For all the students located in the BC area, mark down Innovation Camp on your calendars on Tuesday, November 24, 2009 - Saturday, November 28, 2009.

Why are ideas like zippers, chestnuts and sharks? Find out at Innovation Camp – a creativity and innovation workshop designed to inspire entrepreneurial thinking. Entrepreneurs see problems as opportunities. The bigger the problem, the bigger the opportunity. At Innovation Camp, participants practice techniques to create and implement solutions to problems and along the way, we build community and embrace imagination and innovation. During round one, participants raised $5000 in 7 hours for the Vancouver Food Bank! Innovation Camp is all about doing – there are no boring lectures, just engaging activities that stimulate your creativity and challenge you to think big and turn your ideas into reality. You’ll connect with brilliant people and work together to build on great ideas and find innovative solutions to real world challenges.

Here’s what people had to say about Innovation Camp Round One:

“I was recharged, inspired, laughed and met really cool people. AND our
workshop raised $5000 for the Vancouver Food Bank on a rainy Saturday
afternoon!” – Cinci Csere, PR agent at EAT Communications

At Innovation Camp you will:

- learn techniques to view problems from fresh perspectives in order to identify opportunities
- apply those techniques in entrepreneurial situations and reflected on what was learned in the process
- receive clear, concise feedback on your ability to work as part of a team
- analyze and learn from failures in your own and others lives
- laugh and have fun!

Sign up now to catch the early bird price for only $125 for all 3 days!

Click here to find out more details regarding registration fees, schedule and location or check out InnovationCamp.org for more details!

The Impact Entrepreneurship Group is proud to present the Global Innovation Tournament, organized in partnership with Stanford University and the Kauffman Foundation. This year’s challenge has been announced: your challenge is Make Saving Money Fun!

Teams can still sign up, and submissions are due this Friday, November 13th, 2009.

Create as much value and have as much impact as possible while making it fun to save money. You will convey your results in a short YouTube video of three minutes or less.

For more information about the challenge, check out the Global Innovation Tournament website.

About the Tournament

The 2009 Global Innovation Tournament (GIT) is a fast-paced international competition that will challenge student teams to solve a common, world problem in about eight days, creating as much value as possible.

In the past, teams solved problems involving common everyday objects. They created value from PostIt Notes, rubber bands, and water bottles. This year, it’s a global issue of how to make saving money fun!

Teams must then convey their results in a short video posted to YouTube. The mystery problem will be revealed on November 4 and submissions will be due Nov 13!

Follow us on Twitter and tweet with the #ImpactGIT hashtag to be part of the conversation!

Join our event on Facebook!

We are excited to announce that this year’s gala “Dare to Dream” will feature Justin Trudeau as our gala keynote! Justin is passionate about engaging and empowering youth to think and act entrepreneurial. His work with environmental groups and youth activism set an extraordinary example for today’s youth and demonstrates him as a leader propelling positive change in Canada. We are honoured to have him speak at the 2009 Impact Gala and share his encouraging words with our delegates and respective industry guests.

See you at the Impact Gala on Friday, November 20th!

What is it like to be able to share your thoughts and ideas with thousands of people via a video show? Fantastic, as in the opinion of the three of us Impact members who had the opportunity to join Mark Franklin, the host of Career Buzz on CIUT 89.5 FM last week on Friday, October 30th, 2009. During the one-hour show targeted at university students, graduates, and well as other people interested in seeking career opportunities, we were engaged in a fun and informative talk mainly about youth entrepreneurship and how our experience on the Impact Entrepreneurship Group has influenced where we are today in our academic life and our career paths.

The show featured Christine Lu, the director of Impact’s communications team, Aditya Shah, an Impact alumni who has successfully started his entrepreneurial venture, and Yue Liu, a past Impact Microcredit Competition participant and a current Impact member, as well as Herky Cutler, the youth career correspondence of CareerCycles based in Alberta. The conversation flowed from general career and academic choices and paths chosen by the Impact members to how Impact has had a positive impact on the not only the lives of Impacters, but also thousands of youth across Canada. The entrepreneurial spirit promoted by Impact is fully demonstrated by the three interviewees as they carry out different innovative ventures in their extracurricular activities and career adventures. As university students and graduates, we have truly received a lot from Impact, among which the most important would be the vision and confidence to look at the alternative path of entrepreneurship as supposed to finding a corporate job, and to have the ability to carry out your passion and to realize your dream. Relating to the current economic downturn, we reached the conclusion that now would be the best time for young people to take a serious look at all their career alternatives, including starting a business in an area of their expertise and passion. While starting a business might not be your interest, a passion for entrepreneurial pursuits and innovations would still be necessary for today’s youth to stand out of the crowd and to really utilize their resources in accomplishing something valuable both to them and to the society.

And that is where Impact comes into play – to promote entrepreneurial spirit and leadership among Canadian youth, by hosting events and competitions, providing services, and spreading the news such as by having an enjoyable chat on the radio show. Please join us in appreciating youth entrepreneurship on Career Buzz, and see how entrepreneurship plays an important role in your career path! Photos to come soon!

Yesterday on an early Monday morning at 8:30am, Janani Balendran, our fabulous co-chair of our upcoming Impact National Conference,was interviewed on the Toronto Morning Live show (CHRY 105.5FM). She was invited on the show to discuss how Impact is celebrating the upcoming Global Entrepreneurship Week and to share her perspectives on the benefits of youth entrepreneurship.

If you missed out on the show, click here to have a listen!

We thank DJ Manifest & Flo for the opportunity to share our story across the radio waves!