Dear ,

At this year’s COIN Summit we discussed the impact of global innovation hubs. By building a diverse network of innovation leaders, COIN aims to boost serendipitous collisions and build long term relationships between global delegates. 

MaRS Discovery District, Toronto

On this global panel we heard from innovation hub leaders representing five different countries including Israel, Canada, Chile, Brazil and the United States. Subsequently, one of our speakers on that panel, Iain Klugman of Communitech, invited COIN to tour entities that make up the innovation ecosystem in Canada. Hosted by Denver’s Consul General of Canada, Marcy Grossman, we visited Canada earlier this month.

On our trip we were able to reconnect with Iain at Communitech, a technology hub located in the Waterloo Region of Ontario that has helped build a technology cluster of nearly 1,000 companies. In addition, the Waterloo Region is home to the University of Waterloo, where we toured the Institute for Quantum Computing and the Engineering School. We learned that the university is leading the way for cooperative programming. Through a co-op program, students alternate their time at the university between class and related work experience. Upon graduation, after five years at school, the students have earned two years of work experience exploring different areas of the workforce and have helped pay off their college debt. Each year the Waterloo co-op program hosts more than 18,000 students, and to execute the program the university cultivates relationships with more than 5,000 global employers.

While there are several examples of co-op programs in the United States (Northeastern, Cornell, Georgia Tech to name a few) the University of Waterloo is certainly a leading example of a successful large scale co-op program. There are also a handful of Colorado co-op programs, including but not limited to programs at University of Colorado Boulder’s Engineering Co-op and University of Colorado Denver. We were very interested to learn about Waterloo as a leader in using this model to develop the talent pipeline necessary for tomorrow’s jobs.

We also visited several other innovation hubs in Toronto and Waterloo including the MaRS Discovery District, the Toronto International Film Festival (tiff) Headquarters, Ryerson University and their Digital Media Zone, the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, and digital media company SpinVFX. We learned a great deal and look forward to plugging these leaders into Colorado’s innovation ecosystem. A special thanks goes out to Consul General Marcy Grossman and her team for arranging such a valuable visit.

Lastly, if you were not able to join us for the COIN Summit, or you want to revisit the content, we encourage you to visit the COIN website to view the presentations in full.

Best,

Michelle Hadwiger
Director
Colorado Innovation Network

2014 COIN Summit Presentations Available for Viewing

COIN Summit Highlight Video

Click on the image above to view the 2014 COIN Summit Highlight Video. Additionally, the event presentation videos can be found in-full on our COIN Summit website page, or follow our YouTube channel "coincolorado".

Thank you to our video production partner: Postmodern Company 

EU Horizon 2020 Program Visits Colorado

This summer, Colorado was visited by James P Gavigan, Minister Counselor of Research and Innovation, Head of the Science, Technology and Education Section of the Delegation of the European Union to the USA. He presented information about the EU Horizon 2020 program.

Horizon 2020 is the latest program in more than three decades of EU support for research and technological development aimed at bringing research and innovation closer together by providing seamless support from scientific discovery to commercialization. With a budget of more than $100 billion USD, Horizon 2020 brings together a broad spectrum of stakeholders and offers easier access to more funding.

Emphasizing transnational collaboration and maximizing the synergies among different disciplines in science and technology, while relating them directly to concrete issues, Horizon 2020 is designed to foster ideas, growth, and jobs and produce world-class science, remove barriers to innovation, and make it easier for the public and private sectors to work together in delivering innovation.

Horizon 2020 is open to everyone, with a simple structure that reduces red tape and time so participants can focus on what is really important. This approach makes sure new projects get off the ground quickly – and achieve results faster. It’s a great initiative aimed at breaking down barriers to create a genuine single market for knowledge, research and innovation.

For more information about this global program, please visit the Horizon 2020 website. 

Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) Nov. 17-23 

Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) is a world-wide celebration of the innovators and job creators who launch startups that bring ideas to life, drive economic growth and expand human welfare.

During one week each November (Nov. 17-23), GEW inspires people through local, national and global activities designed to help them explore their potential as innovators. These activities range from large-scale competitions and events to intimate networking gatherings and connect participants to potential collaborators, mentors and even investors.

More than 140 countries host GEW activities. World leaders and local elected officials have embraced the campaign as they look to fuel the economic engine of high-growth startups in their own countries and communities. During 2013 alone, 126 heads of state and ministers from 69 countries supported Global Entrepreneurship Week by speaking at activities during the Week, filming statements of support or otherwise endorsing the national campaigns in their countries.

GEW, sponsored by the Kauffman Foundation, is a platform for connection and collaboration—engaging all players along the entrepreneurship spectrum in strengthening ecosystems around the world. To get involved and learn more about GEW, click here.

Call for COIN Collisions 

COIN is currently collecting stories of "COIN Collisions" - examples of relationships that have been built as a result of being part of the COIN community. Who did you meet at the COIN Summit that has had an influence on your professional or personal life? What projects have you worked on with a member of the network? Who in the network has inspired you? 

Please send your submissions to info@coloradoinnovationnetwork.com.