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Elevate Festival 2024

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Elevate returns to Toronto from October 1-3, 2024 to reunite world-class tech leaders, emerging startups, global investors, policymakers, and international media to shine a spotlight on Canadian innovation.

Elevate Festival unites iconic tech leaders, fearless creatives, and innovative minds. Every year, they welcome to the stage a powerhouse lineup of speakers who are solving society’s greatest challenges while leading us into the future.

As a proud partner of Elevate Festival , the University of Toronto will have a considerable footprint featuring talks from our thought leaders and startups.

Get 20% off your ticket to Elevate using discount code ELEVATEFESTUOTGA24, redeemable via the Elevate Festival website.

Feature Event

Defy Gravity – Discover the Next BIG Thing in University Startups

October 2 from 10:30 – 11:00 a.m.

Join us as we feature some of the most promising ventures from the University of Toronto in areas of health, climate, augmented reality/virtual reality, fashion e-commerce and artificial intelligence. If you are an investor or a corporate decision maker, get to know these companies before your competitors do. University of Toronto Entrepreneurship (UTE) represents a tri-campus network of 12 accelerators, supporting nearly 1,000 teams annually.

Featured U of T Startups

  • Xatoms – using AI and quantum chemistry to provide clean drinking water.
  • SilicoLabs – creating virtual experiences with AR / VR that simulate real-world scenarios to train/assess humans & AI behaviour
  • Snapwrite – using AI to help brands, retailers, and pre-loved shops create product content from images to give all items a digital identity to enable resale.
  • Toothpod – a dental smart-gum that supplements oral hygiene when there is no access to a toothbrush
  • Mycofutures – creating environmentally-friendly leather using mycelium, the root system of fungi
Date
October 01-03, 2024
Where
Toronto, Multiple venues
Topics
Elevate 2024
Get Tickets

U of T Speaker Schedule

Hear from alumni, faculty and others who are part of U of T’s innovation ecosystem.

Wednesday, October 2

9:45 am
Meridian Hall – Castle Point Numa Lounge		Raising Capital the Right Way
Paul Nagpal,
President, COO, & Executive Director, The CFO Centre
10:00 am
Meridian Hall – Upper Mezzanine		Humanity in the Loop: Purple Teaming Generative AIJesslyn Dymond,
Director, Data Ethics & AI Governance, Telus
10:25 am
St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts – Bluma Appel Theatre		Building the Future: Public Labs and the New Era of Open Source AIMark Surman,
President, Mozilla
10:30 am
Meridian Hall – Lower Lobby		Rocket Pitches: University of Toronto ShowcaseJon French,
Director, U of T Entrepreneurship

Athiya Rastogi,
CEO, SnapWrite

Vishar Yaghoubian,
Co- Founder & CEO, Toothpod

Stephanie Lipp,
Co- Founder & CEO, MycoFutures

Kyla Alsbury- Nealy,
Co- Founder & COO, SilicoLabs

Diana Virgovicova,
CEO, Xatoms
11:40 am
St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts – Jane Mallett Theatre		Trusting the New Guard: How Startups Are Hacking Trust and GrowthAli Qureshi,
Co- Founder, Sidedrawer Inc
1:20 pm
Meridian Hall – Main Stage		Quantum Leap: Innovation and Quantum ComputingClaudia Krywiak,
President & CEO, Ontario Centre of Innovation

Christian Weedbrook,
Founder & CEO, Xanadu 
1:35 pm
St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts – Jane Mallett Theatre		To Build a Bank: Navigating the Path to Phase 2 Bank Status in CanadaDaniel Eberhard,
CEO, Koho Financial Inc
1:40 pm
St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts – Bluma Appel Theatre		Tasting Tomorrow with Cell-Cultivated Eats and Fishless FishEvan Fraser,
Director, Arrell Food Institute
2:15 pm
Meridian Hall – Castle Point Numa Lounge		Meet the Firehood Angels: Insights and Strategies for Engaging in Angel InvestingDanielle Graham,
Co- Founder, The Firehood
2:25 pm
St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts – Jane Mallett Theatre		Breaking Bank Barriers: Innovating for Greater Financial InclusionMohamad Sawwaf,
Founder & CEO, Manzil 

Josh Scott,
Reporter, Betakit
2:25 pm
St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts – Bluma Appel Theatre		Building Blocks for Sustainable Data InnovationPam Snivley,
Chief Data & Trust Officer, Telus
3:00 pm
St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts – Bluma Appel Theatre		Life Engineering for Leaders: Live Beyond Your GenesAnthony Lacavera,
Founder & Chairman, Globalive

Thursday, october 3

10:00 am
St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts – Jane Mallett Theatre		Moonshots Stage Kick OffSonia Sennik,
CEO, Creative Destruction Lab
10:30 am
Meridian Hall – Lower Lobby		Rocket Pitches: Deep Tech Showcase
Christian Weedbrook,
Founder & CEO, Xanadu 
10:40 am
St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts – Jane Mallett Theatre		From Lab to Market: Turning Academic Innovation into Commercial Success
Brendan Frey,
Founder & Chief Innovation Officer, Deep Genomics

Avni Shah,
Associate Professor of Marketing, UofT
10:45 am
St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts – Bluma Appel Theatre		Self-Made Success: Bootstrapping Your Business Beyond the Early StageFatima Zaidi,
Founder & CEO, Quill Inc.
11:45 am
St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts – Jane Mallett Theatre		Guardians of the Cure: Putting Patients First in the Science of Drug Development
Sonia Sennik,
CEO, Creative Destruction Lab

Christine Allen,
CEO, Intrepid labs

Laura Rosella,
Professor, UofT

Peter Jianrui Liu,
CEO, Oxford Cancer Analytics (OXCAN)
12:10 pm
St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts – Bluma Appel Theatre		Exit Like a Pro: Crafting the Perfect Farewell StrategySheldon Fernandez,
Co- Founder, Darwinai
1:00 pm
Meridian Hall – Main Stage		Whole New Game: The Rise of Women’s SportsJayna Hefford,
Senior Vice President, Hockey Operations, PWHL
1:00 pm
Meridian Hall – Lower Lobby		Merge Ahead: Navigating the Latest Trends in M&AJames Rickert,
Founding Partner, Power Sustainable Lios

Petar Zelic,
Managing Director, Head of Technology Investment Banking (Canada), Stifel
1:15 pm
Meridian Hall – Castle Point Numa Lounge		Mastering the Art of Learning for a Future-Ready YouMelissa Sariffodeen,
CEO, Canada Learning Code
1:35 pm
St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts – Bluma Appel Theatre		Humanizing Digital Experiences with Emotionally Intelligent DesignKumutha Ramanthan,
Journalist & Founder, The Summit Group
2:50 pm
St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts – Bluma Appel Theatre		Past Meets Future: The Evolution of Traditional Products in a Digital AgeRamesh Mantha,
SVP Product Management, Rakuten Kobo