Inside Edge BC

Update!

The 2011 Innovation Challenge took place last weekend and was a huge success! Thanks to the 40+ volunteers who came out and got involved, to all the applicants and to all our fantastic sponsors.

Sponsors -

• Save-On Foods Community Outreach Program,
• Deanna Wampler at the Squamish
• Adventure Centre,
• Jane Clark at the Squamish Chamber of Commerce,
• Dan McRae and The District of Squamish,
• TD Canada Trust,
• Mountain FM,
• Galileo Coffee.

“Eagle’s Den” applicants -

• Howe Sound Women’s Centre,
• the Squamish Writers Group,
• Discovery Farm,
• SquamishCAN,
• the Squamish Trails Society,
• Sea to Sky Community Services, and
• Squamish Community Radio

“Eagle’s Den” panelists -

• Jason Cyr,
• Councilor Patricia Heintzman, and
• Chris Pettingill

Photographers -

• Nick Sopczak,
• Brian Noppe

More details to follow.

The 2011 Innovation Challenge takes place on October 29th & 30th at the Squamish Adventure Centre.

Innovation Challenge Phase 3 - The Barn Raising

Starting at October 29 at 9am, the next phase of the Inside Edge Innovation Challenge begins. In this phase, members of Inside Edge and the broader community will gather to build a web presence and online auction site for the Howe Sound Women’s Centre’s store, Pearl’s Second Hand and Vintage. 

Innovation Challenge Phase 2 - The Eagles' Den

Inside Edge is excited to announce details and the three finalists for the first-ever Eagles’ Den contest in Squamish, as well as a sneak peak at Innovation Challenge 2011, which is the culmination of this exciting new community initiative.

On September 22nd at 6:30pm, Inside Edge will present the first ever Eagles’ Den (inspired by CBC’s popular “Dragons’ Den”) to pick a winning challenge that will then be featured during the Inside Edge Innovation Challenge in October.  The Eagles’ Den will be hosted at The Squamish Adventure Centre where three finalists will present their challenge to an expert panel of judges, Inside Edge members and interested public.

From an overwhelming list of great applications, three finalists have been chosen to participate in The Eagles’ Den contest. The finalists are: the Howe Sound Women’s Centre, The Squamish Writers Group and The Squamish Climate Action Network (CAN-Farm).

** Scroll down for links to the actual applications.

The “Eagles”, a three-person judging panel, comprised of community members, technologists and entrepreneurs, will hear presentations from the three finalists and then have a chance to ask questions in a friendly and supportive atmosphere. They will then have the difficult task of picking a winner who will go on to be the featured project in the 2011 Innovation Challenge.

Inside Edge would like to formally recognize all of the community groups who took the time to imagine and submit such great ideas to this year’s Innovation Challenge. Thank You!

Interested parties who want to support and volunteer for the Innovation Challenge in October are encouraged to send an email to info@insideedgebc.org, keep an eye on this page, Facebook page and local media for more details.

About the Innovation Challenge:
Inside Edge is an evolving organization of 100+ innovative professionals from the Sea-to-Sky corridor that have come together to support and promote innovation in the corridor. Inside Edge members represent a diverse range of knowledge and skills including, but not limited to:
o    Marketing
o    Media Production (video, music, and broadcasting)
o    Human Resources
o    Information Technology (Developers, Architects, Web Designers, …)
o    Engineering
o    Arts
o    Project Management
o    Entrepreneurship and Business Coaching
o    Education
o    Athletic Training, Coaching, Rehabilitation

Amish and Mennonite communities have a tradition of “Barn Raising” where the community joins together over a weekend and donates their time to build a Barn for a member of the community

Inside Edge has borrowed from this “Barn Raising” idea and is planning to do an “Innovation Challenge”

The goal is to have local non-profit community organizations submit descriptions of a problem they need solved.  The Inside Edge membership will select one of the problems, and in the style of a “Barn Raising”, donate their collective resources to design and implement an innovative (the “Innovation” in “Innovation Challenge”) solution to the problem.

There are 2 key goals for the “Innovation Challenge”
o    Help a local organization solve a problem they might not otherwise be able to solve, and thus help increase the organization’s positive impact in the community
o    Demonstrate the incredible level of resources and knowledge available right here in the Sea-to-Sky corridor

Local Innovators (and wanna-be Innovators) who aren’t yet part of Inside Edge can join (free) at http://www.meetup.com/Inside-Edge-Knowledge-Association/.