Human-centred innovation

Text on screen: [Human-centred innovation]

Rocky Jain, director, mobile & social networking technologies, Manulife:

I found purpose in my career and using technology by applying it to humanity.  And that’s where liberal arts comes in.  There’s a whole expansive universe of arts and humanity that’s untapped and under-served by technology.

Daniel Pearson Hirdes, co-founder & CEO, HealthIM:

One thing we’re always fully cautious about in the start-up community as a whole is the idea of a solution without a problem, where we build something that’s neat but it’s really not solving a real problem that people have.

Heather Galt, vp talent initiatives/exec. in residence, Communitech:

Tech founders sometimes struggle a little bit to understand their customers, understand the subtleties in their markets because they’re very focused on their product.  But when we bring in people who have different backgrounds, sometimes those are people who can offer insights, can offer knowledge, can offer a little more depth.

Daniel Pearson Hirdes, co-founder & CEO, HealthIM:

There is a lot of big problems in the health care sector that the nurses and doctors are talking about that just never really make it over to the engineering side.  They never solve those kind of a disconnect between people who have a problem that really needs solving and people who are able to provide a solution.  And so when you’re working in this field with the arts, you have more of a holistic approach where you can see all the different people that are involved, the kind of tech elements to it that can solve those problems and how you can bring them together to create a real solution.

Heather Galt, vp talent initiatives/exec. in residence, Communitech:

Part of the success of this community is it’s not just tech focused.  So having CEOs who have backgrounds in the liberal arts, or have backgrounds outside of the tech scene altogether is really important.

Rocky Jain, director, mobile & social networking technologies, Manulife:

I’ve found purpose in what I do.  When I put my hands on a keyboard and start programming, I know that I’m building something that’s going to improve someone’s life.  Somehow, I don’t know how yet, but at least it gives me purpose and drive to build something interesting.

Text on screen: [Bilingual logos of Universities Canada and the Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences]