As we celebrate the recent graduation of the Winter 2024 cohort at The Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, it's evident that innovation remains a powerful force in solving real-world challenges. This semester, students once again took center stage, applying innovative thinking and tools to address complex business problems.


About the Sprint

The Innovation Sprint is a comprehensive 5-week program that focuses on providing students with hands-on experience in solving business problems. In the Innovation Sprint, students learn fundamental innovation skills to find significant problems within a business, participate in customer discovery, ideate on innovative ideas, and improve their storytelling and pitching skills. 

 

 

The Student Cohort

Students were placed in four teams and went through the journey from customer discovery, ideation, forming directionally correct solutions and presenting them back to the problem mentors. 

"I encourage people to join because it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity, if you’re like me on the introverted side you’ll step outside of your comfort zone!" - Hibba Zia, student participant

"It’s a roller coaster of emotions, ideas, discussions, debates, conflicts, friendship and innovation." - Hope Nakoneshny, student participant

"It was an adventure that was well worth the time and effort, I learned so much and made so many great new connections" - Kiera Dowell, student participant

The Business Cohort and Problem Mentors 

Students were teamed up to work with four diverse businesses: healthcare, veterinary assistance, moving, and back-country foods. Thank you to PurposeMed, Vetsie.ai, Moovez (Move Easy), and Maskwa Back Country Foods for your mentorship to the students during this cohort. The mentors’ insights and experiences were invaluable to the process of discovery, ideation, and coming up with validated solutions.

"Working with the students in the Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship's Innovation Sprint was a privilege. They impressed us with their knowledge and creativity, and developed meaningful solutions for the problem space we presented. It was inspiring to work with such a dedicated group and guide them through the process." - Ian Buckley, Senior Product Designer at PurposeMed

"It was an absolute honour to be a mentor for the Innovation Sprint. Shoutout to all the students and amazing mentors!" - Alex Chieng, Founder of Vetsie.ai

"Participating in the innovation sprint as a mentor was an immensely rewarding and fun experience, it was both enlightening and enjoyable. As a mentor, it was fulfilling to contribute to such a dynamic learning environment and I would eagerly participate again in the future, as it was truly an inspiring program." Erin Creegan-Dougherty, Founder of Maskwa Back Country Foods

Appreciation

This program would not be possible without our sponsors, RBC Foundation and Cathy and Bruce Williams Fund for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Because of their efforts, dedication, and belief in student development, the Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship can provide career-accelerating opportunities and experiences for our students. Thank you for your continued support.