Thought Leaders
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® Blockchain
ANTHONY DUCA
CEO AND CO-FOUNDER, CAVRNUS INC
I have been involved in the 3D computer graphics field for over 25 years and have helped build tools that simplify workflows for creators. Early on in my career, I came to understand that in any industry, creators are the key players driving progress and different perspectives forward. Creators have...
INNOVATIONS in Pharmaceutical Development®
Paulo Teixeira
General Manager, Pfizer Portugal
We are living unique times as the result of an unprecedented global health crisis, not only at a corporate level, in which we redefined priorities and innovated the way we work, but in all aspects of our lives. Social distancing became part of our routine and, for the first time...
INNOVATE™ Adelaide
DAVID WILSON
CEO & FOUNDER,GREEN FROG SYSTEMS
Solar Lighting: A Path to Sustainability and Improved Road SafetySolar lighting technology has made significant strides, revolutionising smart city development, enhancing road safety in areas without access or limited power and enabling governments to offset its emissions in conjunction with Net-Zero polices. Driving Uptake of Sustainable TechnologiesA larger initiative is...
INNOVATE™ Antwerp Vol.2
BARBARA VERANNEMAN
Never before in history, have our economy and society had to transform so radically so quickly. The industrial and societal transition we are experiencing is definitely about bits and bytes, but mostly about molecules: such as CO2 and H2 carbon dioxide and hydrogen. Therefore, chemistry, as a science and as...
INNOVATE® Gaming & Esports
JAMES O’HAGAN
FOUNDER & CEO, THE ACADEMY OF ESPORTS
Would you be so quick to shut off your child’s video game system if you knew that it could be a portal to a scholarship at an international university or a career in a billion-dollar industry? What about if it led to a reduction in your child’s anxiety, better connections...
INNOVATE® Georgia
DR. HANK CAPPS
EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, CHIEF INFORMATION AND DIGITAL OFFICER AT WELLSTAR HEALTH SYSTEM, PRESIDENT AT CATALYST BY WELLSTAR
Healthcare is personal. We are all one diagnosis away from being a patient. To a doctor, the relationship with a patient is one of the most sacred connections. To the patient, it is almost always a moment of anxiety and fear. As a family doctor, I’ve seen this moment of...
AI Québec
ALEXANDRE LE BOUTHILLIER
CO-FOUNDER AND CHIEF CORPORATE OFFICER, IMAGIA
We sometimes forget the purpose of our work. In healthcare, the goal to make a positive impact on patients is present every day. This was the goal of the introduction of the first AI system in breast cancer screening… in 1998. Over the past 20 years, and especially with the...
INNOVATE™ Adelaide
HON NAT COOK MP
MINISTER FOR HUMAN SERVICES
“We have little evidence that we are achieving success in one of the core challenges in Australia and internationally – breaking intergenerational cycles of disadvantage in all its forms.”(BetterStart, 2023) The quote above is from a submission by Dr. Rhiannon Pilkington and Professor John Lynch to our Royal Commission into...
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...
INNOVATIONS in Pharmaceutical Development®
Karen Roy
Chief Strategic Officer - Phlexglobal
On joining Phlexglobal in 2007, and becoming immersed in the trial master file (TMF) space, I didn’t imagine that something that seemed to get so little focus (a TMF was really just a paper archive) could turn into such an innovative space. When I started, an eTMF was broadly an...
INNOVATE® St. Louis
Dick Fleming
CEO - Community Development Ventures, Inc.
This headline accompanied Washington Post nationally-syndicated columnist Neal Peirce’s column on St. Louis, following the completion of our BioBelt Strategy in 2000. Then in 2019, economists from the Brookings Institution noted that “To succeed in the global economy, cities must invest in what makes them unique.” My now 40+ year...
INNOVATE® Blockchain
ANDREW KIGUEL
CO-FOUNDER,CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, TOKENS.COM
If the latest slew of cryptocurrency commercials at the Superbowl is any indicator, crypto is officially mainstream. Advertisements featuring stars like LeBron James and comedians like Larry David show that everyone is getting in on crypto. But most of this excitement isn’t focused on bitcoin. Last year, over $33 billion...
INNOVATE™ Botswana Vol.1
PROFESSOR OTLOGETSWE TOTOLO
PHD, FBAS - CURRENTLY, BIUST VICE CHANCELLOR
“Our dream as institutions of higher learning in Africa is to facilitate the growth and capacity of our national economies; anchored on locally designed infrastructure in many and different spheres…” What is your vision for your specific industry? The transitioning from a resourced-based to a knowledge-based economy is not a...
INNOVATE™ Alberta
JOHN WILSON
PRESIDENT & CEO, INNOVATE CALGARY
Welcome to Alberta. I am writing this note today from Calgary, or Mohkinstsis, a place where peoples have gathered for centuries to share and to learn, and I am honored to continue this tradition. Since 1986, Innovate Calgary has been the commercialization arm of the University of Calgary. In 2024,...
INNOVATE™ South Africa
MIKE SHARMAN
RETROVIRAL
Every brand has its genesis as a challenger. Forbes details how a business lifecycle evolves from startup, to growth; it then progresses to its maturity phase, and finally, is faced with the crossroads labeled ‘renewal’ or ‘decline’. B R A N D A L I S M is a phrase...
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® Puerto Rico
CARLOS MELÉNDEZ
COO AND CO-FOUNDER WOVENWARE
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...
INNOVATE® Jacksonville
Sara Frasca
Vice President, Innovation Enablement - Platypus Labs
The concept of innovation can be completely overwhelming. Images of Edison inventing the light bulb or Henry Ford revolutionizing manufacturing push the idea of innovation outside the reach of us mere mortals. If we define innovation as a gigantic, change-the-world, cure-cancer type breakthrough, the concept is relegated to a select...
INNOVATE™ Vancouver Vol.2
BRIDGITTE ANDERSON
ICD.D, PRESIDENT AND CEO OF THE GREATER VANCOUVER BOARD OF TRADE
Bridgitte Anderson ICD.D became the first female President and CEO of the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade in the 132-year history of the organization in 2019. Her career spans multiple disciplines ranging from business consulting to public policy and communications to journalism. The long-term viability of companies increasingly depends on...
INNOVATE™ Adelaide
LOUISE NOBES
CEO, 42 ADELAIDE
n I discovered 42 in France it was my ‘eureka” moment! A school that had mastered the way to disrupt learning, so it could serve a more authentic purpose. A belief that ‘everyone can be great’ and ‘someone’s social status should not hinder them from learning’. With this belief at...
INNOVATE® Blockchain
BRIAN HARSTINE
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, ACQUIRE
Nearly every socio-economic sector is asking more questions, new questions, and challenging the way they have been doing just about everything, all the way down to their own personal finances and investment decisions. I came across an observation recently; when mass groups of people increase their awareness and knowledge of...
INNOVATE™ Vancouver Vol.2
ALE BROWN
MBA, CIPP, CIPT, CIPM, PMP PRESIDENT AND PRINCIPAL CONSULTANT
ALE BROWN MBA, CIPP, CIPT, CIPM, PMP PRESIDENT AND PRINCIPAL CONSULTANT Innovation to me means a lot of different things. It means courage, it means ability to adapt, it means embracing the unknown. It means a brighter and more promising future if you can see where theopportunities lie and just...
INNOVATE® Nashville
DJ KREAL
FOUNDER AT JAILCORE
Be Your Own Boss Growing up, my dad always told me to be an entrepreneur — to “be your own boss.” He believed in taking charge of your own destiny, and that message stuck. His belief carried me through Clemson University, where I majored in marketing and minored in entrepreneurship....
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...
ANTHONY DUCA
CEO AND CO-FOUNDER, CAVRNUS INC
I have been involved in the 3D computer graphics field for over 25 years and have helped build tools that simplify workflows for creators. Early on in my career, I came to understand that in any industry, creators are the key players driving progress and different perspectives forward. Creators have...
Paulo Teixeira
General Manager, Pfizer Portugal
We are living unique times as the result of an unprecedented global health crisis, not only at a corporate level, in which we redefined priorities and innovated the way we work, but in all aspects of our lives. Social distancing became part of our routine and, for the first time...
DAVID WILSON
CEO & FOUNDER,GREEN FROG SYSTEMS
Solar Lighting: A Path to Sustainability and Improved Road SafetySolar lighting technology has made significant strides, revolutionising smart city development, enhancing road safety in areas without access or limited power and enabling governments to offset its emissions in conjunction with Net-Zero polices. Driving Uptake of Sustainable TechnologiesA larger initiative is...
BARBARA VERANNEMAN
Never before in history, have our economy and society had to transform so radically so quickly. The industrial and societal transition we are experiencing is definitely about bits and bytes, but mostly about molecules: such as CO2 and H2 carbon dioxide and hydrogen. Therefore, chemistry, as a science and as...
JAMES O’HAGAN
FOUNDER & CEO, THE ACADEMY OF ESPORTS
Would you be so quick to shut off your child’s video game system if you knew that it could be a portal to a scholarship at an international university or a career in a billion-dollar industry? What about if it led to a reduction in your child’s anxiety, better connections...
DR. HANK CAPPS
EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, CHIEF INFORMATION AND DIGITAL OFFICER AT WELLSTAR HEALTH SYSTEM, PRESIDENT AT CATALYST BY WELLSTAR
Healthcare is personal. We are all one diagnosis away from being a patient. To a doctor, the relationship with a patient is one of the most sacred connections. To the patient, it is almost always a moment of anxiety and fear. As a family doctor, I’ve seen this moment of...
ALEXANDRE LE BOUTHILLIER
CO-FOUNDER AND CHIEF CORPORATE OFFICER, IMAGIA
We sometimes forget the purpose of our work. In healthcare, the goal to make a positive impact on patients is present every day. This was the goal of the introduction of the first AI system in breast cancer screening… in 1998. Over the past 20 years, and especially with the...
HON NAT COOK MP
MINISTER FOR HUMAN SERVICES
“We have little evidence that we are achieving success in one of the core challenges in Australia and internationally – breaking intergenerational cycles of disadvantage in all its forms.”(BetterStart, 2023) The quote above is from a submission by Dr. Rhiannon Pilkington and Professor John Lynch to our Royal Commission into...
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...
Karen Roy
Chief Strategic Officer - Phlexglobal
On joining Phlexglobal in 2007, and becoming immersed in the trial master file (TMF) space, I didn’t imagine that something that seemed to get so little focus (a TMF was really just a paper archive) could turn into such an innovative space. When I started, an eTMF was broadly an...
Dick Fleming
CEO - Community Development Ventures, Inc.
This headline accompanied Washington Post nationally-syndicated columnist Neal Peirce’s column on St. Louis, following the completion of our BioBelt Strategy in 2000. Then in 2019, economists from the Brookings Institution noted that “To succeed in the global economy, cities must invest in what makes them unique.” My now 40+ year...
ANDREW KIGUEL
CO-FOUNDER,CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, TOKENS.COM
If the latest slew of cryptocurrency commercials at the Superbowl is any indicator, crypto is officially mainstream. Advertisements featuring stars like LeBron James and comedians like Larry David show that everyone is getting in on crypto. But most of this excitement isn’t focused on bitcoin. Last year, over $33 billion...
PROFESSOR OTLOGETSWE TOTOLO
PHD, FBAS - CURRENTLY, BIUST VICE CHANCELLOR
“Our dream as institutions of higher learning in Africa is to facilitate the growth and capacity of our national economies; anchored on locally designed infrastructure in many and different spheres…” What is your vision for your specific industry? The transitioning from a resourced-based to a knowledge-based economy is not a...
JOHN WILSON
PRESIDENT & CEO, INNOVATE CALGARY
Welcome to Alberta. I am writing this note today from Calgary, or Mohkinstsis, a place where peoples have gathered for centuries to share and to learn, and I am honored to continue this tradition. Since 1986, Innovate Calgary has been the commercialization arm of the University of Calgary. In 2024,...
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...
CARLOS MELÉNDEZ
COO AND CO-FOUNDER WOVENWARE
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...
Sara Frasca
Vice President, Innovation Enablement - Platypus Labs
The concept of innovation can be completely overwhelming. Images of Edison inventing the light bulb or Henry Ford revolutionizing manufacturing push the idea of innovation outside the reach of us mere mortals. If we define innovation as a gigantic, change-the-world, cure-cancer type breakthrough, the concept is relegated to a select...
BRIDGITTE ANDERSON
ICD.D, PRESIDENT AND CEO OF THE GREATER VANCOUVER BOARD OF TRADE
Bridgitte Anderson ICD.D became the first female President and CEO of the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade in the 132-year history of the organization in 2019. Her career spans multiple disciplines ranging from business consulting to public policy and communications to journalism. The long-term viability of companies increasingly depends on...
LOUISE NOBES
CEO, 42 ADELAIDE
n I discovered 42 in France it was my ‘eureka” moment! A school that had mastered the way to disrupt learning, so it could serve a more authentic purpose. A belief that ‘everyone can be great’ and ‘someone’s social status should not hinder them from learning’. With this belief at...
BRIAN HARSTINE
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, ACQUIRE
Nearly every socio-economic sector is asking more questions, new questions, and challenging the way they have been doing just about everything, all the way down to their own personal finances and investment decisions. I came across an observation recently; when mass groups of people increase their awareness and knowledge of...
ALE BROWN
MBA, CIPP, CIPT, CIPM, PMP PRESIDENT AND PRINCIPAL CONSULTANT
ALE BROWN MBA, CIPP, CIPT, CIPM, PMP PRESIDENT AND PRINCIPAL CONSULTANT Innovation to me means a lot of different things. It means courage, it means ability to adapt, it means embracing the unknown. It means a brighter and more promising future if you can see where theopportunities lie and just...
DJ KREAL
FOUNDER AT JAILCORE
Be Your Own Boss Growing up, my dad always told me to be an entrepreneur — to “be your own boss.” He believed in taking charge of your own destiny, and that message stuck. His belief carried me through Clemson University, where I majored in marketing and minored in entrepreneurship....