Prior to founding Hater, Brendan spent eight years as an operational risk associate at Goldman ... pioneer, which helps car manufacturers, their Tier 1 suppliers and the ... Ofer holds a B.A. with honors in Computer Science from IDC, including management and entre ... Frederik holds a CEMS Master's Degree in International.
LEADERS OF TOMORROW – KNOWLEDGE POOL The ISC proudly presents a selection of the 47th St. Gallen Symposium’s Knowledge Pool candidates, who get the opportunity to personally introduce themselves. These young talents from all around the globe are carefully hand-picked on their outstanding profiles and their unique impact on their individual environments.
Khalifa Al Haroon (QA) Chief Executive Officer I Love Qatar Network
Khalifa Al Haroon (born in 1984) is Founder and CEO of ILoveQatar.net and the I Love Qatar Network, which is Qatars first Qatari social website. The network is home to some of the most iconic online brands including iLoveQatar, Qatar News, Qatar Events, Dine Out Doha, and more. Khalifa, also known as Mr Q on his blog/vlog, is a well accomplished entrepreneur and has a background in law, investment banking, and social media management. He therefore sees himself as the other kind of CEO. Khalifa made a number of appearances on international channels, such as BBC, Discovery Channel, CNN, Al Jazeera, and others was ranked as one of the most influential Arabs in the world under 40 in multiple publications. He is a President of the Entrepreneurs Organisation Qatar (EO Qatar), a founding board member of Qatar Animal Welfare Society, a board member of the Qatar Branch of Internet Society and Online Community and lastly a board member of How Women Work, an organization that aims to empower and encourage women to pursue their startup dreams.
Brendan Alper (born in 1987) is Founder and CEO of Hater, a dating app connecting people due to their mutual hatred. Other than its name, Hater aims to promote empathy and establish an understanding of one another, which, as studies reveal, can easily be created through a connection based on shared dislikes. Starting off as a joke, the app seems to appeal this customer segment and can now be found on the top of App Store charts.
Brendan Alper (US) Founder & CEO Hater
Prior to founding Hater, Brendan spent eight years as an operational risk associate at Goldman Sachs and Nomura Holdings. He originally quit finance to become a comedy writer, which is where the idea for Hater originated from. Alper graduated from Brown University in 2009, where he studied entrepreneurship and mathematical economics. He resides in Brooklyn, New York, where Hater is also based.
Hadil A. M. Alsafadi (born in 1990) is Gazas first female entrepreneur. She is the Founder of „Newtoon“, a digital animation studio which offers advertisers and producers access to high quality animation. In 2016, Hadil moved to Jordan to study at SAE Amman and acquire more skills so that she can lift up her startup. Her biggest aim was to gain work opportunities to then be able to build up her dream animation company as a female pioneer in her country. Now she is the co-founder of Davinci Box in Amman, Jordan.
Hadil Alsafadi (PS) Co-Founder Davinci Box
Hadil was also chosen to participate in the Arab Woman in Computing Conference (Arabwic) at New York University in Abu-Dhabi as a leadership ambassador. In 2016 she was elected to be the Arabwic Country event’s, as well as Arabwic University’s and company’s coordinator. Also, Hadil was honored by the President Mahmoud Abbas in person at The National Forum for the first innovators in Palestine.
Dagogo Altraide (born in 1990) is the Founder of ColdFusion Studios, a documentary and music production agency based in Perth, Australia. The ColdFusion YouTube Channel has over one million subscribers and 74 million views worldwide. ColdFusion videos have been screened at universities, businesses and schools around the world. Dagogo has also partnered with TEDxLA and Movements.org, using his reach to drive change within countries in crisis. With a background in mechanical engineering and marketing, Dagogo brings together the technical aspects of science and technology with a fresh artistic style, creating something not commonly seen. Documentary topics range from insights into artificial intelligence and emerging technologies, to the history and size of some of the world’s largest companies.
Dagogo Altraide (AU) Founder ColdFusion Studios
Ofer Ben Noon (born in 1986) is Co-Founder and CEO of Argus, an automotive cyber security pioneer, which helps car manufacturers, their Tier 1 suppliers and the aftermarket connectivity providers protect connected cars and commercial vehicles from car-hacking. Founded in 2013 by cyber security experts, Argus solutions combine innovative security methods and proven computer networking know-how with deep understanding of automotive best practices. Argus’ R&D is based in Tel-Aviv, Israel, with offices in Michigan, the Silicon Valley, Stuttgart and Tokyo.
Ofer Ben Noon (IL) Co-Founder & CEO Argus Cyber Security Ltd.
Brando Benifei (IT)
Ofer is a passionate entrepreneur with vast cyber security experience who previously served as Captain in the Israeli IDF intelligence unit 8’200. Ofer has previously co-founded CampusVille and took part in two Israel Defense Prize winning projects. Ofer holds a B.A. with honors in Computer Science from IDC, including management and entrepreneurship studies at Wharton, University of Pennsylvania. Ofer is also a graduate of the prestigious “Zell” entrepreneurship program.
Brando Benifei (born in 1986), European Federalist from La Spezia, Italy, is one of the youngest Members of the European Parliament. He has been chair of European Affairs for the Young Democrats, as well as Vice-President of ECOSY (youth organisation of PES) for 4 years and was part of the PES working group which originally drafted the European Youth Guarantee. His main fields of legislative work in the EP are employment, social affairs and foreign affairs. He is co-chair of the Youth Intergroup and vice-chair of the Disability Intergroup. Among his parliamentary activities in the Committee of Employment and Social Affairs, he was responsible for key legislative and non-legislative reports on the social inclusion and integration of refugees into the EU labour market, youth employment policy such as the Youth Guarantee and the Youth Employment Initiative, digitalisation, and rights of persons with disability.
Member European Parliament
Frederik Brantner (born in 1984) CEO of Magazino, started his first company at the age of 16. Magazino develops, builds, and sells robotic machines for storage and dispensing. The company offers shelve robots to pick individual items directly from the shelves. It serves mail-order companies, production lines with intra-logistics, and pharmacies. He started Magazino as a project end of 2011 and led the robotics company to become the largest team in the field of perception driven robotics in whole Europe. Frederik holds a CEMS Master’s Degree in International Management from the Vienna University of Economics and Business and a Bachelor’s Degree of University Witten/Herdecke. He was selected as an „Innovator under 35“ in 2016.
Frederik Brantner (DE) CEO & Co-Founder Magazino GmbH
Tom Coburn (born 1991), from Boston, MA, is the Co-Founder and CEO of Jebbit Inc., a leading enterprise mobile marketing platform. It allows brands and publisher to enable deeper customer engagement through behaviour consumer profiles. In addition to running Jebbit, Tom is the Co-Founder of Enjoy Life Education (ELE), a non-profit organisation focused on empowering adolescents to be the best versions of themselves with its award-winning youth leadership curriculum. Tom attended the Boston College where he studied biology before leaving early to pursue Jebbit full time. Tom is also the Co-Founder of SSC Ventures, a small venture capital firm focused on funding current Boston College students.
Tom Coburn (US) Chief Executive Officer Jebbit
Kacem El Ghazzali (born in 1990) is a Moroccan secular activist and blogger know for his unapologetic atheism stressing the importance of freedom of thought. El Ghazzali is the international representative of the International Humanist and Ethical Union at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva and Co-Scientific Director of the Raif Badawi Foundation for Freedom. El Ghazzali is one of the few atheist activists in Morocco and is a proponent of religious and sexual freedom. He has been living as a refugee in Switzerland since 2011. Among others his articles were published in the Huffington Post, Richard Dawkins Foundation, The Fair Observer, NZZ am Sonntag, and Basler Zeitung.
Kacem El Ghazzali (CH/MA) Co-Scientific Director Raif Badawi Foundation for Freedom
US Army Captain Nick Eslinger (born in 1984) is currently a faculty member at the United States Military Academy at West Point. In addition to being a West Point graduate, he holds a Master’s degree in industrial & organisational psychology and currently teaches organisational psychology/behavior to West Point cadets. He is an infantry officer and has commanded various units, including a platoon and a company. In these roles, he led hundreds of combat patrols in both Iraq and Afghanistan while commanding 45 to 120 soldiers. Notably, he served with the famed 75th Ranger Regiment, the US Army’s elite commando force.
Nick Eslinger (US) Instructor U.S. Army
Nick won the Silver Star for valor and heroism, United States’ second highest award for valor given to less than 400 soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines since 2001. Apart from that, his awards and decorations include the Meritorious Service Medal, the Army Commendation Medal with three oak leaf clusters, the Army Achievement Medal with three oak leaf clusters, the Expert Infantryman Badge, and the Combat Infantryman Badge.
Habib Frost (born in 1990) is an Entrepreneur, Inventor and Physician. He is the Founder and CEO of Neurescue. Neurescue is developing a computer-controlled catheter for the greatly improved treatment of cardiac arrest, the leading cause of death in the world, as well as the treatment of critical haemorrhage, both currently largely unmet needs with a survival at only 1 out of 10. Habib was recently elected Forbes 30 under 30 in Technology.
Dr Habib Frost (DK) Founder & CEO Neurescue
Habib graduated as the youngest Medical Doctor in Denmark at the age of 23. He is certified as a Trauma Team Leader by the American College of Surgeons and is formally trained in the Management of Medical Device Development. In 2015 Habib won Denmark‘s Best Idea (Danske Ideer) at Singularity University in Denmark and attended their ten-week Flagship Programme at NASA Ames in Silicon Valley.
Martina Fuchs (born in 1983) is China Global Television Network (CGTN) TV Host and Business Reporter for the Global Business show based in Beijing. She joined the rapidly expanding channel in 2012. Martina covered major global news events, such as the G20 in 2016, the APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting in 2014, and the World Economic Forum, where she conducted several exclusive interviews. Previously, she worked as Reuters Economy Correspondent for the Gulf Arab region based in Dubai and as Reuters Financial TV Producer in London.
Martina Fuchs (CH) TV Host and Business Reporter CGTN
She holds a Master’s degree in economic history from University in Geneva and a Postgraduate Diploma in TV journalism from American University in Cairo. In 2015, Martina graduated with a MSc in global finance at the Hong-Kong-University of Science and Technology and the Stern-Business School. Originally from Zurich, she speaks 9 languages, including German, French, English, Chinese (HSK level 5), Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, Italian, and Swahili.
Cristóbal García (born in 1996), also called „Particles Boy“, is the creator of the cheapest particle accelerator in the world. Cristóbal is passionate about nuclear physics and a scientific communicator. He develops 3D prosthetics for low income people and is creating a new young people programming group in marginalised regions of México. In 2015, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research invited him to its Large Hadron Collider, the world’s largest and most powerful particle collider.
Cristóbal García (MX) Student UNAM
For him, every Mexican youngster who keeps studying, is a double gain for the whole country—one soldier less for drug trafficking and one more for global peacebuilding. He is aiming to contribute to a better Mexico and show that also science offers many opportunities to succeed. Cristóbal is a student of physics at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de México and winner of the National Youth Award 2014.
Rodrigo García González (born in 1984) received an MA and MSc degree with honours from Imperial College of London and Royal College of Art. Previously he got his architectural degree from the ETSAM, Technical University of Madrid, after studying at the Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology University (India) and Industrial Design at Pontificia Universidad Católica (Chile), as well as a postgraduate year course at Umeå Institute of Design.
Rodrigo García González (ES) Co-Chief Executive Officer Skipping Rocks Lab
He is senior lecturer of industrial design at Kingston University and visiting tutor at Royal College of Art & Imperial College. He combines his academic activity with running Skipping Rock Lab, a start-up supported by the Climate-KIC Accelerator from the European Institute of Innovation and Technology. Skipping Rocks Lab is a sustainable packaging start-up based in London. The company is pioneering the use of natural materials to create products with low environmental impact.
Joe Gladstone (born in 1988) is an Assistant Professor at University College London. Named one of the top 30 people under 30 in Finance by Forbes Magazine, Joe’s research draws from both behavioural economics and consumer psychology to understand how we can help people to improve their financial decisions. To achieve this, Joe’s research involves active collaborations with companies and government departments, using large-scale transaction datasets and experiments. Joe completed his PhD at the University of Cambridge and was the Fox Fellow at Yale University. Prior to starting his PhD, Joe graduated first in his class, with the highest overall marks and in degrees from University of Oxford and Cambridge.
Dr Joe Gladstone (UK) Assistant Professor University College London
Joe is a regular guest on BBC World News, where he comments on topics related to consumer behaviour. Joe‘s research has been profiled in many of the worlds-leading news outlets, including The Wall-Street Journal, Time Magazine, The Telegraph, ITV-News, and Fox News.
Markus Gnirck (born in 1988) is CEO and Co-Founder of tryb Capital, a private equity investment company that invests in growth-stage technology and platforms transforming financial services in Asia, based in Singapore. Additionally, he is also the founding committee member of the Singapore FinTech Association and co-author of the Asia FinTech 100 list.
Markus Gnirck (DE) Co-Founder & CEO tryb Capital
Prior to tryb, Markus co-founded Startupbootcamp FinTech, the largest innovation programme in the FinTech industry. He led investments in more than 20 FinTech startups worldwide and sits on the board of multiple companies in Europe and Asia. He plays an instrumental role in building up FinTech ecosystems across the region and driving policy change, he is rated as one of the key FinTech influencers in APAC and voted in Forbes’ Asia top 30under30 list. Over the last two years, Markus has worked with more than 200 early stage companies in Asia to create partnerships with financial institutions and governments.
Han Jin (born in 1987) Berkeley Engineer turned into a serial entrepreneur after working in consumer electronics. Han loves founding startups, hacking hardware, and listening to users. His strength in manufacturing and the go-to-market strategy helped him successfully ramp-up several products. He and his team believe that immersive 3D VR content captured by the LucidCam will ultimately disrupt pictures and videos forever. He was a speaker at the NAB Show in Las Vegas and panelist at several VR/AR events. Since moving to the bay he has also enjoyed being an advisor to YC companies, a judge at Stanford and Berkeley Startup Competitions, and a mentor at the SanDisk accelerator focused on bringing entrepreneurship into a corporate setting.
Han Jin (DE) Co-Founder & CEO Lucid
Jewell Jones (born in 1995) a lifelong resident of the City of Inkster, made history when he was sworn as the youngest person to ever sit on the City Council of Inkster, Michigan, in November 2015. Yet, Jewell continues to make a difference in the community and has a positive impact on public policy. His effectiveness as a Councilman blossomed into a record-breaking campaign during the summer of 2016. Jewell was selected to be the Democratic Nominee in the 11th State House District, and he went on to win the General Election, becoming the youngest State Representative in Michigan’s history. Jewell is also a U.S. Army Reserved Officer Training Corps (ROTC) Cadet, a member of the Michigan National Guard, a Senior Deacon at his church, and senior, pursuing a political-science and business degree at the University of Michigan-Dearborn.
Jewell Jones (US) State Representative State of Michigan
Jewell is passionate about engaging the youth in democratic-citizenship, cultural enrichment, and sustainable business-development.
Alexander Kabakov (born in 1987) co-founded the NtechLab together with Artem Kukharenko in 2015. NtechLab has developed a facial recognition algorithm, rivaling and even outscoring the likes of Google’s FaceNet. Like others at the frontiers of the field, NTechlab uses a deep learning approach, which serves the purpose very well. NtechLab’s team uses the most advanced techniques in the fields of artificial neural networks and machine learning to develop smart and innovative software products. In 2015 NtechLab took first place in The MegaFace Benchmark organised by the Washington University.
Alexander Kabakov (RU) Co-Founder NtechLab
Alexander is also Co-Founder of Agency One, a digital communications company, which has implemented over 100 web based communication projects for large russian and international companies. Furthermore, he is an investor and mentor at Youdo.com, a start-up which received the Runet prize in 2012 and was listed among the top-50 Russian start-ups by PwC and Digital October.
Hosam Katan (SY) Photojournalist
Hosam Katan (born in 1994) has lived in his hometown of Aleppo until late 2015, where he began to work as a photojournalist for the Aleppo Media Center from October 2012. He started of by recording and spreading impressions of the war and the Syrian Revolution with his handycamera until the New York Times took notice of his mission in 2013 and published his first picture. Between 2013 and 2015, he then covered the conflict in Aleppo as a freelance photographer for Reuters, as well as for the German magazine “Stern”. Now he is currently studying photojournalism at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts in Hannover. Furthermore, Hosam has received six international awards in photojournalism. One of them was the Nannen Preis, prizing the most impressive journalistic contributions in Germany, which Frank-Walter Steinmeier, former German Foreign Minister and current President of the Federal Republic of Germany, handed to him in 2016. With his photos, Hosam has arranged many exhibitions around Europe and will publish his photo book about life at war.
Thato Kgatlhanye (born in 1992) is a business woman in Africa, an international award winning entrepreneur, author and speaker. She has a B.A. in Brand Management from VEGA-the School of Brand Leadership and started her career in New York, working with American marketing guru and author Seth Godin. She founded Rethaka, a manufacturing company which Bill Gates personally recognised for its innovation. Repurpose Schoolbags enlightens the daily life of children with limited ressources through solar-powered schoolbags.
Thato Kgatlhanye (ZA) Chief Executive Officer Rethaka
Her pursuit to do work that matters, has seen her founding her second company, Seven Twelve, a high performance development agency. Through her efforts to make a dent in the world, she has been recognised on numerous platforms including being named “Innovator of the Year” by Forbes Women Africa, and the Elle Magazine Impact award laureate across 6 continents. She became the youngest businesswoman to appear on the cover of Forbes Women Africa.
Diana Kinnert (born in 1991) is a German Politician for the CDU party. Previously, Diana served as Chief of Staff for the Vice-President of the German Bundestag Peter Hintze. Additionally, she worked for the Chairman of the CDU, Dr Peter Tauber, regarding the reformation of political parties. She is handled as one of the biggest sources of hope for changing her democratic party.
Diana Kinnert (DE) Vice President Global Media House GmbH
Diana Kinnert also works as a Consultant in the fields of media and green economy, and as a Political Author and Journalist. She cofounded the News Platform „NEWSGREEN“ in order to provide information about green and sustainable innovations and technologies. In addition, her first book talking about modern conservatism will be published in May 2017. Diana earned her B.A. in political science and philosophy at the University of Göttingen. She also holds an undergraduate certificate in social sciences from the University of Amsterdam.
Ekaterina Kotenko (born in 1991) is an entrepreneur, a space enthusiast and the youngest executive in the aerospace industry. Ekaterina grew up in Moscow, where she started her academic career at the age of 14 and got degrees in computer science, management, economics and innovation. While studying business at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, she founded ImageAiry—the world’s first marketplace for satellite data that was acquired by the California-based aerospace company Astro Digital when Ekaterina was 23. Currently Ekaterina serves as a Vice President of Business Development at Astro Digital, serves as an advisor at several early-stage startups in the US and abroad, and works on her PhD in the area of Intellectual Property protection for satellite imagery data.
Ekaterina Kotenko (RU) Vice President, Business Development Astro Digital
Ekaterina became the finalist at Slush 2015, and was listed among Top-100 Russian Innovators in 2014.
Rudy Lee (born in 1986) is a filmmaker-turned-entrepreneur from Korea. After studying at Princeton and Sorbonne-Nouvelle, Rudy directed several films that received international acclaim. Rudy then co-founded Korea’s first international independent film production company (based in Seoul, London, and New York), 37th Degree, whose honours include the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival. Rudy is now the CEO and Founder of VREX Lab, an augmented reality photo app company based in Shanghai and Seoul.
Rudy Choongmin Lee (KR) Chief Executive Officer VREX Lab
Rush, the first product and app developed by VREX Lab, has been growing viral in China and is Asia’s first ever AR social app. It aims to bring social media content, such as a photo or post, into the real world. These are pinned to a certain location and then become visible on this location through the smart phone camera. Rudy previously served as speechwriter and interpreter to the defense minister of Korea. Rudy also actively serves in several education non-profit organisations that aim to bridge generational and cultural gaps using technology.
Nanxi Liu (born in 1990) is CEO and Co-Founder of Enplug, the leading open software for managing and distributing content on digital displays. Fortune 500 companies, hotels, retail stores, and restaurants use Enplug to show interactive social media, videos, news, dashboards, and other content on displays. The company is headquartered in Los Angeles and has global offices in the UK, Brazil, Australia, and Japan. In college, Nanxi founded Nanoly Bioscience, which develops polymers that eliminate refrigeration for vaccines. The company received the Top Research award at the World Biomaterials Congress and was named as one of NASA’s Top 10 New Tech Companies. The company successfully operates today.
Nanxi Liu (US) Chief Executive Officer Enplug
Nanxi is on the Board of Advisors for Covington Capital Management ($2 billion AUM) and is Chair of the Tiger Scholarship Foundation, which gives merit-based scholarships to students with financial need.
Goda B. R. Malewana (LK)
Rakitha Malewana (born in 1995) is a young Sri Lankan who is using medical research and community work to pioneer a new HIV nano-vaccine, and to encourage young people to engage in scientific innovation. At the age of 15, by being the youngest medical researcher in the history of Sri Lanka, he successfully concluded a preliminary stage HIV cure. Moreover, he first began working with people affected by HIV/AIDS in 2011, when he started visiting slum areas to teach science and mathematics to the children of HIV positive individuals. He formed “ideanerd Sri Lanka” which encourages school children to get involved in scientific research and innovation. In 2015, he co-founded the United Youth Consortium organisation to raise awareness of sexual and reproductive health issues, and provide support and counselling to families living with HIV. Recently, he was awarded with the Queen’s Young Leader Award by Her Majesty the Queen Elizabeth II for his community engagements.
Co-Founder United Youth Consortium
Samar Samir Mezghanni (born in 1988) is a Tunisian writer with two records in the Guinness Book for World Records as the youngest writer in the world in 2000 and the most prolific writer in the world in 2002. She has written over a hundred of short stories and published 14 books with the aim to encourage and inspire people and especially children to think about the societal revolution happening in her country.
Samar S. Mezghanni (TN) Writer & PhD Student University of Cambridge
Samar received many awards for her work. She was recently selected as one of the 17 United Nations Young Leaders for the Sustainable Development Goals amongst 18 000 candidates. She was classified as one of the most influential Arab women in 2013 and one of the most important young leaders in the Arab region in 2012. She is a member of various international and regional NGOs. Samar delivered speeches in over 20 countries. Samar worked with the British Council and the United Nations as a consultant on civil society and youth. She is currently a PhD student at the University of Cambridge.
Saverio Murgia (born in 1991) is Founder and CEO of Eyra LTD, an AI and health tech start-up based in Chiasso, Switzerland, which is developing advanced technologies that harness the power of AI with the mission to improve life for present and future generations. In 2015, he obtained a double MSc/MEng in Advanced Robotics from the Ecole Centrale de Nantes and the University of Genoa. He also owns a degree in management from ISICT and a BSc in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Genoa. Before founding Eyra Ltd, Saverio was visiting researcher at EPFL and the Italian Institute of Technology. Today, Saverio is part of the Forbes 30 under 30 social innovators and a published author in the field of computer vision. He also owns one patent on computer vision systems. Saverio is passionate about machine learning, computer vision and robotics.
Saverio Murgia (IT) CEO & Founder Eyra Ltd
Maikel Nabil Sanad (born in 1985) is an award-winning writer, communication strategist, and software developer. Maikel founded NoMilService, Egypt’s main anti-conscription movement. He is a former political prisoner and served as a Penn Kemble Democracy Fellow at the National Endowment for Democracy. He also works with AsylumConnect and PCC4refugees advocating for the rights of refugees. Maikel has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and for the Reporters Without Borders Netizen Prize. He received the First Freedom Award in 2011 from the International Federation of Liberal Youth, and was named one of the best Egyptian bloggers by The Daily Beast.
Dr Maikel Nabil Sanad (EG) Founder NoMilService
Over the last twelve years, he has advocated for human rights and civil liberties. His articles appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Foreign Policy, and The Daily Beast. He has given over one hundred speeches in the United States, Europe, Egypt, and Israel on human rights and the refugee crisis.
Robert Nemlander (born in 1988) is an entrepreneur, civil engineer (MSc), medic and astronaut candidate aiming to solve sustainable food production both on Earth and Mars by developing a commercial insect farming technology. As the Founder of the award-winning insect technology company EntoCube, he has managed to help transform Finland into the most insect food friendly nation on record with 70% public approval.
Robert Nemlander (FI) Founder Entocube
He was selected as one of the top technical experts in Finland in 2016. Some of his work also includes designing geotechnical applications for future human colonies on Mars. As a specialist in geological nuclear waste management, he is an advocate of sustainable energy with nuclear energy and international nuclear waste repositories. He believes food and energy production are the key challenges for humanity to continue to prosper into the next century and launch to the stars.
Heben Nigatu (born in 1991) is a writer, comedian, and America’s Foremost Public Intellectual. She is the co-host of BuzzFeed’s podcast Another Round, which has been called the “Beyoncé of podcasts” by a human who is definitely not her. She brings her love of Vines (R.I.P.) and knowledge of issues of race, gender, media and pop culture to all of her work and only loves one thing more than her favorite shows: mangoes. She has been named one of Forbes’s 30 Under 30 in Media, Fast Company’s Most Creative People, Brooklyn Magazine’s 50 Funniest People, Marie Claire’s 50 Most Influential Woman and one of The Root’s 100 Most Influential African-Americans. No word yet on that Nobel Peace Prize.
Heben Nigatu (US/ET) Another Round Co-Host BuzzFeed
Faraja Nyalandu (born in 1985) is a resourceful social entrepreneur and lawyer, passionate about social and educational programmes that empower youth and children. What inspires her most is collaborating with top-notch leaders in social development and educational industry to deliver innovative solutions that prepare children and youth for a sustainable future. To achieve this, she established Shule Direct, a thriving organisation committed to providing comprehensive web and mobile educational platforms.
Faraja Nyalandu (TZ) Founder & Executive Director Shule Direct
An author of two youth empowering books, she has dedicated her professional career and personal life to empowering others to achieve their full potential. Faraja is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council and currently serves on the boards of Ubongo Learning, The Foundation for Tomorrow and Read International. In 2016, she won the Leading Woman in Technology in Africa Prize and the Tanzania Leadership Awards’ Hall of Fame Woman of the Year Awards for her work with Shule Direct.
Yoichi Ochiai (born in 1987) received his PhD in applied computer science from University of Tokyo in 2015. He is interested in the field of real world oriented computer graphics, new media art composed of mixture of new media and classic technologies, as well as post-pixels multimedia. Yoichi is a media artist, an assistant professor and advisor to the President of the University of Tsukuba and visiting professor at the Digital Hollywood University in Tokyo.
Dr Yoichi Ochiai (JP) Assistant Professor University of Tsukuba
He is conducting research towards his vision called “Digital Nature”. To realise his philosophy of Digital Nature, which describes the new relationship between human beings and computational resources, he combines real world oriented computer graphics with human computation. Yoichi is the head of Digital Nature Group, which envisions the various alternatives of future between human and machines, material world and virtual world. As research and artistic deployment, Yoichi founded the two companies jiseCHI co.ltd and Pixie Dust Technologies.
Vitaly Ponomarev (born in 1988) is the Founder, CEO, and mastermind of WayRay, which develops avant-garde AR technologies for vehicles of the future. WayRay was launched in 2012, and in five years it has grown into an up-and-coming international company with offices in three countries: Russia, Switzerland and the United States. Vitaly himself handpicked team members from around the world to the Moscow R&D office to build the first ever holographic car navigator. WayRay has since then attracted more than 120 high qualified specialists, who have brought Navion into the mass production stage.
Vitaly Ponomarev (RU/CH) Chief Executive Officer WayRay
Juan Requesens (VE) Deputy National Assembly of Venezuela
Vitaly Ponomarev completed his Master’s degree in economics at the Russian Academy of National Economy and Public Administration under the President of the Russian Federation, as well as a PhD in studies of innovative projects management. Moreover, Vitaly has extensive experience in marketing and design, along with expertise in engineering, physics, and optics.
Juan Requesens (born in 1989) is Deputy of the National Assembly of Venezuela for the Primero Justicia party and opposition lawmaker. He was one of the most influential student leaders during the 2014 Venezuelan student opposition protests and led peaceful marches opposing the Government of Venezuela with its leader President Nicolás Maduro in hopes to start a larger movement. He has a Major in political science from the Central University of Venezuela (UCV) and figured as student council president and leader for student opposition protesters. His main demand is the release of protesters who had been jailed and allegedly tortured and he passionatly fights for the voice of the people of Venezuela and its consideration by the government. His movement is seen as a more moderate approach of Leopoldo López Mendoza‘s movement.
Symone Sanders (born in 1989) champions inclusivity, encouraging you to embrace diverse voices and perspectives in the pursuit of building and extending strong communities that will help change the world. A democratic strategist and CNN political commentator, Symone rose to prominence as the Press Secretary for U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign. At 25, Symone demonstrated an uncanny command of the issues, earning her a place in history as the youngest presidential press secretary on record.
Symone Sanders (US) Political Commentator CNN
Gino Tubaro (AR)
Now, Symone draws from her experience on the national stage to provide perceptive analysis on political and social issues. Her lively presentations challenge the conventional wisdom that strong communities are only defined by what they have in common. Instead, she outlines the way our differences contribute to effective social movements. Symone’s cogently constructed messages and polished delivery embolden participants to envision a better future and confidently do things that have never been done before.
Gino Tubaro (born in 1995), a native of Buenos Aires, Argentina prefers to create inventions rather than to talk. That’s why he began assembling a robot at just four years of age. After growing up and completing some projects, he started Atomic Lab, a platform bringing together inventors, designer and creative thinkers. These together founded initiatives such as „Limbs“, a platform to ask for a free 3D printed prosthetic hand, with more than 500 actual users and 3’500 waiting for a hand around the world, a dynamic braille (a text to braille translator) or low cost 3D printers. He was recognised by Barack Obama, Muhammad Ali and Mauricio Macri, among others. He also won prizes from GSEA, W.I.P.O (U.N.), M.I.T. TR35 as innovator of the year, and the first place of „One idea to change the history“ from The History Channel among 5’000 ideas in Latin America.
Founder Atomic Lab
Pablo Vidarte (born in 1996) is currently CEO at Arkyne Technologies and as such inventor and developer of Bioo, Arkyne’s leading project. Bioo enables the generation of electricity from plants’ photosynthesis which allows you to literally charge your phone with a plant. His areas of work include business management, engineering and electronics. Other projects involve the development of geo-localisation tracking hardwares, evolutionary artificial intelligence softwares and systems for the organic generation of hydrogen in rivers for clean fuel applications.
Pablo Vidarte (ES) Chief Executive Officer Bioo
Listed in the Forbes Under 30 Europe list at the age of 20. Figuring in the Astana International Expo of 2017. Awarded by the Scientific Park of Madrid, counting with several internationally renowned Awards in London, Austria, Bucharest, Paris, Barcelona and Madrid amongst others. Recognised by Google and South Summit 2016 with the tittle of „Most Disruptive Company of the Year“.
Walter da Cruz Pacheco (born in 1986) was raised in Angola but lived most of his life in Portugal and the United Kindom, where he finished his higher education. He has a Bachelor in business and economics and a Masters in international finance (distinction, first in his class). He started his career as a trader, at the Standard Bank of Angola. As Executive Director of Bodiva (Angolan Stock Exchange) he is now in the process of implementing the Stock Exchange in the country. This project will change the landscape of the financial system in the country and will foster investment and long-term growth. It will also bridge the gap between innovators and finance, spuring widespread innovation and productivity.
Walter Pacheco (AO/PT) Executive Director BODIVA - Angolan Stock Exchange
Basil Weibel (born in 1987) is Founder and CEO of Wingtra, an ETH spin-off which markets aerial robots combining the advantages of helicopters and airplanes. This new drone category will allow drone data collection to scale to large assets such as farms or linear infrastructure. His work was recently recognised on the Forbes 30 under 30 Europe list. Basil received two Bachelor degrees from the University of St. Gallen (HSG) in 2010 in economics and international affairs respectively. He also obtained a Bachelor and Masters degree in mechanical engineering from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich.
Basil Weibel (CH) Chief Executive Officer Wingtra
