The National Business and Technology Conference (NBTC) is a prestigious annual conference, run by Nspire, that brings together top students, CEOs, and experienced entrepreneurs in an exclusive two-day conference that includes inspirational keynotes, valuable networking events, and competitions. Our delegates, speakers, sponsors and executives are all from diverse academic and geographic backgrounds, but have one thing in common:
A passion for innovation.

Canadian youth are a dynamic group of well-educated, creative, and hard-working young leaders who come from every corner of the world. They are excited about contributing to an ever-changing world; they are passionate and interested in what they are doing; and they are curious about learning of the many opportunities available to them. NBTC is a manifestation of a culture of opportunity and innovation that connects, empowers, and inspires youth in real time.

Best Practice in Education and Innovation

The NRG Battle World Edition is a competition organized during the World Gas Conference taking place June 4-8, 2012, in Kuala Lumpur.

During this time, 100 global top student talents work for four days in multidisciplinary international teams of five on challenging cases provided by large international companies. At the end of the four days, each team presents their idea in a three-minute pitch to an expert jury, consisting of CEO's and Directors from the energy sector.

The jury of the world battle will include Jury President Datuk Abdul Rahim Hashim (President of the IGU), Gertjan Lankhorst (CEO GasTerra), and Dick Benschop (President Director Shell Netherlands).

The jury nominates three teams that will pitch their idea once more to 5000 delegates at the World Gas Conference, who will then choose the winner of the NRG Battle World Edition.

The Nspire Innovation Network, a non-profit youth organization, brings top students and innovators together online through its populated social media channels, as well as offline via its prestigious events.

Nspire has an increasingly diversifying portfolio, with the launch of the Discovery Series last year, and an array of exciting initiatives, both online and offline, lined up to be launched in 2011-12. Nspire is focusing on expanding globally this year by going beyond North America to bring innovative young students and professionals together from all over the world.

Impact Connect brings together students from across Ontario and connects them with industry leaders and entrepreneurs who can mentor them into achieving their full potential. Connect has led on-campus initiatives such as the Agfa Healthcare eHealth Innovation Competition, Yahoo! Hack-U Competition, Start-Op, and the Impact Expo.

For the last seven years, the Impact National Conference has been recognized as Canada's premier youth entrepreneurship conference. Held annually, the conference attracts 300 or so of the top high school and post-secondary students from across Canada. This is where youth leaders and like-minded individuals with a passion for entrepreneurship gather to inspire, learn, educate, and cultivate their peers with the entrepreneurial spirit.

Impact Apprentice is an annual hands-on competition in which 32 of Canada’s top post-secondary level students will compete in various unique real-life business challenges allowing them to demonstrate their entrepreneurship strength by applying their leadership, teamwork, management and marketing abilities. The Impact team worked tirelessly to make sure the experience was an unforgettable one.

What can high school students do with $100, ten days, and one challenge? As we’ve found out – A LOT!

This past April, Impact hosted its annual Microcredit Competition, supported by Studentawards.com! High school students from across Canada competed in teams, to turn $100 into $1000 and more! We challenged them to think outside of the box, take their business idea, and hit the ground running!

Held at the University of Waterloo, Impact Expo is a cost-free conference that is fully run by students, for students. The team is composed of a dynamic group of Waterloo undergraduates from different disciplines but with the same goal: to help students dream big about technology and entrepreneurship. They strive to build the highest traffic, and host over 2,000 students across the Southwestern Ontario Universities.

This past year, Impact Expo took place on Saturday, September 25th in University of Waterloo’s Davis Centre, and featured keynotes, speaker series, workshops, case studies, networking events, and a large-scale company exhibition.

David Wilkin, Champion of Interpersonal Marketing

As Dave Wilkin strolls into the coffee shop on Queen and Bathurst Street in downtown Toronto, casually sporting a hoodie and a pair of worn-out jeans, a blushing barista greets him and instinctively runs her fingers through her wavy hair. I look down at my little black notebook, unable to suppress my smile. I must have had the same reaction when I first met him the previous year. We’re the same age, Dave and I, and to the unsuspecting pedestrian, he must look like any other college student.

Over the years I have accumulated a sizable collection of sleepless nights. I regularly abuse the keyboard of my laptop until the early hours of the morning, finally hunching over my desk and falling asleep as the sun creeps into my room. I have a romantic ideal of my writing – an insatiable appetite for clever puns, sophisticatedly simple metaphors, and unnecessary adjectives. I want to write to millions of people, and achieve an unrealistic harmony with the written word. I have that ambition.

Growing up in an immigrant family, I witnessed first-hand how difficult it is to get established in a foreign environment. My parents had no contacts and no money, and the daily grind and uncertainty took a toll on them. But here we were, in Canada, “a place of opportunity.”

We had been told time and time again that each new generation of Canadians has the resources, and the obligation, to move up from their parents’ station. So over the years, their vision for my future kept me motivated.

With small- to medium-sized businesses accounting for 98% of all businesses across Canada, and more than 19% of these owners planning to retire within the next five years, there has never been a better time to shine a light on entrepreneurship.

Small business is the driving force behind Canada's economic growth and prosperity. But are we doing all that we can to support the next generation of entrepreneurs? Are our school-based and extracurricular programs teaching the necessary business skills, instilling the desire and highlighting the importance and profitability of entrepreneurship?