Design Exchange (DX) will host Elevate Youth Zone in partnership with Elevate, Canada’s fastest-growing innovation festival, on September 23 and 24. Over the course of two days, youth and emerging innovators will have an unparalleled opportunity to be inspired, connect, and learn from the best and brightest creatives and disruptors. Stimulating speakers, skill-building exercises, networking opportunities, and interactive programming will explore how the powerful intersection of design, innovation and technology can provide solutions to the world’s greatest challenges and help shape the future for all people.
Elevate Youth Stage
A curated series of keynotes, conversations, and panels will highlight how collaboration, access to space to experiment, and the ability to develop meaningful outcomes can improve the quality of our lives. This is a program for youth, featuring youth, that will inspire attendees to explore their interests and passions, encourage them to develop their skills, and invite them to consider how they might build up their communities using their talent. Top-notch experts from the creative and tech communities that are taking centre stage include Director X, who will speak about his project Operation Prefrontal Cortex;, Edmonton’s Khalid Hashi, who will share how he created an app to improve healthcare access in Somalia; Isabella Grandic, who is set to develop the next protein; Ample Labs’ CG Chen, who has developed an app to help homeless people find support services; and many more.
Social Innovation Youth Challenges
A full-day, curriculum-connected activity for high school students from Toronto and the Greater Toronto Area that integrates the United Nations’ Development Programme’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals where participants draw from their own experiences and communities. Interdisciplinary teams of youth and mentors are tasked to consider some of the largest challenges facing the world and develop new solutions to social or economic challenges. The curriculum-linked program will enhance students’ understanding of design, science, technology, and human-centred design. Elevate Youth Zone is funded in part by the Government of Canada’s Social Development Partnership Program – Children and Families.
Attending Elevate Youth Zone
Educators, including high school teachers and post-secondary instructors, and leaders of youth-focussed not-for-profit organizations are invited to register their class or group to attend the Social Innovation Challenge or morning and afternoon sessions for the Elevate Youth Stage. More information is available at www.dx.org/elevateyouthzone. Individual Student Festival Passes can be purchased and access includes the ability to purchase tickets to see Michelle Obama, two days of Main Stage, nine Festival Stages, 200+ company Open House, two nights of Elevate King West, apply to TD Tech Jam. Passes can be purchased at ELEVATE.CA
About Elevate
Elevate is a Canadian non-profit organization, created with the mission to champion Canada’s innovation ecosystem on the international stage. Founded in 2017, Elevate hosts an annual tech and innovation festival in Toronto, Canada; The Elevated Awards: Most Innovative Workplaces; and a curated Creators Dinner series for industry leaders. The organization was founded on the values that diversity is our strength, we’re stronger when we disrupt together, and it’s our time.
For more information on Elevate, visit www.elevate.ca, and join the conversation on Twitter and Instagram @ElevateTechFest, #ElevateTechFest.