Thought Leaders
INNOVATE® Minnesota
Teddy Bekele
Chief Technology Officer - LAND O'LAKES, INC.
Teddy Bekele Chief Technology Officer – Land O’ Lakes Inc. At its very heart, farming is filled with uncertainty. Just ask any farmer here in Minnesota who has ever wrapped up harvest amid a list of nearly endless variables, from trade to prices to weather and beyond. But there’s one...
INNOVATE™ Ottawa
Franco Varriano
Technologist & Entrepreneur
Franco Varriano Technologist & Entrepreneur, Head Of Product Discovery & Innovation At Workshopx & Executive Director – Fresh Founders It’s a powerful, attractive and evocative concept. We all have ideas and conceptions on what innovation is all about; usually centering around new products, novel technologies, or advanced patents. But innovation...
INNOVATE™ Bristol & Bath
Neil Douglas
Director, Viper Innovations
When we started our company in 2007, one of the first questions we had to ask ourselves, was where is the best place to be located? The client base for our products and services was international and so our selection did not have to be governed by the location of...
INNOVATE™ Estonia
JANA KRIMPE
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER AND CO-FOUNDER, B.EST SOLUTIONS
Digital transformation is often viewed in terms of platforms, applications, or the latest disruptive technology. But these are only surface layers. The true foundation of a digital society is trust and trust begins with secure digital identity. Without it, governments cannot serve effectively, businesses cannot scale confidently, and citizens are...
VOICES of the Future
GAUTAM GANGLANI
NAVIGATING NEW HORIZONS
Sitting down with Gautam Ganglani, you can’t help but feel a sense of awe. This CEO of Right Selection Global Thought Leaders is a man who has actively shaped the evolving landscape of thought leadership and personal development over decades. Our conversation unfolds like a map to the future, punctuated...
VOICES of the Future
ALEXANDER ALEGRIA-SEIF
THE INTENTIONAL INVESTOR
Alexander Alegria-Seif stands at the crossroads of passion, purpose, and impact, embodying what it means to dream and act with intention. “I’m an impact investor and passionate about creating impact in the world,” he states, heralding a dialogue transcending the mundane. As friends and Harvard Business School alums, our connection...
VOICES of the Future
BRETT KING
THE FUTURE OF BANKING
Brett King stands as a beacon of innovation and foresight. His journey, a blend of passion for technology and a keen eye for the ever evolving financial landscape, positions him uniquely as a leading voice in the realm of digital banking and fintech. Delving into his insights, Brett’s narrative reveals...
INNOVATE® Washington DMV Edition
MARIAM NUSRAT
FOUNDER & CEO OF BRESHNA.IO
Innovation goes beyond creating something new; it’s about making a meaningful difference. My journey, from Pakistan to the World Bank and into the realms of technology and communications, has been driven by this ethos. The turning point was recognizing gaming’s potential as a tool for impactful communication. With a background...
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...
INNOVATE™ Ottawa
Why do we pursue innovation in health care? The population is aging, and patients are entering the health-care system with more complex health needs. As a leader in world-first health-care research and as a part of the Ottawa community, The Ottawa Hospital pursues health-care innovation to support healthier populations while...
INNOVATE™ South Africa
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® Gaming & Esports
RICHARD BUTLER
FOUNDER, RAGE WORKS
There is truly no one size fits all approach when it comes to podcasting and running a business, especially in New York City. However, this flexibility has allowed me to remain passionate about podcasting and do what I can to help the space grow and thrive, either by adding my...
INNOVATE® Phoenix
Sethuraman "Panch" Panchanathan
Executive VP and Chief Research and Innovation Officer - ASU
Introduction Perspective on InnovationInnovation is not limited to creating new products or starting new companies. It is a spirit and a mindset that permeates everything that we do. The most intractable challenges we face are not going to be solved by doing what we’ve always done. It is important to...
INNOVATE® Georgia
MICHAEL SHANNON
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH GEORGIA - PRESIDENT
REIMAGINING HIGHER EDUCATION: UNG’s Bold Vision for the Future In an era of unprecedented change, higher education stands at a pivotal crossroads. As thought leaders in this space, we at the University of North Georgia (UNG) are not just adapting to this new landscape—we’re actively shaping it. Our vision is...
INNOVATIONS in Pharmaceutical Development®
INNOVATE™ Oeiras
JOÃO ALMEIDA LOPES
PRESIDENTE DA DIRECÇÃO DA APIFARMA
Past conquests bear witness to the value and significance of scientific knowledge and leave no doubt than an innovative spirit is still the best answer to major challenges faced by humankind. In fact, innovation-friendly policies foster models of development based on people and are a recipe for prosperity. This is...
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™ 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...
INNOVATE® Tampa Bay Vol.3
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...
INNOVATION Manitoba
JEFF FRANZ-LIEN, FOUNDER, IDEA MINERS INNOVATION SOLUTIONS INC.
People assume that innovation is about brilliant ideas. The truth is ideas are abundant. What’s rare and hard is transforming an idea into something real that creates value for others. That realization led to the creation of Idea Miners. After an IT career spanning tech, development, management, and enterprise architecture,...
INNOVATE® New Jersey Vol.2
KELLY BROZYNA
CEO-STATE DIRECTOR, AMERICA’S SBDC NEW JERSEY
New Jersey is an amazing, dynamic, and engaging state with a beautiful tapestry of people, landscapes, and industries. Having lived in several states nationwide, I can truly attest to New Jersey’s brilliance in spirit and ingenuity. It is synonymous and a bit foretelling that NJ was the first state to...
INNOVATE™ Estonia
KALEV KALLEMETS
CEO, FERMI ENERGIA
THE COURAGE TO BUILD THE FUTURE When we started Fermi Energia in 2019, there were a handful of nuclear experts in Estonia, but not nearly enough for a nuclear power plant. There was no law to regulate nuclear energy. No political support. No clear understanding of which technology to choose,...
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...
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...
INNOVATE® Gaming & Esports
KWAMÉ BABB
PRINCIPAL VFX ARTIST & MANAGER-Schell Games
Each morning from my desk at Schell Games (pre-pandemic, obviously), I can look through the Station Square windows at the Monongahela River and the skyline of the city of Pittsburgh, which if you’ve never visited is probably one of the most beautiful in America that not everyone knows about. On...
Teddy Bekele
Chief Technology Officer - LAND O'LAKES, INC.
Teddy Bekele Chief Technology Officer – Land O’ Lakes Inc. At its very heart, farming is filled with uncertainty. Just ask any farmer here in Minnesota who has ever wrapped up harvest amid a list of nearly endless variables, from trade to prices to weather and beyond. But there’s one...
Franco Varriano
Technologist & Entrepreneur
Franco Varriano Technologist & Entrepreneur, Head Of Product Discovery & Innovation At Workshopx & Executive Director – Fresh Founders It’s a powerful, attractive and evocative concept. We all have ideas and conceptions on what innovation is all about; usually centering around new products, novel technologies, or advanced patents. But innovation...
Neil Douglas
Director, Viper Innovations
When we started our company in 2007, one of the first questions we had to ask ourselves, was where is the best place to be located? The client base for our products and services was international and so our selection did not have to be governed by the location of...
JANA KRIMPE
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER AND CO-FOUNDER, B.EST SOLUTIONS
Digital transformation is often viewed in terms of platforms, applications, or the latest disruptive technology. But these are only surface layers. The true foundation of a digital society is trust and trust begins with secure digital identity. Without it, governments cannot serve effectively, businesses cannot scale confidently, and citizens are...
GAUTAM GANGLANI
NAVIGATING NEW HORIZONS
Sitting down with Gautam Ganglani, you can’t help but feel a sense of awe. This CEO of Right Selection Global Thought Leaders is a man who has actively shaped the evolving landscape of thought leadership and personal development over decades. Our conversation unfolds like a map to the future, punctuated...
ALEXANDER ALEGRIA-SEIF
THE INTENTIONAL INVESTOR
Alexander Alegria-Seif stands at the crossroads of passion, purpose, and impact, embodying what it means to dream and act with intention. “I’m an impact investor and passionate about creating impact in the world,” he states, heralding a dialogue transcending the mundane. As friends and Harvard Business School alums, our connection...
BRETT KING
THE FUTURE OF BANKING
Brett King stands as a beacon of innovation and foresight. His journey, a blend of passion for technology and a keen eye for the ever evolving financial landscape, positions him uniquely as a leading voice in the realm of digital banking and fintech. Delving into his insights, Brett’s narrative reveals...
MARIAM NUSRAT
FOUNDER & CEO OF BRESHNA.IO
Innovation goes beyond creating something new; it’s about making a meaningful difference. My journey, from Pakistan to the World Bank and into the realms of technology and communications, has been driven by this ethos. The turning point was recognizing gaming’s potential as a tool for impactful communication. With a background...
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...
Why do we pursue innovation in health care? The population is aging, and patients are entering the health-care system with more complex health needs. As a leader in world-first health-care research and as a part of the Ottawa community, The Ottawa Hospital pursues health-care innovation to support healthier populations while...
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)...
RICHARD BUTLER
FOUNDER, RAGE WORKS
There is truly no one size fits all approach when it comes to podcasting and running a business, especially in New York City. However, this flexibility has allowed me to remain passionate about podcasting and do what I can to help the space grow and thrive, either by adding my...
Sethuraman "Panch" Panchanathan
Executive VP and Chief Research and Innovation Officer - ASU
Introduction Perspective on InnovationInnovation is not limited to creating new products or starting new companies. It is a spirit and a mindset that permeates everything that we do. The most intractable challenges we face are not going to be solved by doing what we’ve always done. It is important to...
MICHAEL SHANNON
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH GEORGIA - PRESIDENT
REIMAGINING HIGHER EDUCATION: UNG’s Bold Vision for the Future In an era of unprecedented change, higher education stands at a pivotal crossroads. As thought leaders in this space, we at the University of North Georgia (UNG) are not just adapting to this new landscape—we’re actively shaping it. Our vision is...
JOÃO ALMEIDA LOPES
PRESIDENTE DA DIRECÇÃO DA APIFARMA
Past conquests bear witness to the value and significance of scientific knowledge and leave no doubt than an innovative spirit is still the best answer to major challenges faced by humankind. In fact, innovation-friendly policies foster models of development based on people and are a recipe for prosperity. This is...
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...
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...
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...
JEFF FRANZ-LIEN, FOUNDER, IDEA MINERS INNOVATION SOLUTIONS INC.
People assume that innovation is about brilliant ideas. The truth is ideas are abundant. What’s rare and hard is transforming an idea into something real that creates value for others. That realization led to the creation of Idea Miners. After an IT career spanning tech, development, management, and enterprise architecture,...
KELLY BROZYNA
CEO-STATE DIRECTOR, AMERICA’S SBDC NEW JERSEY
New Jersey is an amazing, dynamic, and engaging state with a beautiful tapestry of people, landscapes, and industries. Having lived in several states nationwide, I can truly attest to New Jersey’s brilliance in spirit and ingenuity. It is synonymous and a bit foretelling that NJ was the first state to...
KALEV KALLEMETS
CEO, FERMI ENERGIA
THE COURAGE TO BUILD THE FUTURE When we started Fermi Energia in 2019, there were a handful of nuclear experts in Estonia, but not nearly enough for a nuclear power plant. There was no law to regulate nuclear energy. No political support. No clear understanding of which technology to choose,...
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...
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...
KWAMÉ BABB
PRINCIPAL VFX ARTIST & MANAGER-Schell Games
Each morning from my desk at Schell Games (pre-pandemic, obviously), I can look through the Station Square windows at the Monongahela River and the skyline of the city of Pittsburgh, which if you’ve never visited is probably one of the most beautiful in America that not everyone knows about. On...