Stories of Innovation

The Harwood Institute for Public Innovation equips people, organizations, communities, and networks with tools to bridge divides, build capacity, and tackle shared challenges. By Turning Outward, people enable communities to become a collective force for change. Catalyzing HopeThe Harwood Institute exists in a long tradition of catalytic organizations throughout American...

The Chicago Help Initiative was founded in 1999 by Jacqueline C. Hayes to be a compassionate response to the homeless displaced by efforts of the City of Chicago. It has evolved into a hyperlocal model of how individuals can link together to address a difficult problem using a mix of...

playhaus is an emerging technology company working at the intersection of web3 systems and artificial intelligence. It has always had a Midwest-based identity, with the company having started in Ann Arbor, MI, but relocated to Kansas City, MO, in June of 2022 to be immersed in KC’s vibrant creative and...

ELEVATOR PITCH Rethreaded provides a second chance at life through employment for survivors of human trafficking. Women have employment opportunities in different facets of the company, including production, inventory, sales, marketing and finance/admin. Through its own enterprise and its distribution company that partners with like-minded businesses, Rethreaded’s mission is to...

Founders Live is a global ecosystem for early-stage founders, startups, and entrepreneurs. They are on a mission to elevate entrepreneurship around the world, connecting entrepreneurs to the people, resources, capital, and exposure they need to truly become successful. The vast (and quickly growing) global platform, spanning 120 cities across more...

Music is a Passport, allowing travelers to walk into cultures, time periods, and gaining exposure to new ways of thinking. Avant ensures community members access to these windows of culture through diverse, dynamic and eclectic programming. By giving our community access, it encourages innovation by expanding minds, opening new horizons,...

If you love video games, you may have thought about making one. So, what’s stopping you? Ten years ago, the answer likely would have been the industry itself. Video games were typically produced only by studios with enough capital to house the entire game creation pipeline. And that pipeline was...

At JTEKT North America, innovation isn’t just a buzzword; it’s an invitation. An invitation to businesses facing their toughest challenges. When it comes to solving the problems that seem unsolvable, JTEKT isn’t shy about one thing: we’re actively “looking for trouble.” Not the kind of trouble that comes with poor...

In 2013, against the backdrop of a male-dominated tech landscape, Jennifer Wadalla, a passionate advocate for gender equality, founded Kansas City Women in Tech (KCWiT). Her vision was to create a supportive ecosystem that would empower women to thrive in the technology industry. Under Jennifer’s visionary leadership, KCWiT quickly became...

Dynamik Focus was Founded in October 2016 By Aziza Brown. After varying experiences with previous esports teams, and seeing a need for representation and structure in the growing esports space, she partnered with former teammate Devin Harris, and Dynamik Focus was born. Soon after the organization was founded, Dynamik Focus...

Every business owner has a list of priorities for their company. Growth. Keeping the lights on. Serving customers. Staying a step ahead of the competition. The problem is that not everyone treats these goals as parts of the same job. Business strategy lives in one folder, risk and insurance sit...

A commercial break at a Jets playoff game gave two University of Manitoba students an idea. Nearly a decade later, Taiv’s AI powers the screens in thousands of venues across North America. It still calls Winnipeg home. On a spring night in 2018, Noah Palansky was watching a Winnipeg Jets...

Digital Natives is a 100% youth and citizen-owned, multi-award-winning software and disruptive agency with the founder, Mthabisi Bokete, being Standard Bank Africa Group’s youngest Board Member in the history of Stanbic Bank, both locally & globally. Digital Natives won the regional 2020 SADC Innovation and Investment Competition with their remarkable...

We provide holistic, fully-orchestrated programs to help harness and deploy innovation. Similar to the platypus, we believe that the greatest innovations are an amalgamation of seemingly disparate insights and ideas, that together create surprisingly, unexpected outcomes enabling organizations to deliver their own toxic blow and outpunch the competition. We live...

OCTOPODZ: REVOLUTIONIZING OCEAN ENERGY WITH MIXED-MODE MARINE POWER SOLUTIONS NEPTUNYA, an innovator in marine renewable energy, is transforming the future of ocean-based power with its OCTOPODZ energy converter—a groundbreaking device combining wind and wave power to deliver affordable and reliable offshore energy. As part of its ongoing development, NEPTUNYA will...

Inside the University of Washington’s Foster School of Business is a small office dedicated to helping big entrepreneurial ideas take shape. The Buerk Center for Entrepreneurship offers academic programs and real-world experiences for undergraduate and graduate students interested in the startup process. By empowering early-stage founders to embrace a sense...

Pouring time, effort, and money into creating your video ads only to see them rejected — that’s a nightmare for every marketer. Why does it happen? See the video marketing checklist for Facebook and other social media platforms below, and you’ll forget what rejection means. Why Technical Rejections Are Killing...

As the first and largest digital platform for finding in-home care, Sittercity, a Bright Horizons company, has come a long way since 2001. , We were the first to make online child care an employee benefit and we continue to connect millions of parents with babysitters and nannies every year....

DIGITAL REAL ESTATE A groundbreaking online tool for both the office and the field – RealitApp. Three quarters of real estate agencies in Slovakia would welcome the opportunity to make their work easier through a mobile interface, instead of the old school use of notebooks or Excel. When the creators...

Real-time information drives business decisions. Connectic – a distributor and integrator of digital solutions – supports the transport and logistics sector with its innovative digital asset tracking solutions to optimise productivity and operations. In the transport and logistics world, managing and monitoring assets can be a daunting challenge – especially...

The initials GDI comes from the concept “Ground Digital Interface”, not dropping the story, keeping three letters of the company “GrunDIg”.   Founded by three people and with the support of Corex Web, a technology startup, was the embarkment of a project without any investment capital. Something that would certainly...

Current methods of managing healthcare are unsustainable, with chronic disease treatment alone putting a $4 trillion annual strain on the U.S. economy. Healthcare professionals across the board agree that earlier diagnosis, better preventative care, and improved disease management will significantly reduce those costs while improving the lives of millions of...

US WorldMeds is a specialty pharmaceutical company guided by a clear purpose: to improve the lives of patients facing rare and serious conditions. With a focus on areas that are often overlooked, the company is committed to identifying unmet needs and delivering therapies that create real impact for patients, families,...

Economic impact has a standard playbook: count jobs, measure spending, calculate activity, and produce a number. Oftentimes this approach defines how cities, institutions, and developers tell their economic story, but it can leave out the most important part—the context of the place and the tangible day-to-day impacts on the community....