Colleen Hardwick
Colleen Hardwick was headed for a career in Urban Planning before a twist of fate – a movie that was shot in her family home – launched her into a 20-year career in the film industry. Colleen ultimately founded New City Productions, producing dozens of movies and $100M in revenue before selling in 2000. In 2005, Colleen switched gears again. With the support of the Canada New Media Fund, she began to prototype MovieSet which won the Vortex Award for Excellence in New Media Innovation by the Marshall McLuhan Festival of the Future. Colleen blended her film production knowledge with internet technology to pioneer behind-the-scenes filmmaking online, while building audience through social media. In 2010, She created the startup PlaceSpeak, a pioneering, award-winning location-based smart city citizen engagement platform, with the support of the National Research Council of Canada, Industrial Research Assistance Program. Colleen is working toward a PhD in Applied Innovation at UBC.
