The Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology and Waterloo International are proud to jointly present an Innovation Seminar by Fanny Bousquet, First Secretary at the Embassy of Canada to the Netherlands.
In this seminar, Fanny Bousquet will discuss bilateral innovation policy relations between the Netherlands and Canada. This seminar will be open to the Waterloo community to inspire interdisciplinary conversations and connections. Refreshments will be provided!
Where:
Mike
&
Ophelia
Lazaridis
Quantum-Nano
Centre
(QNC)
1501
When:
November
9,
2022
-
11:00am
-
12:00pm
Registration is required! Please register to reserve your spot.
Abstract
The Netherlands is a gateway to Europe for Canadian companies and as a country, it has consistently been ranked amongst the world’s top innovators. It is also one of the EU countries that spends most on R&D (2.29% of GDP in 2020). Its innovation policy is mostly focused on: water, agri-food, high tech, energy, logistics, chemicals, creative industries, life sciences, and horticulture. Amsterdam has the fastest growing startup ecosystem in Europe and numerous incubators and accelerators have the mandate to support the startup community in the Netherlands as well as foreign startup willing to establish a footprint in their country. Canada and the Netherlands are natural collaborators in Europe and in multilateral institutions, with policies and positions often aligned and a strong relationship anchored in the role played by Canada in the liberation of the Netherlands during the Second World War. Priorities for bilateral STI cooperation include sectors such as quantum and photonics; smart cities; innovation in logistics and value chains; agri-tech and robotics; and digital health/med tech, to list but a few.
Biography
Fanny Bousquet joined Global Affairs Canada in 2011 after working as a freelance interpreter for the EU Institutions in Brussels for 12 years. She graduated from McGill University in French Literature and completed a Master’s Degree in Conference Interpreting in 1998, followed by a M.A. in International Affairs from the Centre d’études en relations internationales et stratégiques in Brussels (affiliated to Université Paris-11, France) in 2007. In 2020, she earned her designation as “Certified International Trade Professional” (FITT).
Following assignments in policy at Headquarters, she took her first assignment abroad as Vice-Consul & Trade Commissioner in Dusseldorf, Germany in 2015. From 2018 to 2021, she worked at the Clean Growth Hub in Ottawa to support Canadian clean tech companies looking to expand in Canada and abroad. She has extensive knowledge of the European Union and its commercial relations with Canada and sectoral expertise in clean technologies, including water treatment and hydrogen. She took over the position of First Secretary / Science, Technology and Innovation Officer at the Canadian Embassy in The Hague in August 2021, moving to the Netherlands with her husband and two children.