• 11 October 2021
  • Posted by: Canberra Innovation Network
  • Category: General News
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Meet Petr Adamek

We’re highlighting our business’ strongest asset: our wonderful team!

Here at the Canberra Innovation Network, we’re passionate about innovation and are here to help you make an impact and change the world. Our team is full of clever, connected and creative people and we’re excited to introduce you to our CEO Petr Adámek.

Explain what you do at CBRIN.
I inspire, encourage and champion the brilliance, expertise, passion and superconnectivity that surrounds me = the CBRIN team, our stakeholders, entreperneurs, business owners and the entire innovation ecosystem.

Tell us about what you’re working on at the moment.
We have a suite of events and programs prepared for interactive online delivery ⁠— hackathons, innovation programs and competitions, collaborative innovation labs and events that are increasing the connectedness, collaborative and innovation potential of the ACT innovation ecosystem. This mission keeps me very focused.

Who or what inspires you?
People who build greatness out of adversity, people who understand and can work with their fear, who openly share their lessons with others and continue to be humble learners. I am very fortunate that I have been around such people and they continue to inspire me.

What’s your favourite book or podcast?
The book of books for me is The Rainforest: The Secret to Building the Next Silicon Valley. A lot of what I have observed, learned through failure or serendipity (and more) meets in this book by Victor Hwang and Greg Horowitt.

What are you most passionate about?
As an engineer I am most passionate about the rapid feedback loop applied on human systems. You observe, create, try something, observe, adjust and try again. This constant tension and tumbling between frontier-pushing creativity and reality-check is magic. I believe that when blended with science, this entrepreneurial formula has a transormative power to change our lives, solve the wicked problems of our time and determine the future of our planet and beyond.

If you could dis-invent one thing, what would it be and why?
The tall-poppy syndrome. Because it hinders progress and learning.

Drink of choice? 
A homemade flat white.

What do you work towards in your free time?
In lockdown I’ve been excercising every day, eating well and found that both make me really happy! I’ve also really enjoyed not stressing myself with any audacious goals in this regard.

What’s the coolest innovation you’ve read or heard about lately?
The progress in robotics is fascinating. Have you seen the Boston Dynamics robot do the Ninja Warrior track in a gym?

What is something that never fails to make you smile?
Animals, especially young ones. They are cute, genuine, authentic, real.

What are you currently watching on Netflix?
Money Heist.

Tell us something interesting about yourself that we may not know.
When I was 11 I traded ‘learning to play the flute’ for ‘learning English’ with my parents. They said, “You can stop playing the flute, but you need to do something (else): learn English? Sounds like a reasonable thing to do”. But not in the 80s in Czechoslovakia. Playing flute would be seen as much more useful then.

If you were a crayon, what colour would you be?
One that colorblind people can recognise. 🙂

Thanks, Petr! You can connect with him on LinkedIn or meet him at our office in Civic.