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Pitch It has grown to be one of our most exciting events every year. Recently we held the third annual Pitch It competition in partnership with PIE- Partners in Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and Northern Ontario Angels. The event targets post-secondary students and recent grads to pitch their business idea to a panel of judges in hopes of winning cash to move their idea further.

As is tradition every fall, the Northwestern Ontario Innovation Centre unveiled their new infographic highlighting client success at this year’s annual general meeting. This infographic represents data from the 3-year period from 2015-2017. Collected from the annual survey completed by the Innovation Centre’s clients the data demonstrates the economic impact on our region and helps the Innovation Centre tailor services and programs to the needs of the entrepreneur.

Most entrepreneurs are interesting, dynamic and intelligent people whom I love supporting.  It is not always easy to know which entrepreneurs will be successful and those who won’t.  However, over my many years of interacting with entrepreneurs one key trait that spells failure is the “know it all” mindset.  Starting and growing a business requires knowledge of finance, marketing, customer behaviour, operations, human resources, leadership, technical skills and that is just to name a few areas.  No one person is an expert in all of these areas.  It is scary to meet an entrepreneur who thinks they do not need to leverage input, advice and other people’s experience.  These entrepreneurs are heading down the road to failure and make me fearful.  Being the smartest person in the room is not that smart.

Yes, the word is used very often. However, embracing and welcoming innovation into your business is a critical strategy to staying relevant in an ever changing world.  Innovation is typically defined as new ideas that satisfy customer’s needs.  If you are simply throwing the word around and not conducting real measurable activities to develop new ideas, then yes, it may be a buzzword in your world. 

Why your business should Innovate:

It wasn’t too long ago that businesses controlled employee internet use.   Today, the web and social media is accessible more than ever.   Even if staff are not creating the odd post and tweet at work on the company internet connection should you care?   The answer is yes.  

By: Scott Butcher, Meaglow