Thought Leaders

INNOVATE™ Stockholm

JOHAN HARTMAN & MATTIAS RANTALAINEN

CO-FOUNDERS, STRATIPATH

That’s what we, a pathologist and an AI researcher, discovered when ourresearch groups joined forces at Karolinska Institutet. Despite our differentscientific perspectives, we shared a common goal: to take research beyond theacademic setting and into clinical reality—where it can truly help patients. We began by tackling a major clinical gap...

INNOVATE® Kansas City

KEVIN MCGINNIS

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER AT KEYSTONE INNOVATION DISTRICT (KEYSTONE COMMUNITY CORPORATION)

Keystone Innovation District was born out of a fundamental question: How can we cultivate organic and sustainable collaboration in Kansas City? This question serves as the driving force behind the establishment of a space where diverse individuals and organizations can converge, exchange knowledge, and collaborate to propel innovation in our...

INNOVATE™ Alberta

TRAVIS OBERG

DIRECTOR OF DESIGN, UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY PROPERTIES GROUP

In a rapidly changing world, where the boundaries of what is possible continue to expand, the essence of innovation lies at the heart of progress. It is not confined to sterile laboratories or academic institutions; rather, it thrives in vibrant communities where collaboration, creativity, and a sense of place converge....

INNOVATE™ Vancouver Vol.2

NICOLE PARMAR

CEO AND CO-FOUNDER, GUNKII

Innovation is often viewed as the development of groundbreaking ideas, but it is also about making incremental changes that can significantly impact an industry, business, or community. I firmly believe that entrepreneurship and innovation go hand-in-hand. These provide the means to grow businesses, create products that solve problems, and improve...

INNOVATE™ Alberta

ARLEIGH VASCONCELLOS

MANAGING DIRECTOR, THE AGENCY

“When I started The Agency in 2009 as a boutique firm servicing the tech sector in Calgary, I heard the same thing over and over: What tech sector?” Arleigh Vasconcellos, CEO/Founder, The Agency Communications Inc. And they had a point – the tech sector here was small. But the city...

INNOVATE™ Estonia

REIN LEMBERPUU

.CONTRIBER

Having a background in physics and engineering, I have approached leadership challenges for many years from the angle of building the best possible team and environment where people can bring out their best talent. Like in engineering where every next iteration is slightly improved and closer to perfection. Today, 20...

INNOVATE® St. Louis

Marie Carlie

Marie Carlie

Tax Partner - BDO USA, Llp

In the world of business, the words “disrupt, innovate, and transform” have become the new normal. For companies looking to make their mark, digital transformation is now the pathway to create revenue and new value, increase profitability, and improve employee and customer retention. It can also help remove IT complexities,...

INNOVATE® Puerto Rico

CARLOS COBIAN

CARLOS COBIAN

FOUNDER AND CEO, GRAVITAL AGENCY

“OUR PASSION IS TO HELP COMPANIES GROW. OUR HIGHEST INTENT IS TO FOSTER A STRONG SERVICE PHILOSOPHY THAT ENSURES OUR CLIENTS ACHIEVE THE SUCCESS THEY SEEK AND DESERVE. WE WANT THEM TO DO WELL BECAUSE WE WANT OUR ECONOMY AND SOCIETY TO DO WELL. IT’S A WIN-WIN.”– CARLOS COBIAN, FOUNDER AND...

INNOVATE™ Bristol & Bath

BIG LEADERSHIP TEAM

BIG LEADERSHIP TEAM -BRISTOL INNOVATORS GROUP

BRISTOL INNOVATORS GROUP

In Spring 2019, two of our team – Charlie Widdows and Rob Sheffield – discussed how to create a network that would focus on innovation across Bristol. They had an intuitive sense that this was needed, but lacked the time and resource to turn the idea into reality. Then in...

INNOVATE™ Vancouver Vol.2

DIRAJ PERKASH GOEL

FOUNDER & MANAGING PARTNER, GETFRESH VENTURES

“To create a successful business, it’s crucial to understand the human condition in the buying process.” As an investor and operator, I’ve discovered a pivotal truth: any business holds the potential to generate $10M in revenue. Yet, a significant portion of enterprises stumble before reaching this milestone. The common pitfall?...

INNOVATE® San Diego Vol.1

Jim Filanc

Jim Filanc - Intelligent Cities Associates

Intelligent Cities Associates, LLC

Jim Filanc Intelligent Cities Associates, LLC Back in 2012, I wrote a White Paper entitled EnLighten San Diego when I had an insight into the strategic value of “power and perch,” two unique characteristics of streetlights. Streetlights are everywhere in most cities, but in San Diego, we envisioned attaching Small...

VOICES of the Future

MARISA PEER

THE POWER OF ENOUGH

As I sit with Marisa Peer, I feel a sense of awe. Her groundbreaking work in Rapid Transformational Therapy (RTT) not only transforms lives but also reshapes the narrative around mental health and well-being for the future. My conversation with Marisa is a profound privilege. An award-winning therapist with a...

INNOVATE™ Stockholm

JENS DOLK

CEO, AN INNOVATOR OF THE RESTAURANT INDUSTRY, K-MÄRKT AB

I’ve never been afraid of weird ideas. In fact, that’s kind of the point with K-märkt. When we started, we didn’t just want to run a great restaurant – we wanted to challenge the entire way restaurants operate. Why? Because if we’re going to make food more sustainable, we can’t...

INNOVATE® New Jersey Vol.2

MICHAEL J. AVALTRONI

PH.D. PRESIDENT FAIRLEIGH DICKINSON UNIVERSITY

COMBATING A MENTAL HEALTH CRISISIn my two decades in higher education, I have witnessed seismic political, social and economic shifts that have had major effects on college communities throughout the nation. But today we are facing our greatest crisis because I see a generation of students crying out for mental...

INNOVATE™ South Africa

JOSEPHINE BUYS

JOSEPHINE BUYS

FOUNDING CEO, INTERACTIVE ADVERTISING BUREAU (IAB SA) AND DIGITAL MEDIA LITERACY ADVOCATE

As a media and marketing pioneer, throughout my career I have been at the forefront of lightning speed change in the advertising and media landscape, from representing several top newspaper and magazine publishers, as they migrated online, to founding CEO of the first and only Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB SA)...

INNOVATE™ Antwerp Vol.2

ALEXANDER SAVERYS

ALEXANDER SAVERYS

CEO, CMB

My name is Alexander Saverys, I’m the CEO of CMB, a diversified shipping company owning 135 ships active in dry bulk shipping, container transport, chemical tankers and offshore wind support. Our cleantech division, CMB.TECH, is a market leader in the development of hydrogen applications for the marine and other industries....

INNOVATE™ Oeiras

JOAO ARAUJO

JOÃO ARAÚJO

COUNTRY DIRECTOR, THALES

Railways has been my constant obsession in the last 30 years, after I assumed the role of developing the Railway business in Portugal. As a fresh Engineer from IST, I started my career at Alcatel as telecoms engineer. Soon my commercial attitude and aptitude drove me to new challenges with...

INNOVATE™ Stockholm

OMID EKHLASI

FOUNDER & CEO, TECHARENA

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...

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® Nashville

DR. DAN BOONE

DR. DAN BOONE

PRESIDENT, TREVECCA NAZARENE UNIVERSITY

Composure. It’s a quality we look for in any leader, from political candidates to CEOs to college presidents. To assess a person’s leadership ability, composure is one of the main things we try to measure – how rattle-able they are under pressure and in crisis. Composure is about an inner...

INNOVATE® Tampa Bay Vol.3

Gregg Ross-Munro

Herding Cats & Coders

COMMUNICATING WITH TECHIES What to Look for in a Digital Agency Whether you want to augment an in-house team or bring an entirely new product to life, odds are, you’re going to entertain the idea of hiring an agency. By an “agency”, I mean everything from advertising companies offering digital...

INNOVATE® Washington DMV Edition

DAVID MARCHICK

DEAN, THE KOGOD SCHOOL OF BUSINESS AT AMERICAN UNIVERSITY; BA, UC SAN DIEGO (‘88)

DAVID MARCHICK; DEAN, THE KOGOD SCHOOL OF BUSINESS AT AMERICAN UNIVERSITY; BA, UC SAN DIEGO (‘88); MA, LBJ SCHOOL OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS, UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN (‘90);JD, GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY (‘05). When people ask me about the value of business school, I think about it like this: it’s about...

INNOVATE® Minnesota

Jeanne Glass

Jeanne Glass

Founder & CEO, VirtualZ Computing

Jeanne Glass Founder & CEO, Virtualz Computing StartUp Draws on Minnesota’s Legacy of Tech InnovationAlthough several of my family members and friends worked at Honeywell, Sperry-Univac, Unisys, and Control Data, until founding VirtualZ, I didn’t have a full appreciation for the contributions of Minnesotans in creating the computer industry. Now...

INNOVATE™ Bengaluru

Prof. Vijay Chandru

Interdisciplinary cusps lead to innovation - Innovation Hub India

Mentor and Investor

Mentor and Investor “True tech innovation in India is happening in life sciences, nanoscience, chemistry, mechanical engineering and the like”, says Prof. Vijay Chandru, one of the earliest academics in India to move from an impressive career in academics to highly successful deep science entrepreneurship. “If you look at creativity...

JOHAN HARTMAN & MATTIAS RANTALAINEN

CO-FOUNDERS, STRATIPATH

That’s what we, a pathologist and an AI researcher, discovered when ourresearch groups joined forces at Karolinska Institutet. Despite our differentscientific perspectives, we shared a common goal: to take research beyond theacademic setting and into clinical reality—where it can truly help patients. We began by tackling a major clinical gap...

KEVIN MCGINNIS

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER AT KEYSTONE INNOVATION DISTRICT (KEYSTONE COMMUNITY CORPORATION)

Keystone Innovation District was born out of a fundamental question: How can we cultivate organic and sustainable collaboration in Kansas City? This question serves as the driving force behind the establishment of a space where diverse individuals and organizations can converge, exchange knowledge, and collaborate to propel innovation in our...

TRAVIS OBERG

DIRECTOR OF DESIGN, UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY PROPERTIES GROUP

In a rapidly changing world, where the boundaries of what is possible continue to expand, the essence of innovation lies at the heart of progress. It is not confined to sterile laboratories or academic institutions; rather, it thrives in vibrant communities where collaboration, creativity, and a sense of place converge....

NICOLE PARMAR

CEO AND CO-FOUNDER, GUNKII

Innovation is often viewed as the development of groundbreaking ideas, but it is also about making incremental changes that can significantly impact an industry, business, or community. I firmly believe that entrepreneurship and innovation go hand-in-hand. These provide the means to grow businesses, create products that solve problems, and improve...

ARLEIGH VASCONCELLOS

MANAGING DIRECTOR, THE AGENCY

“When I started The Agency in 2009 as a boutique firm servicing the tech sector in Calgary, I heard the same thing over and over: What tech sector?” Arleigh Vasconcellos, CEO/Founder, The Agency Communications Inc. And they had a point – the tech sector here was small. But the city...

REIN LEMBERPUU

.CONTRIBER

Having a background in physics and engineering, I have approached leadership challenges for many years from the angle of building the best possible team and environment where people can bring out their best talent. Like in engineering where every next iteration is slightly improved and closer to perfection. Today, 20...

Marie Carlie

Marie Carlie

Tax Partner - BDO USA, Llp

In the world of business, the words “disrupt, innovate, and transform” have become the new normal. For companies looking to make their mark, digital transformation is now the pathway to create revenue and new value, increase profitability, and improve employee and customer retention. It can also help remove IT complexities,...

CARLOS COBIAN

CARLOS COBIAN

FOUNDER AND CEO, GRAVITAL AGENCY

“OUR PASSION IS TO HELP COMPANIES GROW. OUR HIGHEST INTENT IS TO FOSTER A STRONG SERVICE PHILOSOPHY THAT ENSURES OUR CLIENTS ACHIEVE THE SUCCESS THEY SEEK AND DESERVE. WE WANT THEM TO DO WELL BECAUSE WE WANT OUR ECONOMY AND SOCIETY TO DO WELL. IT’S A WIN-WIN.”– CARLOS COBIAN, FOUNDER AND...

BIG LEADERSHIP TEAM

BIG LEADERSHIP TEAM -BRISTOL INNOVATORS GROUP

BRISTOL INNOVATORS GROUP

In Spring 2019, two of our team – Charlie Widdows and Rob Sheffield – discussed how to create a network that would focus on innovation across Bristol. They had an intuitive sense that this was needed, but lacked the time and resource to turn the idea into reality. Then in...

DIRAJ PERKASH GOEL

FOUNDER & MANAGING PARTNER, GETFRESH VENTURES

“To create a successful business, it’s crucial to understand the human condition in the buying process.” As an investor and operator, I’ve discovered a pivotal truth: any business holds the potential to generate $10M in revenue. Yet, a significant portion of enterprises stumble before reaching this milestone. The common pitfall?...

Jim Filanc

Jim Filanc - Intelligent Cities Associates

Intelligent Cities Associates, LLC

Jim Filanc Intelligent Cities Associates, LLC Back in 2012, I wrote a White Paper entitled EnLighten San Diego when I had an insight into the strategic value of “power and perch,” two unique characteristics of streetlights. Streetlights are everywhere in most cities, but in San Diego, we envisioned attaching Small...

MARISA PEER

THE POWER OF ENOUGH

As I sit with Marisa Peer, I feel a sense of awe. Her groundbreaking work in Rapid Transformational Therapy (RTT) not only transforms lives but also reshapes the narrative around mental health and well-being for the future. My conversation with Marisa is a profound privilege. An award-winning therapist with a...

JENS DOLK

CEO, AN INNOVATOR OF THE RESTAURANT INDUSTRY, K-MÄRKT AB

I’ve never been afraid of weird ideas. In fact, that’s kind of the point with K-märkt. When we started, we didn’t just want to run a great restaurant – we wanted to challenge the entire way restaurants operate. Why? Because if we’re going to make food more sustainable, we can’t...

MICHAEL J. AVALTRONI

PH.D. PRESIDENT FAIRLEIGH DICKINSON UNIVERSITY

COMBATING A MENTAL HEALTH CRISISIn my two decades in higher education, I have witnessed seismic political, social and economic shifts that have had major effects on college communities throughout the nation. But today we are facing our greatest crisis because I see a generation of students crying out for mental...

JOSEPHINE BUYS

JOSEPHINE BUYS

FOUNDING CEO, INTERACTIVE ADVERTISING BUREAU (IAB SA) AND DIGITAL MEDIA LITERACY ADVOCATE

As a media and marketing pioneer, throughout my career I have been at the forefront of lightning speed change in the advertising and media landscape, from representing several top newspaper and magazine publishers, as they migrated online, to founding CEO of the first and only Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB SA)...

ALEXANDER SAVERYS

ALEXANDER SAVERYS

CEO, CMB

My name is Alexander Saverys, I’m the CEO of CMB, a diversified shipping company owning 135 ships active in dry bulk shipping, container transport, chemical tankers and offshore wind support. Our cleantech division, CMB.TECH, is a market leader in the development of hydrogen applications for the marine and other industries....

JOAO ARAUJO

JOÃO ARAÚJO

COUNTRY DIRECTOR, THALES

Railways has been my constant obsession in the last 30 years, after I assumed the role of developing the Railway business in Portugal. As a fresh Engineer from IST, I started my career at Alcatel as telecoms engineer. Soon my commercial attitude and aptitude drove me to new challenges with...

OMID EKHLASI

FOUNDER & CEO, TECHARENA

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...

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...

DR. DAN BOONE

DR. DAN BOONE

PRESIDENT, TREVECCA NAZARENE UNIVERSITY

Composure. It’s a quality we look for in any leader, from political candidates to CEOs to college presidents. To assess a person’s leadership ability, composure is one of the main things we try to measure – how rattle-able they are under pressure and in crisis. Composure is about an inner...

Gregg Ross-Munro

Herding Cats & Coders

COMMUNICATING WITH TECHIES What to Look for in a Digital Agency Whether you want to augment an in-house team or bring an entirely new product to life, odds are, you’re going to entertain the idea of hiring an agency. By an “agency”, I mean everything from advertising companies offering digital...

DAVID MARCHICK

DEAN, THE KOGOD SCHOOL OF BUSINESS AT AMERICAN UNIVERSITY; BA, UC SAN DIEGO (‘88)

DAVID MARCHICK; DEAN, THE KOGOD SCHOOL OF BUSINESS AT AMERICAN UNIVERSITY; BA, UC SAN DIEGO (‘88); MA, LBJ SCHOOL OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS, UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN (‘90);JD, GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY (‘05). When people ask me about the value of business school, I think about it like this: it’s about...

Jeanne Glass

Jeanne Glass

Founder & CEO, VirtualZ Computing

Jeanne Glass Founder & CEO, Virtualz Computing StartUp Draws on Minnesota’s Legacy of Tech InnovationAlthough several of my family members and friends worked at Honeywell, Sperry-Univac, Unisys, and Control Data, until founding VirtualZ, I didn’t have a full appreciation for the contributions of Minnesotans in creating the computer industry. Now...

Prof. Vijay Chandru

Interdisciplinary cusps lead to innovation - Innovation Hub India

Mentor and Investor

Mentor and Investor “True tech innovation in India is happening in life sciences, nanoscience, chemistry, mechanical engineering and the like”, says Prof. Vijay Chandru, one of the earliest academics in India to move from an impressive career in academics to highly successful deep science entrepreneurship. “If you look at creativity...

INNOVATE® Ecosystems