VelocityCase Competition
Teams waiting to present at the front of a classroom

The 2026 conference

Saturday, September 19, 2026, at the Elliott Building, University of Victoria. More than 180 high school students spent the day on one ocean-conservation case.

Photos from the day How the day went

Run of show

  1. Opening ceremony

    Welcome, the rules for the day, and introductions.

  2. Case release and prep

    Teams get the case and build their recommendation and slides. Lunch, and the opportunity fair, happen during this block.

  3. Preliminary presentations

    Each team presents to a panel of judges and answers their questions.

  4. Closing announcements

    Announcements at the end of the preliminary round, including the teams going through to the final.

  5. Finalist presentations

    The finalist teams present to the judges.

  6. Event close

    Closing remarks and the end of the day.

Two students working through the case on a chalkboard
A student checking notes at the chalkboard before presenting
A team lined up at the front of the room before presenting

Prizes

  1. $1,000 for the winner

    A cash prize for the team that wins the final round.

  2. Project Incubator

    The top five teams can keep developing their solutions with Open Minds Foundation, our partners and sponsors. We’ll share what the 2026 teams build as their projects move along.

How the day went

On September 19, 2026, we hosted Velocity at the University of Victoria’s Elliott Building. More than 180 high school students from across Greater Victoria spent the day on a real-world business problem: analyzing it, building a strategy and pitching their recommendations to judges.

Judges and mentors came from UVic, UBC and SFU, and Service Canada and Ocean Wise backed the day. Thank you to every student, judge, volunteer and partner who made it happen.

A team standing together at the podium during the presentations
A student in the audience during a presentation