CREDIT: CHRISTOPHER WALKER
Fanshawe's Research and Innovation Day takes place virtually this year, as part of Fanshawe's Innovate 2021 program.

The COVID-19 pandemic has been the perfect time to start innovating and look at the world with a different perspective. Annette Markvoort is a manager at Innovation Village. While the village is still under construction, Markvoort explained why it’s important to innovate especially in a time like this.

“One of the things that we have noticed with a pandemic is that because we’re being thrown into situations that are difficult, innovation is extremely important,” Markvoort said. “Fanshawe has had to innovate in many ways over the last year in order to begin to be able to continue to deliver programming to students. All of you have seen what we’ve had to do in order to continue to allow you to study.”

Coming over the next few days until April, Fanshawe is showcasing many different innovative events as part of its Innovate 2021 program.


Among them is the My Virtual Pitch (MVP) Competition, provided by Leap Junction. Students have already submitted their 60 to 90 second video pitch and are inviting you to take a look at them. Further details are available at leapjunction.ca/pitchcompetition. Online voting ends on March 21, with the winners being announced on March 23.

Another event is the Design Thinking workshop on March 31 from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., provided by Leap Junction. In this workshop, you will learn about design thinking and how to apply it to everyday challenges. This free session is open to students, staff, faculty, alumni and community members.

Students who attend will be eligible for co-circular record. To register, please visit leapjunction.ca/events. Maker Exploration on March 24 beginning at 1 p.m. is being hosted by the Library Learning Commons (LLC). In this event, Join Library Learning Commons staff to learn about 3D printing in the LLC. Topics will include a brief overview of 3D printing, some of the basics including locating 3D models, tools for creating your own 3D models, how to submit your files for printing, and 3D printing policies.

An event that is being hosted by the Fanshawe Student Union (FSU) is Speaker’s Corner. Markvoort explained what questions you would be asked to be speak on.

“There’s four questions. All around innovation, how can you innovate? What is innovation? How can Fanshawe help you innovate? They’re inviting students to come and voice their opinions on innovation,” Markvoort said. “It’s an opportunity for students to say, you know what they feel about innovation.”

But, there’s also the big Research and Innovation Day being held on March 26 from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. The virtual event will feature research posters and short video elevator pitch from Fanshawe students, faculty and staff. The event celebrates Fanshawe’s reputation as an institute that pushes the future of research and development to drive solutions for Canada and the globe.

Andrew Kaszowski, Industry Outreach & Communication Coordinator for Fanshawe’s Centre for Research and Innovation (CRI) said what the CRI is focusing on the Agri food industry as well as sustainability.

“It’s very important in the London region. We are both geographically well located with a huge network of resources of amazing and growing network of agri food businesses within our region,” Kaszowski stated. “Forthcoming is further development into sustainability in building technologies and automation to create a more sustainable world just like we are doing with Food Innovation Research right now to create a more sustainable planet through research and development support for businesses.”

The event will be virtual as well. Şebnem Demir, a communication intern, is helping out with the virtual event. She explained how she feels running a virtual event for the first time.

“In the future, if I have to, make a virtual event, I will use all what I learned from this experience,” Demir said. “I did research for a better platform and also I have created the agenda, which was actually a good experience for me.”

For more information about Research and Innovation day, please visit fanshawec.ca/RID for more details.