How Little Medical School Ottawa intersects education and health for kids

Posted on By John Gregory
Little Medical School Ottawa. OpencityInc blog. Child using a blood pressure cuff.

Communicating adult concepts with children is a specialist skill. Little Medical School sits at that intersection of health and education.

Kids have so many questions, why being among the most common. Children have a tremendous natural curiosity. Through the pandemic, they have been exposed to more pseudo-medical jargon than ever before. Here we explore how Little Medical School Ottawa brings an activity-based approach to inspire children to learn more about their bodies and how we interact with our environment. 

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International Student Experience​ – #SLCcommunityhacks

Posted on By John Gregory
International Experience, Brockville, St Lawrence College, Ontario, Social Hackathon

Canada ranks fourth as a destination for international students. The three-day campus International Experience roadshow built upon the work of the Social Hackathon at St. Lawrence College.

Here we explore the three-day roadshow that set out to hack ways to improve the international student experience.

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New Digital Marketing Apprenticeship Program emerges from DISC

Posted on By John Gregory
Digital Marketing Appreticeship program, Digital Trades School , Opencity Inc, experiential learning

The new Digital Marketing Apprenticeship program has emerged from the successful Digital Innovation Skills Certificate (DISC). The new program run by the Digital Trades School in Kitchener-Waterloo, Hamilton and Windsor, builds upon the DISC program foundation.

DISC provided a foundational blueprint for future career-ready training in Ontario. 98% of the young people enrolled in the program secured jobs as a consequence of the experiential training. Here we explore the new 7-month apprenticeship certificate.

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Charity Spotlight – National Eczema Association

Posted on By John Gregory
National Eczema Association, NEA, Charity Spotlight, Opencity Inc.,

The National Eczema Association prides itself on being the voice, the resource and the hub for the 30 million Americans who are living with eczema.

Here we explore the work of the National Eczema Association that brings hope and happiness to those with this common condition, that in many cases is also manageable.

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Design Thinking in Action – Health Innovation Program

Posted on By John Gregory
Hacking Health Ottawa, Health Innovation Program, HIP613, Design Thinking, gregiej, Opencity

The hacking mentality brings together the ideal mix of patients, healthcare professionals, physicians, technologists, designers, entrepreneurs, decision-makers, business leaders, researchers, administrators and governments. Collaboratively they can break down barriers to innovation in healthcare.

While a hackathon creates inspiring embryonic projects, we need to help these startups to sustain and scale. This mindset led to the Health Innovation Program. Here we learn more about this improved model through #HIP613.

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Digital conversion for new businesses

Posted on By John Gregory
conversion, digital conversion, inbound, convert, Futurpreneur, gregiej, Opencity Inc.

Pondering how to increase your website conversion rate is positive. You are asking the right question. In this post, we guide you on some core fundamentals to improve your conversion rate.

We appreciate that talk of digital conversion, landing pages, and the inbound methodology may represent a new vocabulary. Let us help you.

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Rise of Waterloo Region Medtech start-up ecosystem

Posted on By John Gregory
resonates, Waterloo Region, Velocity Garage, Communitech, Medtech, Opencity Inc., healthcare innovation

“What we have in this community in KW [Kitchener-Waterloo] and in Canada is equivalent of capturing lightning in a bottle,” described Google Canada’s Managing Director, Sam Sebastian, opening the Go North event.

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Charity Spotlight – MS Society

Posted on By John Gregory
MS Society, Charity Spotlight, Multiple Sclerosis,

Multiple Sclerosis affects 3x more women than men.

This was the attention-grabbing statistic that contributed towards the Roze Labs team winning the Hack4Health 2.0 and a ticket to apply for a $15,000 grant from the MS Society of Canada. The Society is partnering with several universities and technology groups to drive innovation and improve the quality of life for people living with MS.

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Post Hackathon commercialisation

Posted on By John Gregory
Hackathon, commercialisation, mentors, Hacking Health, Kitchener-Waterloo

You pitched your ideas to the Hackathon judges. You may have won an award. What comes next in the commercialisation process?

Here we offer guidance on how to commercialise innovations from a Hackathon. How do you take your brilliant innovation conceived through a Hackathon to market?

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