Speakers

Dr. Maher Hakim is the Chief Advisor of Innovation and Enterprise at Qatar's Research, Development and Innovation Council. Concurrently, he is a Distinguished Career Professor at Carnegie Mellon University and a Partner at 212 - a venture capital firm based in Istanbul focused on regional startup investments in digital technologies. Dr. Hakim is the founder and CEO of Innovation Foundry, a consultancy firm delivering innovation-related advisory services to government, venture capital, corporations and startups.

Dr. Hakim is an ecosystem builder, tech investor, startup coach, mentor, and educator. During the past decade, Dr. Hakim was the executive director of UC Berkeley's tech innovation hub, the managing director of Qatar's Science and Technology Park, and the head of Carnegie Mellon University's Center for Innovation Entrepreneurship in Doha, Qatar. Additionally, Dr. Hakim taught innovation and entrepreneurship at Carnegie Mellon University Qatar, the University of California Berkeley, and the European Innovation Academy.

Before that, Dr. Hakim's experience included launching and building several technology startups, leading product innovation groups for large software companies, teaching innovation and entrepreneurship, investing in tech startups, supporting efforts to build innovation ecosystems around the globe, and mentoring and coaching startup founders and tech investment professionals. Dr. Hakim is a technologist by education and holds a PhD in Computer-Aided Engineering and Management from Carnegie Mellon University. His writings on topics of innovation, entrepreneurship and leadership on his LinkedIn Blog can find here.