"Ignite Innovation: Empowering Mid Career Professionals with Agility and Impact"

Presentation Abstract

 Mid career chemical engineers - whether in academia or industry - often find themselves frustrated when their drive to find better ways to do things runs up against the inertia of large organizations. Challenging norms, best practices and often rigid institutional structures can be daunting and demoralizing. It is often common for such professionals to be looking for more than a paycheck; they are seeking purpose, growth, and a chance to make a meaningful impact on the world. On the flipside, even organizations who pride themselves on their research, problem-solving and new product development capabilities can struggle with well-intentioned but slow-moving and expensive institutional frameworks. This often results in organizations failing to adapt quickly enough to disruptive change and uncertainty.

 This webinar introduces a pragmatic innovation model which connects leadership, technology and business value. Through a unique blend of experiential learning, academic / industry collaboration, and real-world commercialization, this model helps organizations solve their most pressing and strategic technical challenges while better equipping their people to lead.

 A key component of this development program are innovation tools – including Artificial Intelligence (AI) – which are deployed to speed up framing problems, designing solutions and business models, and preparing go to market approaches. The cohort of professionals also benefit from operating in a semi-autonomous “third space” that fosters high-velocity innovation, encourages smart risk-taking, and enables freedom to learn from failures.

 By focusing on entrepreneurial skills, adaptive leadership, and immersive sustainability projects, this session aims to inspire mid-career engineers to expand their influence and reinforce organizational innovation capacity. By imparting real-world success cases throughout the conversation, attendees will be able to see firsthand how they can supercharge their career and direct their expertise towards purpose-driven, high impact outcomes.

Speakers

 Dr. Lynn Frostman brings over 30 years’ experience in innovation in the energy and chemicals industries, ranging from Fortune 500 companies to early-stage startups. She currently serves as Director of Stakeholder Engagements at Avatar Innovations, Executive in Residence for the Rice Alliance Clean Energy Accelerator, and a member of several advisory boards. She holds both B.S. & Ph.D. degrees in Chemical Engineering from Michigan State University and the University of Minnesota, respectively.

 Tyler Engel, CFA, is Director, Partnerships at Avatar Innovations, Canada’s first Energy Corporate Venture Studio. In this role, Tyler operates at the intersection of industry, academia, and the public sector, leveraging Avatar as a platform to drive the development of new energy leaders, and the commercialization of transformative energy technologies. Prior to Avatar, Tyler spent ten years in public capital markets at a global midstream energy company, working in debt finance and liquidity management.