Babak Khodaparast is the President of The First Institute of Canadian Inventors (FICI), the first and only representative of the IFIA in Canada, established in 2015. The IFIA is a nonprofit organization aiming to support inventors around the world. Currently, Babak heads the Canadian branch of the IFIA, where he works to provide a platform for Canadian inventors to compete on both national and international levels. In his 6 years running FICI, Babak has directly supported hundreds of inventors and innovators, hosted showcasing events/competitions, and helped hundreds of people commercialize and globalize their ideas.

Babak attended Sharif University of Technology from 2010-2011 where he studied Mechatronics, Robotics, and Automation Engineering, as well as the University of Toronto where he studied Mechanical Engineering. In 2013, he ventured on his own and founded Clean Oil International, a clean-tech startup that is revolutionizing the way governments and oil companies collect and clean up offshore oil spills using autonomous engineering and nanotechnologies. It wasn’t until 2015 that Babak realized the need for an IFIA branch in Canada, when he discovered that most other innovation-focused countries had established branches. In establishing FICI, Babak’s vision was to enable other inventors and innovators like himself to be able to showcase their talents and ideas on a national and international scale. He has developed partnerships with several Universities across Canada and created the National Inventors Team, which has hosted and competed in International competitions. As the standing President of FICI, Babak is responsible for providing an infrastructure and framework for inventors across Canada, as well as developing and overseeing programs to enable the commercialization of ideas across Canada and internationally.

Babak’s inspiration to head FICI began in realizing that Canada lacked a branch of IFIA, and inventors had no platform to help get them recognized for their work. In order to establish FICI, Babak had to be voted President by the Board of IFIA, and was required to receive recognition from the Canadian government for funding and support. Furthermore, establishing FICI University chapters to foster innovation and organizing international programs/events became a bigger task than he could have ever imagined. As with most successful entrepreneurs, the one thing driving him forward was his vision. Without a clear vision and dedication to driving innovation forward, none of Babak’s success would have been possible.

Babak Khodaparast is fueled by building things, ideating, and inventing, a passion which has manifested into real impact within the innovation community. He has created and is now the President of The First Institute of Canadian Inventors (FICI) through the International Federation of Inventors Association, and has helped hundreds of individuals take their innovative inventions from ideas to internationally and commercially recognized products. He has organized & hosted events to showcase inventions from some of the world’s leading innovation-focused countries and has enabled countless people to put their ideas to the test. To learn more about Babak Khodaparast and FICI, click here.