The president and CEO of the Canada Foundation for Innovation will address lessons from COVID-19 as we begin to build back better in a free public presentation on Thursday, Oct. 7.

In her talk, entitled “COVID as Catalyst: Innovation and Discovery,” Roseann O’Reilly Runte will propose ways to take what we have learned from this pandemic to design projects based on local and regional strengths, collaboration, the possibilities of science, and the knowledge that we live in a global community facing challenges with solutions in which there is a role for local talent.

“Windsor is the gateway to the south,” she says. “It must also be an important destination in itself, an economic hub and the best home possible for its citizens.”

A member of the board of businesses including the National Bank of Canada, LifeNet, and Jean Coutu, Dr. Runte has also served as president of the Canadian Commission for UNESCO, of the Foundation for International Training, and as a member of the executive of the Club of Rome and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons.

Thursday’s event is part of the Envision community speaker series, which offers thought-provoking discussion about what’s next in the post-COVID future.

It will begin at 8:30 a.m. on the Microsoft Teams teleconferencing platform. A question-and-answer period will follow Runte’s formal presentation. Register to attend.