Do you want to learn how to be innovative, and win some money?
Sprint to Innovate pulls together students of various disciplines (technology, business, entrepreneurship, etc) from Manitoba post-secondary institutions (including our international partners) to learn about innovation, and collaborate in a fun and exciting challenge to build a minimum viable prototype in just two days.

Sprint to Innovate is about learning innovation, being innovative, building deeper relationships, problem-solving and developing solutions to real business challenges. Whether you win, or not, you will have the skills to innovate, problem solve, and work as a team.

How the event works
Teams of 3 to 5 students will be assigned a business challenge that industry provided. Students and mentors will then work together on a solution, including developing a prototype to be presented to judges on the final day. A prototype is a simple experimental model of the proposed product used to learn from. Prototypes range from low-fidelity (paper-based) prototypes that are used to explain concepts all the way to high-fidelity prototypes that have functional elements with more detail. Teams may consist of technology and business students.

As part of the weekend festivities, student groups will attend various workshop sessions. Facilitators will be leading workshops on Innovation, requirement gathering skills, mind mapping, the design sprint, and to help them get started thinking innovatively.  The workshops will be integrated within the challenge and throughout the weekend.

What to expect
• Mandatory meeting and training on November 9
• Workshops on innovation at various times on Friday and Saturday
• Working on a real business challenge
• Meeting with a client regarding the business challenge
• Business mentorship
• Sunday pitch presentations to judges, participants, and mentors

Register today!
Visit us on Eventbrite Here to register as an individual or as a team.  Registration opens October 1, 2021

Participating students and industry will be invited to an exclusive Sprint to Innovate Recruitment event on Monday, November 29.

Do you have a technology business challenge you are trying to solve?  Sprint to Innovate pulls together students of various disciplines (technology, business, entrepreneurship, etc) from Manitoba post-secondary institutions (students from our international partner institutes will be invited to participate as well) to learn about innovation, and collaborate in a fun and exciting challenge to build a minimum viable prototype for you in just two days.

Sprint to Innovate is about learning innovation, being innovative, building deeper relationships, problem-solving and developing solutions to real business challenges. We know that employers are looking for employees to be innovative, and this event will allow students the opportunity to nurture their inner innovation.

How the event works

Teams of 3 to 5 students will choose from a variety business challenges provided by industry. Students and mentors will then work together to create a solution, including developing a prototype to be presented to judges on the final day. A prototype is a simple experimental model of the proposed product used to learn from. Prototypes range from low-fidelity (paper-based) prototypes that are used to explain concepts all the way to high-fidelity prototypes that have functional elements with more detail. Teams may consist of technology and business students.

As part of the weekend festivities, student groups will attend various innovation workshop sessions. Facilitators will be leading workshops on Innovation, requirement gathering skills, mind mapping, the design sprint, and to help them get started thinking innovatively.  The workshops will be integrated within the challenge and throughout the weekend.

How you can help

1. Sponsor the event.
2. Volunteer your time as a student group mentor.
3. Provide us with a Business challenge that your organization has.

Sponsorship Opportunities

Title Sponsor – $5000

Your donation would go towards prizes for our student participants and would earn you:

• Company recognition:  Your Company name Sprint to Innovate – The Innovation Challenge
• Recognition on event materials, website, and registration
• Recognition throughout the event weekend
• Social media recognition
• The opportunity to be a judge on Sunday, November 14 and present awards to the winning teams or,
• The opportunity to be a mentor:

• Saturday, November 13 – Mentor teams as they seek to find a solution to their business challenge
• Sunday, November 14 – Mentor teams as they put together their presentation to the Judges

Bonus: Sprint to Innovate Recruitment Event (date: Monday, November 29)

Opportunity to participate in our Your Company name Sprint to Innovate Recruitment event exclusive to participants of the Your Companies name Sprint to Innovate: The Innovation Challenge

• Speed-Interview participating students from the Sprint to Innovate event
• 15 minutes per candidate

Event Sponsor – $1000

We are looking for sponsors to provide $1000 towards prize money to the winning teams.

Your $1,000 sponsorship donation would earn you:

• Recognition throughout the event
• Recognition on event materials
• Social media recognition
• The opportunity to be a mentor:

• • Saturday, November 13 – Mentor teams as they seek to find a solution to their business challenge
  • Sunday, November 14 – Mentor teams as they put together their presentation to the Judges

Bonus: Sprint to Innovate Recruitment Event (Date: Monday, November 29 at 2:00)

Opportunity to participate in our Sprint to Innovate Recruitment event exclusive to participants of the Sprint to Innovate: The Innovation Challenge

• Speed-Interview participating students from the Sprint to Innovate event
• 15 minutes per candidate
• Two representative spot to interview students

Mentorship

Mentors will meet with student teams in the morning on Saturday, November 13 and/or Sunday, November 14 to:

• Provide ideation tips and tricks
• Help your team establish and foster a positive team environment
• Serve as a resource for problem-solving
• Be a driving force in helping the teams follow their timeline
• Provide positive reinforcement, where and when needed
• Provide feedback on the student presentations on Sunday

Register on Eventbrite to be a Mentor

Provide a Business Challenge

Student teams will be provided with a list of business challenges that they will have a choice between to work on.  This is where you come in!  We are asking a few different companies to provide a general business challenge and students would create a solution.  Do you have a general business challenge that our student teams can help solve?  If you would like more information, contact Cristy Kubara at ckubara@rrc.ca.

Commitment:

• Prepare a 1-minute video pitching your business challenge outlining what the problem is, and why you need it.
• Assign at least one person to speak about the problem and be prepared to answer questions about it from a student team on Friday, November 12 (afternoon).
• Available to answer questions from the teams on Saturday
• Attend the final presentations on Sunday to see what solutions the team came up with.

We hope you will consider helping out!

Participating students will step into their first job with the skills to innovate, to problem solve, and with teamwork experience, and you can help make it happen!  To be a sponsor, a mentor, or to provide a business challenge, contact Cristy Kubara at ckubara@rrc.ca or 204-297-0579.