Cesar Castro

Director, Business Development:

Health Horizon Program, Technology Horizons Program, Institute for the Future

Cesar Castro heads up the business development effort and works with the Health Horizons Program and the Technology Horizons Program at the Institute for The Future (IFTF), a non-profit research and consulting group based in Palo Alto, CA. He also directs a project on forecasting future disruptions in science and technology (www.sciencex2.org). His primary areas of research include open innovation, crowdsourcing, hybrid business models, and new models for online cooperative communities.

Cesar has spent over 20 years working in the chemical, life sciences, and consumer products industries, and has both large company and startup experience. Prior to joining the IFTF, Cesar held the positions of Vice President of Marketing and Vice President of Sales for InnoCentive, Inc., one of the first companies to successfully commercialize an open innovation business model. He led the growth of InnoCentive’s customer base from one to over 50 of the most innovative Fortune 500 companies in the world. He has spoken frequently on the topic of open innovation strategies and the challenges that organizations face in successfully implementing these strategies.

Before joining InnoCentive, Cesar was the Global Business Director at ChemConnect, where he developed a global marketplace for plastics buyers and sellers. He was also Director of Sales and Marketing for MBA Polymers, a Clean Tech company focused on developing advanced techniques for recycling high performance plastics. His earlier work experience also includes nine years spent at Shell Oil Company in Houston, TX.

Cesar received a BS in Chemistry from Loyola College in Maryland and an MS in Polymer Science from Case Western Reserve University.