You’re invited to join Namir Anani, President and CEO of the Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC), along with his distinguished panel of guests as they dive into scaling Canadian startups and the significance of IP.

COVID-19’s devastating economic impacts include the loss of 1 million Canadian jobs, faltering supply chains, and a historic increase in Canada’s debt. Canada’s path to post-COVID economic recovery will be tied to the competitiveness of Canadian startups and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which are the heart of Canada’s economic engine and growth.

SMEs represent the vast majority of the Canadian economy. Those that are knowledgeable in IP are more competitive than SMEs with little or no knowledge of IP. SMEs that hold formal IP are three times more likely to grow domestically than those that don’t. IP-generating SMEs are four times more likely to expand internationally and nearly two times more likely to have high growth rates of more than 20% per year.

This virtual panel discussion will delve into the following topics and considerations:

• Creating, Protecting, and Incentivizing Canadian IP
• Building a built-to-scale Canadian business culture

Our distinguished panel consists of:

• Jason Tham, CEO of Nulogy
• Martha Casey, CEO of Volta
• Melissa Chee, President and CEO of ventureLAB

Agenda:

• 2:00 pm - 2:05 pm ET: Introduction and Overview of the Bolstering Growth: The Next Frontier for Canadian Startups white paper written by ICTC in partnership with ventureLAB - Namir Anani
• 2:05 pm - 2:10 pm ET: Speaker Introductions - Namir Anani, Jason Tham, Martha Casey, Melissa Chee
• 2:10 pm - 2:45 pm ET: Panel Discussion - Namir Anani, Jason Tham, Martha Casey, Melissa Chee
• 2:45 pm - 3:00 pm ET: Question and Answer/General Discussion

You will have the opportunity to directly engage with our speakers on this content through an online chat.

Jason Tham, CEO of Nulogy

Jason Tham is the co-founder, CEO and brand ambassador for Nulogy. He is focused on corporate development, executive leadership, and understanding the evolving landscape of Nulogy’s clients. He is also on Nulogy’s board and speaks throughout the industry on the agile supply chain.

Jason draws from his experience in the continuous improvement and packaging groups at Kellogg’s highly automated production facility, and in R&D, manufacturing and quality at Magna International. Jason graduated with a BSc (Hons) with a Management Sciences option from the University of Waterloo.

Melissa Chee, President and CEO of ventureLAB

Melissa Chee is the President and CEO of ventureLAB, a leading innovation hub located in Markham, York Region, Canada’s second-largest tech cluster. Under Melissa’s leadership, ventureLAB launched the Hardware Catalyst Initiative, Canada’s first lab and incubator focused exclusively on hardware and semiconductor companies, and launched Tech Undivided, focused on eliminating unconscious bias in tech. ventureLAB leads through its performance, merit-driven culture, and a gender-parity leadership team and board of directors.

Melissa is a passionate advocate for Innovation in Canada to advance our nation’s global competitiveness, technology commercialization, women in STEM and other community impact initiatives. Melissa graduated with Honors with an MBA from the University of Toronto and a Bachelor's Degree in Computer Engineering from McGill University.

Martha Casey, CEO of Volta

Martha is Volta’s Chief Executive Officer. Martha joined Volta in 2018 as Chief Operating Officer. Before Volta, Martha was the Chief of Staff and Executive Director in the President’s Office at Dalhousie University, where she was the project manager for Nova Scotia’s participation in the MIT Regional Entrepreneurship Acceleration Program and worked with stakeholders from across the province to support inclusive economic growth. She also worked in New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s administration over two terms before returning to live in Halifax. Martha has held leadership roles in organizational change, project oversight, and economic development. She currently sits on the boards of directors for the Halifax Chamber of Commerce, and has volunteered with a number of organizations aimed at building confidence and competence in girls, supporting new immigrants’ entry to the workforce, and economic capacity building. Martha holds an MPA from New York University, an LLB from Dalhousie, and a BA from Bishop’s University.