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I would like to introduce you to Danny Yaroslavski, who is the founder ofÌý, a startup dedicated to teaching kids to code through gaming. This alumnus worked full-time on Lightbot during his Spring 2013ÌýEnterprise Co-opÌýterm and further developed his business in Conrad'sÌýBET 300: Foundations of Venture CreationÌý³¦´Ç³Ü°ù²õ±ð.

Lightbot was featured prominently inÌý, an international initiative to introduce millions of young students to one hour of computer science and programming. Lightbot is used by students worldwide and is available to play in 29 languages.

Danny has received considerable recognition for his innovative work, winning aÌýÌýaward of $25,000 and being named toÌýÌýin the education category.

°Õ³ó±ðÌýÌýwas a flashy affair which gave an impressive snapshot of the future of tech in the À¶Ý®ÊÓƵ Region. To me as a fresh-faced entrepreneur, the confidence in the room was intimidating, but inspiring.

I was pleasantly surprised that two of the three keynote speakers were women and found it interesting that the focus of presentations was non-technical (e.g. management skills and idea fostering) but still told through the lens of innovation.

made me question the extrovert title I was clinging to all these years and relieved a lot of pressure I hadn’t realized I had put on myself to do so.

The pressure to find the perfect gifts for friends and family during the holiday season can be intense. It's easy to go to the closest shopping centre or the biggest online retailer for super-saver discounts, but you never really know where the money from your purchase will end up. The dollars that you spend during the holidays can add up quickly, andÌýcan have an impact that extends far beyond the retailer's pocket—depending on where you choose to shop.

Here are four startups that are making the world a better place with every purchase.

In September, I participated inÌýÌýwith my Ìý³¦´Ç-´Ú´Ç³Ü²Ô»å±ð°ù²õ,ÌýDerek Jouppi and AndrewÌýMartinko, and our classmate Dave Badami. Hack the North is Canada's largest internationalÌýhackathon, where students come together for 36 hours to collaboratively code a unique solution to a problem from scratch.ÌýFor those familiar with ³§³Ü²Ô³¦²¹²â°ù’s technology (a marker ink that tells you when to reapply sunscreen), you may be wondering what on earth we were doing at a hackathon. For us, it was all about networking. We found out that , the president of , was going to be there, so we knew that we had to go too.

When I started my Enterprise Co-op (E Co-op) term in May, Ìýand IÌýwere just a team of two co-founders looking to use technologies that we used at companies in Silicon Valley to optimize decision making in the oil and gas industry. Since then, we've added 4 others and effectively tripled the team. Over the past couple of months we were able to run a high performance team and enable our company to grow and scale.

Leading and building a high performance team was new to me, but as with any new skill, with effort, it is possible to learn.

Social entrepreneurship has a multitude of definitions and surrounding opinions. In my experience, there is one thing that everyone can agree on: social entrepreneurship is becoming more and more prominent in the À¶Ý®ÊÓƵ startup community.

In my two co-op terms as the Conrad Centre's Communications and Marketing Assistant, I have been fortunate enough to meet a number of social entrepreneurs that are taking the À¶Ý®ÊÓƵ ecosystem by storm.

If there’s one word that defined my short two-day adventure to New York, and the state of millennial marketing in the current day and age, it's "hustle."

I got into New York the day before theÌýÌýand started doing some sightseeing.ÌýI made my way down to theÌýÌýin Chelsea, where I introduced myself as a student entrepreneur from Toronto!

Throughout my trip I met a number of entrepreneurs and interesting people from all over the world, with projects ranging from non-profits focussed on water conservation in the United States, to social enterprises, and on-demand radio providers.

What does disruptive innovation look like in the higher education space?

How are we going to assess and measure learning outcomes in times of blended and online learning, big data and flipped classrooms?

These and similar questions brought me to Anchorage, Alaska to attend the Ìý(HETL) conference with my colleague Doug Sparkes and one of our BETS students, Emma Reesor. We were invited to present a .

Part of my responsibility as a co-founder of SparkGig during my winter 2014 Enterprise Co-op (E Co-op) term was to raise money, through student competitions, to help finance the SparkGig team.

When I started doing some research I was amazed at the number of student startup competitions out there.

While I completed my E Co-op term, SparkGigÌýcompeted in eight competitions, in seven cities, across three countries.ÌýYou are probably thinking that all of these plane tickets must have cost us a fortune! Well, one of the big advantages of being a student is that travel expenses are often included in part of the package.

Thursday March 27th was the first time I attended the (VFF). While I have previously heard about the event, I've always missed the pitch competitions.

At this term's VFF, ambitious À¶Ý®ÊÓƵ students pitched their startup ideas to a panel of judges to win funding. The VFFÌýevent was an exciting day with great opportunities for networking, enjoying our university's innovative and entrepreneurial culture, and learning about some of the amazing things fellow students are involved in.