Keynotes 2019

Speakers

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  Barbara Frei

  EVP Europe & Member of the Executive Board Schneider Electric

  The human aspect in technology transition

  Nothing is more constant than change and this is particularly true in the industry of Schneider Electric – Industry 4.0 is an exciting strategic and technological shift to discover and grow new business areas. Schneider Electric is leading the digital transformation of energy management and automation. Besides technology, in this new era, Schneider Electric is also dealing with new values and with people who have to find their way around: leaders, employees, customers and partners at all levels. As a member of the group executive board, Barbara Frei will share insights on how the…

  The human aspect in technology transition

  Nothing is more constant than change and this is particularly true in the industry of Schneider Electric – Industry 4.0 is an exciting strategic and technological shift to discover and grow new business areas. Schneider Electric is leading the digital transformation of energy management and automation. Besides technology, in this new era, Schneider Electric is also dealing with new values and with people who have to find their way around: leaders, employees, customers and partners at all levels. As a member of the group executive board, Barbara Frei will share insights on how the international billion dollar company Schneider Electric makes the people as an integral part of the journey, what changes and adaptions had to be done and what the learnings along this journey has been.

  About Barbara Frei

  Barbara Frei, born in 1970 in Männedorf, Switzerland, has been CEO of Schneider Electric GmbH since 2016. She is responsible for business of the strategic DACH zone that comprises Germany, Austria and Switzerland. She completed her studies in mechanical engineering at ETH Zurich, followed by a doctorate in 1998. Barbara Frei started her career in 1998 as a development project manager for motors and drives at ABB Schweiz AG. Until 2016, she held various senior management positions in the ABB Group. She joined Schneider Electric in 2016 as CEO and Zone President of the DACH zone, after which she was nominated to become a member of SE’s Executive Committee to head up the Europe business in the beginning of 2019. Barbara Frei has extensive experience in automation, power engineering and digitization.

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  Peter Frans Pauwels

  Co-Founder TomTom

  The Road to Autonomous Mobility

  Peter Frans Pauwels, Co-Founder at TomTom, will start his presentation talking about TomTom's journey from one of the most successful consumer electronics manufacturers to a leading location technology (software) specialist. He will talk about how TomTom has managed to constantly reinvent itself and stay innovative, and what the major learnings and challenges have been. Moving on from there, Peter Frans will talk about the future of mobility, how autonomous driving will develop and TomTom's vision on the importance of real time mapping technologies to make it happen. Whilst no one can answer the question when…

  The Road to Autonomous Mobility

  Peter Frans Pauwels, Co-Founder at TomTom, will start his presentation talking about TomTom's journey from one of the most successful consumer electronics manufacturers to a leading location technology (software) specialist. He will talk about how TomTom has managed to constantly reinvent itself and stay innovative, and what the major learnings and challenges have been. Moving on from there, Peter Frans will talk about the future of mobility, how autonomous driving will develop and TomTom's vision on the importance of real time mapping technologies to make it happen. Whilst no one can answer the question when fully autonomous driving will happen, the path to that future is increasingly clear and to a certain extent it’s already happening today with driver-assistance systems.

  About Peter Frans Pauwels

  Peter Frans Pauwels was the original product developer at TomTom, and one of the small team of four friends who founded TomTom 27 years ago. His expertise and vision for product development played a decisive role in TomTom’s growth from a small startup into a leading global brand. Peter Frans managed the development and execution of the first navigation system – the TomTom Navigator. It ran on Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), providing people with an easy-to-use, affordable navigation solution for the very first time. This paved the way for the launch of the TomTom GO in 2004, the very first portable navigation device, which revolutionized the way people move. The TomTom GO became the fastest selling consumer device in history and is featured in TIME magazine’s list of the most influential gadgets in history. Today, Peter Frans makes sure TomTom’s engineers – many of whom are working on an autonomous future – never lose sight of what made the company famous: a laser focus on creating innovative technology that is incredibly easy to use. Peter Frans holds a Master’s Degree in Computer Science from the University of Amsterdam.

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  Claude Zellweger

  Director of Design Google

  Designing for the Human Era of Computing

  As technology continues to evolve, designers and developers are challenged to think differently about the relationship between humans and tech. Claude Zellweger discusses the importance of immersive computing during this transition, as well as what skills and sensibilities will be vital for the creators of the future.

  About Claude Zellweger

  Claude is an industrial designer and leads Immersive Design at Google, where he is responsible for the VR/AR space and future hardware categories. He joined in 2016 and since helped launch the Daydream View as well as shape of upcoming AI driven hardware.…

  Designing for the Human Era of Computing

  As technology continues to evolve, designers and developers are challenged to think differently about the relationship between humans and tech. Claude Zellweger discusses the importance of immersive computing during this transition, as well as what skills and sensibilities will be vital for the creators of the future.

  About Claude Zellweger

  Claude is an industrial designer and leads Immersive Design at Google, where he is responsible for the VR/AR space and future hardware categories. He joined in 2016 and since helped launch the Daydream View as well as shape of upcoming AI driven hardware. Previously Claude held a position as VP of design at HTC, where he oversaw the design of their smartphones as well as the industry defining VR system, HTC Vive. As creative director Claude played a central role in turning HTC into a brand recognized for its design. Claude joined the organization in 2008 after his design agency One & Co was acquired by HTC. His work has appeared in numerous tech, design and fashion publications and has won 50+ international awards in the categories of consumer and industrial design. Claude also served as a juror on the ISDA awards for 2 years, in the categories of product, transportation and entertainment design. Claude was born in Switzerland and moved to California to study design at Art Center. Today he lives and works in San Francisco.

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  Karin Schwab

  Vice President, Deputy General Counsel, Head of Legal Global Product and Technology, Payments at eBay

  Legal - The Underutilized Business Enabler

  If you ask business leaders about the levers at their disposal to drive business and innovation you will typically hear about dedicated innovation teams, digitalization workstreams, or product hack-weeks. In very rare occasions you will hear somebody talk about the role that their legal team plays as a business enabler and innovation driver.
  This talk will dig into this missed opportunity. Understanding why legal is often seen as a blocker, what can be achieved if legal is utilized as a business driver and what it takes to engage legal with such a different mindset.…

  Legal - The Underutilized Business Enabler

  If you ask business leaders about the levers at their disposal to drive business and innovation you will typically hear about dedicated innovation teams, digitalization workstreams, or product hack-weeks. In very rare occasions you will hear somebody talk about the role that their legal team plays as a business enabler and innovation driver.
  This talk will dig into this missed opportunity. Understanding why legal is often seen as a blocker, what can be achieved if legal is utilized as a business driver and what it takes to engage legal with such a different mindset. You will walk away from this encouraged to start thinking differently about the legal function and discover a new opportunity that you most likely have not had in your consideration set before.

  About Karin Schwab

  Karin Schwab is an international business executive with over 20 years of experience across marketplaces, technology and e-commerce. She has a proven track record in leading successful large-scale transformation initiatives, optimizing processes in complex, globally matrixed environments and operationalizing M&A transactions in domestic and global markets. Currently, Karin is the Vice President and Deputy General Counsel for eBay’s Global Product and Technology Organization, holding oversight for regulatory, commercial and product compliance work. As a member of eBay’s Product and Tech Leadership team, Karin participates in the development of the strategy and execution of operational plans for this business with annual revenues of $10B. She was closely involved in the PayPal spinoff and is now a key player of the core team developing eBay’s managed payment model – projecting an annualized global incremental revenue of over $2B. Born and raised in the bilingual town of Fribourg, Switzerland, Karin has held multiple roles for eBay in Europe including being the General Counsel for eBay’s EMEA business. Her pedigreed academic background includes a Ph.D. in E-Commerce from the University of Zurich and a Master of Laws from the University of London, specializing in Computer and Communications Law. Karin is married and has a 9-year old daughter.

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  David Wallerstein

  Chief eXploration Officer, Member of the Management Tencent

  How can we address the biggest challenges facing humanity by making the greatest possible impact?

  About David Wallerstein

  David Wallerstein’s career has been defined by a desire to foster the healthy development of human relationships across national borders, and bringing next-gen technologies to market to increase human resilience. He is Chief eXploration Officer (CXO) and member of the management, driving Tencent’s participation in new technologies, business areas, research collaborations and ideas. David has worked on building Tencent's international footprint and entrance into new business areas since 2001. Working with Naspers, he drove their early investment into Tencent and subsequently joined…

  How can we address the biggest challenges facing humanity by making the greatest possible impact?

  About David Wallerstein

  David Wallerstein’s career has been defined by a desire to foster the healthy development of human relationships across national borders, and bringing next-gen technologies to market to increase human resilience. He is Chief eXploration Officer (CXO) and member of the management, driving Tencent’s participation in new technologies, business areas, research collaborations and ideas. David has worked on building Tencent's international footprint and entrance into new business areas since 2001. Working with Naspers, he drove their early investment into Tencent and subsequently joined Tencent’s executive team. David also worked with other multinationals in China and Japan in the 1990s, facilitating their investments and strategic planning.


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  Johannes Reck

  Co-Founder & CEO GetYourGuide

  Building a unicorn for an experiential travel future

  A decade ago, GetYourGuide was born as a passion project among university friends in Switzerland. Johannes Reck shares his company’s journey to becoming the world’s leading travel experiences platform, entrepreneurship lessons learned along the way, and the game-changing consumer shifts and market opportunities that lie ahead.

  About Johannes Reck

  Johannes Reck is the Chief Executive Officer at GetYourGuide. He leads the company’s long-term vision and strategy. Johannes co-founded GetYourGuide in 2009 while attending the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, and has grown the company into the leading booking platform for incredible travel…

  Building a unicorn for an experiential travel future

  A decade ago, GetYourGuide was born as a passion project among university friends in Switzerland. Johannes Reck shares his company’s journey to becoming the world’s leading travel experiences platform, entrepreneurship lessons learned along the way, and the game-changing consumer shifts and market opportunities that lie ahead.

  About Johannes Reck

  Johannes Reck is the Chief Executive Officer at GetYourGuide. He leads the company’s long-term vision and strategy. Johannes co-founded GetYourGuide in 2009 while attending the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, and has grown the company into the leading booking platform for incredible travel experiences. Under Johannes’ leadership, over 20 million tickets have been booked to date via the GetYourGuide website, mobile app, and partnership network. GetYourGuide has raised a total of $170M from investors such as Battery Ventures, KKR, and Spark Capital. Johannes leads GetYourGuide’s 450-person global team from its headquarters in Berlin, Germany. Johannes originally hails from Cologne, Germany and holds an M.Sc. in Biochemistry from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology.


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  Vitaly Ponomarev

  Founder & CEO WayRay

  Building Switzerland’s most valuable AR startup

  Augmented Reality (AR) is turning from a niche technology to mainstream, and its market is to hit $US160B by 2023. One of the most valuable and promising AR companies in Switzerland is WayRay. Learn from its founder & CEO Vitaly Ponomarev how he created WayRay, got buy-in from Alibaba, Porsche, and Hyundai Motor, and posed it to become the next big thing in the automotive industry. Get entrepreneurship lessons and insights on the future of mobility!

  About Vitaly Ponomarev

  Founder, strategic leader and visionary behind WayRay, Vitaly implements complex innovations to deliver a second-to-none…

  Building Switzerland’s most valuable AR startup

  Augmented Reality (AR) is turning from a niche technology to mainstream, and its market is to hit $US160B by 2023. One of the most valuable and promising AR companies in Switzerland is WayRay. Learn from its founder & CEO Vitaly Ponomarev how he created WayRay, got buy-in from Alibaba, Porsche, and Hyundai Motor, and posed it to become the next big thing in the automotive industry. Get entrepreneurship lessons and insights on the future of mobility!

  About Vitaly Ponomarev

  Founder, strategic leader and visionary behind WayRay, Vitaly implements complex innovations to deliver a second-to-none driving experience and reshape the future of mobility. With extensive experience in design and marketing as well as a deep knowledge of science and IT, Vitaly bends all his energy to advancing holographic AR technology. Under his direction, WayRay produced Navion, morphed from a startup into a fully-edged manufacturer, and established partnerships with major automakers. In 2017, the Chinese internet giant Alibaba Group led an $18 million Series B and in September 2018 the company raised another $80 million in Series C led by Porsche. As of then, WayRay had a valuation of $500 million and herewith is one of the most valuable Swiss startups.

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  Galit Ariel

  Digital Hippie

  THE REAL FAKE ME: REALNESS & IDENTITY IN AN AUGMENTED ERA

  Our identity is already a fluid concept. But what happens when we use digital tools to alter our presence in the real world, in real-time?

  ABOUT GALIT ARIEL

  Galit Ariel is a TechnoFuturist and an immersive space explorer. She defines herself as a ‘Digital Hippie’, since she is passionate about a future that will integrate technology into our everyday lives, but not control it. Galit is considered a thought leader within the field of immersive tech, delivering notable talks, summits and seminars exploring the topic across the globe.
  Her…

  THE REAL FAKE ME: REALNESS & IDENTITY IN AN AUGMENTED ERA

  Our identity is already a fluid concept. But what happens when we use digital tools to alter our presence in the real world, in real-time?

  ABOUT GALIT ARIEL

  Galit Ariel is a TechnoFuturist and an immersive space explorer. She defines herself as a ‘Digital Hippie’, since she is passionate about a future that will integrate technology into our everyday lives, but not control it. Galit is considered a thought leader within the field of immersive tech, delivering notable talks, summits and seminars exploring the topic across the globe.
  Her book ‘Augmenting Alice -The Future of Identity, Experience and Reality’ explores the way Augmented Reality’s diffusion will shift cultural and functional paradigms and redefine core concepts related to culture, space, experience and ethics. The book integrates an augmented layer, allowing an additional experiential value, and the chance to update content and data layer. Through her spatial innovation lab ‘Wondarlands’ Galit helps organizations and commercial clients shape their augmented futures, explore immersive narratives, interaction tools, brand touch-points and experience creation.
  Galit’s goal is to bridge the gap between digital, physical, and mental spaces to create tools & platforms that help people experience these worlds in new ways. She is currently located in Toronto, where she works with international collaborators and bodies on creating Tech For Human(ity) impact hubs and projects.

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  Bertrand Bodson

  Chief Digital Officer Novartis

  Healthcare is ripe for disruption

  What if you focused the power of data science and digital technologies to reimagine medicine? What if you could reach patients faster and in more meaningful ways? With more than two million patient years of clinical trial data, data science at Novartis has the opportunity to answer these questions and more. Join Bertrand Bodson to understand how Novartis leverages data and digital for researching, developing, manufacturing and delivering innovative medicines to patients. He’ll also share his views on the unique challenges and opportunities digital faces in the healthcare industry.

  About Bertrand Bodson

  Bertrand Bodson has…

  Healthcare is ripe for disruption

  What if you focused the power of data science and digital technologies to reimagine medicine? What if you could reach patients faster and in more meaningful ways? With more than two million patient years of clinical trial data, data science at Novartis has the opportunity to answer these questions and more. Join Bertrand Bodson to understand how Novartis leverages data and digital for researching, developing, manufacturing and delivering innovative medicines to patients. He’ll also share his views on the unique challenges and opportunities digital faces in the healthcare industry.

  About Bertrand Bodson

  Bertrand Bodson has been Chief Digital Officer and member of the Executive Committee of Novartis since January 1, 2018. From 2013 to 2017, Mr. Bodson served as chief digital and marketing officer of Sainsbury's Argos, where he led Argos’ successful transformation from a traditional catalogue business to the third-largest online retailer in the United Kingdom. Prior to that, he was executive vice president of the global digital business at EMI Music from 2010 to 2013. He co-founded Bragster.com, a social networking and content sharing website, and has also held senior roles at Amazon. Mr. Bodson earned a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School in the United States.


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  Alan Boehme

  Group Chief Technology Officer Procter & Gamble

  Transforming a Fortune 500 company: corporate technology as active player

  Alan Boehme will discuss current and future trends that are impacting decisions made by corporate technology organizations as they transform their business. Alan will show the importance of technology as an enabler and active driver for change and for new business models. What role do start-ups, entrepreneurs and universities play in this changes? What new business and collaboration models will develop to facilitate these changes? And what role does the right culture and mindset within corporate technology play? These are only a few questions Alan is going to answer in…

  Transforming a Fortune 500 company: corporate technology as active player

  Alan Boehme will discuss current and future trends that are impacting decisions made by corporate technology organizations as they transform their business. Alan will show the importance of technology as an enabler and active driver for change and for new business models. What role do start-ups, entrepreneurs and universities play in this changes? What new business and collaboration models will develop to facilitate these changes? And what role does the right culture and mindset within corporate technology play? These are only a few questions Alan is going to answer in his keynote and in the following fireside chat.

  About Alan Boehme

  Alan leads P&G’s strategy for IT Infrastructure and Platforms as well as IT Innovation, with a focus on harnessing technology to better serve consumers, customers and employees. Before joining P&G as CTO and IT Innovation Officer in 2017, Alan served as the Global CTO, CIO and Chief of Enterprise Architecture at The Coca-Cola company. Alan gained over 30 years of experience at the forefront of technologic innovation in various IT and business leadership roles and has been recognized internationally for his ability to jump-start global business transformation and innovation across industry sectors. Outside of P&G Alan serves as an advisor to venture capital accelerators, numerous technology start-up companies as well as academic institutions.


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  Yasaman Sheri

  DESIGNER & CREATIVE DIRECTOR

  Alt-Sense

  In her talk Yasaman Sheri explores the notion of sensing and perception, looking at history and challenging us to diversity how we think about sensing in more radical forms. Her most recent work with the leading synthetic biology lab Ginkgo Bioworks supported her research in designing biological sensors and expanding living micro-organisms sense of perception. Simulations, métaphores and mental models of sensing remain anthropocentric. Sheri discusses alternative ways of sensing, expanding the notion of perception beyond a singular body and asks us to re examine body-forms, networked culture and the entangled interactions of technology and ecology.

  About Yasaman Sheri

  …

  Alt-Sense

  In her talk Yasaman Sheri explores the notion of sensing and perception, looking at history and challenging us to diversity how we think about sensing in more radical forms. Her most recent work with the leading synthetic biology lab Ginkgo Bioworks supported her research in designing biological sensors and expanding living micro-organisms sense of perception. Simulations, métaphores and mental models of sensing remain anthropocentric. Sheri discusses alternative ways of sensing, expanding the notion of perception beyond a singular body and asks us to re examine body-forms, networked culture and the entangled interactions of technology and ecology.

  About Yasaman Sheri

  Yasaman Sheri is a designer and creative director who works in the field of sensing and perception. She is passionate about networks, humans and machines, and explores design beyond the visual interface. She has led design interactions at Microsoft Hololens Operating System team for 5 years designing interfaces from ground up to shipping two software updates using gesture, machine vision and spatial interactions. Her work with Augmented Reality has inspired her to expand sensory interactions, designing for the «other senses».

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  Siraj Khaliq

  Founder The Climate Corporation & Partner Atomico Ventures

  From European Computer Scientist to Silicon Valley Startup Success

  In 2000, Siraj set off to Silicon Valley to start a company, armed only with optimism and a computer science bachelor’s degree. Hear the lessons he learnt journeying from new grad to “unicorn” founder, and his views on technology now as Partner at one of Europe’s most respected VCs.

  Siraj Khaliq

  Siraj Khaliq was an early engineering hire at Google in 2001, and one of the founding engineers for the Google Book search project. Having left Google, Siraj founded The Climate Corporation in 2006, a company that pioneered the use of…

  From European Computer Scientist to Silicon Valley Startup Success

  In 2000, Siraj set off to Silicon Valley to start a company, armed only with optimism and a computer science bachelor’s degree. Hear the lessons he learnt journeying from new grad to “unicorn” founder, and his views on technology now as Partner at one of Europe’s most respected VCs.

  Siraj Khaliq

  Siraj Khaliq was an early engineering hire at Google in 2001, and one of the founding engineers for the Google Book search project. Having left Google, Siraj founded The Climate Corporation in 2006, a company that pioneered the use of machine learning in helping farmers to optimize crop yield and got acquired by Monsanto in 2013. The company still sits at the vanguard of precision agriculture, an industry that is expected to play a key role in delivering the yield boosts needed to feed humanity in the decades ahead. Today, Siraj is a Partner on the investment team at Atomico. He focuses on companies enabled by machine learning, AI and computer vision, (particularly in intelligent assistants), IoT, Agtech, and works with a number of portfolio companies. An enterprising child, Siraj taught himself to code in C at age 13, and wrote and sold his first piece of software, a database for medical research, at 15. He is still enough of a geek to spend the occasional weekend trying out new languages and frameworks.

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  Takeshi Yamada

  Relationships Among People

  Traditional artworks do not change in relation to the presence of viewers or their behavior. Digital art, however, has the ability to change due to the presence or behavior of viewers. Thus, the boundaries between artwork and viewers to become blurred and the viewers become part of the artwork itself. Furthermore, digital art has the ability to change the relationships among people who are present within the same space. If the interaction of other people with an artwork creates change that we feel is beautiful, then the presence of others can in itself become a positive element.…

  Relationships Among People

  Traditional artworks do not change in relation to the presence of viewers or their behavior. Digital art, however, has the ability to change due to the presence or behavior of viewers. Thus, the boundaries between artwork and viewers to become blurred and the viewers become part of the artwork itself. Furthermore, digital art has the ability to change the relationships among people who are present within the same space. If the interaction of other people with an artwork creates change that we feel is beautiful, then the presence of others can in itself become a positive element.
  Takeshi Yamada of teamLab will show what kind of technologies and methods the Japan based global art collective applies in order to artistically explore new relationships between people as well as between humans and nature. The interdisciplinary group of ultra-technologists believes strongly that the digital domain expands the capacities of art and that digital art allows our bodies to become more immersed in the artwork than ever before. In addition, Takeshi Yamada will explain the workflow of several teamLab projects and the structure of the international known art collective.

  About Takeshi Yamad

  Takeshi Yamada has been working for teamLab's management team in Tokyo, Japan,since 2017. teamLab is an art collective, whose collaborative and interdisciplinary practice seeks to navigate the confluence of art, science, technology, design and the natural world. Various specialists such as artists, programmers, engineers, CG animators, mathematicians and architects form teamLab. The artwork of the collective has been the subject of numerous exhibitions at venues worldwide and is also in permanent collections of art galleries and museums all around the globe.

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