Thought Leaders

INNOVATE® Miami

Dr. Susan Amat

Dr. Susan Amat

CEO & Founder - VentureHive

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...

INNOVATE™ South Africa

STEPHAN EKBERGH

TRAVELSTART - FOUNDER

Travel is the most important industry in the world....

INNOVATE™ Alberta

OLLE LAGERQUIST

CO-CHAIR, ERIN

Innovation Increases RelevanceInnovation changes its meaning from person to person; however, I see it as a new or improved method, process, approach, product, strategy, or service that increases impact and value. Innovation helps organizations, products, services, and entire regions stay relevant. As such, communities and regions that promote and grow...

INNOVATE® Puerto Rico

IGNACIO ALVAREZ

PRESIDENT AND CEO OF POPULAR INC.

Technological advances, changing customer expectations and a rapidly evolving competitive landscape have made innovation not a choice, but a requirement to remain competitive at every level. Countries, companies and individuals must constantly question the present and aspire to make the future better. Because innovation is not an end in itself;...

INNOVATE™ Estonia

OLIVER VÄÄRTNÕU

CYBERNETICA AS - CEO

At Cybernetica AS, we believe that technology is not just a tool; it is a force that shapes the future. We don’t simply build systems—we pioneer a philosophy rooted in cybernetics, the art of guiding and adapting systems. Inspired by the Greek word kybernētēs, meaning “steersman” or “governor,” we actively...

INNOVATE® Chicago Vol.1

NANCY GIANNI

GIGI'S PLAYHOUSE - FOUNDER AND CHIEF BELIEF OFFICER

It could happen with a simple fall off a bike, the birth of a new baby or grandbaby, or a debilitating illness. Differences do not discriminate. They do not care who you are. They do not care that you’re “low risk” or “not those kinds of people.” When you experience...

INNOVATE™ Antwerp Vol.2

CLAUDIA DE MOOR

CLAUDIA DE MOOR

HR & FINANCE MANAGER, VOSSCHEMIE BENELUX & V-SURE

HR & FINANCE MANAGER, VOSSCHEMIE BENELUX & V-SURE Get to know your neighbour – entrepreneur and get out. I’ m active in Voka Lokaal Netland, Lier4business, JOL (youth entrepreneurship Lier) and I also do voluntary work. The region of Lier supports entrepreneurship and we like to support this with interesting...

INNOVATE™ South Africa

NWABISA MAYEMA

NWABISA MAYEMA

STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP DIRECTOR, BRANSON CENTRE OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP, SOUTH AFRICA

We as a society cannot decouple our prosperity from our development. What we can’t do is decouple our prosperity from the challenges that we face. Those two go hand-in-hand. We simply can’t be prosperous without tackling certain challenges. Business can be and is a force for good. And in South...

INNOVATE® Nashville

David Vulcano

Angel Investor

People are often surprised when they find out “Music City” is not just mega-music companies. In fact, the business ecosystem is very diversified in national and global business, and the greater Nashville area has many home-grown companies as well. The city is fertile soil for startup companies; many of our...

INNOVATE® Washington DMV Edition

MARGOT MACHOL BISNOW

AUTHOR, RAISING AN ENTREPRENEUR

As parents, we want what is best for our children. Or, at least, what we think is best for them. And what we almost always want for them is success. But wanting success for our children, even when our desire for their success comes from love and our concern for...

INNOVATE™ Alberta

STUART CULLUM

PRESIDENT, RED DEER POLYTECHNIC

Over the course of my career, I have been a teacher, a farmer, a business analyst, an investor, and an applied research and academic leader. I’ve come to understand that the problems and opportunities in our world are highly complex; they are multi-faceted and require multi-disciplinary responses. No single expert,...

INNOVATE™ Estonia

KADI PÄRNITS

CHAIRMAN OF THE MANAGEMENT BOARD, MAINOR AS, ÜLEMISTE CITY.

When I joined Ülemiste City the vision of a smart city for smart people was already in place. Today, the vision has grown into a future-focused urban environment with 18 000 talents from more than 73 countries and 400 companies. Based on the labor tax from business ventures, the contribution...

INNOVATE® Blockchain

G SCOTT PATERSON

G SCOTT PATERSON

FOUNDER, FUTUREVAULT

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;...

INNOVATE™ Stockholm

LISA ERICSSON

FOUNDER & HEAD, KTH INNOVATION

Universities are creative melting pots, where people from all over the world gather to advance knowledge and tackle big problems. As head of KTH Innovation, the entrepreneurship hub at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, I get to witness this firsthand, every day. Since the start in 2007, my team and...

INNOVATE™ Stockholm

AMIR ELION

THINK BIG LEADERS - CEO, INNOVATION AND AI ADVISOR, SPEAKER

Many years ago, when I was facilitating internal innovation workshops at Motorola, word got out, and executives would ask me to run “The Innovation Workshop” for their teams. I told them that I don’t have an innovation workshop, and that they should tell me what they aiming to achieve, and...

INNOVATE™ Vancouver Vol.2

DIRAJ PERKASH GOEL

FOUNDER & MANAGING PARTNER, GETFRESH VENTURES

“To create a successful business, it’s crucial to understand the human condition in the buying process.” As an investor and operator, I’ve discovered a pivotal truth: any business holds the potential to generate $10M in revenue. Yet, a significant portion of enterprises stumble before reaching this milestone. The common pitfall?...

INNOVATE™ South Africa

JAYSHREE NAIDOO

JAYSHREE NAIDOO

CEO, YIEDI

Just over two decades ago I sat in a university lecture hall while pursuing an E Commerce course and we were introduced to our guest speaker for the day, she worked at a large bank, just like me, but her title fascinated me, she was called a “futurist”. Her main...

INNOVATE™ Kitchener Waterloo

RUTH CASSELMAN

CEO, ACCELERATOR CENTRE

Before I became the CEO of the Accelerator Centre, before I joined the board of the Golden Triangle Angel Network (GTAN), I was a founder. I co-founded Alert Labs with a simple but ambitious goal: to help buildings save water, operate more efficiently, and reduce risk through smart technology. Like...

INNOVATE™ Adelaide

MR. OSCAR FIORINOTTO

FOUNDER & CEO, SUPASHOCK ADVANCED TECHNOLOGIES

FOSTERING A CULTURE OF LEADERS AND INNOVATIONI was fortunate to have an ambitious father who embedded leadership heavily into my life. I feel it is important for any leader to have a mentor, and this is the reason we focus so heavily on mentorship at Supashock. A mentor is someone...

INNOVATE™ South Africa

PADDY UPTON

PADDY UPTON- LEADERSHIP COACH

LEADERSHIP COACH

Paddy brings over 25-years of experience working with high-performing teams in business and sport, across multiple industries and on five continents. Imagine you’re a team leader and you overhear one of your team speaking to their friends at a party. They’re saying something like, ‘‘I love the place I work....

INNOVATE® Tampa Bay Vol.3

Alex Sink

Alex Sink - Tampa Bay WaVe

Tampa Bay WaVe

What we see in our startup community is so inspiring. There are so many entrepreneurs building companies with exciting technology and creative thinking. Problems are being solved and doors being opened. Tampa Bay is a community of great opportunities and wonderful people. It is the community that I have called...

INNOVATE® Blockchain

NUKE GOLDSTEIN

NUKE GOLDSTEIN

CTO, CELSIUS NETWORK

We have seen it before – the PC, internet, Web 2.0, smartphones – each wave bringing dramatic changes to society and our daily lives. And here it is again – blockchains, cryptocurrencies, smart-contracts, dApps, DeFi, NFTs – all leads to decentralization and Web3. The excitement has been building among entrepreneurs,...

INNOVATE™ Stockholm

PATRIK STRÖMBERG

PHD MBA, CEO AT ANACARDIO

I have spent my entire career in Stockholm’s vibrant Life Science innovation space, with renowned universities, great scientists, and companies. After attaining a PhD in Biochemistry from Karolinska Institutet, I have held various positions within R&D and corporate development at Astra Zeneca and Swedish Orphan Biovitrum (Sobi), such as Vice...

INNOVATE® Minnesota

Shaye Mandle

Shaye Mandle

President & CEO - The Medical Alley Association

You might say modern healthcare was invented in Medical Alley more than 150 years ago when the Mayo Clinic set the standard for care delivery. The medical device industry was born here with Medtronic’s founding in 1949. When the relationship between payers and providers needed to change, HMOs were invented...

Dr. Susan Amat

Dr. Susan Amat

CEO & Founder - VentureHive

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...

STEPHAN EKBERGH

TRAVELSTART - FOUNDER

Travel is the most important industry in the world....

OLLE LAGERQUIST

CO-CHAIR, ERIN

Innovation Increases RelevanceInnovation changes its meaning from person to person; however, I see it as a new or improved method, process, approach, product, strategy, or service that increases impact and value. Innovation helps organizations, products, services, and entire regions stay relevant. As such, communities and regions that promote and grow...

IGNACIO ALVAREZ

PRESIDENT AND CEO OF POPULAR INC.

Technological advances, changing customer expectations and a rapidly evolving competitive landscape have made innovation not a choice, but a requirement to remain competitive at every level. Countries, companies and individuals must constantly question the present and aspire to make the future better. Because innovation is not an end in itself;...

OLIVER VÄÄRTNÕU

CYBERNETICA AS - CEO

At Cybernetica AS, we believe that technology is not just a tool; it is a force that shapes the future. We don’t simply build systems—we pioneer a philosophy rooted in cybernetics, the art of guiding and adapting systems. Inspired by the Greek word kybernētēs, meaning “steersman” or “governor,” we actively...

NANCY GIANNI

GIGI'S PLAYHOUSE - FOUNDER AND CHIEF BELIEF OFFICER

It could happen with a simple fall off a bike, the birth of a new baby or grandbaby, or a debilitating illness. Differences do not discriminate. They do not care who you are. They do not care that you’re “low risk” or “not those kinds of people.” When you experience...

CLAUDIA DE MOOR

CLAUDIA DE MOOR

HR & FINANCE MANAGER, VOSSCHEMIE BENELUX & V-SURE

HR & FINANCE MANAGER, VOSSCHEMIE BENELUX & V-SURE Get to know your neighbour – entrepreneur and get out. I’ m active in Voka Lokaal Netland, Lier4business, JOL (youth entrepreneurship Lier) and I also do voluntary work. The region of Lier supports entrepreneurship and we like to support this with interesting...

NWABISA MAYEMA

NWABISA MAYEMA

STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP DIRECTOR, BRANSON CENTRE OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP, SOUTH AFRICA

We as a society cannot decouple our prosperity from our development. What we can’t do is decouple our prosperity from the challenges that we face. Those two go hand-in-hand. We simply can’t be prosperous without tackling certain challenges. Business can be and is a force for good. And in South...

David Vulcano

Angel Investor

People are often surprised when they find out “Music City” is not just mega-music companies. In fact, the business ecosystem is very diversified in national and global business, and the greater Nashville area has many home-grown companies as well. The city is fertile soil for startup companies; many of our...

MARGOT MACHOL BISNOW

AUTHOR, RAISING AN ENTREPRENEUR

As parents, we want what is best for our children. Or, at least, what we think is best for them. And what we almost always want for them is success. But wanting success for our children, even when our desire for their success comes from love and our concern for...

STUART CULLUM

PRESIDENT, RED DEER POLYTECHNIC

Over the course of my career, I have been a teacher, a farmer, a business analyst, an investor, and an applied research and academic leader. I’ve come to understand that the problems and opportunities in our world are highly complex; they are multi-faceted and require multi-disciplinary responses. No single expert,...

KADI PÄRNITS

CHAIRMAN OF THE MANAGEMENT BOARD, MAINOR AS, ÜLEMISTE CITY.

When I joined Ülemiste City the vision of a smart city for smart people was already in place. Today, the vision has grown into a future-focused urban environment with 18 000 talents from more than 73 countries and 400 companies. Based on the labor tax from business ventures, the contribution...

G SCOTT PATERSON

G SCOTT PATERSON

FOUNDER, FUTUREVAULT

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;...

LISA ERICSSON

FOUNDER & HEAD, KTH INNOVATION

Universities are creative melting pots, where people from all over the world gather to advance knowledge and tackle big problems. As head of KTH Innovation, the entrepreneurship hub at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, I get to witness this firsthand, every day. Since the start in 2007, my team and...

AMIR ELION

THINK BIG LEADERS - CEO, INNOVATION AND AI ADVISOR, SPEAKER

Many years ago, when I was facilitating internal innovation workshops at Motorola, word got out, and executives would ask me to run “The Innovation Workshop” for their teams. I told them that I don’t have an innovation workshop, and that they should tell me what they aiming to achieve, and...

DIRAJ PERKASH GOEL

FOUNDER & MANAGING PARTNER, GETFRESH VENTURES

“To create a successful business, it’s crucial to understand the human condition in the buying process.” As an investor and operator, I’ve discovered a pivotal truth: any business holds the potential to generate $10M in revenue. Yet, a significant portion of enterprises stumble before reaching this milestone. The common pitfall?...

JAYSHREE NAIDOO

JAYSHREE NAIDOO

CEO, YIEDI

Just over two decades ago I sat in a university lecture hall while pursuing an E Commerce course and we were introduced to our guest speaker for the day, she worked at a large bank, just like me, but her title fascinated me, she was called a “futurist”. Her main...

RUTH CASSELMAN

CEO, ACCELERATOR CENTRE

Before I became the CEO of the Accelerator Centre, before I joined the board of the Golden Triangle Angel Network (GTAN), I was a founder. I co-founded Alert Labs with a simple but ambitious goal: to help buildings save water, operate more efficiently, and reduce risk through smart technology. Like...

MR. OSCAR FIORINOTTO

FOUNDER & CEO, SUPASHOCK ADVANCED TECHNOLOGIES

FOSTERING A CULTURE OF LEADERS AND INNOVATIONI was fortunate to have an ambitious father who embedded leadership heavily into my life. I feel it is important for any leader to have a mentor, and this is the reason we focus so heavily on mentorship at Supashock. A mentor is someone...

PADDY UPTON

PADDY UPTON- LEADERSHIP COACH

LEADERSHIP COACH

Paddy brings over 25-years of experience working with high-performing teams in business and sport, across multiple industries and on five continents. Imagine you’re a team leader and you overhear one of your team speaking to their friends at a party. They’re saying something like, ‘‘I love the place I work....

Alex Sink

Alex Sink - Tampa Bay WaVe

Tampa Bay WaVe

What we see in our startup community is so inspiring. There are so many entrepreneurs building companies with exciting technology and creative thinking. Problems are being solved and doors being opened. Tampa Bay is a community of great opportunities and wonderful people. It is the community that I have called...

NUKE GOLDSTEIN

NUKE GOLDSTEIN

CTO, CELSIUS NETWORK

We have seen it before – the PC, internet, Web 2.0, smartphones – each wave bringing dramatic changes to society and our daily lives. And here it is again – blockchains, cryptocurrencies, smart-contracts, dApps, DeFi, NFTs – all leads to decentralization and Web3. The excitement has been building among entrepreneurs,...

PATRIK STRÖMBERG

PHD MBA, CEO AT ANACARDIO

I have spent my entire career in Stockholm’s vibrant Life Science innovation space, with renowned universities, great scientists, and companies. After attaining a PhD in Biochemistry from Karolinska Institutet, I have held various positions within R&D and corporate development at Astra Zeneca and Swedish Orphan Biovitrum (Sobi), such as Vice...

Shaye Mandle

Shaye Mandle

President & CEO - The Medical Alley Association

You might say modern healthcare was invented in Medical Alley more than 150 years ago when the Mayo Clinic set the standard for care delivery. The medical device industry was born here with Medtronic’s founding in 1949. When the relationship between payers and providers needed to change, HMOs were invented...

INNOVATE® Ecosystems