Namir Anani, President and CEO of the Information and Communications Technology Council of Canada moderated the closing panel at The 2017 Canadian Telecom Summit, Disruptive innovation: Driving Canada’s Digital Future.
He was joined on the panel by:
• Samer Bishay, President and CEO, Iristel & Ice Wireless;
• Keith Liu, SVP, Products & Innovation, Klick Health;
• Jacques Magen, Chairman, Celtic Plus; and,
• Angelique Mohring, CEO, GainX.
As Namir said in his opening remarks, “It’s about disruptive innovation. We all know that disruptive innovation, to put it in its context, is the essence of any high performing economy. It is central to the operation of markets and the evolution of markets and what decides competition and, at the end of the day, also drives even further innovation. … Today’s discussion is about how we enable innovation, how do we nurture it.”
I thought it would be beneficial to share the panel discussion with you.
The 2017 Canadian Telecom Summit featured a number of sessions on innovation policy, including a keynote address by Dan Breznitz, Professor and Chair of Innovation Studies at the Munk School of Global Affairs at University of Toronto. I hope to post his address next week.
We also had a panel discussion led by Len Waverman, Dean of the DeGroote School of Business at McMaster University and featuring Christine Calvosa, Deputy CIO at the Federal Communications Commission, Jack Mintz, President’s Fellow, School of Public Policy at University of Calgary and Daniel Schwanen, VP, Research at C.D. Howe Institute. I plan to post that panel soon.
Christine appeared later that same day in a dual keynote role with FCC CIO David Bray, who is about to join the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency as the organization’s first chief ventures officer, responsible for driving NGA’s internal and commercial innovation efforts.
The closing address by FCC Chairman Ajit Pai included the following remarks on innovation policy:
Innovation isn’t limited to the so-called edge of networks. Innovation within networks is also critical, especially in the mobile space. To realize the digital future, we need smart infrastructure, not dumb pipes.
…
In short, America’s approach to broadband policy will be practical, not ideological. We’ll embrace what works, and dispense with what doesn’t. That means removing barriers to innovation and investment, instead of creating new ones. That means taking targeted action to address real problems in the marketplace, instead of imposing broad preemptive regulations. And that means respecting principles of economics, physics and law, and acting with humility as we regulate one of the most dynamic marketplaces history has ever known. This vision will unleash the massive investments that the digital world demands.
The Canadian Telecom Summit provided important guidance to industry stakeholders from the private sector and public policy makers. There is no other event like it.