BOLD
SOLUTIONS
New Ideas, Bold Solutions, and Exploration.
This is what The Future of Innovation is.
The Future of Innovation Conference is an annual RBC Leadership conference, hosted by the J Herbert Smith Centre, that sparks new conversations about cutting-edge solutions for problems that are persistent throughout Canada and the world.
NOVEMBER 19, 2026
Student Union Ballroom
University of New Brunswick
FREDERICTON, NEW BRUNSWICK
CANADA
About J Herbert Smith Centre
The J Herbert Smith Centre for Technology Management and Entrepreneurship (JHSC) was founded in 1988 to cultivate new ideas, creative thinking, and an entrepreneurial spirit for careers in the ever-changing world of technology. Over the past 38 years, JHSC has aided countless startups to move from ideation to early startup and equipped them with the skills they need to apply their expertise in a business environment.
Keynote Speaker:
Innovation in Fintech
Speaker to be announced soon.
Keynote Speaker:
Innovation in Dual-Use Technologies
Speaker to be announced soon.
Leading Edge Innovation Panel
Tylor Garland
After graduation from the Los Angeles Art Center College of Design in 1994, Tylor joined Fitch Inc., an international, multi-disciplinary design firm. Moving up the ranks quickly, he was soon courted by California-based hot shop Frog Design, where he became Managing Director of Product Development & Engineering from 1998-2001. In this role, Tylor led projects for multiple Fortune 500 companies such as JBL, IBM, HP, Apple, Sunbeam, and Ford. Through his collective experience, Tylor has developed a deeply integrated methodology to developing products and brands that translates effortlessly in boardrooms as it does in creative war rooms. This philosophy, he now shares as Art Center faculty and guest lecturer for organizations such as CCA, Mattel, and Harvard Business School. With over 500 products launched and over a billion dollars in retail sales later, Boombang's development partners include Disney, ConAgra, Logitech, Church & Dwight, Target, and Newell Rubbermaid. Along the way, Tylor's work has been featured in GQ, Wired, and Fortune Magazine, on display at San Francisco's MoMA and the Whitney, and the recipient of prestigious awards, including recognition from IDSA and Red Dot.
Michael Buhr
Michael Buhr is a 30-year Silicon Valley operator and cross-border advisor who has founded, scaled, and led venture-backed technology companies as CEO, senior operator, and board member. He partners with founders and leadership teams scaling into the US. He is Executive Director and Board Member of C100 - the Silicon Valley network of Canadian tech founders and investors - and Founder and CEO of Bridge Strategy, where he has engaged with thousands of companies from $5M to $50M to $100M+ ARR on scaling strategy, US market entry, capital positioning, and AI-era operating models.
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Peter Crooks
Peter Crooks is a science-trained entrepreneur and innovation executive. For more than 25 years he has turned research into products and companies across food, natural health, biotech and cannabis. As Executive Director of Canada's Smartest Kitchen, he helped more than 300 companies launch over 1,500 food products in six countries. As Chief Product Innovation Officer at publically traded, Auxly, he led the largest Cannabis 2.0 launch in Canada, with 128 SKUs generating $90M in second-year sales. Later, as Founder and CEO of Kapoose Creek Bio, a fungi research-based AI platform, he raised more than $23M in Series A financing.
Today he is Executive Director of Startup Programs and Innovation Partnerships at the University of New Brunswick's J. Herbert Smith Centre for Technology Management & Entrepreneurship. He is also Director of Strategic Initiatives at Boombang, a Los Angeles-based innovation agency and venture studio, and he founded the early stage commercialization firm idea2market. Atlantic Business Magazine named him one of Atlantic Canada's Top 50 CEOs. He holds a BSc (Hons) from Mount Allison and a Master of Medicine from Memorial University and post graduate degree in software development.
Innovation in AgTech Panel
Xavier Hébert-Couturier
Xavier Hébert-Couturier is the co-founder and CEO of Picketa Systems, a Fredericton-based AgTech company building real-time plant tissue analysis tools for agronomists and growers. He focuses on turning complex crop data into practical, in-season decisions and works closely with ag retailers, researchers, and farmers across North America to modernize nutrient management. Xavier is a Software Engineer by training, having studied at the University of New Brunswick, and brings a product-driven approach to applying advanced technology in real farming environments.
Damilare Odumosu
Damilare Odumosu is an agricultural technologist and entrepreneur who founded CropMind, an agritech company that utilizes artificial intelligence and data analytics to optimize crop management and enhance yield predictability for farmers. CropMinda is an AI-driven agricultural platform that transforms complex field data into actionable insights for crop monitoring, disease detection, soil health assessment, and yield forecasting. It leverages machine learning models to analyze field data and leaf imagery, enabling early identification of plant diseases, pest infestations, and nutrient deficits.
Damilare is an innovator skilled in agriculture, software engineering, and spatial data analysis who established CropMind to tackle food security challenges, high operational costs, and climate unpredictability in modern farming.
TBA
TBA
Social Impact Panel
Meg Murphy
Meg Murphy is a writer, editor, and program builder who has spent more than two decades translating complex ideas for broad audiences and building the programs that carry them into the world. She is a co-founder of Blue42 Labs, where she designs and runs Blue42 Studio, intensive experiences that take participants from a real-world problem to a built and tested solution. At the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, she was a founding advisor of Harvard HealthLab Accelerators (H2A), a global program that helps young people create ventures addressing public and planetary health, and she coached young founders across several countries. She has also written about science and innovation for MIT, where she led media relations for the launch of the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing, and for Boston Children's Hospital. A former newspaper reporter, she was a lead writer on The Eagle-Tribune staff awarded the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for breaking news. Born in Canada, she holds a BA from the University of Toronto and an MS in journalism from Columbia University.
Sam Magee
Sam Magee is Director on Creativity and Entrepreneurship at Harvard College, where since 2020 he has led the Lemann Program on Creativity and Entrepreneurship (LPCE), building courses, accelerators, and a community that help students turn ideas from the liberal arts into ventures with social impact. He co-founded Harvard HealthLab Accelerators (H2A) and built its global cohorts in Brazil, Africa, and Canada, connecting Harvard students with young social entrepreneurs on three continents. Before Harvard, he spent more than a decade as an arts administrator at MIT, where he founded what became the MIT Arts Startup Incubator, and he has taught Creative Entrepreneurship at Boston University. He began his career as a school teacher and arts department chair. He holds an MFA, has served on the board of the Alliance for the Arts at Research Universities, and is a co-founder of Blue42 Labs.
SPONSORS
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