It's time for us as a people to start makin' some changes... You see the old way wasn't working so it's on us to do what we gotta do, to survive. -Tupac
Nova Scotia is changing. And it is changing for the better. There is a movement that is fostering a technological culture. The shift to a technology driven economy is seen throughout the Atlantic Coast, yet, no where is it more stark than Cape Breton.
Today, Monday November 17th, marks the start of Global Entrepreneurship Week, "the world's largest celebration of innovators and job creators, who launch startups that bring ideas to life" (source). Tons of cool events will be happening during the week including a pitch competition, lunch and learn and a hackathon! But the one event that stands out to me is the Brilliant Labs Founder Meeting, which is happening on Friday November 21st, 2014.
The Brilliant Labs event interests me because it plans on consolidating the leaders of our startup community to discuss the best ways to foster and strengthen entrepreneurship.
We of course want to get CB involved early and CBU/UIT can play a big role in that. Brilliant Labs spans across technology, not only code, but also robotics and actually started with rocketry! It empowers teachers to create their own programs and to get them funded - Gavin Uhma (GoInstant, acquired by Salesforce)
There are currently a number of great people and organizations working on changing Sydney:
Gavin Uhma recently launched UIT Startup Immersion, a program that provides technical and business skills to individuals to allow them test, develop, and tone their innovations. Basically, to create good co-founders.
Last week, Ardelle Reynolds and Lindsay Uhma hosted the first Girls Learning Code Event that was a huge success. The girls that participated were enthusiastic and were eager to learn more! Read more about this event at my blog.
Atekelab, run by Kim Desveaux, is a mobile classroom that teaches kids about Lego robotics and programming. It is intended to get kids excited by letting them have a creative space to play and experiment.
Rachael Mackeigan is the coordinator of the C@P Society of Cape Breton. C@P aims to improve access to technology and to encourage community based improvements such as Makerspaces.
Marcato Festival is a local startup that coordinates music festivals and events worldwide. Marcato also holds hackathons, provides advice and generally supports innovators and startups in the community.
And of course, Mike Targett, who works at CBU and UIT to coordinate and facilitate entrepreneurial events such as Global Entrepreneurship Week. He is the Batman of startups here, working behind the scenes to make sure that everything happens, and happens smoothly.
Everyone involved in the startup scene in Cape Breton is working towards creating entrepreneurs and improving access to technological education. These initiatives have been created to fill the needs of the society and specifically students that want more than is being offered by the current school systems. Entrepreneurship requires innovators that can adapt to changing times and problem solve.
The Founders Meeting is the first step towards consolidating the goals of each of these organizations. The long-term vision of Brilliant Labs in Sydney is to diversify and improve the way education is delivered by making alternative methods of learning accessible to students who want to explore them. Brilliant Labs will work within the public school system to provide access to these alternative learning opportunities.
Through the creation of open and collaborative spaces, as well as the effective integration of discovery-based tools and technology, we can move away from presenting students with solutions; we will instead provide learning environments that support learning by doing, rather than learning by being told.
It is clear that people in Sydney want to innovate and make changes that have a global impact. This is an extremely exciting time for Atlantic Canada and I feel lucky to have the chance to observe the impacts of this movement.
To find out more visit the Brilliant Labs website. Or to get involved with this great Meeting please Contact Brilliant Labs
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