Zipcar co-founder Robin Chase talks collaborative economy at Discovery 2016

TORONTO, March 22, 2016 /CNW/ - Transportation entrepreneur Robin Chase, co-founder and former CEO of Zipcar, the world's largest car-sharing service, will bring her themes of the collaborative economy and the new face of capitalism to Ontario Centres of Excellence's Discovery 2016.

Chase, an entrepreneur, lecturer and the author of the 2015 book 'Peers Inc.', appears on Discovery's main stage on May 10 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. She joins Tesla Motors co-founder and CTO JB Straubel as a featured keynote speaker at Discovery 2016.

Chase is renowned in the transportation field. In addition to co-founding Zipcar in 2000 with Antje Danielson, Chase co-founded Buzzcar, a peer to peer car-sharing service in France and GoLoco, an online ridesharing community. She is currently co-founder and executive chairman of Veniam, a vehicle communications company building the networking fabric for the Internet of Moving Things.

She is on the boards of Veniam, the World Resources Institute and Tucows. She has also advised on transportation policy while sitting on numerous boards and advisory councils at the federal, state and municipal levels as well as OECD's International Transport Forum Advisory Board.

Chase lectures widely and has received awards in the areas of innovation, design, and environment, including TIME's "100 Most Influential People", Fast Company's "Fast 50 Innovators" and BusinessWeek's "Top 10 Designers". And Etsy CEO Chad Dickerson called Chase "a true pioneer, whose work has had far-reaching and revolutionary effects. Robin always leaves me with inspiring ideas and new ways of looking at the world."

Her book, 'Peers Inc.', examines how the relationship between small companies and localized goods and services, and more powerful organizations like corporations, institutions and government is changing and strengthening the sharing economy and changing the way traditional capitalism works.

Named Canada's Best Trade Show 2010 and 2011 and now in its eleventh year, OCE's Discovery is Canada's premier innovation showcase. It brings together the best and brightest minds in industry, academia, investment and government to showcase leading-edge technologies, best practices and research in the areas of energy, the environment, advanced health, digital media, information and communication technologies and advanced manufacturing. The annual conference and showcase attracts more than 3,200 attendees and 500 exhibitors.

For more on Discovery, visit www.ocediscovery.com

NB: Robin Chase is available for media interviews on May 10 between 11:20 and 11:50 a.m.

About Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE) Inc.

Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE) drives the commercialization of cutting-edge research across key market sectors to build the economy of tomorrow and secure Ontario's global competitiveness. In doing this, OCE fosters the training and development of the next generation of innovators and entrepreneurs and is a key partner with Ontario's industry, universities, colleges, research hospitals, investors and government ministries. A champion of leading-edge technologies, best practices and research, OCE invests in sectors such as advanced health, information and communications technology, digital media, advanced materials and manufacturing, agri-food, aerospace, transportation, energy, and the environment including water and mining. OCE is a key partner in delivering Ontario's Innovation Agenda as a member of the province's Ontario Network of Entrepreneurs (ONE). Funded by the Government of Ontario, the ONE is made up of regional and sector-focused organizations and helps Ontario-based entrepreneurs and industry rapidly grow their company and create jobs. For more information visit www.onebusiness.ca

SOURCE Ontario Centres of Excellence Inc.

Media contact: Stuart Green, Manager, Media Relations, 416-861-1092 x 1022, [email protected]