Stories of Innovation

INNOVATE® Detroit

CommuniTee

Your New Favorite Way to Golf with Friends

CommuniTee Golf began with a simple revelation during a college football game:a room full of friends and acquaintances who never realized they shared a love for golf and had never played together. This moment sparked the creation of CommuniTee Golf, a platform designed to help golfers easily connect, find playing...

Global Innovation Spotlight

Antigro Designer

Powering the Future of Personalized Print

“We’re not in the business of printing. We’re in the business of unlocking potential.” One company is reshaping how the world thinks about printed products globally in the fast-rising design and tech landscape. Since 2016, Antigro Designer has been rewriting the rules for personalization, automation, and scalability in the print...

INNOVATE® Puerto Rico

PILOTOMAIL

PILOTOMAIL-REVOLUTIONIZING THE WAY WE ALL ACCESS AND MANAGE OUR POSTAL MAIL

REVOLUTIONIZING THE WAY WE ALL ACCESS AND MANAGE OUR POSTAL MAIL

PilotoMail was born in a high traffic mailroom at Piloto 151 coworking spaces in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Stolberg siblings, Sofia and Juan Carlos, had been running the first and largest coworking operation on the Island for 6 years, and, as more entrepreneurs, freelancers, professionals and corporates joined their membership...

INNOVATE™ Antwerp Vol.2

SAM

SAM-SENSORY-FRIENDLY CLOTHING THAT LOWERS STRESS

SENSORY - FRIENDLY CLOTHING THAT LOWERS STRESS

Every day we experience an overload of sensory stimuli: we see, hear, feel, smell, and taste a lot. Whenever our brain has a hard time filtering and processing all those stimuli, this can lead to overstimulation. Children who are highly sensitive, have ASD, ADHD, mental limitations, or brain injuries are...

Global Innovation Spotlight

Flutterwave’s Olugbenga Agboola

What It Takes To Found a Successful Tech Firm

Take it from someone who knows: Scaling a firm from simple startup to unicorn status isn’t for the faint of heart. For Olugbenga “GB” Agboola, the founder and CEO of the African e-payments platform Flutterwave, earning a valuation of more than $1 billion wasn’t about having the best idea or...

INNOVATE™ Vancouver Vol.2

Better Basics

Cleans up homes of toxins and saves billions of plastic bottles

Better Basics is on a mission to eliminate homes of toxins and plastic. Their household cleaning personal care and cleaning industry. and personal care refill system is designed to make using all natural, high performing products that save plastic bottles easy and convenient. Better Basics makes “eco-friendly” beautiful and functional...

INNOVATE™ Alberta

INCEPTIONU

The Un-School challenging Calgarians to think and build differently

Have you ever thought about the difference between being future proof or future fit? InceptionU co-founders Margo Purcell and Greg Hart certainly have. In fact, the two Calgary professionals have built a business around it. InceptionU is a place of meaningful learning where individuals, businesses and organizations go to learn...

INNOVATE™ Vancouver Vol.2

Matidor.com

Matidor.com- “Matidor.com is the All-In-One Project Management Platform On a Live Map”

“Matidor.com is the All-In-One Project Management Platform On a Live Map”

How Matidor.com StartedVincent and Sean are Vancouver-based serial entrepreneurs who come from very different backgrounds but share one vision. Vincent’s previous experience at Google Earth and as a product manager at Dassault Systèmes revealed a gap in how people in the field managed projects. When Sean moved back to town...

INNOVATE™ South Africa

SHOUT-IT-NOW

SHOUT-IT-NOW - TACKLING HIV THROUGH INNOVATIVE

TACKLING HIV THROUGH INNOVATIVE, TECH-ENABLED, COMMUNITY-BASED PROGRAMMING

Shout-It-Now (Shout) is an innovative social enterprise, empowering youth to own their sexuality. We concentrate on hard to reach communities; we go to the places where they are, provide services they want, in such a way that they choose to keep coming back. We are a local South African organisation...

INNOVATE® Austin Volume 2

JOHN OBERG ADVISORY & INVESTMENTS

JOHN OBERG ADVISORY & INVESTMENTS

MISSION-DRIVEN ADVISORY WITH AN EYE TO THE FINANCIAL SCOREBOARD

John Oberg Advisory and Investment (JOA) partners with organizations that are on a mission to positively impact our daily lives. Our clients and investments are primarily those that serve others across healthcare, technology, nonprofits, and institutions. Dr. John Oberg and the experienced team at JOA balance strategic direction and tactical...

INNOVATE™ Botswana Vol.1

NAKO TIMEPIECES

NAKO TIMEPIECES- A LUXURY WATCH DESIGNER BRAND WITH HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE

A LUXURY WATCH DESIGNER BRAND WITH HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE

Born and designed in Gaborone, Botswana Nako Timepieces are merging innovation and luxury watchmaking that is proudly rooted in Botswana. BRAND PERSONALITYAn embodiment of Afrocentrism, Tswana origins, selfdiscovery, character and endurance. Having stepped over the line of classic iconic style and into the realm of simplicity — Nako Timepieces identifies...

INNOVATION Quebec

Concordia-University

LE CENTRE DE RECHERCHE SUR LA CYBERSÉCURITÉ (CRC)

Le Centre de recherche sur la cybersécurité (CRC) est une unité multidisciplinaire de formation, de R&D et d’innovation qui fournit des solutions technologiques pratiques et efficaces aux problèmes de cybersécurité du gouvernement et de l’industrie. Le CRS compte plus de 75 chercheurs en cybersécurité, dont 55 doctorants et étudiants à...

INNOVATE™ Vancouver Vol.2

RAFAEL SANTA ANA ARCHITECTURE WORKSHOP

CHALLENGING CREATIVITY THROUGH DIVERSITY

Rafael Santa Ana Architecture Workshop (RSAAW) is a Vancouver-based architectural practice that creates expressive, contemporary interventions that contribute to our communities in thoughtful and meaningful ways. The practice’s diverse team pursues projects where design can be developed, including residential, commercial, institutional, industrial, and mixed use development programs. RSAAW seeks creative...

INNOVATE™ Estonia

FinEst Centre

Creating Smarter Cities Through Collaborative Innovation

FinEst Centre for Smart Cities is a research and development centre driven by the passion to enhance the quality of life in urban areas. It brings together cities, researchers and entrepreneurs to co-create scalable, research-based solutions for the most pressing urban challenges. Based in Tallinn, Estonia, the centre serves as...

INNOVATE™ Alberta

PLUG AND PLAY

DRIVING DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION THROUGH A GLOBAL INNOVATION PLATFORM

At Plug and Play we believe that innovation should be open to anyone, anywhere. Plug and Play is building the leading innovation platform in the world focused on bringing Fortune 1000 corporations, innovative technology startups, and institutional investors together to develop and implement the technologies of tomorrow. Our innovation platform...

INNOVATE® Georgia

UTILITY2030

U2030: WHERE PEOPLE ARE AT THE HEART OF UTILITY INNOVATION & TRANSFORMATION

THE HUMAN ELEMENT OF TECH TRANSFORMATION AMONG UTILITY COMPANIESThe role of utility companies has evolved profoundly over the past century. A hundred years ago, utilities delivered essential services like electricity, water, and wastewater to geographically dispersed populations, prioritizing reliability, safety, and affordability. At that time, utilities’ technological footprint was limited...

INNOVATE™ Flanders

iFLUX

Future-proof groundwater monitoring solutions in uncertain and dynamic times.

How do you tackle groundwater contamination in a targeted, swift, and efficient manner? How do you prevent nature reserves and cities from running dry? These are the questions that iFLUX experts answer with the help of objective data coming from state-of-the-art sensor technology. Groundwater constitutes just 0,65% of Earth’s water,...

INNOVATE® New Jersey Vol.2

Boundless Innovations

Boundless Innovations - An Award-winning Product Design And Development Company

An Award-winning Product Design And Development Company

Boundless Innovations LLC is an award-winning product design and development company, plus advocates of the open innovation movement since 2004. We invent independently and form strategic partnerships with great companies such as Design Circle (seen below) to design, prototype, co-invent, and bring new products, innovations, and businesses to market via...

INNOVATE® Seattle

Buerk Center for Entrepreneurship

UW’S BUERK CENTER IS IN THE BUSINESS OF IDEAS

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...

INNOVATE® Kansas City

SEARCY FINANCIAL

REDEFINING FINANCIAL PLANNING FOR THE MODERN ERA

In an industry often defined by numbers, Searcy Financial Services stands apart by focusing on people. Founded in 1976 and independently owned by second-generation leaders Jessica Kmetty, Marc Shaffer, John Fales, and Ryan Brooke, the firm has built a reputation not just for managing wealth, but for helping people make...

INNOVATE™ Curitiba

TAURUS HELMETS

IS LEADING BRAZILIAN MOTORCYCLE HELMETS INNOVATION

Taurus Helmets is a Brazilian company pioneer in the manufacture of helmets in Brazil. It has been in the market for over 40 years and hasestablished itself as the largest in the segment, with a market share of around 50%. It has national sales coverage with more than 12,000 points...

INNOVATE™ Stockholm

WIB CAPITAL

BUILDING A NEW FRONT DOOR TO INVESTMENT; DESIGNED TO REDUCE BIAS

Early-stage investing is often described as data-driven. In practice, first impressions still decide what gets a meeting and what gets ignored. WiB Capital is building a digital front door to investment that helps startups become investor-ready using AI, while reducing identity-based bias by letting the business case speak first. The...

INNOVATIONS in Pharmaceutical Development®

MBQ PHARMA

The first biopharmaceutical drug development company started in Puerto Rico based on proprietary research in cancer, autoimmune and fibrotic diseases

Selective Targeting of GTPases – A novel, promising approach to treating Cancer, Autoimmune Conditions and Chronic Fibrotic DiseaseMBQ PHARMA – The Company and its missionMBQ Pharma is a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company dedicated to developing treatments with high unmet medical needs such as Cancer, Autoimmune Disease and Chronic Fibrotic Syndromes. Our...

INNOVATE™ Vancouver Vol.2

ENVISIONING LABS

PIONEERING SUSTAINABLE INNOVATION

In the face of climate change, the need for sustainable solutions has never been greater. Envisioning Labs, a Vancouver based deep tech firm, is at the forefront of this challenge, developing social and technological solutions that counter climate change and foster a carbon neutral future. Their focus on first principles-based,...

INNOVATE® Detroit

CommuniTee

Your New Favorite Way to Golf with Friends

CommuniTee Golf began with a simple revelation during a college football game:a room full of friends and acquaintances who never realized they shared a love for golf and had never played together. This moment sparked the creation of CommuniTee Golf, a platform designed to help golfers easily connect, find playing...

Global Innovation Spotlight

Antigro Designer

Powering the Future of Personalized Print

“We’re not in the business of printing. We’re in the business of unlocking potential.” One company is reshaping how the world thinks about printed products globally in the fast-rising design and tech landscape. Since 2016, Antigro Designer has been rewriting the rules for personalization, automation, and scalability in the print...

INNOVATE® Puerto Rico

PILOTOMAIL

PILOTOMAIL-REVOLUTIONIZING THE WAY WE ALL ACCESS AND MANAGE OUR POSTAL MAIL

REVOLUTIONIZING THE WAY WE ALL ACCESS AND MANAGE OUR POSTAL MAIL

PilotoMail was born in a high traffic mailroom at Piloto 151 coworking spaces in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Stolberg siblings, Sofia and Juan Carlos, had been running the first and largest coworking operation on the Island for 6 years, and, as more entrepreneurs, freelancers, professionals and corporates joined their membership...

INNOVATE™ Antwerp Vol.2

SAM

SAM-SENSORY-FRIENDLY CLOTHING THAT LOWERS STRESS

SENSORY - FRIENDLY CLOTHING THAT LOWERS STRESS

Every day we experience an overload of sensory stimuli: we see, hear, feel, smell, and taste a lot. Whenever our brain has a hard time filtering and processing all those stimuli, this can lead to overstimulation. Children who are highly sensitive, have ASD, ADHD, mental limitations, or brain injuries are...

Global Innovation Spotlight

Flutterwave’s Olugbenga Agboola

What It Takes To Found a Successful Tech Firm

Take it from someone who knows: Scaling a firm from simple startup to unicorn status isn’t for the faint of heart. For Olugbenga “GB” Agboola, the founder and CEO of the African e-payments platform Flutterwave, earning a valuation of more than $1 billion wasn’t about having the best idea or...

INNOVATE™ Vancouver Vol.2

Better Basics

Cleans up homes of toxins and saves billions of plastic bottles

Better Basics is on a mission to eliminate homes of toxins and plastic. Their household cleaning personal care and cleaning industry. and personal care refill system is designed to make using all natural, high performing products that save plastic bottles easy and convenient. Better Basics makes “eco-friendly” beautiful and functional...

INNOVATE™ Alberta

INCEPTIONU

The Un-School challenging Calgarians to think and build differently

Have you ever thought about the difference between being future proof or future fit? InceptionU co-founders Margo Purcell and Greg Hart certainly have. In fact, the two Calgary professionals have built a business around it. InceptionU is a place of meaningful learning where individuals, businesses and organizations go to learn...

INNOVATE™ Vancouver Vol.2

Matidor.com

Matidor.com- “Matidor.com is the All-In-One Project Management Platform On a Live Map”

“Matidor.com is the All-In-One Project Management Platform On a Live Map”

How Matidor.com StartedVincent and Sean are Vancouver-based serial entrepreneurs who come from very different backgrounds but share one vision. Vincent’s previous experience at Google Earth and as a product manager at Dassault Systèmes revealed a gap in how people in the field managed projects. When Sean moved back to town...

INNOVATE™ South Africa

SHOUT-IT-NOW

SHOUT-IT-NOW - TACKLING HIV THROUGH INNOVATIVE

TACKLING HIV THROUGH INNOVATIVE, TECH-ENABLED, COMMUNITY-BASED PROGRAMMING

Shout-It-Now (Shout) is an innovative social enterprise, empowering youth to own their sexuality. We concentrate on hard to reach communities; we go to the places where they are, provide services they want, in such a way that they choose to keep coming back. We are a local South African organisation...

INNOVATE® Austin Volume 2

JOHN OBERG ADVISORY & INVESTMENTS

JOHN OBERG ADVISORY & INVESTMENTS

MISSION-DRIVEN ADVISORY WITH AN EYE TO THE FINANCIAL SCOREBOARD

John Oberg Advisory and Investment (JOA) partners with organizations that are on a mission to positively impact our daily lives. Our clients and investments are primarily those that serve others across healthcare, technology, nonprofits, and institutions. Dr. John Oberg and the experienced team at JOA balance strategic direction and tactical...

INNOVATE™ Botswana Vol.1

NAKO TIMEPIECES

NAKO TIMEPIECES- A LUXURY WATCH DESIGNER BRAND WITH HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE

A LUXURY WATCH DESIGNER BRAND WITH HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE

Born and designed in Gaborone, Botswana Nako Timepieces are merging innovation and luxury watchmaking that is proudly rooted in Botswana. BRAND PERSONALITYAn embodiment of Afrocentrism, Tswana origins, selfdiscovery, character and endurance. Having stepped over the line of classic iconic style and into the realm of simplicity — Nako Timepieces identifies...

INNOVATION Quebec

Concordia-University

LE CENTRE DE RECHERCHE SUR LA CYBERSÉCURITÉ (CRC)

Le Centre de recherche sur la cybersécurité (CRC) est une unité multidisciplinaire de formation, de R&D et d’innovation qui fournit des solutions technologiques pratiques et efficaces aux problèmes de cybersécurité du gouvernement et de l’industrie. Le CRS compte plus de 75 chercheurs en cybersécurité, dont 55 doctorants et étudiants à...

INNOVATE™ Vancouver Vol.2

RAFAEL SANTA ANA ARCHITECTURE WORKSHOP

CHALLENGING CREATIVITY THROUGH DIVERSITY

Rafael Santa Ana Architecture Workshop (RSAAW) is a Vancouver-based architectural practice that creates expressive, contemporary interventions that contribute to our communities in thoughtful and meaningful ways. The practice’s diverse team pursues projects where design can be developed, including residential, commercial, institutional, industrial, and mixed use development programs. RSAAW seeks creative...

INNOVATE™ Estonia

FinEst Centre

Creating Smarter Cities Through Collaborative Innovation

FinEst Centre for Smart Cities is a research and development centre driven by the passion to enhance the quality of life in urban areas. It brings together cities, researchers and entrepreneurs to co-create scalable, research-based solutions for the most pressing urban challenges. Based in Tallinn, Estonia, the centre serves as...

INNOVATE™ Alberta

PLUG AND PLAY

DRIVING DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION THROUGH A GLOBAL INNOVATION PLATFORM

At Plug and Play we believe that innovation should be open to anyone, anywhere. Plug and Play is building the leading innovation platform in the world focused on bringing Fortune 1000 corporations, innovative technology startups, and institutional investors together to develop and implement the technologies of tomorrow. Our innovation platform...

INNOVATE® Georgia

UTILITY2030

U2030: WHERE PEOPLE ARE AT THE HEART OF UTILITY INNOVATION & TRANSFORMATION

THE HUMAN ELEMENT OF TECH TRANSFORMATION AMONG UTILITY COMPANIESThe role of utility companies has evolved profoundly over the past century. A hundred years ago, utilities delivered essential services like electricity, water, and wastewater to geographically dispersed populations, prioritizing reliability, safety, and affordability. At that time, utilities’ technological footprint was limited...

INNOVATE™ Flanders

iFLUX

Future-proof groundwater monitoring solutions in uncertain and dynamic times.

How do you tackle groundwater contamination in a targeted, swift, and efficient manner? How do you prevent nature reserves and cities from running dry? These are the questions that iFLUX experts answer with the help of objective data coming from state-of-the-art sensor technology. Groundwater constitutes just 0,65% of Earth’s water,...

INNOVATE® New Jersey Vol.2

Boundless Innovations

Boundless Innovations - An Award-winning Product Design And Development Company

An Award-winning Product Design And Development Company

Boundless Innovations LLC is an award-winning product design and development company, plus advocates of the open innovation movement since 2004. We invent independently and form strategic partnerships with great companies such as Design Circle (seen below) to design, prototype, co-invent, and bring new products, innovations, and businesses to market via...

INNOVATE® Seattle

Buerk Center for Entrepreneurship

UW’S BUERK CENTER IS IN THE BUSINESS OF IDEAS

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...

INNOVATE® Kansas City

SEARCY FINANCIAL

REDEFINING FINANCIAL PLANNING FOR THE MODERN ERA

In an industry often defined by numbers, Searcy Financial Services stands apart by focusing on people. Founded in 1976 and independently owned by second-generation leaders Jessica Kmetty, Marc Shaffer, John Fales, and Ryan Brooke, the firm has built a reputation not just for managing wealth, but for helping people make...

INNOVATE™ Curitiba

TAURUS HELMETS

IS LEADING BRAZILIAN MOTORCYCLE HELMETS INNOVATION

Taurus Helmets is a Brazilian company pioneer in the manufacture of helmets in Brazil. It has been in the market for over 40 years and hasestablished itself as the largest in the segment, with a market share of around 50%. It has national sales coverage with more than 12,000 points...

INNOVATE™ Stockholm

WIB CAPITAL

BUILDING A NEW FRONT DOOR TO INVESTMENT; DESIGNED TO REDUCE BIAS

Early-stage investing is often described as data-driven. In practice, first impressions still decide what gets a meeting and what gets ignored. WiB Capital is building a digital front door to investment that helps startups become investor-ready using AI, while reducing identity-based bias by letting the business case speak first. The...

INNOVATIONS in Pharmaceutical Development®

MBQ PHARMA

The first biopharmaceutical drug development company started in Puerto Rico based on proprietary research in cancer, autoimmune and fibrotic diseases

Selective Targeting of GTPases – A novel, promising approach to treating Cancer, Autoimmune Conditions and Chronic Fibrotic DiseaseMBQ PHARMA – The Company and its missionMBQ Pharma is a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company dedicated to developing treatments with high unmet medical needs such as Cancer, Autoimmune Disease and Chronic Fibrotic Syndromes. Our...

INNOVATE™ Vancouver Vol.2

ENVISIONING LABS

PIONEERING SUSTAINABLE INNOVATION

In the face of climate change, the need for sustainable solutions has never been greater. Envisioning Labs, a Vancouver based deep tech firm, is at the forefront of this challenge, developing social and technological solutions that counter climate change and foster a carbon neutral future. Their focus on first principles-based,...

Ecosystems