Dr. Zev Gurion, the key-note speaker has almost 40 years of experience in a range of industries with large global companies as well as start up and small companies. He is currently the Executive Director of the Akron BioMedical Corridor2 which is an initiative of the City of Akron, Ohio, and a collaboration of the local hospitals, university, medical school, private businesses and city and county government.
He is also president of New Global Ventures, an affiliate of the Akron Development Corporation which supports economic development of the city of Akron. This initiative focuses on attracting international early-stage companies and helping them develop US markets and establish presence to the Greater Akron area. In this role he has been leading the formation of strategic partnerships with institutions and companies in several countries including Israel, Slovenia, Germany and Turkey.

Dr. Gurion is also a Board Director of Targetech Innovation Center, an early stage business incubator in Israel as well as an active board member of several of its portfolio companies. His lecture titled From Local Innovation to Global Business Growth3 will not simply stop at "knowledge and technologies", but move forward and provide the insight into business growth.