Design Thinking for Digital Transformation Conference

International Knowledge and Best Practices
Sharing Conference

Bringing Together Professionals from Industry, Government,
and Academia

The ubiquitous spread of artificial intelligence, blockchain, internet-of-things, virtual reality, and cloud computing applications has created both challenges and unprecedented opportunities for companies and public organizations, pushing them to act on ongoing disruptions by restructuring their operating models, gaining new levels of efficiency, or enabling new ways of creating value for their key stakeholders.

Design thinking is a comprehensive management approach offering a powerful toolset that enables organizations to address open, complex, dynamic, and multiple-stakeholder problems emerging within the context of digital transformation initiatives. The challenges of digital transformation are not just related to the technical aspects of digital technology development or adoption. Managers need to acquire a design-driven mindset to anticipate disruption and drive the transition of their organizations to a digital mode of operation and value creation.

The conference offers participants the opportunity to engage with a team of internationally renowned experts and get familiarized with the ways of using design thinking in managing digital transformation initiatives. The discussion will focus specifically on the need and the challenges of using design thinking in addressing the opportunities for both private and public organizations that arise as significant new technologies emerge. It will be valuable for managers, technology experts, business practitioners, and scholars interested in developing actionable insights on issues related to the adoption of business-critical and transformative digital technologies.

The conference is organized by the Technology Innovation Management (TIM) program at Carleton University in cooperation with the Special Interest Group (SIG) on Digital Disruption & Transformation of the International Society for Professional Innovation Management.

With special thanks to:

• Sprott School of Business at Carleton University
• Carleton Future EDge Talent Ecosystem
• TieCON Ottawa

Agenda

Download Printable Conference Program

Conference Speakers
(alphabetical order)

Abayomi Baiyere, PhD, is an Associate Professor at the Digital Technology Area Group of Smith Business School, Queen’s University. He is a Research Affiliate at MIT Sloan Center for Information Systems Research and a Visiting Scholar at the University of Turku. Before joining academia, he worked for companies such as SAP, ABN AMRO (Dialogues Incubator), and as an entrepreneur. AB’s research focuses on digital transformation, digital disruption,
and the societal impact of digitalization. His studies have looked at these issues from both organizational and societal perspectives.

Christophe Bisson, PhD, is Scientific Director of the MSc “International Strategy & Influence” at the SKEMA Business School in Paris. Christophe Bisson works on research and development of innovative competitive intelligence and anticipatory systems augmented by machine learning. He has received multiple international and national awards for his work, lectures for graduate programs in Paris, Raleigh and Suzhou, and provides training to
top executives in the US, EU, ME and Asia. Christophe is an Advisory Board Member of the Strategic Consortium of Intelligence Professionals (SCIP), Editorial Board Member of the Journal of Intelligence Studies in Business and the Competitive Intelligence Magazine among others.

Kevin Boudreau, PhD, is Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Northeastern University, USA, and Fulbright Canada Distinguished Research Chair in Entrepreneurship at the Sprott School of Business for 2022-2023. Kevin’s expertise is in optimization of business models and the organization of digital platforms and digital organizational infrastructure. He has degrees in Engineering (Waterloo), Economics (Toronto), and Behavioral and
Policy Sciences (MIT).

Craig Bremner, PhD, is an Adjunct Professor of Design at Charles Sturt University (CSU), Australia. Before moving to France to start a design consultancy he was Professor of Design at CSU during which time he was jointly Professor of Design at the University of Southern Denmark. Prior to these positions he was Professor in Design Pedagogy at
Northumbria University UK, and before that Professor of Design at the University of Canberra, where he was also Dean of the Faculty of Design & Architecture. Craig’s next book will appear in Feb. 2024: Design for the Unthinkable World: Strange Ecology and Unwelcome Change, co-edited with Paul A. Rodgers & Giovanni Innella.

Jonathan Calof, PhD, is the UNESCO co-chair on anticipatory systems for innovation and venture creation. He is a recognized leader in intelligence and foresight, and particularly on the application of these techniques to innovation. A full professor of International Business and Strategy at the Telfer School of Management at the University of Ottawa, Dr. Calof combines research and consulting in competitive intelligence, foresight, collective intelligence, and business analytics to help organizations develop anticipatory systems that prompt the types of key insights that will lead to the innovations needed for the external environment of tomorrow.

Nilufer Erdebil, award-winning design thinking and innovation expert. For over twenty years she has been a catalyst for innovation. She has worked extensively with public and private sector organizations to drive strategy, facilitate change, and introduce new products and services. Her experience working within different fields including telecommunications, application development, program management, and IT management gives her a deep
understanding of the business challenges today’s organizations are faced with.

David Hudson, PhD, Adjunct Professor, TIM Program, Sprott School of Business, and ICT Advisor at Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. David is a capable technology executive with over 30 years total experience in industry. He has added a deeper academic research dimension, via a PhD in Management. The bulk of his experience has been in the development of technology to deliver value to firms and their employees.

George Kongalath, Chief Executive Officer at Ideabytes Inc., operating in Canada, Sweden, India and Malaysia. Ideabytes is driving the adoption of IoT applications in multiple domains. George has put together an experienced team to deliver the efficiencies that companies are looking for in the post-Covid times. The company specializes in
using digital technologies to drive innovations that bring returns in shorter terms.

Mark Levene is Manager, Partnerships and Outreach and Director, Innovation and Integration, at the Treasury Board of Canada. His team is responsible for working across Canada and internationally with partners on a variety of digital government issues. Mark serves as Canada’s lead for Digital Nations and also chairs its new Greening Digital
Government thematic group.

Joel Martin, PhD, is the NRC’s Chief Digital Research Officer and Chief Science Officer. He holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science, Machine Learning, from the Georgia Institute of Technology and completed post doctoral studies at the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Martin has received awards for exceptional leadership and for innovative approaches to technology transfer. He has published dozens of peer-reviewed research articles and taught computer science courses at both the University of Ottawa and Carleton University.

Somaieh Nikpoor, Adjunct Professor, TIM Program, Sprott School of Business, Lead – AI Strategy and Data Science at the Government of Canada. Somaieh Nikpoor is a scientist, advocate, and mentor working at the intersection of AI, data analytics, and policy. She designs AI and analytics road maps based on organizational readiness and supports various policy initiatives on data and AI. She is passionate about the responsible development and
application of AI technologies and helping others navigate through various AI ethics and AI policy topics and concepts. Somaieh holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Ottawa.

Daniel Schallmo, PhD, is an economist, lecturer, and author of numerous publications. He is Professor of Digital Transformation and Entrepreneurship at Neu-Ulm University of Applied Sciences, Director of the Institute for Entrepreneurship, and a member of the Institute for Digital Transformation. Dr. Schallmo’s work and research focus on assessing digital maturity, developing digital strategies, designing digital transformation of business models, and implementing digital initiatives.

Stoyan Tanev, PhD, Associate Professor, Technology Innovation Management Program, Sprott School of Business. Dr. Tanev’s expertise is in technology entrepreneurship and new venture creation, digital innovation management, design thinking, and digital transformation in established firms. His research focuses on how entrepreneurs identify
new opportunities, shape new businesses, or transform existing organizations to meet disruptive challenges and create new value propositions for key stakeholders. Stoyan has a multidisciplinary background including a PhD in Physics from the University Pierre & Marie Curie (Sorbonne), Paris, France, and a PhD in Theology from Sofia University, Sofia, Bulgaria.

Michael Weiss, PhD, is Associate Professor of Technology Innovation Management at Carleton University. His research interests include digital innovation and the system-level application of artificial intelligence. He is particularly interested in exploring how generative AI can be used to augment human intelligence in the innovation process. Weiss received his PhD in computer science from the University of Mannheim, Germany.