NEW this Year! The CNE Innovation Garage
The Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) will launch its 138th season with a special three-day event introducing the latest in innovations to the public. The CNE Innovation Garage will take place August 19 to 21 in Hall F in the Enercare Centre at Toronto’s Exhibition Place. The event is free with admission to the CNE. Complete details are available at TheEx.com or join the conversation at #cneinnovationgarage.
This all-new innovation hub will feature a three-day Emerging Innovators Pitch Competition where Ontario’s most imaginative and inspiring young inventors will compete for prize money including a $25,000 grand prize. The space will also include an Innovation Playground, which will showcase current innovations in consumer products, services and more; as well as inventor Meet & Greets, Maker Spaces, and a talk series with industry vanguards and the Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen.
The Emerging Innovators Pitch Competition
Drawing from Ontario’s wealth of colleges and universities, the CNE will stage a Pitch Competition involving 25 young inventors who will converge onstage to present their ideas. Each of five competitors in five categories will have three minutes to sell their concept to a panel of judges and CNE visitors, as they vie for the chance to take home a Best Category Prize of $5,000, the Grand Prize of $25,000 and accelerate their career dreams. The five categories are:
- Agri-tech & Food Tech (Friday, August 19 at 12:30 pm)
- Advancements in the agriculture field including everything from farm to table
- Biotech (Friday, August 19 at 3 pm)
- Advancements in the biological and medical fields with an emphasis on health and innovations that can benefit our aging society
- Lifestyle Innovation (Saturday, August 20 at 2:30 pm)
- A broad overview of any and all innovation that make a mark on everyday life, from automated cars and wearable technology and everything in between
- Social Innovation (Saturday, August 20 at 3 pm)
- Explores innovation in education, philanthropy, and culture
- Virtual/Augmented Reality (Sunday, August 21 at 12:30 pm)
- Features innovations that utilize virtual or augmented reality
The competition culminates on Sunday, August 21 at 5:30 pm when the judging panel chooses the “best of the best” in innovation, and the prizes are awarded.
To participate in the Pitch Competition:
University and college students should visit TheEx.com, where they can fill out and submit an application form to participate in the competition
The Innovation Playground
In this fun and interactive space, people will have a chance to get up-close and experience the latest in consumer services and products including wearable technology, 3D printers and more. The Playground will be open all three days from 10 am to 10 pm.
To Participate in the Innovation Playground:
The CNE is inviting all start-ups, entrepreneurs, mad scientists, exhibitors and corporate tech & innovation companies to participate. It is an opportunity to inspire a captive audience, connect with motivated consumers and ignite passion for innovative brands. To learn more, click here.
The Canadian National Exhibition
The Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) was founded in 1879 for the purpose of fostering the development of agriculture, industry and the arts. Originally called the Toronto Industrial Exhibition, the name was officially changed to the Canadian National Exhibition in 1912 to better represent what the fair had become: “A Show Window of the Nation.”
Over the years, the CNE became well known for showcasing exhibits that featured the latest technological advances in industry and agriculture including:
- Electric railway transportation in 1883
- Edison’s phonograph in 1888
- Wireless telephone in the 1890s
- Radio in 1922
- Television in 1939
- Plastics and synthetics in the 1940s & 1950s
- Virtual Reality in 1992
Today, the Canadian National Exhibition is Canada’s largest community celebration and the fifth largest fair in North America. The 2015 CNE attracted 1.6 million people over 18 days. The CNE has an annual economic impact of $102.3 million on the province of Ontario and $69.3 million on the city of Toronto.
The 2016 CNE takes place from August 19 to September 5 at Exhibition Place in Toronto, Ontario. For complete details, visit TheEx.com.