An Opportunity to Excel: Advancing Canada’s New Innovation Agenda

 Allison Barr is the Director of the newly created Ontario Office of the Chief Scientist, Ministry of Research, Innovation and Science. The Premier of Ontario announced the creation of the position of a Chief Science Officer in June 2016. Allison is leading the initiative by helping to define the role and responsibilities of the Office and the mandate of a Chief Science Officer. The Office will help continue to build a strong research ecosystem and reinforce Ontario’s leading position in science and innovation. It will also champion science, advise on research programs and cement Ontario’s reputation as a jurisdiction that believes investing in knowledge and science is the key to success and prosperity.

Allison was previously Director of the Research Branch at the Ontario Ministry of Research Innovation. In that role, she oversaw the Ontario Research Fund, the government’s flagship research funding program that invested over $1.7 billion in research projects throughout the province. She had responsibility for a portfolio of world class research institutes including the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, the Ontario Brain Institute, and the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics. She also had responsibility for the government’s international S&T programs, including collaboration agreements with India, Israel and China.

Ms. Barr has progressive experience at the provincial and federal levels of government. This includes experience in a wide variety of areas including program delivery and operations, strategy and policy development, and communications and marketing. She also served as Assistant Director of Communications at the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, charged with improving the effectiveness of the government’s communications with business and international stakeholders.

Previously, Ms. Barr worked in the Cabinet Office as a Senior Policy Advisor with responsibility to provide policy and issues management advice for several economic and resource ministries to the Premier and Secretary of Cabinet. She also worked for the federal government as a Diplomat where she was posted to London, England.

In 2016, Ms. Barr was awarded the prestigious Public Service Award by Life Sciences Ontario. Ms. Barr holds a Master’s degree in Public Administration from Queen University and a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Carleton University. She was born in Edmonton, Alberta and is a long-time resident of Toronto.

Bert is a Director at the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), responsible for college and commercialization programs. Bert is also involved in strategy and planning for NSERC’s partnership grants. In 2009, NSERC launched its strategy for Partnerships and Innovation that succeeded in doubling the number of companies involved in NSERC grants, and growing their cash and in-kind participation.  He started his career as a researcher at the NRC, and then worked in various roles at a small high tech company before joining NSERC in 2002.

In 2015, Bert was awarded the Wilfrid Laurier University Public Sector Leadership in Advanced Technology Award.

Jacques is co-founder and Managing Partner at Teralys Capital. He is a highly respected venture capitalist, entrepreneur and investor who has helped shape the Canadian technological innovation scene. Through a 35-year career of contributions to the high-tech community, he has been actively involved in more than a dozen emerging high-tech companies as founder or angel investor as well as Senior Vice-President of the Fonds de solidarité FTQ. Jacques’ widely valued wisdom and experience continue to define, develop and implement a new approach to venture capital in Canada and abroad. Jacques serves on the board of PolyFinances, InnoCité Montréal, Quartier de l’Innovation, IRIC and he also does philanthropy work. Jacques holds a Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering from École polytechnique de Montréal (B.A.Sc.).

Joanna Berzowska is Associate Dean Research of the Faculty of Fine Arts at Concordia University. She is the founder of XS Labs, a design research studio focusing on textiles-based wearables as well as the enabling methods, materials, and technologies that drive innovation in composite functional fibers, textile electronics, and additive manufacturing. For the last five years, she has been the Head of Electronic Textiles at OMsignal, a Montreal-based wearable and smart textile company that launched the Ralph Lauren PoloTech shirt.

Berzowska’s work has been shown at the V&A in London, Cooper-Hewitt in NYC, Millennium Museum in Beijing, Australian Museum in Sydney, NTT ICC in Tokyo, SIGGRAPH, ISEA, SIGCHI, and Ars Electronica Center in Linz among others. She lectures internationally about the field of electronic textiles and related technological, social, aesthetic, and political issues.

Richard Botham is the Assistant Deputy Minister of the Economic Development and Corporate Finance Branch. He has worked in Finance Canada for the past 19 years. Prior to his work in the Government of Canada, Richard worked for seven years in the Ontario government’s Ministry of Economic Development and Trade. He received a Bachelor of Arts from Queen’s University (1983) and a Master of Arts from Carleton University (1986).

As an influential and energetic community specialist known for inspiring successful national and international relationships, Lisa builds upon over a decade of cross-sector experience to help organizations grow and succeed across global markets. In her current role as Director of Network Operations with the Canadian Digital Media Network, Lisa and her team are dedicated to establishing Canada as a world leader in digital media (ICT + mobile) by creating and enabling connections and collaboration between entrepreneurs, companies, research institutions, government and intermediary organizations. CDMN helps bring more digital media solutions to market to create more companies, jobs and wealth in Canada.

Sonia Chiasson is the Canada Research Chair in Human Oriented Computer Security and an Associate Professor in the School of Computer Science at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada.  Prof. Chiasson is the Acting Scientific Director of SERENE-RISC, a national network created to help protect individuals and organizations from online security and privacy threats. Her main research interests relate to the human aspects of computer security and privacy with the goal of making security mechanisms easier and safer for people to use.

Dr. Robert G. Cooper is one of the most influential innovation thought leaders in the field of product innovation management today. He pioneered the original research that led to many ground-breaking discoveries including the Stage-Gate® Idea-to-Launch process. He has published more than 120 academic articles and seven books, including the best-selling ‘Winning at New Products”.

Cooper is President of the Product Development Institute Inc., ISBM Distinguished Research Fellow at Pennsylvania State University’s Smeal College of Business Administration, USA, and Professor Emeritus, DeGroote School of Business, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

Many companies in North America, Europe, and Asia have introduced his methods, including 3M, BASF, Bosche, Cardinal Health, Carlsberg, Caterpillar, Swarovski, DuPont, Exxon Chemicals, Henkel, HP, ITT, Kraft Foods, Molson-Coors, Microsoft, Lego, Pfizer, Procter & Gamble, Siemens, VISA and others.

In combining a strong track record of industry and commercialization leadership and experience as a technology business owner with a distinguished academic background, Dr. Tom Corr is ideally suited for his role as President and CEO of Ontario Centres of Excellence. Bridging the distinct worlds of academia and industry in the interest of driving innovation and securing Ontario’s global competitiveness is core to OCE’s mandate. Through its various programs, OCE acts as a catalyst for innovative businesses to grow and achieve sustainable, commercial success and global competitiveness.

In this role since 2010, Dr. Corr brings more than 30 years of entrepreneurial experience ranging from founding start-up companies to CEO positions at large publicly traded companies. Prior to joining OCE Dr. Corr was the CEO of the Accelerator Centre (AC) at the Waterloo Research and Technology Park and Associate Vice-President of Commercialization at the University of Waterloo (UW) and prior to holding those positions he was Director of Commercialization – IT and Communications at the University of Toronto. His vast experience in the private IT sector includes Managing Partner at Catalyst Partnership; founder and CEO of Momentum Systems; founder and CEO of Applied Development Corp., and President of Canadian Data Processing Corp.

Dr. Corr has more than 30 years of entrepreneurial experience in the IT and venture capital sectors and also serves on the board of a number of organizations including C-FER Technologies (Chair), OneEleven Accelerator (Chair), the Southern Ontario Smart Computing Innovation Platform, and the Waterloo Research and Technology Park – Accelerator Centre.

He holds a Doctor of Business Administration degree from Henley Management College/Brunel University in England, an MBA from the University of Toronto, and an Advanced Post Graduate Diploma in Management Consultancy from Henley Management College. Dr. Corr has also completed his certification as a corporate director by the Institute of Corporate Directors and holds the ICD.D designation.

Margo Crawford, MBA ICD.D, is the President, CEO and founder of the Business Sherpa Group Inc., an Ottawa-based management consulting firm that serves small and mid-sized businesses. Margo was co-founder of Meriton Networks and was instrumental in building the company. Margo sits on the Board of Digital Opportunity Trust (DOT), the Invest Ottawa Innovation Committee, and the Board of the Ottawa Network for Education (ONFE). In 2016, Margo was named Business Woman of the Year, Entrepreneurship Category, with the Women’s Business Network. As a recognized thought leader in the area of optimizing value through business strategy, strategic talent and workforce planning, and good governance, Margo has been invited to speak on many occasions about creating optimal business performance for small and medium sized enterprises.

Tabitha Creighton is SVP, Payments for iQmetrix, one of the largest providers of  payment solutions in North America. Tabitha is a veteran founder, most recently as CEO of InvestNextDoor, the first debt-securities crowdfunding platform for small business.  She continues to be a director and advisor for numerous start-ups, and is a passionate advocate for diversity in financial markets.

Jeffrey Crelinsten is CEO of Research Money Inc. and publisher of RE$EARCH MONEY. He is also President and CEO of The Impact Group, a consultancy he co-founded in 1987, specializing in science, technology and innovation policy, communications and education. Jeffrey has been studying challenges facing tech entrepreneurs and the innovation ecosystems that try to support them for over 25 years. He developed the R$ conferences to bring together leaders from the private and public sector to address critical issues around innovation policy and knowledge-based commerce.

Before founding The Impact Group, Jeffrey taught science and human affairs at Concordia University and had an active career as a science documentary writer for radio and television.

Jeffrey is Senior Research Fellow at the Innovation Policy Lab, Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto. He is a founding director of the International Commercialization Alliance and is a past-President of the Canadian Science Writers Association. Jeffrey has a B.Sc. in physics from McGill University, a M.Sc. in astronomy from University of Toronto and a Ph.D. in history of science and science policy from University of Montreal.

Narinder is the Managing Director of LEAP, Canada’s leading venture philanthropy firm.  LEAP (incubated by the Pecaut Centre) mobilizes the private sector (BCG, EY, McCarthy Tetrault, Perennial, Offord Group and H+K Strategies) to partner with game changing interventions in the non profit sector, scaling their impact across Canada.

Narinder is the founding Executive Director of Rise Asset Development – a Rotman/CAMH financial initiative, providing an entrepreneurial path to employment for those with a history of mental health and addiction challenges. She led the growth of Rise from the pilot phase to it’s expansion across Ontario. Narinder has also has spent multiple years working across West Africa, both as program manager at the Première Agence de Microfinance (PAMF) across Burkina Faso, Mali and Cote d’Ivoire and as a member of the portfolio team with Acumen Fund (West Africa office focused on social enterprises across Ghana and Nigeria).  As a lecturer at the University of Toronto, she co-created the first course in microfinance and impact investing at the University.

She holds a Master of Business Administration from the Rotman School of Management at University of Toronto, and a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Toronto in Electrical Engineering.

Dr. Marc Duhamel is professor of microeconomics at the Department of finance and economics of the School of Management at the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières and a member of the Institute for Research on SMEs.

Marc possesses extensive experience in innovation, competition, and industrial policy stemming from a prominent career in public service at Industry Canada and the Competition Bureau.

Marc’s research interests look at competition, innovation, entrepreneurship and public policy more generally. He co-edited a volume entitled Industrial Organization in Canada: Empirical Evidence and Policy Challenges and is currently a member Canada’s Global Entrepreneurship Monitor National Team, GEM being the world’s foremost study of entrepreneurship since 1999. His current research projects include studies on the effect of population aging and immigration on high-performance entrepreneurship.

Jason is a veteran in the world of enterprise growth and management, having founded and scaled a number of successful software companies in the past, most notably Flick Software, Eftia, and N-Able. Jason believes in disrupting the status quo, which is what led him to start You.i TV with co-founder Stuart Russell. Jason is currently a sitting member of the board for Turner Ad Labs, Invest Ottawa, and Flick Software.

Valerie Fox cofounded the DMZ at Ryerson University in 2010, and was responsible for its development for the last 6 years. The DMZ has grown to become North America’s #1 university business incubator and is #3 in the world (UBI Global 2015).

Last year, Val started a new venture called The Pivotal Point. The Pivotal Point helps build successful incubation models with corporations, academic institutions and regions, and brings communities of diverse skills together to collaborate, design and deliver impactful innovation worldwide.

Val has over 30 years experience in the creative digital industry and has been recognized for multiple awards, including the Canada Innovation Leaders team and the Sara Kirke Award for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. She holds a number of notable patents through IBM.

Since 2004 Rory Francis has been Executive Director of the Prince Edward Island BioAlliance, a not-for-profit network of bioscience businesses, academic and research organizations, and government agencies that includes over 50 companies earning over $200 million in annual sales. He is a founder of the Emergence Bioscience Business Incubator, and Natural Products Canada, a new CECR based in PEI.

From 1991 to 2003 Mr. Francis held Deputy Minister positions in several provincial government departments, including Environment; Agriculture and Forestry; Fisheries and Aquaculture; and Health and Social Services.

Mr. Francis is a native of Prince Edward Island. He earned a BSc in geology and chemistry from Mount Allison University and an MSc in Hydrogeology from the University of Waterloo.

Ursula Gobel was appointed associate vice-president, future challenges, at SSHRC in April 2014. As a member of SSHRC’s senior executive team, Ursula works with the research community and partners across the public, private and not-for-profit sectors to advance the contributions of the social sciences and humanities towards meeting Canada’s future, long-term societal challenges and opportunities.

Ursula joined SSHRC in 2007 as director of communications. In that role, she oversaw the development and implementation of strategic communications for SSHRC, as well as for several international programs, including the Canada Research Chairs, and the Canada Excellence Research Chairs, on behalf of Canada’s three federal research granting agencies.

Ursula brings over 30 years of experience in leadership and management across the public, private and not-for-profit sectors, including responsibility for marketing and communications at the National Gallery of Canada. She has extensive Board and volunteer experience with national and regional organizations, including the Institute for Public Administration of Canada, the Canadian Tourism Commission, the Canadian Sport Tourism Alliance, the Ottawa Economic Development Corporation, and the United Way.

Ursula holds executive leadership training from Queen’s University, and as well as business and economics diplomas from Algonquin College and John Abbott College.

Arvind Gupta is Professor of Computer Science at UBC, and Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of Toronto. He has served as President and Vice- Chancellor of UBC, and as the CEO and Scientific Director of Mitacs.

Arvind has a track record for initiatives that improve Canada’s productivity and competitiveness by successfully enhancing workforce skills through industry-academic partnerships. At Mitacs, he achieved success in interweaving graduate education with socio-economic needs by bringing together 60 universities with more than 1,000 civil society partners.

Arvind was instrumental in creating the Pacific Institute for the Mathematical Sciences (PIMS) and the Banff International Research Station in Mathematical Innovation and Discovery (BIRS). He is a Senior Fellow of the Asia–Pacific Institute, and a Member of the Federal Science, Technology and Innovation Council (STIC). He serves on the Boards of the India-Canada Research Centre of Excellence (IC-IMPACTS), BIRS, the Fields Institute, the Canadian Statistical Sciences Institute, and SimTrec.

Lawrence Hanson became the Assistant Deputy Minister for the Science and Innovation Sector in November 2014. Prior to his nomination, he was the Assistant Deputy Minister for the Spectrum, Information Technologies and Telecommunications Sector since July 2013.

Prior to joining Innovation, Science and Economic Development, Lawrence Hanson was Director General, Strategic Policy in the Strategic Policy Branch of Environment Canada. He joined the Public Service in 1996, as an analyst in the Intergovernmental Affairs Branch of the Privy Council Office, and subsequently worked in the Federal-Provincial Relations group at Human Resources Development Canada before returning to the Privy Council Office as an analyst in Social Development Policy in the Operations Branch. Mr. Hanson became Director of Employment Policy at Human Resources Canada in 2001 and joined Environment Canada in 2004. He received a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Studies from the University of Saskatchewan and a Masters’ Degree in Political Science from the University of British Columbia. He is married and has two children.

Mark has written extensively on research and innovation policy and funding issues since 1994. As the Editor of RE$EARCH MONEY, he has interviewed hundreds of industry executives, senior government officials, research managers and other leaders in Canada’s science, technology and innovation communities. Mark has worked as a journalist and editor for several publications over the past 35 years, including “Network Letter, Report on Wireless”, “Canadian Communications Reports”, “The Electronics Communicator” and “The Ottawa Citizen”. He resides in Ottawa and is an avid music and film aficionado.

Matthew Johnson is the Director of Education for MediaSmarts, Canada’s center for digital and media literacy. He is the designer of the comprehensive digital literacy tutorials Passport to the Internet and MyWorld. He has contributed blogs and articles to websites and magazines as well as presenting MediaSmarts’ materials to parents, journalists, academics and government bodies in Canada and around the world. Matthew is also an educator with nearly ten years’ experience teaching media education, film-making, English and special education among other subjects. A collection of his short fiction, Irregular Verbs and Other Stories, was published in 2014.

Laura Kilcrease leads Alberta Innovates as its Chief Executive Officer. Recruited from Austin, Texas, she is recognized as a significant motivator in shaping Austin’s economic revitalization. Laura influenced the creation of the Austin Technology Council and co-founded the Austin Technology Incubator, where companies have raised over $3 billion to date.

With over 25 years’ experience in commercializing technology, Ms. Kilcrease is sharing her enthusiasm and entrepreneurial expertise to create innovation coalitions that leverage the talent and spirit of Alberta. Prior to becoming Alberta Innovates’ CEO, Laura was a seven-year member of the Alberta Research and Innovation Advisory Committee.

Born in London, Laura received her Chartered Management Accountant certification in the U.K. and a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Texas.

Barrie Kirk, P.Eng. is the Executive Director of the Canadian Automated Vehicles Centre of Excellence (CAVCOE). He has worked in the technology industries in Canada, the U.S. and the U.K., including senior management positions in Ottawa-area companies. He is a well-known consultant, speaker and broadcaster on automated and connected vehicles. His other roles include:

–    Board of Directors of Unmanned Systems Canada;
–    Automotive Advisory Board of Centennial College;
–    Co-Chair of the 2017 IEEE Vehicular Technology Conference;
–    CV/AV Technical Committee of ITS Canada, and
–    Canadian Advisory Committee for ISO TC204

Barrie received a B.Sc. (Honours) in Electrical Engineering from Coventry University, U.K. and is a Professional Engineer.

Larry Lam is a partner in the Industrial, Clean and Energy (ICE) Technology Venture Fund.

Before joining BDC Capital in 2003, Larry was an entrepreneur/founder, with over 18 years of operating experience primarily with early-stage semiconductor companies. He has held senior management roles in marketing, product development and R&D at Intelligent Photonics Control, SiCon Video, Symagery Microsystems and Semiconductor Insights. Prior to joining the ICE Technology Venture Fund, Larry was an investment director at BDC Capital in the areas of energy, environment, electronics and materials. And before this, he was a director in BDC’s Technology Seed Investments group, where he partnered with and helped entrepreneurs realize their vision. Larry currently serves as a Director on the Boards of Corsa, Encycle, Irystec, Ranovus and Solantro.

Larry holds an MBA from Queen’s University and a Bachelor of Applied Science (Electrical Engineering) from the University of Waterloo.

Marc LePage is President and CEO of Genome Canada.  Before assuming this role in January 2016, he served as President and CEO of Génome Québec since December 2011, where he led a major increase in research activity and enhanced focus on the development of genomic applications within priority sectors within the province.

He brings a wealth of experience in the innovation sector and venture capital, in addition to a broad network of international contacts.

He is an expert in international partnerships and previously served as Special Advisor, Climate Change and Energy for the Embassy of Canada in Washington, D.C. and worked as Consul General at the Canadian Consulate in San Francisco/Silicon Valley.

Marc LePage was also one of the pioneers behind the founding of Genome Canada in 2000. During his tenure as Executive Vice-President of Corporate Development, he made a significant contribution to the development of genomics in Canada.

From 1994 to 2000, he worked as Director of Business Development for the Medical Research Council, where he was in charge of building international partnerships with the pharmaceutical industry, venture capital and foundations.

Victoria Lennox is the co-founder and CEO of Startup Canada, the national
rallying community supporting and giving a voice to Canada’s 2.3 million
entrepreneurs.

Victoria is recognized by the United Nations Development Programme and the
European Union as one of the foremost experts in entrepreneurship education;
ecosystem and program architecture, governance, development and
implementation; and, in fuelling entrepreneurship movements and awareness
campaigns.

As the catalyst for Startup Generation and host of Startup Nations, Victoria
supports and mentors the development of youth enterprise organisations in more
than 20 countries; provides advisory support to international organisations in the areas of entrepreneurship networks, education and policy development; and
supports colleges and universities in enhancing their entrepreneurial activities.

Countries around the world are also working to emulate Startup Canada’s
methodologies and activities, viewing the organization, under Victoria’s
leadership, as the best practice in fuelling entrepreneurship culture.

David Manicom is Associate Assistant Deputy Minister for Strategic and Program Policy at Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), where he is responsible for overseeing policy and program development on a range of issues pertaining to Admissibility, Refugee and Immigration files. Previously, he was Director General, Immigration (Policy) Branch at Citizenship and Immigration. As Director General, he was responsible for policy development for all Permanent and Temporary entry categories, except Refugees. A graduate of University of Toronto and McGill, he is a career Foreign Service officer who has served in Moscow, Islamabad, Beijing, Geneva and as Immigration Program Manager, New Delhi. He is also the author of 9 books of poetry, fiction and non-fiction.

David McInnes is a strategic advisor and speaker on change and opportunity facing the Canadian food system.

For eight years as President & CEO of the Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute (CAPI), he advanced a diverse array of policy and strategy solutions for governments and industry sectors. Widely-published on improving competitiveness, David also catalyzed an acclaimed vision for Canada – being the trusted global leader in nutritious and sustainably-produced food. David is now a special advisor to the CAPI Board.

David is also the Chair of WaterAid Canada and a Trustee of WaterAid International, a global water charity based in London, U.K. He is a Global Advisor for Nova Scotia Business Inc., a member of EDC’s Industry Stakeholder Panel, and an advisor to the Delegation of Canada for the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture.

Previously, David was Vice-President, International Relations at MDS Nordion, a life sciences company, and he worked for the Canadian Bankers Association, Scotiabank and the Royal Commission on the Economic Union and Development Prospects for Canada.

He has been a director of the Greater Ottawa Chamber of Commerce, the Ottawa Life Sciences Council, the Ottawa Centre for Research and Innovation, and the Council of Radionuclides and Radiopharmaceuticals. He is a graduate of the London School of Economics and Dalhousie University.

Doug Michaelides is a founding executive and Head of the Sales and Marketing practice at Stratford Managers Corporation, a management consulting firm that helps innovative companies accelerate performance and achieve scale. At Stratford Managers, he has served numerous tech sector clients in sales, marketing, strategy and general management capacities. Prior to joining Stratford, Mr. Michaelides had over 25 years of corporate operating experience most recently as Vice President, Global Marketing at Mitel Networks and Senior Vice-President, Marketing at MTS Allstream, following a distinguished 20-year career at Nortel Networks.

Mr. Michaelides is a frequent blogger on business topics (http://stratfordmanagers.com/tag/doug-michaelides/ ) and has taught as a part-time professor at both Ryerson University and the Faculty of Business at Algonquin College. He holds a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering from University of Toronto and an MBA from York University’s Schulich School of Business.

Haroon F. Mirza is the Managing Director & Entrepreneur in Residence of OneEleven, a post-seed tech accelerator focused on helping Canada’s most promising, high-growth startups commercialize their technologies and scale their operations.

Prior to OneEleven, Haroon was the Entrepreneur in Residence at OMERS Ventures, which he joined after serving as Director of Business Development – Anonymous Viewer Analytics at Intel. Before that, he was the Co-founder & CEO of CognoVision, named Canada’s Most Innovative Company in 2009, which was acquired by Intel in 2010.

An accomplished entrepreneur, Haroon’s skills and experience include leading all stages of the commercialization process including idea development, fund raising, product launches, obtaining reference customers, and revenue generation. His deep commitment to the advancement of entrepreneurship includes serving as a Charter Member for TiE Toronto and sitting on the Advisory Board of Venture for Canada.

Haroon graduated from Carleton University’s Sprott School of Business with a Bachelor of Commerce, and completed Harvard Business School’s Program for Leadership Development (PLD).

Eme Onuoha is Vice President, Global Government Affairs (Canada) at Xerox Corporation. He is responsible for national and sub-national government affairs strategy and related public policy engagement in Canada.

Prior to his current role, Eme served as Chief Innovation Officer in the Industrial, Retail and Hospitality division of Xerox Services. His responsibilities included identifying innovation-driven growth opportunities and accelerating the commercialization of R&D outcomes in close collaboration with the Xerox Innovation Group, capability groups, industry business group teams, clients, and external communities of practice. Prior to joining Xerox Eme held several senior positions within the federal public sector including Director of Operations at the Privy Council Office; Vice President of the Canadian Commercial Corporation; Chief of Staff to the Minister of National Defense; and Policy Adviser to the Minister of International Trade.

Eme earned an honours BA in international relations from McMaster University, an MBA from Queen’s University and a masters level diploma in strategy and innovation from the University of Oxford.

Brian Pratt is Head of Nokia’s strategic partnerships globally focusing on “verticals partnerships” in segments such as automotive, transportation, oil & gas, mining, utilities, smart cities, healthcare, and others.  He is based at Nokia’s campus on March Road in Kanata, which is home to 2,000 of Nokia’s 100,000 employees globally.  He has worked in telecom for 30 years, originally at Nortel, then startup companies including a company he co-founded, and then Alcatel-Lucent before it was acquired by Nokia last year.  He has spent portions of his career living and working overseas.  He was born, raised, and educated in Ottawa, graduating from Carleton University in Computer Science and Statistics in 1987 and receiving his MBA from the University of Ottawa in 1997.

Professor Rémi Quirion is the inaugural Chief Scientist of Quebec and the President of the three Board of Directors of the Fonds de recherche du Québec since July 1st, 2011. He is a McGill Full Professor (Psychiatry) and outgoing Scientific Director at the Douglas Mental Health University Institute. He served as Vice-Dean, Faculty of Medicine at McGill University, as well as Senior University Advisor (Health Sciences Research). He was the CIHR Executive Director for Alzheimer’s Disease from 2009 to 2011. Prof. Quirion was the inaugural Scientific Director of the Institute of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction (INMHA) until March 2009.

In addition to being on the Advisory Board of over 15 journals in Psychiatry, Pharmacology, and Neurosciences, he has published 5 books and more than 650 scientific papers and articles.

He has received many awards and recognitions including: the Médaille de l’Assemblée nationale du Québec; Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada; and Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences. In 2007 Prof. Quirion became a Member of the Order of Canada (O.C.).

Holly is the CEO of Montcalm TCR, a San Francisco-based wealth management and capital markets trading firm that blends expert investing with new economy sustainability and independent vision. Montcalm guides clients to engage with their wealth by providing services that support the values, needs, and goals of clients in the short and long-term, while facilitating a holistic trading flow in impactful investments.

For over twenty years, Holly managed client assets and led private client teams at Morgan Stanley, Montgomery Securities, and Bank of America. Holly began her investment career at Goldman Sachs in the fixed income derivatives division, where she learned indelible lessons about risk management paired with an expert understanding of securities, complex derivatives, and fixed income. She earned an MBA from Columbia University in Finance and a BA in Economics from the University of Michigan.

Vicki Saunders is an entrepreneur, award-winning mentor, advisor to the next generation of change makers and leading advocate for entrepreneurship as a way of creating positive transformation in the world.
Vicki is Founder of SheEO and #radical generosity a global initiative to radically transform how we support finance and celebrate female entrepreneurs.

Vicki has co-founded and run ventures in Europe, Toronto and Silicon Valley and taken a company public on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Vicki was recently named one of the 100 most influential leaders of 2015 from “EBW – Empowering A Billion Women”. In 2001, Vicki was selected as a Global Leader for Tomorrow by the World Economic Forum.

Dan Sinai is currently a Senior Executive at IBM Canada where he works with the Canadian start-up community and manages the company’s innovation and incubation initiatives.

Prior to joining IBM, Dan served as Western University’s Associate Vice-President (Research). In this capacity, Dan set the strategic direction for, and led, a team of research administration professionals at one of Canada’s leading research-intensive universities.

A graduate of the University of Waterloo, Dan has held various key research administration positions with both the Government of Ontario and the Government of Canada. He also has extensive R&D program and policy experience, and has worked for several high technology companies, including Nortel and EK3 Technologies..

Dan and his family have lived in London, Ontario, Canada for more that 15 years, where he has served on various local Boards of Directors.

Iain Stewart was appointed President of the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) in August 2016. Prior to this, he served as Associate Secretary of the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS) and Assistant Secretary of the International Affairs, Security and Justice Sector at TBS.

He has held a number of different leadership functions at Industry Canada, including Assistant Deputy Minister of the Strategic Policy Sector, and Secretary to the “Jenkins Panel” on Federal Support to Research and Development. Since joining the public service, Mr. Stewart has also worked at the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, Transport Canada and Fisheries and Oceans.

Outside of the public service, Mr. Stewart served as Assistant Vice-President of Research at Dalhousie University and was a member of the NRC Council.

Born, raised, and educated in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Mr. Stewart holds a Master of Public Administration, a graduate diploma in Marine Policy, and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Dalhousie University.

When some of the world’s leading brands need to discuss innovation strategies or figure out how to get ready for disruption, Terry Stuart often gets the call. As Deloitte Canada’s Chief Innovation Officer, Terry’s job is to be a “constructive disruptor”, helping both the firm and clients thrive in a world where exponential change is in the driver’s seat and is not obeying the speed limit. A creative thinker with an idea every nanosecond, a meeting with Terry leaves people itching to jump out of the present and bounce into the future.

Terry leads Deloitte’s ecosystem strategy in Canada. He drives the D{ } initiative at Communitech and Deloitte’s participation at OneEleven, MaRS and the Ryerson DMZ. He helps connect new startups with large corporations.

Terry is on Deloitte’s Global Innovation Executive and helps connect Canadian companies to the latest trends in global accelerators (Israel, Australia, Germany and the UK).

Animated and passionate, Terry speaks to audiences across the country (C2Mtl, TedX, C-Suite Exponential Technology series, etc.) and abroad. Terry is a master connector and finds value in meeting with everyone in the innovation ecosystem—he finds inspiration everywhere.

The word innovation can sometimes be used in a cavalier way, but in Terry’s mind it matters. Canada’s productivity is on the line and innovation is what will propel the country forward to help future generations be successful.

Jutta Treviranus is the Director of the Inclusive Design Research Centre (IDRC) and professor in the faculty of Design at OCAD University in Toronto (http://idrc.ocadu.ca ).  Jutta established the IDRC in 1993 (formerly the Adaptive Technology Resource Centre) as a center of expertise that proactively promotes the inclusive design of information and communication technologies, practices and policies. Jutta also heads the Inclusive Design Institute, a multi-university regional centre of expertise (http://inclusivedesign.ca). Jutta founded an innovative graduate program in inclusive design at OCAD University. Jutta is the co-director of Raising the Floor International. She leads international multi-partner research networks that have created broadly implemented innovations that support inclusion e.g., Fluid Project (http://fluidproject.org), FLOE (http://floeproject.org ), and many others. Jutta and her team have pioneered network-supported personalization as an approach to accessibility in the digital domain. She has played a leading role in developing accessibility legislation, standards and specifications internationally (including W3C WAI ATAG, IMS AccessForAll, ISO 24751, and AODA Information and Communication). She has chaired the Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines working group as part of the Web Accessibility Initiative of the World Wide Web Consortium. She is a member of numerous advisory boards globally concerned with accessible ICT, including Google, Amazon, Microsoft, NIST, UNDESA, the Canadian Museum of Human Rights and others. Jutta’s leadership in Inclusive Design has been recognized through awards, such as a Diamond Jubilee Medal and recognition as one of Canada’s top 45 over 45 by Zoomer Magazine. The CNIB has dubbed Prof. Treviranus and her research unit as a “national treasure” in a recent awards ceremony. Jutta’s work has been attributed as the impetus for corporate adoption of more inclusive practices in large enterprise companies such as Microsoft: https://www.fastcodesign.com/3054927/the-big-idea/microsofts-inspiring-bet-on-a-radical-new-type-of-design-thinking

David Watters contributed for 30 years to the Canadian Public Service in a variety of Economic Ministries, including a dozen years as an Assistant Deputy Minister in Industry Canada, Treasury Board Canada and Finance Canada, where he was responsible for overseeing federal Economic Development and Corporate Finance policies and investments, and developing federal Budgets.

In 2002 David established the Global Advantage Consulting Group Inc. (Ottawa) and is the President and CEO of this strategic management consulting firm that provides advice to corporate, association, academic and government clients across Canada and abroad.

The firm has completed over 400 contracts for clients specializing in: analyzing and “mapping” complex public policy economic systems; creating collaborative business models for service delivery; aligning operational processes among networked organizations for enhanced decision-making; and designing growth strategies for organizations, particularly in the areas of research and technology development, innovation, commercialization, energy/climate change and trade.

David holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Queen’s University, as well as a Law degree in corporate, commercial, and tax law from Queen’s University Law School. He was also an adjunct Professor for seven years at the Telfer School of Management at the University of Ottawa, teaching International Negotiation to MBA students.

Marianne Wilkinson is the Councillor for Kanata North in the City of Ottawa.  This is her 28th year on municipal Councils including March Township, the City of Kanata, the Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton and now the City of Ottawa.  Her service included 9 years as head of Council as Reeve of March Township and first Mayor of Kanata.   She serves on many City Committees as well as the Ottawa Library Board, Hydro Ottawa and the Mississippi Valley Conservation Authority and Kanata North Business Association.  She has also been a lifetime volunteer, contributing extensively in a variety of roles at the local, provincial and national level.  She has an honours degree in Geography from the University of Toronto and a Masters in Management Studies from McGill.  Her awards include the Queen’s Golden Jubilee medal and the 2005 Y Woman of Distinction award for Lifetime Achievement.

As Dean, Applied Research and Innovation at Seneca College, Vanessa has responsibility for all applied research, innovation and entrepreneurship initiatives at the College. This includes engaging faculty and students in collaborative applied research projects with industry and community partners, and oversight of HELIX, Seneca’s on-campus incubator and entrepreneurship centre that supports Seneca students and faculty, as well as community youth, interested in starting and building sustainable, scalable businesses.

Throughout her career, Vanessa has led strategic partnerships with private and public sector partners, assisting these organizations to leverage the resources of academia and government to innovate, develop products, build businesses and create jobs. Prior to coming to Seneca she worked with Ontario Centres of Excellence, and served as the founding Executive Director at the Colleges Ontario Network for Industry Innovation (CONII). In both of these roles she worked extensively with applied research and entrepreneurship leaders across the Ontario college sector gaining an in-depth understanding of best practices at Ontario’s colleges. She also has vast experience in the university and private sectors. Vanessa holds a B.Sc., Chemistry and Biochemistry from University of Guelph, an M.Sc., Medical Science from McMaster University, and an MBA from the Ivey School of Business, Western University.