Felix Finkbeiner
Speaker
Felix Finkbeiner (11) is from Starnberg, Germany. Born and raised in Bavaria, he is currently attending the Munich International School. Felix became involved in environmental issues when he researched climate change for a class presentation and learned about Wangari Maathai, a woman who deeply inspired him. Upon finishing the presentation, he proposed, "Let's plant millions of trees worldwide, a million in each country of the world. In 2007, Felix co-founded the student initiative Plant-for-the-Planet. The goal of Plant-for-the-Planet is not only reach the goal of planting 1 million trees in Germany, but also to inform and educate other children about climate justice and to inspire the planting of trees in all the other countries.
Anna Haupt & Terese Alstin
Speakers
Terese Alstin and Anna Haupt were both born in Sweden. They met whilst attending the University of Lund where they studied Industrial Design. In 2005, they decided to work on their master thesis together; a decision that completely changed the course of their lifes. At that time, a new law had just been introduced in Sweden that made it mandatory for children up to the age of 15 to wear bicycle helmets. Immediately, all over the country debates arose on whether this law should be applied to adults as well. Everybody was concerned about the thought of being forced to wear bicycle helmets, but unlike the rest, Terese and Anna decided to do something about it. The two graduates set out to collaborate on their master thesis and find a better and new solution that would encourage people to wear their helmets. The two entrepreneurs were sure of one thing: “It was not the bicyclists who needed to change, it was the product.”
Tim Harper
Speaker
For twenty five years, from the European Space Agency to Graphene start ups Tim have been identifying, understanding and acting on technology trends to build new companies or facilitate innovation in existing ones. His hands on approach as an early stage CEO uses skills such as open innovation, strategy, digital marketing, public relations and the analysis of new business areas or investment opportunities. This has been complemented by his work in assessing and addressing the societal challenges created by the development and governance of emerging technologies such as nanotechnology, synthetic biology, regenerative medicine and geoengineering.As a former scientist and engineer Tim is comfortable in the lab as leading a buy out, with plenty of experience of balancing the expectations of scientific company founders and their investors.Tim have instigated research, commissioned, written and published highly cited reports on the economic potential of nanotechnologies and life sciences at Cientifica, the World Economic Forum and World Gold Council. His work has been used by governments and public policy organisations, the financial sector and international business in setting, defining and measuring effectiveness of R&D programs, technology policy and innovation strategy.Tim is recognized as a leading expert in the economics and commercialization of nano- and other emerging technologies, and a respected science and technology communicator.
David Gump
Speaker
David co-founded three companies in commercial space, most recently Deep Space Industries to develop resources from asteroids. Previously he co-founded Astrobotic Technology for the exploration and development of lunar resources. Astrobotic in its first four years gathered $12 million in NASA technology development contracts and put a SpaceX Falcon 9 launch vehicle under contract for its first mission. NASA also recognized David’s expertise with multiple invitations to deliver presentations at its conferences and workshops including the agency’s 2012 Global Exploration Conference. As president of Transformational Space Corp. (t/Space), David led a team that NASA selected to provide it with advice and technology development for its return to the Moon. NASA then selected t/Space as a finalist for the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program that SpaceX and Orbital Sciences won in the next round. In addition, David negotiated and directed the first TV commercial filmed on the International Space Station, as well as creating space entertainment software sold by Walmart, Best Buy, and the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum.
Jesús Pérez
Speaker
Jesús got his PhD in Telecom in 2008 with honours, after a short stay at NASA (JPL). He has published almost 30 international papers. He has been part of the team of designers of an ASIC now on board on a Satellite from ESA.He is also author and co-author of two aproved patents (one of them exploited by ESA) and one patent pending applicationIn 2010 he started leading a small company, turning it into a profitable one. In 2011 won Wayra prize and founded TedCas with Telefonica as a shareholder. During the last two years he has won more than 10 prizes (including some international ones like “the best technological start-up in Spain” given by the goberment of Israel). He has been guest speaker in some prestigious events like Wired Conference in London (where he won the first prize of the start-up contest) or the SXSW in Texas (where he represented TedCas as the only European company invited to the eHealth cathegory).
Lana Chukri
Speaker
I’m a Junior Art Director in Leo Burnett, Dubai with a degree in digital design and animation from the Lebanese American University in Beirut. However, as much as I’m a designer by day, I’m more of an artist, a writer, and an existentialist by night. I love urban interventions & firmly believe that they can change and shape societies, as long as they are able to break the norms and limitations we are tied down by everyday. Also, every strong concept begins to unravel, in my opinion, with a paper and a pencil. The rest are all technicalities. ana is also one of the founding members of the Dihzahyners club which is behind the Paint Up initiative we have come to love. This is “a team of inspired, driven & passionate artists/designers, aimed at creating initiatives to make Beirut brighter & more beautiful, through color.”
Moises Velásquez-Manoff
Speaker
Moises Velasquez-Manoff is a journalist and author of An Epidemic of Absence: A New Way of Understanding Allergies and Autoimmune Diseases, published by Scribner. His work has appeared in The New York Times, The Christian Science Monitor and Slate, among other publications. He became interested in autoimmune and allergic disease because he suffers from both—lifelong asthma and food allergies, and an autoimmune disorder called alopecia areata universalis. He’s been mostly hairless since his early teenage years. As a budding science journalist, he began asking why – what caused these disorders. Most answers impugned genetics, stress or pollution. These were deeply unsatisfactory explanations. But one day discovered a totally different answer to the question. Perhaps it’s not what we now encounter that causes problems. Maybe it’s what we’ve lost that has spurred new problems to emerge. Velasquez-Manoff followed that trail of crumbs. It led him to a rapidly accreting body of science that, together, comprises an ongoing revolution in our understanding of our own bodies. In his book, published in September 2012, he attempts to detail this rapidly developing field. Velasquez-Manoff was born in New York City, raised in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and educated in Santa Cruz, California. He did many things before turning to journalism, including waiting tables, bartending, and graphic design. He holds a Master of Arts from the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism. He lives in Berkeley, California.
Dale Sindell
Speaker
When Dale started losing her hearing at age 19, it never occurred to her that she would have to put her dreams on hold. She finished her degree in Political Science/ International Relations with Honors at Trinity College, Hartford, CT, and then moved back to Spain with her new husband, a Spanish man she met during her Junior Year Abroad in Madrid. Two years into her career as a headhunter, she got off a plane in Valencia ready to interview bank branch managers only to find she was severely and permanently deaf. Ever seeking to use her creativity, she continued to set up her own corporate recruiting firm, InSearch, publish 2 books about restaurants, and then was promoted from head of advertising in Bank Cards to Director of Marketing for the youth segment at Citibank. By the time her youngest child was diagnosed with hearing loss, Dale decided it was time to use her skills to help others in the same situation as her family. In 2008 she founded t-oigo.com, a non-profit virtual community which provides information in Spanish for people with hearing loss. Her passion for bilingual education has led her to create free programs in 5 cities where American study -abroad students volunteer to help kids who wear hearing aids and cochlear implants with their English. In addition to managing the community of 30,000 users who follow her site each month, Dale organizes conferences, provides information and emotional support to help parents of newly- diagnosed deaf children, and hopes to educate the normal-hearing public about a new generation of kids with hearing loss through television appearances. The video she made with her son, “Why I love my Hearing Aids” won the Alexander Graham Bell Organization video contest in 2012 (Washington, DC). Her dream is for hearing aids to become as widely accepted as glasses.
Charlotte Akuyoe Graham
Speaker
Akuyoe Graham is an actor and writer originally from Ghana, West Africa. She is the author of the critically acclaimed one-woman play “Spirit Awakening,” and “The Little Book of Transformation;” and the founder of the charitable arts organization Spirit Awakening Foundation, which mentors incarcerated children and teenagers in detention facilities in the United States. Currently, Akuyoe working on bringing Spirit Awakening to the big screen as a feature film and gives “All praises and glory to God”
Hana Kanjaa
Speaker
Hana is a certified professional coach, speaker and trainer, holding a degree in Advertising and PR and a master’s degree in International Relations and Trade.Though she was a bright student, right after college she decided that she couldn’t waste any precious time on underpaid jobs and, daring what was considered politically correct and her family’s Muslim beliefs, she started a fearless lifelong quest, searching for the meaning of life and the truth about religion.This has led her to travel around the world, learn and study many different disciplines, try more than 30 different jobs and become a proficient skydiver, being the only female base-jumper in Spain for years. In the meantime, she had to overcome a severe mental disorder and survive a base-jumping accident in which she had to face death for 4 long hours.After these life-altering experiences, she finally discovered that she had been born to em-Power the world. She has been doing so through projects like MiMamaMe; a community offering free training and guidance to unemployed moms wanting to become self-employed through micro-businesses. Now she is on a mission to transform the world into a giant CIRCUS and has started Circus People, a project searching to bring non-stop-much-needed motivation, inspiration and empowerment through weekly interviews to ordinary Spanish people doing remarkable things.
Alana Moceri
Speaker
Alana Moceri is an American political writer, speaker and activist based in Madrid, Spain. She teaches political communication and public diplomacy at the Universidad Europea de Madrid where she also hosts the Spanish-language radio program Talking Points: Comunicación Política. She holds a degree in Political Science from UCLA. In 2004, she founded the Madrid chapter of Democrats Abroad Spain and became country chair in 2006, leading the group until 2009, including the 2008 presidential campaign of Barack Obama. Alana's professional experience in political and non-profit campaigns dates back to 1994 and includes Senator Barbara Boxer's 2010 reelection campaign, the Spanish think tank Fundación IEAS, the Arthritis Foundation and the American Heart Association. In addition to blogging for the U.S. and Spanish editions of The Huffington Post, Alana has written for various Spanish publications including daily El País, FP en Español and the magazine Campaigns & Elections en Español. She is an active participant in interviews and debates on Spanish television and radio.
Joseph Landolina
Speaker
Joe is currently working towards his MS in Biomedical Engineering and Biomaterials at the Polytechnic Institute of NYU (Expected May 2014). At the age of 17, Joe invented VETI-GEL, a gel that can instantly stop traumatic bleeding without the need to apply pressure, and founded Suneris, Inc. with his business partner, Isaac Miller, to commercialize it. Since then, Joe has been extremely active in the New York City entrepreneurial community, teaching classes to students wanting to start their own companies and giving lectures on the subject of technology and entrepreneurship. Joe also founded Entreprenaction, an organization tasked with giving young entrepreneurs the resources they need to bring their ideas to life. Joe was named a 2013 Goldwater Scholar for excellence in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
Tallia Storm
Entertainment
When one of the biggest artists in the world, Sir Elton John calls your mobile to invite you to join him on stage at his gig, there’s good reason to celebrate! This is what happened to the Scottish teenager, Tallia Storm after she had left her CD and letter with Elton’s partner David Furnish in a restaurant in the USA. The following day Sir Elton called her mobile and told her that she has one of the most exciting vocal signatures he had heard in 20 years. So in the summer of 2012 in Scotland she joined one of the worlds the musical legends, opening his show where she belted out her strong soulful melodies to an audience of 17,000 people at just 13 years of age, with an R&B groove that simply defied her petite teenage frame. To great critical acclaim she was front-page news to the UK’s media and newly dubbed ‘Tiny Chancer’ by the press! Over the last year, with her trademark ‘big hair’ 14 yr old Tallia Storm has been storming up an audience around the world. There’s something quite raw and interesting about the Tallia Storm vocal. Nothing contrived, just a deep soulful/ jazz signature reminiscent to that from the Motown era, belying her age. With her quirky and fearless sense of style, she has been hailed as a ‘teen style icon’ from Teen Vogue & has clocked up an array of celebrity admirers including Eva Longoria and legendary Nile Rodgers. ‘Be ready, there’s a storm comin’!
The Coro Gospel de Madrid is a group of 60 singers, musicians and dancers who dedicate their time and talent to raise funds for Spanish and international charities. The first Mass Gospel Choir of Madrid, the Coro has been giving benefit concerts and workshops in the capital for the past 16 years. Choir members are volunteers who come from all walks of life. The Coro shares a passion to incorporate gospel music into Madrid’s cultural scene, communicate the values that lie at the heart of gospel music, tell the story that gave rise to gospel music, and inspire social integration through the message of hope that radiates throughout this amazing musical genre. Over the years, the Coro has worked closely with African-American gospel artists who volunteer time and talent in performances, workshops and retreats to help the Coro reflect the roots and the unique musical style of gospel music within a Spanish context. Just as Gospel music at its origins helped transform the lives of people trapped in a culture of social exclusion and oppression, this choir is committed to raising awareness and funding for groups dedicated to eradicating poverty and human trafficking.
The company Musicaparatodos provides original musical experiences through its performances and workshops. With more than 200 workshops and 300 performances since 2007, Musicaparatodos has become a musical reference for teambuilding and creative events amongst Spanish and multinational companies.
Cuban Jazz Quintet
Entertainment
Cuban Jazz Quintet, a group composed by pianist Luis Guerra, percussionist Yuvisney Aguilar, bassist Reinier Elizarde, "El Negron", and also percussionists Juan Viera and Michael Olivera. Cuban Jazz Quintet is a tribute to those essential music of the Caribbean island. The group is a project that pays tribute to the most important musical works that were composed between the years 40 and 50 in Cuba, by Cuban the most relevant composers of the golden decades, as Ernesto Lecuona, Peruchín, Bola de Nieve, Moises Simons and many more . These songs (instrumental and vocal) marked a golden era in Cuba, spreading throughout Latin America and the United States, and traced the beginning of the development of Cuban music.
