This year’s Elevate Festival will feature a star-studded lineup of guest speakers, including Kyle Lowry, who is not only widely considered to be the greatest Toronto Raptor of all time, but is the CEO of his own tech-focused venture firm.
The news: Returning to Toronto on Sept. 22, Elevate Festival announced a stacked lineup of guest speakers Monday morning, including former Toronto Raptors’ point guard and investor in the Toronto Tempo, Kyle Lowry, Cohere’s Michael Pelosi, Reddit’s Adam Collins, Clio founder and CEO Jack Newton, and Bumble’s Vivek Sagi, among others. The tech conference, which is celebrating its ninth anniversary, is also introducing new programming focused on sovereignty, dual-use tech, and cybersecurity, which was created in collaboration with DMZ and BDC.
From the source: “This year marks an important chapter for the festival, and we’re bringing together the people and ideas that can help shape what comes next,” said Lisa Zarzeczny, the CEO and co-founder of Elevate, in a press release. “The stakes only continue to get higher, which is why conversations around AI and sovereignty are at the forefront of this year’s programming.”
The context: Across this year’s three days of programming, Elevate Festival is looking to leverage its high-profile roster of speakers to discuss what it calls some of “the most pressing conversations facing Canada’s innovation economy.” Those conversations include discussions with Collins, Reddit’s chief communications officer, on the role human perspectives play amid a rash of AI-generated internet content. There will also be conversations with Build Canada, Dominion Dynamics, Sentinel R&D, and Coveo on how Canada can own the dual-use technologies of the future; panels with Coinbase Canada on the role stablecoins are playing in the Canadian financial system; and Elevate’s Fast Forward track, which will spotlight “emerging ideas poised to become tomorrow’s competitive advantage.”
Final thought: Like others in the Canadian innovation space, Elevate Festival is putting sovereignty front and centre this year. The festival, which over its tenure has drawn upwards of 87,000 attendees, is attuning itself to the topic at a moment when the national mood is preoccupied with Canada’s security, both physical and economic.
Image courtesy Elevate. Photo by Brandon Ferguson Media.