New business pitch event taking place during Research and Innovation Week

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The Pitch: 131 Seconds for $50,000 is running for the first time ever on March 20 and senior leaders from Fanshawe will have an opportunity to pitch their research project ideas.

Fanshawe's Research and Innovation Week is fast approaching and a new event is scheduled to kick off.

For the first time, “The Pitch: 131 Seconds for $50,000” is taking place at Fanshawe on Mar 20. This will be a reality-TV style event where senior leaders will have 131 seconds to pitch their innovation project. The participants will be competing for a prize of $50,000 and President Peter Devlin will start off the event.

The event will run from 8:30 to 10 a.m. and will include coffee and fritters from The Fritter Shop. Executive director of Innovation Village, David Belford, said that this event will provide a chance for employees from all departments of Fanshawe to learn about all the proposed projects for 2019 to 2020.

“[This event] encourages and spurs new ideas, innovation and activities,” Belford said. “It may allow a pilot project to be initiated that would not go forward without the funding.”

According to Belford, each academic faculty and each non-academic vice president's portfolio will be provided $50,000 and employees in these departments will complete the projects being funded.

“This may create new partnerships/ linkages or strengthen existing partnerships/linkages within the College and between the College and organizations in the community,” Belford said.

In addition to this event, some of the other events that will be running during Research and Innovation Week include mental health workshops, unconference for professors, Stone Soup Entrepreneurship event and Fanshawe Student Union (FSU) Innovation Fair.

“It is very important to be innovative in all workplaces to keep up with the rapid changes in the work world and to provide important, upto- date services which benefit all stakeholders,” Belford said.

According to Belford, there are a number of activities at Fanshawe that involve students, employees and external partners that allow for creativity and innovation.

“We hope that attendees at all sessions will be inspired by the speakers they hear and/or the workshops they participate in to encourage them to also be creative and innovative,” Belford said.

Belford said that participants will use one slide with a photo, graphic, or video and present for 131 seconds.

“We expect the pitches will provide a fun, lively and engaging way to communicate about these projects,” Belford said.

The Pitch: 131 Seconds for $50,000 will take place in the Alumni Lecture Theatre in D1060.