About the MAKO Student Innovation Award
Every year our Toronto product design studio, MAKO Design + Invent, is proud to team up with Ryerson University to hold the MAKO Student Innovation Awards!
As a Toronto product design studio, it’s important to us that we support our community, especially aspiring students who want to help drive innovation in our society.
Not only does MAKO Design + Invent participate in countless different events each year, but we also ensure to take the time to learn more about what young innovators, designers, and future entrepreneurs have in store for our future excites us.
Because we love to see young entrepreneurs and innovators thrive, the MAKO Student Innovation Award is a business pitch competition.
It provides students who have big, bright ideas with the opportunity and platform to present their ideas to their community, as well as the requisite feedback and support to grow their business ventures!
In addition to affording the opportunity to take part in the world of entrepreneurship, we also present a $10,500 prize to the winning group of students at the local Toronto university who present the most innovative, astounding idea that wows our curated panel of judges!
Students can then finance and transform their innovative ideas into the market, giving them the opportunity to boost and start their own entrepreneurial journey.
Takeaways from our CEO, Kevin Mako’s Speech
In relevance to the pandemic, Kevin Mako took time within his speech to address how to face big challenges and preserve them during unprecedented times.
Kevin offered motivational words and exemplified his journey by starting up our Toronto product design studio, MAKO Design + Invent, as an entrepreneur through multiple technological and economic changes.
He also speaks on the importance of recognizing opportunity and going after it with persistence!
“Volatility leads to gaps, those gaps lead to market spaces, market spaces that need to be filled by new and inspiring entrepreneurs.”
“It’s always important to remember that opportunity is out there – there are two types of people, those who recede, and then there are those who look for opportunities to hustle harder and use their time to get twice as much done.”
You can listen and watch Kevin’s full speech in the video below!
As always, MAKO would like to send a special thanks to Ryerson for partnering with us and making the MAKO Student Innovation Award the great and motivating event that it is. We’d also like to send a big thanks to all the students who gave in their pitch, those who presented, took part, and tuned in to the event!
Check out the past winners from the 2018 and 2019 MAKO Student Innovation Awards!
If you have a great new invention and you’d like to learn more about this process, get in touch with MAKO today, and we can set you up on a call with our product strategist!
About: MAKO Design + Invent is the original firm providing world-class consumer product development services tailored to startups, small manufacturers, and inventors. Simply put, we are the leading one-stop-shop for developing your physical product from idea to store shelves, all in a high-quality, cost-effective, and timely manner. We operate as one powerhouse 30-person product design team spread across 4 offices to serve you (Austin, Miami, San Francisco, & Toronto). We have full-stack in-house industrial design, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, patent referral, prototyping, and manufacturing services. To assist our startup and inventor clients, in addition to above, we help with business strategy, product strategy, marketing, and sales/distribution for all consumer product categories. Also, our founder Kevin Mako hosts The Product Startup Podcast, the industry's leading hardware podcast. Check it out for tips, interviews, and best practices for hardware startups, inventors, and product developers. Click HERE to learn more about MAKO Design + Invent!