Viki will tell virtual audience of innovators why ‘The Future of Business is Now’ at upcoming event

KITCHENER, ONT., February 18, 2021 — Communitech has partnered with innovation consultant and researcher, Tendayi Viki, to deliver a virtual keynote presentation at ‘The Future of Business is Now’ on March 3, 2021 at 12:00 p.m. ET. This event is an excellent opportunity for Communitech member companies seeking inspiration and advice for their own future-forward innovation strategies.

“COVID-19 has thrust the corporate world into a sea of uncertainty and has made it non-negotiable for organizations to be prepared for every current that may flow their way,” said Joel Semeniuk, VP of Corporate Innovation at Communitech. “We’re thrilled that Tendayi Viki will speak to why one-off innovation is no longer enough in today’s ‘new normal’ and share strategies to help corporations build repeatable cycles of taking new ideas to market.” 

At ‘The Future of Business is Now’, Viki will speak to findings captured in his latest book, Pirates In The Navy: How Innovators Lead Transformation. He’ll touch on how other corporate intrapreneurs (a.k.a pirates) can assess their organization’s innovation readiness and better prepare their innovation strategies for the future. 

This event was born out of a new innovation collaborative program at Communitech that was quietly launched in 2019 as a way to bring cross-sector experts together to prepare for fast-approaching shifts across several industries. This program, titled the “Future Of…,” was inspired by Stanford’s Collective Impact approach to solving social problems through collaboration, as well as Waterloo Region’s historic barn-raising approach to solving problems.

Driven by Communitech’s capacity to gather the brightest minds to tackle the biggest ideas – from how we work and learn to the future of health, cities and retail – the “Future of…” program helps organizations quickly validate new ideas and solutions, solve internal and industry-wide challenges, re-skill and up-skill teams, and expand business lines and platforms at a time when change is the only real constant.

 By convening thought leaders to identify and solve industry-specific problems in a fixed timeframe, the “Future of…” initiative taps into one of Communitech’s foundational strengths: collaboration.

“Communitech’s success over the years has revolved around our ability to pull together and collaborate,” said Iain Klugman, CEO and President, Communitech. “We’re able to get people in the room to solve big problems collaboratively – that’s always been our secret sauce. And let’s face it, Canada’s a small country. We need to work together if we’re going to take on the world.”

From pilot projects to prototyped minimum viable products (MVPs), shared wisdom to new business relationships, the “Future of…” program delivers faster outcomes, smarter solutions and the opportunity for organizations to innovate quickly in chaotic times.

Partnership projects already under way at Communitech are exploring the Future of Work and Learning, the Future of Retail, the Future of Cities and the Future of Health. 

To learn more about the ‘Future of’ collaboratives program at Communitech, please reach out to Janelle Chalouhi, VP of Business Development, at janelle.chalouhi@communitech.ca.  

To register to virtually attend ‘The Future of Business is Now’ with Tendayi Viki on March 3, 2021 at 12:00 p.m. ET, please visit: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/the-future-of-business-is-now-tickets-138262243091?aff=ebdsoporgprofil.

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