Featured speakers

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  Naftali Bennett

  Former prime minister of Israel and board member, Quantum Source

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  Naftali Bennett

  Former prime minister of Israel and board member, Quantum Source

  Naftali Bennett became Israel’s 13th Prime Minister in 2021, leading the most diverse government in the nation’s history. Prior to that, he served as Minister of Economy, Minister of Education and Minister of Defense, and is known for his innovations and bold reforms. Before moving into politics, Bennett enjoyed a successful career as a tech entrepreneur. In 1999, he co-founded information security company Cyota and served as CEO until the company was sold to RSA. In 2009, Bennett served as CEO of cloud computing start-up Soluto, which was later sold to Asurion.

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  Hermann Hauser

  Co-founder and venture partner, Amadeus Capital Partners

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  Hermann Hauser

  Co-founder and venture partner, Amadeus Capital Partners

  Hermann co-founded Amadeus Capital Partners in 1997 with Anne Glover. In his long and successful history as an entrepreneur and venture capitalist, Hermann has founded or co-founded companies in a wide range of technology sectors. These include Acorn Computers (where he helped spin out ARM), Active Book Company, Virata, Net Products, NetChannel and Cambridge Network. He was a founder director of IQ (Bio), IXI Limited, Vocalis, SynGenix, Advanced Displays Limited, acquired by Cambridge Display Technology, Electronic Share Information Limited, E*Trade UK and has supported many other start-ups.

   

  Hermann’s successes at Amadeus include CSR plc (LON: CSR); Entropic Research Laboratory, acquired by Microsoft in 1999; Solexa, acquired by Illumina in 2007 and Icera, acquired by Nvidia in 2011. He is currently a non-executive director of XMOS and is the Amadeus representative at Graphcore, the creators of the Intelligence Processing Unit (IPU), a processor specifically designed for artificial intelligence.

  Hermann holds an MA in physics from Vienna University and a doctorate in Physics from the University of Cambridge. He is a fellow of the Institute of Physics and of the Royal Academy of Engineering, and an honorary fellow of King’s College, Cambridge. Hermann holds honorary doctorates from the Universities of Bath, Loughborough, Anglia Ruskin. Strathclyde, Glasgow and York and was awarded an honorary CBE for ‘innovative service to the UK enterprise sector’ in 2001.

  In 2004, he was made a member of the Government’s Council for Science & Technology. In 2012 he became a fellow of the Royal Society in recognition of his contribution to the translation of science into business and in 2013 a distinguished fellow of BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT. In 2015 he was made an honorary Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (KBE) for services to engineering and industry and was made a fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry

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  Dr Lara Jehi

  Chief research information officer, The Cleveland Clinic

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  Dr Lara Jehi

  Chief research information officer, The Cleveland Clinic

  Dr. Jehi is professor of neurology at Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine, and an epilepsy specialist at Cleveland Clinic since 2006. She is Director of the Outcomes Research program for epilepsy, the Chief Research Information Officer for the Cleveland Clinic Health System, and the Executive Program lead for the Discovery Accelerator focused on artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and data science education.

   

  She is currently spearheading multi-institutional National Institutes of Health-funded grants focused on data science. She has led teams that developed the first nomograms for individualized outcome prediction after epilepsy surgery, and advanced mechanistic understanding of outcomes. Her work was featured by Lancet Neurology in the Top 5 Innovations of 2015, and in the ‘Notables in Healthcare” Award by Crain’s Business in 2021. Her data-driven algorithms for clinical care decision-making are being used, studied and expanded worldwide. Dr. Jehi holds several research leadership roles at Cleveland Clinic. As co-director of Network Capacity for the Clinical and Translational Science Collaborative of Cleveland, her team facilitates multi-center clinical trials through streamlined recruitment efforts, using the electronic health record. She is the principal investigator of Cleveland Clinic’s Biorepository, a role leveraging information technology, enterprise analytics and regulatory support to efficiently scale up and incorporate biobanking efforts within clinical workflow. She is a vice-chair of Cleveland Clinic’s Institutional Review Board.

   

  She chairs several key commissions in the International League Against Epilepsy and the American Epilepsy Society. She has more than 170 peer-reviewed publications, 12 book chapters and is a regular reviewer for NIH study sections, and an invited speaker to international meetings on the topics of epilepsy surgery, outcome prediction, and data science.

   

  Dr. Jehi received her medical degree from American University of Beirut. She completed her residency in neurology and fellowship in clinical neurophysiology at Cleveland Clinic, and holds a Master’s degree in Health Care Delivery Science from Dartmouth College.

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  Clemens Utschig

  Chief technology officer, Boehringer Ingelheim

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  Clemens Utschig

  Chief technology officer, Boehringer Ingelheim

  Clemens is the CTO and Chief Architect of Boehringer Ingelheim, a global, family owned, researching Pharmaceutical.

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  Dr Margot Taylor

  Director of functional neuroimaging, The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids)

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  Dr Margot Taylor

  Director of functional neuroimaging, The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids)

  Dr. Margot J. Taylor received her doctorate from McGill and in 1981 was recruited to The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in Neurology as Director of Evoked Potential Labs. In this position, she established a wide range of clinical and research applications of evoked and event-related potentials in paediatrics. She moved to Toulouse, France in 1998 as Directeur de Recherche, CNRS. Dr. Taylor was recruited back to SickKids in 2004 as Director of Functional Neuroimaging in Diagnostic Imaging. Her research centres on the use of MEG, fMRI and MRI to understand the neural bases of cognitive development and includes typical developmental research and clinical populations, such very preterm-born children and young children through to adults with autism.

   

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  Lene Oddershede

  Senior vice-president, Nat-Tech, Novo Nordisk Foundation

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  Lene Oddershede

  Senior vice-president, Nat-Tech, Novo Nordisk Foundation

  Lene joined the Novo Nordisk Foundation in 2019 to lead activities in the Nat-Tech area covering the natural- and technical sciences, , this including activities relating to quantum technologies. She has a background as a Professor of physics, Niels Bohr Institute (NBI) at Copenhagen University (~20 years).

   

  Lene is a physicist, trained also in mathematics. She is an experimentalist and at the Niels Bohr Institute she constructed the first optical tweezers manipulation facility in Scandinavia – the importance of this technology being recognized by the Nobel Prize in 2018. In particular, she is an expert in the interphase between quantum and the life sciences and is key designer of the Novo Nordisk Foundation Quantum Computing Programme and of the Quantum Foundry. She has been the leader of several interdisciplinary large-scale research projects, including being center leader of a Grundforskningsfond Center of Excellence. She has received several research prizes, e.g., the Danish Optical Society prize for young investigators, the Silver Medal of the Danish Royal Academy of Sciences and Letters, and the Elite Research Prize from the Danish Research Councils, the largest Danish public research prize. Lene Oddershede is a member of the Danish Academy of Technical Sciences, of the Danish Royal Academy of Sciences and Letters, and of the Global Future Council at the World Economic Forum (WEF).

   

  Lene holds a doctorate in physics from SDU, Odense, Denmark 1998.

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  Alberto Prado

  Vice-president R&D, global head of digital & partnerships, Unilever

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  Alberto Prado

  Vice-president R&D, global head of digital & partnerships, Unilever

  Alberto is the Global Head of R&D Digital & Partnerships at Unilever. He leads the Digital Transformation of R&D to maximize the value of data and AI for scientific discovery, process engineering, and new business models. He also leads external ecosystem engagements to accelerate innovation through collaboration.  

    

   

  Prior to Unilever, Alberto set up and led the Digital Innovation Accelerator at Royal Philips to boost innovation and a culture of entrepreneurship. During that period, he chaired the AI Council, providing oversight

   and steer on company-wide AI-related investments in innovation. Previously, he led the innovation transformation program that delivered the first wave of Philips connected consumer products (IoT) and new business models.   

   

  Alberto started his professional career in management consulting, followed by executive roles at NEC, Symbian Software, and Nokia. He graduated in Engineering and Economics at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (Germany)

   and holds an MBA from INSEAD (France). 

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  Aparna Prabhakar

  Senior vice-president, strategy and sustainability, secure power and data centres, Schneider Electric

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  Aparna Prabhakar

  Senior vice-president, strategy and sustainability, secure power and data centres, Schneider Electric

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  Aparna Prabhakar is a seasoned senior business executive and change catalyst, specializing in crafting and implementing strategies for sustained growth.

   

  In her current role as Senior Vice President at Schneider Electric, Aparna leads Strategy & Sustainability for Secure Power and Data Center, shaping the organization’s trajectory and defining its sustainability agenda for the long term.
  Previously, Aparna drove the global IBM Quantum Computing ecosystem, pioneering market expansion, adoption, and business advancement in the dynamic world of cutting-edge technology. She orchestrated the development of the world’s largest quantum computing network, boasting over 200 partners. Drawing on her background in corporate strategy at IBM, she provided strategic counsel to C-suite leaders on AI, Quantum computing, High-performance computing systems, and Cloud Computing.

   

  Aparna’s contributions to the electronics and infrastructure industry have earned her accolades, including her induction into the prestigious IBM Industry Academy in 2021, honoring her as one of the top 300 industry luminaries worldwide. She holds numerous patents and publications, has been lauded as one of IBM’s three most dynamic technical women, and has been honored with the Rising Technical Star Award by the Women of Color organization.

   

  Aparna holds an MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management and an MS from Louisiana State University. Committed to giving back, she dedicates her time as an advisory board member for the Guidance Center of Westchester, advocating for STEM opportunities for disadvantaged youth. Based in New York, she enjoys family time with her husband and two boys.

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  Christine Bakan

  Global head and group vice-president, computational science and informatics R&D, Roche

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  Christine Bakan

  Global head and group vice-president, computational science and informatics R&D, Roche

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  Jordi Mur-Petit PhD

  Global tech lead, emerging technologies, Nestlé

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  Jordi Mur-Petit PhD

  Global tech lead, emerging technologies, Nestlé

  Jordi Mur-Petit holds a PhD in Quantum Many-Body Physics (UB). He spent 20 years in research at CNRS, Spain’s national labs (CSIC), UCL, and the University of Oxford, followed by a stint as Data and Technology Insights Adviser on Her Majesty’s (Civil) Service. Since 2022 he leads the exploration and validation of emerging technologies, covering quantum computing and next AI, at Nestleì IT Innovation.

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  Zoe Reich

  General partner, Octopus Energy Climate Ventures

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  Zoe Reich

  General partner, Octopus Energy Climate Ventures

  Zoe is an entrepreneur and deep tech fund manager focusing on step change technologies for a sustainable planet. She heads the venture capital strategy at Octopus Energy Generation, who is one of Europe’s largest investors in green energy. Previously, Zoe has managed and launched venture funds for the University of Oxford, Imperial College, Development Bank of Wales and Octopus Ventures. A volcanologist and atmospheric modeller by background, Zoe focuses on financing and growing companies that will have a meaningful impact on achieving net zero by 2050.

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  Tom Standage

  Deputy editor, The Economist

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  Tom Standage

  Deputy editor, The Economist

  Tom Standage is deputy editor of The Economist and editor of The World Ahead, its future-gazing franchise. He also oversees the newspaper’s digital strategy and the development of new products. He joined The Economist as science correspondent in 1998 and was subsequently appointed technology editor, business editor and digital editor. He is the author of seven history books, including “Writing on the Wall” (2013), “The Victorian Internet” (1998) and the New York Times bestsellers “A History of the World in 6 Glasses” (2005) and “An Edible History of Humanity” (2009). His latest book, “A Brief History of Motion”, was published in 2021. Tom studied engineering and computer science at Oxford University and has written for other publications including the New York Times, the Guardian and Wired, taking a particular interest in technology’s social and historical impact.