Theme: Synthesis

Synthesis: How innovation becomes reality, from the lab bench to the store shelf.

It can be easy to take for granted the myriad of products that improve our lives dramatically. However, the journey from a laboratory experiment to a real-world solution is often long and complicated. Along the path, businesses and scientists need to grapple with questions of ethics, applicability, and motivation. How can we synthesize the perspectives of different stakeholders to better understand the process of discovery and translation?

University of Toronto Mississauga (UTM)
3359 Mississauga Road
Mississauga, Ontario, L5L 1C6
Canada

Leigh Revers

Biotechnology Consultant and Director of MBiotech

Leigh Revers has and extensive background in biotechnology entrepreneurship, and has more than 15 years of experience working in the life sciences sector, both in academia and industry. Trained as a chemist and molecular biologist, he came to Canada in 1996 as the recipient of a Leverhulme Scholarship. A long-held interest in entrepreneurship led in 2000 to his becoming a co-founder of Molecular Templates Inc. (MTI), an private biotech company focussed on the development of novel toxin-based cancer therapeutics. In May 2006, he was appointed Assistant Director with the MBiotech Programme at the University of Toronto. In 2007, Dr. Revers co-founded a consulting practice, AdamsRevers, which provides specialist scientific and financial services to SMEs in the life sciences. Dr. Revers holds Bachelor’s, Master’s and Doctoral degrees in Physical Sciences from University of Oxford.

Lisa Kramer

Professor of Finance, Department of Management, University of Toronto Mississauga Research Fellow, Behavioural Economics in Action at Rotman (BEAR), University of Toronto

Lisa Kramer is a Professor in the Department of Management at the University of Toronto Mississauga, with a cross-appointment in the Finance area at the Rotman School of Management and in the University of Toronto Department of Economics. She conducts interdisciplinary work in the field of behavioural finance, blending psychology and economics to study markets and financial decision making. She also has interests in neuroeconomics, investments, market seasonality, human decisions, mood, and emotions. Her research has appeared in economics, finance, business ethics, and psychology journals, including the American Economic Review. Her studies have been extensively profiled by the popular press, including The Wall Street Journal, US News and World Reports, The Washington Post, Bloomberg Business, Business Week, and Time.

Nicola Lacetara

Associate Professor of Strategic Management, Department of Management, University of Toronto Mississauga Chief Scientist, BEAR Centre

Nicola Lacetera is an Associate Professor in the Department of Management at the University of Toronto Mississauga, with a cross-appointment to the Strategic Management area at Rotman and to the Economics Department. He is an applied economist, and has collaborated with several non-profit organizations to conduct field experiments to study the motivations for altruistic behaviour, and in particular blood and organ donations, thus informing these organizations on how to enhance contributions from donors. A second line of research concerns how ethical beliefs affect the acceptance of certain “controversial” transactions (such as paying for blood or organs, patenting living organisms, or prostitution). Third, he uses large datasets from used car auctions to assess the determinants of value and quality of automobile. Finally, Nico studies how different individual motivations and institutional arrangements affect the production and commercialization of knowledge.