Core innovation and entrepreneurship-based (I&E) skills development
The Sandbox Discover program is an 8-part workshop series that is open to post-secondary students and recent alumni in any degree program from Dalhousie University, Saint Mary’s University, NSCC and Mount Saint Vincent University.
The skills and insights gained through the program are transferrable across disciplines and will allow you to bring an innovation mindset to everything from academic group projects, current and future workplaces or potential startups!
We focus on the early-stages of innovation and our mantra is:
- Fall in love with a problem, not the idea. The more attached you are to your idea, the less open you will to seeing it grow, change and improve.
- The best way to find a great idea is to have many ideas. This is best achieved by immersing yourself in the problem domain and letting people be your guide.
- Form the right team. Problem solving as a group of one is not nearly as impactful as exploring problems and generating ideas as part of a team. Different expertise and worldview yields creative tensions that push ideas to another level.
We will discuss topics in human centred design thinking, marketing, intellectual property and more!
Past workshop topic have included:
- Intro to Human-Centered Design
- Interviewing Skills
- Make the Survey
- Persona Profiles
- Problem Tree Analysis
- Creative Matrix
- Storyboarding
- Sketching + Squiggle Birds
- Design Challenge
- How to Raise Capital + Bootstrapping your Business
- Sales, Marketing & PR
Through the Sandbox Discover program, students will be positioned competitively for the next steps of the traditional business plan or lean/business model canvas.
Teams who wish to advance their ideas beyond the Sandbox can apply for other regional supports that focus on validation, growth, and investment in such projects.
Check out our upcoming events on our Events Calendar.
Find out more about our programs
