Biography
Dr. Contreras leads SensisChallenges - Sensis’ professional services practice for the design and execution of custom challenges. He has designed and executed some of the world’s most impactful crowd-innovation challenges. His challenge experience spans strategy, digital marketing, ideation, prototyping, incubation, and post-prize program evaluation. Prior to Sensis, Mike co-founded and managed the United Stated Department of Energy (DOE) Catalyst Energy Innovation Prize, a $1MM program funding scalable energy software startups.
Under his leadership, the program received several awards including the Edison Innovation Award from Challenge.gov, the DOE Energy Rock Star Award, the International Society for Professional Innovation Management (ISPIM) 2015 Grand Prize, and IdeaScale’s Open Innovation Award. His work has been highlighted by the White House and covered by Forbes, TechCrunch, and the 2016 book Delivering on Digital: The Innovators and Technologies That Are Transforming Government.
What’s one website or book you think more people should know about?
- Bold by Peter Diamandis
- Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
- The Innovators by Walter Isaacson
What is one Twitter account that we should all follow?
@bhorowitz. Ben Horowitz is the only dude who truly reps startups and hip-hop. Cross-cultural.
What’s an emerging trend we should keep our eye on?
Fertility awareness apps.
What’s one prediction you have for our industry that will come true in 5 years?
The rise of the super community.