Thought Leaders

INNOVATE™ Adelaide

PROFESSOR SIMON LUCEY

DIRECTOR, AUSTRALIAN INSTITUTE FOR MACHINE LEARNING (AIML), THE UNIVERSITY OF ADELAIDE

Not only does Adelaide offer a great lifestyle and work-life balance for families, but in my field—artificial intelligence (AI)— the Australian Institute for Machine Learning (AIML) helps position the city as a global leader in research and innovation excellence. I’ve had the privilege of visiting many of the leading AI...

INNOVATE™ Adelaide

AARON HICKMANN

FOUNDER, VALO

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,...

INNOVATE™ Stockholm

MAGNUS MÄHRING

PROFESSOR AND CHAIR, HOUSE OF INNOVATION, STOCKHOLM SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS (SSE)

For more than one and a half decade, Sweden has consecutively been ranked in the top three most innovative economies in the world (according to the United Nations’ Global Innovation Index). There is a longstanding tradition in Sweden to work collaboratively across different societal sectors — and in an interdisciplinary...

INNOVATE™ Alberta

SINMI ADEOYE-ESENE

FOUNDER, CEO, DANIOLA & CO-FOUNDER, BIPOC FOUNDATION

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...

INNOVATE® Tampa Bay Vol.3

Sheryl Hunter

Sheryl Hunter

Esquire ,Founder & President

Curiosity, Authenticity & Abundance: Characteristics for a successful life and a thriving community. Sheryl Hunter is the President of Hunter Business Law – The Entrepreneur’s Law Firm – which serves growth-focused entrepreneurs and their business enterprises, from newbie founders to serial entrepreneurs and angel investors. In addition to managing her...

INNOVATE® St. Louis

John G. Gatewood

CFP®, CLU®, President & Founder - Gatewood Wealth Management

When his military pension wasn’t enough to support our family, my father went into life insurance. He realized no one was coordinating all of the separate aspects of families’ financial planning. The Glass Steagall Act was still in effect, and it kept all financial companies separate; insurance was separate from...

INNOVATE™ Vancouver Vol.2

SAMANTHA MATHEWS

FOUNDER @LEARNBYLOCI

The technology industry is so broad-reaching and established that “innovation” has become the status quo. The problem that comes along with this entrenched approach to technological development is that we’ve also codified what the people who innovate look like; where they went to school, who they know, and what kind...

INNOVATION Quebec

RÉMI QUIRION

SCIENTIFIQUE EN CHEF DU QUÉBEC

RÉMI QUIRION, SCIENTIFIQUE EN CHEF DU QUÉBEC, LUC SIROIS, INNOVATEUR EN CHEF DU QUÉBEC, SYLVIE PINSONNAULT, PREMIÈRE VICE-PRÉSIDENTE, STRATÉGIES, INNOVATION ET DÉVELOPPEMENT DURABLE. En ouverture du Sommet des accélérateurs, organisé par le Mouvement des accélérateurs d’innovation du Québec, Rémi Quirion, scientifique en chef du Québec, Luc Sirois, Innovateur en chef...

INNOVATE® Tampa Bay Vol.3

LAKSHMI SHENOY

LAKSHMI SHENOY

CEO-EMBARC COLLECTIVE

REFLECTING ON THE CURVEBALLS OF 2020 For Embarc Collective, 2020 was defined as an exercise of turning obstacles into opportunity. In January we launched the final component of our value proposition, our 32,000-square-foot physical space. In doing this, we could finally bring our vision of making Embarc Collective the central...

INNOVATE® Gaming & Esports

KAROL SEVERIN

SENIOR ANALYST AND CO-FOUNDER AT MIDIA RESEARCH

For an activity (like playing video games) to turn into a publicly-observed competition (like esports), first there needs to be a demand to know who is best. Then, for the competition to grow a mainstream appeal and audiences to expand beyond the initial enthusiasts, it needs to have entertainment value....

INNOVATE® Minnesota

Dan Atkins

Dan Atkins

President - MinneAnalytics - Chief Community Entanglement Particle, Optum

Dan Atkins President, MinneAnalytics – Chief Community Entanglement Particle, Optum I can’t explain the principle of quantum entanglement as well as a physicist could, but I believe in its application to the concept of community engagement nevertheless. There’s a way that two particles, separated by immense distance, can become entangled...

AI Québec

NARJES BOUFADEN

FOUNDER AND CEO, KEATEXT

For decades, in-store customer experience has been a cornerstone of the competitive battlefield for brands. Creating a successful customer experience instore relies on tangible assets like product displays and brand representatives to ensure that customers are well served with a personalized shopping experience. Now, the disruption of the global pandemic...

INNOVATE™ South Africa

TAURIQ KERAAN

TAURIQ KERAAN

CEO, TYMEBANK

One of the questions I’m often asked as TymeBank CEO is “How can digital banks enable people to improve their financial wellbeing?” In other words, how can we remake the banking system, so it works for the people we serve, and not just for banks? In my experience there are...

INNOVATE® Milwaukee

The Water Council

Dean Amhaus, President & CEO

Fifteen years ago, when I became the founding CEO of The Water Council, I brought with me a background in government and nonprofit management. I faced a steep learning curve in understanding water technology and environmental issues. I’m still very much a novice, but over time I’ve learned a thing...

INNOVATE™ Botswana Vol.1

MESHACK TSHEKEDI

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, BOTSWANA OIL

Botswana Oil, the state-owned oil utility responsible for the country’s fuel security, is leveraging on research, innovation and partnerships to contribute more towards Botswana’s drive to reduce its carbon emissions. Botswana is a minimal contributor to carbon emissions at global scale, with the last update showing that Africa as a...

INNOVATE™ Stockholm

FERNANDA TORRE

NEXT AGENTS - CEO & FOUNDING PARTNER

In my journey as a sustainability expert and innovation leader, I’ve come to see a powerful synergy between these two fields. Working across both sustainability and innovation allows us to turn today’s challenges into opportunities, creating solutions that benefit people, communities, and ecosystems alike. Above all, innovation and sustainability must...

INNOVATE® San Diego Vol.1

Ardy Arianpour

It is no coincidence that Seqster was born in San Diego, a city with an underdog culture where small startups transform into large enterprises that address giant markets. Perfect weather drives innovation—always sunny, 72 degrees, and 70 miles of beaches. Perhaps the combination of unique culture and weather has drawn...

INNOVATE™ Adelaide

TONY LAWRENCE

CHIEF REVENUE OFFICER (CRO), MIGHTY KINGDOM

Adelaide has a decades-long history with games. Ratbag Games opened a studio in the 1990s and had success with its Powerslide games before it was acquired by Midway Games in the mid-2000s, and then closed quite suddenly. Krome, an Australian based game developer picked up where Midway left off, lasting...

INNOVATE® Utah

Clint Betts

Clint Betts

Executive Director - Silicon Slopes

Growing up, I spent countless hours throwing a baseball as hard as I could  against the side of our family’s cinder block garage. If a better way of spending time existed, the world did a great job of keeping it secret. I thought “cinder block ball” was the official pastime...

INNOVATE™ Toronto

SUNIL SHARMA

MANAGING DIRECTOR, TECHSTARS TORONTO

The modern entrepreneur is truly global and the desire to move across the world in pursuit of creating the next billion-dollar tech startup has never been more real. With the onset of remote work, global mobility has become more desirable. The onus is on countries to make themselves more attractive...

VOICES of the Future

DR. MARSHALL GOLDSMITH

NAVIGATING THE WHEEL OF CHANGE

Professor Marshall Goldsmith stands as a paragon of leadership and executive coaching, his name synonymous with transformative change in business and personal development. As a two-time winner of the Thinkers 50 award for the #1 Leadership Thinker in the World and the world’s #1 Executive Coach, his influence stretches across...

INNOVATE® Milwaukee

Ryne Cooper

Director of Growth at Data Holdings

Innovation is not the work of one person. It happens when people come together, share ideas, and support each other. Milwaukee is full of individuals and organizations pushing boundaries, taking risks, and making an impact. The real strength of this city lies in its people, their resilience, creativity, and willingness...

VOICES of the Future

GIL PETERSIL

AUTHENTIC NETWORKING WILL TAKE US BEYOND OUR WORLD

Gil Petersil is a man who understands science and the essence of human networking as intimately as only a handful of other people in the world do. His mission? It is one grounded in its simplicity: to serve people and add value through authentic human-to-human relationships. He shares: “I’m really...

INNOVATE® Austin Volume 2

Jay Hallberg

Jay Hallberg

CEO and Founder

There’s no greater transformative force in the world’s businesses than technology’s ability to connect people, increase competitiveness, and ultimately help organizations grow. But as the business technology market nears $4 trillion in annual spend, two significant challenges have emerged for both the businesses  who buy technology and the vendors who...

PROFESSOR SIMON LUCEY

DIRECTOR, AUSTRALIAN INSTITUTE FOR MACHINE LEARNING (AIML), THE UNIVERSITY OF ADELAIDE

Not only does Adelaide offer a great lifestyle and work-life balance for families, but in my field—artificial intelligence (AI)— the Australian Institute for Machine Learning (AIML) helps position the city as a global leader in research and innovation excellence. I’ve had the privilege of visiting many of the leading AI...

AARON HICKMANN

FOUNDER, VALO

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,...

MAGNUS MÄHRING

PROFESSOR AND CHAIR, HOUSE OF INNOVATION, STOCKHOLM SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS (SSE)

For more than one and a half decade, Sweden has consecutively been ranked in the top three most innovative economies in the world (according to the United Nations’ Global Innovation Index). There is a longstanding tradition in Sweden to work collaboratively across different societal sectors — and in an interdisciplinary...

SINMI ADEOYE-ESENE

FOUNDER, CEO, DANIOLA & CO-FOUNDER, BIPOC FOUNDATION

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...

Sheryl Hunter

Sheryl Hunter

Esquire ,Founder & President

Curiosity, Authenticity & Abundance: Characteristics for a successful life and a thriving community. Sheryl Hunter is the President of Hunter Business Law – The Entrepreneur’s Law Firm – which serves growth-focused entrepreneurs and their business enterprises, from newbie founders to serial entrepreneurs and angel investors. In addition to managing her...

John G. Gatewood

CFP®, CLU®, President & Founder - Gatewood Wealth Management

When his military pension wasn’t enough to support our family, my father went into life insurance. He realized no one was coordinating all of the separate aspects of families’ financial planning. The Glass Steagall Act was still in effect, and it kept all financial companies separate; insurance was separate from...

SAMANTHA MATHEWS

FOUNDER @LEARNBYLOCI

The technology industry is so broad-reaching and established that “innovation” has become the status quo. The problem that comes along with this entrenched approach to technological development is that we’ve also codified what the people who innovate look like; where they went to school, who they know, and what kind...

RÉMI QUIRION

SCIENTIFIQUE EN CHEF DU QUÉBEC

RÉMI QUIRION, SCIENTIFIQUE EN CHEF DU QUÉBEC, LUC SIROIS, INNOVATEUR EN CHEF DU QUÉBEC, SYLVIE PINSONNAULT, PREMIÈRE VICE-PRÉSIDENTE, STRATÉGIES, INNOVATION ET DÉVELOPPEMENT DURABLE. En ouverture du Sommet des accélérateurs, organisé par le Mouvement des accélérateurs d’innovation du Québec, Rémi Quirion, scientifique en chef du Québec, Luc Sirois, Innovateur en chef...

LAKSHMI SHENOY

LAKSHMI SHENOY

CEO-EMBARC COLLECTIVE

REFLECTING ON THE CURVEBALLS OF 2020 For Embarc Collective, 2020 was defined as an exercise of turning obstacles into opportunity. In January we launched the final component of our value proposition, our 32,000-square-foot physical space. In doing this, we could finally bring our vision of making Embarc Collective the central...

KAROL SEVERIN

SENIOR ANALYST AND CO-FOUNDER AT MIDIA RESEARCH

For an activity (like playing video games) to turn into a publicly-observed competition (like esports), first there needs to be a demand to know who is best. Then, for the competition to grow a mainstream appeal and audiences to expand beyond the initial enthusiasts, it needs to have entertainment value....

Dan Atkins

Dan Atkins

President - MinneAnalytics - Chief Community Entanglement Particle, Optum

Dan Atkins President, MinneAnalytics – Chief Community Entanglement Particle, Optum I can’t explain the principle of quantum entanglement as well as a physicist could, but I believe in its application to the concept of community engagement nevertheless. There’s a way that two particles, separated by immense distance, can become entangled...

NARJES BOUFADEN

FOUNDER AND CEO, KEATEXT

For decades, in-store customer experience has been a cornerstone of the competitive battlefield for brands. Creating a successful customer experience instore relies on tangible assets like product displays and brand representatives to ensure that customers are well served with a personalized shopping experience. Now, the disruption of the global pandemic...

TAURIQ KERAAN

TAURIQ KERAAN

CEO, TYMEBANK

One of the questions I’m often asked as TymeBank CEO is “How can digital banks enable people to improve their financial wellbeing?” In other words, how can we remake the banking system, so it works for the people we serve, and not just for banks? In my experience there are...

The Water Council

Dean Amhaus, President & CEO

Fifteen years ago, when I became the founding CEO of The Water Council, I brought with me a background in government and nonprofit management. I faced a steep learning curve in understanding water technology and environmental issues. I’m still very much a novice, but over time I’ve learned a thing...

MESHACK TSHEKEDI

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, BOTSWANA OIL

Botswana Oil, the state-owned oil utility responsible for the country’s fuel security, is leveraging on research, innovation and partnerships to contribute more towards Botswana’s drive to reduce its carbon emissions. Botswana is a minimal contributor to carbon emissions at global scale, with the last update showing that Africa as a...

FERNANDA TORRE

NEXT AGENTS - CEO & FOUNDING PARTNER

In my journey as a sustainability expert and innovation leader, I’ve come to see a powerful synergy between these two fields. Working across both sustainability and innovation allows us to turn today’s challenges into opportunities, creating solutions that benefit people, communities, and ecosystems alike. Above all, innovation and sustainability must...

Ardy Arianpour

It is no coincidence that Seqster was born in San Diego, a city with an underdog culture where small startups transform into large enterprises that address giant markets. Perfect weather drives innovation—always sunny, 72 degrees, and 70 miles of beaches. Perhaps the combination of unique culture and weather has drawn...

TONY LAWRENCE

CHIEF REVENUE OFFICER (CRO), MIGHTY KINGDOM

Adelaide has a decades-long history with games. Ratbag Games opened a studio in the 1990s and had success with its Powerslide games before it was acquired by Midway Games in the mid-2000s, and then closed quite suddenly. Krome, an Australian based game developer picked up where Midway left off, lasting...

Clint Betts

Clint Betts

Executive Director - Silicon Slopes

Growing up, I spent countless hours throwing a baseball as hard as I could  against the side of our family’s cinder block garage. If a better way of spending time existed, the world did a great job of keeping it secret. I thought “cinder block ball” was the official pastime...

SUNIL SHARMA

MANAGING DIRECTOR, TECHSTARS TORONTO

The modern entrepreneur is truly global and the desire to move across the world in pursuit of creating the next billion-dollar tech startup has never been more real. With the onset of remote work, global mobility has become more desirable. The onus is on countries to make themselves more attractive...

DR. MARSHALL GOLDSMITH

NAVIGATING THE WHEEL OF CHANGE

Professor Marshall Goldsmith stands as a paragon of leadership and executive coaching, his name synonymous with transformative change in business and personal development. As a two-time winner of the Thinkers 50 award for the #1 Leadership Thinker in the World and the world’s #1 Executive Coach, his influence stretches across...

Ryne Cooper

Director of Growth at Data Holdings

Innovation is not the work of one person. It happens when people come together, share ideas, and support each other. Milwaukee is full of individuals and organizations pushing boundaries, taking risks, and making an impact. The real strength of this city lies in its people, their resilience, creativity, and willingness...

GIL PETERSIL

AUTHENTIC NETWORKING WILL TAKE US BEYOND OUR WORLD

Gil Petersil is a man who understands science and the essence of human networking as intimately as only a handful of other people in the world do. His mission? It is one grounded in its simplicity: to serve people and add value through authentic human-to-human relationships. He shares: “I’m really...

Jay Hallberg

Jay Hallberg

CEO and Founder

There’s no greater transformative force in the world’s businesses than technology’s ability to connect people, increase competitiveness, and ultimately help organizations grow. But as the business technology market nears $4 trillion in annual spend, two significant challenges have emerged for both the businesses  who buy technology and the vendors who...

INNOVATE® Ecosystems