Stories of Innovation

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...

“We’re excited about the continued progress on our path to creating $100B in new wealth by 2030.” In the heart of innovation, where dreams intertwine with reality, 1836 Ventures stands as a beacon of hope and transformation. Born from a modest volunteer project at Georgetown, it has evolved into an...

“When we work together, miracles happen.” Fr. Tim McCabe, SJ, says those words often. Fr. Tim, as he is known, is president and CEO of the Pope Francis Center (PFC), a Detroit nonprofit that serves people experiencing homelessness. PFC started humbly in 1990 when Saints Peter and Paul Jesuit Church...

Founding Story: Bridging the Gap Between Education and Real-World Experience Youth Growth Network (YGN) was founded with a powerful mission: to bridge the gap between academic learning and the real-world skills students need to thrive in their future careers. Recognizing that traditional education often falls short in providing hands-on experiences,...

IVADO Labs supports organizations wishing to innovate using artificial intelligence technologies by providing access to cutting-edge expertise in this field. Its mission is to design and deliver customized solutions to companies that wish to exploit the potential of artificial intelligence to solve their problems, explore new possibilities, and remain competitive....

DARVIS empowers companies with ultimate visibility of objects, processes and efficient solutions. This productivity as a service platform uses cutting edge artificial intelligence and computer vision technology to track objects and processes with the highest precision and privacy standards on the market. OUR TECHNOLOGY Using an existing camera infrastructure, DARVIS...

One Interface, One Billion Blockchain Data Points How Covalent is Using Programming Tools to Build a Reliable Future. If you have a crypto wallet or NFT, you have likely benefited from Covalent’s data services. Everything from current token pricing to streaming depends on a reliable, programmatic data retrieval process, simplified...

ARAUCARIA FOUNDATION–CURITIBA’S SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATION ECOSYSTEM: A BEACON OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND KNOWLEDGE-BASED PROSPERITY. Our mission is to catalyze the ST&I system towards the sustainable development of Paraná, transforming knowledge into wealth and quality of life. We operate across pivotal sectors such as agribusiness, renewable energy, biotechnology, smart cities,...

Yet behind every breakthrough founder, there is a backbone of early believers – angels who provide not only capital, but experience, networks, and confidence at the most fragile stage of company building. For too long, this backbone has been fragmented. Individual angels operate in isolation, limiting their influence. Nordic Angels...

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...

Soundstripe makes it easier for creators to find music that moves—and for artists to make a living doing what they love. Born in Nashville and built by musicians who know the grind, Soundstripe is more than just a licensing platform—it’s a growing music library of tens of thousands of tracks...

As AI reshapes industries, CodeBaby leads in emotionally intelligent, human-centric AI. Specializing in real-time, 3D animated avatars, CodeBaby bridges the gap between automation and authentic interaction—enhancing, rather than replacing, human capacity. Founded to improve communication and accessibility, CodeBaby redefines engagement in education, healthcare, customer service and workforce training. By merging...

The Paraná Institute of Technology (TECPAR), a public company of the State Government founded in 1940, is a science and technology institute that, with its technical staff, supports innovation and technological, economic and social development in Paraná and Brazil. TECPAR is present with two units in the city of Curitiba....

“The leader of this team has been skeptical all day, they’re pretty much afraid of him and they do whatever he says. Oh, and before this job he was a prison warden for almost twenty years.” That was the last thing my liaison said to me before she introduced me...

Tembici is the leading company in micromobility technology in Latin America, responsible for over 250 million bike journeys. Recognized as one of Brazil’s most promising and innovative startups, the company has, in recent years, contributed to a potential saving of 46,000 tons of CO2. In 2022, the company conducted the...

Créé en 2009, le Centre d’innovation sociale en agriculture (CISA) du Cégep de Victoriaville est un centre de recherche collégial dont la mission consiste à piloter des réflexions et des projets de recherche-action misant sur les innovations sociales, dans le but de générer desrésultats ayant une pertinence pratique pour le...

Kindness is the only thing that mattersSouth Africa’s news feeds are filled with hard news, stories of murder, corruption, robberies, and failing state-owned enterprises. Is there a space for good news – and do South Africans have an appetite for it? Brent Lindeque founded the Good Things Guy on 1...

InteraWorks is an answer to how companies and their employees can elevate the human experience at work, leading to higher performance and new models of leadership, learning, and culture.   The world has changed, and it is time that companies realize that people absolutely must come first. Their capacity and...

In many rural regions, fresh harvests are lost before they ever reach a market — not because of poor quality, but due to heat, humidity, and lack of proper preservation. GlobeDry, a family-owned Estonian company, is tackling this challenge with solar-powered food dryers that allow communities and food entrepreneurs to...

La photonique se retrouve partout : chirurgie laser, manufacture de batteries, ordinateur quantique sont parmi tant d’autres applications qui bénéficient des technologies utilisant la lumière. La présence en sols québécois de centres de recherche et d’industries a mené à un terreau fertile d’innovation chez les jeunespousses technologiques et les entreprises...

Founded in 2012, the PHI Centre is dedicated to innovation at the frontiers of creative production and fosters the design, development, production, and presentation of a wide variety of disciplines and forms, with an emphasis on digital technologies and new media. Its programs and architecture are designed to be agile,...

In February 2019, a mere conversation that I had with a JCSU athletics administrator about the paucity of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) that possessed structured on-campus esports programming became the impetus behind my development of a proposal later that day for an esports and gaming academic program. The...

WEAR-TECH – DETECT – PREDICT – PROTECT™ “Our homegrown AI companion, MAHI™, is aware of its users’ environment and alerts the wearer and the caregivers if a vulnerable loved one inadvertently heads towards a hazard.” A profound loss propelled an innovator in Hartland, WI, to create predictive safety technologies for...

In the face of the obstacles challenging the augmented reality community, the BUNDLAR platform makes AR simple, affordable, and accessible to the average creator. We accomplish this with our proprietary Content Management System (CMS) and integrated mobile application. Instead of hiring expensive developers to build AR experiences, businesses and institutions...