Sprint to Innovate, powered by Canada Life, brings together post-secondary students from varied disciplines such as technology, business, entrepreneurship, and more. Sprint to Innovate is brought to you by University of Manitoba – Faculty of Science, Red River College Polytechnic, and Tech Manitoba. All Winnipeg Post Secondary Students are invited to participate. Students will learn about innovation while collaborating in a fun and exciting challenge to build a minimum viable prototype in two days.

We are pleased to announce that our next Sprint to Innovate: The Innovation Challenge is the weekend of Friday, January 31 to Sunday, February 2, 2025! We start the event with a Networking session on Thursday, January 30 with a training session at University of Manitoba.

We invite all companies to review our sponsorship and mentorship opportunities, and to consider submitting a business challenge; and for post-secondary students to consider participating.

How the Event Works

Teams of 4 to 6 students will choose from available business challenges provided by industry. Students will then work together with support from mentors to create a solution, including developing a prototype to be presented to judges on the final day.

A prototype is a simple experimental model of the proposed product used to learn from. Prototypes range from low-fidelity (paper-based) prototypes that are used to explain concepts all the way to high-fidelity prototypes that have functional elements with more detail.  Teams may consist of technology and business students.

How To Get Involved

As an Organization

We are looking for a sponsor to provide $3500 for our student participants on Sunday, February 2. Your $3500 sponsorship would earn you:

1. Sponsor the event.
2. Volunteer your time as a mentor.
3. Provide us with a Business Challenge that your organization has by emailing ckubara@rrc.ca.

As a Student

Students from any Manitoba post-secondary school may participate in a team at Sprint to Innovate.

Students may register a team of 4 to 6 students. Check back for registration details.

Sponsorship Opportunities

Refreshment Sponsor – $3500

• Recognition on Thursday, January 30 at our refreshment table at the Networking and Training event
• Recognition on Sunday, February 2 at our refreshment table at breakfast, snack, and lunch
• Recognition on event materials, website and registration.
• Social media recognition
• The opportunity to be a mentor to a team throughout the weekend

Event Sponsor – $1000

We are looking for sponsors to provide $1000 towards prize money to the winning teams.

Your $1000 sponsorship would earn you:

• Recognition throughout the event
• Recognition on event materials
• Social media recognition
• The opportunity to be a mentor to a team throughout the event

Title Sponsor

Thank you to our Title Sponsor Canada Life!

Thank you to our supporting sponsor Red River College Polytechnic