This unique weekend event brings together post-secondary students from Winnipeg to learn about and practice innovation skills.

How it works

Students register as a team of students. “We were thrilled to see inter-institutional and inter-disciplinary teams this year”, said Christa Kruck [BSc(Hons)/11, MBA/16], business development officer with the Faculty of Science and member of the organizing committee.

Teams then choose a challenge that has been put forward by a local company or organization.

After a networking and training event that took place on Thursday, February 1 at 100 Innovation Drive in the UM Smart Park, teams had 48 hours to develop a solution to their challenge.

Each team pitched their validated solution to the organization that put forward the challenge.

Those winners then on to compete against one another before a panel of external judges.

Results

A team of two UM Faculty of Science students and one RRC Polytech student earned 2^nd place for their solution to the challenge: How might the Canadian Information Processing Society (CIPS) develop a program focused on enhancing and supporting the careers of students and early-stage IT professionals?

Another team of two Faculty of Science students and two Asper School of Business students earned 3^rd place for their solution to the challenge: How can we create opportunities for post-secondary students to connect with their peers and give students the best chance at developing new friendships and connections? This challenge was put forward by Tyler Phill [BA/13, MBA/23] and founder of My Student Wellbeing.

Role of mentorship

Each team is provided with an industry mentor who helps guide the team throughout the design sprint.

“It was a joy to support student learning”, said Janine Carmichael, Faculty Specialist, Entrepreneurship with The Centre for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning. Janine was a mentor and also served on the organizing committee.

“Students are learning innovation skills, but in the process, they are also building important competencies like time management, communication, conflict resolution and so much more”, Carmichael added.

Sponsors

Thanks to incredible sponsors, students competed for $12,000 in prize money. 

Title sponsor:

Refreshment sponsor:

Networking Event sponsor:

Event sponsors:

2nd place winners, UM Students Anthony Phung and Mariia Vakulenko, along with Tal Podsosony from RRC Polytech.

3rd place winners, UM Students Tien Nguyen, Krisha Bhalala, Raymond Ly and Krish Bhalala. Interestingly, Tien and Krish met at Better Together – another event to build entrepreneurial thinking skills for the UM community last November.

Christa Kruck hosting the finals at Manitou a bi Bii dazigae.

Industry Judges: Ashley Richard [BComm(Hons)/17], Associate Director, Indigenous for Mikwam Makwa Ikwe, the National Indigenous Hub for the Women Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub (WEKH) and the 50 – 30 Challenge at the University of Manitoba; Wendy Yan [PhD/20], Senior Business Development Manager for Futurpreneur; Joe Brekelmans [BCSc(Hons)/84, MSc/87, MBA/98] Vice President, Technology Investment at Canada Life, and Noah Wilson [BA/19], Senior Business Development Manager of Futurpreneur.

The award is presented to a local leader whose passion and skills have created legacy in business and for the city and province.

Mathew Thomson, the Ignite committee chair, said “Mark Chipman and True North continue to take bold and innovative actions in business and community leadership which ignite and propel our city forward. When we think about a local leader to inspire Asper students, Mark is a first-round pick. I am thrilled to honour him as our next Ignite recipient.”

Read here

The Micro-Certificate in Artificial Intelligence: Machine Learning is for anyone looking to understand the possibilities of AI and Machine Learning and what they can do for their business or organization, and for their career.

When many people think of Artificial Intelligence, they think of that scary robot assassin in the Terminator movie. But don’t be afraid, says Briana Brownell, content provider for the Artificial Intelligence: Machine Learning Solutions micro-certificate program. AI is good for every industry and savvy professionals must be aware of the technologies and how they can determine effective solutions to their most important business challenges like retaining customers, making better products, reducing risk, marketing effectively, innovating and leading in their marketplace.

“This is mission critical for most industries now. There is a push to have technology infrastructure, the ability to collect and analyze data quickly, and to create solutions,” says the founder and CEO of Pure Strategy Inc. noting examples of AI and Machine Learning in action are all around us providing us with relevant data from Netflix recommendations to Facebook news, and even auto-correcting us on our phones.

“One of the biggest challenges in any business is to understand the possibilities of AI and Machine Learning and how to use them in order to achieve what the organization most needs to do. It’s not about AI for its own sake. This program provides a basic understanding of what’s possible and how you can apply it,” says Brownell. “AI is such an effective and useful area for business.”

For alumni, professionals and graduate students

It’s designed for professionals who have some experience in the business world, to provide them with relevant, real-world AI and Machine Learning applications. It will also complement the studies of graduate students and IT professionals alike by providing them with additional practical experience with real-world data and problems.

Brownell’s courses, “Machine Learning Algorithms and Frameworks” and “Developing Machine Learning Solutions”, will incorporate examples and case studies featuring a variety of data including customer information, music, images, and photos. “It’s not just numbers and financial data. This applies in every type of industry.”

The courses will also have an important discussion of AI ethics including big questions like how to manage its privacy implications. “These are important conversations for everyone in every business or organization. It’s not just the responsibility of tech or governance. We want people to think about the implications and be involved in the conversations.”

With AI and Machine Learning, “It’s all about the data,” says Arooj Ahmed Qureshi, content provider for the “Introduction to Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning” course.

“There is no magic. The processing is too complex for the human mind to understand so we train AI to make decisions. We need to understand the steps. We need the tools. We need to do this responsibly. That’s what this program is all about,” says the data scientist at EnPowered.

For IT professionals and aspiring CTOs

For this program, you don’t need to be a computer programmer to understand the industry, how to make a product, and how to keep a check on it. But experienced IT professionals who are usually focused on coding can also benefit from this program because it offers them the bigger picture of the industry. For those who would like to position themselves as Chief Technical Officer (CTO) in their firm, says Qureshi, she would especially recommend the first course. “It gives you the overall picture to add to your coding. That puts you in a strong position, providing you with good insights on the industry.”

As a busy data analyst with over a decade of experience, even Qureshi learned something new from creating this course. In the process, she finally realized why a previous AI Machine Learning project of hers was destined to fail. Medical privacy laws would never allow it.

“You just can’t make everything you can imagine,” Qureshi says. “You need to be responsible for what you design. You may have a great idea and good technical skills but you need to understand the rules and regulations that govern an industry and technology as well.”

Understanding “Responsible AI” or how to operate within privacy and other laws that apply to such technology, is also an important part of this program.

“I realized a lot by doing this content. Even as a working professional, you don’t always get time to look into things in so much detail. This also gave me a good insight and good perspective… Extended Education programs are created with industry people. It’s important to make this connection with the real world and prior experience or knowledge. This is very good.”

Artificial Intelligence is the backbone of all advances in technology, says Cuneyt Akcora, program consultant from the Faculty of Science. Over time, any intelligent developments in computer science are AI-related. If you want to use them, you need to know the basics.

A new kind of literacy

“I see it as an important new kind of literacy. If you don’t understand AI and Machine Learning, others have an advantage over you. You don’t need to program but you need to understand,” says the professor of computer science and statistics.

“Machine learning is the intersection between computer science, statistics and mathematics. It can be applied to anything, in any company with a lot of data like readings or photos, to clearly predict results. If you have data in a system, if you work in a company, it is good to have an overview of algorithms needed. Automation is becoming even better. These are easy things to do.”

For example, a farmer may want to reduce the use of chemicals in farm operations so they would need to know which data and algorithms to use and then the robots can lead. Or, if you work for a bank, AI is used to assess credit applications. The algorithms automatically deny some applicants and approve others. Or if you work in human resources, algorithms on job search websites narrow down applications for specific jobs. You need to know how they are figuring this out.

“Understanding AI will help you and your company in most of the jobs today,” says Akcora.

“I very much like the practical aspects of this program. It is not coding, and not using data searches. Coding is often automated these days. It is about understanding the decisions made by AI, understanding the main direction, where to focus, the tools needed to know. It is a very nice view of this.”

Learn more about the micro-certificate

Lianne Lagasse

“ Manitoba Hydro always has the future in sight. Since 2009, we have sent over 250 employees to the Advanced Program in Management, Leadership, and Strategy to prepare them to take on new leadership roles and responsibilities within the corporation. Graduates of the program have gained a richer perspective on the vision and decisions that drive our business, a comprehensive understanding of high-level strategic planning, and tools that have helped them become more effective leaders immediately.” 
– Lianne Lagasse, Manitoba Hydro

Sky Bridges

“The [Advanced Program in Management, Leadership & Strategy] allowed me to absorb the material quickly, efficiently and in an engaged environment. It is a must for companies looking to enhance their staff and company with a strategic mindset. ”  
– Sky Bridges, Chief Operating Officer, Aboriginal Peoples Television Network 

Mike Bayes

“I am very grateful that I was given the opportunity to participate in the Advanced Program in Management, Leadership and Strategy at the Asper Executive Education Centre. I met many great people and instructors during the program and would highly recommend it to anyone looking to advance their own business skills.”  
– Mike Bayes, Senior Vice-President, Client Experience, CCI Wireless 
 

The next Advanced Program in Management, Leadership, and Strategy starts on January 18, 2021. To find out more about the Advanced Program and other Executive Education programs, visit us online. 

You can often find law student Jeremy McKay [BComm/14] in Migizii Agamik – Bald Eagle Lodge, providing support and guidance to other Indigenous students. But when McKay first enrolled at the University of Manitoba in 2010, First Nations advocacy wasn’t on the top of his mind.

“Like most students, I started learning about the history of First Nations people in Canada through a Native Studies course,” he says. “I didn’t even want to take Native Studies at first. I wanted to study accounting.”

But McKay needed a written requirement to graduate, so he decided to take a Native Studies course. His decision had an immense effect on his learning experience at the U of M.

“I wasn’t actually that great of a student in my first year of university. I sort of just skimmed by,” McKay says. “But I ended up in that [Native Studies] class in the first semester of my second year, and it just motivated me to study harder and to be a better student.

McKay is Anishinaabe, and grew up in Pine Creek First Nation. Part of his interest in the course material had to do with its Residential Schools content. His father and other members of his family are Residential School Survivors. The purpose of the schools, the last of which didn’t close until 1996, was to assimilate Indigenous children into Euro-Canadian culture. 

“I’d always had knowledge of the Residential Schools system growing up, but it wasn’t really until that Native Studies class, where I understood fully what the overarching purpose of the Residential Schools was,” he says.

“My dad is not educated in university or anything, so he was never really taught the underlying purposes of the Residential School project. But I was, so that really opened my eyes and made me think more about what it means that my dad is a Residential School Survivor. It made me reflect more on the things that happened in my earlier life.”

McKay graduated from the Asper School of Business in 2014 with a Bachelor of Commerce degree. His major was Aboriginal business studies, where he learned about topics such as economic developments within First Nations bands, as well as the exploitation of natural resources.

“[Aboriginal business studies] was always really interesting for me, because of course, natural resources are a huge part of First Nation politics and First Nation businesses,” he says. It’s also related to his family’s background: his father is an ironworker, while his mother is a band councillor in Pine Creek.

McKay is now enrolled in the Robson Hall, Faculty of Law at the U of M, with a focus on corporate commercial law. He’s set to graduate this year, and hopes to give back to his community with the knowledge he has learned while at the university.

“I’ve looked at education as a way of obtaining skills that I think are needed in First Nations advocacy,” he says. “That led me into business, because, watching my mom be in politics, I recognized very quickly that you need a basic understanding of business to operate effectively, but I also understood that law was a big part.

“I hope that together with those backgrounds, I’ll have a good understanding of how to advocate for First Nations people in an effective way.”

This year’s Indigenous graduating students will be honoured at the 29th Annual Traditional Graduation Pow Wow on May 5, 2018 at the University of Manitoba Investors Group Athletic Centre. The event is free and everyone is welcome.