What are the innovative actions being taken in Canada right now to set up our country for a better future on an international scale? In this episode, Marnie and Russell sit down with Yung Wu, CEO of MaRS Discovery District, to discuss what new innovations should be on the radar of every Canadian leader. During their discussion, Marnie, Russell and Yung focus on the acceleration of Canadian technology before turning to a global perspective, giving a big picture outlook on how Canada is performing on the world stage. They explore how we can tap into our talent pool to fuel up-and-coming companies. Finally, Yung also shares his perspective on the Canadian startup economy, how MaRS supports emerging businesses, and the opportunities for innovation the country will be zeroing in on in the near future.
After this episode, you’ll learn:
- How an ecosystem can solve the Canada’s biggest innovation problems.
- The collaboration between science, technology, and innovation, and how they impact any type of business or industry.
- The truth behind Canada’s biggest innovation problem (i.e., an adoption problem).
- How organizations are tapping into top talent (and where to find it).
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Biography
Yung is CEO of the MaRS Discovery District, one of the world's largest innovation hubs, and Canada’s premiere science and technology innovation ecosystem. MaRS’s innovation community have raised over $8.2B in capital and generated over $5.6B in net revenues since inception, currently employing over 20,400 people in the Health, CleanTech, FinTech and Platform Technologies sectors.
As a serial entrepreneur and investor, Yung has built breakthrough scale-stage companies in enterprise software, mobile analytics and big data, media and entertainment, technology services and biotech. He is a co-founder of two not-for-profit organizations, the Coalition of Innovation Leaders Against Racism (CILAR) and DifferentIsCool (DiSC). Yung currently serves on the boards of OMERS, the Toronto Region Board of Trade, Antibe Therapeutics Inc. (TSE:ATE) and is a member of Green Shield Canada. He is also appointed to Canada’s Net-Zero Advisory Body.
Yung has been recognized as one of Canada's “Top 40 under 40” and for leading one of Canada’s “50 Best Managed Private Companies” in the nation. Yung has a B.Sc. Computer Science, Economics and Mathematics from the University of Toronto and is a graduate of the Entrepreneurial Masters Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a member of MENSA, the Young Presidents Organization (YPO) and the Institute of Corporate Directors (ICD.D).