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Nov 01

Beyond the Buzzwords: How Canadian Companies Must Innovate to Thrive

Toronto ON, C.D. Howe Institute, 67 Yonge Street, Suite 300

Patrons' Circle Dinner with Ajay Agrawal, John Knubley and Sabrina Geremia

Sponsored by:

As the global economy continues to experience low growth, the federal government has committed to building Canada into a global center of innovation. For Canada to be at the forefront of this transformation, all businesses, from the start-up, to the private business owner, to the publicly traded company will need to develop an innovation mindset focusing on their processes and use of technology. Join our expert panel for a discussion on the challenges to achieving this goal, and what can be done to translate the objective into reality.

 

Ajay Agrawal, Peter Munk Professor of Entrepreneurship at the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto

Ajay Agrawal is the Peter Munk Professor of Entrepreneurship at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management, Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research in Cambridge, MA, Co-Founder of The Next 36, and Founder of the Creative Destruction Lab. He teaches courses on business strategy, innovation, and entrepreneurship. Professor Agrawal conducts research on the economic geography of innovation and entrepreneurship, as well as on the economics of artificial intelligence. He has presented this work at a variety of institutions,  including Harvard, MIT, Stanford, London Business School, Wharton, London School of Economics, Carnegie Mellon, Berkeley, The Brookings Institution, the National Press Club in Washington, the World Intellectual Property Organization in Geneva, Industry Canada, and the Federal Reserve Bank, among others. 

John Knubley, Deputy Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development

John Knubley has been Deputy Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development since September 2012. In his role, he is supporting the development of an Innovation agenda for the new government. This involves promoting an inclusive agenda that links growth, competitiveness, sustainability and social well-being to innovate.

He has been a longstanding public servant with experience in over eight departments, including the Privy Council Office, Agriculture and Agrifood Canada, Transport and Infrastructure Canada, Natural Resources Canada as well as the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency.

John is married and has three children and lives in Ottawa. He has degrees in politics and economics from Yale, Oxford, Harvard and Nice universities.

Sabrina Geremia, Managing Director, Integrated Solutions, Google Canada

Sabrina leads a Google team dedicated to driving innovation at Canada’s largest banks and car companies, building digital solutions that solve business problems for today and tomorrow.

A trusted advisor to Canada’s C-Suite and a ten year veteran at Google, Sabrina’s insights are based on over 20 years of global marketing/PR, technology sales and general management experience at Procter & Gamble Italy, Ask Jeeves UK and a failed mobile start-up called Incirco. Sabrina is a board member of the Canadian Marketing Association and the Ryerson Digital Media Zone (DMZ).

Recognized by the Women's Executive Council (WXN) as one of Canada's top 100 most powerful women in 2015 and recipient of the 2014 Women in Communication Technology Diversity award, Sabrina’s personal mission is to inspire girls and women with the potential of technology.

Sabrina is a business graduate from Wilfrid Laurier University in Canada and the University of Pavia in Italy. Curious from a young age, Sabrina is an avid reader, traveller & foodie. 

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