Two Days of Innovation

Echidnas may generally stick to their burrows -- nocturnal for most of the year and not really fond of the bright lights -- but every once in a while you’ll catch one in public.

And, for the right cause, you may even see us on the “red carpet” in support of the community around us.

Over the next couple of days, we have the pleasure of attending and supporting a couple of great events: tonight’s Pillar Community Innovation Awards and tomorrow’s Explode Conference. Both events represent great ways to celebrate and encourage those who are working to make a difference in the city of London.

Tonight, we will be at the Convention Centre to recognize the nominees for the Pillar Community Innovation Awards. These awards celebrate those who have made a difference in innovation, leadership, impact, and collaboration.

What we love about these awards is that they recognize something that’s often overlooked in the city: that impact comes in various shapes and sizes. Some of the projects represent large-scale efforts or long-term commitments to the community; others are much smaller in scope. But each and every person, project, and group has made a positive impact on our community.

And, for many of these people and groups, they do it without fanfare or looking for recognition. They do it because they care, they’re invested, and they believe that the cause should be the primary focus. That aligns strongly with our philosophy and it’s why we’re proud to support these awards.

Tomorrow, a number of Echidnas will be at the Explode Conference at Toboggan Brewing Co. This year Explode is about creative practice in technology, storytelling, intersections, overlaps, idea collisions and the value of interdisciplinary work.

We’re a proud presenting sponsor of this event, because we believe strongly in the root purpose of events like this -- and organizations like UnLondon that is behind it. We believe in supporting the digital community in London. We know first-hand the value of entrepreneurship, innovation, and sharing of ideas and resources because we’ve benefitted from it first hand.

Digital Echidna hasn’t always been a 60+ person company with a global reach. It may be a cliché, but it did start in a basement. It did benefit from the support of this community, and it’s why it’s so important today for us to do our part and encourage continued innovation, development, and opportunity.

There are a lot of great things happening in this community. We’re honoured to be a part of them and celebrating past efforts, present involvement, and future possibilities is certainly something for which we’re happy to come out of our burrows!