Sir Geoffrey John Mulgan CBE is Professor of Collective Intelligence, Public Policy and Social Innovation at University College London (UCL). From 2011 to 2019 he was Chief Executive of the National Endowment for Science Technology and the Arts (NESTA) and Visiting Professor at University College London, the London School of Economics, and the University of Melbourne. In 2020, he joined the Nordic think tank Demos Helsinki as a Fellow.
Danuta Maria Hübner, née Młynarska is a Polish politician and Diplomat and Economist and Member of the European Parliament. She has served as European Commissioner for Regional Policy from 22 November 2004 until 4 July 2009, when she resigned to become a Member of European Parliament for the Civic Platform. In 2012, Professor Hübner became a member of the International Honorary Council of the European Academy of Diplomacy.
Yrjö Kalervo Sotamaa is a Finnish designer and design strategist. Sotamaa is Professor Emeritus of Design Innovation in the Aalto University School of Art, Design and Architecture and President Emeritus of the University of Art and Design Helsinki (TAIK). He served as the President of TAIK from 1986 until 2008. He earned his MA in Interior Architecture and Furniture Design from TAIK, where he studied with Kaj Franck and Antti Nurmesniemi.
Calestous Juma was a Kenyan scientist and academic, specializing in sustainable development. He was named one of the most influential 100 Africans in 2012, 2013 and 2014 by the New African magazine. He was Professor of the Practice of International Development and Faculty Chair of the Innovation for Economic Development Executive Program at Harvard Kennedy School. Juma was Director of the School's Science, Technology and Globalization Project at Harvard Kennedy School as well as the Agricultural Innovation in Africa Project funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. His last book, Innovation and Its Enemies: Why People Resist New Technologies, was published by Oxford University Press in 2016.
Andy Miah is an English bioethicist, academic and journalist. His work often focuses on technology and posthumanism.
Ismail Serageldin, Founding Director of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina (BA), the new Library of Alexandria, inaugurated in 2002, is currently, Emeritus Librarian, and member of the Board of Trustees of the Library of Alexandria. He serves as Chair or Member of a number of advisory committees for academic, research, scientific and international institutions and civil society efforts, and serves on the Advisory Committee of the World Social Science Report for 2013 and 2016, as well as the UNESCO-supported World Water Scenarios (2013) and the executive council of the Encyclopedia of Life (2010) and Chairs the Executive Council of the World Digital Library (2010). He also co-chaired the African Union's high level panel for Biotechnology (2006) and again for Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) in 2012–2013, and was a member of the ICANN Panel for the review of the internet future (2013).
Michael Andrew Carrington, is an Australian broadcast media executive who is currently Director, Entertainment and Specialist at the ABC based in Sydney, New South Wales. He oversees all national radio, television, and digital services including ABC TV (ABC1), ABC TV Plus (ABC2), ABC Me, ABC Kids plus ABC iview, ABC Listen, ABC Kids Listen, ABC Classic FM, ABC Jazz, ABC Country, and Radio National.
Eli M. Noam is a professor of finance and economics at Columbia Business School, and holds the Paul Garrett Chair in Public Policy and Business Responsibility. He is the director of the Columbia Institute for Tele-Information (CITI). He works on the economics, management, and policy of media and the digital world, most recently on global media ownership and on next-generation “Cloud-TV”. He has written over 400 articles and has authored, edited, and co-edited over 30 books.
Rajeev Chandrasekhar is an Indian politician of the Bharatiya Janata Party. He is the incumbent Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship and Electronics and Information Technology of India. He is also an entrepreneur, technocrat and a member of parliament in the Rajya Sabha from BJP representing Karnataka. He served as National Spokesperson of BJP and was vice-chairman of the Kerala faction of the BJP-led coalition National Democratic Alliance.
Business Finland is a public organization under the Finnish Ministry of Employment and the Economy. It was established on 1 January 2018, with the goal of attracting trade, tourism and foreign investment to Finland as well as providing funds for innovation. And as such, Business Finland is also involved in funding Finnish space researches, under the New Space Economy program, as well as startup companies, under Young Innovative Company funding program among other projects. The organization is made up of two entities: Innovaatiorahoituskeskus Business Finland and Business Finland Oy.
The United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER) is part of the United Nations University (UNU). UNU-WIDER, the first research and training centre to be established by the UNU, is an international academic organization set up with the aim of promoting peace and progress by bringing together leading scholars from around the world to tackle pressing global problems.
Stuart N. Brotman is an American government policymaker; university professor; management consultant; lawyer; author and editorial adviser; and non-profit organization executive. He has taught students from 42 countries in six separate disciplines — Communications, Journalism, Business, Law, International Relations and Public Policy. He also has advised private and public sector clients in more than 30 countries in five continents.
Maxim Valerievich Viktorov is a Russian public figure, lawyer, philanthropist. Member of the Public Chamber of Russia, first deputy chairman of the Presidium of the Russian Association for the Advancement of Science. Viktorov was an advisor for the Russian Defense Ministry in the past. He is chairman of the Board of Investment Programs Foundation and managing partner at Legal Intelligence Group, a law firm. Viktorov is a founder of the Moscow International Paganini Violin Competition, a professor of NRU-HSE.
Chandranath Mishra Amar was a Maithili writer and poet. He was the recipient of the Sahitya Akademi award for his 1982 work Maithili Patrakaritak Itahas. He also won the prestigious Sahitya Akademi Fellowship for the year 2010.
Stefaan G. Verhulst is the co-founder and chief research and development officer of The Governance Laboratory at New York University. His research and writing considers how advances in technology and science can be harnessed to create effective and collaborative forms of governance.
Arcot Ramachandran (1923-2018) was an Indian scientist, anthropologist, author and a former Under-Secretary General of United Nations Centre for Human Settlements, known for his scholarship on the subjects of heat and mass transfer and environment and his social commitment to the cause of sustainable development. The Government of India honoured him in 2003, with the Padma Bhushan, the third highest civilian award, for his services to the fields of Science and Engineering.
Lalya Gaye is a digital media artist and interaction designer whose early work was influential in the field of locative media. Currently based in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, she is the founder and director of the international and interdisciplinary digital art practice Attaya Projects.
Abdullah bin Amer Alswaha is the current Minister of Communications and Information Technology in Saudi Arabia. His ministry is responsible for developing Saudi Arabia's ICT infrastructure and workforce as part of the country's Vision 2030 programme. He was previously managing director of Cisco Saudi Arabia.
The Ukrainian Institute is a public institution of Ukraine that represents Ukrainian culture in the world and forms a positive image of Ukraine abroad. The institute was founded by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine in 2017 and is affiliated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine. It fully began its activities in the summer of 2018, after the appointment to the position of General Director Volodymyr Sheiko, as a result of an open competition and the creation of a team of specialists.
Demos Helsinki is a Finnish think tank. Their main research focus is on governance and societal innovation for the development of a democratic and environmentally sustainable society. The organisation receives a mix of public and private funding. When it was founded in 2005, Demos Helsinki became Finland's first independent think tank, described as a "front-runner" amongst think tanks in the Nordic by the Scandinavian Political Studies journal. Internationally, Demos Helsinki remains one of Finland's most prominent advocates of social change, receiving regular coverage from notable English-language newspapers, including The Guardian, The New York Times, and The Economist.
