Viola Jardon

Viola Jardon is a sustainability innovation leader, business mentor and advisor and ecosystem builder working at the intersection of academia, corporates, startups, and investment networks. She is Director of Innovation Programmes at the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL), where she leads global accelerator and partnership programmes designed to translate sustainability ambition into scalable commercial impact. At CISL, Viola directs multiple corporate–startup collaboration programmes with organisations such as L’Oréal and BSI. Across these programmes, she has supported more than 400 startups. Her work focuses on enabling corporates to engage effectively with emerging technologies, while helping founders navigate complex institutional, regulatory, and market environments and market expansion. Alongside her practitioner role, Viola is an active researcher and thought leader on gender, power, and networks in innovation and investment ecosystems. Her Ca