Award Winner
Jagdish Yadav & Leslie Fink, City of Toronto
Adaptive Innovation

Leslie Fink and Jagdish Yadav work for the City of Toronto, leading initiatives that bring together diverse stakeholders to solve complex urban challenges. Their collaborative approach breaks down traditional silos between government, industry, academia, and even competitors. In 2025, they received the Innovation Strategy award in the Adaptive Innovation category, recognizing their ability to build systems that evolve in real-world conditions.

Special Achievement

Innovation Strategy Award Winner Jagdish Yadav & Leslie Fink

The Innovation Strategy Awards, part of Future Festival World Summit 2025, honored leaders who've built repeatable systems for turning ideas into results. Winners were selected from inspiring conversations with some of the world's most renowned innovators.

Leslie and Jagdish's tactic of building cross-sector pilot networks allows the City of Toronto to test solutions in real city environments before scaling. This approach creates partnerships that stick and produces evidence that builds confidence across stakeholder groups. Read the full interview to learn how Leslie, Jagdish, and their team put this into practice.

For more on our Innovation Strategy Awards and how your organization can enter to be nominated, visit InnovationStrategy.com.

Let's Connect

To learn more about how Trend Hunter can support your specific needs, send us a note and a member of our team will be in touch.