Last week, Tech Yukon was thrilled to collaborate with Yukonstruct, Yukon University Innovation & Entrepreneurship and Tourism Industry Association Yukon (TIA) in presenting Yukon Innovation Week.
On Monday, we kicked the week off with a virtual lunch and learn about eCommerce. Darryl Julott from our partners at Digital Main Street shared insights on the ever-growing importance of reaching customers online and ways that businesses owners can tap into digital markets.
Later that afternoon, we joined a diverse team of funders and service providers in the Reverse Pitch networking event. We gave a brief overview of our current funding programs, the Canada Digital Adoption Program, North of AI and AccelerateIP, and connected with local entrepreneurs.
On Tuesday evening, we were honored to host Oona Krieg from Brave Technology Coop in an enlightening virtual talk on the use of Technology for Overdose Prevention. The Brave Coop has developed buttons and sensors to detect and reverse overdoses, as well as a mobile app, and are continuing to develop new strategies in the face of this ongoing epidemic.
We visited the legislative assembly on Wednesday, where Premier Ranj Pillai gave a tribute to all organizers of Innovation Week (pictured above): Tech Yukon, Yukonstruct, Yukon University Innovation & Entrepreneurship and Tourism Industry Association Yukon (TIA). He discussed the many events that were taking place during innovation week and recognized the importance of innovation for our community and that organizations like Tech Yukon and our partners provide essential services to grow our entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystem. We were very thrilled to be honoured by the premier.
Tech Yukon member Paul Kishchuk from Vector Research presented on Open Data Latency on Wednesday evening. His informative talk highlighted the differences between types of open data feeds and how they can be put to practical use.
Thursday was an eventful day in Innovation Week. Our partners at NewVenturesBC presented a lunchtime seminar on Intellectual Property Rights and Wrongs. Rachel Burns and Angie Schick discussed the newly-launched AccelerateIP program, which can help entrepreneurs protect their intellectual property through education, mentorship and funding. They were joined by Chang Han, who provided an overview on why IP matters for startups. After their presentation the team from New Ventures BC hosted office hours, having one-on-one discussions with local entrepreneurs and innovators on their IP needs.
That evening held the much-anticipated Hall of Innovators Awards Gala. More than 150 attendees gathered at the Beringia Centre to recognize the hard work and innovative practices of local organizations and entrepreneurs. The Premier also released the much anticipated Innovation strategy for the Yukon, which we were very excited about. Breakdancers from The Heart of Riverdale brought their infectious energy to the night. Tech Yukon extends our congratulations to all of the new Hall of Innovator inductees.
We would like to express our gratitude to all of the organizers and attendees of another successful Yukon Innovation Week 2023 and can’t wait for next year!
