Cooperathon powered by Desjardins: Team Creation & Speed Pitch Competition
Ready to turn bold ideas into real impact?
Join us in-person for the Cooperathon Team Formation Session hosted by the DMZ & Desjardins. This interactive event is designed to bring together students, professionals or aspiring entrepreneurs who are passionate about building solutions centred around People, Planet, and Prosperity. This event will culminate in a speed pitch at the end.
Whether you are sitting on a business idea, or you’re looking to join a team and contribute your skills, this session is the perfect place to start your journey as an entrepreneur. Expect high-energy conversations, rapid idea-sharing, and hands-on collaboration as you connect with like-minded innovators and form teams ready to make an impact.
And to top it off? The session wraps with an exciting speed pitch, where teams take the mic, share their vision, and spark momentum for what’s next.
Come with an idea. Come looking for a team. Leave inspired and ready to take action.
About Cooperathon:
Cooperathon is a Canada-wide entrepreneurial program powered by Desjardins that helps participants turn innovative ideas into tangible high-impact projects, whether that’s starting a business or advancing academic research.
It combines structured training, expert mentorship, and collaborative teamwork to guide participants through an entrepreneurial journey, culminating in a competition where teams pitch their solutions for cash prizes and ongoing support. The program focuses on creating projects with social, environmental, or economic impact, bringing together citizens, entrepreneurs, researchers, academics, and organizations to build a more socially responsible future.
Learn more about Cooperathon here: Cooperathon 2026
Eligibility:
Residing in Canada and 18 years of age or older at the time of registration.
You are an aspiring entrepreneur with or without an idea, in the pre-startup phase, and without a functional prototype at the time of registration for Cooperathon.
There is one exception if you have a functioning prototype: See below
One applicant in the group must be enrolled in an undergraduate, master’s, or PhD
program and working on a research project that:
Has been developed within the framework of a university research program
Has not yet been commercialized