Mr. Vardi is One of Israel’s early entrepreneurs. He co-founded, led, funded and helped build more than 80 high-tech, energy, natural resources, and clean-tech companies. Many of them went public, including Tekem, Alon Energy, Granite Hacarmel and many more. As the founding investor of Mirabilis Ltd, - the creator of iCQ - Vardi co-pioneered instant messaging.

Vardi was chairman of the board of trustees of Jerusalem Foundation, Weitzman Institute. Hebrew University, the Open University, the Technion. He was an advisor to the World Bank, United Nations Development Program, CEO’s of Amazon, AOL, Siemens Albis, and Allied–signal, member of the World Economic Forum, and Co-chairman of the EU-Israel business dialogue.

He was the director general of Ministry of Development and Ministry of Energy, chairman of Israel National Oil Company, and Israel Chemicals. Participated in the peace talks with Egypt, Palestinians, Jordan and Syria.

Louis Stewart currently serves as the City of Sacramento's first Chief Innovation Officer. Mr. Stewart is responsible for the development of a broad citywide portfolio of programs and initiatives that support, drive, influence and build upon the City of Sacramento's economic inclusion philosophy, business development strategies, goals, customer relationships and business results. He spent the last seven years serving as California's Deputy Director of Innovation and Entrepreneurship in the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz). In that capacity he oversaw the coordination and promotion of innovative programs, activities, and emerging technologies throughout California for the last seven years. He managed a robust statewide innovation-based economic development support network of regional innovation clusters called the California Innovation Hubs (iHubs). Mr. Stewart has served in the public sector for 10 years including as the Deputy Director of the Census for the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research, the Assistant Deputy Director of the Field Operations Division for the Department of Motor Vehicles, and the Information Technology Director for Californians for Schwarzenegger. His professional experience also includes 17 years in the private sector in sales, marketing, and information technology.

While Mr. Stewart’s experience is vast, his greatest expertise and focus includes:

• Smart and Connected Cities
• Bio Technology
• Tech Equity
• Development of Innovation Ecosystems

Mr. Stewart is a service based leader who embodies the belief that he cannot be a success without helping others be successful.

Mr. Stewart grew up in France and Italy, and played professional basketball in Peru and Belgium until he landed back in Sacramento. Mr. Stewart received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Santa Clara University

Digital & FinTech Entrepreneur, Senior experienced executive with extensive International exposure in Leading Global Multinational organizations like SAP, IBM, TSYS, AdMob/Google, American Express, A.T. Kearney, Dubai World, Co-Founder of Quick.

Anthea Fabri is currently the Director for the Framework Programme Unit within the Malta Council for Science and Technology (MCST). The Unit hosts all Malta’s National Contact Points and Programme Committee Members for the EU Framework Programme (FP) – Horizon 2020. Ms Fabri also represents Malta on the Strategic Committee for Horizon Europe – the next FP. Indeed Ms Fabri has been active in the FPs since FP6 by acting as NCP and PCM for various areas as well as managing and coordinating numerous projects for MCST.

In the Swedish Ministry of Enterprise and Innovation, Marie Wall is involved in creating the conditions for strong innovative ecosystems to thrive. With a wide range of experience from many different areas such as computer science research, a number of successful and less successful start-ups and venture capital, both in Sweden and Silicon Valley, as well as policy experience from heading the national funding of incubators and young start-ups at the innovation agency (Vinnova), she is the bridge between the Swedish ministry and the start-up community.

After selling his startup Gutenberg Communication Systems in the year 2000, Daniel invested in more than hundred startups (14 of them became unicorns) during the last twenty years. He is serving as board member for various companies as well as president of the Swiss Technion Society and as a member of the Circle of Investors of BrainsToVentures. Daniel Gutenberg is a longtime member of YPO (Young Presidents’ Organization), a network of young global business leaders and co-founder of the Crypto Finance Conference in St. Moritz, Switzerland, world’s most exclusive investor conference on cryptocurrencies and blockchain investments and he is Venture Partner at VI Partners, a Swiss venture capital firm.

Daniel is fluent in German, English and French.

SECA awarded Daniel Gutenberg in 2011 as business angel of the year.

Ms. Teresa Riesgo is the Secretary General for Innovation of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (since January 2020).

Previously, she was Director General for Research, Development and Innovation at the Ministry (since July 2018).

In her current capacity, Ms. Riesgo is in charge of the promotion of innovation and the planning and follow-up of Spanish strategies of science and innovation.

Ms. Riesgo holds Master and PhD Degrees in Industrial Engineering from the Polytechnic University of Madrid, where she had full tenure as Professor of Electronics since 2003. During her academic career she has participated in more than 60 research projects, many of them international, and published more than 200 scientific papers.

Ambassador Emanuele Giaufret arrived in Israel in 2017, following an extensive career in EU foreign policy. Most recently, he was Head of Division for Democracy and Electoral Observation at the European External Action Service (EEAS); Advisor to the Managing Director for North Africa and the Middle East; and prior to that he served in the EU Delegation to the UN in New York. This is Mr. Giaufret's second post in Israel; he headed the Economic and Political Section of the EU Delegation in Tel Aviv between 2003-2007. Before joining the EU, Mr. Giaufret worked for the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe. He has a PhD in History of International Relations from the University of Florence and a Master's degree in European Affairs received from the College of Europe in Belgium. He is married and has three children.

Her life mission is to arm Polish market with the necessary digital competences. She has founded Digital University, an organization that, works with leading global universities such as MIT, Harvard Business School, University of Vienna, Stanford University and NYU Stern and its mission is to educate leaders in the field of new technologies. Jowita organizes and runs educational programs, training sessions and conferences for the management teams. She is also a Polish ambassador of Singularity University - an educational think-tank from the Silicon Valley, which educates and inspires leaders to use new technology.

Jowita speaks at the most important European conferences and conducts educational programs on technological trends for companies and universities

president of Association of European Schools of Planning, professor of Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava, Slovakia and at Shanghai Jiao Tong Univerisity, China, Expert of UN Habitat III and Ministry for Investment, Regional Development and Innovations of SR, director of SPECTRA Centre of Excellence of th EU at STU in Bratislava.

For a number of years Director of the Institute of Spatial Planning at the STU in Bratislava, Vice-Chancellor of the University, expert of the UN Habitat III, expert of the Office of the Governement and   president of Slovak Smart City Cluster, guest professor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University and East China Normal University, lead expert at the Office of the Vice-Prime Minister for Investment, co-establisher of SPECTRA CE CHINA. Prof. Finka has participated in more than 40 national and more than 35 international research projects, in more than 30 national and 20 international projects as the project or team leader covering the topics of European spatial planning, urban development and regeneration and environmental planning. He has been the member of national and international scientific boards, member of German Academy for Spatial Research and Planning, member of advisory boards of Slovak Ministry of Environemnt and Slovak Ministry of Transport, Construction and Regional Development, Ministry of Inner Affairs of the Federal State Rheinland Pfalz.He works as the expert at the Ministry of Transport and Construction of the SR.  He is also widely published in books and international planning journals (Author or co-author of 41 books, more than 80 published papers, more than 100 papers presented at the international scientific events. He is co-chairman of the SPA-CE.NET – Network of Spatial Research and Planning Institutions in Central and Eastern Europe and of the Alliance of the EU and Chineese Universities for Smart Sustainable Development and Innovations. He is considered to be one of the leading academics in CEE countries in the field of spatial planning. He was awarded as Scientist of the Year in Slovakia and by the International Danubius Award 2017 for research.

Prof. Ogot has over 25 years experience in cross-cutting multi-disciplinary research experience anchored in Mechanical Engineering. This includes 15 years in the United States at Rutgers University and Pennsylvania State University. He has Masters and PhDs degrees in both Mechanical Engineering and Business (Strategic Management) enabling him to carry out research and policy work at the interface of technology and entrepreneurship, key elements in the development of economies. Current research projects, funded by the Newton-Utafiti  Fund, the Kenya National Research Fund and GIZ are centered around the issues of health impacts from degraded air quality in urban areas, primarily as a result of pollution from the transport sector; and characterization of Green House Gas emissions from the road transport sector in Kenya through the development of localized emission factors and characterization of the vehicle fleet. In addition, he has led or been part of teams that have developed a large number of policy and regulatory documents currently steering the higher education and the knowledge eco-system in Kenya. He is leading the University’s efforts to develop an Innovation Park on a 30 acre site in Nairobi.

Development cooperation of researchers, investors, producers and consumers of high technology products (products, technologies and services)
Promotion the commercialization of research, development and innovation
Promotion entrepreneurship and innovative business

I have been fortunate in my career to have been involved in a number of industries managing projects and business processes. This diverse experience has culminated in me becoming a passionate entrepreneur with the ability to effectively work with all levels of people as well as many sectors and industries. I proud myself in being able to understand business requirements and rely to technical and operational functions. My Project Management background then closes the loop to manage the execution to a successful outcome.

I am a natural born problem solver and my ability to see the big picture in relation to the challenges and the task at hand gives me an advantage in business.

Our company - Informed Decisions is the result of great partners, good understanding of business problems and a exceptional technical capability to answer the burning issues that our customers face. We are committed to drive digital transformation, while creating space for people to learn new skills.

Dr Ajay Prabhu is the President, Technology Services at QuEST Global (www.quest-global.com).

He hails from a small city in Southern India, where he completed his primary education in a vernacular Junior Technical Government School where early on he got fascinated by Electrical Engineering. Ajay went on to complete his Bachelor’s degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering from NIT, Suratkal (India), and MS and PhD degrees from the University of Massachusetts (USA). His research on very high frequency amplifiers was awarded by the IEEE (Institution of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) and bagged the Microwave Society Fellowship. He holds two US Patents.

After successful stints with HP and Agilent Technologies in the US, Ajay joined QuEST in 2002, when it was a 200-strong organization. Under his leadership as the Chief Operating Officer, QuEST increased its global presence with new delivery centres across 14 different countries including Germany, Japan, US, UK and India, and employs more than 11,800 professionals today. His passion and commitment to excellence permeates the organisation's functions, and his relentless drive to build a best-in-class company through delivery and people process excellence has resulted in AS9100, PCMM Level 3, ISO 9001:2000, ISO 27001, ACE Gold and the CMMI Level 3 certification. He has architected a unique business process and institutionalized a rhythm for QuEST that has resulted in scalability, predictability and enhanced customer and employee satisfaction across the various organizational functions.

In his current role as the President, Technology Services, Ajay ensures alignment of the organization’s technology solutions infrastructure with the evolving needs of the industry and the customers. He designs the strategy to build and establish QuEST’s customer relationship ecosystem globally.

Ajay is the Chair for NASSCOM Engineering and R&D (ER&D) Council, representing 1,500+ member companies in ER&D in India and is currently driving the vision to create a $100B industry by 2025.

Ajay is on the Board of Aequs Pvt Ltd since its inception. Aequs is a unique ecosystem of precision manufacturing, engineering and technology in Belgaum, India, which has grown to create employment for more than 2,000 in the region.

He is an avid angel investor helping start-ups across industries, with an underlying theme of uplifting the lives of next-Billion in India, by sharing his insights and experiences. He is equally passionate about education for the underprivileged, and has been helping many to gain access to higher education.

In the past 15 years, Tamás Békási acquired wide scale knowledge in process and business development, marketing communication and international service transfer, while he worked in the agency, corporate and SSC sector. As Business Creation Project Manager for the RIS Region in EIT Health, his top priority is to support and mentor european healthcare professionals from the ideation phase, through the market entry, to the global expansion.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tam%C3%A1s-b%C3%A9k%C3%A1si-b7666aa0/

Ken Wu is the Chief Executive Officer of GLORIA in NCTU. This organization provides a useful government industry-academia collaboration platform that connects the researchers and innovators with leading edge companies, as well as supply chain/manufacturers and financial investors. The objective is to build new industry focuses and business opportunities, leading to successful launching through IPO of start-ups and their ecosystems.

GLORIA was established in 2017 and had a rapid development in these 3 years. Ken built a strong ecosystem composed of five major industries (5G/IoT, AI/VR/AR, Bio/Med, Green Energy and Smart City), that successfully brought out prominent industry academia collaborations and revenue with innovative business model. Among them, high-potential start-ups have been fostered and grown up with GLORIA one-stop service (venture capital / product development / recruiting / marketing). Under Ken’s leadership, the innovation startup members acknowledge this organization’s contribution with unique value proposition, by turning into its strategic partners.

Before 2016, Ken was President of Alcatel-Lucent in Taiwan; and Managing Director of Taiwan International Standard Electronics Ltd Ltd. Under Ken s leadership , the company
has grown significantly in capability and profit / revenue Ken established the 1 st
Alcatel-Lucent Innovation Center in Asia (Taipei) Taipei); also ALU’s 1 st and only 4G
commercial network in Asia.

Ken has comprehensive managing experience s in High Tech Information and
Communication s Technology ICT) globally . Prior to joining Alcatel Lucent Ken
contributed several years with Ericsson and British Telecom w here he held different
executive positions including general man ager of BT APAC in charge of their emerging
market in 5 countries including Australia/HK/China/Singapore and Taiwan . Before that,
Ken established his solid first career and professional competence in Hewlett Packard
for 8 years.

Between 2010-2015, Ken held 3 rounds of the governor and supervisor in the board
of director of American Chamber of Commerce (Amcham), and co chair of
Telecommunication & Media committee, lobbying government authorities and
regulators to promote Taiwan’ s and global members’ interest s . B e fore that Ken was the
ch airman of the Telecom Committee of the European Chamber of Commerce Taipei
(ECCT), advocating for Taiwan government and industries policy For Taiwan bilateral
trade & cultural joint business councils, Ken has been contributing in BTTC
(Britain Taiwan ), Taiwan Sweden , Taiwan France groups in CIECA, and currently Vice
Chairman of Taiwan Netherlands Committee.

Luis Martin is the President of Barrabes.biz, a company that helps organizations to be successful in their digital transformation. Entrepreneur for the first time at the age of 16, he has developed another StartUp initiatives and spent the rest of his career in corporations like IBM, Attachmate and Microsoft.

He has launched more than 50 digital products. Concerned about the social impact, has pioneered breakthrough projects like Walqa a center of Internet Excellence, the Largest Tablet Program for Education with 200K tablets, the first eBusiness Postgraduate and Undergraduate Program in Europe, and the Charity Movement for Food in Spain called “Operación Kilo”.  

Physicist, also teaches as Associate Professor in Business Schools like Deusto Business School, IE, UAX, UFV, University of Zaragoza and European Institute of Design.