This month May, is all about
Innovation & Entrepreneurship  

Nothing is ever still. Our needs, our desires, our environment – are always evolving. Therefore, there will always be a need for innovative ideas and entrepreneurs to bring these ideas to life. Without innovation, we wouldn’t have – anything, really. Everything we experience on a daily basis was once upon a time a new creation led by an entrepreneur.

“How to Innovate” is not something most of are taught in a traditional school setting. It requires one to be imaginative, curious, to take initiative and be hopeful, to have a willingness to learn and to take risks.
Creation tools –  including those you will learn about this month – are also always evolving.  Learning how to use them can strengthen our cognitive abilities and expand our knowledge and application skills. It can also broaden our perspectives and attitudes on the role technology plays in driving innovation and enabling entrepreneurs to create, communicate and collaborate on projects.

This month, we’d like to challenge you to pause, reflect and learn about some of your favourite innovative ideas – to inspire your own. Let’s think about the problems you’d like to solve, the things you’d like to make easier to use and the experiences you’d like to make better.

How to participate this month:

As you learn about and develop a fluency with digital tools and programming languages, we would like for you to explore the topic of innovation and entrepreneurship.

For those taking part in National Girls Learning Code Day on May 11th, we’ve got a special web-making and entrepreneurship workshop for you!

We’ll leave what you want to focus up to you – but thinking about problems that exist and gaps in existing things we want to tackle – might be a great starting point!

Teachers: we encourage you to bring this to your classrooms! Check out our teacher resources, select a lesson plan and challenge your students to create their projects around this theme.

We like using “How might we….?” statements – to help encourage the creative problem solving process.

For example, how might we….

• Make an item or thing you interact with, easier to use?   
• Make something you experience to be more enjoyable?
• Make something you can’t take part in, to be more accessible for you – and to others?

Your digital project can either solve the problem itself – or be used to share your ideas. We welcome you to be as imaginative as you like – but here are some example project ideas:

• Start building your own Shopify e-commerce store for a product you might want to one day offer
• Build a website to build awareness on a problem that exists and share your ideas on how we might solve it
• Build a website sharing your findings on being an entrepreneur and some useful resources you’ve come across along the way
• Build a website that shares a list of your favourite inventors, their inventions and 3 questions you’d like to ask them if you had the opportunity to meet them

Share your digital projects with us!

Share photos, screenshots or videos of your digital projects you’ve started using the #clcCode4Change hashtag! We want to see what you end up creating. Remember that learning something new is a work-in-progress. We hope you continue to work on the project you’ve started with us – beyond the classroom!  

Get inspired!

StopGap.ca ramps are an innovative solution to making cities more accessible for those who use wheelchairs and strollers. Learn about Luke’s story, here.

Learn about how two entrepreneurs are addressing sustainable water security in Ghana, Africa with Synergy Water.  

The Young Hunters Program in Arviat, Nunavut is a community-run initiative that teaches youth about different Inuit values and beliefs, such as environmental stewardship, being respectful of all living things, working together, teamwork, cooperation, strength and unity. Learn more here.

Listen to 3 inspiring stories of people who are saving their own communities through innovative eco-innovations.

Listen to Shopify’s Podcast series for aspiring entrepreneurs

Join Kid President on his adventure to learn about how to be an Inventor