AI, Quantum, Cybersecurity and Space: Leveraging Dual-use Tech for Defence & Sovereignty

Matt is an interdisciplinary thinker and researcher with a background that spans industries from construction to academia to policy. His work explores how emerging technologies and shifting geopolitical dynamics reshape security, governance, knowledge, and sovereignty — with a focus on the implications of AI and digital infrastructure.

Matt previously worked on international AI governance and security at the Centre for International Governance Innovation. His Ph.D. research examined the relationship between historical narrative, written evidence, and political power.

Matt is also a fellow in Technology and Security at Queen’s University’s Centre for International and Defence Policy, and he serves on multiple standardization technical committees.

Mina leads Kepler with a vision to extend the human reach into space by building a modern Internet infrastructure on-orbit for the future space economy. Under Mina’s leadership, Kepler has raised over $200 million USD in funding and achieved notable industry recognition as the largest satellite operator in Canada, one of the most innovative companies in space by Fast Company, and ‘top10 in satellite’ by Via Satellite in 2023.

Rafal Janik is the Chief Operating Officer at Xanadu, where he leads the commercialization of Xanadu’s quantum computing technology. He has over 13 years of experience leading software and machine learning teams in both large enterprises and high growth startups to bring cutting edge technologies to market. Rafal works closely with national governments and large enterprises to develop quantum adoption strategies and policies.

Dr. Atefeh (Atty) Mashatan is the founding director of the Cybersecurity Research Lab (CRL) at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) and recognized as a leading expert in cryptography, blockchain technology, quantum-resistant solutions, enterprise security architecture and Internet-of-Things (IoT) security.

Since 2016, Dr. Mashatan has been a professor at the Ted Rogers School of Information Technology Management and holds the prominent position as a Canada Research Chair (Tier II) in Quality of Security (QoS) Framework for Internet-of-Things (IoT) as of September 2021. She investigates new threats that have emerged due to the  widespread adoption of IoT, develop new security systems for these networks, and recommends best practices for users, technical audiences and policy-makers. Her CRC program focuses on enhancing the quality of security of smart yet small IoT devices in the specific context in which they are being deployed. The aim of this multidisciplinary research program is to make a solution as secure as possible, given the contextual parameters and limitations of its use-case.

Dr. Mashatan’s remarkable contributions to cybersecurity have been globally recognized as she continues to be an innovative leader and researcher at the forefront of the field. She has been acknowledged with many prestigious awards some of which include being recognized as the Top 25 Women of Influence (2024) by Women of Influence+,  Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Award 2023 under the Executive Leader category awarded by Women’s Executive Network (WXN), Canada’s Cyber Security Research Expert of the Year (2023) by Wealth & Finance International and the Top 5 Women of Influence in Security 2019 by SC Magazine. Furthermore, her achievements include receiving the University Blockchain Research Initiative Innovator Award from Ripple in November 2021 and winning the Hyperledger Challenge by the Hyperledger Foundation in August 2022.

Previously, Dr. Mashatan was a Scientific Collaborator at the Security and Cryptography Laboratory of School of Computer and Communication Sciences, EPFL (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne), where she conducted research into cryptographic protocols, followed by a position at CIBC, where she was a Senior Information Security Consultant and Solutions Architect focusing on cryptography and enterprise architecture.

Dina Hawker is the Managing Director of the Sandbox Centre. She brings more than 17 years of experience across finance, operations, manufacturing, strategy, and law, and has built a reputation for connecting entrepreneurs, industry, and government to drive economic growth and commercialization outcomes. 

Under her leadership, Sandbox, one of Ontario’s newest Regional Innovation Centres, has evolved into a collaborative hub supporting founders and scaling companies, with a growing focus on dual-use technology, manufacturing, and defence-sector commercialization, helping companies move from early-stage development to scale. Over the past three years, Dina has deepened her involvement in the Canadian and U.S. defence ecosystems, working alongside a mentor, as a Canadian partner to Fuse Ventures (a global dual-use hub), and other defence industry experts to build the sector knowledge behind Sandbox’s defence programming. Her focus has been creating programming that bridges innovation and industry and helping bring Canada’s capabilities to the world stage.