What a weekend! EntreLaunch was invited to participate in the Innovation Garage at the Canadian National Exhibition (aka CNE, aka The EX). Thanks to Futurpreneur for the invite.

So what is an Innovation Garage? In this case, it was a showcase of various entrepreneurs, innovations, tech, robotics and more located in Hall F of the Enercare Centre. It was also home to the Emerging Innovators pitch competition where the Grand Finalist, Braze Mobility, took first place with their “Smarter and Safer” wheelchair.

Over the weekend I chatted with thousands of people about the importance of introducing youth to entrepreneurship and providing transferable skills that will help in future employment or to launch their own business venture. One of my favorite conversations was with Katherine Scott of Tack10 Strategy Inc. We talked at length about EntreLaunch and the Impact Cup program at one point discussing how wonderful it would be to see an Impact Cup event for teens being held during the CNE2018 in the Innovation Garage! Imagine being able to expose thousands of visitors to the rapid idea development and business viability process over 3 days with teams presenting pitches on the 3rd day to a team of judges? The general public would get to see amazing teens and entrepreneurship in action.  Here is a link to our interview and some information on some of the other Futurpreneur exhibitors – and a huge shout out to Robert at Aorte Fitness and the guys at Pressa! Tack10 Article: 18 Days of CNE: Innovation Garage

All in all it was an amazing weekend full of great conversation, some awesome food adventures (Fran’s Southern Slang (fried buttermilk chicken on a cinnamon sweet bun, topped with coleslaw, dressed in a chocolate Sriracha sauce) and innovation.

Looking forward to next year!