Laith Kassis

A graduate of the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee, USA and the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Australia. He is currently managing director of Fikra – Paltel Group Innovation Hub, which is a corporate entrepreneurship program, which features a corporate equity funding to investing in early stage startups. As a Fellow of the Global Innovation Catalyst Network, he has recently completed the Innovation Acceleration (iX) Training of Trainers Professional Development designed around the Stanford University Center for Professional Development Idea to Market curriculum, the program drives innovative thinking around cutting edge business and product practices to launch disruptive new ventures in startups, corporations, and government entities alike. Laith has championed the development of the technology incubation industry and early stage equity funding in Palestine as well as the development of technoparks business models and programs. Laith has advocated, conceptualized and established the first Techno Park (Palestine – India Techno Park) in Palestine and was successful in raising US$12M for its construction and has managed its construction and program operations from 2016 – 2018 prior to joining Fikra. As part of his own company, he provided consultancy, mentoring and capacity building to several entrepreneurial ventures. He also provided wide array of technology project management services and market export strategies. His previous relevant professional experience was in managing the Palestine IT Association (PITA) of companies and the PICTI incubator whereby he has contributed to the growth of the ICT sector through promoting multinational R&D projects, outsourcing and foreign direct investments. LinkedIn profile is http://www.linkedin.com/in/laithkassis Twitter account is @laithkassis