“I believe it is possible to end torture in my lifetime.”In 2000, Karen founded International Bridges to Justice to help create systemic change in criminal justice and promote basic rights of legal representation for defendants on the ground. Her foundation complements the work of witness groups, who do the equally vital work of advocacy, reports, photographs. Tse’s group helps governments build new systems that respect individual rights. In IBJ’s first years, she negotiated groundbreaking measures  in judicial reform with the Chinese, Vietnamese and Cambodian governments. It now works in sixteen countries, including Rwanda, Burundi and India.

International Bridges to Justice (IBJ) is a non-governmental organization based in Geneva, Switzerland. The organization’s stated mission is “to protect the basic legal rights of ordinary citizens in developing countries by guaranteeing all citizens the right to competent legal representation, the right to be protected from cruel and unusual punishment, and the right to a fair trial”. IBJ has the additional stated goal “to end torture in this Century”

IBJ only works in countries whose international treaty obligations and national laws have already laid the legal framework for the protection of their citizens and where a Memorandum of Understanding has been signed with the relevant government and legal authorities, setting out the parameters under which IBJ will work. It adopts a three pillar approach to accomplishing its aims:

Other articles/links/videos:
Documentary on her work in India and Cambodia (18 min/ French with English subtitles):

Karen Tse’s TED Talk: How to End Torture  (transcribed in over 30 languages)

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

Liu Olin – Breaking the Wall of Global Debt @Falling Walls 2011 from Falling Walls on Vimeo.

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: Advisor to UN Secretary General for Innovative Financing, Chair UNITAID and Millennium Foundation, UN Deputy
Previously French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Health etc. Prior to that Cardiologist and Professor of Public Health
Interests: Global Health, Medicine, Mico-Financing
Hometown: Paris, France

Dr. Philippe Douste-Blazy is one of the world’s foremost experts on innovative financing to reach the Millennium Development Goals. In 2006, he founded the Leading Group on Solidarity Levies to Fund Development at Paris Conference on Innovative Development Financing Mechanisms and was elected President of UNITAID in the same year.
Prior, he held several ministerial positions in France, including Minister of Health (1993-1995), Minister of Culture & Communication (1995-1997), Minister for Solidarity, Health & Family (2004-2005) and Minister of Foreign Affairs (2005-2007). Before embracing policy initiatives, Dr. Douste-Blazy was practicing cardiologist & Professor of Public Health at Toulouse University in France.
On 19th Feb. 2008, he became Special Advisor on Innovative Financing for Development, with the rank of UN Under-Secretary-General by the UN, following his experience as chairman of the International Drug Purchase Facility hosted by the WHO et al.

UNITAID’s mission is to contribute to scaling up access to treatment for HIV/ AIDS, malaria & tuberculosis, primarily for people in low-income countries, by leveraging price reductions for quality diagnostics & medicines, and accelerating the pace at which these are made available.
Since UNITAID’s overall objective is to serve the needs of the poorest countries & most vulnerable populations, it dedicates at least 85% of its funds to providing health commodities to low-income countries. UNITAID uses less than 10% of its funds to purchase products for lower middle-income countries & less than 5% for upper middle-income countries. These criteria are a key consideration in the decision to fund partner projects.

The Millennium Foundation for Innovative Finance for Health was established in Nov. 2008 as an independent non-profit Swiss foundation, located in Geneva. Their mission is aligned with helping achieve the three health-related Millennium Development Goals agreed to by the UN by implementing new innovative financing mechanisms to expand sources of funding available to help eradicate life-threatening contagious diseases, including HIV/AIDS, malaria & tuberculosis among the world´s most vulnerable populations. These mechanisms have the form of projects, such as “MassiveGood” which was launched in March 2010 and aims at giving travelers the possibility to add a $2, £2 or €2 micro-contribution to the purchase of a travel reservation, with all proceeds going to fight against diseases as mentioned above.

More:
www.pdousteblazy.com
Blog: Philippe Dousty-Blazy

Philippe Douste-Blazy on LinkedIN
Philippe Douste-Blazy on Facebook
Philippe Douse-Blazy on Twitter

www.unitaid.eu
UNITAID on Facebook

www.millennium-foundation.org
www.massivegood.org

Other articles/links/videos:
Video: Philippe Douste-Blazy  –  Advocate for the Millennium Development Goals

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: Founder BraveNewTalent
Chair Take Heart India, Young Global Leader WEF
Interests: Social Recruiting & Networks, New Media, Social Media,
Entrepreneurship, Generation Y, India, Youth, Leadership, Innovation
Hometown: London, UK

Lucian Tarnowski has been honoured as Europe’s youngest Young Global Leader (YGL) by World Economic Forum (WEF). He is winner of Global Enterprising Young Brit (2009) and was named as one of Britain’s rising business stars by The Spectator Business. He is on UKTI’s Global Entrepreneur Program with BraveNewTalent being described by UK Government as a “Technology Company of Exceptional Potential”. He plays an active role in UK tech start-up scene and speaks regularly around the world on the way social recruiting is changing the global talent market. In his spare time he runs the no overhead education charity Take Heart India.

Brave New Talent is a game changing Social Recruiting platform with traction, blue chip clients and heading for Global scale. Jobseekers use the site to create a professional profile and follow their target employers thereby allowing the employer to develop a professional talent community. The service is free to access for talent and generates revenue from employers using Talent Words™ to drive targeted people into their communities. The platform brings together all social media content the employer has – jobs, tweets, blogs, news, pictures, videos and more. BraveNewTalent is developing a new model of online education based on employers distributing training and skills to their talent communities in advance of the job. Clients include blue chip brands such as IBM, L’Oreal, Tesco and McAfee.

Take Heart India is a youth run charity focused on practical education projects in India. They are relatively unique in the charity sector for two reasons: They do not employ a single person, which means that 100% of proceeds are directed out to the education projects in India. 2. They run with the leitmotiv ‘Work builds, charity destroys’. Rather than giving money the aim is to empower people through practical education. Since 2004 Take Heart has built an IT school that has provided real job opportunities to thousands of students. The school specialises in training blind students IT skills and has been recognized as one of India’s top 3 IT training facilities for blind students.

More:
www.luciantarnowski.com
Lucian on LinkedIn
Twitter: @LucianT

www.bravenewtalent.com
BraveNewTalent on Facebook
Twitter: @BraveNewTalent

www.takeheartindia.org
Take Heart India on Facebook
Twitter: @TakeHeartIndia

www.oneyoungworld.wayn.com
One Young World on Facebook
Twitter: @OneYoungWorld

Other articles/links/videos:
The Telegraph: Recruitment revolution: A “Facebook for corporates” (11/03)
The Telegraph: Europe is just one player in a global ´digital enlightenment´. (11/01)
Microsoft Europe: Digital Natives – The new way to engage Gen Y. (10/01)

Video: BraveNewTalent quick view
Video: Lucian Tarnowski – Founder & CEO, BraveNewTalent
Video: Lucian Tarnowski, BraveNewTalent (TCTV)

http://blog.bravenewtalent.com/2011/01/reflections-on-the-decade/
http://blog.bravenewtalent.com/2010/10/recruiting-youth/
http://blog.bravenewtalent.com/2010/10/social-learning-and-the-big-society/

Short intro to BraveNewTalent:

Career: Founder & President University of the People (UoPeople)
Chairman of Cramster, Kidum Group and Laureate KIT eLearning
Interests: Running, Working, World Affairs & News
Hometown: Pasadena (CA), USA

Shai Reshef is an educational entrepreneur and has twenty years of experience in the international education market. From 1989-2005, he served as Chairman of the Kidum Group, a for-profit educational services company, sold to Kaplan, Inc. in 2005. While chairman of Kidum, Reshef lived in the Netherlands (2001-2004) where he chaired KIT eLearning, the eLearning partner of the University of Liverpool and the first online university outside the US. In 2009 he founded University of the People (UoPeople).

More:
www.uopeople.org
Twitter: @UoPeople
Facebook: www.facebook.com/UoPeople

Shai Reshef on
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shai_Reshef
LinkedIN: http://www.linkedin.com/in/shaireshef
Facebook: facebook.com/shai.reshef

Other articles/links/videos:
The New York Times: Israeli Entrepreneur Plans a Free Global University That WIll Be Online Only (2009/01)
Video: DLD Conference 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: Head of Marketing, The Global Fund
Interests: Travel, Social Change, Cross Country Skiing Marathon
Hometown: Mexican living in Geneva, Switzerland

Claudia Gonzalez is Head of Marketing of The Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, where she manages the Born HIV Free campaign that aims to eliminate the transmission of HIV from mother to children by 2015.
One of the world’s most acknowledge non-profit marketers having had top position in United Nations Refugee Agency and the World Economic Forum, she is a strategist with 15 year experience in integrated communications specialized in social media, celebrities and branding.
Claudia was previously a Diplomat for her home country Mexico and was a press correspondent for a number of years in different countries. Her academic background includes a Masters from LSE on Media and Communications. She speaks 6 languages, has two kids, enjoys sports, travel and social change.

The Global Fund was established in January 2002 to dramatically increase global financing for interventions against  AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. It is the largest international funder of programs to combat malaria and tuberculosis, providing two-thirds of all financing, and provides 20% of all international funding to combat HIV/AIDS. The Fund asserts that as of June 2007, 1.9 million lives have been saved thanks to efforts in 136 countries supported by the Global Fund.

UNHCR: The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, established 1950, also known as The UN Refugee Agencyis a United Nations agency mandated to protect and support refugees at the request of a government or the UN itself and assists in their voluntary repatriation, local integration or resettlement to a third country. Its headquarters are in Geneva, Switzerland. The UNHCR has won two Nobel Peace Prizes.

More:
www.theglobalfund.org
www.unhcr.org
Twitter: @refugees
www.bornhivfree.org
www.joinred.com

Other articles/links/videos:
Video & Interview: DLD Conference 2010
Article: Press Release about AIDS campaign
Article: Arstechnica – Google Earth takes you inside Refugee-Camps

Short intro to The Global Fund:

More:
www.jolicloud.com
www.facebook.com/jolicloud
www.twitter.com/jolicloud
Jolicloud on Wikipedia

www.netvibes.com

Tariq on Twitter
Blog: http://www.tariqkrim.com
Tariq’s profile on LinkedIn

Other articles/links/videos:
Techcrunch: Jolicoud’s netbook will launch first in the UK (11/2010)
TechCrunch: Hands-On Review Of Jolicloud, The iPhonesque OS For Netbooks (06/2009)
Zmogo: Jolicloud, A Fantastic OS For Your Netbook (06/2009)
TripTech blog: Nevermind Mac and Windows; It’s a Cloud World Now (07/2009)
ZDNet UK: Jolicloud: The future is HTML 5 (08/2010)

Short intro to Jolicloud and Jolibook:

Career: Film Director and Producer (i.e.”Elizabeth”, “Elizabeth: The Golden Age”, “Bandit Queen”) but simply calls himself “Adventurer”
Interests: Water, Nature, Social Business, Humanity, Future of our Planet
Hometown: Mumbai, India; born Lahore, British India (nowadays Pakistan);lived many years in New York City, USA

Shekhar Kapur, born 6 December 1945 in British India (in an area which became part of Pakistan) is a renowned filmmaker from India. His works include Elizabeth (1998), a semi-historical account of the early reign of Queen Elizabeth I; it was nominated for 8 Oscars. In 2000, he was awarded the Padma Shri. Some scenes of the movie Joshilaay (1989) which starred Sunny Deol, Anil Kapoor, Sridevi and Meenakshi Sheshadari were directed by Kapur. He was accused of being Anti-British by British tabloids, by the way he portrayed the British Army and the Empire in the movie The Four Feathers. Kapur also executive produced the Hollywood film The Guru and Bollywood-themed Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Bombay Dreams, which has been running in the West End, London since 2002, and on Broadway in New York City since 2004. Projects include Long Walk to Freedom, Water, The Last Full Measure, and Golden Age, a sequel to Elizabeth.

In June 2005, Kapur and his friend, guru Deepak Chopra launched a discussion blog with a select group of their friends and family. The purpose of the blog is to promote original discussion by voices from South Asia, and especially India. Kapur posts regularly on the blog, often writing short personal poems. Shortly after, Kapur also started his own personal blog on his official website. In January 2006, it was reported that Kapur and Chopra would be collaborating with Richard Branson on a Bangalore-based animated film company.

His most recent projekt is PAANI (which means ‘water’ in Hindu) which aims to ring the alarm bell for the global water crisis. In November 2010, when the above interview was taped, Shekhar Kapur signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Grameen Creative Lab to create an investment fund for water-related social businesses in India. Being passionate about water-related issues he will act as ambassador for the fund. Kapur signed the MOU together with Nobel Peace Prize winner and founder of the Grameen Bank Prof. Muhammad Yunus.

More:
www.shekharkapur.com
Shekhar on Facebook

Wikipedia: Movie “Elizabeth”
YouTube: Tailer of “Elizabeth”

Wikipedia: “Elizabeth – The Golden Age”
YouTube: Tailer of “Elizabeth: The Golden Age”

Other articles/links/videos:
YouTube: Business of Cinema: Shekhar Kapur raises alarm bell for water conservation (10/2010)
Global water crisis gets Bollywood Sci-Fi treatment
Realbollywood News Shekhar Kapur rings the alarm bell for water conservation (09/2010)
DNA: The water divide, Shekhar Kapur’s magnificent obsession (05/2010)
Indian Express: Shekhar Kapur’s ‘Paani’ to seek solution for water shortage (05/2010)
YouTube: I’m not a professional filmmaker: Shekhar Kapoor (07/2010)
Vimeo: Paolo Coelho: Social Business – An issue close to society’s heart?

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: 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: 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)