Stories of Innovation
INNOVATE® Gaming & Esports
POLYCADE
Reimagining Arcade Gaming For The Modern Day
Polycade is the gaming platform for in-person play. The Polycade software powers PC-based consoles and arcade machines, including their proprietary commercial-grade two and four-player arcade machines. The software features are designed to support in-person and location-based gaming, while connecting these physical communities with their digital counterparts — features like small-pond...
Global Innovation Spotlight
Top 5 challenges in managing employee absences and how to overcome them
Keeping organisational productivity high can be difficult, particularly when managing employee absences. Manual methods of time recording (e.g., spreadsheets) are famously unreliable, and this is without considering the wealth of issues that come with employee absences! From unclear policies to imbalanced workloads, overcoming these challenges requires a structured approach to...
INNOVATE® New Jersey Vol.2
NJSBDC
HELPS SMALL BUSINESSES GROW
America’s Small Business Development Centers – New Jersey (NJSBDC), also known as New Jersey Small Business Development Centers, was established by Congress in 1978 as one of the first national SBDC pilot projects leading to the passage of Public Law 96-302. At present the NJSBDC network is comprised of the...
INNOVATE® Austin Volume 2
Austin Urban Technology Movement (AUTMHQ) and Michael Ward Jr
Innovatively Redefining Career Readiness and Eliminating the Skills Gap in Tech
Throughout history, a lack of career readiness and workforce development have stunted the advancement of society and its ability to overcome challenges. Take, for example, the industrial revolution where we witnessed mass migration to the North for factory jobs, the call for nurses and doctors in our healthcare system as...
INNOVATE® Nashville
BOS FRAMEWORK
Cloud Enablement, Simplified
Tech-enabled companies and enterprises save 30-50% of their Cloud development and modernization cost and time with BOS. After building over 200 software products across industries spanning Clinical Research, HealthCare, Finance, Departments of Corrections, Defense, and Education in multiple geographies including North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia, BOS CEO and Founder...
INNOVATE® Nashville
DTB Advisors
Sports Entertainment & Hospitality Speciality Advisory
SpykeFire: Pioneering Autonomous Fire Detection in Challenging Environments David Buttrey, a Nashville native, a co-owner of SpykeFire, joined by two other Nashville natives among the company’s leadership and early supporters of founder and Veteran Todd Melcher and 30 year CA Fire Captain Robert Rowe. This connection underscores how Nashville’s burgeoning...
INNOVATE™ Estonia
COMBAT READY
TURNING BATTLEFIELD LESSONS INTO EVERYDAY LEADERSHIP
Combat Ready emerged from a simple but urgent realization: while management courses abound, practical leadership training was missing in Northern Europe. Founded by veterans of elite military units, the company set out to close this gap by adapting the rigorous methods of Special Forces training to the realities of business...
INNOVATE® Washington DMV Edition
HALCYON HOUSE
A Haven for Big Risks and Bold Ideas
Halcyon, a non-profit incubator for early-stage start-ups, stands as a lighthouse of innovation. It is a unique and impactful organization dedicated to fostering the growth and development of impact-driven businesses. Halcyon accelerates the future of business by focusing on ventures that integrate a social mission into their core that also...
INNOVATION Quebec
CRISES
CENTRE DE RECHERCHE SUR LES INNOVATIONS SOCIALES (CRISES) OF UQAM
Founded in Quebec in 1986, the Centre de recherche sur les innovations sociales (CRISES) was a pioneer in research on social innovation and has become the principal French-language SI research centre internationally. Its current scientific program studies the contribution ofsocial innovations to social and environmental justice in four areas: social...
INNOVATE™ Flanders
RIVER CLEANUP
From a 10-minute cleanup to 1000 plastic-free rivers
From a 10-minute cleanup to 1000 plastic-free rivers River Cleanup is a Belgium-based organization with one clear goal: making rivers plastic-free. The non-profit started with manual cleanup actions and evolved into a pioneer in the field of river protection, with mentions in Forbes, De Tijd, The Economist and many more....
INNOVATION Quebec
ÉCOBES
UN CCTT DÉDIÉ À RÉSOUDRE LES INÉGALITÉS SOCIALES EN ÉDUCATION ET EN SANTÉ
UN CCTT DÉDIÉ À RÉSOUDRE LES INÉGALITÉS SOCIALES EN ÉDUCATION ET EN SANTÉ AU MOYEN DE LA RECHERCHE APPLIQUÉE ET PARTENARIALE COMPRENDRE, COCONSTRUIRE, AGIR Le Centre d’Étude sur les COnditions de vie et BESoins de la population (ÉCOBES) s’affirme en tant que chef de file dans le domaine de l’innovation...
INNOVATE™ Toronto
REAL VENTURES
CANADA’S MOST ACTIVE EARLY-STAGE VENTURE CAPITAL FIRM
Real Ventures is one of Canada’s most active early-stage venture capital firms, dedicated to serving entrepreneurs and nurturing the communities in which they thrive. In 2007, we questioned why brilliant Canadian founders should have to fly to San Francisco to raise seed capital. Since then, we have dedicated ourselves to...
INNOVATE® Washington DMV Edition
MARGOT MACHOL BISNOW IS THE AUTHOR OF RAISING AN ENTREPRENEUR
How to Help Your Children Achieve Their Dreams; 99 Stories From Families Who Did.
Margot had spent most of her career in international development, with stints at the Treasury, White House, and FTC. She had never expected to write a book on raising an entrepreneur. It began when she started meeting scores of successful young entrepreneurs through her older son, Elliott, who, in 2008,...
INNOVATE™ South Africa
HEAVY CHEF
THERE’S A SAYING THAT GOES NEVER TRUST A SKINNY CHEF. THIS GOES FOR BUSINESS ADVISORS, CONSULTANTS, AND EXPERTS, TOO
A Heavy Chef is someone that speaks authoritatively about a specific subject because they have vast experience in that area. Some of our Heavy Chefs are not internationally known but still making a notable impact in their spaces, or who’s been performing notable work in the background. It is someone...
INNOVATE® Nashville
GENERAL MOTORS SPRING HILL
FROM FIXED TO FLEXIBLE
The Rise of Adaptive Manufacturing Systems The future of mobility isn’t on the horizon. It’s unfolding around us, reshaping how vehicles are designed, powered, and produced. Electric vehicles are gaining market share, autonomous technology is being deployed, supply chains are being rebuilt, and new technologies are reshaping manufacturing. In this...
INNOVATE® Chicago Vol.1
NATURE'S FYND
TRANSFORMING HOW THE WORLD EATS WITH FY™, A NEW-TO-THE-WORLD, NUTRITIONAL FUNGI PROTEIN
The story of Nature’s Fynd™ begins millions of years ago, in an acidic hot spring located in what is today Yellowstone National Park when a remarkable microbe was born. In 2009, NASA-backed research on extremophiles led our co-founder to the park’s hot springs. He then isolated and discovered a remarkable...
INNOVATE® Puerto Rico
MONLLOR CAPITAL PARTNERS
INVESTING IN THE FUTURE OF PUERTO RICO
With over 27 years of global private equity and investment banking experience, Jose A. Torres returns to Puerto Rico to bring innovation to the alternative assets and private equity industry. INNOVATION IN ALTERNATIVE ASSETSMonllor Capital Partners LLC (“MCP”) was founded in 2018 by Jose A. Torres, as a minority-owned alternative...
INNOVATE® Blockchain
ENLEDGER
Is a story of fortuitous serendipity and strange coincidence, a random meeting of minds and a coming together of disparate expertise, chasing wild breakthrough ideas in data science and blockchain incentives engineering
Jason Dispenza, an energy exec running a solar energy and building performance company in D.C., meets Ryan Molecke, cryptocurrency exchange technical officer, on a tour bus taking the Icelandic Southern coastal tour, Jan 2016. By the next year, they are paired up with a new blockchain energy applications company, pitching...
INNOVATION Quebec
TOPMED
CCTT FOR HEALTH INNOVATION
TOPMED assists organizations involved in healthcare, adaptation, rehabilitation and mobility. We develop, customize, optimize and validate devices, equipment and technologies for vulnerable populations and athletes. TOPMED develops and conducts applied research projects focused on innovation and technological improvement, working in collaboration with laboratories—public or private—and businesses to provide social, mechanical...
INNOVATE® Jacksonville
Holmes Custom
Creating Personalised Products
Now celebrating its 65th year in business, Jacksonville-based Holmes Custom designs, manufactures, and retails personalized products across 8 web brands. How does a business that was started in the 1950s stand the test of time? There’s only one way: Innovation. What began as a rubber stamp manufacturer in a garage...
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...
INNOVATE™ Alberta
CANADIAN BLOCKCHAIN CONSORTIUM
ADVOCATING FOR THE BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY AND DIGITAL ASSETS SECTOR
Uniting diverse companies, individuals, and organizations from across the national innovation ecosystem, the Canadian Blockchain Consortium is the country’s advocate for the blockchain technology and cryptocurrency sector. The Consortium was launched in 2016 as the Alberta Blockchain Consortium by the late energy and technology pioneer Suzanne West, who had a...
INNOVATE™ Flanders
EXOVIBE
BACK TO THE FUTURE FROM SOFT EXOSKELETON TO SAAS PLATFORM AND BACK
OriginsThe idea for ExoVibe came to founder Gabriel Samlali in 2014, while he was struggling to carry a heavy box to his attic. Gabriel wondered how an elderly or disabled person would manage to complete the same task. A cursory google search for personal equipment solutions led Gabriel to exoskeletons....
INNOVATE® Gaming & Esports
POLYCADE
Reimagining Arcade Gaming For The Modern Day
Polycade is the gaming platform for in-person play. The Polycade software powers PC-based consoles and arcade machines, including their proprietary commercial-grade two and four-player arcade machines. The software features are designed to support in-person and location-based gaming, while connecting these physical communities with their digital counterparts — features like small-pond...
Global Innovation Spotlight
Top 5 challenges in managing employee absences and how to overcome them
Keeping organisational productivity high can be difficult, particularly when managing employee absences. Manual methods of time recording (e.g., spreadsheets) are famously unreliable, and this is without considering the wealth of issues that come with employee absences! From unclear policies to imbalanced workloads, overcoming these challenges requires a structured approach to...
INNOVATE® New Jersey Vol.2
NJSBDC
HELPS SMALL BUSINESSES GROW
America’s Small Business Development Centers – New Jersey (NJSBDC), also known as New Jersey Small Business Development Centers, was established by Congress in 1978 as one of the first national SBDC pilot projects leading to the passage of Public Law 96-302. At present the NJSBDC network is comprised of the...
INNOVATE® Austin Volume 2
Austin Urban Technology Movement (AUTMHQ) and Michael Ward Jr
Innovatively Redefining Career Readiness and Eliminating the Skills Gap in Tech
Throughout history, a lack of career readiness and workforce development have stunted the advancement of society and its ability to overcome challenges. Take, for example, the industrial revolution where we witnessed mass migration to the North for factory jobs, the call for nurses and doctors in our healthcare system as...
INNOVATE® Nashville
BOS FRAMEWORK
Cloud Enablement, Simplified
Tech-enabled companies and enterprises save 30-50% of their Cloud development and modernization cost and time with BOS. After building over 200 software products across industries spanning Clinical Research, HealthCare, Finance, Departments of Corrections, Defense, and Education in multiple geographies including North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia, BOS CEO and Founder...
INNOVATE® Nashville
DTB Advisors
Sports Entertainment & Hospitality Speciality Advisory
SpykeFire: Pioneering Autonomous Fire Detection in Challenging Environments David Buttrey, a Nashville native, a co-owner of SpykeFire, joined by two other Nashville natives among the company’s leadership and early supporters of founder and Veteran Todd Melcher and 30 year CA Fire Captain Robert Rowe. This connection underscores how Nashville’s burgeoning...
INNOVATE™ Estonia
COMBAT READY
TURNING BATTLEFIELD LESSONS INTO EVERYDAY LEADERSHIP
Combat Ready emerged from a simple but urgent realization: while management courses abound, practical leadership training was missing in Northern Europe. Founded by veterans of elite military units, the company set out to close this gap by adapting the rigorous methods of Special Forces training to the realities of business...
INNOVATE® Washington DMV Edition
HALCYON HOUSE
A Haven for Big Risks and Bold Ideas
Halcyon, a non-profit incubator for early-stage start-ups, stands as a lighthouse of innovation. It is a unique and impactful organization dedicated to fostering the growth and development of impact-driven businesses. Halcyon accelerates the future of business by focusing on ventures that integrate a social mission into their core that also...
INNOVATION Quebec
CRISES
CENTRE DE RECHERCHE SUR LES INNOVATIONS SOCIALES (CRISES) OF UQAM
Founded in Quebec in 1986, the Centre de recherche sur les innovations sociales (CRISES) was a pioneer in research on social innovation and has become the principal French-language SI research centre internationally. Its current scientific program studies the contribution ofsocial innovations to social and environmental justice in four areas: social...
INNOVATE™ Flanders
RIVER CLEANUP
From a 10-minute cleanup to 1000 plastic-free rivers
From a 10-minute cleanup to 1000 plastic-free rivers River Cleanup is a Belgium-based organization with one clear goal: making rivers plastic-free. The non-profit started with manual cleanup actions and evolved into a pioneer in the field of river protection, with mentions in Forbes, De Tijd, The Economist and many more....
INNOVATION Quebec
ÉCOBES
UN CCTT DÉDIÉ À RÉSOUDRE LES INÉGALITÉS SOCIALES EN ÉDUCATION ET EN SANTÉ
UN CCTT DÉDIÉ À RÉSOUDRE LES INÉGALITÉS SOCIALES EN ÉDUCATION ET EN SANTÉ AU MOYEN DE LA RECHERCHE APPLIQUÉE ET PARTENARIALE COMPRENDRE, COCONSTRUIRE, AGIR Le Centre d’Étude sur les COnditions de vie et BESoins de la population (ÉCOBES) s’affirme en tant que chef de file dans le domaine de l’innovation...
INNOVATE™ Toronto
REAL VENTURES
CANADA’S MOST ACTIVE EARLY-STAGE VENTURE CAPITAL FIRM
Real Ventures is one of Canada’s most active early-stage venture capital firms, dedicated to serving entrepreneurs and nurturing the communities in which they thrive. In 2007, we questioned why brilliant Canadian founders should have to fly to San Francisco to raise seed capital. Since then, we have dedicated ourselves to...
INNOVATE® Washington DMV Edition
MARGOT MACHOL BISNOW IS THE AUTHOR OF RAISING AN ENTREPRENEUR
How to Help Your Children Achieve Their Dreams; 99 Stories From Families Who Did.
Margot had spent most of her career in international development, with stints at the Treasury, White House, and FTC. She had never expected to write a book on raising an entrepreneur. It began when she started meeting scores of successful young entrepreneurs through her older son, Elliott, who, in 2008,...
INNOVATE™ South Africa
HEAVY CHEF
THERE’S A SAYING THAT GOES NEVER TRUST A SKINNY CHEF. THIS GOES FOR BUSINESS ADVISORS, CONSULTANTS, AND EXPERTS, TOO
A Heavy Chef is someone that speaks authoritatively about a specific subject because they have vast experience in that area. Some of our Heavy Chefs are not internationally known but still making a notable impact in their spaces, or who’s been performing notable work in the background. It is someone...
INNOVATE® Nashville
GENERAL MOTORS SPRING HILL
FROM FIXED TO FLEXIBLE
The Rise of Adaptive Manufacturing Systems The future of mobility isn’t on the horizon. It’s unfolding around us, reshaping how vehicles are designed, powered, and produced. Electric vehicles are gaining market share, autonomous technology is being deployed, supply chains are being rebuilt, and new technologies are reshaping manufacturing. In this...
INNOVATE® Chicago Vol.1
NATURE'S FYND
TRANSFORMING HOW THE WORLD EATS WITH FY™, A NEW-TO-THE-WORLD, NUTRITIONAL FUNGI PROTEIN
The story of Nature’s Fynd™ begins millions of years ago, in an acidic hot spring located in what is today Yellowstone National Park when a remarkable microbe was born. In 2009, NASA-backed research on extremophiles led our co-founder to the park’s hot springs. He then isolated and discovered a remarkable...
INNOVATE® Puerto Rico
MONLLOR CAPITAL PARTNERS
INVESTING IN THE FUTURE OF PUERTO RICO
With over 27 years of global private equity and investment banking experience, Jose A. Torres returns to Puerto Rico to bring innovation to the alternative assets and private equity industry. INNOVATION IN ALTERNATIVE ASSETSMonllor Capital Partners LLC (“MCP”) was founded in 2018 by Jose A. Torres, as a minority-owned alternative...
INNOVATE® Blockchain
ENLEDGER
Is a story of fortuitous serendipity and strange coincidence, a random meeting of minds and a coming together of disparate expertise, chasing wild breakthrough ideas in data science and blockchain incentives engineering
Jason Dispenza, an energy exec running a solar energy and building performance company in D.C., meets Ryan Molecke, cryptocurrency exchange technical officer, on a tour bus taking the Icelandic Southern coastal tour, Jan 2016. By the next year, they are paired up with a new blockchain energy applications company, pitching...
INNOVATION Quebec
TOPMED
CCTT FOR HEALTH INNOVATION
TOPMED assists organizations involved in healthcare, adaptation, rehabilitation and mobility. We develop, customize, optimize and validate devices, equipment and technologies for vulnerable populations and athletes. TOPMED develops and conducts applied research projects focused on innovation and technological improvement, working in collaboration with laboratories—public or private—and businesses to provide social, mechanical...
INNOVATE® Jacksonville
Holmes Custom
Creating Personalised Products
Now celebrating its 65th year in business, Jacksonville-based Holmes Custom designs, manufactures, and retails personalized products across 8 web brands. How does a business that was started in the 1950s stand the test of time? There’s only one way: Innovation. What began as a rubber stamp manufacturer in a garage...
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...
INNOVATE™ Alberta
CANADIAN BLOCKCHAIN CONSORTIUM
ADVOCATING FOR THE BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY AND DIGITAL ASSETS SECTOR
Uniting diverse companies, individuals, and organizations from across the national innovation ecosystem, the Canadian Blockchain Consortium is the country’s advocate for the blockchain technology and cryptocurrency sector. The Consortium was launched in 2016 as the Alberta Blockchain Consortium by the late energy and technology pioneer Suzanne West, who had a...
INNOVATE™ Flanders
EXOVIBE
BACK TO THE FUTURE FROM SOFT EXOSKELETON TO SAAS PLATFORM AND BACK
OriginsThe idea for ExoVibe came to founder Gabriel Samlali in 2014, while he was struggling to carry a heavy box to his attic. Gabriel wondered how an elderly or disabled person would manage to complete the same task. A cursory google search for personal equipment solutions led Gabriel to exoskeletons....