Sydney Wisener

Sydney Wisener is a Master of Global Affairs candidate at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy, specializing in global startup ecosystems, cleantech, climate finance, and AI policy. She is interested in furthering Canadian innovation and competitiveness through her research and professional work. Sydney has worked directly with cleantech startups at the Global Climate Finance Accelerator as an Accelerator-in-Residence and Policy Fellow. She also supports the Creative Destruction Lab as a Venture Recruitment Assistant and Venture Manager for the Minerals Stream and has recent experience in climate risk and thought leadership at RBC.

Sydney holds a Bachelor of Arts & Science and Biology from McMaster University. Her undergraduate thesis on the consequences of geoengineering sparked a lasting interest in climate innovation and climate policy. Sydney was a finalist in the 2024 Rotman × RBC Sustainable Finance Case Competition and serves on the Steering Committee for the CARE (Climate Adaptation, Resilience & Empowerment) Program. Her work focuses on global innovation ecosystems, energy policy, and advancing cleantech and climate finance solutions.

Sydney’s research project will investigate the ‘startup to scaleup gap’ in the Canadian cleantech innovation ecosystem, focusing on capital investment and retention of Canadian startups. The project examines how Canada can better mobilize domestic public and private capital to support the growth of cleantech startups. Scaling cleantech startups, particularly in hard tech, presents complex challenges, requiring additional time, funding, and technical expertise to develop commercially viable technologies. Sydney will conduct a literature review and interviews with investors, entrepreneurs, and other stakeholders to identify barriers in Canada and enabling policies from other startup ecosystems. Working with Professor Darius Ornston and Professor David Wolfe, Sydney aims to develop actionable policy recommendations to bridge the startup-to-scaleup gap and strengthen the domestic cleantech sector.