Whether it’s market research into consumer behaviour or academic research into how humans react to various circumstances, collecting data effectively is an important piece of the puzzle. Adam Froman has long made innovative data collection his business.

The founder and CEO of digital innovation company Delvinia will share insight into his business this week while speaking with Brock University students about how leaps in technology — from virtual reality to the ‘internet of things’ — have changed the game in the field of data collection.

“With the prevalence of digital technologies and the ever-changing business landscape, organizations today are looking for new and innovative ways to gain consumer insights,” says Froman.

“For an institution that’s engaging in research, it’s important to be aware of the disruptive technologies that are emerging and shaping the industry today, and to understand how to apply them within an academic setting.”

Froman’s talk, taking place at Brock on Thursday, Nov. 2 at 10:30 a.m., is co-hosted by the University’s Department of Political Science and the Centre for Business Analytics in the Goodman School of Business. The lecture is the second in the Innovation Speaker Series organized by Political Science Assistant Professor Nicole Goodman.

Goodman says Froman will get students and faculty thinking about how innovations in data collection may be applied in their own research to improve results and transform the traditional timeframe for collecting data.

“We live in a rapidly changing and complex world where political problems and issues are increasingly multi-sectoral,” says Goodman. “Adequately understanding and interpreting these problems and issues requires new ways of thinking and, perhaps, new ways of collecting data and carrying out research.”

Goodman and Froman have collaborated on several projects in the past, including the creation of the Centre for e-Democracy in 2014. The centre is a charitable organization dedicated to generating, translating and disseminating scholarly findings and knowledge about how digital technologies affect politics and democracy.

Delvinia is also partnering with Brock University on a Mitacs-funded research fellowship to study brain drain, examining where Canadian STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) talent is going and why.

“One of the biggest challenges facing tech companies is managing the talent pipeline and keeping great talent in Canada,” Froman says. “It is my hope that the research conducted through this Mitacs Accelerate fellowship will provide us with a better understanding of how to address this issue.”

Froman’s lecture takes place at 10:30 a.m. Thursday in Brock’s Plaza 600F.