Stories of Innovation
INNOVATE™ Vancouver Vol.2
OPERTO
A WORLD-LEADING PROPERTY AUTOMATION PLATFORM FOR THE SHORT-TERM, MULTIFAMILY AND HOTEL INDUSTRIES
By bringing together innovative software and best-in-class hardware solutions, Operto enables property owners/managers to efficiently run, scale and monetize their business, while eliminating common friction points associated with the guest journey. Operto has built a huge global footprint in the accommodation industry, with customers ranging from single Airbnb operators, up...
INNOVATE® Philadelphia
GIRL CONCRETE
BUILDING THE NEXT 250 YEARS
Philadelphia is the birthplace of American independence – a city where ideas of democracy, access, and public responsibility were first debated, documented, and declared. Two and a half centuries later, those ideals are sustained not only by words, but by infrastructure. Streets, sidewalks, schools, hospitals, transit hubs, and public spaces...
INNOVATE® Nashville
NASHVILLE AREA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
ADVANCING REGIONAL PROSPERITY THROUGH INNOVATION AND PARTNERSHIP
ABOUT PARTNERSHIP 2030 The Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce’s Partnership 2030 is the Nashville region’s public-private economic development initiative dedicated to Middle Tennessee’s long-term economic prosperity. The Partnership was formed in 1990 to maintain and grow the Nashville region’s economy by creating jobs through relocating and expanding businesses, attracting and...
INNOVATE® Nashville
Gresham Smith
Pioneering Innovation in Design
Gresham Smith, a leading architecture, engineering, design and consulting firm that has called Nashville home for more than 50 years, is an industry leader in innovation. At Gresham Smith, innovation is not just about adopting emerging technologies—it’s about transforming the design and planning process to create healthier, more connected communities....
INNOVATE™ Curitiba
CONNECTPLUG
RETAIL AUTOMATION CAN BE MORE AFFORDABLE AND EFFECTIVE FOR EVERYONE
2014 doesn’t seem like a long time ago, but the technology was very different back then. AI was just science fiction, the internet was much slower — and retail software was expensive and unnecessarily complex. This scenario led to ConnectPlug’s creation by computer engineer Rafael Hasson. Hasson, who has worked...
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™ South Africa
KING PRICE INSURANCE
MAKING A DIFFERENCE, ONE DECREASING PREMIUM AT A TIME
King Price Insurance launched with a world-first innovation – premiums that automatically decrease monthly as cars depreciate in value – and hasn’t stopped since. When they opened their doors in 2012, South Africa’s conservative insurance industry didn’t think they’d last three months. But, a decade later, the R100 million start-up...
INNOVATE™ Curitiba
NTT DATA
A TRUSTED GLOBAL INNOVATOR
Between the Top 10 Global IT Services Providers NTT DATA helps your clients to transform their businesses and society for the digital future. As a part of NTT Group, one of the world’s largest telecommunications companies, NTT DATA leverages its global reach and local expertise to serve clients in over...
INNOVATE™ Estonia
7SENSE
TELEHAPTIC TECHNOLOGY: REDEFINING SIGHT THROUGH A REMOTE SENSE OF TOUCH
7Sense is a deep-tech and life science start-up developing telehaptic technology for the blind. It allows users to feel their surrounding environment through a sense of touch on the forehead. In simple words, the user feels surrounding objects—their shape, size, motion, speed, and distance. Traditionally, haptics has meant small vibrating...
INNOVATION Quebec
INNOV & EXPORT PME
PRÉSENTATION D’INNOV & EXPORT PME
Pour développer les entreprises manufacturières et pour accroître la force de l’économie de la région du Bas-Saint-Laurent dans un marché mondial exigeant et en constante évolution, innover est indispensable. Innov & Export PME est un organisme de développement de portée régionale ayant des activités dans plusieurs entreprises sur le territoire...
INNOVATE™ Toronto
Innovation is about harnessing change, testing boundaries, and deciding to lead instead of follow. True, the process is rarely simple (let alone straightforward), but those who take the risk get a chance to write their futures. There’s no “right” path to innovation. As our experiences at KPMG’s Ignition Center reveal...
INNOVATE® South Florida
ISACA South Florida Chapter
EMPOWERING SOUTH FLORIDA’S INNOVATORS THROUGH IT RISK MANAGEMENT & CYBERSECURITY
EMPOWERING SOUTH FLORIDA’S INNOVATORSTHROUGH IT RISK MANAGEMENT & CYBERSECURITY ISACA South Florida Overview ISACA South Florida is a prominent chapter of the global Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA), dedicated to advancing professionals in IT governance, risk management, cybersecurity, and related fields. Chartered on December 2, 1978, as the...
INNOVATE® Nashville
Vanderbilt University
Innovation at Vanderbilt
An R1 research institution, Vanderbilt University is known for pathbreaking research, advancing discoveries and fueling breakthroughs across multiple disciplines. With more than $1 billion in annual research expenditures, Vanderbilt fosters cross-disciplinary collaboration with global impact. But Vanderbilt isn’t just a research university, it’s a powerful economic engine that turns ideas...
INNOVATE® Blockchain
KRYPTOWATT
Mining of digital currencies has remained one of the hottest topics in the blockchain space over the years, as crypto enthusiasts worldwide seek ways of improving their portfolios
However, crypto mining has also had its fair share of controversies, especially with environmentalists questioning the impact of the activity on the planet. However, Shawn Blackwell and his Krypto Watt team aim to make a difference with the launch of KryptoHeat. KryptoHeat is designed to capture the heat generated...
INNOVATE™ Adelaide
Stone & Chalk Group
Is the largest innovation community in Australia.
Since its inception in 2015, Stone & Chalk’s mission has been to transform Australia into a sustainable, technology-driven economy. As a not-for-profit, purpose-driven, and sustainable organisation, Stone & Chalk works to support startups, scaleups, corporations, and governments through every stage of their innovation journey. The Stone & Chalk capital G...
INNOVATE® Gaming & Esports
BEAMABLE
WE FREE THE GLOBAL COMMUNITY OF GAME MAKERS TO FOCUS ON WHAT THEY LOVE MOST: CREATIVITY
Trapper, Ali and I had lived through building and operating live games like Star Trek Timelines, investing millions to build up the infrastructure to enable it. We didn’t think anyone should have to do all of that again. Our team has a unique background that includes not only making games—but...
INNOVATE® Washington DMV Edition
upace™
Revolutionizing How Members Engage with Recreation Centers
Revolutionizing How Members Engage with Recreation Centers In 2014, Rachel Koretsky founded Upace, which has since skyrocketed to become the top mobile app engagement and reservation platform, supporting over one million members of community recreation centers across the US and Canada. Her journey started at American University, driven by a...
INNOVATE™ Antwerp Vol.2
AVIA GIS
SOFT WARE TECHNOLOGIES FOR A HEALTHIER WORLD
“OUR RESEARCH DOESN’T STOP AFTER WRITING THE CONCLUSION.” – GUY HENDRICKX, FOUNDING MANAGING DIRECTOR, AVIA-GIS Ever heard of the proverb “better safe than sorry”? Well, Avia-GIS sure has. Even better: they built their entire business around it. Founder and CEO Guy Hendrickx started Avia-GIS in 2001 as a company with...
INNOVATE® Maryland
longeviti
Bringing Real-Time Brain Imaging Within Reach
Inside the moments when neurological decisions cannot wait, information becomes one of medicine’s most valuable tools. Helping clinicians gain that information faster has driven Longeviti from its earliest days, leading to technologies designed to make real-time brain imaging more accessible than ever before. “What drives us every day is the...
INNOVATE™ Stockholm
TECHARENA
WHERE INNOVATION BEGINS WITH HUMAN CONNECTION
Techarena is a Nordic-born platform for innovation and entrepreneurship that brings together thousands of founders, investors, business leaders, and policymakers every year. Through high-impact events, accelerator programs, and media channels, Techarena creates opportunities for cross-border collaboration and sustainable growth. From Local Competition to Global Platform What began in 2014 as...
INNOVATE® Puerto Rico
GLADIUS STUDIOS
TRANSFORMING IDEAS INTO A WORLD OF ENTERTAINMENT AND INNOVATION
Gladius Studios is an Emmy Award Winner animation studio located in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The innovation and emerging technologies company is committed to develop superior quality projects such as content for advertising, educational purposes and entertainment. To support and retain local talent in the industry of animation and technology,...
INNOVATE™ Atlantic Canada
ARTHUR L. IRVING ENTREPRENEURSHIP CENTRE
IS A CREATIVE AND COLLABORATIVE SPACE OPEN TO ALL STUDENTS IN ATLANTIC CANADA
Students come to the Arthur L. Irving Entrepreneurship Centre from all disciplines and for many reasons. Some come with an idea they want to test. Others come to learn the habits and skills of an entrepreneurial mindset – skills like agility, resiliency, design thinking, and leadership. Some come looking for...
INNOVATE™ Curitiba
ICI (INSTITUTO DAS CIDADES INTELIGENTES)
TECHNOLOGY THAT CONNECTS CITIES AND PEOPLE
A SMART CITY IS ONLY MADE WITH GREAT CARE, PLANNING, MANAGEMENT CAPACITY, AND TECHNOLOGY. For over 25 years, the Institute of Smart Cities (ICI), a social organization located in Curitiba, has been involved in developing Information Technology and Communication solutions for public management. With recognized experience throughout Brazil in the...
INNOVATE™ Vancouver Vol.2
OPERTO
A WORLD-LEADING PROPERTY AUTOMATION PLATFORM FOR THE SHORT-TERM, MULTIFAMILY AND HOTEL INDUSTRIES
By bringing together innovative software and best-in-class hardware solutions, Operto enables property owners/managers to efficiently run, scale and monetize their business, while eliminating common friction points associated with the guest journey. Operto has built a huge global footprint in the accommodation industry, with customers ranging from single Airbnb operators, up...
INNOVATE® Philadelphia
GIRL CONCRETE
BUILDING THE NEXT 250 YEARS
Philadelphia is the birthplace of American independence – a city where ideas of democracy, access, and public responsibility were first debated, documented, and declared. Two and a half centuries later, those ideals are sustained not only by words, but by infrastructure. Streets, sidewalks, schools, hospitals, transit hubs, and public spaces...
INNOVATE® Nashville
NASHVILLE AREA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
ADVANCING REGIONAL PROSPERITY THROUGH INNOVATION AND PARTNERSHIP
ABOUT PARTNERSHIP 2030 The Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce’s Partnership 2030 is the Nashville region’s public-private economic development initiative dedicated to Middle Tennessee’s long-term economic prosperity. The Partnership was formed in 1990 to maintain and grow the Nashville region’s economy by creating jobs through relocating and expanding businesses, attracting and...
INNOVATE® Nashville
Gresham Smith
Pioneering Innovation in Design
Gresham Smith, a leading architecture, engineering, design and consulting firm that has called Nashville home for more than 50 years, is an industry leader in innovation. At Gresham Smith, innovation is not just about adopting emerging technologies—it’s about transforming the design and planning process to create healthier, more connected communities....
INNOVATE™ Curitiba
CONNECTPLUG
RETAIL AUTOMATION CAN BE MORE AFFORDABLE AND EFFECTIVE FOR EVERYONE
2014 doesn’t seem like a long time ago, but the technology was very different back then. AI was just science fiction, the internet was much slower — and retail software was expensive and unnecessarily complex. This scenario led to ConnectPlug’s creation by computer engineer Rafael Hasson. Hasson, who has worked...
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™ South Africa
KING PRICE INSURANCE
MAKING A DIFFERENCE, ONE DECREASING PREMIUM AT A TIME
King Price Insurance launched with a world-first innovation – premiums that automatically decrease monthly as cars depreciate in value – and hasn’t stopped since. When they opened their doors in 2012, South Africa’s conservative insurance industry didn’t think they’d last three months. But, a decade later, the R100 million start-up...
INNOVATE™ Curitiba
NTT DATA
A TRUSTED GLOBAL INNOVATOR
Between the Top 10 Global IT Services Providers NTT DATA helps your clients to transform their businesses and society for the digital future. As a part of NTT Group, one of the world’s largest telecommunications companies, NTT DATA leverages its global reach and local expertise to serve clients in over...
INNOVATE™ Estonia
7SENSE
TELEHAPTIC TECHNOLOGY: REDEFINING SIGHT THROUGH A REMOTE SENSE OF TOUCH
7Sense is a deep-tech and life science start-up developing telehaptic technology for the blind. It allows users to feel their surrounding environment through a sense of touch on the forehead. In simple words, the user feels surrounding objects—their shape, size, motion, speed, and distance. Traditionally, haptics has meant small vibrating...
INNOVATION Quebec
INNOV & EXPORT PME
PRÉSENTATION D’INNOV & EXPORT PME
Pour développer les entreprises manufacturières et pour accroître la force de l’économie de la région du Bas-Saint-Laurent dans un marché mondial exigeant et en constante évolution, innover est indispensable. Innov & Export PME est un organisme de développement de portée régionale ayant des activités dans plusieurs entreprises sur le territoire...
INNOVATE™ Toronto
Innovation is about harnessing change, testing boundaries, and deciding to lead instead of follow. True, the process is rarely simple (let alone straightforward), but those who take the risk get a chance to write their futures. There’s no “right” path to innovation. As our experiences at KPMG’s Ignition Center reveal...
INNOVATE® South Florida
ISACA South Florida Chapter
EMPOWERING SOUTH FLORIDA’S INNOVATORS THROUGH IT RISK MANAGEMENT & CYBERSECURITY
EMPOWERING SOUTH FLORIDA’S INNOVATORSTHROUGH IT RISK MANAGEMENT & CYBERSECURITY ISACA South Florida Overview ISACA South Florida is a prominent chapter of the global Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA), dedicated to advancing professionals in IT governance, risk management, cybersecurity, and related fields. Chartered on December 2, 1978, as the...
INNOVATE® Nashville
Vanderbilt University
Innovation at Vanderbilt
An R1 research institution, Vanderbilt University is known for pathbreaking research, advancing discoveries and fueling breakthroughs across multiple disciplines. With more than $1 billion in annual research expenditures, Vanderbilt fosters cross-disciplinary collaboration with global impact. But Vanderbilt isn’t just a research university, it’s a powerful economic engine that turns ideas...
INNOVATE® Blockchain
KRYPTOWATT
Mining of digital currencies has remained one of the hottest topics in the blockchain space over the years, as crypto enthusiasts worldwide seek ways of improving their portfolios
However, crypto mining has also had its fair share of controversies, especially with environmentalists questioning the impact of the activity on the planet. However, Shawn Blackwell and his Krypto Watt team aim to make a difference with the launch of KryptoHeat. KryptoHeat is designed to capture the heat generated...
INNOVATE™ Adelaide
Stone & Chalk Group
Is the largest innovation community in Australia.
Since its inception in 2015, Stone & Chalk’s mission has been to transform Australia into a sustainable, technology-driven economy. As a not-for-profit, purpose-driven, and sustainable organisation, Stone & Chalk works to support startups, scaleups, corporations, and governments through every stage of their innovation journey. The Stone & Chalk capital G...
INNOVATE® Gaming & Esports
BEAMABLE
WE FREE THE GLOBAL COMMUNITY OF GAME MAKERS TO FOCUS ON WHAT THEY LOVE MOST: CREATIVITY
Trapper, Ali and I had lived through building and operating live games like Star Trek Timelines, investing millions to build up the infrastructure to enable it. We didn’t think anyone should have to do all of that again. Our team has a unique background that includes not only making games—but...
INNOVATE® Washington DMV Edition
upace™
Revolutionizing How Members Engage with Recreation Centers
Revolutionizing How Members Engage with Recreation Centers In 2014, Rachel Koretsky founded Upace, which has since skyrocketed to become the top mobile app engagement and reservation platform, supporting over one million members of community recreation centers across the US and Canada. Her journey started at American University, driven by a...
INNOVATE™ Antwerp Vol.2
AVIA GIS
SOFT WARE TECHNOLOGIES FOR A HEALTHIER WORLD
“OUR RESEARCH DOESN’T STOP AFTER WRITING THE CONCLUSION.” – GUY HENDRICKX, FOUNDING MANAGING DIRECTOR, AVIA-GIS Ever heard of the proverb “better safe than sorry”? Well, Avia-GIS sure has. Even better: they built their entire business around it. Founder and CEO Guy Hendrickx started Avia-GIS in 2001 as a company with...
INNOVATE® Maryland
longeviti
Bringing Real-Time Brain Imaging Within Reach
Inside the moments when neurological decisions cannot wait, information becomes one of medicine’s most valuable tools. Helping clinicians gain that information faster has driven Longeviti from its earliest days, leading to technologies designed to make real-time brain imaging more accessible than ever before. “What drives us every day is the...
INNOVATE™ Stockholm
TECHARENA
WHERE INNOVATION BEGINS WITH HUMAN CONNECTION
Techarena is a Nordic-born platform for innovation and entrepreneurship that brings together thousands of founders, investors, business leaders, and policymakers every year. Through high-impact events, accelerator programs, and media channels, Techarena creates opportunities for cross-border collaboration and sustainable growth. From Local Competition to Global Platform What began in 2014 as...
INNOVATE® Puerto Rico
GLADIUS STUDIOS
TRANSFORMING IDEAS INTO A WORLD OF ENTERTAINMENT AND INNOVATION
Gladius Studios is an Emmy Award Winner animation studio located in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The innovation and emerging technologies company is committed to develop superior quality projects such as content for advertising, educational purposes and entertainment. To support and retain local talent in the industry of animation and technology,...
INNOVATE™ Atlantic Canada
ARTHUR L. IRVING ENTREPRENEURSHIP CENTRE
IS A CREATIVE AND COLLABORATIVE SPACE OPEN TO ALL STUDENTS IN ATLANTIC CANADA
Students come to the Arthur L. Irving Entrepreneurship Centre from all disciplines and for many reasons. Some come with an idea they want to test. Others come to learn the habits and skills of an entrepreneurial mindset – skills like agility, resiliency, design thinking, and leadership. Some come looking for...
INNOVATE™ Curitiba
ICI (INSTITUTO DAS CIDADES INTELIGENTES)
TECHNOLOGY THAT CONNECTS CITIES AND PEOPLE
A SMART CITY IS ONLY MADE WITH GREAT CARE, PLANNING, MANAGEMENT CAPACITY, AND TECHNOLOGY. For over 25 years, the Institute of Smart Cities (ICI), a social organization located in Curitiba, has been involved in developing Information Technology and Communication solutions for public management. With recognized experience throughout Brazil in the...