Areas of Expertise
● Neuroscience ● Biotech ● Future of Health ● Medicine

About Divya

She is a professor at Stanford, a physician, and a scientist who collaborates with Neuralink and NASA, and is a member of the working group at the White House for telemedicine. Her focus is on the field of neuroscience - neural wearables - and she delves into how easy it is to hack the human brain and how AI and robotics are transforming healthcare.

She is an expert in digital health, hacking humans, longevity, and biotech. She lectures on thinking about new types of data collection for intelligent care, the various threats posed by different wearables and implants, and the gathering of biometric data, as well as how to protect the most sensitive data we have. In 2020, she was named one of the world's top digital health innovators. Her goal is to understand neural mechanisms of consciousness, the evolution of human consciousness secondary to human augmentation, and how mapping consciousness in humans may help us to understand consciousness and intelligence in other life forms (e.g. animals, non-terrestrials). During the Covid19 crisis, she led and adviced 3 pandemic task forces, including One Shared World’s Global Pandemic Resilience Task Force, a NASA-White House Telehealth task force, and a re-open strategy for the state of California. In response to the need for global resilience, she cofounded Plexxus, a company building the world’s connected global immune system.

Areas of Expertise
● Energy ● Sustainability

About Ramez

Ramez Naam is a computer scientist, futurist, and award-winning author. Ramez spent 13 years at Microsoft, where he led teams developing early versions of Microsoft Outlook, Internet Explorer, and the Bing search engine. His career has focused on bringing advanced collaboration, communication, and information retrieval capabilities to roughly one billion people around the world, and took him to the role of Partner and Director of Program Management within Microsoft, with deep experience leading teams working on cutting edge technologies such as machine learning, search, massive scale services, and artificial intelligence.

He holds 21 patents related to search engines, information retrieval, web browsing, artificial intelligence, and machine learning. Ramez is also the H.G. Wells Award-winning author of four books: The Infinite Resource: The Power of Ideas on a Finite Planet, (non-fiction) looks at the environmental and natural resource challenges of climate change, energy, water, and food, and charts a course to meet those challenges by investing in the scientific and technological innovation needed to overcome them, and by changing our policies to encourage both conservation and critical innovations. He’s a graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign and the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy at Aurora Illinois. In his leisure, Ramez has climbed mountains, descended into icy crevasses, chased sharks through their native domain, backpacked through remote corners of China, and ridden his bicycle down hundreds of miles of the Vietnam coast. He lives in Seattle, where he writes and speaks full time.

Areas of Expertise
● Mobility ● Automotive ● Future of Work

About Carlo

Carlo van de Weijer (1966) has a Master degree in Mechanical Engineer from the University of Technology in Eindhoven and a PhD degree with honors from Technical University in Graz. He started his career in 1990 at TNO Automotive, moved to SiemensVDO in 2001 to head the Eindhoven automotive navigation development lab, since 2007 part of TomTom.

He focuses on what moves people, in every sense of the world. In his opinion, the digitization of vehicles offer tremendous new opportunities to make cars safer, cleaner and more comfortable at significantly lower cost, based on self-organizing systems in which transport demand and supply will be much better aligned. He sees a future in which demand-driven mobility services will rapidly change public transport as we know it, as well as increased space and incentives for bikes and a continued important role for cars - albeit in a system that is much smarter organized than today. Over 230 TU/e researchers are involved in the Strategic Area Smart Mobility.
Currently, Dr. Van de Weijer is director of the Strategic Area Smart Mobility at Eindhoven University of Technology, alongside his work for TomTom. He is chairman and member of the supervisory board of several high-tech companies and start-ups, and advises governments and industries around the world on the future of technology and mobility.

Areas of Expertise
● Neurodegenerative disorders ● Neuroscience

About Martin

Martin Tolar MD, PhD is Founder, President & CEO at Alzheon, Inc. He pioneered and developed human genome interpretation systems and services, as well as a novel cancer therapeutics. Prior to founding Alzheon in 2013, Dr. Tolar has held executive positions in life sciences companies, where he has successfully established and grown new companies, business areas and product opportunities. He also founded the INDRC, a global institute applying artificial intelligence and machine learning solutions to identify and validate therapeutic interventions for Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative disorders.

He was repeatedly recognized as one of the Top 100 Most Influential People in the world of drug development and manufacture by The Medicine Maker Magazine’s Power Lists.
During his academic career, Dr. Tolar served as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Neurology at Yale University School of Medicine, where he focused on movement disorders. Dr. Tolar trained in Neurology at the Boston Medical Center, received a Ph.D. in Neuroscience for his work on the role of apolipoprotein E in Alzheimer’s disease, and published many scientific publications in the area of neuroscience and neurodegenerative disorders. Dr. Tolar received his M.D. from Charles University in Prague, where, as a medical student, he helped organize and lead the Velvet Revolution that toppled the communist regime in the former Czechoslovakia in November 1989.

Areas of Expertise
● Artificial Intelligence ● Ethics ● Robotics ● Biotech

About Adam

Adam Pantanowitz stands as an impassioned technologist who thrives on unraveling intricate challenges that might appear insurmountable. His expertise finds its synergy at the crossroads of cloud computing and machine learning, where he employs these tools to crack complex problems. He's a vital member of SingularityU South Africa's team, renowned for his insights in the realm of biotechnology, and he's known to engage in forward-looking conversations about the symbiotic relationship between technology and humanity.

In the academic spheres of engineering and medicine at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, he's been a dedicated lecturer since 2009. His journey was sparked by the study of biomedical and electrical engineering, which paved the way for his impactful work across the biotech and software domains. His ingenuity has found expression in patents, scholarly articles, and creative innovations that resonate with his collaborative spirit. Among these innovations are groundbreaking systems like a hands-free controlled surgery interface, a CPR monitoring system, and a computer-driven sign language interpreter.
Beyond his technological prowess, Adam's achievements extend to being a Fellow of The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), having earned international recognition as a chartered engineer. His entrepreneurial spirit has also fueled his role in co-founding multiple tech-centric enterprises like AURA, Tariffic, Lawbuntu, and others. Additionally, he brought his skills to bear as the CTO of VATIT, a global leader in VAT reclamation, an experience that broadened his skill set and deepened his business acumen.

Areas of Expertise
● Artificial intelligence ● Entrepreneurship ● Future of Finance

About Shuo

Shuo Chen is a General Partner at IOVC, where she invests in early stage startups in Silicon Valley with a focus on future of work and enterprise/SaaS. She is also Faculty at UC Berkeley, where she teaches entrepreneurship. Shuo serves on the Board of Directors for Decode, the largest tech and entrepreneurship community co-hosted between Berkeley and Stanford, as well as on the Board of Advisors for Reed Smith, a 150-year global law firm with 3,000 employees across 30 offices.

In her venture role, Shuo has invested in companies now acquired by Goldman Sachs, Ford, Caterpillar, Binance and Dialpad, as well as now unicorns including Boom, Checkr, Grubmarket, Instacart and Rescale. She has helped portfolio companies close deals with Amazon, Apple, Google, Mercedes-Benz and NASA among others, as well as scaled portfolio companies into Europe and Asia.
Outside of venture, Shuo is appointed by California Governor Gavin Newsom to serve as 1 of 14 voting members on California's Mental Health Commission, which includes overseeing ~$10 billion annually in state budget and advising the Governor or the Legislature on mental health policy.
Prior, Shuo worked at Goldman Sachs in investment banking, where she worked with clients including Alibaba and Tencent, as well as represented the firm on the Board of Women in Finance. Before that, Shuo was at PwC, where she worked on Google's $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola and LinkedIn's $119 million acquisition of SlideShare. Shuo has also co-authored one of the leading books on financial regulations published by Cambridge University Press in 2019, and sits on the Advisory Board of Forbes China, where she advises on content and awards for Asian Americans in North America.

Areas of Expertise
● Neurosurgery ● Medicine

About David

Since April 2020, when he took over the role from Prof. Vladimír Beneš, he has been the head of the Neurosurgical and Neurooncological Clinic at the First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, and the Central Military Hospital in Prague.

The main areas of his professional activities include cerebral vascular diseases, treatment of brain skull base tumors (pituitary adenomas), the entire spectrum of brain and spinal cord tumor processes, and skull base surgery, including vestibular schwannomas.
His secondary professional role is in teaching. His lectures at the First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, cover the field of Neurosurgery. Since 2008, he has been delivering seminars and presentations at conferences. He is the author of specialized publications and a member of various professional societies. He is actively involved in research and the development of medical technology, particularly neurosurgical robotics.

Areas of Expertise
● Geopolitics ● Foreign Affairs ● Diplomacy

About Tim

Britain's best-selling author on international affairs. He is a British journalist, author, and broadcaster specialized in foreign affairs and international diplomacy. He has served as a commentator for world events with BBC, Sky News, and LBC. He is an award-winning book author, including the bestseller "The Power of Geography," "Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Explain Everything About the World," "The Age of Walls: How Barriers Between Nations Are Changing Our World," and "A Flag Worth Dying For: The Power and Politics of National Symbols." Recently, he addressed the audience's curiosity with his talk about how the race for dominance in space is shaping the future of humanity. In his latest book "The Future of Geography" he explores the new geopolitical realities of space and its impact on the global political landscape in the next fifty years.

Areas of Expertise
● Climate ● Physics

About Peter

Peter Ditlevsen is a professor at the Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen (Denmark). As a theoretical physicist, he conducts research in the fields of turbulence, statistical physics, dynamical systems, and climate dynamics.

Recently, he and his sister, Professor Susanne Ditlevsen, published a breakthrough article in Nature Magazine that sparked an incredible response in the world's media and the public as well. In the scientific text titled "Warning of a Forthcoming Collapse of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation," the two authors analyze the climate system based on sea surface temperature data stretching back to 1870. They predict that the Gulf Stream system could be on the verge of collapse and that a new ice age might be approaching. He is a member of the Ice and Climate Group and is associated with the Complexity Group.

Areas of Expertise
● VR ● AR ● E-Gaming ● Metaverse ● Future of Work

About Mic

Mic as Ceo of Africarare, Co-Ceo of SingularityU South Africa and Mann Made is a storyteller, futurist, entrepreneur, investor and speaker on how exponential technologies can help to #futureproofAfrica. After completing his honours degree in scriptwriting, directing and producing film at AFDA, Mic joined as co-owner of the family business, Mann Made. Mic has 23 years of experience in the media, marketing and eventing industry doing 360' marketing and sales campaigns for many global and local Fortune 500 companies.

Mic and his partners brought Singularity University to Africa and over the last 8 years have been educating, inspiring and empowering South Africans through SU programmes, events and online in order to #futureproofAfrica and build a global community of change-makers that want to make a positive impact.
Mic has been developing and making various types of online games for the last 18 years and is regarded as one of the leading experts in Virtual and Augmented Reality globally, developing some of the most exciting new digital spaces and environments with his studio and regularly speaks about VR, AR, the future of work, the new online global economy, gaming, blockchain gaming, education and the changing role of professionals. Mic is an avid investor in web3, NFT's, and various metaverses. In 2021 as co-founder Mic launched Africa's first metaverse Africarare that is focussed on unlocking African potential and connecting Africa to the global digital economy.

Areas of Expertise
●  Innovation ●  Disruption ● Exponential Technologies

About Bohdana

Bohdanna is the Managing Director of Partnerships at Singularity University. She is responsible for activating SU's international network of partners and influencers in an effort to deliver products and experiences to future-minded global leaders. She also oversees the execution of Global Licensing SU’s International Summits, impacting and educating over 100,000 people on exponential technology and how to use that technology to solve the world’s largest challenges.

Bohdanna works with partners from all over the globe, including South Africa, India, Western and Eastern Europe, Canada, Central America, Asia, and South America. Between 2016 – 2019 Bohdanna managed 45 summits around the world. Her talent lies in her ability to build strong relationships, respect regional traditions, and customs, all the while empowering her partners to engage with all sections of government, including Presidents and Prime Ministers, C suite management of Fortune 500 companies, entrepreneurs, NGO’s, and students.
Prior to Singularity University, Bohdanna worked for Peter Thiel at The Thiel Foundation, as a member of The Thiel Fellowship team, managing dozens of projects including CNBC Transforming Tomorrow, a documentary focused on the Thiel Fellowship and the Wired.com series ‘Teen Technorati’ showcasing Fellows from The Thiel Fellowship. Bohdanna was also one of the architects of The Thiel Foundation Summit; a bi-annual assembly of young entrepreneurs and visionaries from around the world.
And, while working at SU, Bohdanna devotes time to her painting career, exhibiting her work in the US and internationally. Bohdanna holds an M.F.A from San Francisco State University, a Post-Baccalaureate certificate from California College of the Arts, and a B.S. from Indiana University – Bloomington.

Areas of Expertise
● AI journalism ● Media

About Václav

Dr. Václav Moravec is a renowned Czech journalist, TV host and a university teacher. Moravec, holding Ph.D. credentials, serves as a faculty member at Charles University in Prague, where he is affiliated with the Institute of Communication Studies and Journalism within the Faculty of Social Sciences. Additionally, he is actively involved with the Department of Production at FAMU. His academic focus centers on the evolution of audiovisual media, ethical standards in journalism, automated journalism, and the application of artificial intelligence in journalism.

Dr. Moravec boasts an impressive list of publications, including the monographs "Transformations of Journalistic Ethics" (2019) and "Media in Liquid Times" (2016). He has also co-authored the work "Journal of Journalism: Explanation of Terms and Theory of the Field" (2017) and the monograph "From Microphone to Listeners: Data" (2003). With a background in journalism, he has contributed his expertise to various media outlets, including Czech Radio, as well as private radio stations such as Frequency 1 and Radio Impuls. His experience extends to working with the Czech BBC. Notably, Dr. Moravec has been a fixture at Czech Television, where he has hosted TV discussion programs like "Otázky Václava Moravce" since 2004 and "Fokus Václava Moravce" since 2015. His dedication to journalism has earned him numerous national awards in the Czech Republic in recognition of his outstanding work in the field. Beyond his teaching and journalism career, Dr. Moravec holds significant roles within academic and AI-related organizations. He has been a member of the FAMU Artistic Council since 2016, and he serves on the Executive Committee of the Artificial Intelligence Initiative PRG.AI. Furthermore, he currently directs the Center of Artificial Intelligence Journalism, a position he has held since 2019. In addition to these responsibilities, he also serves as the Chairman of the Academic Senate of FSV UK since 2019.

Areas of Expertise
● Future of education ● Media

About Jos

Jos Dirkx is a global speaker, best-selling author, acclaimed tech entrepreneur and World Economic Forum Tech Pioneer. She is the Founder of Beenova AI, a startup harnessing Artificial Intelligence to revolutionize education and her third book, “Why Great Ideas Die”, is set for release November 2023. Jos and her team have reached over 85,000 people globally through innovative education products, from Sydney, to Saudi, to Silicon Valley. Clients like Google, Sony, HSBC, Rothschild&Co, DellEMC, Dubai Future Foundation and the Chamber of Commerce of Colombia rely on Jos’s talks for their teams and customers.

With a dynamic career spanning six continents and expertise at the intersection of creativity, technology, education, and inclusion, Jos brings a unique blend of insights to the stage. With a background in various technological domains coupled with a human-first approach to innovation, Jos's contributions to the field of AI and education have been pivotal in shaping its future. She is an advisory board member at e-Gaming startup Division, an Abundance 360 Member, serves as advisor to HERicanes, and consults to various universities and educational institutions globally.

Jos challenges the status quo with insightful keynotes and advises global business leaders and their boards on strategy by incorporating relevant real-world examples for immediate application.

Her adventurous upbringing across fifteen countries and warm and energetic nature, in addition to tech-savviness and visionary leadership, make Jos a compelling voice in the global tech community.

Areas of Expertise
● Cyber security

About Marja

Bio Marja is Senior Director in the European Government Affairs team at Microsoft, drives the company's efforts to encourage responsible AI governance and innovation across Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA). Prior to her work on AI, Marja led the Microsoft Digital Crimes Unit (DCU) in EMEA and, before that, in Central and Eastern Europe. In these positions, she oversaw a team of legal and technical experts in the fight against cybercrime and online threats. Marja joined Microsoft in 2000 and prior to that, she worked as a lawyer at Susiluoto Attorneys-At-Law Ltd, a Finnish law firm specializing in intellectual property rights. Marja holds a law degree from the University of Helsinki and is based in Finland.

Areas of Expertise
● AI

About Sara

Sara Polak, an Oxofrd graduate, spent nearly a decade residing in the United Kingdom. Initially, she pursued her studies in Archaeology and Cognitive Evolutionary Anthropology at Oxford University. Subsequently, she embarked on a diverse career path, delving into the realm of technology startups. Her roles encompassed a broad spectrum, from developing AI applications for museums and galleries to spearheading the complete digitization of global politics. During this period, she contributed her expertise to around 50 high-profile campaigns.

In 2019, Sara joyfully returned to the Czech Republic, where she embarked on a mission to explore the ways in which machine learning could enhance Industry 4.0. Since 2020, she has undertaken the role of an 'AI popularizer,' actively promoting education, multidisciplinarity, and the demystification of technology in various contexts. Her primary platform for this endeavor is prg.ai. Additionally, she participates in the pAIoneers creative project as a part of Paralelni Polis.
Sara applies her 'AI popularization mantra' to support startups as a member of Startup Disrupt. She also dedicates her efforts to advancing the overall popularization of science through her involvement with Science To Go. Sara holds a strong belief that technology, particularly 'AI,' holds the key to shaping a new socioeconomic system and is vital in reshaping the dynamics between individuals and the state. She champions values such as decentralization, grassroots entrepreneurialism, and the liberation potential of technology.
As a director of the czech.global project, Sara actively connects Czechs worldwide through an online platform. Her ambitious vision includes the creation of the world's first cloud nation, demonstrating the feasibility of this innovative system. Sara has a deep affection for her homeland, a passion for innovation, an appreciation for unfettered multidisciplinary thinking, and a talent for discerning connections and patterns amid the beautiful chaos of the world.

Areas of Expertise
● AI robotics

About Tomáš

Tomáš Čupr is currently one of the most successful Czech entrepreneurs. He is the Co-founder and CEO of Rohlik, poised to revolutionize the online grocery market across Europe. He also founded Slevomat.cz (online daily deals) and Damejidlo.cz (food delivery) - at that time the first e-commerce services of their kind in Czech Republic, with one of the best revenues on the European market in this field.

Last year alone, the Rohlik´s business grew a record 60% to claim an 80% share of the Czech online grocery market. It is now the country’s first unicorn, with Tomáš having successfully rolled out services across Hungary, Austria, Romania and Germany and planning expansion to markets like Italy and Spain, aiming to become Europe’s No. 1 online food retailer.
Tomáš received his degree in Information Technology from Brno University of Technology and earned his first business experience in England. He is also connected with projects like Keboola and Enerm.
His unique business approach is of great inspiration to many companies across Europe.

Areas of Expertise
● Technology ● Investment

About Ondřej

An entrepreneur and venture capitalist, Ondrej Bartos experienced his first successful business endeavor before he graduated from college in 1996. Several business enterprises later, he is now the General Partner at Credo Ventures, a venture capital firm which he co-founded in January 2009.
Credo Ventures, headquartered in Prague, is a venture capital firm specializing in early-stage investments within Central and Eastern Europe. Established in 2009, this VC has provided funding to 45 startups, with its most notable success being UiPath, a unicorn hailing from Romania.

Previously, Ondrej Bartos initiated and managed the Czech branch of the networking platform known as First Tuesday, which later transformed into TUESDAY Business, an exclusive networking and knowledge-sharing platform. This network played a pivotal role in the nascent startup scene in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
From 2004 to 2008, he held the position of Senior Investment Director at MCI Management, a venture capital and private equity firm based in Poland. In 2009, Ondrej participated as an investor in the Czech adaptation of the television series Dragons’ Den.
Presently, Ondrej directs his focus towards investments in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bulgaria, and Romania, driven by his passion for visionary founders, innovative concepts, and determined teams striving to disrupt industries or introduce groundbreaking products.
In his role as a venture capitalist, he constantly seeks opportunities to invest in companies demonstrating substantial growth potential, a global outlook, and the ability to effectively execute and deliver on their objectives.

Areas of Expertise
● AI ● Machine learning ● Computer vision

About Matyáš

Matyáš Boháček is an 18-year-old student from the Czech Republic, passionate about AI and research in machine learning and natural language processing, as well as app development and media. He´s been selected for magazine EURO's 20x20 selection, won Apple WWDC19 scholarship, ranked the 6th in the Středoškolák roku (the high schooler of the year), and ranked in the top positions in several other competitions with his apps.

He is a brilliant young mind who is credited under several interesting inventions, and thanks to his extraordinary talents he´s been selected to enter studies at the prestigious Stanford University.
Matyáš recently developed a unique application for recognizing Czech sign language and translate it from a video, through the collaboration with experts from the University of West Bohemia in Plzeň. He originally approached the local department of cybernetics at the Faculty of Applied Sciences (FAV) three years ago with the aim of learning more about machine learning ending up by inventing this gameganging app.
He also developed sophisticated disinformation detection models, aiming to protect world leaders against deep fakes using facial, gestural, and vocal mannerisms.

Areas of Expertise
● AI ● Robotics

About Josef

Dr. Josef Sivic heads a research group focused on intelligent machine perception at the Czech Institute of Informatics, Robotics, and Cybernetics at the Czech Technical University (CTU) in Prague. He is also the director of the ELLIS Unit Prague. Since 2022, he has been serving as the chairman of the AICzechia initiative, which brings together over forty leading academic teams and research institutions in the field of artificial intelligence in the Czech Republic, through key experts.

His research group has played a significant role in establishing CTU as one of the top five European institutions in the field of computer vision (according to the CSRankings ranking for the period 2018-2023). Dr. Šivic himself is considered one of the top computer scientists in the Czech Republic.
He is currently involved with his project named FRONTIER, which will develop a new generation of large neural models for machines that operate in a dynamic 3D world and interact with their surrounding environment. The award of this highly competitive grant, totaling up to 2.5 million euros for a duration of five years, was announced just recently by the European Research Council (ERC). A practical example of this newly developed neural model can be a robot as a home assistant, a robot in a factory, a self-driving car, or even a surgical robot. “All of these systems have some physical body; therefore, they need to perceive the surrounding world, think about it, and interact with it. However, current large neural models are not capable of doing this, or they have very limited abilities in this regard."
A breakthrough progress in these issues should have a significant impact on our everyday lives and the economy. The outcomes of this research, for example, could lead to safer cars that share their experiences with each other, intelligent manufacturing lines that collectively adapt to new workflows, or a new generation of smart assistant robots that automatically learn new skills from the internet and from each other.

Areas of Expertise
● Industry

About Jozef

Ing. Jozef Síkela graduated from the University of Economics in Prague. He worked in various positions, first at Bank Austria Creditanstalt and later in the management of Česká spořitelna. After that he became Chairman of the Board and CEO of Erste Bank in Ukraine. Due to the successful consolidation of Erste Ukraine, he was appointed Chairman of the Board and CEO of Slovak Savings Bank. The bank has repeatedly won the Bank of the Year title and Jozef Síkela was awarded as the Banker of the Year. Later, Jozef Síkela was appointed a member of the Board of Directors of Erste Group Bank AG. On 17 December 2021, Jozef Síkela was appointed Minister of Industry and Trade.

Minister of Industry and Trade

Jozef Síkela was born on 17 June 1967 in Rokycany. He started Primary school in Zbiroh, but in 1974 the whole family moved to Brno, where he completed his primary education with expanded teaching of foreign languages. In 1986 he graduated at a secondary economic school and was accepted for study at the Prague University of Economics and Business. He graduated as an economic engineer in 1991. In the same year he was selected in an audition to join the prestigious banking study programme of the Austrian Creditanstalt AG in Vienna, where he worked until 1995.
Then he returned to Prague, where he worked in various positions in the field of credit risk management and corporate banking, initially at Bank Austria Creditanstalt, later in the leadership of insurance company Česká spořitelna, a.s., (Erste Group) until 2006.
In 2006 he became the first vice-chairman of the Board and deputy general manager, later chairman of the board and general manager of Erste Bank in Ukraine. Thanks to the successful consolidation of Erste Ukraine, he was named chairman of the board and general director of the Slovak insurance company Slovenská spořitelna in 2010. At its head he succeeded in achieving historic results, with the bank repeatedly gaining the title of Bank of the Year, and in 2013 Jozef Síkela was awarded the title Banker of the Year and nominated as Manager of the Year. Under his leadership the bank was also awarded the title of Most Valuable Brand in Slovakia.
In 2015, Jozef Síkela was named a member of the board of Erste Group Bank AG, parent company of the Erste group. In this position he was responsible for corporate and investment banking, mergers and acquisitions, real estate financing including communal living, business finance, financial markets and macroeconomic analysis. His responsibilities included the above-mentioned activities of the Erste group on all "domestic markets" of Erste in the Czech Republic, Croatia, Hungary, Austria, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Serbia, as well as in the so-called extended markets in Germany, Poland and Switzerland. His direct responsibilities included the Erste Group branches in London, New York and Hong Kong. During 2017–2019 Jozef Síkela devoted himself intensely to the programme of banking development for small and medium-sized companies throughout the Erste group.
In connection with the departure of long-time chairman of the board and general manager Andreas Treichl, Jozef Síkela decided to abandon his banking career and after a year-long "family holiday", in 2021 he began devoting himself to advisory and investment activities.

Areas of Expertise
● AI

About Matěj

Matěj received his MSc degree in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence from Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic, in 2006. Between 2006 and 2013 he completed his PhD degree and then served as Senior Research Associate at the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, University of Zurich, Switzerland (Prof. Rolf Pfeifer). In 2013 Hoffmann joined the iCub Facility of the Italian Institute of Technology (Prof. Giorgio Metta), supported by a Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowship (iCub Body Schema, 2014-2016). In 2017, Matěj joined the Department of Cybernetics, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Czech Technical University in Prague where he currently seres as Associate Professor and leading a group focused on cognitive, neuro, collaborative, and humanoid robotics.

In his research, he employs the so-called synthetic methodology, or "understanding by building", with two main goals: Understanding cognition and its development. In particular, his interest focuses on the "body in the brain": how do babies learn to represent their bodies and the space around it (peripersonal space) and what are the mechanisms in the brain. We build embodied computational models on humanoid robots to uncover how these representations operate. Robots’ safe interaction and natural interaction around humans. “Taking inspiration from humans, we make robots exploit multimodal information (mostly vision and touch) to share space with humans. We're interested both in physical and social human-robot interaction.”

Areas of Expertise
● Business

About Kris

Kris is a researcher, author and globally sought after keynote speaker on Responsible business and business ethics. Moreover, he’s expert in Innovation in established organizations, Corporate culture and he studies the impact of technological change.

He is Head of Research & Publishing at Rehumanize Institute. Besides being the editor of Ethics@Work and author of Transforming Legacy Organizations, Kris also co-authored The Fundamental 4s - Designing Extraordinary Customer Experiences in an Exponential World and hosts The Corporate Innovation Podcast – Presented by Singularity University as well as The Responsible Business Podcast.
Kris has been lead researcher on the international Responsible Business Study conducted by Accenture and Rehumanize Institute, which identifies 4 pillars that set Responsible Business Leaders apart from the rest and enable organizations to design systematically for responsible business.
He has co-founded SingularityU Nordic, the experience design firm DARE2, accelerator program Thinkubator and co-working space DARE2mansion and is a GeoTech Center Action Council Member at the Atlantic Council (a nonpartisan organization that works towards shaping a stronger future together) as well as global SingularityU expert and speaker.

Areas of Expertise
● AI

About Michal

Michal Pěchouček currently holds the position of Director at the AI Center (AIC) within the Faculty of Electrical Engineering at the Czech Technical University in Prague. He boasts an impressive portfolio of over 400 impactful publications and has made significant contributions to AI research within the field of computer science. Over the past two decades, Michal has been dedicated to his work at the CTU in Prague, during which time he led the Department of Computer Science, co-founded the research-oriented program Open Informatics, established the AIC, and initiated prg.ai, a project aimed at elevating Prague into a prominent European AI hub.

Michal has also taken on visiting professorships at esteemed institutions including the University of Southern California, the University of Edinburgh, the State University of New York in Binghamton, and the University of Calgary. He has spearheaded research endeavors funded by notable agencies such as NASA, the FAA, and the U.S. Department of Defense.
In addition to his academic endeavors, Michal has played a pivotal role in the establishment of various technology start-ups. Notably, he co-founded Cognitive Security, a cybersecurity company that was acquired by CISCO in 2013. He also contributed to AgentFly Technologies, which specializes in autonomous air traffic control, and BlindSpot Solutions, a company focused on developing artificial intelligence applications for industry. BlindSpot Solutions was acquired by the Adastra Group in 2017.
In 2019, Michal assumed the role of Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at Avast, while maintaining his commitment to leading the AIC, delivering lectures, and supervising students at the university. Beyond his professional achievements, Michal is a married individual with three daughters. In his leisure time, he enjoys indulging in his passion for mountain hiking and participating in marathons.