Helps businesses unlock marketing opportunities with big data

SnapLeads helps businesses unlock marketing opportunities with big data. The company specializes in building data-driven direct mail and client retention platforms for enterprises in various industries including, automotive, legal, medical, and real estate. SnapLeads began as a way for a group of attorneys to generate more business for their own...

INNOVATE™ Oeiras

Madrid Innovation Communities – Madrid’s First Wave Coffee Culture

La Primera Ola de la Cultura del Café en Madrid – Innovations Of The World

Madrid Innovation Communities – Madrid has bounced back from the early 2010s with entrepreneurship and innovation, challenging even the most essential traditions including how coffee is processed, consumed, and loved. Only seven years ago, Madrid’s coffee scene was nothing to shout about, but over the last decade, the ‘torrefacto’ norm...

INNOVATE® Washington DMV Edition

JLABS @ WASHINGTON, DC

Accelerating Innovation in the Capital Region

Where the corridors of power intersect with groundbreaking research, JLABS @ Washington DC is a haven of innovation. As part of the global Johnson & Johnson Innovation network, JLABS is more than just a state-of-the-art facility; it’s a thriving ecosystem designed to accelerate life sciences innovation. Since its inception, JLABS...

INNOVATE™ Toronto

MERIC S. GERTLER

MERIC S. GERTLER PRESIDENT, UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO ” INCLUSIVE EXCELLENCE ” “U of T’s remarkable diversity provides both a springboard to social mobility and a superb environment for education, research and innovation.” – MERIC S. GERTLER, PRESIDENT, UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO The strength of Toronto’s higher education, research and innovation enterprise...

INNOVATION Quebec

IVÉO

FOR SUSTAINABLE AND SMARTER CITIES

IVÉO is a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to accelerate the deployment of innovations in the municipal sector. Its interventions relate primarily to the experimentation and set up of pilot projects responding to the social, environmental and economic issues facing cities. By acting as an innovation broker between municipal authorities...

INNOVATE™ Vancouver Vol.2

Hubly

Unlocking the Human Side of Fintech

Hubly allows financial advisors and their teams to deliver a high-tough, stress-free customer experience at scale. Millions of people trust a financial advisor with their life savings. But as advisory firms scale, their operations, services, processes, and regulatory requirements become more complex. Soon, financial advisors are spending more time on...

INNOVATE™ Alberta

H3ALTH TECHNOLOGIES INC

REVOLUTIONIZING HEALTHCARE THROUGH EMPOWERMENT, ACCESSIBILITY, AND AUTONOMY

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...

INNOVATE™ Curitiba

RENTCARS

SEARCH, COMPARE, RENT. CAR RENTAL AT THE BEST PRICES

In the dynamic landscape of global mobility solutions, Rentcars stands out as the largest online car rental platform in Latin America, connecting users with rental companies worldwide. Founded in 2009 in Curitiba, Rentcars has been at the forefront of innovation, offering a unique experience to users, not only through a...

INNOVATE™ Stockholm

KAROLINSKA INSTITUTET

FROM DISCOVERY TO IMPACT: HOW KAROLINSKA INSTITUTET INNOVATIONS TRANSFORMS LIFE SCIENCE

Innovation is essential for advancing healthcare and ensuring better patient outcomes. However, bringing deeptech Life Science innovations to market is a long and complex journey—one that requires not just groundbreaking research but also substantial investments, regulatory navigation, and perseverance. At KI Innovations, we support researchers and entrepreneurs in transforming scientific...

Global Innovation Spotlight

Sticker Builder

Unlocking the Next Frontier

“Mass customization made simple. Creative chaos made scalable.” In today’s experience-driven economy, personalization isn’t just a nice-to-have—it’s the foundation of competitive advantage. Customers expect more than just products; they want creative control, self-expression, and seamless experiences. That’s where Sticker Builder by Antigro Designer, based in Kraków, Poland, comes in. This...

INNOVATE® Milwaukee

NORTHWESTERN MUTUAL

INNOVATING IN FINANCIAL SERVICES FOR MORE THAN 165 YEARS

INNOVATING IN FINANCIAL SERVICES FOR MORE THAN 165 YEARS Founded in 1857, Northwestern Mutual, a FORTUNE 500® financial services company, embodies a unique culture dedicated to helping people achieve financial security. As a mutual company, Northwestern Mutual answers to its policy owners — not Wall Street. Through a comprehensive planning...

INNOVATE® Northern Virginia

Parla Dynamics

Building the Multilingual Internet for the Next 5 billion Users

For decades, the internet has been framed as a global equalizer. It has quietly favored a narrow slice of the world. The world has always been multilingual. The digital infrastructure that connects it, however, was built predominantly in English. More than half of online content is still produced in English,...

INNOVATE® Milwaukee

MKE TECH HUB

A LEGACY OF INNOVATION DRIVING A FUTURE OF IMPACT

Shaped by a rich industrial legacy, Milwaukee is evolving into a beacon of modern innovation. With biohealth, AI, water, energy technology, smart manufacturing, and financial services leading the way, Milwaukee’s dynamic ecosystem is not only thriving, but attracting attention from investors, entrepreneurs, and innovators worldwide. Here, tradition meets technology, and...

INNOVATE® South Carolina

Denmark Technical College

Reimagining the Rural College Landscape

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...

INNOVATE® Seattle

Madrona

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 footprint in Seattle has grown, so have we. Madrona opened a Silicon Valley...

Practical AI for Non-Techies

Fireflies.AI

The AI-Powered Meeting Assistant That Works While You Work

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...

INNOVATE® South Carolina

Benore Logistic Systems, Inc.

Driving Excellence

Benore Logistic Systems, Inc. stands as a testament to unwavering commitment, family heritage, and industry-leading innovation. Founded with a vision to redefine logistics, the company has grown into a powerhouse, seamlessly integrating transportation, warehousing, and supply chain solutions for some of the world’s leading industries. From its inception, Benore Logistic...

INNOVATE™ Bristol & Bath

Cognisess

The complete predictive people analytics platform for hiring

Cognisess provides human resource and recruitment professionals with the data and insights they need to make better-informed decisions about their people. The journey to ethical AI begins with good data collection. Including more than 60 assessments measuring over 120 attributes, it helps you identify, retain, and maximise the performance, potential,...

INNOVATION Quebec

SCALE AI

VERS UNE ÉCONOMIE PROPULSÉE PAR L’IA POUR LE CANADA

En tant que grappe d’innovation mondiale du Canada en IA, Scale AI agit comme un pôle d’investissement et d’innovation pour accélérer l’adoption et l’intégration rapide de l’intelligence artificielle dans les chaînes d’approvisionnement, à travers des projets porteurs pour l’économie d’ici. Véritable lien pancanadien entre les différents piliers de la communauté...

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™ South Africa

MAHLAKO A PHAHLA

MAHLAKO A PHAHLA - AN ORGANISATION THAT IS AFRICAN WOMEN-OWNED

AN ORGANISATION THAT IS AFRICAN WOMEN-OWNED, MANAGED AND INSPIRED, THAT PROMOTES AFRICAN AND WOMEN EMPOWERMENT, ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND EXCELLENCE

Mahlako a Phahla, founded by sisters Makole Mupita and Meta Mhlarhi, is named after our mother Mahlako to pay homage to her pioneering and entrepreneurial spirit in building a successful family business at a time when it was difficult for many black people to do so.   Mahlako is an...

INNOVATE® Northern Virginia

Buzzy Rocket

Strategic marketing for startups shaping the future

Buzzy Rocket is a boutique startup marketing firm dedicated to helping early-stage and high-growth companies build awareness, engagement, and momentum through clear, credible storytelling and strategic execution. Founded in 2011, the firm partners with founders who are developing innovative solutions to real-world problems, positioning those companies so the audiences who...

INNOVATION Quebec

PROPULSION QUÉBEC

Propulsion Quebec in briefCommitment on the part of the Quebec industry and government to accelerate the development of the Quebec Electric and Smart Transportation (EST) sector led to the creation of Propulsion Québec, the industrial cluster for electric and smart transportation in Quebec, on April 20, 2017. As an industrial...

INNOVATION Quebec

Innofibre

INNOFIBRE-Créé en 1989

Créé en 1989, Innofibre – Centre d’innovation des produits cellulosiques, est un centre collégial de transfert de technologie qui collabore avec les entreprises, les organismes publics et les institutions de recherche publiques et privées pour le développement et la mise à l’échelle de produits biosourcés et de bioprocédés

Innofibre a pour vision de contribuer au développement de l’économie biosourcée au Québec en accompagnant les PME et les grandes entreprises dans l’innovation. L’équipe d’Innofibre a les habiletés et les aptitudes pour réaliser des projets multidisciplinaires et interordres et réalise chaque année un grand nombre de projets avec plusieurs institutions...

INNOVATE® Miami

SnapLeads

SnapLeads - Helps businesses unlock marketing opportunities with big data

Helps businesses unlock marketing opportunities with big data

SnapLeads helps businesses unlock marketing opportunities with big data. The company specializes in building data-driven direct mail and client retention platforms for enterprises in various industries including, automotive, legal, medical, and real estate. SnapLeads began as a way for a group of attorneys to generate more business for their own...

INNOVATE™ Oeiras

Madrid Innovation Communities – Madrid’s First Wave Coffee Culture

La Primera Ola de la Cultura del Café en Madrid – Innovations Of The World

Madrid Innovation Communities – Madrid has bounced back from the early 2010s with entrepreneurship and innovation, challenging even the most essential traditions including how coffee is processed, consumed, and loved. Only seven years ago, Madrid’s coffee scene was nothing to shout about, but over the last decade, the ‘torrefacto’ norm...

INNOVATE® Washington DMV Edition

JLABS @ WASHINGTON, DC

Accelerating Innovation in the Capital Region

Where the corridors of power intersect with groundbreaking research, JLABS @ Washington DC is a haven of innovation. As part of the global Johnson & Johnson Innovation network, JLABS is more than just a state-of-the-art facility; it’s a thriving ecosystem designed to accelerate life sciences innovation. Since its inception, JLABS...

INNOVATE™ Toronto

MERIC S. GERTLER

MERIC S. GERTLER PRESIDENT, UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO ” INCLUSIVE EXCELLENCE ” “U of T’s remarkable diversity provides both a springboard to social mobility and a superb environment for education, research and innovation.” – MERIC S. GERTLER, PRESIDENT, UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO The strength of Toronto’s higher education, research and innovation enterprise...

INNOVATION Quebec

IVÉO

FOR SUSTAINABLE AND SMARTER CITIES

IVÉO is a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to accelerate the deployment of innovations in the municipal sector. Its interventions relate primarily to the experimentation and set up of pilot projects responding to the social, environmental and economic issues facing cities. By acting as an innovation broker between municipal authorities...

INNOVATE™ Vancouver Vol.2

Hubly

Unlocking the Human Side of Fintech

Hubly allows financial advisors and their teams to deliver a high-tough, stress-free customer experience at scale. Millions of people trust a financial advisor with their life savings. But as advisory firms scale, their operations, services, processes, and regulatory requirements become more complex. Soon, financial advisors are spending more time on...

INNOVATE™ Alberta

H3ALTH TECHNOLOGIES INC

REVOLUTIONIZING HEALTHCARE THROUGH EMPOWERMENT, ACCESSIBILITY, AND AUTONOMY

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...

INNOVATE™ Curitiba

RENTCARS

SEARCH, COMPARE, RENT. CAR RENTAL AT THE BEST PRICES

In the dynamic landscape of global mobility solutions, Rentcars stands out as the largest online car rental platform in Latin America, connecting users with rental companies worldwide. Founded in 2009 in Curitiba, Rentcars has been at the forefront of innovation, offering a unique experience to users, not only through a...

INNOVATE™ Stockholm

KAROLINSKA INSTITUTET

FROM DISCOVERY TO IMPACT: HOW KAROLINSKA INSTITUTET INNOVATIONS TRANSFORMS LIFE SCIENCE

Innovation is essential for advancing healthcare and ensuring better patient outcomes. However, bringing deeptech Life Science innovations to market is a long and complex journey—one that requires not just groundbreaking research but also substantial investments, regulatory navigation, and perseverance. At KI Innovations, we support researchers and entrepreneurs in transforming scientific...

Global Innovation Spotlight

Sticker Builder

Unlocking the Next Frontier

“Mass customization made simple. Creative chaos made scalable.” In today’s experience-driven economy, personalization isn’t just a nice-to-have—it’s the foundation of competitive advantage. Customers expect more than just products; they want creative control, self-expression, and seamless experiences. That’s where Sticker Builder by Antigro Designer, based in Kraków, Poland, comes in. This...

INNOVATE® Milwaukee

NORTHWESTERN MUTUAL

INNOVATING IN FINANCIAL SERVICES FOR MORE THAN 165 YEARS

INNOVATING IN FINANCIAL SERVICES FOR MORE THAN 165 YEARS Founded in 1857, Northwestern Mutual, a FORTUNE 500® financial services company, embodies a unique culture dedicated to helping people achieve financial security. As a mutual company, Northwestern Mutual answers to its policy owners — not Wall Street. Through a comprehensive planning...

INNOVATE® Northern Virginia

Parla Dynamics

Building the Multilingual Internet for the Next 5 billion Users

For decades, the internet has been framed as a global equalizer. It has quietly favored a narrow slice of the world. The world has always been multilingual. The digital infrastructure that connects it, however, was built predominantly in English. More than half of online content is still produced in English,...

INNOVATE® Milwaukee

MKE TECH HUB

A LEGACY OF INNOVATION DRIVING A FUTURE OF IMPACT

Shaped by a rich industrial legacy, Milwaukee is evolving into a beacon of modern innovation. With biohealth, AI, water, energy technology, smart manufacturing, and financial services leading the way, Milwaukee’s dynamic ecosystem is not only thriving, but attracting attention from investors, entrepreneurs, and innovators worldwide. Here, tradition meets technology, and...

Ecosystems