On Thursday, April 28 ICUBE – University of Toronto Mississauga’s early stage accelerator, ICUBE, transformed into an “early life” accelerator. We welcomed 36 children of UTM staff members for “Take Your Kids to Work Day.”
After examining fossilized worm poop, checking out moon rocks and getting to play with a drone – the bar was certainly set high for ICUBE. Tapping into some experiential learning, the kids made their way through the tunnel connecting Davis and the Innovation Complex and were greeted by a video of Daymond John and a mini clip of “Kids SharkTank.”
ICUBE’s foundational pillars of “Inspiration, Ideation & Innovation” were turned into an interactive super-hero start-up story by ICUBE’s Innovation Lead, Sam Dumcum. “The kids were great and really got into the story building which ended up focusing on Batman.” With the kids supplying the anecdote, they collectively built the story of how Bruce Wayne’s became Batman and the inspiration to create and be part of an active solution to Gotham’s crime problem.
And then came the fun part as the kids talked about the “beginning of Batman” sharing early Batman ideas and how a big part of the story was that Bruce needed Alfred’s help to bring Batman to life, with the lesson that most good ideas need a team to become a reality!
As each child entered ICUBE’s co-working space they drew a superhero card out of a hat that placed them into random teams of six. The MBiotech & MMI programs provided mentors that were assigned to advise the teams and gave the staff an outlet for their inner superhero geek. The innovation came in spades as the teams split into their groups to make solutions for their superheroes.
Teams had a table full of resources and a wall of space to collaborate their ideas. Many product solutions included tools related to key villains the superhero would face, or innovative communicative tech tools to help expand the superheroes limitations. While we didn’t want to give away the secrets to their cool inventions, you can see photos of their 60 second pitches that they shared with their peers, showcasing their innovations, as well as some 360 degree video of their projects-in-progress below!
Congrats to all our innovators on creating awesome solution prototypes for their superheroes.
Team Black Widow: Alicia / Ayanna / Jackson / Maddie / Noa / Sarah / Sonnet
Team Batman: Brandon / Colin / Holly / Isabella / Ryan / Sydney
Team Mystique: Alex / Andre / Jennie / Mae / Olivia / Isabella
Team Wonderwoman: Brendan / Ciaran / Daphne / Hunter / Joshua / Tulia
Team Ironman: Benajmin / Danielle / Eshanna / Mark / Meghan / Shivaan
Spiderman: Alexia / Ali / Ella / Emily / Hunter / Matthew / Lucas
(Note, to fully experience 360 video either click and drag your mouse around the image to see all of the innovators at work, or watch the video on your phone and spin in a circle!)
