Speaker

• 
  Gabe Zichermann
  

  Gabe Zichermann

  Gabe Zichermann is the chair of the Gamification Summit where top thought leaders in this burgeoning industry gather to share knowledge and insight. Zichermann is also an author, highly rated public speaker and entrepreneur whose book, ”Gamification by Design“ (2011) looks at the technical and architectural considerations for designing engagement using games concepts. His previous book ”Game-Based Marketing“ (2010) achieved critical and industry acclaim for its detailed look at innovators who blend the power of games with brand strategy. A resident of NYC, Gabe is a board member of StartOut.org, advisor to a number of startups and Facilitator for the Founder Institute in Manhattan. For more information about Gabe and gamification, visit the Gamification Blog at http://gamification.co.

  Twitter: @gzicherm | Website: www.gamification.co

• 
  René Schuster
  

  René Schuster

  René Schuster is CEO of Telefónica Germany, one of the leading integrated telecommunication companies in Germany serving more than 20 million customers with O2 as its main brand. Telefónica Germany is part of the Spanish Telefónica S.A. group, one of the world leaders in the telecommunication sector. Since taking over the position as CEO in 2009, René Schuster built Telefónica Germany into the fastest growing integrated telecommunication company in Germany. He steered the successful integration of DSL-provider HanseNet, significantly enlarging the fixed-line broadband customer base of the company, as well as the successful acquisition of LTE-frequencies as basis for the company’s next-generation mobile network. Prior to joining Telefónica, René Schuster assumed leading roles in the telecommunications and IT industry. He started his career as development engineer at Bosch and was subsequently responsible for the European and Middle Eastern consulting business of KPMG as one of the partners. Following leading positions at Compaq and Hewlett Packard he was Global Marketing Director at Vodafone. René Schuster was born in New York in 1961, is married and has two children.

  LinkedIn: René Schuster

• 
  Nina Tandon
  

  Nina Tandon

  Dr. Tandon is a current TED Senior Fellow, post-doctoral researcher at Columbia University’s Lab for Stem Cells and Tissue Engineering, and adjunct professor of Electrical Engineering at the Cooper Union, teaching a “Bioelectricity” class. A native New-Yorker, she spent her early career in telecom (Avaya Labs), transitioning to biomedical engineering via a Fulbright in Italy (working on an electronic odor detector). She completed her PhD under Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic at MIT and Columbia, researching cardiac tissue engineering. After consulting at McKinsey from 2008-10, she earned an Executive MBA at Columbia while resuming her research on electrical stimulation for broader tissue engineering applications. In her spare time, she practices yoga, running, metalsmithing, playing with puppies, baking and exploring.  She has presented her work at TED,Singularity University, and Google, in addition to many prestigious academic conferences around the world.

  Twitter: @ninatandon | Website: www.ninatandon.co

• 
  Hannes Koch
  

  Hannes Koch

  Hannes Koch is a founder of award-winning, London-based studio rAndom International. Known for its experimental approach to contemporary art, rAndom creates objects and installations that explore behaviour and interaction, often using light and movement.

  Born in Hamburg (1975), he was driven by the urge to explore the world physically (often through Lego) to study design. At Brunel University, he met fellow founders of rAndom Florian Ortkrass and Stuart Wood, the three going on to study at London's Royal College of Art. A kindred drive for creative experimentation and a possibly unhealthy lack of regard for sleep led them to continued collaboration.  In 2003 the first rAndom project was commissioned by Will Alsop for the Valencia Biennale.

  By the time he graduated in 2005, having worked at Studio von Klier and MetaDesign, it was clear to Koch working with Ortkrass and Wood was the only way forward. He began to secure funding with which to start up rAndom as an official studio in 2005, as well as running Platform 8 at the RCA.

  His focus at rAndom lies in the increasingly complex structure of the studio and the conceptual aspect of its offerings. He takes a specific interest in the written, spoken and graphic communication of rAndom's work, developing the direction of the studio's identity and output.

  A driving interest of Koch's is our own scientific comprehension of ourselves as human beings; the processes that form the underlying principals of our behaviour. The cognitive aspect of rAndom's work, the forming of relationships between man and machine, directly fuel his curiosity. For Koch, studio practice is a way of exploring the wider world, as well as his own identity.

• 
  Conrad Fritzsch
  

  Conrad Fritzsch

  Conrad Fritzsch was born on 16.10.1969 in Berlin. After studying directing at the Filmhochschule Babelsberg, Fritzsch founded the advertising agency Fritzsch & Mackat in 1993. In 2008 he launched tape.tv gmbh - an online music television station. As managing partner, Fritzsch was responsible for marketing and sales. The aim of this innovative success format is to bring music television into the new decade - better and more beautiful than ever before, always and everywhere available.

  In 2010, tape.tv became an AG and Conrad Fritzsch became its board member.

• 
  Laurence Kemball-Cook
  

  Laurence Kemball-Cook

  Laurence is the founder and CEO of Pavegen Systems - an innovative clean-technology company. A design engineer by background receiving a 1st Class honours at Loughborough University. Laurence invented a paving technology which converts the kinetic energy from footfall, to renewable electricity. With a passion for sustainability and the environment Laurence believes that disruptive technologies are the best way to change people's perception to energy saving and to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels and grid power. The Guardian wrote that Pavegen is "shifting the perceptions of renewable energy".
  
  Laurence has led Pavegen on a transformational growth path. Taking the company from a start-up in his flat in Brixton, London, in 2009 to a young business with an exciting list of high-profile projects under its belt, and an unparalleled global brand. Pavegen's projects include an installation at the London Olympic park, which will be powering the lights in a tube station feeding into the Olympics. It also includes an installation at Europe's largest shopping centre, Westfield Stratford.
  
  Laurence is a self taught marketeer who has linked the technology with global blue chip Brands. Pavegen partnered with Johnnie Walker to roll out across Europe as part of the "Keep Walking" project, and were used to power an interactive dance-floor at WWF's Earth Hour in 2012. Key partnerships including Nike, where he delivered a successful installation with Nike at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
  
  Laurence's charismatic nature which combines the best of a savvy entrepreneur and an innovative engineer has earned the company phenomenal press and media profile. Pavegen has had over 100 million viewings in the media and been fortunate to have been on the front page of CNN.com and won product of the year against the Apple I-pad and also a finalist in the Shell entrepreneur of the Year awards.
  
  Laurence is also a regular speaker at TED events having spoken in Rio at the +20 climate conference for the UN, has been invited to No. 10 Downing Street to provide comments on how the UK Government can assist entrepreneurs, and works with emerging technology brands to establish a footing in the market.

  Twitter: @LaurenceKC | Website: www.pavegen.com

• 
  Ulrich Reinhardt
  

  Ulrich Reinhardt

  Prof Dr Ulrich Reinhardt, born in 1970, is the Scientific Head of the Foundation for Future Studies.

  His research focuses on the area of social changes, the future of leisure, consumption and tourism, as well as the development in and of Europe.He is the author of numerous publications e.g. "Edutainment - Educations is Fun" (2005), "Dreams of the Elder Generation - Illusion and Reality" (2007), and European Studies like "A Vision for Europe - From an Economic Community to a Community of Values" (2008), "Future Expectations of Europe" (2009) and "United Dreams of Europe (2011). Reinhardt is member of several domestic and foreign advisory boards and a part time professor at the University of Applied Science in Salzburg, Austria.

  Website: www.ulrichreinhardt.de

• 
  Nina Gaißert
  

  Nina Gaißert

  The Bionic Learning Network of Festo is a cooperation between renowned universities, research institutes, technology companies and Festo itself, a leading world-wide supplier of automation technology and the performance leader in industrial training and education programs. Within the Bionic Learning Network the engineers, designers and researchers are aiming to get inspired by nature and to learn from nature`s vast resources of intelligent solutions to provide fresh impulses for technology and industrial applications.

  Within this network Nina Gaissert is responsible for corporate bionic research, i.e. providing the biological background for ongoing and future projects and accompanying the projects scientifically.

  Prior to joining Festo in 2011 Nina Gaissert studied technical Biology at the University of Stuttgart and the MIT, MA, USA . In 2011 she obtained a PhD of Natural Sciences from the Max Planck Institute for biological Cybernetics, studying the neural integration of the visual and the haptic senses.

   

• 
  Raúl Rojas
  

  Raúl Rojas

  Raúl Rojas is Professor of Artificial Intelligence at Freie Universität Berlin since 1997. Previously, he held professorships at Martin-Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, and at the Technical University of Vienna. Raul Rojas obtained bachelor and master degrees in Mathematics from the Technical University of Mexico, and studied the master in Economics at the National University of Mexico. He obtained a PhD in Economics from FU Berlin in 1989, where he also obtained his Habilitation degree in Computer Science in 1994. Prof. Rojas has been active in the field of Artificial Intelligence since 1986, having been a member of the Prolog Machine team at GMD-First (now Fraunhofer Gesellschaft). He has published extensively about neural networks, robotics, intelligent systems and the history of computing. Prof. Rojas is a Member of the Mexican Academy of Sciences, received the Technology Transfer Prize 2008 from the Berlin Technology Foundation, and the Gold Medal Heberto Castillo from Mexico City for his contributions to robotics.

   

• 
  Deanna Zandt
  

  Deanna Zandt

  Deanna Zandt is a media technologist and the author of „Share This! How You Will Change the World with Social Networking“. She is a consultant to key progressive media and advocacy organizations, and her clients have included The Ford Foundation and The Daily Beast/Newsweek. She is contributor to Forbes.com via her ForbesWoman “Prospect: Tech” blog, and a social media advice contributor NPR’s flagship news program. She is also a Research Fellow at the Center for Social Media at American University. Zandt specializes in social media and is a leading expert in women and technology. She also serves as a technology advisor to a number of organizations, and is on the board of the Applied Research Center, a racial justice think tank and home for media and activism. In addition to her technology work, Deanna writes and illustrates graphic stories and comics, and volunteers with dog rescue organization Rat Terrier ResQ.

  Twitter: @deanna | Website: www.deannazandt.com