PlaceSpeak at the CICP Innovation Forum

PlaceSpeak participated in the Canadian Innovation Commercialization Program forum on Monday June 27th. Sive O’Neil and Samantha Burtnick (UBC Sauder MBA and Langara co-op summer interns) represented PlaceSpeak and were able to learn about the benefits of the CICP program, and also meet some very interesting entrepreneurs from small and medium sized businesses.

For those who are not familiar with the CICP, it is a program that the Government of Canada launched to help promote the Country’s economic growth. The program supports innovations that are environment-related, embedded technologies, or in the health/safety industry. Pre-commercialized businesses can apply to the CICP for support while testing their products.

We set up our table with a live demonstration of the website, and several brochures for attendees to take home with them. We were surprised at how much interest our table attracted and how great the response was. Many people asked us how the website works, what the benefits are for the users, and how successful our pilot projects have been. One gentleman actually signed up and came back an hour later to give us his feedback. We spoke with several federal government representatives, as well as entrepreneurs who were attending the presentation to learn more about what the CICP can offer their business.

It was a great experience to not only engage with the public about PlaceSpeak, but also learn about other innovations that are soon to be commercialized in Canada. The PlaceSpeak team is honoured to have been asked to attend the forum, and since then we have been in contact with government and are now on their radar as a potential CICP candidate. Thank you for having us CICP!