Adam Bly is the founder and CEO of Seed Media Group, an integrated media and technology company committed to helping advance science and its potential to improve the state of the world.
Adam began his career at the age of 16 as the youngest researcher at the National Research Council of Canada, where he spent three years studying the biochemistry of cancer. Following his time in the lab, Adam set out to launch Seed, a new type of science magazine for our times – tag-lined “Science is Culture” – with the mission of raising scientific literacy. “The best comparison for Seed,” wrote a media critic, “is the early years of Rolling Stone, when music was less a subject than a lens for viewing culture.” Under Adam’s leadership, Seed received two National Magazine Award nominations, for Best Design and General Excellence, the magazine industry’s highest honor. Seed’s success has since led to the development of new brands, platforms – from software to data visualization – and markets – from Europe to Brazil.
In 2007, Adam was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. He is a recipient of the Golden Jubilee Medal from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and his achievements have been highlighted by former Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, “for showing people the scope and power of science not just as an object of study but as a key to understanding the world around us.” He has spoken around the world on the future of science and its role in society, most notably at the World Economic Forum (Davos), the STS Forum (Kyoto), the U.S. Department of State (Washington), the Royal Society (London), the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology (Beijing), the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World (Mexico City), the National Academy of Sciences (Washington), and the Museum of Modern Art (New York), and at universities including MIT, Harvard, Columbia, McGill, and Peking. He has served on the nominating committees and juries of the Buckminster Fuller Challenge, Technology Pioneers, the Earth Award, and the TED Prize, and sits on the Science Advisory Committee of the World Economic Forum, the American Committee of Israel’s Weizmann Institute of Science, the Communications Advisory Board of the National Academy of Sciences, the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on the Future of Innovation, and OECD’s Global Project Board on Measuring the Progress of Societies.
