Mitchell Kosny, Toronto Metropolitan University | Technology is just a means, not an end
Mitchell Kosny works in the area of strategic urban planning and management.
IFC & Leading Cities | How Can Cities Fund Innovative Projects?
We frequently hear of imaginative and exciting new projects that will launch our cities into a bright future. However, to achieve this vision, we of course must find out how to fund it. To talk with us about this crucial step in the improvement of our cities, we have two leading experts in the field. Michael Lake is the President and CEO of Leading Cities, a global non-profit offering services and research to governments and corporations on how to use cities to spearhead the world’s biggest challenges. Elleanor Robins is a renown Senior Investment Officer and the Cross-Sectoral Cities Solutions Lead for the International Finance Corporation, which is part of the World Bank Group.
Maria Tsavachidis, EIT Urban Mobility | On Green Transport, Sustainability Transitions, and European Growth
The current climate crisis comes from a need to reduce our carbon emissions and pollution. A key part of the solution to this matter comes from the mobility sector and its carbon footprint. To speak with us about sustainability transtion is an inimitable speaker, Maria Tsavachidis is the CEO of EIT Urban Mobility. She holds a PHD in traffic engineering from the Technical University of Munich.
Amparo Marco, City of Castelló | Creative Ideas and Solutions to Urban Challenges
A city’s vision is created collectively by all its residents, but spearheaded by their respective Mayors. It is the Mayoral Office, which helps implement priorities and gathers creative ideas and solutions to urban challenges. With us today is a highly respected Spanish mayoress. Amparo Marco Gual is the Mayoress of Castelló de la Plana and is a member of the Governing Council of the Network of Cities for Science and Innovation, and Vice-President of the Ibero-American Network of Municipalities for Gender Equality.
Next-Gen European Mobility Entrepreneurs | Are We Facing a Skills Mismatch?
As the world evolves so do the necessary skills that economies demand. Preparing the populous with the necessary skills is thus crucial, specially in the urban mobility sector. We have two guess to talk with us on this subject, Martin Vendel is the director academy of EIT Urban Mobility. He got his PHD in Chemical Engineer from the KTH Royal Institue of Technology, and Klaus Sailer is a professor for Entrepreneurship at Munich University of Apllied Sciences and CEO of the Strascheg Centre for Entrepreneurship. He got his PHD in Physics from Ludwig-Maximilians University of Munich.
Women’s New European Bauhaus & City of Reykjavik | Cities Crafted for Citizen’s needs
Throughout much of history citizens catered towards the needs of a city, but in recent years a focus has shifted towards cities being crafted and reformed for citizen’s needs. To talk with us about this pivot are two fantastic speakers. Ines Sanchez de Madariaga is the Chair of GenderSTE a platform focusing on gender and cities, has worked in the Spanish government in multiple roles, and is a Professor at the Technical University of Madrid. Dagur B. Eggertsson is the current Mayor of Reykjavik, has been in local politics since 2002, and practiced as a physician for many years.
Hayes Culleton Group | How Collaborative Governance Influences City Success
Congresses such as Smart City’s are so important and effective because of the collaboration and exchange of ideas that they foster, which helps strengthen all participants in equal measure. Such collaboration is key for any society or city to prosper. To talk with us about the importance of a collaborative governance is a brilliant speaker. Susan Hayes Culleton the Founder and Managing Director of Hayes Culleton Group, which specializes in professional training and coaching. She has also founded of many other organizations such as: Investing in Youth.com, Options Trading Ireland, The Positive Economist, and Savvy Teen Academy. She’s also a member of Savvy Women Online, and CEO of BECKSearch, a company specialized in facilitating an up-to-date catalogue of the skills and capabilities of its members.
Elizabeth Diller | Architecture and the Value of Public Space
How cities are literally shaped and function comes down to architects and designers, who have to balance aesthetic with a functionality for citizens. Perhaps no one has been able to meld these two aspects better than our next speaker, Elizabeth Diller. She’s a partner at the architectural firm Diller, Scofidio, & Renfro, which she helped co-found in 1979. She received the first MacArthur Foundation fellowship in architecture and has subsequently been recognized with a James Beard Award and appeared in Time magazine’s “most-influential” list twice. She’s also an architecture professor at Princeton University.
Christina Yan Zhang | The Impact of the Metaverse in Smart Cities: Dystopian or Exciting Idea?
We are hearing the term “metaverse” being used increasingly within the news, society, and especially technological circles. The idea of a parallel digital universe is one that can seem dystopian or exciting for many. How this technology will impact Smart Cities of the present and future is the crucial question we shall be asking today. To help us luddites disentangle this complex topic is Christina Yan Zhang, CEO of the Metaverse Institute, a business consultancy service relating to the metaverse. She’s also the Founder and CEO of Arete Intelligence which provides education administration programs, and a Festival Chairperson for the Metaverse Week held in London. Christina Yan Zhang got her PhD in Civil Engineering from Loughborough University.
How Important Is Citizen Engagement in the Success of New Mobility Solutions?
Keeping us citizens involved and engaged with mobility projects is crucial for their subsequence success, it is thus, imperative for cities to bring sustainable and efficient urban mobility solutions. To talk with us on this subject is Julienne Chen, the citizen and programm manager at the European Institute of Technology for Urban Mobility, a european innovation community.