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

Prize Money

Our sponsors have contributed $10,000 in prize money for our winning teams.

First Place:  $5000

Second Place: $3000

Third Place: $2000

Register – SOLD OUT
Thank you for your interest in participating, but we have reached our maximum of students.

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.

Challenge Statements will be added as they become available.

Challenge Statement # 1

How do we foster meaningful banking relations with Generation Z? What digital banking/financial technology mechanisms should we introduce and/or what traditional banking practices or products do we need to adapt? – Submitted by Access Credit Union

Challenge Statement #2

How might we use gaming and gamification to increase student engagement and improve learning outcomes? – Submitted by Applied Computer Education at RRC Polytech

Challenge Statement #3

Now that we’ve got some folks in-office, and others working from home (WFH), we’ve identified new challenges that come with operating as a hybrid workforce.  Help us solve them!

How might we use technology, adapted workflow, or simple facility changes to ensure our hybrid workplace fosters inclusivity and privacy for our team members? -Submitted by CWB National Leasing

Challenge Statement #4

How can we implement a chatbot function for the Student Services area to help provide faster and more efficient correspondence? – Submitted by Student Services at RRC Polytech

Challenge Statement #5

InVision Edge is a boutique innovation and strategy firm that caters to mid-to-large size organizations and governments.

How might we scale and grow our business by 40% over the next 12 months? – Submitted by InVision Edge

Challenge Statement #6

How can we increase the number, and the diversity, of individuals entering careers in tech through Technology Apprenticeships? – Submitted by Tech Manitoba and RRC Polytech

Challenge Statement #7

Payworks is in the field of total workforce management solutions, providing cloud-based Payroll, Human Resources, Employee Time and Absence Management to businesses across Canada.  How might we create a payment on-demand function and job matching tool for our clients? – Submitted by Payworks

Denise Desrosiers – Process Improvement and Technology, Government of Manitoba

Denise is with the Government of Manitoba (GoM) where she leads several priority projects. She is a Human Factors certified usability analyst and senior business analyst who originally joined the Province as a Web Designer/Developer.

In her time with GoM, she has worked on several software procurement and user experience (UX) projects, including ideation, prototyping, testing, and development. She has conducted accessibility analysis and evaluations of multiple digital properties, and designed a prototype for a Manitoba Scholarships and Bursary Initiative portal.

Before joining the province, Denise spent several years at a large insurance firm and with the Federal Government wearing multiple hats. These included team lead, project manager, UX researcher/analyst, business relationship specialist, information architect, web developer, content writer/strategist, metrics analyst, videographer, photographer, graphic designer, and Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 expert.

Denise’s hobbies include reading, Lepidoptera conservation, gardening, playing roller derby, creating art, and hanging with her pets.

Leanne Jones – Manager of the Innovation Practice, Wawanesa Mutual Insurance Co.

Leanne has built her career on continuously learning in action and exploring opportunities that push to new heights. A career start as a Certified Financial Planner bridged her career into over a decade of work and leadership in a growing Manitoba tech start-up that rose to be an international leader in the fin-tech industry. Roles in product development, project management and business analysis supported her passion of connecting tech, business, and digital within organizations and with end customers. Her latest work has been extremely focused on building corporate innovation and growth of expertise of applying innovation methods with leaders and teams to explore ideas, build new models for business and try new things.

Stephen Lawrence – Program Manager, IT and Professional Studies

Steve holds a Bachelor of Science from the University of Manitoba, a certificate in Adult Education from Red River College and a Master’s of Arts in Education from Central Michigan University. Steve has been working at Red River College for the past 28 years. He has many years’ experience as an instructor and curriculum coordinator. He has been involved in several program DACUMS and SWOT analysis for the School of Business and Applied Arts. Steve is also a certified accreditor for Business Technology Management (BTM) programs across Canada. He recently completed accreditation visits to Acadia and Concordia Universities and was involved in the accreditation of RRC’s BTM program. Steve’s current position is Program Manager, IT and Professional Studies, School of Continuing Education.

His past positions include coordinator, ACE Project Space, interim Program Manager, Business and Applied Arts, coordinator of the Business Technology Management program at RRC as well as the RPL advisor for the Business Information Technology and BTM programs.

Steve has 14 years industry experience as a programmer, Business Analyst and requirements gathering analyst.

On a personal level Steve has been coaching and assisting in hockey, volleyball and soccer over the past 15 years. He is a level 2 NCCP nationally certified coach.

Blake Podaima – Founder and Principal, Virtuistix Inc

Blake Podaima, B.Sc. (EE), M.Sc. (ECE), IPTCM ─ is the Founder and Principal of Virtuistix Inc. (Winnipeg, Manitoba), a technology development and consulting company providing business development, technology commercialization, and investigative research services for a variety of clients and stakeholders ─ including startups, and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) ─ in leveraging existing technologies, intellectual property (IP), or entering new markets with emerging technologies.

Blake is an Entrepreneur, Project Manager, and Consultant with over 25 years’ experience; he holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical and Electronics Engineering, a Master’s of Science in Computer Engineering, and Certificates in Intellectual Property and Technology Commercialization Management (IPTCM) and Entrepreneurship-mentoring.

Blake has an in-depth understanding of the commercialization pathway, technological-innovation/transfer, the science-technology interface, and intellectual property capture and due-diligence; and, he has a diverse technical background that includes Information and Communications Technologies (ICT), Data Science, Healthcare Technology, Systems Engineering, and Artificial Intelligence.

Moreover, Blake provides operations management advice, entrepreneur-mentorship (Futurepreneur™, and North Forge™ Technology Exchange), business development, market analysis, startup fundraising/financing, and product/service development for a variety of clients.
Blake is an Associate of the Centre for Professional Practice and Engineering Education at the University of Manitoba, and a Lecturer on project management and intellectual property protection; he is also an Advisor for the Department of Electrical Engineering Technology at Red River Polytechnic.

Blake is the current Chair of Innovation and Industry Relations for IEEE ─ Winnipeg, and is a Director with the Manitoba Training and Research Consortia (MTRC), which provides guidance and governance on matters related to R&D, technology trends, and skills training initiatives across a broad technology spectrum in Manitoba.

Blake is actively engaged in advancing technological innovation and coordinating entrepreneurship activities and strategies among industry and the broader tech community – which includes promoting, developing, and fostering sustainable relationships and linkages among a diverse set of stakeholders within industry, government, and academia.

Ryan Ramsdale – Innovation and Strategy Coach, inVision Edge

Ryan is a highly motivated, results-oriented people developer who engages teams and individuals with enthusiasm. With a talent for gathering teams around a compelling vision, he is passionate about facilitation of group discussions that include innovation, the improvement of systems, gains in efficiency and increased employee engagement.

With 10 years in Operational Leadership in Telecommunications, Ryan has led multiple transformation initiatives. His teams lead the country in quality and productivity contributing to multi-million-dollar revenue growth while consistently improving employee engagement.

As an experienced facilitator and certified coach, Ryan is talented at providing clear learning expectations and setting challenging goals. He blends humour with a clear focus on outcomes and a passion for execution on strategy.

Dillon Rempel – Innovation Specialist, Access Credit Union

Dillon has a background in Business Administration, and a passion for small business and working with entrepreneurs. As a certified blue belt in inVision Edge’s “Quick Start” program and member of the Access Innovation team, Dillon enjoys collaborating with other entrepreneurs across Manitoba, and brainstorming new ideas. As a researcher and implementer of new technologies, Dillon has first hand experience working on new business challenges (specific to Financial Institutions), and insights into the challenges that come with that.

Working within the Business Integration department and within the Innovation team over the past three years has provided him the opportunity to work on large project teams, such as the launch of Access’ new online banking and app, the latest merger team between Crosstown Civic Credit Union and Access Credit Union, and the technical merge of Access’ core banking systems.

Dillon firmly believes that collaboration and diversity translate to relevant and worthwhile results.

Palmer Rouse, Educational Assistant

I consider myself a caring and friendly life-long learner. I recently graduated from the Business Technology Management program from Red River College Polytechnic, but have spent most of my adult life in customer service and hospitality. As such, I have a passion for taking care of and helping others. I couldn’t be more excited to be back with Red River College Polytechnic, only now as a faculty member! During my tenure here, I sincerely hope to positively impact as many lives as possible!

Andrew Stevens – Vice-President, Development

Andrew Stevens joined Payworks in 2014 after spending 16 years working in the software industry. As the VP, Development, Andrew oversees the team of 60+ Developers, Business Analysts and Quality Assurance Analysts who maintain and enhance the suite of Payworks products. Prior to Payworks, he most recently worked for Advicent Solutions in a number of roles, culminating in a Product Director position. Andrew also did co-op terms at Pollard Banknote, IBM, and Microsoft. He holds a Bachelor of Science (Hons.) in Computer Science degree from the University of Manitoba.

Al McLeod, Innovation Enthusiast

Al spent over 35 years working in Senior Information Technology roles across a wide variety of industries including Technology Services, Telecommunications, Media, Financial Services and Insurance.

During those years, his entrapreneurial spirit and growth mindset led him on many adventures – as he took on more than a few roles that were clearly over his head at the time, forcing him to scramble to grow and learn his way into them.

Al’s final role before retirement was with Wawanesa Insurance where he moved from a VP role in the IT group to take on the new role of VP, Innovation and developed and led their Innovation function.

Al retired in 2019 and is now an “Innovation Enthusiast”, volunteering with various Canadian organizations such as Red River College, a number of cool Startups, various local Corporations, and a struggling non-profit.

He also enjoys collaborating with Innovators from various Innovation Ecosystems on interesting ventures.   In 2020 Al  took on the role of Chair of the RRC ACE Space EIR Advisory Committee.

Joanne Zuk, Joanne Zuk Leadership and Strategy

Joanne Zuk is best known for growing leaders and changing cultures. She wrote the Manitoba public service Transformation Strategy and then spent three years developing a culture of innovation across government. Currently, she is on loan to Red River College Polytechnic, where she led the development of RRC Polytech’s strategic plan: In Front of What’s Ahead. She owns a small business, where she coaches diverse leaders to stand in their values, negotiate their worth, and confidently step forward into leadership roles. Joanne holds a Masters in Public Administration, and Bachelor degrees in Biology and Psychology. She teaches Organizational Behaviour, Strategic Planning, and The Art of Negotiation. Joanne is a lifelong public servant who is unapologetically committed to building a more inclusive society – and she does that by raising awareness, disrupting systems, and creating opportunities for diverse leaders to solve problems in innovative ways.

Thank you to the Innovation Centre at Access Credit Union for their Title Sponsorship of Sprint to Innovate:  The Innovation Challenge!

Thank you to our Event Sponsors: Payworks, InVision Edge, Tech Manitoba, Faculty of Science-UM and RRC Polytech.