SYNIAD’S CIO IS APPOINTED TO ADVISE UBC PRESIDENT SANTA ONTO IN HIS ROLE AS CHIEF ADVISOR, INNOVATION NETWORK

VANCOUVER, BC, February 21, 2017 – Syniad Innovations Inc (“Syniad”) today announced the appointment of Chief Investment Officer Iain Evans to support UBC’s President, Santa Ono, in his mission to establish an Innovation Network designed to foster greater collaboration between post-secondary institutions and innovation-driven industries.  The objective of the Network is to provide the industry with improved access to leading-edge researchers inside post-secondary institutions while also attracting business and talent to the region.

Iain, whose Cambridge Ph.D. focused on the emergence of innovation clusters, is an internationally respected thought leader in this field and has been appointed to maximize the alignment between homegrown talent and the industry’s unmet needs while helping spur industry innovation and the continued growth of our economy.

Working with the Premier’s Technology Council and the BC Tech Association, Iain will convene industry, post-secondary leaders, entrepreneurs and research agencies throughout the province to build relationships, pursue collaborative innovation projects and provide a forum to support innovation in the provincial economy. The focus of immediate work will be to secure one of the recently announced federal ‘Innovation Superclusters’ in BC and position Canada to compete globally in research and innovation.

Iain Evans, Syniad’s Chief Investment Officer, commented, “I’m pleased to be asked to contribute to BC’s future success by supporting Professor Ono in his role as Chief Advisor to the Premier on the Innovation Network. Finding the synergies between industry, academia, government, and society has been a passion of mine, and I’m delighted to be able to bring some of those insights, experiences and horsepower to Professor Ono’s mandate”.