Speakers

Interdisciplinary research in the field of global value chain, business clusters, regional/ national innovation systems, science parks and incubators; multi-level governance and governance of innovation; triple helix and multi-stakeholder approach to coordination and consensus, smart specialization and inter-regional collaborations; business development through knowledge transfer; social enterprise and the attainment of global sustainable development goals.

Professor Etzkowitz is a scholar of international reputation in innovation studies as the originator of the 'Entrepreneurial University' and 'Triple Helix' concepts that link university with industry and government at national and regional levels. As President of the Triple Helix Association (THA), he is at the center of a unique international network of several hundred scholars and practitioners of university-industry-government relations.

Patrick McNamara, Ph.D. has worked locally and internationally with universities, corporations, governments, NGOs, and foundations for over 30 years. He is Director of the International Studies at University of Nebraska at Omaha. He teaches in the areas of conflict resolution, social entrepreneurship, sustainable development and civic engagement. He has published over two dozen articles, book chapters and conference papers. Dr. McNamara has consulted with over 300 clients and presented workshops in the US, Afghanistan, India, Israel, Japan, Morocco, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Tajikistan, United Kingdom, and Vietnam.

Dr. Amgad Elmahdi has more than 20 years' experience in hydrology and water management, including a decade working internationally (Egypt, Italy, Netherlands and Greece) on water resources assessment and management projects. Amgad has also been a CSIRO research scientist, working on groundwater and integrated water resources management and has authored and co-authored over 90 scientific publications. Amgad currently manages the Bureau's Water Resources Assessment Section, which delivers products across surface water, groundwater, urban and irrigation system, design rainfalls and the Australian Water Resources Assessment and continental hydrological modelling system.

Her research interests include technology and analytics to build and accelerate social enterprises, public policy in entrepreneurship, women leadership, and impact investing. Dr. Gopalkrishnan has been keynote speakers at conferences worldwide). She has presented at conferences across the globe, including one at UNEVOC (United nations), and has published papers in peer-reviewed journals and book chapters. She has taught MBA, undergraduate and doctoral programs at universities across the world. She has won the best prize for teaching at the Experiential classroom XVII in entrepreneurship. In addition, Dr. Gopalkrishnan was the winner of the Global Brainstorm Challenge “Global Women’s Leadership Alliance: 5 million women change agents improving our world in 5 years.

Dr. Nicole C. Jackson is a well-recognized professor in the areas of HR, organizational development, and strategy practice in which she focuses on how to promote “ambidextrous thinking” and dynamic capabilities in organizations and their individuals in the age of digital transformation in both post-industrial and developing economies. “Ambidexterity” is defined in strategic management practice and research as the balance between exploitation of core competencies with innovation potential. Dr. Jackson’s research work on this topic has been featured in academic and practitioner journals including the Strategic Management Quarterly, Organizational Management Journal, Business Horizons, and Strategy and Leadership, as well as at the Academy of Management and Management Organization Behavior and Teaching conferences. Her recent work focuses on this emphasis in higher educational settings and change transformation.

Jim Beddows is the CEO of TDP Data Systems (www.decisionplatform.io) and works across the Triple Helix with academia, government and industry to help accelerate research and innovation to address the most pressing socio-economic pain points around the world. He has over thirty years of entrepreneurship experience across various verticals and global 2000 corporations (including the US Air Force, General Electric, PepsiCo/KFC, Disney, Microsoft, and Xerox PARC) generating over $3 billion in new businesses and services. Jim launched the first mobile services for Disney in Tokyo in 1997. Since then, he has been at the cutting edge of digitalization, and the intersection of the physical and digital spaces, including Microsoft launching MSN Mobile in 2007 and retail location-based services with Microsoft Research, 3M, and Wendy’s International in 2011. Prior to joining TDP, Jim served as a consultant at PARC helping to develop and implement a new process to rapidly accelerate the rate of research commercialization. Combined with his multi-industry experience, Jim has lived internationally in Madrid, Hong Kong, and Tokyo allowing him to see macro trends and patterns first hand. Jim is an adjunct research assistant professor in psychiatry and behavioral science at USC’s Keck School of Medicine in Los Angles.