Thought Leaders
INNOVATE™ Antwerp Vol.2
BART EMBRECHTS
GUMPTION - FOUNDER
You don’t differentiate yourself with technology alone. Our companies make the difference with their experience in the sector, their business insight, and their expertise in proven technologies. Here are a few examples: TheValueChainis known at SAP for their focus on innovation and creativity. They implement a step-by-step plan with online...
AI Québec
ALAIN LAVOIE
CEO, LEXROCKAI AND COPRESIDENT, IROSOFT
Quebec has the reputation of being a major player in the world of artificial intelligence (AI). We may believe it, but exactly what will it be like? From a strictly objective point of view, the fact that Prof. Yoshua Bengio is one of the Top 3 most cited researchers worldwide...
INNOVATE™ Stockholm
DANIEL X JOHANSSON
CSO & CO-FOUNDER, AAX BIOTECH
Some of the most meaningful innovations don’t begin with a grand plan. They begin when you hit a wall. A few years ago, we were developing a new therapeutic antibody. To really understand it, we had to figure out where it grabbed onto its target molecule—and what happened to that...
INNOVATE® Detroit
CHUCK MARSHALL
PRESIDENT, ITC MICHIGAN
The National Academy of Engineering considers electrification among the greatest engineering achievements of the 20th century, and I have to agree– thanks to our electric grid, we effortlessly flip a light switch, and power goes on in less than a second. This speed is faster than any delivery service could...
INNOVATE™ Bristol & Bath
CHARLES RADCLYFFE
PARTNER, ETHICS GRADE
“WE ARE CONCERNED FOR ALL THE PEOPLE WHO WILL LOSE JOBS AS A RESULT OF AUTOMATION”.– CHARLES RADCLYFFE, PARTNER We are worried. Some of the things we worry about are the same as everyone else who is trying to imagine the impact of technology on our lives. We worry about how...
INNOVATE® Chicago Vol.1
Joel B. Bruckman
Attorney - Freeborn & Peters LLP
I support innovators by providing them with a comprehensive approach to data privacy and cybersecurity to both protect them and free them to function at full capacity. This includes providing clients with: i) a clear understanding of the data privacy laws and regulations applicable to their businesses; ii) guidance in...
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® Minnesota
Geoff Martha
President & CEO - Medtronic
Geoff Martha President & CEO – Medtronic Millions of Americans are affected by pain and have been prescribed systemic opioids as part of their treatment plan. Whether for chronic or acute pain, prescribing systemic opioids continues, despite the limited evidence on the benefits of long-term systemic opioid therapy and evidence...
INNOVATE™ South Africa
BRONWYN RUTH WILLIAMS
TREND TRANSLATOR: FUTURE FINANCE SPECIALIST, FLUX TRENDS
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...
INNOVATE® Detroit
PHILIP KAFKA
PRESIDENT AT PRINCE CONCEPTS
My company, Prince Concepts, is a real estate development studio, laboratory and office based in Core City, Detroit. We acquire, develop, own and manage land and building projects. The studio works to express personal experience, philosophy and belief through built work. The laboratory tinkers – seeking truth and developing precision....
INNOVATE® San Diego Vol.1
Hasan Ikhrata, Executive Director
San Diego Association Of Governments (Sandag)
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...
INNOVATE™ South Africa
STEPHEN OEHLEY
FOUNDER, XTENDEVENT.COM
I’m just a boy from Benoni inspired by a loving family and good friends that put values first. My proudest contribution to this world will always be my son Nicholas, who inspires everyone around him. My career has primarily been B2B focused and spanned trade publishing, trade exhibitions, running a...
INNOVATE® Orlando
Thad Seymour
PhD, Interim President | Vice President for Partnerships and Chief Innovation Officer - University o
As Interim President, Vice President for Partnerships and Chief Innovation Officer at UCF, Thad Seymour is helping to implement an aggressive 20-year plan for the university, including overseeing the new UCF Downtown campus at Creative Village in the heart of Orlando. In addition to his multiple entrepreneurial ventures, Seymour helped...
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™ Bristol & Bath
Sacha Mirzoeff
Head Of Channel 4 Bristol
he human instinct to tell stories can be traced back millennia. From paintings on cave walls, to families huddled around campfires, to bingeable boxsets, storytelling is a thread woven deep into the fabric of human experience and often helps set our moral boundaries. The possibility of changing the way that...
INNOVATE™ Antwerp Vol.2
WALTER EEVERS
VITO - DIRECTOR RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT
WALTER EEVERS DIRECTOR RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT, VITO And when we speak of sustainability, VITO is the key player in this arena. With about 1,000 employees, VITO is an independent Flemish research organization with top researchers working on cleantech and sustainable development. Antwerp is a place where innovation is also massively...
INNOVATE® Georgia
RAVI VENKATESAN
CEO, CANTALOUPE, INC.
Ravi Venkatesan was appointed CEO of Cantaloupe in September 2022, previously holding roles as COO and CTO. With 20+ years in the tech world, he also led innovations at Bakkt and Bridge2 Solutions and held leadership positions at Accenture and Cbeyond. He received his B.S. in electronics from Bangalore University...
INNOVATE® Austin Volume 2
Gillan Taddune
Banyan Water, President & CEO
Gillan Taddune is the Chief Executive Officer of Banyan Water. She believes that technology solutions are the most effective way to address critical natural resource issues and has dedicated her career to realizing that vision. Gillan came to Banyan with the belief that water scarcity is a growing global concern...
INNOVATE® South Carolina
JONATHAN DAWLEY
PRESIDENT & CEO OF KION NORTH AMERICA
Innovation Muscle: Barrierless Thinking and Unconstrained Vision Several years ago, I traveled across the world working with divisions of my then-employer to evaluate market strategies and redefine our approach to unlock new levels of performance and customer value. In each region, we explored what could be achieved if we set...
INNOVATE™ Vancouver Vol.2
I started focusing on the technology sector in the mid -90s when I joined a large national law firm in Vancouver. Over the span of 25+ years, I have been a lawyer, co-founder of a software company, President of the BC Premier’s Technology Council, CEO of a fintech company, Senior...
INNOVATE® Blockchain
Mark Blumenthal
Synapse VIP Thought Leader
It is hard to believe that it’s been two years since the launch of Synapse. Every day since then has been a validation of our mission: to connect Florida’s innovation communities in a meaningful, purposeful way. As I’ve traveled the state I’ve seen first hand the passion and creativity that...
INNOVATIONS in Pharmaceutical Development®
Ping Yeh
CO-Founder and CEO - Stemonix
Coming back from the brink of death sounds so dramatic, but that’s truly how I feel. In 2012, I was literally dying. I had been diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma and, a few months into my treatment, I learned that my cancer was resistant to the drugs. My only treatment option...
INNOVATION Quebec
CHRISTIAN AGBOBLI
Vice-Recteur à la Recherche, à la création et à la diffusion
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...
BART EMBRECHTS
GUMPTION - FOUNDER
You don’t differentiate yourself with technology alone. Our companies make the difference with their experience in the sector, their business insight, and their expertise in proven technologies. Here are a few examples: TheValueChainis known at SAP for their focus on innovation and creativity. They implement a step-by-step plan with online...
ALAIN LAVOIE
CEO, LEXROCKAI AND COPRESIDENT, IROSOFT
Quebec has the reputation of being a major player in the world of artificial intelligence (AI). We may believe it, but exactly what will it be like? From a strictly objective point of view, the fact that Prof. Yoshua Bengio is one of the Top 3 most cited researchers worldwide...
DANIEL X JOHANSSON
CSO & CO-FOUNDER, AAX BIOTECH
Some of the most meaningful innovations don’t begin with a grand plan. They begin when you hit a wall. A few years ago, we were developing a new therapeutic antibody. To really understand it, we had to figure out where it grabbed onto its target molecule—and what happened to that...
CHUCK MARSHALL
PRESIDENT, ITC MICHIGAN
The National Academy of Engineering considers electrification among the greatest engineering achievements of the 20th century, and I have to agree– thanks to our electric grid, we effortlessly flip a light switch, and power goes on in less than a second. This speed is faster than any delivery service could...
CHARLES RADCLYFFE
PARTNER, ETHICS GRADE
“WE ARE CONCERNED FOR ALL THE PEOPLE WHO WILL LOSE JOBS AS A RESULT OF AUTOMATION”.– CHARLES RADCLYFFE, PARTNER We are worried. Some of the things we worry about are the same as everyone else who is trying to imagine the impact of technology on our lives. We worry about how...
Joel B. Bruckman
Attorney - Freeborn & Peters LLP
I support innovators by providing them with a comprehensive approach to data privacy and cybersecurity to both protect them and free them to function at full capacity. This includes providing clients with: i) a clear understanding of the data privacy laws and regulations applicable to their businesses; ii) guidance in...
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...
Geoff Martha
President & CEO - Medtronic
Geoff Martha President & CEO – Medtronic Millions of Americans are affected by pain and have been prescribed systemic opioids as part of their treatment plan. Whether for chronic or acute pain, prescribing systemic opioids continues, despite the limited evidence on the benefits of long-term systemic opioid therapy and evidence...
BRONWYN RUTH WILLIAMS
TREND TRANSLATOR: FUTURE FINANCE SPECIALIST, FLUX TRENDS
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...
PHILIP KAFKA
PRESIDENT AT PRINCE CONCEPTS
My company, Prince Concepts, is a real estate development studio, laboratory and office based in Core City, Detroit. We acquire, develop, own and manage land and building projects. The studio works to express personal experience, philosophy and belief through built work. The laboratory tinkers – seeking truth and developing precision....
Hasan Ikhrata, Executive Director
San Diego Association Of Governments (Sandag)
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...
STEPHEN OEHLEY
FOUNDER, XTENDEVENT.COM
I’m just a boy from Benoni inspired by a loving family and good friends that put values first. My proudest contribution to this world will always be my son Nicholas, who inspires everyone around him. My career has primarily been B2B focused and spanned trade publishing, trade exhibitions, running a...
Thad Seymour
PhD, Interim President | Vice President for Partnerships and Chief Innovation Officer - University o
As Interim President, Vice President for Partnerships and Chief Innovation Officer at UCF, Thad Seymour is helping to implement an aggressive 20-year plan for the university, including overseeing the new UCF Downtown campus at Creative Village in the heart of Orlando. In addition to his multiple entrepreneurial ventures, Seymour helped...
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...
Sacha Mirzoeff
Head Of Channel 4 Bristol
he human instinct to tell stories can be traced back millennia. From paintings on cave walls, to families huddled around campfires, to bingeable boxsets, storytelling is a thread woven deep into the fabric of human experience and often helps set our moral boundaries. The possibility of changing the way that...
WALTER EEVERS
VITO - DIRECTOR RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT
WALTER EEVERS DIRECTOR RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT, VITO And when we speak of sustainability, VITO is the key player in this arena. With about 1,000 employees, VITO is an independent Flemish research organization with top researchers working on cleantech and sustainable development. Antwerp is a place where innovation is also massively...
RAVI VENKATESAN
CEO, CANTALOUPE, INC.
Ravi Venkatesan was appointed CEO of Cantaloupe in September 2022, previously holding roles as COO and CTO. With 20+ years in the tech world, he also led innovations at Bakkt and Bridge2 Solutions and held leadership positions at Accenture and Cbeyond. He received his B.S. in electronics from Bangalore University...
Gillan Taddune
Banyan Water, President & CEO
Gillan Taddune is the Chief Executive Officer of Banyan Water. She believes that technology solutions are the most effective way to address critical natural resource issues and has dedicated her career to realizing that vision. Gillan came to Banyan with the belief that water scarcity is a growing global concern...
JONATHAN DAWLEY
PRESIDENT & CEO OF KION NORTH AMERICA
Innovation Muscle: Barrierless Thinking and Unconstrained Vision Several years ago, I traveled across the world working with divisions of my then-employer to evaluate market strategies and redefine our approach to unlock new levels of performance and customer value. In each region, we explored what could be achieved if we set...
Mark Blumenthal
Synapse VIP Thought Leader
It is hard to believe that it’s been two years since the launch of Synapse. Every day since then has been a validation of our mission: to connect Florida’s innovation communities in a meaningful, purposeful way. As I’ve traveled the state I’ve seen first hand the passion and creativity that...
Ping Yeh
CO-Founder and CEO - Stemonix
Coming back from the brink of death sounds so dramatic, but that’s truly how I feel. In 2012, I was literally dying. I had been diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma and, a few months into my treatment, I learned that my cancer was resistant to the drugs. My only treatment option...
CHRISTIAN AGBOBLI
Vice-Recteur à la Recherche, à la création et à la diffusion
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...