Beyond Covid-19 Challenge Winner Announcement

Prior to that, he launched the BlackBerry BBM service and led platform strategy at D2L, Nymi and EventMobi. Balaji is an expert in product management and software platform ecosystem design, and a well-respected startup educator, advisor and mentor. He is an advocate for the role of ecosystems in industry transformation and in tackling tough problems like improving healthcare.

Development consulting group, CLEAR. She holds the post of Professor of Practice for Public and Private Sector Partnerships at McGill University’s Institute for the Study of International Development and has contributed to and authored numerous academic publications. Dr Ubalijoro is a fellow of the African Academy of Sciences. She is a member of Rwanda’s National Science and Technology Council, having been a member of the Presidential Advisory Council for Rwandan President Paul Kagame, a member of the Board of Trustees of WWF International, the International Digital Monetary Council and the Ducere Global faculty. Éliane is passionate about the question of gender equality in STEM subjects. She has been named Chair of the Scientific Program Committee for the Next Einstein Forum 2020, is a member of the 2020 Gender Summit Advisory Committee and sits on the Advisory Panel of the open-access Scientific African Journal published by the NEF. Dr Ubalijoro is also widely experienced in the health and nutrition sector, having acted as final paper advisor for the International Masters for Health Leadership, and been heavily involved in the International HIV/AIDS Alliance. She project managed a Gates Foundation project in Global Health, after which she was invited to act as reviewer for the Grand Challenges Canada Stars in Global Health programme. She also held the position of Chair of the International Advisory Board of the African Institute of Biomedical Science and Technology.

litigation since his call to the Bar in 1993. He provides legal advice to trustees in bankruptcy, receivers, banks and other financial institutions, landlords, trade suppliers and debtors (both corporate and individuals) in all aspects of insolvency law, including bankruptcy, proposals, reorganizations and restructurings, enforcement of security, and in protecting rights outside of insolvency proceedings. His practice also comprises secured and unsecured debt enforcement for private and institutional lenders and manufacturers and distributors in the sporting goods industry. In addition, Howard has a strong commercial litigation expertise where he regularly acts for both plaintiffs and defendants on behalf of corporations and private individuals in a wide range of sophisticated commercial disputes, including but not limited to, securities issues, shareholder disputes and interpretations of business agreements. Howard regularly gives seminars on a wide range of topics in his areas of practice. Howard has three daughters and loves spending quality time with his family. He is actively involved in many sports including spinning, baseball, and hockey, and recently competed in the Maccabiah Games in Israel, where he won a Silver Medal with Team Canada. Having been born and raised in Montreal, Howard is also a lifelong, die-hard Habs fan.

Prior to joining GCC, she worked with Akipeo to develop a fund targeting sustainable agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa. She has also advised a number of Toronto based impact start-ups including Tickit Health and Ulula. Ms. Teav transitioned to impact based work from her role as an Associate Director in Debt Origination at Scotiabank where she led and supported the sourcing, structuring and execution of private and public debt offerings across multiple sectors. She spent her early career in capital markets working across multiple asset classes with a focus on origination.

entertainment, healthcare, education, insurance and real estate sectors representing a mix of some of the top worldwide recognized brands and emerging companies. Landmark helps these clients redesign their organization to be prepared for moments of opportunity or crisis. Over the decades, Landmark has worked with teams from LVMH, Remy Martin, Air Touch Communications (now part of Verizon), General Motors, Sony, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Walton Family Foundation, among others. Landmark’s driving motivation is the level of impact clients have been able to achieve directly from the assistance provided with $500 million in philanthropy awarded to clients, over $1.5 billion in investment capital deployed, over 700 public schools redesigned representing 350,000 students, deployment of new mobile phone networks in 58 countries, launch of insurance captives that outperformed their peers and a job creation plan that resulted in 100,000 new jobs in 10 years for an island. Ted is an entrepreneur at heart and at age 18 founded his first company that began by designing and implementing logistics, customer relationship management and financial systems. Shortly thereafter, Ted sold his first company and became an equity partner in a consulting firm that had a 35+ year track record of redesigning the customer retail network experience for 11 automotive and hospitality brands worldwide. The magic in the firm’s methodology was how organizations can systematically create, replicate and sustain a completely different culture by changing the mindset of team members and the motivational drivers from extrinsic to intrinsic. He serves on the board of the California Credit Union, a $3 billion credit union which recently completed the largest merger of equals in credit union history.

creations include Disney’s Aladdin Magic Lamp”, “Crayola’s Colour and Show Projector”, “Saban’s Power Ranger Room Defender” and “Nestle’s Nesquik Magic Milkshake Maker” and what is now known internationally as the “selfie stick”. Wayne speaks at a number of colleges and universities, including participant for four years at the MIT Endicott campus Birthing of Giants program sponsored by INC Magazine and the Young Entrepreneur’s Organization. Fromm’s business enterprises and associations have been reported in the media including Entrepreneur Magazine, Inventor’s Digest, Harvard Business Review, The Wall Street Journal, Investor’s Daily News, CNN, Business Week, Toronto Star, Financial Post, Globe and Mail, New York Post and CTV Biography. Fromm has licensed to many global companies including Nestle Foods, Crayola and the Walt Disney Company. Wayne was mentored by the late Jack L. Kamin, co-founder of the multi-billion dollar company Cadillac-Fairview.

International Development and Global Studies at the University of Ottawa. Furthermore, he was the first candidate to successfully complete the doctoral program in the inaugural cohort. His research and professional interests include: globalization, the knowledge society/economy/diplomacy, academic internationalization, education for development, innovation transfer and mapping institutional change. In addition to holding senior advisory positions at the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences – Next Einstein Initiative and the University of Ottawa, Dr. Szyszlo was a visiting scholar at the University of Bologna, a consultant for the Partnership for Higher Education in Africa, a NATO research fellow and a visiting faculty fellow at the Soros Foundation. He currently serves on the editorial board of the Scientific African journal.

She is an award-winning social innovator and a regular voice in the Canadian media advising business, civil society and government on how they can tap into the value and unique abilities of young people. She has extensive leadership and governance experience having co-founded several successful organizations. In 2004, she Co-founded Apathy is Boring, a non-partisan social enterprise that educates Canadian youth about democracy and encourages them to vote. Ilona was named an Ashoka Fellow in 2009, was a recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012, and one of the Top 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada by the Women’s Executive Network in 2015.

retail. He has also managed a digital marketing agency in Canada. He has also spent a portion of his career as a software developer as well as a product director in the cyber security space. He spends a lot of his time amping up his skills (machine learning), working on new projects like app development and advising start-ups on their goto market strategies. He also takes a keen interest in connecting teaching people digital marketing. Areas where he can provide expertise: digital marketing, analytics, persona development, goto market strategy.

Canada. Andre is a recognized leader in Ontario’s technology ecosystem and a tireless advocate for clients. Andre is also passionate about innovative technology and service offerings that are reshaping the global legal industry. Andre has advised companies throughout their lifecycle from formation to exit. Andre has cultivated relationships with emerging growth companies and venture capital investors from around the world. Andre often acts as the go-to external counsel for all legal matters around the world. Andre has also acted as a strategic advisor to venture capital funds focused on investing in legal tech startups. Andre also serves as a founding board member of Skate to Great, a charity designed with the mission of providing every child in Canada the opportunity to skate, regardless of their economic or physical circumstances.

the Innovation and education ecosystem in Vietnam. He is Project Director of Arkki ASEAN, the official Finnish STEAM education and 21st-century skill training program for children 4-19 years old, and Innovation training program for adults and corporates. His job focuses on supporting country partners to adapt, operate and develop Arkki in the local market. Arkki ASEAN is now in Thailand and Vietnam, and expanding soon to Indonesia, Malaysia and The Philippines. Dat was Program Director of Saigon Innovation Hub, and Innovation Specialist of the Vietnam – Finland Innovation Partnership (IPP) Program. He was also Co-founder of HATCH! VENTURES – a startup incubator and catalyst of the Vietnam startup & innovation ecosystem. He also worked as an Associate Director of Robin Hood Camp, 90-year-old Summer Camp in Maine (U.S.), and worked as an advisor, speaker and operator for various organizations, summer camps and educational projects related to children and youth: UPSHIFT Vietnam, AIESEC Hanoi, AIESEC FTU Hanoi, RMIT Hanoi, RAECP, etc.

executive in brand, retail, and franchise development across global emerging markets in Asia, The Middle East, Africa, and Eastern Europe. She is board advisor at the Asia Pacific Chief Marketing Officer Council (CMO), advisor to the Ministry of Science and Technology of Vietnam on startup & innovation, chairwoman of Vietnam Business Angel Network, chairwoman of Open Innovation Vietnam, and chairwoman of Saigon Innovation Hub. Phi Van is 2015 award winner of Retail Leadership presented by Asia Retail Congress, and 2017 & 2018 award winner of 100 Top Great Retail Minds presented by World Retail Congress. Phi Van is the author of five books, “Franchising – The Short Route to Global Markets”, “Cross The Rice Field, Reach The World”, “Go Global: An MSME’s guide to global franchising”, and “I, The Future and The World”, and “Searching for yourself”.

program since 2017. Previously he was Koc University’s R&D&I consultant, and also the Executive Director of KWORKS, Koc University Entrepreneurship Research Center. During his tenure, KWORKS became one of Turkey’s top technology accelerators. As a Senior Key Expert, Enis participates in a UNDP Project aimed at increasing innovation in three key regions of Turkey. Since 2010, Enis has been a CEO-in-Residence for several technology startups. He has been an advisor to the board of ARDIC (Istanbul, Turkey) which is a leading end-to- end IoT platform provider and intelligent-edge services SaaS company. Between 2010-2013, Enis was the Head of R&D for Turk Telekom (TT) Group and he was was granted a design patent during this period. Served on the boards of two Eureka clusters in Europe: Eurogia2020 and Celtic Plus. Eureka Clusters catalyse the generation of innovative, industry-driven, near to the market and pre-competitive R&D projects in their respective domains as intergovernmental organization. Previously, Enis was one of the founding managers of LG-Nortel, established in 2005 in South Korea. As a joint venture telecommunications equipment/solutions company between LG and Nortel, the JV gained 60% telecom market share in Korea, while achieving annual revenues of up to 1.4B USD. For four years, Enis held key executive roles in the company including Vice President of Business Development, and VP of Technology providing leadership for a 1000-staff Technology organization. Between 2000 and 2005, Enis was Vice President of Nortel in charge of Carrier Solutions business in Asia, and later in Eastern Europe/Russia/CIS. Enis joined Bell-Northern Research (BNR) in USA in 1985 and held successive R&D leadership positions with increasing responsibility. BNR was acquired by Nortel in 1996, and Enis joined Nortel technology as R&D Director.

Singapore, Taiwan, Korea, Malaysia and Chile. Co-Founder & CEO at InnoLab Asia (the implementation partner of Open Innovation Vietnam initiative from the Vietnam Ministry of Science and Technology for Open Innovation and Innovation in Vietnam and South East Asia) Mentor at Start-Up Chile ( an initiative of the Chilean Government to attract early stage, high potential entrepreneurs bootstrap their startups using Chile as a platform to go global) International Adviser at Orphans’ Futures Alliance Vietnam (ORFA) Founder at Lead The Change ( youth and startups which empowers them to step into the world with essential entrepreneurship training, mentorship and networks ) Co-Founder & CEO – VICGO (a management consulting company for corporates & government) Over 10 years experienced, Thang is engaging and consulting actors in several industries, including start-up mentoring. With high communication and leadership skills, he is also leading young Vietnamese communities from various backgrounds: Education, IT, Innovation, Business & Marketing. He received the Edutech Leadership award 2017 at Global Edutech Congress and Award 2017 at Mumbai, India thanks to his contribution to education and technology.

Alliances. In this role, he and other members of his team work closely with R&D’s leadership and scientists to develop, deepen, and sustain strategic alliances with like-minded foundations, companies in the educational technology sector, member organizations, universities, and US and international NGOs and education agencies to help advance quality and equity in education. In addition, he oversees ETS’s externally- funded research portfolio and R&D’s merger and acquisition activities to expand R&D’s ability to conduct innovative and impactful educational research and contribute to new product development. Before coming to ETS, Ed was most recently the Director of a Commercial Data Science practice at Summit Consulting in Washington, DC. He and his team of statisticians and data scientists specialized in litigation analytics and program evaluation using administrative data. Before that, he was a Senior Program Officer for Research at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation where he developed and administered the Foundation’s personalized learning research portfolio. From 2008-2011 he was a researcher at SRI International, with expertise in educational technology, including cross-disciplinary applications of statistical, computational, and machine learning tools. At SRI he served as a PI or co-PI on research projects for organizations such as the Department of Defense, NASA, and the Andrew Mellon Foundation. Early in his career, Ed was a high school chemistry teacher, an instructor at Johns Hopkins University, and a curriculum developer for Public Television, and the National Park Service. Throughout his career, he has served on the National Academy of Sciences’ Committee on Improving Learning with Information Technology, New York City Public School’s iZone Research Advisory Council, Microsoft Corporation’s Partners in Learning National Projects Advisory Board, and Learning Forward’s Professional Development Redesign Technical Working Group. Ed holds a doctorate in Learning and Teaching from Harvard University, a master’s degree in Technology for Educators from Johns Hopkins University, and a bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. He, his wife, and their two teenage boys live in Washington, DC.

Prior to his recent assignment as the Director Board of Engineers Canada, he was practising in areas of Communications Infrastructure Engineering and Cyber Security for several years and has been recognized with many prestigious professional achievement awards, such as the Most Dedicated Communications Engineering Consultant in Ontario (Corporate Vision Magazine’s Canadian Business Awards 2019) and Industry Excellence Award Finalist for Telecom Professional of the Year in 2008 (Authority of Telecom Management Practice). Changiz Joined the Emerging Disciplines Task Force of Professional Engineers Ontario (PEO) in 2008 as the industry Subject Matter Expert (SME) and led the Communications Infrastructure Engineering (CIE) group of this task force as the vice chair until 2011. During this time, he and his team created the Core Body of Knowledge (CBK) for CIE and presented to PEO Council. As its result, CIE became the 32nd engineering discipline in Ontario. Changiz has served PEO for over 20 years including PEO Council from 2013 to 2017, Executive Committee, Chair of Regional Councillors Committee, and also on chapter and several different committees such as Finance, Audit, Discipline, Experience Requirements Committee (ERC). He has also served 4 years on Council of Ontario Association of Certified Engineering Technicians and Technologists (OACETT). He has received numerous awards including the Canada Sovereign’s Medal for Volunteers, two PEO Order of Honour Awards, and five Ontario Volunteer Service Awards.

advising the GODAN initiative on the ethical and legal aspects of open data. Ms Zampati is responsible for research into and analysis of legislation, on both a national and international level. More specifically, her areas of specialisation are Open Data and Intellectual Property, ownership issues and data rights, compliance and best practice across all aspects of national and European privacy and security, as well as data protection law and regulation (GDPR) in the agricultural sector.

Programme Board. He also oversees and facilitates GODAN’s sizeable Partnership Network. Dr. Anand is an internationally recognised expert in geospatial science, having authored a wide range of publications; from journal papers, scientific reports and book chapters, to keynote presentations and international strategy documents. He has done a lot of work around open principles in the fields of science and education, aiming to help bridge the digital divide, and has served as an invited speaker at the United Nations.

technologies. As Innovation Architect at AI Envoy Robotics (AIER), Blaise creates value and attempts to solve real world complex challenges using Automation, Natural Language Generation and data. He is an Obama Foundation Leader-Africa, a Code for Africa Innovation Fellow, and a recipient of the Quartz Atlas for Africa Award.

He has lead complex humanitarian operations in Balkans, Afghanistan, Asian Tsunami, South Sudan Crisis (2015), Sudan (2015) to name a few. He brings in significant Operational experience, coupled with Change management, staff engagement, and bottom-up the approach in complex organizational structures (Country, Regional & Global structures). He was honored “Chief Happiness Officer” in 2016 & 2017 by staff for development staff engagement, developed innovative approaches to keep staff excited, involved, and being part of the growing organization. Ganesh currently works for Unitaid/WHO supporting innovations in Global Health to fight HIV, Malaria, TB, and co-infections. Hailing from Madras (Chennai) southern India has lived in over 15 countries, traveling to 60+ countries, currently commutes between Geneva and London. Ganesh is also a mentor, supports startups involved in impact fundraising, enjoys working with young people, and looking for innovative solutions to solve global issues by promoting out of the box thinking. Holds an Executive Certificate program I Organisational Change Management from MIT Sloan Executive Education.

a mutual funds management firm. Later on, he co-founded and ran as one of its four directors a financial consultancy firm, where he managed corporate finance services, leading in public and private restructuring projects, financing and refinancing schemes. Following that role, he got associated with Esthlos business boutique, an advisory firm in Athens engaged with corporate finance activities. In 2007, he initiated financial training activities before initiating Interfima in 2010, a professional organization based in Luxembourg, with offices in the UK, the US and the UAE. Between 2007 and 2010 he was member of the board of directors for IMG marine builders a maritime design company with its HQ in Cyprus. He’s also an active specialist for EBRD and a mentor for its Startup Programs in Southeastern Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia. In general Anastasios has engaged with a series of startups in the tech industry, either as an external advisor or as a member of the management team. Anastasios possesses knowledge for a series of different industries and holds an MBA from the University of LaVerne and an MSc in Corporate Finance from SDA Bocconi. He has presented to professionals in topics such as financial management and planning and tutored young entrepreneurs on International Business and Finance.

Member of OCE, a $350M Ontario Government backed venture fund. Stuart is also an Instructor for York University’s Schulich School of Business MBA and MFIN programs as well as the University of Toronto’s School of Continuing Studies, where he teaches courses in Corporate Finance, Entrepreneurship, Venture Capital and Private Equity. Stuart has been featured on numerous news outlets including BloombergTV, BNN, Financial Post, Toronto Star and itBusiness.ca, and published 5 articles on Techvibes related to investing in the technology sector.

and community investment programs, which see 10% of Coast Capital’s bottom line invested into local communities with a goal of giving youth a hand up on their journey to financial well-being. She leads a team responsible for Coast Capital’s social impact programs (grants, sponsorships, community partnerships, corporate campaigns, education awards, youth work experience program, Youth Community Councils, disaster relief and employee volunteer programs). She also oversees the credit union’s corporate social responsibility strategy, initiatives, reporting, and B Corp certification. Maureen Co-Chairs the credit union’s Youth Affinity Network and serves as Chair of the Youth Futures Education Fund, an initiative she helped found, focused on ensuring youth from the foster care system have the opportunity to achieve their post-secondary education. Prior to joining the credit union, Maureen held senior positions with the Fraser Basin Council, Nelson & District Economic Development Commission, and Tourism Action Society in the Kootenays. Maureen lives in Victoria with her husband and four children.

AI-driven clinical decision software to enable doctors to combine the avalanche of newly available medical information into their clinical practice, while enabling patients to retain access rights to data using distributed ledger technology (DLT). Dr Pankova holds a PhD from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto and has worked as a scientist and executive in pharma, biotech and healthtech companies. She is currently on the Editorial Board of Frontiers in Blockchain Journal, and on the WHO Digital Health Expert Roster. She has mentored startup Founders through Women In Tech Revolution and Hatch Enterprise, and is on the advisory board for several tech startups.

Mustafa has helped define and refine the process of brining new products to market at Namecheap. This includes research, conceptualization, value proposition design, build, launch and post launch support. With 15 years of product experience in a variety of industries and business models, including B2B, B2B2C and B2C, Mustafa has learned through experience some common reasons for stumbling as well as succeeding on new product launches. Always learning and exploring, Mustafa is passionate about building a culture of understanding customers deeply in order to build great products that are both great to use, sell and support