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About The Innovation Studio

Devoted to innovation in storytelling, music, fashion, design, and maker culture, The Innovation Studio at The Creative School provides support to forward-looking creators and entrepreneurs, including resources, programming and guidance within a supportive community environment.

We help emerging and established creative innovators to connect with each other, leverage new technologies, work across creative practices, develop new ways of engaging with audiences and customers, and advance the cultural sector.

Our Successes

$194 million in revenues

2000+ members to date

$36 million in equity financing

154 industry advisors

382 startups incubated

78 grants and awards

Press and prestige examples from members of the Creative innovation Studio
Press and Prestige

Our members have gone from pen to paper, and from paper to the real world. Whether it's working with Universal Music Group, Next AI Canada, or the Collision Conference, our startups are taking creative industries to the next level.

Our Pillars

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Creativity is about action and connection. Creativity is about approaching challenges or problems in new ways, finding unexpected solutions in the process, and then figuring out how to implement them. It is your conduit for connecting with others, either through the creative process, or how people engage with your creative work.

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Our members embody an entrepreneurial mindset. They have passion, and are adaptable and resilient. They are equal parts dreamers, builders and fixers, with agency and drive to fulfill their visions.

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Innovation is the implementation of something new, wherein that “new” thing could be a product, process, approach, or audience.  We believe innovation happens when new social, technological, political, economic, artistic and creative considerations are explored and fostered.

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Community describes the inclusive, diverse, and supportive collective wherein people can feel free to be themselves, explore ideas, and try new things, all within a safe environment.

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Design is the making with intent and purpose, from the big ideas to the smallest details. 

Our mission within the Innovation Studio is to make the future; that entails designing new products, crafting new experiences and telling new stories, but also purposefully thinking through how we present ourselves to the public, reimagining what we want the world to look like, including how we engage with systems, technology, and each other.

Our Vision and Mission:

Core to our mission is the belief that innovation is about seeing things in a new way: through a lens that is empathic, creative and inclusive. Within this definition, sometimes innovation requires the development or use of new technologies, while other times it is all about human connection and ingenuity.

We believe that creativity and entrepreneurship are for everyone:

  • Listed by The World Economic Forum as one of the most essential 21st Century Skills, along with critical thinking, emotional intelligence and people skills, we believe that creativity is what will set you apart. Why? As the world becomes increasingly complex and industries become increasingly automated, creativity is necessary to solve problems and identify new solutions - in the creative sectors and beyond.
  • We help nurture an entrepreneurial mindset, to help individuals embrace change and create new opportunities for themselves and for others by identifying problems that need to be solved… and then setting out to solve them in creative new ways.
  • Based in Toronto, we are proud to Make the Future within The Innovation Studio.