Prospering in the Post-COVID World: Building a Cooperative Model for Success

Mr. Billot is CEO of Scale Ai, Canada’s artificial intelligence Supercluster dedicated to building the next generation supply chain and boosting industry performance by leveraging Ai technologies. He is also an adjunct professor of HEC Montreal and the Montreal lead for two transformational programs aiming to launch and grow startups in Artificial Intelligence leveraging Montreal tech and business ecosystem, NextAI and the CreativeDestructionLab (CDL).

He also serves as a director in various companies and non-profit organizations. He has extensive experience in the marketing, media and mobile industries, with a track record of successfully executing print to digital business transformations.

Until recently, Julien Billot has been President and Chief Executive Officer of Yellow Pages Group Corporation in Montreal, Quebec. Previously, he was Executive Vice President, Head of Media and Member of the Executive Committee of Solocal Group (formerly PagesJaunes Groupe), the publicly traded and incumbent local search business in France. Earlier experience includes serving as CEO of the digital and new business group of Lagardère Active, a multimedia branch of Lagardère Group and 13 years in senior management positions at France Telecom, notably as Chief Marketing Officer for Orange, the company’s mobile subsidiary.

Mr. Billot is serving today as a Board Member at the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer, is Chairman of a Montreal based company Jogogo Media and a Board member for DistrictM and a French media group, Groupe Paris Turf.

Mr. Billot is a graduate of École Polytechnique (Paris) and from Telecom Paris Tech. He holds a postgraduate diploma (DEA) in Industrial Economics from the University of Paris-Dauphine.

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.

Eric Deschenes is Country Managing Director and Head of the Electrification business, Canada since January 1, 2020.

Eric has been a leader in the Canadian Electrification Market for close to 25 years and is passionately committed to driving Canadian innovation to help Canada write the future of industrial digitalization. Throughout his extensive career, Eric has developed expertise in industrial technology, strategic busi-ness development, and a keen understanding of Canadian customer and market challenges.

Eric joined ABB in 2017 as Executive Vice President of the Electrification business. Prior to his ap-pointment to ABB he spent a successful 15 years at Schneider Electric where he drove the develop-ment and implementation of innovative technologies and digital solutions to solve complex challeng-es in several key market segments. He held several executive-level positions in the organization, the most recent of which was, North American Vice President MMM Segment (Mining, Minerals & Metals).

As a recognized thought leader in his field, Eric is very involved in the Canadian industry community and has sat on many boards including: ADP Polytechnique Montréal, Smart Grid Canada, Association de l’Industrie électrique du Québec (AIEQ), Fondation et Alumni de Polytechnique Montréal, NSERC Energy Storage Technology, Échanges Jacques Cartier and most recently, he joined Propulsion Qué-bec. He has been an active member of the CIGRE Association (Conférence internationale des grands réseaux électriques) since 2010.

Eric is a Professional Engineer (P.Eng) and a member of the Ordre des ingénieurs du Québec (OIQ) since 1992. He earned his bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Polytechnique Montréal. Recently, Mr. Deschenes completed an assignment as President of the Association des diplômés de Polytechnique (ADP) which boasts over 32,000 members.

Bill Greuel is the CEO of Protein Industries Canada where he supports a team of dedicated people to develop and implement PIC’s programs, resources, and initiatives to connect and inspire Canada’s plant protein potential.

Bill has an extensive background in the agriculture industry. Most recently, he served as the Assistant Deputy Minister for the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture. His Ministry experience also includes Executive Director of the Crops and Irrigation Branch, Provincial Oilseed Specialist and Research and Development Manager. In addition to his public sector experience, Bill has also worked for a biotech start-up, spent several years in the canola seed industry and earned progressive leadership roles within a major life science company.

An advocate for innovation, Bill has been actively engaged in several boards and committees including the Agriculture Development Fund Advisory Committee and the boards of Ag-West Bio and Prairie Agricultural Machinery Institute.

Dominique Gruhl-Bégin has more than 14 years of global experience in innovation promotion, international trade, supply chain, management consulting, negotiations as well as in art curating. She heads start-up & next generation innovators division at the Swiss Innovation Promotion Agency (Innosuisse) since 2016 and is a member of the executive committee.

Dominique holds a  degree in business studies, Masters in Economics (Canada) and  a second Masters in Art Gallery and Museum studies (UK). She has been a management consultant in the US/Chicago (4 years) for A.T. Kearney. In the past, the mother of three boys has also been involved in:

• Strategic Procurement in Switzerland for a silicon valley-based company (Agilent technologies)
• Art Curatorship in the UK
• Trade Commissioner + Innovation officer at Canadian Embassy in Switzerland
• Worked in 3 languages across 3 continents and short working experience in Malaysia and in the Philippines.

Carol Anne Hilton, MBA is the CEO and Founder of The Indigenomics Institute. Carol Anne is a dynamic  national Indigenous business leader  and  senior adviser with an international Masters Degree in Business Management (MBA) from the University of Hertfordshire, England. Carol Anne is of Nuu chah nulth descent from the Hesquiaht Nation on Vancouver Island.

Carol Anne has led the establishment of a line of thought called #indigenomics- growing from a single word to an entire movement focusing on the building and strengthening of Indigenous economies. Carol Anne is the author of ‘Indigenomics- Taking A Seat at the Economic Table.’

Carol Anne currently serves on the BC Emerging Economy Task Force as an adviser to the Minister of Jobs, Trades and Technology, the BC Indigenous Business and Investment Council for the Ministry of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation and  was the only Indigenous person appointed to the Canadian Economic Growth Council.  Carol Anne’s work has been recognized most recently with the national Excellence in Aboriginal Relations Award from the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business and the CE Analytics Mastermind award.

Carol Anne currently serves as Director on the McGill University Institute for the Study of Canada, the BC Digital Supercluster and most recently as a juror on the Canadian Smart Cities Challenge. Carol Anne is an instructor at Simon Fraser University’s Community Economic Development Program and a faculty lead at the Banff Center’s Indigenous Business Program where she was also a Fleck Fellow.

Emmanuel Kamarianakis is Director General, Investment and Innovation at Global Affairs Canada.  In this role he leads Canada’s international investment attraction network promoting Canada as a premier business destination for foreign investors. He is also responsible for Canada’s bilateral science, technology and innovation relationships with a mandate to encourage greater commercialization of innovative Canadian research in international markets.

Prior to this role, Emmanuel was Canada’s Consul General for Dubai and the Northern Emirates from 2015 to 2018, Minister‐Counsellor (Commercial) in Canada’s Embassy in Rome, Italy, Counsellor (Trade Policy) in Canada’s Embassy in Mexico City.  He joined External Affairs and International Trade Canada in 1993 and has also served in Canada’s diplomatic missions in Iran and Greece.

While in Canada, Emmanuel has served in various positions including as Chief of Staff to the Deputy Minister for International Trade as well as in the Privy Council Office, a central government agency which directly serves the Prime Minister of Canada.

He has broad professional and international experience on investment attraction and international science & technology collaboration as well as trade policy expertise regarding trade agreements and market access. He also has a significant business development background with sectoral expertise in the energy, clean-tech, ICT, infrastructure and aerospace sectors. Over his career, Emmanuel also developed significant regional experience and knowledge of Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe and the Middle East.

Prior to joining the Canadian Government, Emmanuel completed a Bachelor’s of Commerce degree from the University of Calgary and has had professional experiences in Canada’s energy and financial services sectors.

Kendra MacDonald is the inaugural CEO of Canada’s Ocean Supercluster responsible for driving innovation and growth in the ocean economy.

Kendra was previously a Partner in Deloitte’s Risk Advisory practice and the Chief Audit Executive of Deloitte Global. Kendra has worked with a number of clients across multiple industries, small and large, public and private in the areas of governance, risk management, cyber security, internal and external audit.

Kendra is a frequent speaker and facilitator on the topics of innovation, future of work and disruptive technologies and is the Past-Chair of the Newfoundland and Labrador Association of Technology Industries.

Kendra has had the opportunity to live and work in Ottawa, Montreal, Australia and Hong Kong before moving to St. John’s in 2010 where she now resides with her husband and two children.

Dr. Shawn Marshall is jointly appointed between Environment Climate Change Canada (ECCC) and the University of Calgary, where he held the Canada Research Chair in Climate Change from 2007-2017.  Following an undergraduate degree in Engineering Physics at the University of Toronto, Shawn migrated west for a PhD in Geophysics at the University of British Columbia, specializing in glaciology. He joined the University of Calgary Department of Geography in 2000, where he studies mountain and Arctic environments, paleoclimate, and cryosphere-climate processes. As both a climate modeller and a field scientist, Shawn has spent more than a year of his life camped out on glaciers in the remote beauty of the Canadian Rockies, Yukon’s St. Elias Mountains, Ellesmere Island, Greenland, and Iceland.  His research on glacier and ice sheet response to climate change informs projections of global sea level rise and the sensitivity of water resources to climate change.  Shawn was a Fellow of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) Earth System Evolution Program from 2000-2015, and is deeply engaged in the national and international scientific communities. He is the current Canadian representative to the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC) Cryosphere Working Group, Chairs the Board of the Alberta-based Resilience Institute, and serves on the Science Leadership Council of the international Mountain Research Institute (Bern, Switzerland). Shawn joined ECCC as their Departmental Science Advisor in July, 2019.

Lissa Matyas is the Vice-President of International Partnerships at Mitacs. Funded by the federal and provincial governments of Canada, industry and universities, Mitacs’ mandate is to build domestic and international partnerships that support industrial and social innovation in Canada. Lissa has twenty years of experience spanning international R&D partnership development, graduate program development, graduate student training, university strategic planning, stakeholder relationship management and marketing. She comes to Mitacs from McGill University where she held the position of Director of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies and prior to this, Director of Graduate Enrolment Management. Prior to joining McGill University, she was at Concordia University for ten years. At Concordia she managed the university’s strategic planning exercise in the Office of the President, held the positions of Director of Graduate Student Recruitment for the John Molson School of Business and Associate Director of the John Molson MBA Program, as well as Director of Alumni Relations at Concordia University. Lissa holds a Greenbelt in Lean Six Sigma from Fujitsu Canada, as well as a Master of Science in Administration degree with a concentration in Marketing and a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, both from Concordia University. Lissa sat on the Board of Directors for the Canadian Association of Graduate Studies and is a member of several other professional associations.

Jayson is an award-winning business economist specializing in industrial and technological change and is widely recognized as an influential policy advocate in Canada. He is an advisor to both private and public sector leaders, and has counselled Canadian prime ministers and premiers as well as senior corporate executives and policymakers around the world.

Jayson has more than 25 years’ experience building alliances among businesses, academic institutions, as well as community, labour, and advocacy organizations. Between 2007 and 2016, he served as President & CEO of Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters, Canada’s largest industry and trade association. He was also the founding Chair of the Canadian Manufacturing Coalition, Vice Chair of Canada’s National Roundtable on Skills, and Vice Chair of the Ontario and Great Lakes Manufacturing Councils.

Jayson studied at Queen’s University and the University of British Columbia in Canada, as well as at the London School of Economics and Oxford University in the United Kingdom. He has held appointments as a Research Fellow at Nuffield College, Oxford, and as a lecturer in politics, economics, and international studies at both Oxford and the University of Warwick.

Dr. Mona Nemer is Canada’s Chief Science Advisor. Her mandate is to provide advice to the Prime Minister, Minister of Science and other ministers on science issues.

Before becoming the Chief Science Advisor, Dr. Nemer was Professor and Vice-President, Research, at the University of Ottawa. Her research focused on the heart, and has contributed to the development of diagnostic tests for heart failure and the genetics of cardiac birth defects.

Dr. Nemer has served on several national and international advisory committees and executive boards, and is the recipient of many honours. She is a Member of the Order of Canada, a fellow of the Academy of Sciences of the Royal Society of Canada, a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a Knight of the Ordre national du Québec and a Knight of the French Republic’s Ordre national du Mérite.

Dr. Nemer holds a PhD in Chemistry from McGill University. Prior to working at the University of Ottawa, she was a Professor of Pharmacology at the Université de Montréal and directed the Cardiac Genetics Unit at the Montreal Clinical Research Institute.

Sue is the CEO of Canada’s Digital Technology Supercluster – driving the development of digital technology platforms and products that will transform businesses and industries while making Canada a world leader in digital technology. The Digital Technology Supercluster brings together organizations of all sizes, from industry, academia, the private and the public sector, to work together on solving some of the most significant economic and social issues through the development and implementation of world leading digital technologies.

The Supercluster is leveraging Canada’s expertise in data analytics, genomics, quantum computing, mixed and augmented reality, the Internet of Things and AR and VR to deliver technologies in data commons, digital twins and all aspects of precision health while creating jobs and growing Canada’s international competitiveness. Over 300 organizations are working with the Supercluster from diverse sectors including manufacturing, mining, healthcare, agriculture, research, forestry, aviation, software development, telecom and more.
Prior to joining the Supercluster Sue was the Managing Partner of one of Canada’s leading law firms, the CEO of Canada’s largest chain of independent retail pharmacies and most recently the CEO of Canada’s largest diagnostic lab. In each of these roles Sue mobilized diverse teams to drive business growth, implement large-scale organizational change and develop and implement transformational technologies.

Sue and her husband Brad are the proud parents of three daughters and when not transforming organizations, Sue and her family can be found in remote areas of BC’s wilderness, exploring all that BC has to offer. Sue has been recognized for community and business leadership with awards including: Honorary Doctorate of Technology (BCIT), UBC Faculty of Law Distinguished Alumni Award, University of Victoria Distinguished Entrepreneur, YWCA Woman of Distinction, Queen’s Counsel, Hall of Fame for Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women, and the Influential Women in Business Lifetime Achievement Award.

Vik Pant joined Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) as Chief Science Advisor on August 19, 2019. In his role, he plays a leadership role in developing and promoting NRCan’s S&T priorities, providing oversight and strategic policy advice on cross-cutting science issues and opportunities.  He is to accelerate the adoption of Artificial Intelligence in the department in order to enhance NRCan’s ability to conduct science, economic analysis, and provide evidence-based policy advice via modern advanced analytical techniques

Vik earned a master’s degree in business administration with distinction from the University of London, a master’s degree in information technology from Harvard University, and is currently completing his doctorate at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Information (iSchool). His research, featured in numerous peer-reviewed journals and juried international conferences, has focused on conceptual modelling of strategic coopetition in complex socio-technical and multi-agent systems.

Vik joined NRCan from the MaRS Discovery District, a technology start-up accelerator in Toronto, where he was a Senior Technical Advisor of Applied Artificial Intelligence. Prior to that, he had held strategic positions in leading software enterprises including Oracle, SAP and Open Text.

Dr. Cara Tannenbaum is the Departmental Science Advisor for Health Canada and the Scientific Director of the Institute on Gender and Health for the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. An internationally recognized physician and researcher, Dr. Tannenbaum holds the Michel Saucier Endowed Chair in Pharmacy at the Université de Montréal where she is a Professor in the Faculties of Medicine and Pharmacy. She is the Director of the Canadian Deprescribing Network and serves on scientific advisory boards for the European Commission’s Horizon Europe Framework Programme for Research and Innovation and Radio-Canada.

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.