Thought Leaders

In the riveting expanse of technological advancements, few minds have pierced the veil of the future as incisively as Dr. Usama Fayyad. My conversation with him was nothing short of a voyage into the realms of possibility, a journey through the labyrinth of artificial intelligence (AI) and its seismic impact...

John Oberg, DSW, is a Founder, CEO, Board Director, Advisor, and Investor who is trusted by organizations to navigate growth, conflict, and change. He founded two Austin-based healthcare innovators, Sedera, a community-based medical cost-sharing organization, and Precina, a chronic care virtual medical practice. John serves on the board of directors...

WORDS OF WISDOM:Innovation does not belong to just one industry, just one degree, or just one area of expertise – it belongs to everyone. Solving problems requires courage, creativity, and collaboration. All of us can be empowered to ideate, but our strength is in the collective. I have always thought...

My journey as a mission-driven entrepreneur began right here in Maryland where I led a youth service demonstration program in Baltimore. After graduating from the Yale School of Management, I returned to the state determined to build businesses that aligned profit with purpose. From launching Honest Tea out of my...

I moved to Adelaide in my twenties to study, at a time when South Australia was seeing the decline of our manufacturing and automotive industries, and the Global Financial Crisis was about to bite. It was, and continues to be, a wonderful place to study and get involved in our...

We are living in the midst of a transportation revolution. When we look around, we can see fundamental changes in how people move around cities and towns across the world. In the San Diego region you can feel it every day. Everywhere you look people are driving electric cars, reducing...

Data democratization is an approach to information technology (IT) whereby everyone has access to data, and data systems have few—or no—gatekeepers to that data. Such aspiration goes beyond breaking data free from IT departments, organizational silos, and institutional borders, to even across governments and states. The origins of Bitcoin, for...

I was born in 1980, I’m married and a proud father of three young children. I joined Impresa in 2009 and became CEO in 2016. My background is in Law (Lisbon and Oxford) and I undertook several international post-grad management courses. I also had a brief spell at the Portuguese...

As a changemaker with over 35 years’ experience, I believe innovation is a critical tool to address a deeper human need to be better for a greater good. The culmination of a rewarding career has led me to creating the Billybo Group, a human-centred solutions collective. To help make a...

Adversity is a pressure cooker that fosters innovation. This is a philosophy that was entrenched in my formative years. Having had some heavy, life questioning challenges thrown my way very early, I had to adapt and adjust, and this learning has set me in good stead. It’s also given me...

Sweden has long been a pioneer in technology and innovation. From Ericsson to Spotify, Klarna and Recorded Future, Swedish companies have helped put us on the global tech map. Today, tech is more than a growth sector—it’s a foundation for our economy and society. The numbers speak for themselves. Sweden’s...

St. Louis was born of innovation, and the city has always been shaped by the pioneer mentality. Since its founding in 1764 by Pierre Laclede as an outpost on the Mississippi River, St. Louis has been a place where entrepreneurs and thinkers gather. Innovation in the city began with Laclede’s...

As an entrepreneur and innovator, I have embarked on a transformative journey to reshape the mining and tech industry with a bold vision and unwavering determination. It is my firm belief that we have the power to create a future that goes beyond profit margins and embraces the principles of...

This recognition of Quebec’s distinctive character in various fields is the outcome of a committed effort involving university research and innovation. Universities have spearheaded innovation through their large-scale research structures. Innovation is a process, an approach and a result that provides a new and different character to our ways of...

Something I’ve found to be increasingly true in the communications profession is that there’s a wealth of untapped potential sitting under the surface. It’s why we’re seeing more and more chief communications officers join the ranks of executives at big tech organizations — and why progressive CEOs are investing more...

LEADERSHIP, CULTURE, MISSION, VISION, SUSTAINABILITY GOALS, COMPANY VALUES, ETHICAL PRACTICES. For me these words are more than a fancy poster on a wall, a page on the company website or a nicely-written corporate profile. For me, the importance of aligning concepts such as culture, values, ethics and leadership, defines the...

AGING IS THE NEXT FRONTIER OF INNOVATION Not because it’s a poetic idea, but because aging is biology, and biology is technology. We’ve spent decades reinventing the digital world while accepting the human body as something fixed and unchangeable. That assumption is about to collapse. I’ve spent years testing treatments...

Austin is boomingAustin is the fastest-growing city in the United States for three years straight and is frequently listed as the best place to live. When asked why Austin has seen so much prosperity over the last 15 years, there is one answer: innovation. Austin InnovationThe focus on innovation in...

Early-stage life sciences and healthtech are not just about innovation – they are about belief. Belief that something complex, expensive and uncertain can one day change how we prevent, diagnose, or treat disease. In the earliest stages, focus is survival. Startups do not lose momentum because competitors move faster –...

AI has the power to change people’s lives, so it must be trained to be unbiased and ethical. At Wovenware and across the island we have always embraced diversity. We belong to a country that is a patchwork of different cultures, yet we also hold fast to our Latin American...

From my perspective, one of the biggest challenges facing South Africa is a double-edged sword: our ability to cope, even in the midst of crisis and chaos. South Africans are good at dealing with crises. We’ve had practice. For as long as anyone alive can remember, South Africa has leapt...

As a leader, I’ve always believed that success isn’t measured solely by the milestones we achieve but by the way we inspire others to grow and excel alongside us. When I joined the Greenville-Spartanburg Airport District, my vision was clear: to create an organization that not only excels operationally but...

PUTTING SOUTH AUSTRALIA IN THE SPOTLIGHTI’ve never watched the world go by without wanting to stick my hand up and disrupt proceedings. At school I was the one with the locker full of PlayStation memory cards, running my own business and disrupting. School students are supposed to sit and learn,...

The Power of Gathering Over ten years ago, Techarena began in a small movie theater in southern Sweden. A group of founders stood on stage to pitch their ideas, full of hope and determination. Only eight people came to watch. It would have been easy to feel discouraged, but something...