Cooperathon
| Cooperathon | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Location(s) | Canada France Belgium Chile |
| Inaugurated | 2016 (Montreal, Canada) |
| Organised by | Desjardins Group |
| Website | www |
The Cooperathon (French: Coopérathon) is an open innovation competition with the mission to build a social impact movement through entrepreneurship challenges. Its goal is to create influential projects on society by building a community of change-makers through a set of entrepreneurial workshops and sprints. It was imagined by the Desjardins Group in 2016 after the success of the DEFI Innovation Santé Challenge,[1] a health-based hackathon in 2015 co-organized with Hacking Health. As of 2019, Cooperathon was held in 14 cities within 4 countries (Canada, France, Belgium and Chile) and has initiated in the creation of more than 390 social impact projects by over 4000 participants[2].
A portmanteau of "cooperation" and "marathon", Cooperathon follows a cooperative model where it invites other organisations and ecosystem players to partner up with the organizers by introducing a number organisational and/or social challenges tackling positive change in society. These Cooperathon "challenges" and "tracks" are based on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.[3]
History[edit]
The Cooperathon platform was imagined in 2016 by the Desjardins Group, Canada's leading cooperative and the 5th largest in the world[4]. It started off as the DEFI-Innovation challenge[1], a 48-hour long health-based hackathon in Montreal. In order to go beyond the limitations of the 48-hour time frame and to be able to create sustainable solutions, Cooperathon's organizing team wanted to go beyond the concept of hackathons and enhance the experience for participants that will lead them to become successful future startup and non-for-profit founders[5].This is why they created the Cooperathon format, a model with an in-depth understanding of social impact during a 2 month-long competition. The model includes two main parts: the pre-competition events and the competition. The annual program is divided into a launch event (known as the Kick-Off event[6]), a set of sprint activities, a pitch competition, and also a follow-up for the alumni of the program, in order to continuously support their projects[7].
Editions[edit]
2016[edit]
Cooperathon's first edition officially started in Montreal, Canada, in 2016[8]. Along with their partners, the newly-founded organization released their first three “tracks” (Health, Fintech and Smart Cities), encouraging the projects from these specific fields with the specialized prizes associated with the challenges in these tracks, to further develop an ideal prototype into a legitimate business venture. It gave opportunities to projects in diverse fields. They had 360 participants and mentors along with 54 partners supporting up to 42 projects by the end of the 25-day program[9]. The event took place in Montreal from October 7th to November 4th, 2016[10]. Its Kick-Off[6] took place at Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal and grand finale at Complexe Desjardins[1].
2017[edit]
Cooperathon further expanded its organisation and the range of its activities with the addition of another track, Education, with associated partners Collège Durocher and EdTeq[11]. Four tracks were released along with the special challenges and prizes as part of these tracks i.e. Health, Fintech, Smart & Inclusive Cities and Education. On top of Montreal, the Cooperathon program was open to participants in Levis, Canada, as well. In the same year, Cooperathon had 640 participants and mentors which led to the creation of 63 projects[9].
2018[edit]
In the year 2018, the Cooperathon program has reached Europe by launching its first French chapter, organized and produced by BRED Banque Populaire[8]. Along with this expansion, Cooperathon grew to 4 more locations in Canada by taking a leap in the province of Ontario[11]. Cooperathon was now open to participants from a total of 10 locations. Another track, Energy/Environment, was introduced to Cooperathon Canada, with a partnership with Hydro-Quebec[11]. With a total of four official tracks: Health, Finance, Education and Energy/Environment, the distinct challenges and prizes were released in the respective track. Cooperathon France also had four official tracks like its Canadian version, however with the exception of Energy, making its track solely dedicated to Environment[12]. In 2018, Cooperathon had a total 1400 participants and mentors[9].
2019[edit]
As of 2019, Cooperathon had expanded internationally with chapters in Belgium hosted by Entreprendre Wapi[13] and Chile, by Coopeuch[14], making the platform available in a total of 14 locations in four countries[15]. One new track was introduced in the Canadian chapter, while Energy-Environment was separated into two distinct tracks. Furthermore, each of the six tracks was associated with a partner of Cooperathon[15]. Within the tracks of Health, Finance (Fintech), Education, Energy, Environment and Agriculture, new social impact challenges were offered, along with prizes and grants to promote social and innovative change in each field[16]. The 2019 edition had over 1500 registered participants and mentors along with a 100 and more partners[9].
Pre-competition[edit]
Info sessions, workshops and design jams are hosted by Cooperathon organizers in the months prior to the competition in the late fall[7]. These events are open to all who are interested and covers a variety of topics around social impact, technology, entrepreneurship, and help start forming adequate teams with complementary skill sets[11]. Novice and veteran entrepreneurs from Shawinigan, Quebec City, Montreal, Toronto, and Waterloo are annually invited to join and attend local events and pre-competition workshops in Canada[16], In Cooperathon France, people from Paris, Rouen, Lille, Lyon, Aix en Provence, Guadeloupe, and Tahiti all have a chance to take part in local workshops and information sessions during their participation[12]. The very same opportunities are available for those in Mouscron, for participants of Cooperathon Belgium[17] and Santiago, for those taking part in Cooperathon Chile[18].
Competition[edit]
The actual competition portion is a one to two month-long program and it starts with a grand event known as the "kick-off", which is the term used to describe a launch event[17]. The Kick-Off starts the competition and it is then followed by weekly workshops and work sessions known as "sprints" where teams receive training and mentorship. The sprints are followed up by the pitch competition[9]. Teams are competing at the regional level during the semi-finals, and the national level during the Grand Finale[9]. While Cooperathon is a wider program dedicated to the spread of open innovation and social impact projects, the competition is a period for newly formed entrepreneurs to take part in training and pitching practices. It also becomes a conglomeration of like-minded people who seek to elevate their understanding of creating innovation for the people, and in a sense, the world itself[11].
Kick-off event[edit]
The Kick-off (launch event), as the starting point of the month-long competition, is an opportunity for people to know the purpose of the program and learn more about the social impact challenges offered by Cooperathon[19]. It is also an opportunity for people to meet talents and complete their team[11]. The event has come to be known as a "social mixology"[20], as it is also an opportunity for people to meet talent[11]. The event includes conferences, workshops, networking opportunities, pitching and more social activities to promote growth and development in the startup culture. Every year, the size of the kick-off event expands and opens new doors for various people to meet with people of mutual interests and potential partners[19]. In 2019, the Canadian edition of Cooperathon's Kickoff happened at the Olympic Stadium (Montreal), hosting approximately 3000 participants from around Canada and other countries[19]. The French edition of Cooperathon 2019 Kickoff, which followed the Canadian launch a day after, took place in Point Éphémère in Paris[12]. The Belgian edition has their launch day in Mouscron[17].
List of keynote speakers at the Cooperathon Kick-off[edit]
- Chris Hadfield, NASA Astronaut
- Jessica Jackley, Founder of Kiva (organization)
- Nicholas Thompson, Editor-in-chief at WIRED
- Malala Yousafzai, youngest Nobel Prize laureate
- Yoshua Bengio, Canadian artificial intelligence researcher and Turing award co-recipient
- Matthew Luhn, writer and former animator for Pixar
Sprints[edit]
The Kick-off is then followed by a set of weekly sprints inspired by the Google Design Sprint model[22]. The month-long competition include workshops and teamwork once a week, as well as specialized work sessions and follow-ups throughout the week along with dozens of hours of optional training and coaching sessions. The sprints are divided into five concepts (Uniting & Understanding, Design, Build, and Pitch & Convince), each one taking place on a specific week of the sprint.[16][7]
0. Unite[edit]
The very first step when joining the competition is the showcase of the primary objectives of starting a project. Teamwork and communication is the basis of “Unite”, where individuals will be put to the task of conversing and creating their network within the ecosystem, and then proceed to establishing a group of like-minded individuals that will be able to work together to either improve a project or creating a new one, in the hopes of making the most positive and impactful results on a global scale.[16]
1. Understanding[edit]
This step is dedicated to developing a good understanding of a problem and starting the idea process in order to find the solution that creates the highest impact on the organization and/or society[11]. Participants of the competition will begin to think about what and how their soon-to-be business plan will function and in what manner it will be presented. The process of solutions mapping also takes place during this phase. Participants will then target issues and identify personas related to their work. It is also in this step where teamwork is called into action, with the addition of consulting mentors and experts provided by the Cooperathon program[16][7].
2. Design[edit]
This step is where business models and solutions are designed. The designs are expected to be sustainable and to be able to impart the highest possible social impact within the society[11]. Participants will look into impact opportunity zones, value propositions, and developing their Business Model Canvas[16]. The aim of this step is to prepare the structure or “skeleton” of their product, as well as making a valid product that is both feasible in its design and impressionable to those who would want to support their cause[7].
3. Build[edit]
This is the step where the prototype is built and validated to demonstrate their viability[11]. It is through this process where the Business Model Canvas is revisited and the prototype is constructed within the day. The day is given to focus all efforts into completing the prototype, as well as to validate its value to the public and to future prospects during the following week. The mentors and experts available at hand also lend their support in this regard[16].
4. Pitch and convince[edit]
As the final step, this is where the pitches are practiced and the projects are submitted for the semi-finale. There is a series of pitch practices in front of practice judges, as well constructing and figuring out how to state the project's impact. The judges are also experts in the designated field, so their advice would be as close to the actual pitch responses as possible. Participants then use the following week to perfect their deck and prepare their final pitch[9]. The following step would be the pitch competition itself[16].
Post-competition[edit]
While most of the content presented by the Cooperathon program ends after the finale, participants will continue to work with post-competition event in place[9]. As the gateway between their pre-incubation[23] program to an active incubation program, the Cooperathon organizing team support the teams after the competition by connecting them with incubators, accelerators, and services provided, as well as mentors, coaches, potential clients, and other community players to help them advance their endeavor foremost[11].
Supporting charities[edit]
At each edition of Cooperathon, there is a non-profit program or charity organization that is chosen to dedicate the totality of registration fees recovered from all the Cooperathon chapters (Canada, France, Belgium, and Chile)[9]. In 2016, the chosen organisation was Regroupement Quebecois des maladies orphelines[24]. In 2017, it was Fondation du Dr Julien[25]. In 2018, it was the Malala Fund. In 2019, it is the Refugees International charity[9].
Tracks, prizes, and challenges[edit]
Every year, Cooperathon releases a set of "tracks" which target a certain field inspired from the Sustainable Development Goals[9]. Every one of these tracks have track partners who announce and sponsor the prize for the team that is chosen as having the most potential and most acquainted with the ideals of the chosen track. Partners also have the option to offer social impact challenges, which differ slightly, as they can be both track-related and/or have a concept of their own (ex. Application and Media Use)[16]. The prizes and grants are based on these individual track performances and the best solutions to the company challenges. Participants are free to work on any idea focusing on their chosen track, while the company challenge is an optional addition based on their project's inclusive nature of the criteria presented[11].
The following is a list of projects that have won an award through the competition.[26][27][28][29]
| Canada | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cooperathon Track Prize Winners | ||||||||
| Finance | Health | Education | Energy | Environment | Agriculture | Smart City | Grand Prize | |
| 2019 | Placify | AXION AI | Mots d'Enfants | LOCABIT | BOOMERANG | BE-UP | PLAKK | |
| 2018 | Suri | I Seek Delirium | Collège St-Bernard - IBI | WaterGeeks | WaterGeeks | WaterGeeks | ||
| 2017 | Block Rewards | SOS Aide | Cycliste Averti 2.0 | Community Action Points | ||||
| 2016 | Just Insuring | ALLOS | Société logique | |||||
| Canada | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canada - Cooperathon Grants and Prizes | ||||
| 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | |
| Fintech/Finance Grant | Block Rewards (Prix fintech Éducation financière et santé financière) Kalepso (Prix fintech Prévention de la fraude et cybersécurité) Omnic3 (Paiements) Penses-tu (Fondation Desjardins "Jasmin Roy" Innovation Grant) SOS AIDE (Caisse d'économie solidaire Prize) | Kaira (Finance Grant) | Think Twice (Financial Health) | |
| Health Grant | Ma clinique pédiatrique mobile (Hacking Health "Coup de coeur" Prize) | SOS Aide (Prix santé Des employés et de leurs familles) Neona pour les parents (Prix santé patients-familles) | Compos Mentis (by Arche Innovation & Axel) | |
| Smart City Grand Prize | Société logique | Community Action Points | ||
| Education Grant | Lexamind (Banque National Grant - Legal Assistance) | Le Quai (Investissement Québec) Le Quai, Collège St-Bernard-IBI, Innovatank, Pathways ( all granted by Ministry of Education and Higher Education (Quebec)) | EdCode ( granted by Ministry of Education and Higher Education (Quebec)), Mots D'Enfants ( granted by Ministry of Education and Higher Education (Quebec)), Digno ( granted by Ministry of Immigration, Francisation and Integration) | |
| Energy/Environment Grant | Écopointe (granted by Hydro-Québec) Watergeeks (granted by David Suzuki Foundation) | Locabit (Energy Efficiency, granted by Hydro-Québec) Tesgo (Sustainable Mobility, granted by Polytechnique Montreal and Trajet-M) | ||
| Agriculture Grant | Désherbeur Autonome (Responsible Agricultural Practices, granted by Solio Agriculture) Cannafish (Urban Farming & Circular Economy, granted by laboratoire agriculture urbain) | |||
| Diversity and Inclusion Prize | Artizanko | |||
| Regional Ontario Grant | Smarttrax | |||
| Financement (Hexagramme) Prompt | LifeStory (Health) iLearn (All Categories) SOS AIDE (Coup de Coeur) | Pupcoach (Health) WALO (Health) PICCLES (Health) Carboscope (Energy/Environment) | Tesgo (Sustainable Mobility, Energy) - LEAV (Interactive Media, Finance) - The Other Hand (Interactive Media, Health) - Digno (Interactive Media, Education) - Projet de Ferme Collective (Interactive Media, Agriculture) | |
| Bourse Catallaxy/RCGT | Taxbot | Carboscope | ||
| Prix Desjardins Lab | Coop Qliic | |||
| Prix startup d'impact | EruditeAi (at Lyon - CIC) UBIOS Inc. (at Silicon Valley - Plug and Play) | Quinditech | ||
| France | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cooperathon Grants and Prizes | ||||||||
| 2018 | 2019 | |||||||
| Grand Prize | DatImpact | |||||||
| Finance | Parent(Aide) | DatImpact | ||||||
| Health & Welfare | WalkUnited | Ulysse | ||||||
| Education | Invasive Solutions | L'Étoffe | ||||||
| Environment | DifEasy | WeCan - Res&Co | ||||||
List of partners[30][31][edit]
- Deloitte
- Hacking Health
- Fintech Cadence
- Collège Durocher Saint-Lambert
- EdTeq[32]
- Ville de Montréal
- Hydro-Québec
- Sollio Agriculture[33]
- Prompt[34]
- Derichebourg[35]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Défi Innovation Desjardins - Hacking Health, Propulsé Par IBM Bluemix". Hackathon.
- ↑ "An Extraordinary Experience". Cooperathon. Retrieved 17 February 2020.
- ↑ "Home .:. Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform". sustainabledevelopment.un.org. Retrieved 2020-01-09.
- ↑ "Global Payments Announces Strategic Partnership with Desjardins Group in Canada". www.businesswire.com. 2019-10-31. Retrieved 2020-02-19.
- ↑ "Coopérathon : la plus grande compétition d'innovation ouverte au monde s'exporte à Paris !". Cooperathon. 20 June 2018. Retrieved 17 February 2020.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Lancement (EN) – Cooperathon – La plus grande compétition d'innovation ouverte au Canada | The largest Open Innovation challenge in Canada". Retrieved 2020-02-28.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 "Boîte à outils (EN) – Cooperathon – La plus grande compétition d'innovation ouverte au Canada | The largest Open Innovation challenge in Canada". Retrieved 2020-02-28.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Dit, Lambry (2018-06-20). "Coopérathon : la plus grande compétition d'innovation ouverte au monde s'exporte à Paris !". L'ADN (in français). Retrieved 2020-02-19.
- ↑ 9.00 9.01 9.02 9.03 9.04 9.05 9.06 9.07 9.08 9.09 9.10 "About – Coopérathon". Retrieved 2020-02-28.
- ↑ "Coopérathon challenges Montreal startup community to make the world a better place through innovation". BetaKit. 2016-11-09. Retrieved 2020-02-28.
- ↑ 11.00 11.01 11.02 11.03 11.04 11.05 11.06 11.07 11.08 11.09 11.10 11.11 Jaffer, Dave (2018-09-26). "Coopérathon wants to fix the world with collaborative innovation". Cult MTL. Retrieved 2020-02-28.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 "Coopérathon – La plus grande compétition d'innovation ouverte en France". Retrieved 2020-02-28.
- ↑ "Coopérathon : La plus grande compétition d'innovation au monde!". Eurometropolitan e-campus (in français). 2019-09-06. Retrieved 2020-03-19.
- ↑ "Sobre nosotros". coopeuch.cl (in español). Retrieved 2020-03-19.
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 Group, Desjardins. "Desjardins Cooperathon: Innovation tackling social issues head on". www.newswire.ca. Retrieved 2020-02-28.
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 16.4 16.5 16.6 16.7 16.8 "Compétition (EN) – Cooperathon – La plus grande compétition d'innovation ouverte au Canada | The largest Open Innovation challenge in Canada". Retrieved 2020-02-28.
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 "Cooperathon – La plus grande compétition d'innovation ouverte au Canada | The largest Open Innovation challenge in Canada" (in français). Retrieved 2020-02-28.
- ↑ "Cooperathon – La mas grande competición de innovación abierta en Chile | The largest Open Innovation challenge in Chili" (in español). Retrieved 2020-02-28.
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 19.3 "Lancement (EN) – Cooperathon – La plus grande compétition d'innovation ouverte au Canada | The largest Open Innovation challenge in Canada". Retrieved 2020-02-28.
- ↑ "Mouvement Desjardins Announces the Third Edition of the World's Largest Open Innovation Competition for Social Impact, "Coopérathon"". StartUp HERE Toronto. 2018-08-08. Retrieved 2020-02-28.
- ↑ "Cooperathon 2018 Kickoff Night – Coopérathon". Retrieved 2020-02-28.
- ↑ Bry, Nicolas (2018-03-26). "What is a Google Design Sprint?". Innovation Excellence. Retrieved 2020-02-28.
- ↑ "Key services of Business Incubation Program (Part 3 of 3)". Entrepreneurship, Business Incubation, Business Models & Strategy Blog. 2013-04-22. Retrieved 2020-02-28.
- ↑ "RQMO – Regroupement québécois des maladies orphelines" (in français). Retrieved 2020-02-28.
- ↑ "Fondation Docteur Julien". Fondation Docteur Julien (in français). Retrieved 2020-02-28.
- ↑ "Grande finale 2019 (EN) – Cooperathon – La plus grande compétition d'innovation ouverte au Canada | The largest Open Innovation challenge in Canada". Retrieved 2020-02-28.
- ↑ "Grande finale 2018 – Coopérathon". Retrieved 2020-02-28.
- ↑ "Coopérathon 2017". 2017-11-11. Archived from the original on 2017-11-11. Retrieved 2020-02-28.
- ↑ "Coopérathon 2016 | Un des plus grands défis d'innovation ouverte au Canada - One of Canada's greatest open innovation challenges". 2016-12-01. Archived from the original on 2016-12-01. Retrieved 2020-02-28.
- ↑ "Coopérathon – La plus grande compétition d'innovation ouverte en France". Retrieved 2020-02-28.
- ↑ "Cooperathon – La plus grande compétition d'innovation ouverte au Canada | The largest Open Innovation challenge in Canada". Retrieved 2020-02-28.
- ↑ "L'association EDTEQ". Association Edteq (in français). Retrieved 2020-02-28.
- ↑ "Sollio Agriculture". sollio.ag. Retrieved 2020-02-28.
- ↑ "Home". Prompt. Retrieved 2020-02-28.
- ↑ www.derichebourg.com https://www.derichebourg.com/en/home. Retrieved 2020-02-28. Missing or empty
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