Interview with Shay Sharma

Technology & Innovation Lead

Shay Sharma

Technology & Innovation Lead
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My name is Shay and I’m the Tech and Innovation Lead at Pivotal Research. I am also the CEO of Bluejarvis Technologies, a digital technologies startup focused on creating solutions for multiple industries, including the government and non-profit sectors.

​I first encountered Pivotal Research in 2020 when I called them up to see if they would be willing to partner up with me on an RFP. Although we didn’t submit for that RFP together, we stayed in touch and continued to have a dialogue about the importance of knowledge management and digital technologies. 

As an engineer, problem solving has been a core part of my life for the past eight years. During my last year of university, I spent a lot of time innovating and participated in a university-wide challenge that sparked my interest to start my own business. I began consulting for the oil and gas industry in 2017 and through my experience consulting, I was exposed to the potential of digital technologies and innovation. 

​Bluejarvis was a product of my team’s innovative thinking, where we hope to combine domain expertise with digital technologies to create products that serve a variety of markets. During COVID-19, we pivoted away from private oil and gas, and looked towards more government and not-for-profits to test out our products. Our aim as a startup is to be human-centered and really work to develop products that serve the ideation, innovation, and knowledge management spaces. We started Bluejarvis in 2019 and have worked with the City of Edmonton, Catholic Cross Cultural Services, Petroleum Technology Alliance Canada, and many other clients. 

​My aim as the Technology and Innovation Lead at Pivotal Research is to really infuse the use of technology in a smart way. From regulatory bodies to government organizations, Pivotal Research develops actionable research that empowers organizations and, as part of the team, I hope to develop and bring on board technologies that increase the impact of research tenfold. The use of artificial intelligence, creating new databases of research data, and developing new products to serve clients are all part of my goals for this year. By creating a Technology and Innovation role and partnering with Bluejarvis Technologies on projects, Pivotal Research has really set itself apart by incorporating innovation as part of its current and future initiatives.

Digital technologies have been amplified post-COVID, and organizations need to have a deeper understanding of how technologies can help transform their current processes, people, and places. Most organizations should either work with us or partner with startups to see how entrepreneurial thinking can help their business pivot and transform to meet the expectations of their staff and clients in the 21st century. We have so many smart people here in our local ecosystem, and we should all collectively aim to use the knowledge and solutions being developed to improve our businesses. 

Name and Credentials: Shay Sharma, BSc

Role: Technology and Innovation Lead

Digitization | Knowledge Management |Technology Development | Problem Solving | Business Strategy

What Shay brings to the Table

Shay is the technology and innovation lead at Pivotal Research, Inc. She holds a Bachelor of Engineering from the University of Alberta, has over 5 years of experience consulting in both the engineering and digitization space, and was a co-founder her own engineering consulting group called NEXOV in her last year of university. She is passionate about learning the central role of people in companies and how this role can be enhanced through technology. Shay has been working with Pivotal Research to implement innovative research methodologies and develop software-based tools and solutions to enhance Pivotal Research’s suite of consulting services.

While not leading technology solutions for Pivotal Research, Shay wears another hat as the cofounder and CEO of Bluejarvis Technologies, a startup focused on creating digital solutions to capture and analyze informal knowledge within organizations. Her passion for knowledge management and communication has led her to build products that truly aim to engage all teams within organizations, while serving as a mechanism to retain and transfer knowledge.

Been in Alberta for more than a decade, Shay is excited to see the growth of technology companies in the province and hopes to play a central part in guiding and developing technology projects and companies here in Alberta and Canada wide. Shay currently plays a leadership role as the chair of fundraising at the Indo Canadian Women’s Association (ICWA).

The Fun Stuff

Shay loves food, sports, and having a good book to read. She can be found standing in line to try the newest spot in the city and often eats dessert before the actual meal. Shay plays tennis and is an avid fan. She loves watching the grand slams and hopes to watch all four in person sometime soon. Her favorite book is “Man’s search for Meaning” by Viktor Frankl.