Professor Sylvain Rochon
Sylvain Rochon is a Canadian Futurist, International Keynote Speaker, Serial Entrepreneur, and Author with over 20 years of experience in strategic foresight, applied artificial intelligence, and education. He is a Research Fellow at Shinawatra University, the Cofounder, CMO, and Business Development Manager at CykoMetrix, the Futurist at SJ Performance, and Mentor at Unlimited Awesome.
Sylvain specializes in translating complex macroeconomic and technological shifts into actionable executive roadmaps, advising corporate, academic, and governmental leaders on anticipating disruption and engineering systems for maximum impact. He is the author of Engineering Paradise: Are You Ready?. published in 2018, and a contributing author of a chapter on active learning in the age of AI in The Generative Organization by Bryan Cassady. Read Interview with Sylvain Rochon (Cofounder, CykoMetrix).
Since October 2025, Sylvain has been a Research Fellow at Shinawatra University in Bangkok, Thailand, a private international university established in 1999 that focuses on academic research, innovation, and leadership development. His current focus at the university is on helping faculty integrate AI effectively into research methodologies and educational practices.
Since April 2025, Sylvain has served as a Mentor at Unlimited Awesome, a technology and innovation venture led by futurist and entrepreneur Alan Smithson that develops creator tools for the spatial web, including the METAVRSE 3D creation platform, and provides mentorship to founders and startups navigating emerging technologies.
Sylvain cofounded CykoMetrix in 2020 alongside James Mackenzie, Ross Norrie, and GJ Hagenaars. CykoMetrix is a SaaS-based human data intelligence platform that serves as the world’s first subscription-based psychometric assessment and analytics platform.
The platform features a proprietary psychometric graph database that centralizes psychometric, competency, and demographic data, enabling consultants, assessment makers, and enterprises to make data-driven decisions around hiring, promotions, and continuous development. CykoMetrix serves nearly 30 client organizations across multiple continents, including partners in Japan, the Middle East, South Africa, and Canada. Read Disruption in the Psychometric Assessment Industry.
Since November 2024, Sylvain has served as a Futurist at SJ Performance, where he works as an AI expert and futurist consultant, amplifying the company’s coaching and training team with technology and strategic foresight drawn from over two decades of experience as a futurist and educator.
He also serves as a Knowledge Partner at Shaping Tomorrow Consultants since May 2019, providing futurist services focused exclusively on India, with particular emphasis on higher education institutions, district-level governments, and city planning through strategic foresight techniques.
Since February 2021, Sylvain has been the Vice President of Business Development and Network at the Alliance for Extraterrestrial Diplomatic Contact (AEDC), a nonprofit international network headquartered in Montreal that advocates for an internationally agreed diplomatic framework for contact with extraterrestrial civilizations.
In this role, he coordinated the team that gathered 25 supporting organizations representing over 2 million supporters. He has presented on the AEDC’s mission at international conferences, including CEIMIX in Mexico. Listen to Preparing for First Contact with Sylvain Rochon.
Between September 2023 and August 2025, Sylvain was a Professor in Residence at National Law University Meghalaya in Shillong, India, where he fostered international collaborations, created a Knowledge Ecosystem for the university and its partners, established an Immersive Media Lab to explore new educational methods, and provided strategic foresight reports.
He has been a Member of the Board of Advisors at the Indian Institute of Technology, Jodhpur since March 2020, contributing his strategic forecasting expertise to the benefit of the Indian entrepreneurial community and institutions.
Between August 2016 and June 2023, Sylvain was the Cofounder and Strategic Advisor of the Canadian Institute of Mass Communications. In 2022, he completed a Global Affairs Canada / FIT project in Uganda, where the team created a blended learning program that allowed in-service teachers to complete university courses from home without the need for internet or electricity. The project, led by CEED Concordia in partnership with Kabale University, resulted in a 159% increase in admission rates in the Faculty of Education the following school year. Watch People With Purpose – Beth Sturdevant.
As a serial entrepreneur, Sylvain cofounded Stratdgi Corp. in 2013, where the company successfully delivered projects to clients including Microsoft, for which they built 100 online games for web and smartphones in 100 days, and Lixar, generating over $650,000 in revenues in its first year of operation. Before that, he was the Cofounder and CEO of Sylien Entertainment Corporation from 2005 to 2015, a company focused on online games and wireless industries.
Sylvain was a Delegate and Speaker for the World Future Society from 2017 to 2022, representing the organization at events and conventions and giving keynotes on its behalf. He served as an Organizing Executive at TEDxOttawa from 2018 to 2020, managing stage operations for events averaging 700 to 1,000 audience members.
Sylvain was declared the top writer in artificial intelligence by Data Driven Investor and has published over 100 articles in publications including The Startup, Data Driven Investor, and Beyond Being Human, as well as producing over 200 educational videos on subjects such as artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, genetic engineering, and energy science.
He also served on the Board of Directors of The Ottawa Network from 2011 to 2017, organizing events for the organization’s members and connecting startups with services and partnerships.
Sylvain was a Contract Professor at Carleton University from 2015 to 2017, teaching Design Studio 4 to final year students of the Bachelor of Information Technology program, and served as an Advisory Board Member for the joint Interactive Multimedia and Design (IMD) program offered by Carleton University and Algonquin College from 2012 to 2015. He also tutored online courses at Collège La Cité from 2015 to 2016.
Sylvain earned his Bachelor of Education in High School Education in 2002 from the University of Ottawa. He earned his Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry in 2000 from the University of Ottawa, where he completed his thesis on the immunoresistance of a polyurethane coating for the artificial heart at the Ottawa Heart Institute. He earned his Bachelor of Applied Science in Chemical Engineering in 1999, also from the University of Ottawa. He also received training in Emotional Intelligence from the Institute of Emotional Pedagogy in Montreal in 2007.
Sylvain is a Certified Master Entrepreneur Coach and Facilitator, a certification he has held since 2013. He is fluent in English and French, with working knowledge of Spanish, Japanese, and Thai. Currently based in Lampang, Thailand, Sylvain maintains a flexible, global travel mandate.
Read Interview with Sylvain Rochon, Futurist, Speaker and Author. Read his articles on Medium and Data Driven Investor.
Visit his LinkedIn profile, Beyond Being Human page, SJ Performance page, and Keynote Speakers Agency page. Follow him on Facebook, YouTube, and X.