Mark joined ICLEI – Local Government for Sustainability in 2003. He is a member of ICLEI Europe’s Board of Directors and responsible for ICLEI’s Sustainable Economy and Procurement work. For 25 years he has worked for, and on behalf of, local, regional and national governments in project, policy and strategy development on sustainability issues such as smart cities, innovation, business and city interaction, procurement, climate change and transport.  

Mark is the Global Director of ICLEI’s Sustainable Procurement Centre, lead of the United Nations One Planet Network on Sustainable Public Procurement, Vice-Chair of the International Green Procurement Network and a member of the European Commission’s Green Public Procurement Advisory Group.  

Mark has a BSc (Hons) degree in Environmental Science and a Masters in Environmental Management.

Dana Eleftheriadou steers EU policy development on intelligent cities and the proximity economy, advanced technologies, artificial intelligence with the view to foster Europe’s technological and industrial leadership. She drives policy initiatives and action plans that are leveraging advanced tech to address the world’s biggest challenges and lead the green and digital transition and social welfare.

She designed and oversees the Intelligent Cities Challenge initiative, which helps over 130 EU cities to make the most of cutting-edge technologies to lead a green and digital recovery. She spearheads work on the Tech4Good initiative to promote technology-powered solutions and business models designed to advance social, environmental and economic causes, as well as on Local Green Deals that support cities deliver the European Green Deal at local level.

She has been working on the EU new Industrial Strategy, Artificial Intelligence (AI) strategy, critical AI applications, digitising the European Industry. She served as the EU coordinator of the high-level group Strategic Policy Forum on Digital Entrepreneurship and steers the Member States Board on Advanced Technologies to coordinate national policies and forge the implementation of EU strategies.

She negotiated EU positions in international dialogues, as EU delegate at the G7 ICT and Industry Ministerial and at the G20 dialogue for Innovative Growth; the EU-US dialogue on eCommerce, the Trans-Atlantic business dialogue (TABD), and the OECD. She is member of the World Economic Forum Digital Leaders Group and has been co-author of the World Economic Forum Global IT Report.

Dana Eleftheriadou holds an MBA with distinction from Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), a MEng in Computer Engineering from the University of Patras, Greece and a diploma in Philosophy from MIT, USA.

Valentina Superti is a Director in DG GROW (Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs) at the European Commission. She is responsible for the policies on tourism, textiles, social economy, and the digitalisation of industry. Previously, she was Resources Director (from 2015 to March 2021), and Director responsible for the single market for goods from 2014 to 2015. 

Her previous responsibilities include serving as Deputy Head of Cabinet of European Commission Vice-President Antonio Tajani, in charge of Industry, SMEs, Galileo and Copernicus, from 2011 to 2014. Starting in 2004 until 2010, Valentina had a number of head of unit responsibilities in the Directorate General for Human Resources and Security of the European Commission, ranging from personnel policy to ethics. In 2002 Valentina joined the private office of Vice-President Neil Kinnock, when she dealt with budgetary and personnel matters, after having served in the Legal Service of the European Commission, dealing with competition law matters. From 1990 to 2000, Valentina worked as a competition lawyer in the Competition Directorate General of the European Commission. Her responsibilities included handling of cases in Anti-Trust matters, then Mergers and Acquisitions, finally State Aids. She worked as a trainee lawyer in Milan in 1988, and in the Legal department of Montedison, Milan, in 1989. 

Valentina is graduated in Law at the Catholic University in Milan, Italy, in 1988. She took a Master in EU Law at the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium, in 1989.

Anna Athanasopoulou is Head of Unit, ‘Proximity, Social Economy and Creative Industries’, at the European Commission. An EU official since 2002, she has held different positions at services and Cabinet-level at the European Commission and the Council of the EU, relating to tourism and textiles, culture and media policy, creative industries, and external relations. Before joining the EU civil service, Anna worked as Adviser to two Ministers of Culture in Greece and as Director of Programme Planning for the Athens 2004 Cultural Olympiad. In parallel, she lectured on History of Art and Cultural Management. Anna studied Archaeology (University of Thessaloniki), specialised in History of Art, where she holds an M.A. (George Washington University) and a Ph.D (Courtauld Institute of Art), and is the author of publications on History of Art and cultural policy.

Tatjana Perše is the eGovernment Advisor.  She has a background in Computing and Mathematics (MSc). Her current responsibility includes e-Government and e-Inclusion projects, open data, communication and dissemination, stakeholder engagement, co-creation and EU projects.  Tatjana is a representative of the City of Rijeka in major city networks (Major Cities of Europe, EUROCITIES Knowledge Society Forum, Green Digital Charter, European Innovation Partnership on Smart Cities and Communities (EIP-SCC), and Open & Agile Smart Cities (OASC)).

Pirita Ihamäki PhD, M.Sc. is a multi-expert in development, creativity and experience in creating unique innovations and increasing vitality. Impressive work history with 15 years of experience in development positions. Pirita Ihamäki is a specialist in leading digital business ecosystems and head of the Gamecoast network and Robocoast's international relations with ECCP, EDIH and DIH centres.

As a senior expert in climate policy, coordination, communication and project management, her main role is to develop integrated sustainability and climate strategies and coordinate multi-level processes with stakeholders. She is an expert in peer-to-peer exchange and large-scale networks in capacity building processes to transfer best practices not only within the city but also at European and international level. 

As a spokesperson for the Local Green Deal, local coordinator of the 100CNC mission and member of the practitioner city panel of NetZeroCities, she is responsible for the development and implementation of the LGD towards a climate neutral, sustainable and inclusive city. Agnes Schönfelder has been working in public administration at municipal and state level for more than 25 years, since 2009 as Head of the Climate Strategy Office of the City of Mannheim and since 2019 as Managing Director of the Climate Action Agency Mannheim in a dual role. 

Agnes Schönfelder represents the City of Mannheim in national, European and international networks and initiatives such as ICLEI, EUROCTIES and Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy, and as a mentor city in the 100 Intelligent Cities Initiative. Since 2021, she has been spokesperson for the pilot city office Local Green Deal Mannheim and climate policy advisor to the Deputy Mayor for Climate and Environment.
 

Karen Maguire is a Head of Division managing the OECD's Local Employment and Economic Development Programme in the Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities. The Programme provides data, policy analysis and capacity building to national and subnational governments in the areas of local economic development, local actions for employment and skills, the social economy, inclusive entrepreneurship and culture. Over the last 15 years at the OECD in different positions, she has authored numerous OECD publications on local development, employment and skills, innovation and clusters. Prior to joining the OECD, she worked as an investment banker for UBS in New York, an international consultant in economic development and a research analyst for the Urban Institute in Washington, DC. She holds a BA in economics and sociology from the University of Chicago and an MPP from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. 

Claus Wichmann has been working at Heidelberg City Council in the area of subsidy management and innovation projects since 2018. He has been head of the Subsidies Department there since summer 2020. 

Having studied sociology, philosophy and political science at the University of Heidelberg, Claus Wichmann founded an advertising agency with two fellow students in 1990, which he left 10 years later to become a member of the Baden-Württemberg state parliament. After leaving active politics, he applied this accumulated experience to international education projects, including a network of East African universities, the establishment of a vocational school in Vietnam, a project to build a university of administration in Jordan, and higher education collaborations between German and Chinese universities. 

Through his experience with digitization projects, he participated in the relaunch of the specialized literature databases of an international scientific publisher, including a new algorithm-driven data infrastructure. Following this project, Claus Wichmann worked for an American publishing house for several years, marketing bestselling authors at literary festivals worldwide and bringing promising talents under contract from there. As his mother became a nursing case, he returned to Germany permanently. 

Privately, he is politically active and serves on the board of trustees of several committees, including a politician's memorial foundation of the Federal Republic. 

Martin Brynskov is a global expert, speaker, and advisor on IoT and smart cities with a human-centric focus. Dr Brynskov is associate professor, PhD, in Interaction Technologies at Aarhus University in Denmark, where he is director of the Centre for Digital Transformation of Cities and Communities (DITCOM).  Dr Brynskov is chair of the global non-profit Open & Agile Smart Cities (OASC) that aims to develop Minimal Interoperability Mechanisms (MIMs) for cities and communities, and of the Danish Standards Committee on Smart Cities and Communities. Dr Brynskov is also the coordinator of the Next Generation Internet of Things (NGIoT), which is the European Roadmap for IoT Research, Innovation and Deployment, lead of the Living-in.EU movement Tech Sub Group, and co-chair of the United Nations U4SSC New Architecture. 

Valentina Schippers-Opejko is Coordinator of the Urban Agenda Partnership on Innovative and Responsible Public Procurement, Chair of the Eurocities Working Group on Public Procurement and Procurement Expert. She has more than 21 years of experience and still working for a public authority.

Patrick is a social entrepreneur with a personal mission to empower people to turn their potential into a force for good. He is the co-founder of Social Care Network, which is the leading organization in Europe regarding online marketplaces for volunteering. 57 cities use their technology and activation solutions, resulting in 13 million hours of volunteering. 

In addition, Patrick founded Young Impact, an organization that inspires young people to use their talent to make a positive impact in the world. His latest venture is CRZY!, a consultancy firm that helps social enterprises to scale big.

Patrick studied Industrial Engineering and Management Science at the Eindhoven University of Technology.

As an innovation consultant in the Center for Innovation in Aarhus, Sara works in partnership with teams across the municipality to design new experiences, services and strategies that address complex challenges and create value for citizens, employees, Aarhus and the wider society. Through her collaboration with the Climate Secretariat in the Department for Culture and Citizen Services, her focus has for the past 2 years been on designing new ways to engage citizens of Aarhus in the green transition. Sara has 15+ years of human-centered design and innovation experience from the private, public and academic sector.

Igor Kalinic works as Head of Sector at the European Innovation Council and SME Executive Agency, European Commission managing a sector of 20 staff. He is Seconded Official from DG GROW. He possesses 20+ years of private sector experience, academic understanding, and policy-making knowledge in international business with focus on international entrepreneurship, SMEs and sustainable economy. Previously, he worked as assistant professor at University of Groningen and as Marie Curie research fellow at Leeds University Business School. He has earned his PhD from University of Padova in collaboration with King’s College London and Darden School of Business (University of Virginia). He has been invited as visiting scholar in more than 10 faculties around the globe and has had an active collaborations with a number of top scholars.

Harri Ketamo, Ph.D., is an entrepreneur with 20 years of experience in cognitive sciences, artificial intelligence and game development. Currently, he is the founder & chairman of Headai, the cognitive AI engine powering sustainable economic growth. He's also actively participating in academic research as a senior fellow at the University of Turku. Previously Ketamo has been e.g. founder & CEO of a game minor (game AI), xTask (adaptive learning) and SkillPixels (serious games). He has published more than 100 peer-reviewed research articles and developed digital products used in more than 100 countries all over the world.

Hai-Chay Jiang has been in her role as the Head of the Department of Diversity and Equal Opportunities of the city of Leuven since 2017. She leads a team of 20 people working on: a reception policy for refugees; anti-racism policies; integration and participation for people with a migrant background (working on language, community, cultural sensitivity); global policy; Accessibility; and Gender. 

Paulo Calçada is CEO of Porto Digital, and OASC’s Council of Cities coordinator since 2021. At Porto Digital Paulo Calçada is responsible for the development of the innovation and the digital transformation strategy in the city of Porto. He's an entrepreneur working on innovative technologies related to communication, collaborative work and IT platforms, and an evangelist of Open Standards. He has been working on project and executive management and IT platforms for the past 0 years. He has also been an invited specialist in several working groups both at the national and European level. And he is working on Cloud Computing standardization international efforts (ISO/IEC JTC1 SC38; Portuguese Quality Institute Technical Committee TC128). His passion for sharing his experience has led him to participate and organize several conferences, focusing on subjects such as Open Standard, Cloud Computing, and entrepreneurship. He is also one of the founders of the European Association for Cloud Computing (EuroCloud), which is nowadays in more than 22 countries. 

Olaf-Gerd has 35 years of experience in both the public and private sector. He served as a consultant for the European Commission in various public-private partnerships projects, supported the World Bank in projects in Africa and India, and is currently leading several organisations and working groups, such as on Mobility as a Service (ERTICO, Brussels) and the Mobility DataSpace. He chairs the Open DataLake projects (ODALA, Kiel) and co-chairs the Digital Implementation RuleBook (IDSA, Dortmund).
He is also assigned advisory roles in projects with the City of Kiel, the OASC (Open & Agile Smart Cities Initiative), the World of GreenTEC (GreenTEC Campus, Germany), the region of Schleswig-Flensburg. He is Co-Founder of several entities, currently involved also in the uptake of Gaia-X and IDSA.

Olaf is dedicated to sustainability and the energy transition and is co-founder of Impact Funding Europe, the specialized funding agency for green energy, digitalisation, agriculture  and mobility projects. In former positions, he supported various organisations, e.g. wealth funds, insurance brokers, real-estate companies and asset managers.
 

Witold Willak is currently Deputy Head of Unit DDG.02, Coordination of Programmes at DG Regional and Urban Policy of European Commission. He is – among other things - responsible for coordination of 2014-20 period implementation, included REACT-EU, and recent CARE package. He was responsible for the appraisal of hundreds of EU-funded major projects across the EU, and for cooperation with the JASPERS initiative, set up together with the European Investment Bank. A strong believer in subsidiarity and partnership principles as vehicles for smart and effective public policy-making. He’s a vivid proponent of cost-benefit analysis and welfare economics as he coordinated the works on the Cost-Benefit Analysis Guide 2014 and the Economic Appraisal Vademecum for 2021-2027. In previous years, he had been in charge of various investment programmes in Poland and in the Commission as a programme manager responsible for operational programmes and projects in Czech Republic and Poland. Witold holds a Master of Economics with specialisation in regional and local policy. 

Olga Dzieciatkowska is a graduate of the Faculty of Law and Administration at the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan. Currently, she is the Digital Projects Specialist and leader of the Smart Community section of the Smart City Team for Poznań City Hall. She is responsible for the implementation and realization of innovative solutions in the city, including the functioning and development of the city’s urban app. An activist for women's rights and social equality, she supports activism and citizen-oriented policies that bring positive social change.

Since joining the European Commission in 1991, Ivo Locatelli has worked in several departments and dealt with industrial relations with Japan, the liberalisation of telecoms sector, and now public procurement where he leads the team dealing with strategic procurement policy.

CTO Milan City Council. Main focus is Digital Innovation and Transformation and Smart City Projects. From 2016 till 2021 Associate Partner KPMG CIO Advisory. Since 2011, 5 years of experience as Technology Innovation & Digital Director (CTO) for Expo Milano 2015 and previously over 15 years of experience in Telecommunication (Vodafone & Siemens).

Phillip Mortensen is an economist, with 20 years of experience from different national government ministries and agencies. From 2006-2017, Phillip worked for The Ministry for Climate and Environment, mainly with domestic climate policy development. Among other things several white papers on mitigation and one on adaptation. Since October 2017 he has worked for The City of Oslo Climate Agency, tasked with developing strategies, policies and measures to mitigate emissions from construction. Phillip currently works for the Office of the Vice Mayor for Environment and Transport.

Myriam Schwartz is Head of Sustainability Services at the Solar Impulse Foundation. She joined the Solar Impulse Foundation in 2018. Former political advisor to Bertrand Piccard, President of the Foundation and renowned aviator recognized for having flown around the world in a solar-powered aircraft (Solar Impulse), she now supports public authorities and private entities in their operational transition.
 
Graduate of both a major engineering school and Sciences Po Paris, she combines technical knowledge and diplomatic skill to serve the planet. Her experiences have been marked by major milestones in the climate movement. As a member of the COP21 negotiating team, she was responsible for initiatives carried out within the framework of the Global Climate Action Agenda. At the European Commission, she was involved in the development of the new directive on renewable energies. Until 2017, she supported the advisor on energy and sustainable development of the President of the French Republic.
 
Her role now sees her at the intersection of innovators, investors and decision-makers, proposing concrete solutions to the challenges of climate change that are at once profitable and good for the environment.

Iva Ribarić is Advisor for project implementation and promotional activities in City of Rijeka Department of Entrepreneurship. She has a university degree in marketing management (univ.spec.oec) and 15 years of experience in marketing and media. She has been working in the City of Rijeka for 6 years, and in her current position she is responsible for implementing EU projects supporting SMEs and entrepreneurship, implementing City measures to encourage entrepreneurship development, including activities for children and youth, and for planning and implementing projects and activities to improve and promote City-owned entrepreneurial infrastructure.

Nenad Antolović is the director of the Centre of Competences for Smart Cities (CEKOM), an innovative cluster that encourages cooperation between entrepreneurs and organizations for research and dissemination of knowledge on research and development projects. Nenad holds a university degree in philosophy and history and has more than 10 years of work experience in higher education, but he worked as a writer for years, he has several telenovelas and soap operas behind him. His rich biography also reveals a person very experienced in PR, with some journalistic experience. He decided to join Smart RI because he wants to contribute to a project he thinks will change our region.

Abdinassir Sagar is an Associate Program Management Officer at the United Nations Human Settlements Programme’s new innovation section established to strengthen innovative thinking, practices, and solutions for sustainable urban development. He is involved in developing policy papers to advance the application of digital technologies in urban development and supporting the implementation of capacity-building program to strengthen UN-Habitat’s innovative capacity. Prior to joining the UN, Abdinassir worked for professional services firms in Canada (two of the Big Four firms) as a Management Consultant where he advised clients in the private and public sector on technology-related transformation projects. 

Hamish is a Management Consultant on the Connected Community team, in the Technology Services division at the City of Toronto. Hamish co-led development of the City's Digital Infrastructure Strategic Framework, and is working on related initiatives including developing a Digital Equity policy and sensor registry. He has been involved in a variety of community connectivity projects in Toronto including Digital Canopy (a pilot project to bring free Wi-Fi to residents living within apartment neighbourhoods) and Wi-Fi on Wheels (a pilot project to bring temporary Wi-Fi to public parks). Hamish holds an Honours Bachelor of Environmental Planning degree from Griffith University, Australia. He is a Registered Professional Planner and member of the Canadian Institute of Planners.

Nabeel is a Management Consultant on the Connected Community team in the Technology Services division at the City of Toronto. His work focuses on the City's Digital Infrastructure Strategic Framework and initiatives to advance data governance at the City. Nabeel has a Master's degree in Environmental Studies (Planning) from York University, Toronto, and a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration from Institute of Business Administration, Karachi, Pakistan.

Sinead Murphy is a Senior Project Manager on the City of Toronto's Circular Economy and Innovation team in the Solid Waste Management Services Division. Since joining the team, she has played a key role in advancing Toronto’s circular economy objectives including leading first-of-its-kind research in Canada to baseline Toronto’s current circularity and managing the City’s participation in the Circular Innovation City Challenge to explore digital solutions to accelerate the circular economy. Sinead holds a Masters in Resource Management and Environmental Planning from Simon Fraser University and a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science from Queen’s University.

Pierre Gras is leading the Urban Data Hub at the Agency for Geoinformation and Surveying in Hamburg. A department with three teams for the technical, conceptual, and content-related development of the Urban Data Platform Hamburg. We work and advise in the areas of data provision, open data, standardization, real-time data processing, data science, advanced analytics, GeoAI/spatial analytics, object detection and natural language processing.
 
Previously, Pierre Gras worked as Data Scientist/Engineer IoT at the Agency for Geoinformation and Surveying in Hamburg. He also served as both Researcher/Geo data analyst at the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Berlin, and as Research associate in Agroecology, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen.
 
Pierre Gras is a Dr. rer. nat from Biodiversity and Ecology, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen. His thesis focused on the trophic interactions of ants, birds and bats affecting crop yield along shade gradients in tropical agroforestry. He holds a MSc in Biodiversity and Ecology, Georg-August-Universität Göttingeg and a BSc in Horticultural science, Leibniz Universität Hannover.

Michaël Desloover is a program coordinator of digital transformation at the city of Antwerp, Belgium. Michaël completed IT, political and business management studies and always worked in between the crossroads of business and IT. He worked as consultant, among others, for the European Union. The past seven years he came back to Antwerp where he first helped to build a digital strategy fort he port of Antwerp, afterwards he managed the program for businesses and oversaw the transition towards customer-centric thinking. At the moment he coordinates the transformation of social services.

Isabel R joined the International Relations department of the Municipality of Milan in 2018. Within the City Relations and Cooperation Unit, she deals with partnerships coordination, supporting the management of Milan’s participation in international cities networks. Prior to this, she worked in the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) as a Communication Officer in the Climate and Water department, mainly contributing to the outreach activities of the Associated Programme on Flood Management (APFM) and the Integrated Drought Management Programme (IDMP). She also worked in the Italian Permanent Mission to the International Organizations in Geneva, in the IPALMO Institute in Rome and in different private companies. She holds a master’s degree in International Relations from the University of Milan (2012), where she graduated with a thesis on sustainable development in Africa, and a post-master’s degree in Diplomacy from the ISPI institute (2017).

Environmental Engineer , after a first experience at the Politecnico of Milan  within the End Use Efficiency Research Group, she has been working for 18 years in the Environmental Transition Dpt (former Environment and Energy Dpt) of AMAT  (Municipal Company for mobility Environment and Territory of the city of Milan), where she participated and is participating in the design and implementation of  the Sustainable Energy Action Plan and the Air Quality and Climate Plan, in the design of the building regulations within the Urban Master Plan and in specific projects regarding energy efficiency and mitigation.

Born in Milan (Italy) in 1983, Master degree in Environmental Engineering at Politecnico di Milano in 2008 and Bachelor degree in Agrotechnology for the Environment and the Territory at Università degli Studi di Milano in 2013. Expert in smart cities, sustainable mobility and decision support systems, he has been working at Poliedra-Politecnico di Milano for 12 years, as senior researcher and coordinator in several national and international projects in the context of sustainable and smart mobility, logistics, and Smart City. Since 2017 he is the project manager for the Municipality of Milan of Sharing Cities, a H2020-SCC1 European project for the creation of a smart district in Milan.

Senior Project Manager with 20 years experience in EU and internationally funded projects in the field of green economy and territorial public policies. Consultant for Milan Municipality in regards of energy communities and stakeholders engagement for city decarbonisation processes. 

Marco G. Persico, professional Chemist, Environmental and Chemical Risk analyst (PhD), Project Manager (URBANOME, Horizon2020 project for Urban Health) and ICC contact point at Urban Resilience Department, City of Milan.

Francesca Galluzzi studied modern languages at the University of Florence and has worked in the field of tourism in public offices since 1994. She started her career working for the Tuscany Region before moving on to the Florence tourist board. Francesca currently works at the Municipality of Florence, at the Tourism Department in charge of tourist information and promotion. In her role she coordinates the relationships with the municipalities of the city's tourist areas. She also coordinates the editorial staff for the contents of the official website www.feelflorence.it.

Ilaria Bonetti is Head of Innovation and Projects Unit of Innovhub SSI srl (R&D organization fully owned by the Chamber of Commerce of Milan), being responsible for setting up and management of information and assistance services to SMEs on various EU issues. She has experience in projects’ management of several European and international programs such as Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe; Life; transregional co-operation scheme (Interreg and Central Europe); R&D projects for benefit of SMEs. Ilaria’s activity focusses mainly on strategic topics such as bioeconomy, digital transition and smart manufacturing, being actively involved in several initiatives both at regional and international level. She is one of the Board Members of two Regional clusters: the Green Chemistry Association, on green and circular economy, and Regional Smart Manufacturing Cluster (AFIL).

Ilaria cooperates with the Chamber of Commerce for the development and implementation of specific projects at local level, including the digital initiative PID.

After finishing Master’s degrees in Business Information Management (BIM) and Organizational Psychology, Mark Started his professional career at the MRA (Metropole Region Amsterdam), doing 3 rotations at Gemeente Almere, Province Noord-Holland and City of Amsterdam. Covering the topics of respectively Digital Strategy, Smart Mobility and Innovation Procurement, the common thread in all rotations was the topic of innovation and digitalization. Mark now works for Amsterdam’s Innovation department, focusing on procurement of innovation. Amongst others, he works on the European project AI4Cities, stimulating the uptake of new technologies that contribute to acceleration of climate goals.

Annik Schouteden is program coordinator of digital transformation at the city of Antwerp, Belgium. Annik worked for the city government from 2005 in different areas such as communication, customer services, HR and organization. Currently she works for the CDO of the city. She and her team are responsible for the digital transformation strategy, project portfolio management, digital innovation, digital inclusion and the digital workplace.  User centricity is key in the city’s digital transformation strategy.
 

Raf is involved in strategic e-Government projects for local and regional governments since 2002. As an advisor in e-government strategy at Digitaal Vlaanderen, Raf tries to implement a more rational, interoperable e-government, promoting open data, open standards and open processes. Raf is also a board member of Open Knowledge Belgium and a postdoctoral researcher at the Internet Technology and Data Science Lab – Ghent University.

Markus Duscha looks back on over 30 years of political-strategic consulting and research work for sustainable development. From 1991 to 2015, he worked at ifeu - Institut für Energie- und Umweltforschung Heidelberg gGmbH. During this time he accompanied a lot of cities in Germany in the introduction of climate change mitigation strategies. Since 2014, he has focused on the necessary restructuring of the financial system and founded the Fair Finance Institute in Heidelberg in 2016. The institute advises companies and policymakers and conducts practical and creative research for a socio-ecological restructuring of the financial system. Since June 2022 he is a member of the Sustainble Finance Advisory Committee of the German federal Government.

William Bernal is an Electronic Engineer with a Master in Signal and Image processing. William has more than 7 years in innovation industries. In 2019, he took the decision to create VIPO Group, a French company that uses cutting edge technology in AI and computer vision to improve the shopping experience in fashion and department stores. Today, VIPO Group works to bring fashion closer to everyone, because dressing well is something for everyone.

Erik Stam (1975) is Full Professor of Strategy, Organization and Entrepreneurship and Dean of the Utrecht School of Economics. Next to this he is Faculty Director of Center for Entrepreneurship at Utrecht University, and board member of the Utrecht University Strategic Research Theme Institutions for Open Societies. He held positions at Erasmus University Rotterdam, the University of Cambridge, the Max Planck Institute of Economics (Jena, Germany), and the Netherlands Scientific Council for Government Policy (WRR). He has been visiting professor or scholar at institutes including the University of Oxford, Hitotsubashi University (Tokyo), Indiana University at Bloomington, Institute of Industrial Economics Stockholm, Leibniz Universität Hannover, Tel Aviv University, University of Turku, and Zhejiang University (Hangzhou). He is editor of the journal Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice.
 
He is a leading scholar on entrepreneurial ecosystems. He has (co-)authored more than hundred books, book chapters, and articles on entrepreneurship, economic development and related topics. Next to his scientific work he is often consulted by governments, at the local, regional, national, and international level (European Commission, OECD, G20, Word Bank), and by start-ups, investors and corporates on innovation and entrepreneurship.

Samira Boussetta is policy officer working on innovation and sustainable procurement in DG GROW. After several years as chief procurement officer in different local authorities then head of legal affairs and innovative purchases in the health sector and then head of innovation at the French State purchasing department, she joined the European Commission in 2019 to develop the public procurement of innovative and sustainable solutions.

Mr. Timo Ruohomaki currently works as a program director of IoT and Data initiatives at Forum Virium Helsinki, the innovation company of the city of Helsinki. He oversees a portfolio of various EU projects related to energy efficiency, AI and digital twins. He also is an active participant at Open Geospatial Consortium, where the location based open standards are worked on. Prior to joining Forum Virium Helsinki, he worked in various enterprise projects in the fields of content and customer management.