Thought Leaders
INNOVATE™ Adelaide
ANTHONY KITTEL
MANAGING DIRECTOR, REDARC
It’s rare these days to come across a business that doesn’t refer to itself as innovative. Unfortunately it’s become a far too common marketing term used without any real accountability attached or underlying evidence. True innovation is a clear comparative advantage in an increasingly globally competitive environment. It is incredibly...
INNOVATE® Puerto Rico
MARIA LUISA FERRÉ RANGEL
CEO GRUPO FERRÉ RANGEL (GFR)
When you’re part of a family business with over 100 years of history, the questions often asked are: How do you stay relevant? What is the formula to successfully operate a business for that long? For us, the answer has always been about three things: resiliency, people, and leadership. Be...
INNOVATE™ Vancouver Vol.2
ALEX KROOGMAN
CEO | PRESSREADER GROUP OF COMPANIES
ALEX KROOGMAN CEO | PRESSREADER GROUP OF COMPANIES To this day, I look forward to each Monday when Spotify releases my new Discover Weekly playlist. Why, because it’s built entirely for me. It’s personalized with the music I know, plus lots of music I haven’t even heard of before but...
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® Chicago Vol.1
JASON VANDEBOOM
FOUNDER AND CEO, ACTIVECAMPAIGN
Building and investing in a differentiated customer experience used to be thought of as a nice to have but not a critical item. When it made it into the business plan or the balance sheet it did so as a necessary cost of sale – a cost you’d look to...
INNOVATE® New Jersey Vol.2
Shadae McDaniel
City Leader, All Stars Project of New Jersey
In 2014, I met—and fell in love with—the All Stars Project and its Afterschool Development approach as a new way of engaging poverty. I have always loved to perform—discovering dance as a teenager and growing up poor in Teaneck was a life-changer for me—and I immediately saw the effectiveness of...
INNOVATE™ South Africa
STEVE PINTO
CEO, NEW REALITY & CTRL ROBOTICS
Jobs are changing and evolving faster than anyone expected and humanity needs to embrace technology to accelerate for the better. People need more tools to upskill themselves out of poverty and away from the jobs robots will take. My vision is to create the tools to upskill humanity faster and...
INNOVATE™ Botswana Vol.1
MR. THABO THAMANE
CEO, CEDA
In our view, innovation is the practical implementation of ideas that in the end results in the introduction of new goods or services; or at the very least results in improvement in offering goods or services. In short innovation results in the creation of value. On the other hand entrepreneurship...
AI Québec
PROF. ANDREA LODI
EST PROFESSEUR TITULAIRE EN OPTIMISATION MATHÉMATIQUE À POLYTECHNIQUE MONTRÉAL
À mon arrivée à Montréal en 2015, j’ai trouvé au Québec un environnement des plus stimulants, où la collaboration entre les grands établissements universitaires est non seulement encouragée, mais aussi reconnue comme un moyen de parvenir à une carrière fructueuse. Cela a sans aucun doute été un facteur déterminant dans...
INNOVATE® Tampa Bay Vol.3
Shane Needham
In marketing, the Engagement Economy is defined as the competition for the valuable attention and cognitive bandwidth of a target audience. It’s a very real and valuable asset that is becoming more complex and harder to attain with each passing year. But, this is not the Engagement Economy I’m talking...
INNOVATE™ Alberta
DR. TERRY ROCK
PRESIDENT AND CEO - PLATFORM CALGARY
In 1988 Calgary hosted the Olympic Winter Games. For sixteen days in February, the rest of the world was introduced to a small prairie city that would continue punching above its weight for years to come. We still hold the remnants of those Olympic Games, but today we have new...
INNOVATE™ Oeiras
ANTONIO MARTINS DA COSTA
PRESIDENT, AMCHAM PORTUGAL
Innovation is what drives economic development and social welfare. Societies are made of citizens, corporations and States, who need a permanent culture of innovation for two main reasons: its own survival, if a society misses the competitive race for progress there is a risk of stagnation, irrelevance and sometimes disappearance;...
INNOVATE® New Jersey Vol.2
JOSE ESPINOZA
FOUNDER OF MOVE THE NEEDLE, LLC
Daysi Gardenia Bernita, migrated to the USA in the pursuit of the American Dream with her six month old son in tote. Though a successful engineer in her native country of Ecuador, the language barrier and need to provide for her son and family back home, relegated her to being...
INNOVATE™ Oeiras
RAQUEL FORTUNATO
GENIBET, CEO
I joined GenIbet Biopharmaceuticals in 2006, as a Project Manager, shortly after its creation as a spin-off company from iBET, a private nonprofit research organization in Biotechnology and Life Sciences. We were going, as I remember being told by iBET founder and then CEO Prof. Manuel Carrondo, to leverage iBET...
INNOVATE® Puerto Rico
ENG. LUCY A CRESPO
CEO, P. R. SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY & RESEARCH TRUST
Innovation is a driver of well-being and economic development. Innovation and scientific advances are essential to driving economic growth, new business creation, and improving the quality of life. At the Puerto Rico Science, Technology and Research Trust, we continually strengthen our innovation culture by being optimistic, passionate, and curious. During...
INNOVATE™ Antwerp Vol.2
TOM LAVEREN
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER VOKA - CHAMBER OF COMMERCE MECHELEN-KEMPEN
The Mechelen-Kempen region is ideally located between the port and the airport and close to the two big metropolises of Brussels and Antwerp. It is a place where it is good to live, work and do business. Where craftsmanship is a brand. The region is booming and many fine and...
INNOVATE® Georgia
VANESSA EDMONDS
UTILITY 2030 COLLABORATIVE - EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
YOUR ROLE IN SHAPING A SUSTAINABLE WORLD STARTS TODAY Our planet faces unprecedented challenges. Extreme weather events are becoming more frequent, the transition to clean energy is more urgent than ever, and water resources are under increasing strain. Our world’s sustainability and the well-being of future generations are on the...
INNOVATION Quebec
LE RÉSEAU DES CCTT
MOT DE MICHEL LESAGE, PRÉSIDENT-DIRECTEUR GÉNÉRAL DU RÉSEAU DES CCTT
Innover, c’est se donner la capacité, en tant qu’organisation, d’être au-devant du peloton. Cette position privilégiée nous permet d’exercer une force de traction positive dans notre milieu. Il s’agit d’une force rassemblant les acteurs d’une industrie vers un but commun. Une force de collaboratio indispensable au déploiement et au rayonnement...
INNOVATE™ Antwerp Vol.2
PROF. DR. BERT LAUWERS
ACADEMIC DIRECTOR AT KU LEUVEN
Innovative ecosystems are a lever for prosperity. Their strength lies in the collaboration between partners, in joint creativity, mutual trust and the willingness to bring together information and insights. It’s no coincidence that we, KU Leuven, have found these qualities to be strengths of the Kempen-Mechelen region. Our two fast-growing...
INNOVATE™ Bengaluru
Revathy Ashok
Angel Investor, Adviser & Co-founder of Strategy Garage
With an increasing number of startups looking to scale up, we spoke to angel investor and advisor Revathy Ashok about what investors look for. Ashok is one of the early members of the Indian Angel Network and co-founder of Strategy Garage, a boutique advisory for startups & SMEs, and says...
INNOVATE® Orlando
Rob Panepinto, Founder and CEO, Rally and EIA Social Enterprise Fund; President
Florentine Strategies
Rob Panepinto is an innovator who has always challenged the status quo of “good enough.” He is President of Florentine Strategies, CEO of Entrepreneurs in Action, and he recently joined UCF’s Partnership and Innovation team, serving as a Senior Strategic Advisor and Director of the Downtown Innovation District. Rob is...
INNOVATE™ Bristol & Bath
William Britton
AutonoMe - Founder
Prior to Founding AutonoMe William was a local lecturer teaching adults with Learning Disabilities and Autism for a number of years. It was here that he established his passion and began to see the world through the eyes of people with Learning Disabilities. This helped William see how his skills...
INNOVATE® Georgia
DR. FORREST SHRIVER
SENTINEL DEVICES - CEO & FOUNDER
We are on the precipice of major change – change that will define both America and the world for generations to come. Economically, politically, and technologically, the next ten years will be a trend-setter for the next hundred years. Wars and rumors of wars, worries over the future of work...
ANTHONY KITTEL
MANAGING DIRECTOR, REDARC
It’s rare these days to come across a business that doesn’t refer to itself as innovative. Unfortunately it’s become a far too common marketing term used without any real accountability attached or underlying evidence. True innovation is a clear comparative advantage in an increasingly globally competitive environment. It is incredibly...
MARIA LUISA FERRÉ RANGEL
CEO GRUPO FERRÉ RANGEL (GFR)
When you’re part of a family business with over 100 years of history, the questions often asked are: How do you stay relevant? What is the formula to successfully operate a business for that long? For us, the answer has always been about three things: resiliency, people, and leadership. Be...
ALEX KROOGMAN
CEO | PRESSREADER GROUP OF COMPANIES
ALEX KROOGMAN CEO | PRESSREADER GROUP OF COMPANIES To this day, I look forward to each Monday when Spotify releases my new Discover Weekly playlist. Why, because it’s built entirely for me. It’s personalized with the music I know, plus lots of music I haven’t even heard of before but...
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....
Shadae McDaniel
City Leader, All Stars Project of New Jersey
In 2014, I met—and fell in love with—the All Stars Project and its Afterschool Development approach as a new way of engaging poverty. I have always loved to perform—discovering dance as a teenager and growing up poor in Teaneck was a life-changer for me—and I immediately saw the effectiveness of...
STEVE PINTO
CEO, NEW REALITY & CTRL ROBOTICS
Jobs are changing and evolving faster than anyone expected and humanity needs to embrace technology to accelerate for the better. People need more tools to upskill themselves out of poverty and away from the jobs robots will take. My vision is to create the tools to upskill humanity faster and...
MR. THABO THAMANE
CEO, CEDA
In our view, innovation is the practical implementation of ideas that in the end results in the introduction of new goods or services; or at the very least results in improvement in offering goods or services. In short innovation results in the creation of value. On the other hand entrepreneurship...
PROF. ANDREA LODI
EST PROFESSEUR TITULAIRE EN OPTIMISATION MATHÉMATIQUE À POLYTECHNIQUE MONTRÉAL
À mon arrivée à Montréal en 2015, j’ai trouvé au Québec un environnement des plus stimulants, où la collaboration entre les grands établissements universitaires est non seulement encouragée, mais aussi reconnue comme un moyen de parvenir à une carrière fructueuse. Cela a sans aucun doute été un facteur déterminant dans...
Shane Needham
In marketing, the Engagement Economy is defined as the competition for the valuable attention and cognitive bandwidth of a target audience. It’s a very real and valuable asset that is becoming more complex and harder to attain with each passing year. But, this is not the Engagement Economy I’m talking...
DR. TERRY ROCK
PRESIDENT AND CEO - PLATFORM CALGARY
In 1988 Calgary hosted the Olympic Winter Games. For sixteen days in February, the rest of the world was introduced to a small prairie city that would continue punching above its weight for years to come. We still hold the remnants of those Olympic Games, but today we have new...
ANTONIO MARTINS DA COSTA
PRESIDENT, AMCHAM PORTUGAL
Innovation is what drives economic development and social welfare. Societies are made of citizens, corporations and States, who need a permanent culture of innovation for two main reasons: its own survival, if a society misses the competitive race for progress there is a risk of stagnation, irrelevance and sometimes disappearance;...
JOSE ESPINOZA
FOUNDER OF MOVE THE NEEDLE, LLC
Daysi Gardenia Bernita, migrated to the USA in the pursuit of the American Dream with her six month old son in tote. Though a successful engineer in her native country of Ecuador, the language barrier and need to provide for her son and family back home, relegated her to being...
RAQUEL FORTUNATO
GENIBET, CEO
I joined GenIbet Biopharmaceuticals in 2006, as a Project Manager, shortly after its creation as a spin-off company from iBET, a private nonprofit research organization in Biotechnology and Life Sciences. We were going, as I remember being told by iBET founder and then CEO Prof. Manuel Carrondo, to leverage iBET...
ENG. LUCY A CRESPO
CEO, P. R. SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY & RESEARCH TRUST
Innovation is a driver of well-being and economic development. Innovation and scientific advances are essential to driving economic growth, new business creation, and improving the quality of life. At the Puerto Rico Science, Technology and Research Trust, we continually strengthen our innovation culture by being optimistic, passionate, and curious. During...
TOM LAVEREN
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER VOKA - CHAMBER OF COMMERCE MECHELEN-KEMPEN
The Mechelen-Kempen region is ideally located between the port and the airport and close to the two big metropolises of Brussels and Antwerp. It is a place where it is good to live, work and do business. Where craftsmanship is a brand. The region is booming and many fine and...
VANESSA EDMONDS
UTILITY 2030 COLLABORATIVE - EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
YOUR ROLE IN SHAPING A SUSTAINABLE WORLD STARTS TODAY Our planet faces unprecedented challenges. Extreme weather events are becoming more frequent, the transition to clean energy is more urgent than ever, and water resources are under increasing strain. Our world’s sustainability and the well-being of future generations are on the...
LE RÉSEAU DES CCTT
MOT DE MICHEL LESAGE, PRÉSIDENT-DIRECTEUR GÉNÉRAL DU RÉSEAU DES CCTT
Innover, c’est se donner la capacité, en tant qu’organisation, d’être au-devant du peloton. Cette position privilégiée nous permet d’exercer une force de traction positive dans notre milieu. Il s’agit d’une force rassemblant les acteurs d’une industrie vers un but commun. Une force de collaboratio indispensable au déploiement et au rayonnement...
PROF. DR. BERT LAUWERS
ACADEMIC DIRECTOR AT KU LEUVEN
Innovative ecosystems are a lever for prosperity. Their strength lies in the collaboration between partners, in joint creativity, mutual trust and the willingness to bring together information and insights. It’s no coincidence that we, KU Leuven, have found these qualities to be strengths of the Kempen-Mechelen region. Our two fast-growing...
Revathy Ashok
Angel Investor, Adviser & Co-founder of Strategy Garage
With an increasing number of startups looking to scale up, we spoke to angel investor and advisor Revathy Ashok about what investors look for. Ashok is one of the early members of the Indian Angel Network and co-founder of Strategy Garage, a boutique advisory for startups & SMEs, and says...
Rob Panepinto, Founder and CEO, Rally and EIA Social Enterprise Fund; President
Florentine Strategies
Rob Panepinto is an innovator who has always challenged the status quo of “good enough.” He is President of Florentine Strategies, CEO of Entrepreneurs in Action, and he recently joined UCF’s Partnership and Innovation team, serving as a Senior Strategic Advisor and Director of the Downtown Innovation District. Rob is...
William Britton
AutonoMe - Founder
Prior to Founding AutonoMe William was a local lecturer teaching adults with Learning Disabilities and Autism for a number of years. It was here that he established his passion and began to see the world through the eyes of people with Learning Disabilities. This helped William see how his skills...
DR. FORREST SHRIVER
SENTINEL DEVICES - CEO & FOUNDER
We are on the precipice of major change – change that will define both America and the world for generations to come. Economically, politically, and technologically, the next ten years will be a trend-setter for the next hundred years. Wars and rumors of wars, worries over the future of work...