Andrew Key‘s career has been at the intersection of capital markets and technology. He co-founded ConsenSys Capital, a financial services constellation of companies, including Fund Foundry, ConsenSys Ventures, and Token Foundry.

Previously, Andrew ran ConsenSys’ global business development from inception of the company, co-founded ConsenSys Enterprise, co-created the first Ethereum Blockchain-as-a-Service offering with Microsoft , and began the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance,

Andrew joined ConsenSys with capital markets, healthcare, technology and entrepreneurial experience. Previously, he worked for UBS investment bank in equities analysis. Later, he was involved within multiple hedge funds and broker dealers in alternative asset investing. After, he co-founded a healthcare revenue cycle management company where he learned about Bitcoin and eventually Ethereum.

He graduated from Loyola University in Maryland and University of Auckland with degrees in economics and international finance. Andrew’s best computer science was in college, and it’s been downhill technically, since then.

Andrew’s LinkedIn
Andrew on Twitter

Blockchain

A blockchain, originally block chain, is a continuously growing list of records, called blocks, which are linked and secured using cryptography. Each block typically contains a cryptographic hash of the previous block, a timestamp and transaction data.

By design, a blockchain is inherently resistant to modification of the data. It is “an open, distributed ledger that can record transactions between two parties efficiently and in a verifiable and permanent way”. For use as a distributed ledger, a blockchain is typically managed by a peer-to-peer network collectively adhering to a protocol for inter-node communication and validating new blocks. Once recorded, the data in any given block cannot be altered retroactively without the alteration of all subsequent blocks, which requires collusion of the network majority. This makes blockchains potentially suitable for the recording of events, medical records,and other records management activities, such as identity management, transaction processing, documenting provenance, food traceability or voting.

Blockchain was invented by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008 for use in the cryptocurrency bitcoin, as its public transaction ledger. The invention of the blockchain for bitcoin made it the first digital currency to solve the double-spending problem without the need of a trusted authority or central server. The bitcoin design has been the inspiration for other applications.

Ethereum

Ethereum is an open-source, public, blockchain-based distributed computing platform and operating system featuring smart contract (scripting) functionality.It supports a modified version of Nakamoto consensus via transaction based state transitions. Ether is a cryptocurrency whose blockchain is generated by the Ethereum platform. Ether can be transferred between accounts and used to compensate participant mining nodes for computations performed.

Writing (Andrew Keys)

Blockchain Predictions for 2018
Blockchain Predictions for 2017
Blockchain Predictions of 2016
Memo from Davos
Building the Hyperconnected Future on Blockchains (responsible for writing healthcare section)
Non-Technical Introduction to Ethereum
Tokenization of Assets

Andrew/ ConsenSys in Mainstream Media 

New York Times: Ethereum, a Virtual Currency, Enables Transactions That Rival Bitcoin’s (03/2016)
Bloomberg: Post-Bitcoin Technology Has Geeks, Giants, and Hackers Excited (03/2017)
Wall St Journal: Ethereum Network Copes With Surge of Activity as Virtual Kitten Game Goes Viral (12/2017)
The Economist: Financial Technology is proving less of a battleground than feared (052017)
International Business Times: How Ethereum Blockchain Technology Will Revolutionize Digital Asset Value (01/2018)

More Videos with Andrew

The Blockchain will disrupt everything – Keynote, Berlin November 2017
Speaking at Davos, World Economic Forum (1/2018)
Keynote – Cloud Expo, Jacob Javitz Center (03/2018)

Career:  Bestselling author, strategic advisor, innovation activist dubbed “Mr. Creativity” by The Economist; Chairmen & CEO EdgeMakers; Chairman ILSI
Interests: Jazz, Film & Theater (actively!). Unpeeling the onion, reinvention of education, innovation at societal scale.
Hometown: San Francisco, USA

John Kao was born in 1950 to Chinese immigrant parents. An accomplished jazz pianist, he spent the summer of 1969 playing keyboards for Frank Zappa. Kao studied philosophy at Yale College, received an MD from Yale Medical School, and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He taught at Harvard Business School from 1982-96, where he specialized in innovation and entrepreneurship and created executive and MBA programs on innovation. He has also held faculty appointments at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab, Yale College, and the Naval Postgraduate School.

John is a leader in creating and delivering high end innovation leadership executive programs for both public and private sectors. He is chairman of the Institute for Large Scale Innovation, whose i20 group is an association of 30 national ‘Chief Innovation Officers.’  John coined the term “large scale innovation” to refer to innovation as a societal agenda.  He has advised numerous nations and regions on innovation strategy and execution, including Finland, Singapore, the City of San Francisco, Abu Dhabi and elements of the US government as well as the European Union innovation policy team.

His advisory work for Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton was described in The New York Times as “out of the box”

More:
www.johnkao.com
John Kao on Wikipedia
John on Twitter
www.edgemakers.com

Key publications:
Jamming: The Art and Discipline of Business Creativity (1996; still reprinted and available in 16 languages)
Innovation Nation: How America Is Losing Its Innovation Edge, Why It Matters, and What We Can Do to Get It Back (2007) 

Career: political theorist, author of bestseller ‘Jihad vs. McWorld’ and ‘If Mayors Ruled the World’; defender of “strong democracy”
Interests:  Theater, Opera and Film (active as playwright, lyricist and film-maker)
Hometown: living and working in New York City (where he was born in 1939)

Benjamin R. Barber burst into the media spotlight on 9/11 when his book Jihad Vs. McWorld, published in 1995, assumed newly horrific relevance. With his prophetic analysis of the emerging collision of tribalism and globalism, Barber established the parameters for 21st Century political debate.

Prof. Barber is a Senior Research Scholar at The Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society of The Graduate Center, The City University of New York, President and Founder of CivWorld/ the Interdependence Movement, and Walt Whitman Professor of Political Science Emeritus, Rutgers University and initiator of The Global Parliament of Mayors Project. He was an outside adviser to President Bill Clinton and a foreign policy adviser to Howard Dean’s 2004 Presidential campaign. Barber has advised political parties and political leaders in the U.K., Germany, Austria, Denmark, Finland and Italy on civic education and participatory institutions, and has done the same, more controversially, with civil society and government leaders in Turkey, the Emirates, Libya and China.

Barber’s 17 books include Strong Democracy (1984), Jihad vs. McWorld (1995 translated into thirty languages), How Markets Corrupt Children, Infantilize Adults, and Swallow Citizens Whole, (2007), If Mayors Ruled the World (2013).
A passionate advocate of democracy’s power, Barber continues to explore solutions for dysfunctional systems and political paralysis.  Barber shows how decentralized local governments can be more flexible – and more in tune with their constituents – than their federal counterparts.

More:
http://benjaminbarber.org
Benjamin Barber on Wikipedia
Benjamin on Facebook and Twitter 
CivWorld
The Interdependence Movement
Global Parliament of Mayors on Facebook
If Mayors Ruled the World on Facebook
Benjamins books on Amazon

Other articles/videos:
TED Talk: Why mayors should rule the world (TEDGlobal 2013)
Richard Florida in CITY LAB: Why Mayors Need a UN-Like Organization of Their Own
The European: Nation states no longer work (03/2014)
Video: Opening of Global Parliament of Mayors Planning Session on 19 Sept. 2014
Video: Benjamin Barber at Falling Walls Conference in Berlin in 2013

Career:  Internet Philosopher, Technologist, Co-Author ‘The Cluetrain Manifesto’
Other: He really hates writing or talking about himself (especially in 3rd person!)
Hometown: Born in NYC, lives with his wife and three children in Bosten, USA

Photocredits: Francesco Piasentin

Dr. David Weinberger is a technologist, author, professional speaker and commentator. David’s work focuses on how the Internet is changing human relationships, communication, and society. He is co-author of bestselling “The Cluetrain Manifesto”, author of  “Small Pieces Loosely Joined – a Unified Theory of the Web”, “Everything is Miscellaneous – the Power of the New Digital Disorder”, and the recently (01/2012) “Too Big to Know: Rethinking Knowledge Now That the Facts Aren’t the Facts, Experts Are Everywhere, and the Smartest Person in the Room Is the Room”

His one-person strategic marketing company, Evident Marketing, helps high-tech companies figure out what their products can be and how they can talk about them.
David was a gag writer for the comic strip “Inside Woody Allen” (1976-1883), holds a Ph.D. in Philosophy and taught in college. He became a marketing consultant and executive at several high-tech companies, and currently serves as a fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School, where he co-teaches a class on “The Web Difference”.
He had the title Senior Internet Advisor to Howard Dean’s 2004 presidential campaign, and provided technology policy advice to John Edwards’ 2008 presidential campaign. He is on a lot of industry boards and committees, including AIIM`s Emerging Technology Advisory Group, the Seybold Conference Advisory Board, the KMWorld 99 Advisory Board, the Xplor Marketspace Advisory Board and Instinctive Technology’s Advisory Board. He is very active in the politics of trying to keep the internet open and free.
David has written for a wide variety of magazines, including Wired, The New York Times and gives talks around the world.

The Cluetrain Manifesto is a set of 95 theses organized and put forward as a manifesto for all businesses. The ideas put forward within the manifesto aim to examine the impact of the Internet on both markets and organizations. The manifesto suggests that the changes that will be required from organizations as they respond to the new marketplace environment. The Cluetrain Manifesto was written in 1999 by Rick Levine, Christopher Locke, Doc Searls and David Weinberger.  A printed publication was published in 2000.

More:
www.cluetrain.com
www.davidweinberger.com
www.evident.com

David on Twitter
David on Facebook

Blog: www.johotheblog.com

Other articles/links/videos:
library lab: librarylab.law.harvard.edu

“Hab Geduld!” on the Cluetrain-Manifesto (aktuelle Ausgabe brandeins 02/2012)

Video: The Berkman Center David Weinberger on What Information was
Video: Everything is Miscellaneous – Talking to David Weinberger

Career: Founder & President FutureWorks; Author, Digital Analyst and Sociologist
Interests: Photography and Future
Hometown: San Francisco, USA

Brian Solis is globally recognized as one of the most prominent thought leaders and published authors in new media. A digital analyst, sociologist, and futurist, Solis has influenced the effects of emerging media on the convergence of marketing, communications, and publishing. He is principal of FutureWorks, an award-winning New Media and business strategy consultancy in Silicon Valley, and has led interactive and social programs for Fortune 500 companies, notable celebrities, and Web 2.0 startups.
In March 2010 Brians latest book was released: Engage, The Complete Guide for Brands and Businesses to Build, Cultivate, and Measure Success in the New Web, with an introduction written by Ashton Kutcher. Brian has also written and published several ebooks on new PR, social media, customer service, personal branding and blogger relations.He is also known for photographing prominent tech figures, Hollywood Celebrities, thought leaders, artists, and events. His work has been featured in BusinessWeek, The New York Times, Wired, The Los Angeles Times, Rolling Stone, among many other outlets.

More:
www.briansolis.com www.future-works.com
Twitter: @briansolis
Brians Photos on flickr

Other articles/links/videos:
Video: Brian Solis speaking at Thinking Digital Conference 2010 Link: Books by Brian Solis Article: Mashable: Why Brands are becoming Media 12/2010

Career: Theoretical Physicist. Professor at Yale, Harvard, Case Western Reserve and Arizona State University. Bestseller author e.g. “The Physics of Star Trek”.
Interests: Mountain Bike, Fly Fish, Scuba Dive
Hometown: Phoenix (AZ), USA

“I became a scientist in part because I read books by other scientists, such as Albert Einstein, George Gamow, Sir James Jeans, etc, when I was a child, and my popular writing returns the favor. One of my greatest joys is when a young person comes up to me and tells me that one of my books motivated them to become a scientist.

I believe science is not only a vital part of our culture, but is fun, and I try and convey that in my books and lectures. I am honored that Scientific American referred to me as a rare scientific public intellectual, and that all three major US Physics Societies: the American Physical Society, the American Association of Physics Teachers, and the American Institute of Physics, have seen fit to honor me with their highest awards for research and writing.

My research focuses on the beginning and end of the Universe. Among my contributions to the field of cosmology, I helped lead the search for dark matter, and first proposed the existence of dark energy in 1995.”

(LMK, Amazon Biography)

Lawrence Maxwell Krauss is an American Theoretical Physicist. In 1982, he received undergraduate degrees in mathematics and physics from Carleton University and his Ph.D. from the MIT. In 1985, he became assistant professor at Yale University and Associate Professor (1988). From 1993 to 2005, he was professor of astronomy and Chairman of Physics Department at Case Western Reserve University.
In August 2008, he joined the faculty at Arizona State University as Foundation Professor in the School of Earth and Space Exploration, and the Department of Physics in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, and Director of University’s Origins Initiative. In 2009, he helped inaugurate this initiative with the Origins Symposium in which 80 of the world’s leading scientists participated, and 3000 people attended. He currently serves on advisory board of Scientists and Engineers for America (SEA) and was elected to the Board of Directors of the Federation of American Scientists (FAS).
He regularly appears in national media for public outreach in science and has written many editorials, e.g. New York Times.

More:
Facebook Fanpage
Lawrence M. Krauss Faculty Website

Wikipedia: Lawrence M. Krauss
Media Bio of Lawrence Krauss

Lawrence’s books on Amazon
Lawrences books, publications, lectures an other media and public appearances

Other articles/links/videos:
Video: “A Universe From Nothing” by Lawrence Krauss, AAI 2009

Career: Curator & Host INK Conference (formerly TED India), Founder & CEO Ixoraa Media, Founder Digital Equalizer Program, Partner at Global Catalyst Partners
Interests: Collecting People, Human Spirit, Matching Indo and U.S Business
Hometown: Milpitas (CA), USA; New Delhi, India

Lakshmi Pratury is Founder and CEO of Ixoraa Media whose mission is to strengthen ties between the US and India through corporate, cultural, and media events. As a social entrepreneur, Lakshmi was a leading force at the American India Foundation (AIF), that raised over $30M in five years to channel towards development activities in India. She also started ‘Schools Online India’ (later ‘Digital Equalizer’) where she brought internet access to underprivileged children. Earlier, she was partner at Global Catalyst Partners (GCP) and was the first to turn the VC firm’s attention onto India. Lakshmi was co-host of the first ever TED conference in Asia – the TEDIndia. She continues sharing untold stories with the annual INK Conference, in association with TED.

The Ink Conference is an annual conference that aims to fuel innovation and foster knowledge by bringing together the world’s most fascinating thinkers and doers from a range of disciplines such as art, architecture, dance, design, music, science, social entrepreneurship, sports and technology. The first INK was in December 2010 in Delhi and will be featured annually.

Ixoraa Media is dedicated to bringing together extraordinary talent across generations and disciplines to focus on shaping the thinking, policy, and progress in the Indo–U.S. corridor. Ixoraa Media bandwidth ranges from technology projects with the private office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to music concerts. Ixora Media was host of TEDIndia, which attracted a global audience and featured thought leaders from India. Currently it is hosting The INK Conference in association with TED.

More:
www.theinkconference.com
www.ted.com
www.ixoraamedia.com

The INK Conference on Facebook
TED on Facebook
Twitter: @TEDTalks

Lakshmi on LinkedIn
Twitter: @LakshmiPratury
Lakshmi on Facebook

Other articles/links/videos:
Videos talks from INK Conference – The INKTalks: www.inktalks.com
Your Story: Lakshmi Pratury on INK conference: “We want to showcase innovation of thought” (10/2010)
Blogadda: Interview with Lakshmi Pratury (2010)

Short intro to The Ink Conference:

Career: Co-Founder and CEO of Foursquare
Interests: Snowboarding, Karaoke, Unemployment
Hometown: from Boston, lives in East Village, NYC, USA

Dennis Crowley is the Co-Founder and CEO of Foursquare, a service that mixes social, locative and gaming elements to encourage people explore the cities. Forusquare had over 4,5 million users worldwide as of 11/2010. Previously, Dennis founded dodgeball.com, one of the first mobile social services in the US, which was acquired by Google in 2005. He has been named “Top 35 Innovators Under 35” by MIT’s Technology Review magazine (2005) and has won the “Fast Money” bonus round on the TV game show Family Feud (2009). His work has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Wired, Time Magazine, Newsweek, MTV, Slashdot and NBC. He is currently an Adjunct Professor at NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP). The online magazine AskMen.com rated Dennis Crowley No. 19 of the “Top 49 Most Influential Men 2010”.

Foursquare is a location-based social networking website and software for mobile devices. Users check-in at venues using a mobile website, text messaging or a device-specific application. They are then awarded points and sometimes “badges.” The service was created in 2009 by Dennis Crowley and Naveen Selvadurai. As of 11/2010, the company reported 4.5 million registered users. The World Economic Forum announced the company as a Technology Pioneer for 2011.

More:
www.denniscrowley.com
Twitter: @dens
www.foursquare.com

Other articles/links/videos:
www.teendrama.com
Article: Forbes Nov 2010: Foursqure´s Dennis Crowley talks Facebook
Article: The Telegraph Jul 2010: Dennis Crowling, the new darling of Silicon Valley
Video: YouTube Dennis Crowley about Foursquare

Short intro to Foursquare:

Career: Scientist and Entrepreneur (Technology Pioneer 2010 by WEF), Founder and CEO Aura Biosciences
Interests: Art, Music, Travel, Languages, Photography, Innovation, Giving Back
Hometown: Barcelona, Spain; Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Elisabet de los Pinos is Founder and CEO of Aura Biosciences, a next-generation biotechnology company seeking to greatly improve the efficacy of cancer treatment. Her career spans oncology and translational research in both biotech and large pharmaceutical settings, including Lilly Pharmaceuticals. Elisabet received a magna cum laude doctorate in Molecular Biology at the University of Barcelona. She completed part of her training at Mount Sinai School of Medicine Institute of Molecular Medicine (NY-USA) and at Georgetown School of Medicine (Washington DC). Following that, she worked as a post-doctoral Fellow at the Institute of Cancer Research in London (UK). She has a Master degree in Business Administration from European IE Business School and is a graduate of the Entrepreneurship Development Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Aura Biosciences, is a next-generation biotech company developing the Nanosmart(tm) platform for the delivery of nano-enabled drugs. Nanosmart solves critical issues in drug delivery by encapsulating therapies within protein nanoparticles engineered for precise targeting, immune system evasion, and efficient cellular uptake. Aura is applying Nanosmart to two important areas, the well-studied area of chemotherapeutics and the emerging field of RNAi. With an initial focus on cancer, Aura’s goal is to increase patient survival rates by making chemotherapy better tolerated and more efficacious. The company was recognized in 2009 as a Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum and is located in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

More:
www.aurobiosciences.com

Other articles/links/videos:
Time Magazine: Tech Pioneers Who Will Change Your Life
Bloomberg Businessweek: Aura Biosciences Targets a New Era of Cancer Drugs (2009/12)
YouTube by WEF / Technology Pioneer 2010: Delivering the Next Generation of Nano-embeded Drugs

Short intro to Aura Biosciences:

Career: Orchestra Conductor, Opera Director and Producer
Interests: Literature, Philosophy, Cinema, Sports
Hometown: * South Germany, based in Berlin; temp. Vermont, USA&Ecuador

Opera director Christoph Hagel is known for his modern adaptations of classical operas, his mixing of genres and performances in unusual venues. Former performances include Mozart’s The Magic Flute in an underground station, Cos fan Tutte at a former electrical substation and techno club as well as Flying Bach at the Neue Nationalgalerie.

His latest project is the Berlin premiere of Mozarts 1791 opera Titus at the Bode Museum. The tragic triangle of love and death is Hagel’s third opera staging at the Bode Museum. The three main characters are interpreted simultaneously by a singer and an actor respectivley, and spoken theatre scenes are added. Solo dancer Martin Buczko from the Staatsballett Berlin ensemble dances the part of Sesto. The music is provided by the Berlin Symphoniker.

Beside his Berlin events he conducts several south American symphonic orchestras and is engaged in musical education projects in different South American towns. Starting 2010 he is the director of the opera singing program at Middelbury College in Vermont/USA.
In September 2010 Christoph received the ECHO Klassik award in the category “Special Award of the Jury”.

Articles / Links / Videos:

Video: Deutsche Welle: Mozart in unusual settings (Cosi fan Tutte, 11/2009)
Video: Arte (in German): Mozart (Titus, 10/2010)
Video: ITN News: New platform for experimental opera (The Magic Flute, 04/2008)
Video: Deutsche Welle: Mozart in unusual settings (Cosi fan Tutte, 11/2009)
Photos: The Economist / Intelligent Life: “The Magic Flute” (07/2008)
www.tocc-concept.de

Career: Social Media Architect, World Economic Forum
Interests: Food, Travel, Family
Hometown: Lake Geneva, France; Krefeld, Germany

Matthias Lüfkens, Associate Director-Media, World Economic Forum, aspires to inspire. After bringing Davos to the world for five years, he now brings the world to Davos through his innovative use of social media, Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, YouTube, MySpace, Wikipedia, Qik and Livestream included.

The World Economic Forum (WEF) is a non-profit foundation best known for its annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, which brings together top business leaders, international political leaders, selected intellectuals and journalists to discuss the most pressing issues facing the world, including health and the environment. The WEF is active on numerous social media platforms to engage the wider public in their activities and to debate the key challenges facing the planet.

Previously a journalist, he was Baltic States correspondent for Agence France Presse, Libération and the Daily Telegraph (1991-96); and later Deputy Editor-in-chief of EuroNews television (1996-2004). Lüfkens is writing a bi monthly column about social media for the Swiss-French magazine Bilan which are also published on his blog: http://lufkens.wordpress.com. In 1991 he founded the In Your Pocket city guide series in Lithuania, now Central Europe’s premier publisher and provider of city information. In his free time, when not slavishly tracking tech trends, Lüfkens films and edits videos for his multiple YouTube channels.

More:

Matthias Lüfkens on
http://twitter.com/luefkens
http://facebook.com/luefkens
http://youtube.com/luefkens
http://linkedin.com/in/luefkens
http://foursquare.com/luefkens
http://lufkens.wordpress.com

Career: CEO and Founding Member of Grameen Creative Lab
Interests: Social Business, Politics, Dance
Hometowns: Frankfurt, Germany

Saskia Bruysten is CEO and Strategic Director of The Grameen Creative Lab GmbH (GCL). She was one of the founding members of the GCL, along with Nobel Peace Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus. Previously she worked at The Boston Consulting Group as a senior consultant (Munich and New York). She completed her Bachelor and MBA at the European Business School (ebs), and went on to graduate with a distinction, MSc in Theory and History of International Relations from the London School of Economics. Saskia comes from a German / Canadian background, and has studied in the USA and Argentina.

The Grameen Creative Lab (GCL) was founded at the end of 2008 by Nobel Peace Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus. Its goal is to fight poverty through the spread of the model of social business. A social business is a non-loss, non-dividend company aimed at achieving a social goal. As such, it exists only for the purpose of solving a social problem, such as hunger, disease, etc. It addresses this issue very much like a conventional business would. However, the social business can make money, but investors don’t take money out of it. Profits get reinvested to further the social goal. The GCL undertakes two main activities; 1. Creating awareness to social business through events; 2. Providing consulting services to companies, entrepreneurs and organizations interested in founding a social business.

The GCL has consulted or is in the process of consulting and partnering with the following companies, universities, governments and organisations: BASF, Otto Group, SAP, adidas Group; EBS University, Kyushu University, McGill University, Istituto Europeo di Design, Finance University of Moscow; Government of Caldas, Colombia, Government of Albania, City of Wiesbaden; World Economic Forum, Clinton Global Initiative, Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurs, Sing for Hope, Erste Stiftung. Additionally, the Grameen Creative Lab has initiated the setup of social business funds in Mumbai and Haiti.

More:
www.grameencreativelab.com
GCL Facebook
GCL on Twitter
GCL on Vimeo

Twitter: @saskiabruysten

Wikipedia: Social Business
Wikipedia: Muhammad Yunus
Yunus Center
Grameen Bank

Other articles/links/videos:
TruthDive.com: Mohammad Yunus and Social Business. Poor people are more socially conscious and honest.
Fora.tv: Muhammad Yunus – The Social Business Model
YouTube: Microfinance pioneer Muhammad Yunus speaks at the University of Virginia
Book by Muhammad Yunus: Building Social Business: The New Kind of Capitalism that Serves Humanity’s Most Pressing Needs
Book by Muhammad Yunus: Creating a world without poverty

Short intro to Grameen Creative Lab:

Career: Founder and CEO Cognitive Match, Serial Entrepreneur, Experimental Psychologist
Interests: Martial Arts, Sculpture, Travel
Hometown: * Nairobi, Kenia; raised in Vienna, Austria; London, UK

Alex Kelleher is Founder and CEO of Cognitive Match, which creates world class targeting software, using techniques from psychology, artificial intelligence and machine learning. Alex was previously Founder and CEO of Vivid Edge, a leading London-based web design agency with clients ranging from Shell and Unilever to Lastminute.com and BuildOnline.  Vivid Edge was sold in 2000 to Framfab (now LBI).  Alex then became Co-Founder and Commercial Director of Touch Clarity, a personalisation and reporting/analytics provider to the top UK banks, global car companies and technology providers including Microsoft. Touch Clarity was sold in 2007 to Omniture (now Adobe). Alex is a graduate of Oxford University in Experimental Psychology.

Cognitive Match creates software that increases response and revenue online. The solution uses a combination of math and psychology to match individuals with content. Founded by Alex Kelleher (previously co-founder of Touch Clarity, acquired by Omniture), the company boasts an Advisory Panel including Esther Dyson (Board Director, WPP) and Anthony Rhind (CEO, Havas Digital) – and an Academic Panel of leading professors in machine learning.

More:
www.cognitivematch.com

Alex on
Blog: Alex Kelleher
Twitter @alexkelleher
LinkedIn

Other articles/links/videos:
Younoodle: Profile – Alex Kelleher
DCPTV: DLD women 2010 / Interview (2010/06)

Short intro to Cognitive Match:

Career: Journalist and Editor TechCrunch Europe / TechHub London
Interests: Technology, Family
Hometown: London, UK

TechHub is the physical hub for the technology start-up community. It’s launching first in London in the Shoreditch/Old St area and will consist of desk spaces, co-working space, meeting rooms and an event space. It will will be swiftly followed by others around the world. While it will be a place for tech entrepreneurs to touch down, work, plug their laptops in and use the fast wifi, what really differentiates it is the mostly product-oriented tech community. TechHub will be helping to facilitate networking, collaboration, knowledge-sharing via events, introductions and the website – plus that delightful ‘just bumped into someone’ factor.

Mike Butcher pitching TechCrunch:

TechCrunch was founded in 2005, as a weblog dedicated to obsessively profiling and reviewing new Internet products and companies. In addition to covering new companies, TechCrunch profiles existing companies that are making an impact (commercial and/or cultural) on the new web space. TechCrunch has now grown into a network of technology focused sites offering a wide range of content and new media. TechCrunch Europe is part of the TechCrunch Network, which includes country-specific blogs for France and Japan.

Mike Butcher is currently Editor of TechCrunch Europe. In addition he is involved in a project to bring European technology entrepreneurs and investors together in a club environment called TechHub (@TechHub), in London initially. A long time journalist, Mike has written for UK national newspapers and magazines including The Financial Times, The Guardian, The Times, The Daily Telegraph and The New Statesman. He is a former editor of New Media Age magazine, the leading new media weekly in the UK, and the European edition of The Industry Standard magazine.
Since 1996 he has launched or re-launched numerous media web sites and in 2000 he was nominated as NetMedia’s European Internet Journalist of the Year. In 2004 he was voted ‘One of the 100 Innovators of the UK Internet Decade’ by GfK NOP, the fourth-largest custom research business in the world. In July 2008 he was put at No. 47 out of the Top 100 people in London’s creative industry by The Independent newspaper and The Hospital Club.
In August 2008 TechCrunch Europe was awarded the best “Web 2.0 and business blog” in the UK, by the readers of Computer Weekly magazine. In 2009 it was named as one of the Top 10 blogs out of the UK. Also in 2009 he was named one of the Top 10 bloggers on Twitter in the UK. In October 2009 he was named one of the Top 50 most influential Britons in technology by The Daily Telegraph. In April 2010 he was named as one of Britain’s Top 100 “digital power-brokers” by Wired UK magazine. Mike is a regular commentator on the technology business, appearing on BBC News, Sky News, Channel 4 and Bloomberg. Mike’s personal blog is mbites, while he Twitters as @mikebutcher.

More:

Mike on
Mike’s Blog: http://mbites.com
Mike on Twitter: mikebutcher
Mike on LinkedIn

www.eu.techcrunch.com

www.techcrunch.com
www.facebook.com/techcrunch
Techcrunch on Wikipedia

www.techhub.com

Career: Co-Founder of BurdaStyle, Inc.
Interests: Art, Food, Travel, People, Sewing, Technology
Hometowns: Brooklyn, New York, USA;  Cairo, Egypt

Nora Abousteit is Co-Founder and CEO of BurdaStyle, an open source sewing community. She started her career in media at Hubert Burda Media in the staff of Hubert Burda, where she was part of the first two DLD conference teams in 2005 and 2006, organized several World Economic Forum related events, as well as corporate PR and networking activities. Before that, Nora worked in Business Development and Corporate Marketing in Cairo, Egypt, where she also received a degree in Middle East Studies and Political Science from the American University in Cairo. Nora currently lives in Brooklyn, New York.

BurdaStyle.com is an online social community for sewing-lovers to sharpen their craft. This open-source site allows users to download copyright-free patterns, create and share their own looks, and seek advice from members around the world.

More:
www.burdastyle.com
Twitter: burdastyle
Flickr: burdastyle

Nora on
LinkedIn
XING
Twitter: @nooraa

Other articles/links/videos:
FastCompany: Nora Abousteit on Her Close-Knit Virtual Sewing Circle BurdaStyle.com

Short intro to BurdaStyle:

Career: Orchestral Conducter, Maestro, Leadership Coach
Interests: Art (from ancient to contemporary), Haiku Poetry and Literature in general, People – in particular, how we exchange important messages …
Hometowns: Tel-Aviv, Israel; Amsterdam, Netherlands; temp. Transsilvania, Romania

Itay Talgam is one of the leading figures in the Israeli music scene. He is a champion of contemporary music, and in particular music of contemporary Israeli composers. He is internationally renowned for developing the ‘Maestro program’, that explores the relationship between conductor, musician and audience to achieve inspiring new insights into leadership, management, and team work. Using a range of innovative techniques, these energetic and thought-provoking programmes challenge standard thinking and offer participants a fresh perspective on a range of organisational issues and work styles.

More:
www.talgam.com
Wikipedia: Itay Talgam
Twitter: @itaytalgam

Other articles/links/videos:
Video: TEDtalks – Itay Talgam at TED (10/2009; 23 min.)
Video: Itay Talgam – Zeitgeist Europe 2009 (11/2010; 31min.)
Conducting Collaborative Creativity: Understanding collaboration through the lens of Itay Talgam and a collection of the worlds foremost conductors (02/09)
Video: Itay Talgam at PICNIC08 – Conducting Creativity (2009)