Waterloo shines during Innovation Summit
Posted Sep 16, 2015 03:30:03 PM.
Last Updated Sep 16, 2015 04:35:03 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Waterloo is being showcased this week to people getting a look inside our region’s ecosystem.
The Waterloo Innovation Summit kicks off with some big-name speakers scheduled over the next few days.
The common theme will be identifying what it takes to build world-class innovation ecosystems.
This year’s Grand Marshall is Waterloo Mayor Dave Jaworsky.
“Im going to be giving a personal tour of Uptown Waterloo to show what we’ve been able to do here,” says Jaworsky. “We’re off to Laurier, University of Waterloo Engineering, as well as the Accelerator Centre, so these people can see how we take the students and create the businesses.”
The summit’s key speakers include Blackberry CEO John Chen, author and professor Mariana Mazzucato, author and global ambassador Salim Ismail, and the Godfather of Silicon Valley, Steve Blank.
“The advantage to our citizens is there are a lot of business leaders coming,” says Jaworsky. “They can see what is going on in Waterloo and there is a potential for job creation and business location here in our community.”
The conference officially kicks off with a dinner tonight at CIGI. Tomorrow is a big day, as Chen addresses the gathering, along with Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne.
Wynne will also be live in studio on the Eric Drozd Show on 570 News Thursday.
The event runs through Friday and is a collaboration between Communitech and the University of Waterloo.
