The MAKO-SAGE Innovation Hack

Inspiration for an individual or a team does not come from always come from an expert in the field. In fact, true inspiration sometimes comes from the last place you might expect to see it. Earlier this month, our team at MAKO Invent found incredible inspiration from the MAKO-SAGE Innovation Hack that took place in partnership with SAGE Canada. The event received an immense amount of support from Meridian Credit Union, Staples Canada, and the Rotary Club of Mississauga.

With over 50 students participating and representing high schools across the Greater Toronto Area, the Innovation Hack took place at the Ted Roger School of Managementat Ryerson University. The full-day event was divided into three parts: (1) Case Building; (2) Design Workshop; (3) 3D Model Workshop. The Case Building Segment gave each high school team a chance to theoretically develop a realistic physical product solution that is geared towards social innovation. During the Design and 3D Model Workshop, the students were given the chance to draw out their product solutions in 2D and 3D and put together a presentation for the judges.

Our Vice President, Strategy, James Chalmers invited 17 year old Frank Nguyen, CTO of HelpWear Wearable Technologies, to join his Keynote. Frank’s humble and ambitious nature served has been incredibly inspiring to the entire MAKO Team. Jointly, James and Frank discussed the importance of networking, and the importance of being involved in social innovation and product development.

The students presented their product pitches to four judges, highlighting what the product is, its marketability, and the impact that it will have in a society. “The event was very empowering. For high school students to give up their weekend and come out with such great ambition, passion, and interest in social innovation, shows that we live in an incredibly supportive and education driven society. As judges, we were very inspired by each group’s pitch, and it really shows that the generations to come have a very promising future,” Said our Director, Partnerships Fatima Ali.

The Winners of the MAKO-SAGE Innovation Hack

The winning school was William Lyon Mackenzie C.I. whose team developed an innovative, fast, and inexpensive way for individuals to test their Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC). The Spit Strip is a simple strip in a small box where the strip calculated a user’s BAC from their saliva in under 2 seconds. Unlike the current breathalyzer, this system is extremely cost efficient to produce and can be easily accessible for individuals.

MAKO is driven by inspiration, whether it’s our clients, individual team members, or young Rock-stars like Frank Nguyen and the students that participated in our Innovation Hack. While we feel passionate about supporting the younger generation and preparing them for the future to come, we feel just as strongly to be given the inspiring opportunity, to simply interact with these students. Great Job students, and thank you SAGE for helping organize such an incredible event!

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!