Thought Leaders

Social innovation—the opportunity to leverage creativity and innovation to solve complex problems and help people and communities thrive—is often associated with entrepreneurs or singular individuals. Though this is true and is certainly one aspect of the formula that leads to meaningful impact, it isn’t the full story. The reality is...

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...

I pride myself on being unique and different. Most teens my age are worried about having the latest name brand clothing, shoes, or gadgets. But not me! I want to help and inspire people and change the world for the better. As a former foster child and current adoptee, I...

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...

My conversation with Christiana Maxion is a deep dive into the heart of love and connection. Affectionately known as the Dubai Matchmaker, our connection is a blend of personal anecdotes, philosophical musings, and visionary insights into the essence of human connection and the future of love. Her story begins by...

Curiosity has shaped every meaningful stage of my career, pushing me to challenge assumptions and keep searching for better ways to serve people. Real progress tends to come from teams willing to challenge old assumptions and look at problems differently. Curiosity creates space for stronger ideas and fresh approaches to...

  English: It’s a park. It’s techno. The Technoparc is relaxed and peaceful. The site is also green. Very green. With a huge proportion of green space and protected zones, located between areas of concrete omnipresence, the feel of nature is flagrant and fragrant. A perfect setting for companies and...

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...

Introduction With offices in both the U.S. and Israel, Imagry is an autonomous vehicle platform developer that is dedicated to pioneering the future of this technology. By pushing the limits of artificial intelligence and computer vision, Imagry’s mapless autonomous driving platform eliminates the need for the time-consuming HD mapping process....

Information, our personal and especially our financial information, is an asset class and if we choose to, we should be able to monetize it. Together with my FutureVault colleagues, we’re pioneering the advent of digital Personal Life Management. Within five years, everyone will have a Personal Life Management digital vault;...

Chris Schmidt is a Winnipeg, Manitoba-based serial entrepreneur who builds companies at the intersection of consumer behaviour and scalable technology. He has founded and exited two ventures, in arboriculture and digital media, and now leads an AI company. I spent 21 years growing Schmidt Tree Banding, a tree service company...

Dan Atkins President, MinneAnalytics – Chief Community Entanglement Particle, Optum I can’t explain the principle of quantum entanglement as well as a physicist could, but I believe in its application to the concept of community engagement nevertheless. There’s a way that two particles, separated by immense distance, can become entangled...

“Miami is Becoming A HealthTech Innovation Hub.” Kate Black, Shareholder – Greenberg Traurig, P. A. Miami has a singularly scrappy, entrepreneurial spirit, making it well situated to become a regional technology hub that plays a vital role in connecting the global economy – especially in healthcare, life sciences, and consumer...

Innovation in the legal industry can often feel counter-intuitive. After all, law is built on precedent, on looking backward to go forward. A cornerstone of the profession is to manage risk and reduce uncertainty, adding additional tension to innovation and experimentation. And yet, the legal industry finds itself amid some...

When people ask me why I do what I do, my answer is simple: I build solutions that help our clients and partners win, protect, and increase security. My journey as an entrepreneur has always been shaped by real-world conflicts and the urgent need to innovate faster than the threats...

Innovation is at the heart of everything I do as the CEO of the Jacksonville Transportation Authority (JTA), and something I expect my teams to integrate into all their initiatives. Being innovative means being bold—taking risks and toppling the traditional ways we’ve operated as providers of public transportation. My industry...

Long before I founded the Naval Welding Institute, time spent inside naval manufacturing environments taught me that the smallest decisions made on a welding floor can follow ships, crews, and critical infrastructure long after the work disappears behind layers of steel. That thinking shaped the institute from the beginning. My...

It’s a rare privilege to connect – and connect so deeply – with someone like Hasnae Taleb, a remarkable embodiment of success and inspiration. As I sit down with her, I find myself in awe of her journey, achievements, and vision for the future. “At a young age, we all...

Dan Rua CEO – Admiral Dan Rua, Runnin’ Down a Dream in Hogtown I remember my first day in Gainesville, move-in day at Hume Hall in the summer of 1986. I was an “Apple kid”, dreaming about Apple’s startup story, moving in with my Apple II+ and I was lucky...

To a lot of people, innovation is a very fuzzy word. Sometimes it’s used to describe any kind of change, and I think it’s dangerous when we don’t take the time to define and put metrics to it to have clarity. You have to know when you’ve achieved the intended...

As Wesgro CEO (Wesgro is the official Trade and Investment Promotion Agency for Cape Town and the Western Cape), I am committed to doing my part in making the Western Cape one of the world’s leading regional economies. We recognise that to succeed in a changing world, we will be...

The Changing Diagnostics LandscapeWith almost twenty years in the medical diagnostics industry, undoubtedly, one of the biggest impacts we’ve experienced has been COVID-19. From upending business models and shutting down the globe to forcing the world to rethink how we conduct business and even what products we make and how,...

INNOVATION, ENTREPRENEURSHIP, AND CREATIVITYExperience has taught me that innovation is not just about creating something new, it also includes making improvements to existing products or systems. It is about taking a creative approach to problem solving and producing solutions that are unique, interesting, and useful. Innovation and entrepreneurship go hand-in-hand...

Innovation has always been about more than technology. It is about people with ideas, the courage to pursue them, and the determination to solve challenges in new ways. As Minister of Innovation and New Technology, I have the privilege of meeting individuals and organizations that are shaping Manitoba’s future everyday....