Canadians Who Innovate

Profiles of some of the most inventive and creative Canadians and the ideas that are making Canada a leading nation in innovation.

From saving lives to saving harvests...
From discovering ancient diamonds to identifying the first exo-planet...
From driverless cars to quantum computers...
From Nobel laureates to your next-door neighbor...
This book offers uplifting stories of innovative Canadians.

Canadians Who Innovate includes two Nobel laureates, an astronaut, extraordinary business leaders, the godfathers of artificial intelligence, and top quantum experts, including the inventor of what may be the next quantum computer. It features profiles of the first director of engineering at Google, who is now working on nuclear fusion; a medical researcher who communicates on TikTok about the efficacy and potential for RNA vaccine technology; and a PhD in nuclear physics who has twice won the Scotiabank Giller Prize. Meet the linguist who works with Indigenous people to make online dictionaries, an internationally consulted specialist on migration, an agri-tech investor, a world specialist on permafrost, and the expert in systems and number theory who has a way to fix health care. And don’t forget the engineer who grew human cells on apples, a feat that is leading to the creation of replacement organs that do not require donors—not to be confused with the aerospace technology developer who created a tethering system to clean up space debris and a 3-D printer that prints biological tissue.

Featuring brilliant thinkers from coast to coast to coast, and others from around the world who now call Canada home, Canadians Who Innovate paints a promising picture of a cleaner, healthier, more innovative future for us all.

Roseann O’Reilly Runte is president of the Canadian Foundation for Innovations. Previously, she led five academic institutions, most recently as president and vice-chancellor of Carleton University. She was the seventh president of Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, president of Victoria University, principal of Glendon College, and president of l’Université Sainte-Anne. She has served on numerous business, medical, and cultural boards around the world, including as president of the Canadian Commission for UNESCO, Fulbright Canada, and on the boards of the National Bank, Pharmacies Jean-Coutu, the United Way, and the Club of Rome. She is a dual Canadian and US citizen. She lives in Ottawa, Ontario.