MAKO Design + Invent has built long-term partnerships with academic and industrial partners within the community to help nurture entrepreneurs and start-ups. One of them is SAGE Canada, an international non-profit organization that promotes entrepreneurial initiatives for high school students.
On May 13th, SAGE Canada hosted their annual National Competition 2016 called TheSTAGE at St. James Cathedral’s Snell Hall in Toronto, where high-school students across Canada gathered to showcase their ventures and ideas. We were honored to have been invited to this year’s competition as part of the judging panel.
Two Categories, Two Winners at TheSTAGE 2016
TheSTAGE is the national competition of the preselected top 12 socially innovative youth ventures, where they compete against each other and pitch in front of a jury of industry experts and community leaders. TheSTAGE is divided into two categories: Socially Responsible Business (SRB) and Social Enterprise Business (SEB). Each category has a winner. Our President, Kevin Mako, sat among the judges in the SRB category and kick-started the competition with a motivational speech and a fun game of “SAGE says”.
The winners will have the chance to represent Canada at the SAGE World Cup competition held in the Philippines in August. Each competing venture were judged according to a set a criteria specific to the two categories such as innovation and creativity, the use of community resources and sustainable business practices.
The winner of the SEB category is HelpWear. They are no strangers to us as a few months ago, they won our Student Innovation Award with their invention HeartWatch. It is a wearable heart-monitoring device that tracks users’ heart rate, calls for help in an emergency and ultimately helps minimize fatalities caused by heart attacks. The runner-up in this same category is our mentees at SpitStrips, who promote responsible drinking with their invention.
The winner of the SRB category is Sitto! They showcased a smart app solution that connects parents and babysitters, which could surely benefit the babysitting industry.
We believe that events like TheSTAGE and the MAKO Student Innovation Awards are a great way to promote entrepreneurship and give young innovators the opportunity to take that next step toward their business ideas. We are rooting for HelpWear and Sitto, who, we are sure, will leave a mark at the World Competition.
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!
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