Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Jean-Jacques Rousseau is a philosopher of science, with a practice in inclusive innovation at the intersection of tech, entrepreneurship and big ideas.

A member of the Task Force on the Future of Pedagogy at York University, he advises the Office of the Dean at the Schulich School of Business in Decolonization, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (DEDI). As Managing Director at Rousseau Ventures, he helps clients Innovate for Impact ™. He spent 10 years in the Ontario Public Service, starting as an Economist in the Ontario Ministry of Finance, and ending as Investment Attraction Lead and Senior Manager of Life Sciences Programs at the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation. After four years of varied client work, he was recruited for the role of Inaugural Technical Advisor in Innovation, Science and Competitiveness to the President of the Republic of Haïti. Today, Rousseau Ventures has a client list that includes postsecondary institutions, a cultural centre, entrepreneur incubator spaces, and tech startups.

He holds a B.A. in Law and Philosophy from Carleton University, MBA from the Schulich School of Business, and PhD in Philosophy of Science from the Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology at the University of Toronto. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Explainability & Trust in AI Systems at the Lassonde School of Engineering, an intensive in Philosophy of Physics at the University of Geneva, and the EinsteinPlus workshop in modern physics at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics. He also completed a rigorous introduction to Machine Learning at the Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence.

Jean-Jacques regularly speaks and teaches on inclusive innovation, public policy and governance, digital and scientific literacy, and on Haiti as the light of the Enlightenment. He is an Instructor at the Schulich School of Business, Network Manager at the AI for Pandemic and Epidemic Preparedness (AI4PEP) project, Research Fellow at Dahdaleh Institute for Global Health Research, and Past Chair of CARE for Internationally Educated Nurses. He is a former Board Member at Groupe Média TFO and the World Summit AI Board of International Government and UN Advisors, Mentor at NextAI (Montréal) and former Chair of the Board of the Obsidian Theatre Company.