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COIE Newsletter: July 2025
Dear changemakers, it's the middle of the Summer semester! ⚡️ We are back with a fresh look for our newsletter (do you like it? 👀) and have some exciting things to share with you from the past few months.
The Centennial Innovates Annual Report FY2024-25 is out! 🎉
A full year in the making, we are proud to share the 2024-25 Annual Report from Centennial Innovates, our parent department! This year's theme is "Innovating Through Our Students" — where you will find many student success stories, testimonials, and how our students have impacted the innovation culture and ecosystem at Centennial College and beyond! ✨
How can we educate our students for career success? Colleges must seek to create graduates who are dedicated advocates for continuous innovation. Not only must students be trained and exposed to best-practice methodologies, they must embrace entrepreneurship best practices associated with a continuous refinement of a value proposition. —Jonathan Hack, Dean, Centennial Innovates, from "Message from the Dean" page.
Centennial College Shines at CCEC 2025 with Record-Breaking Wins! 🙌
Centennial College made history at this year’s Cross-College Entrepreneurial Challenge (CCEC) with record-breaking wins! After three days of intense brainstorming, building, and problem-solving, our 10 outstanding students competed across 3 real-world industry challenges.
🏆 Team 2 swept three major awards: Best Solution (Partner’s Choice), Best Solution (Judges’ Choice), and Most Engaging Video.
COIE is starting to plan our 2025-26 programming, and we want your input! As a valued member of the COIE community, we want to hear what you want out of our programs. What specific skills are you looking to develop? What types of events do you want more of? This is your chance to shape COIE's activities! 🤩
‼️ Special bonus opportunity: As a token of recognition, all survey responders can receive 2 months of free, fullaccess to COIE's brand new Coursera for Careers program, allowing you to enroll in Coursera's Professional Certificates to upskill and boost your academic and/or career growth.
Immersive soft skills training – because your venture starts with your voice.
Want to overcome public speaking anxiety? Have an idea that you don't know how to pitch? TheVR Pitching Bootcampis a 15-day hybrid, multimodal bootcamp designed to help students master the art of pitching business and venture ideas. Combining web-based interactive AI simulations with immersive Virtual Reality (VR) environments, the bootcamp offers a unique, hands-on learning experience. Participants receive real-time AI-generated feedback, virtually simulated environments, investors, Q&A, and engage in expert-led sessions both online and in person.
Pitching is a core skill for any entrepreneur. Whether you're addressing potential investors, presenting at a hackathon, or showcasing an academic project, delivering a clear and compelling pitch is crucial.
Day 1 - Foundations of Powerful Communication Tues July 22nd, 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM EST [Virtual] 🗣 Kick off your journey with the core principles of impactful storytelling, public speaking mastery, and a full onboarding into your VirtualSpeech toolkit. With a special keynote from Nancy Wilson, Founder and CEO at the Canadian Women's Chamber of Commerce.
Day 2 - Midweek Momentum: Tune-Up & Mentorship Thurs July 24th, 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM EST [Virtual] 🛠 A checkpoint to assess progress, answer questions, provide mentorship, troubleshoot tech issues, and ensure you’re set up for success.
Day 3 - Crafting Your Compelling Pitch Mon July 28th, 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM EST [Virtual] 🎤 A deeper dive into building your pitch deck and refining your presentation skills with expert coaching and personalized feedback. With a special keynote from Ron Tsang, author and professor at The Business School, Centennial College.
Day 4: VR Day: Practice, Pitch & Awards Thurs August 7th, 9:30 AM - 5:00 PM EST [In-Person] 🏆 Put on your VR headset and practice your pitch in a realistic, immersive environment. Get instant feedback, refine your delivery, and boost your confidence before pitching to a panel of judges for gift card awards and swag.
👉 Learn more about the VR Pitching Bootcamp details, keynote speakers, and session outlines here!
**Note: You must be able to commit to all 4 sessions to complete the bootcamp. Time commitment over the 3 weeks is estimated at 30 hours, including 17 hours as part of an online Public Speaking Mastery course and certification. Spots are limited to 20 participants.
COIE attends Partners in Project Green (PPG) 2025 Annual Forum! 🌱
We were proud to attend the PPG 2025 Annual Forum "Stories that Matter: Building Buy-in for a Sustainable Future" hosted by Partners in Project Green (PPG), an initiative of the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA) and Toronto Pearson, at the Progress Campus Event Centre on June 12th.
💬 The day was filled with insightful talks and discussions with sustainability leaders from academia and industry, and our Dean at Centennial Innovates, Jonathan Hack, gave the afternoon remarks where he spoke about the importance of applied research and sustainability-driven innovation and entrepreneurship in education.
💡 Our COIE booth showcased the work of our SDG Innovation Lab and Immersive Learning Lab, sparking meaningful conversations with industry and community members alike. 🙌 Special thanks to: Vicky Huang (Knowledge Mobilization & COIE Lead), who led facilitation at both the AV station and the COIE booth, Kailimi Li (Entrepreneurial Programs Lead) and Debbie Deer (Immersive Lab Coordinator) for engaging participants and sharing stories of impact from our innovation ecosystem.
This was a fantastic opportunity to connect, collaborate, and amplify the changemaker spirit of our students and partners. Thank you to all who stopped by! 💚✨
COIE explores Consensus 2025 ⚡️
We are proud to have coordinated a delegation of over 60 students, faculty, and staff to attend one of the world’s most influential tech conferences for blockchain, artificial intelligence and Web3: Consensus 2025!
Our attendees represented diverse schools across the College including the School of Engineering Technology and Applied Sciences (SETAS), The Business School (TBS), the School of Hospitality, Tourism and Culinary Arts (SHTCA), as well as many Centennial Innovates student researchers from our Wearable, Interactive and Mobile Technology Access Centre in Health (WIMTACH).
👇 Check out our Consensus 2025 Recap Video!
💬 A professor from SETAS shared:
“I would much appreciate this experience to gain more AI-related resources and insights to bring back to my students.”
💬 One student noted:
“This experience is rich and inspiring. I've learned more about where the future of tech is heading and how I can be a part of it.”
COIE is committed to creating meaningful, real-world learning opportunities that connect the Centennial College community with Canada’s innovation ecosystem.
Thank you to everyone who joined us, and to Consensus 2025 for hosting such a forward-thinking and inclusive event!
COIE attends DiscoveryX 2025
COIE was proud to represent Centennial College at DiscoveryX—Canada’s premier innovation event hosted by the Ontario Centre of Innovation (OCI)! We attended alongside our parent department, Centennial Innovates. 💡 Our booth highlighted Centennial's work in sustainable innovation and entrepreneurship, and we connected with forward-thinking ventures, inviting them to join our COIE community and explore future collaborations through our programs, hackathons, and innovation challenges.
A big thank you to everyone who stopped by—we look forward to reconnecting at future events!
COIE Impact Spotlight
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At the Global Goals Jam Winter 2025, we didn’t just create models—we designed hope. By tackling food insecurity, we built bridges to a future where no one goes to bed hungry, and every community thrives with access to the resources they need to flourish."
Want to be featured? 🤗 We are gathering testimonials of all sorts for our COIE Alumni Impact Series, and have already posted a number of stories on our social media!
Calling all creatives, entrepreneurs, artists and small business owners! 📣
Are you a maker, artist, or small business owner? Set up a booth and sell your creations or promote your services at the CCSAI Maker’s Market! The Maker’s Market will take place on July 22nd and July 23rd from 11:00 AM – 3:00 PM at the Progress Campus Alumni Courtyard.
The AI Founder Sprint is INSEAD’s flagship 8-week program for early-stage teams building AI-first ventures. From raw data to real businesses, founders receive expert mentorship, hands-on tools, and access to a global network. Applications are also open for experienced founders and AI professionals to join as mentors and guide startups through key milestones.
This month's book recommendation is brought to you by Jonathan Hack, Dean of Centennial Innovates, the college's applied research, innovation and entrepreneurship department.
Playing to Win: How Strategy Really Works
Strategy is not complex. But it is hard. It’s hard because it forces people and organizations to make specific choices about their future, something that doesn’t happen in most companies.
💬 "Roger Martin is the most insightful corporate strategy thinker I've encountered. What sets his approach apart is how he frames strategy as an act of differentiation—encouraging businesses to define how they stand out in their sector. In Playing to Win, Martin challenges leaders to draw on their own deep expertise to envision a likely future for their industry, identify gaps and opportunities, and set bold, winning objectives. Strategy is complex and full of unknowns, which is why many defer to outside voices. But Martin reminds us that the best ideas often come from those closest to the challenges. What I most like about Roger Martin is how he simplifies things into easily relatable action plans. This makes doing strategic work easier to do. This book is a must-read for anyone serious about shaping their organization's future." — Jonathan Hack, Dean, Centennial Innovates
Check out this 10-minute video "A Plan is Not a Strategy" by Roger Martin, to get a taste of his approach to strategy development!
📖 Want a copy of the book? We will have physical and digital copies of this book (as well as other COIE book recommendations) available at all our upcoming in-person events! Your next opportunity will be at the VR Pitching Bootcamp, but stay tuned for our Fall 2025 Event Calendar — coming soon ;)
🧐 Buzzword Breakdown
Sustainable entrepreneurial mindset 🌱🧠
If you're familiar with COIE, you might have heard the term "sustainable entrepreneurial mindset" as one of our fundamental goals to foster through our programming. But what does that really mean?
A sustainable entrepreneurial mindset is a future-focused way of thinking and acting that empowers individuals to create value, solve problems, and drive positive change—across business, career, and life.
It's a mindset that is committed to creating entrepreneurial opportunities that positively impact society and the environment. In 2021, we recognized that tomorrow's entrepreneurs must be sustainability-oriented and equipped with future-proof skills to create positive change in the world.
👆 Check out our video paper above on how we've transformed COIE's programming to foster a sustainable entrepreneurial mindset (or an abridged version here)!
📩 Stay Connected!
Graduated recently? Don’t miss out on future updates, opportunities, and events from Centennial Innovates. Ensure you update your emailso we can keep in touch after you leave campus!
Fostering a sustainable entrepreneurial mindset and actionable lifelong skills™️
Stay in the Loop with COIE! ✨ Sign up to receive the latest news on exciting entrepreneurial events, hands-on workshops, inspiring stories, and more—delivered straight to your inbox.Thanks for joining our community!
