Thought Leaders

INNOVATE™ Adelaide

KALE NEEDHAM

CEO, SPIRAL DATA

From a research scientist to an analyst, my career journey instilled in me a deep-rooted passion for solving complex problems through data driven insights. It became clear to me that academia wasn’t the path for me to make a tangible difference – I wanted to add significant ‘business changing’ value....

INNOVATE® Milwaukee

ASQ

WANDA STURM, PAST CHAIR, RESOURCES GLOBAL PROFESSIONALS : DANIELLA PICCIOTTI, CURRENT CHAIR, QMS ALLIANCE

When people hear the word “quality,” they often picture someone in a lab coat with a clipboard inspecting products on a production line. But quality isn’t a department—it’s a mindset. It’s a culture. It’s an expectation. And it should be embedded into everything we do. Quality is about doing it...

AI Québec

GILLES SAVARD

GILLES SAVARD

DIRECTEUR GÉNÉRAL -IVADO

Moteur d’innovation, les données sont au cœur de la transformation numérique qui s’impose partout. Liées à plusieurs technologies numériques habilitantes arrivant à maturité dont, l’infonuagique, l’internet des objets, le 5G, le 3D, la réalité augmentée, la robotique, etc., ces données et leur valorisation par l’analytique sont les véritables activateurs de...

INNOVATE™ Adelaide

GILLIAN ALDRIDGE OAM

MAYOR, CITY OF SALISBURY

Our City is the fourth largest economy in the State with a Gross Regional Product of 8.65 billion and more than 8,700 businesses calling Salisbury home, including a host of international firms and flourishing entrepreneurs. We are an important area for the State’s economic growth for population, small business, innovation...

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™ Adelaide

MAYOR MOIRA WERE AM

MAYOR, CITY OF ONKAPARINGA

In fact, one former recipient of our Young Citizen of the Year Award – in which we recognise young people who have made exceptional contributions by leading through generosity and enterprise – has just been elected to Council. We recognise and acclaim community-led events – festivals; sporting, arts and cultural...

INNOVATE™ Stockholm

ÅSA ZETTERBERG

CEO, TECHSVERIGE

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...

INNOVATE™ Adelaide

JO CLOSE

DIRECTOR OF THE ADELAIDE INTERMEDIARY PROGRAM, MTPCONNECT

Innovation – turning a great idea into a new, accessible product or service – never occurs in isolation. It needs collaboration which is sparked by connection. In health and medical innovation, we talk about the globally connected ecosystem because ours is a global endeavour that requires collegial bright minds, significant...

INNOVATION Quebec

SOPHIE D’AMOURS

RECTRICE, UNIVERSITÉ LAVAL

Le mot innovation est utilisé à plusieurs sauces. Il est toutefois clairement défini par le Larousse comme l’« ensemble du processus qui se déroule depuis la naissance d’une idée jusqu’à sa matérialisation ». Au-delà de l’idée, une solution nouvelle doit être utilisée, commercialisée, achetée ou déployée pour être innovante. Dans...

INNOVATE® Austin Volume 2

Erin Mays & Kalyn Rozanski

Erin Mays & Kalyn Rozanski

CO-CEOs - Ebco

Thought leaders in the truest sense, Erin Mays and Kalyn Rozanski of Ebco are completely reenvisioning and disrupting the trend and innovation research space with unique and differentiated products and services that support global Fortune 1000 companies. Coming from design thinking and qualitative research backgrounds, Mays shares “we no longer...

INNOVATE® South Florida

TERRY J. INGRAM

CEO - INGRAM ADVISORY GROUP

WHERE INNOVATION FEELS LIKE HOME Innovation isn’t just about creating something new, it’s about fostering an ecosystem where transformative ideas can thrive and scale. Over three decades, I’ve watched South Florida evolve into that ecosystem, where talent, capital, and global vision converge to shape the future of technology. For 30...

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® 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® Nashville

BRIAN MOYER

CO-FOUNDER AND CEO OF THE INNOVATION STUDIO

Since the dawn of time, change has proven to be the only constant. In the current digital age, the speed of change has reached a level never seen in the history of the world. One of my favorite quotes is, “It is not the strongest of the species that survives,...

INNOVATE® Chicago Vol.1

FRANCISCO PEDRO PRESAS PINTO DE BALSEMÃO

CEO OF IMPRESA

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...

INNOVATION Quebec

MARIE CLAUDE LAGACÉ

DIRECTRICE PRINCIPALE, INNOVATION ET TRANSFORMATION SOCIALE

Plus jeune, j’adorais tous les jeux, du hockey bottine avec mon frère jusqu’au jeu d’échecs avec mon père. J’avais une certaine aversion pour l’ennuyant Monopoly, qui prenait invariablement fin lorsqu’une personne (habituellement ma sœur) provoquait la faillite des autres. Pas de tueur à démasquer, pas d’épique bataille navale, de dessins...

INNOVATE® Detroit

NED STAEBLER

WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY VP OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT & TECHTOWN PRESIDENT AND CEO

It’s an exciting time to be in Detroit. In 2024 alone, we’ve seen the restoration of Michigan Central, a century-old train station turned mobility innovation hub; hosted the NFL Draft with record-breaking attendance; and attracted billions of dollars in commercial and public space development. At TechTown, we celebrate all the...

VOICES of the Future

DR. RISA RYGER

EMBRACING CHANGE FOR A VIBRANT FUTURE

In an era where change is our only constant, one woman has taken it upon herself to guide us through the shifting sands of time: Dr. Risa Ryger, a distinguished clinical psychologist, international speaker, and entrepreneur. She has dedicated her life to helping individuals and organizations navigate the often turbulent...

INNOVATE® Milwaukee

DEEPAK ARORA

FOUNDER, PRESIDENT & CEO OF WEAR-TECH

I was born to be an entrepreneur. But I didn’t feel the urgency to step into that role until tragedy struck. In that moment, everything changed. Technology is in my DNA, and I want to use it to make the planet a better place. I realized that technology isn’t just...

INNOVATE™ Estonia

ALEXANDER STOROZHUK

FOUNDER - PRNEWS.IO AND MEDIALISTER

Starting out in Ukraine in 2004, I saw an opportunity: smaller businesses needed a way to share their stories, yet few platforms catered to them. As a university student, I built a basic news distribution system, and over the years, that idea grew into PRNEWS.IO — a platform that today...

INNOVATION Quebec

RICHARD CHÉNIER

DIRECTEUR GÉNÉRAL DU CENTECH

La prochaine décennie offrira plusieurs opportunités stratégiques à saisir en matière d’entrepreneuriat et d’innovation, particulièrement technologique. Plusieurs avancées scientifiques, jadis considérées comme fondamentales, transitent en effet actuellement à une vitesse fulgurante vers des applications réelles. Ces nouvelles applications se doivent d’agir comme catalyseur de solutions concrètes pour répondre à nos...

INNOVATE® Philadelphia

Fran Griesing

Fran Griesing

Managing Member - Griesing Law

As data has shown, disadvantaged groups are notably underrepresented and underpaid across all industries. The educational and professional opportunities for women, people of color, members of the LGBTQ community, and persons with disabilities, are still not where they need to be in order to even the playing field. Further, those...

INNOVATION Quebec

GRAHAM CARR

PRESIDENT & VICE-CHANCELLOR, CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY

Montreal is the city with the largest concentration of university students per capita in North America. It has a completely unique mix of French and English and attracts students from more than 155 countries worldwide. Montreal is not just Canada’s leading centre for university research, it’s a world leader in...

INNOVATE® Blockchain

ANTHONY DUCA

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...

KALE NEEDHAM

CEO, SPIRAL DATA

From a research scientist to an analyst, my career journey instilled in me a deep-rooted passion for solving complex problems through data driven insights. It became clear to me that academia wasn’t the path for me to make a tangible difference – I wanted to add significant ‘business changing’ value....

ASQ

WANDA STURM, PAST CHAIR, RESOURCES GLOBAL PROFESSIONALS : DANIELLA PICCIOTTI, CURRENT CHAIR, QMS ALLIANCE

When people hear the word “quality,” they often picture someone in a lab coat with a clipboard inspecting products on a production line. But quality isn’t a department—it’s a mindset. It’s a culture. It’s an expectation. And it should be embedded into everything we do. Quality is about doing it...

GILLES SAVARD

GILLES SAVARD

DIRECTEUR GÉNÉRAL -IVADO

Moteur d’innovation, les données sont au cœur de la transformation numérique qui s’impose partout. Liées à plusieurs technologies numériques habilitantes arrivant à maturité dont, l’infonuagique, l’internet des objets, le 5G, le 3D, la réalité augmentée, la robotique, etc., ces données et leur valorisation par l’analytique sont les véritables activateurs de...

GILLIAN ALDRIDGE OAM

MAYOR, CITY OF SALISBURY

Our City is the fourth largest economy in the State with a Gross Regional Product of 8.65 billion and more than 8,700 businesses calling Salisbury home, including a host of international firms and flourishing entrepreneurs. We are an important area for the State’s economic growth for population, small business, innovation...

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...

MAYOR MOIRA WERE AM

MAYOR, CITY OF ONKAPARINGA

In fact, one former recipient of our Young Citizen of the Year Award – in which we recognise young people who have made exceptional contributions by leading through generosity and enterprise – has just been elected to Council. We recognise and acclaim community-led events – festivals; sporting, arts and cultural...

ÅSA ZETTERBERG

CEO, TECHSVERIGE

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...

JO CLOSE

DIRECTOR OF THE ADELAIDE INTERMEDIARY PROGRAM, MTPCONNECT

Innovation – turning a great idea into a new, accessible product or service – never occurs in isolation. It needs collaboration which is sparked by connection. In health and medical innovation, we talk about the globally connected ecosystem because ours is a global endeavour that requires collegial bright minds, significant...

SOPHIE D’AMOURS

RECTRICE, UNIVERSITÉ LAVAL

Le mot innovation est utilisé à plusieurs sauces. Il est toutefois clairement défini par le Larousse comme l’« ensemble du processus qui se déroule depuis la naissance d’une idée jusqu’à sa matérialisation ». Au-delà de l’idée, une solution nouvelle doit être utilisée, commercialisée, achetée ou déployée pour être innovante. Dans...

Erin Mays & Kalyn Rozanski

Erin Mays & Kalyn Rozanski

CO-CEOs - Ebco

Thought leaders in the truest sense, Erin Mays and Kalyn Rozanski of Ebco are completely reenvisioning and disrupting the trend and innovation research space with unique and differentiated products and services that support global Fortune 1000 companies. Coming from design thinking and qualitative research backgrounds, Mays shares “we no longer...

TERRY J. INGRAM

CEO - INGRAM ADVISORY GROUP

WHERE INNOVATION FEELS LIKE HOME Innovation isn’t just about creating something new, it’s about fostering an ecosystem where transformative ideas can thrive and scale. Over three decades, I’ve watched South Florida evolve into that ecosystem, where talent, capital, and global vision converge to shape the future of technology. For 30...

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....

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...

BRIAN MOYER

CO-FOUNDER AND CEO OF THE INNOVATION STUDIO

Since the dawn of time, change has proven to be the only constant. In the current digital age, the speed of change has reached a level never seen in the history of the world. One of my favorite quotes is, “It is not the strongest of the species that survives,...

FRANCISCO PEDRO PRESAS PINTO DE BALSEMÃO

CEO OF IMPRESA

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...

MARIE CLAUDE LAGACÉ

DIRECTRICE PRINCIPALE, INNOVATION ET TRANSFORMATION SOCIALE

Plus jeune, j’adorais tous les jeux, du hockey bottine avec mon frère jusqu’au jeu d’échecs avec mon père. J’avais une certaine aversion pour l’ennuyant Monopoly, qui prenait invariablement fin lorsqu’une personne (habituellement ma sœur) provoquait la faillite des autres. Pas de tueur à démasquer, pas d’épique bataille navale, de dessins...

NED STAEBLER

WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY VP OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT & TECHTOWN PRESIDENT AND CEO

It’s an exciting time to be in Detroit. In 2024 alone, we’ve seen the restoration of Michigan Central, a century-old train station turned mobility innovation hub; hosted the NFL Draft with record-breaking attendance; and attracted billions of dollars in commercial and public space development. At TechTown, we celebrate all the...

DR. RISA RYGER

EMBRACING CHANGE FOR A VIBRANT FUTURE

In an era where change is our only constant, one woman has taken it upon herself to guide us through the shifting sands of time: Dr. Risa Ryger, a distinguished clinical psychologist, international speaker, and entrepreneur. She has dedicated her life to helping individuals and organizations navigate the often turbulent...

DEEPAK ARORA

FOUNDER, PRESIDENT & CEO OF WEAR-TECH

I was born to be an entrepreneur. But I didn’t feel the urgency to step into that role until tragedy struck. In that moment, everything changed. Technology is in my DNA, and I want to use it to make the planet a better place. I realized that technology isn’t just...

ALEXANDER STOROZHUK

FOUNDER - PRNEWS.IO AND MEDIALISTER

Starting out in Ukraine in 2004, I saw an opportunity: smaller businesses needed a way to share their stories, yet few platforms catered to them. As a university student, I built a basic news distribution system, and over the years, that idea grew into PRNEWS.IO — a platform that today...

RICHARD CHÉNIER

DIRECTEUR GÉNÉRAL DU CENTECH

La prochaine décennie offrira plusieurs opportunités stratégiques à saisir en matière d’entrepreneuriat et d’innovation, particulièrement technologique. Plusieurs avancées scientifiques, jadis considérées comme fondamentales, transitent en effet actuellement à une vitesse fulgurante vers des applications réelles. Ces nouvelles applications se doivent d’agir comme catalyseur de solutions concrètes pour répondre à nos...

Fran Griesing

Fran Griesing

Managing Member - Griesing Law

As data has shown, disadvantaged groups are notably underrepresented and underpaid across all industries. The educational and professional opportunities for women, people of color, members of the LGBTQ community, and persons with disabilities, are still not where they need to be in order to even the playing field. Further, those...

GRAHAM CARR

PRESIDENT & VICE-CHANCELLOR, CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY

Montreal is the city with the largest concentration of university students per capita in North America. It has a completely unique mix of French and English and attracts students from more than 155 countries worldwide. Montreal is not just Canada’s leading centre for university research, it’s a world leader in...

ANTHONY DUCA

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...

INNOVATE® Ecosystems