Dan is President, CEO, Principal Designer and cofounder of Whipsaw Inc., a highly acclaimed design firm in Silicon Valley, California. Whipsaw designs products and experiences for companies around the world, from Fortune 100’s to startups.

Dan is a hands-on designer and directs the strategic and conceptual direction of most client accounts. Throughout his prolific career Dan has designed hundreds of highly successful products ranging from baby bottles to supercomputers. Fast Company magazine selected Dan as one of “The 100 Most Creative People in Business 2014”, calling him “design’s secret weapon”. Fast Company also ranked Whipsaw among the ‘Top 5 design firms in the world’ in 2009 and they featured Dan as a ‘Master of Design’ in 2005.

Dan frequently lectures on design topics at universities and conferences, including being keynote at the Australia Design Forum; keynote at the Wuxi Design Conference ; keynote and Chairman of the IDSA National Conference Collideoscope (’02), and he was a United Nations Design Delegate to China in ’98. Prior to cofounding Whipsaw in 1999, Dan was the President of Frogdesign where he designed many notable products and led the company for ten years. Before joining Frogdesign in 1989 he was a lead designer at Henry Dreyfuss Associates. In the early eighties Dan interned with design master George Nelson. He also interned at Hewlett Packard and Richardson Smith (later became Fitch). Dan graduated from the University of Cincinnati, College of Design, Architecture and Art in 1982.

Bill Evans founded and leads Bridge Design which has focused for more than two decades on designing medical and life sciences products from handheld to the purely virtual. His broad and deep industry perspective has resulted in powerful cross-pollination of ideas that often anticipate consumer and medical trends. He is a sought-after speaker on design and innovation at conferences and has written extensively for industry media. He has also been a guest lecturer and student mentor at UC Berkeley's and Stanford University's industrial and product design programs. Bill has served on a number of boards, including the Venture Advisory Board for Kimberly-Clark, and the Editorial Advisory Board of industry leading publication Medical Device & Diagnostic Industry (MD&DI). He has also been named among the '100 Notable People' in the medical device industry by that same organization. Bill owns multiple patents and holds two masters level degrees, awarded jointly: an MDes in Industrial Design Engineering from the UK's Royal College of Art, and a DIC in Engineering from its sister, Imperial College.

Mike Gallagher is VP of Design for Crown Equipment Corporation; a manufacturer of lift trucks and related products and services. Mike oversees the global multi-disciplined Design operations and leverages his competent staff to provide strategic innovation influence to an expanding and evolving company. Before his 20 years at Crown he held various corporate design and management positions. Mike graduated from the University of Cincinnati in Design and has juried several international design competitions. Crown Design has won over 50 major international design awards and was recognized by Fast Company Magazine as Thirty Companies that Get Design.

Sam Lucente works as the CDO and Co-Founder of Cookbrite, a food business in the technology industry. As a designer, he focuses on bringing world class design approaches to bear on complex problems for society, organizations and the design profession at large. Sam is also Principal of Lucente Design. He previously worked as VP of Design for HP Worldwide, Netscape's UX Director and head of IBM's Strategic Design where he led many ThinkPad design efforts.Selected as one of Fast Company's Masters of Design and BusinessWeek's Champions of Innovation, Sam has judged design competitions worldwide. His work has been recognized with major design awards and is in permanent collection at the SFMOMA, the NY MoMA, the Smithsonian National Design Museum and other collections. Sam studied computer science extensively. Prior to that, he graduated magna cum laude from the College of Design, Architecture and Art at the University of Cincinnati.

Hoang & Anh Nguyen are the founders of Creative Session, a collaborative space for presenting trends, insights and impulsive ideas among the brothers in ways of industrial design. Industrial designers by trade but obsessed with story telling, graphics and branding.Beyond Creative Session they are leads at respectable agencies in San Francisco; Astro Studios and Matter Global. With 15 years of combined experience in consumer electronics they bring keen eye for sex appeal and functionality. They've worked on projects from small start-ups to fortune 500s.

I believe design is an extension of our senses; things we touch, taste, hear, smell and see provokes a reaction. Design is result.

Adam is a Principal Designer at MatterÖ, where he leads creative teams from concept creation to product delivery. His expertise and passion is in the integration of hardware and digital design.Before joining MatterÖ in 2013, Adam was a Principal Designer at frog and an Industrial Designer at fuseproject.

David Whetstone is an industrial designer in San Francisco, CA, but his creativity comes from the basketball courts of Northeast Ohio where he discovered athletic sneakers and self expression on the court. He remembers observing the best players and taking particular interest in how they presented themselves through clothing, posture and speech. He trained himself to observe the details, understand what people really want and why those things fit with their particularly crafted lifestyle.This ability to connect with culture has stayed with him, and he has carefully crafted his industrial design career to design products that people wear and use as expression of self. His unique position as an industrial designer with passion to create fashion relevant pieces has allowed him to work with leading lifestyle brands like Nixon, Electric Visual, Nike, Incase, and The Art of Shaving. His work has been available to buy at big department stores like Nordstrom and Barneys New York to premier boutiques like Opening Ceremony and Colette.David Whetstone is currently a Design Director at Astro Studios in San Francisco, CA.

In his previous role at Nike, Jason oversaw the design and execution of all conceptual products, data driven innovations and inline lifestyle and performance product for Jordan Brand, as the Senior Global Design Director. During his 13+ year career at Nike, Mayden led and contributed to the creation of innovative sport performances products for athletes and cultural icons such as Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul, Russell Westbrook, Derek Jeter and Michael Jordan.In 2011, Mayden successfully received his Masters in General Management and Social Innovation from Stanford University's Graduate School of Business and shortly there after he returned to Nike as the Global Director of Innovation for Nike Digital Sport where he was responsible for the strategic investigation of new technologies and services, such as the Nike Fuel Band. In addition to his responsibilities as VP of Design at Mark One, Jason is also a d.Fellow at the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford University, a frequent lecturer at Stanford University's prestigious Graduate School of Business, a regular columnist/blogger for Hypebeast Magazine and hypebeast.com and an advisory board member to his undergraduate alma mater, the College for Creative Studies.

Max Burton, the founder of Matter, is a product and interaction designer with over 2 decades of experiences. From housewares to digitally enabled products, he is inspired by participating in the creation of the future that melds technology with art and humanity.Prior to forming MatterÖ, Max worked as the Global Executive Creative Director for Product Design at frog, the Creative Director of Nike's Tech Lab and the VP of Design at Smart in New York. His work has been exhibited at the MoMa in New York, the Design museum in London and the Chicago Athenaeum.

Shujan (Shu) Bertrand is a spirited, forward-thinking industrial designer and business consultant driven by sustainability. She uses geometry, nature, sensory intelligence, and human-centered design concepts to create sustainable products and sustainable business approaches that embrace the simplicity of nature and inspire positive change.

Her passion for zero-waste, food, and community led her to found Aplat, a culinary design company that uses 100% organic cotton and zero-waste production practices in San Francisco, CA. Inspired by the French Art de Vivre, Aplat creates sustainably made culinary and garden totes that uplift the daily practice of sharing the good things we cook, eat, drink, and gift.

Shu is an award-winning industrial designer with 20+ years of experience. With a stellar background in soft good design, advanced concept design, product development, design research and strategy, she has influenced brands around the globe, translating her product design experience, product development, strategy, research, and insights into new product and business opportunities.

Shu Bertrand has worked internationally in Paris, Milan, and Seoul. She has led design teams and projects for studios such as Astro Studios to IDEO, and for brands such as Incase, Steelcase, Nike, Samsung, LG Electronics and Procter & Gamble. She has served on the design jury team for the 2019 IDEA Awards and the Cannes Lion Innovation Awards in France.

Today, Shu brings the foundational concepts of her circular design and manufacturing business to work for the marketplace. By paying homage to the bigger meaning of human experience and folding together the powers of collaboration and intuition, Shu helps environmentally-minded entrepreneurs and businesses create sustainable products and practices that nourish, spark, shape the future.

Mike Weikert is founding director of the Center for Social Design and Master of Arts in Social Design at Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA). In 2008, he established MICA's Center for Design Practice, a multi-disciplinary, project-based studio bringing together students and outside partners to collaborate on innovative solutions to social problems. Previously, he served as co-chair of the graphic design department at MICA, partner/creative director at Atlanta-based Iconologic, and as a design consultant to the International Olympic Committee. In 2011, he was nominated for the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award and in 2014, received the Ashoka U-Cordes Innovation Award.

Jess Gartner is the CEO & founder of Allovue, an education resource planning platform for K-12 schools and districts. Allovue helps education administrators connect spending to student outcomes. In the past, Jess has taught in numerous schools throughout the world including South Africa and Thailand. She received her M.A in teaching from John Hopkins University. She was featured as one of The Baltimore Sun's 2013 Women to Watch as a leader in education and Baltimore Magazine's 40 Under 40. In July 2012, she was a featured panelist alongside prominent education leaders at the Education Technology Innovation Summit in New York City. Her writing and photography has been published in Weekly, Changing, Skillcrush and Women 2.0.

Sarah Hemminger co-founded Thread with her husband Ryan Hemminger in 2004. She has eleven years of experience in nonprofit management and expertise in the development, expansion, and replication of innovative, paradigm shifting models of mentoring. Sarah has a deep understanding of the challenges that face students in successfully completing high school and accessing higher education, as well as the potential for students and volunteers to change not only their own lives but also create a positive and lasting impact on those around them. Sarah was awarded fellowships from Ashoka, Echoing Green Foundation, Open Society Institute, and the Albert Schweitzer Fellows Program, which support social entrepreneurs with innovative ideas. In 2010, Sarah received her Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from the Johns Hopkins University for her work on the role of the cerebellum and the primary motor cortex on the time scales of consolidation of motor memory.

For thirty years, John Thackara has traveled the world in his search of stories about the practical steps taken by communities to realize a sustainable future. He writes about these stories online and in books; he uses them in talks for cities and business; he also organizes festivals and events that bring the subjects of these stories together.John is the author of a widely-read blog atdesignobserver.comand of the best-sellingIn the Bubble: Designing In A Complex World (MIT Press) û also translated into nine languages. As director ofdoorsofperception.com, John organizes conferences and festivals in which social innovators share knowledge.John is a Senior Fellow of the Royal College of Art, in London, and a Fellow of The Young Foundation, the UK's social enterprise incubator. He sits on the advisory boards of the Pixelache Festival in Helsinki, the Future Perfect festival in Sweden, and Design Impact in India. He is also a member of the UK Parliament's Standing Commission on Design.Earlier, John edited the magazine Design for five years, and was later Modern Culture Editor of Harpers & Queen, and design correspondent of The Guardian. He then started a conference and exhibition company ,with offices in London and Tokyo, which created and organised events at the Pompidou Centre, Victoria & Albert Museum, Axis Gallery in Tokyo, and other venues. From 1989-1992, John was Director of Research at the Royal College of Art.Among John's 12 books are Design After Modernism: Beyond the Object (1987) andLost in Space: A Traveller's tale (1995). He has lectured in more than forty countries.

Babitha George is a Partner at Quicksand and leads multiple innovation projects within Quicksand. Her prior work in education in India prompted her to actively think about the role of design thinking in social impact contexts, leading her to steer several of Quicksand's social innovation projects, especially in the use of technology in education and vocational training contexts, to improve learning outcomes and create more engaging & transformational learning environments. She is a management graduate from IIM Ahmedabad, prior to which she studied English, Journalism & Psychology and with this background, Babitha believes strongly in the strength of multi-disciplinary approaches. Her core skills are in design strategy and research as it pertains to conceptualizing products and services that promote sustainability and quality of life, especially for low income communities.Babitha is one of the co-founders of the UnBox Festival. She is also on the Advisory Board of the Victor Papanek Foundation and was recently featured in the British Council's 'Blurring the Lines' exhibition in London, as one of sixteen people from around the world who are reinventing creative exploration and participation in their respective communities.

Dr Mathilda Tham's work sits in a positive, activist space between design, futures studies and sustainability. Her research explores how design can intervene at the level of paradigms to support futures of sustainability. She uses design research as activism by staging and facilitating participatory and interdisciplinary workshops for critical and creative envisioning. Mathilda's current research themes include metadesign, post-growth fashion, peace, and gender.As Professor in Design, Linnaeus University, Sweden, she leads the development of a new research platform Curious Design Change. She is a member of the board of Mistra (The Foundation for Strategic Environmental Research, Sweden). Mathilda Tham is a metadesign researcher, co-convenor of MA Design Futures and Metadesign, and PhD supervisor at Goldsmiths, University of London. Mathilda's latest publication Routledge Handbook for Sustainability and Fashion, co-edited with Kate Fletcher, is now out.

Gill has pioneered the use of design in strategy and innovation for 20 years. She was educated as a designer at Manchester Metropolitan University; has an MA in Design Innovation and Strategy from Brunel University; and recently held Carnegie Mellon School of Design's Nierenberg Chair for 2 years.Her early career was as a researcher and developer of public services in play, youth and social action contexts. This used a people-centered practice of connecting local needs, networks and agencies called the community development approach.She created the design strategy agency Plot in 2004 after four years as a Design Manager at the UK Design Council. Plot has provided innovation labs, workshops and consultancy for a wide variety of public, private and third sector clients at different stages of their lifecycle.Right now, Gill's attention is focused on Upstarter the nomadic design-led incubator she has founded. It's mission is to stimulate embryonic enterprises using strategic design thinking, innovation and design methods. The Upstarter programme is active with partners in London, Bristol and Barcelona, and helps bring a mix of social, commercial and creative industry startups to life.

Paul Cocksedge studied under Ron Arad during his MA in Product Design at the Royal College of Art, and was introduced to Issey Miyake and Ingo Maurer, both of whom staged early exhibitions of his work. Maurer went so far as to give Paul a show within his own show at Milan Design Week 2003, introducing his lights 'Styrene', 'NeON' and an early work that was to be developed into 'Life 01' with FLOS. Paul has since gone on to become one of Britain's leading designers, founding Paul Cocksedge Studio with business partner Joana Pinho in 2004. The Studio's catalogue includes an imaginative range of design products, architectural projects, sculptures and lighting, all infused with the sense of simplicity, joy and wonder that has come to characterise Paul Cocksedge's work.

Claire is interested in the social value of design, and runs the new campaign Designfor99.org. She brings her experience of working with internationally acclaimed designers, architects and cultural organizations, advising communications strategy, running high level media campaigns and lobbying for government policy to support the design, technology and manufacturing industries.Clients and projects include - Design Museum London, Ron Arad Architects, Venice Biennale commissions by John Pawson and Zaha Hadid for Swarovski, Formafantasma for Established & Sons, Serpentine Pavilion designed by Peter Zumthor, London 2012 Cultural Olympiad, Bloomberg's contemporary art commission and the young creatives programme at the Roundhouse, Rolex Awards for Enterprise, Design Ventura sponsored by Deutsche Bank, and PR at Dyson including the James Dyson Awards. The brilliance of the inventors, artists, scientists and makers she met along the way inspired the creation of a campaigns agency that champions ingenious solutions to social, environmental and civic challenges.

David Harvey is a wine importer with Raeburn Fine Wines, and a writer. He works with elite nature-centric wine producers of West Europe, and gets involved with closures, packaging, marketing, buying and sales. He contributes to The World of Fine Wine, the award winning publication, and has recently written an entry for The Oxford Companion to Wine (2015 edition).
He judged at the IWC (International Wine Challenge), the world'd largest wine competition, from 2002-2004 as panel head and super-juror.
In 2004, while working for Frank Cornelissen on Mt. Etna, he created the name 'orange wine' for the renaissance of white grapes processed like red grapes in the cellar, which has since stuck and become the international standard.
His favourite objects include his black Parker 51s, prototypes of Paul Cocksedge's Bookmark and Ideas Tray, a Cannondale Killer V and Klein Attitude, a Herve Pennequin corkscrew by Le Thiers, a Santoku knife by Sakai Takayuki. Etc.
David studied writing at Harvard Summer School, wine at the WSET, and photography at Filton College.

Luke Pearson is an industrial designer and founding partner (with Tom Lloyd) of the London design studio PearsonLloyd. The studio works in environments that have demanding spatial, ergonomic and social needs, such as healthcare, aviation, workplace and cities. Recent projects include work for Joseph Joseph, Department of Health, Lufthansa, City of Bath, Intercontinental Hotels, Bene, and Poltrona Frau. The studio believes in the power of design to transform the way in which people use and experience public spaces and services, and to deliver products that are both efficient and beautiful. Luke was awarded the distinction of Royal Designer for Industry by The Royal Society of Arts in 2008, and in 2012 Luke and Tom were named in the top 50 designers 'Shaping the Future' by Fast-Co Magazine in New York. Luke trained in Industrial Design at Central St Martins, (BA Hons 1991) before completing a Master's Degree MA (RCA) in Furniture Design at the Royal College of Art in 1993. He worked with Ross Lovegrove in London before joining Tom to found PearsonLloyd in 1997.

Jill works with clients to develop long-term product experiences that explore emerging technologies and manages the Interaction Design team at the Barbarian Group. Previously she was an Executive Creative Director at R/GA, and a key player behind the design of the Nike+ platform. In her role, she oversaw the evolution of the platform to include Nike+ Fuelband, Nike+ Basketball and Nike+ Training.Jill is an active member of the New York design community and enjoys teaching, public speaking, writing, and advising young designers and tech start-ups. She currently teaches in the Interaction Design MFA program at SVA, and is a contributing writer for PSFK. She frequently guest lectures at conferences and learning institutions like Fast Company, SxSW, AIGA/NY, IxDA and General Assembly.

Carla Echevarria is an award-winning creative director with a design background and a decade of experience in digital product development and advertising.She leads the creative team at MakerBot, overseeing user experience design, visual design and copywriting. Her team is responsible for how users experience MakerBot across all channels: brand identity, website and digital properties, online and print advertising, social media, events, promotions, packaging design, print collateral, MakerBot Retail Stores, and third-party retail. Before joining MakerBot, Carla led creative teams at the Facebook Creative Shop, Google Creative Lab and R/GA.She is also on the faculty of the undergraduate Graphic Design and Advertising department of the School of Visual Arts.Her work has won awards at the Cannes Lions, One Show, D&AD, Art Director's Club and the Webbys, and has been published in the AIGA Design 365, Creativity Review, Creativity Magazine and Communication Arts. She has spoken at various industry events, including SXSW Interactive, AIGA events and the FindSpark Creative Conference. She also serves on the board of directors for the New York chapter of the AIGA.

Ian Spalter is a UX lead & Manager at Youtube

Matt Jones is an interaction design director at Google Creative Lab in New York. He has been designing digital products and services since 1995.Creative director for the launch of BBC News Online, he co-founded and designed Dopplr.com in 2007, a service for frequent travelers since bought by Nokia. Between 2003 and 2005, he worked at Nokia on areas as diverse as tangible and physical interfaces and the human experience of play.Between 2009 and 2012 he was a principal at BERG, a design and invention company in London that has had projects exhibited in MoMA and products featured in Financial Times, Fast Company, Wired and Marvel Comics.He studied architecture and wrote for ten years about interaction design here:http://www.magicalnihilism.com, and now teaches a design interactions course at the Royal College of Art.

Jennifer Turliuk is CEO of MakerKids, a maker learning company that operates one of the only maker spaces for kids in the world. Her work has been featured in the New York Times, Wired, Fast Company, Forbes, a Harvard case study and more. Jennifer keynoted the first MakerCon in Europe and has also spoken at various Maker Faire, MakerCon and TEDx events. She attended the Graduate Studies Program at Singularity University at NASA and business school at Queen's University. In her spare time, Jennifer does marketing and strategy consulting. She also enjoys dancing, kiteboarding, playwriting and DJing. Follow her on Twitter: @jenniferturliuk.

Darrell Etherington is a writer at Techcrunch.

Mark is CEO and co-founder of TechShop and a recognized leader in the global maker movement. Under his leadership, TechShop revenue grew 20-fold in five years and multiple new locations have opened across the US. Mark has held executive positions at firms including Kinko's, Avery Dennison and Health Net. In 2013, his book The Maker Movement Manifesto was released by McGraw-Hill Education. He has been recognized by San Francisco Business Times as one of the Bay Area's Most Admired CEOs and by Popular Mechanics as one of 25 movers and makers who are reinventing the American Dream. Mark has spoken at events such as SXSW, Techonomy, TEDx and The Clinton Global Initiative. A former Green Beret, Mark holds an MBA from the Drucker Center at the Claremont Graduate University.

Nishma is a co-founder and Director at Ticket Design, a design and innovation consulting firm involved in product, packaging and UX design. Under her leadership Ticket Design has established itself as a respected design consulting firm, with a wide variety of award winning products launched in the Indian as well as International markets. Some of the awards that Ticket Design has won under her vision are Red Dot Product Design Award in 2013, CII award for UX design 2013 and Silver award at US Appliance Design.During her tenure at Ticket Design, she has been the force of converting ideas into reality. With a robust background in design and years of hands-on design realization she brings her extensive knowledge of product development to the projects. Her project management experience has helped her team to get to the root of a problem and look at meaningful creative solutions. Nishma has helped to create award winning solutions in the medical, packaging, consumer, appliances and telecommunication domain. She is an alumnus of NID (National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad), Asia's premier design school. Nishma, started her career as an industrial designer with Tata Johnson Controls in which she designed passenger car seating. Nishma went on to design several products for Bluestar, Whirlpool, Siemens, Honeywell as well as other companies.

Ayush Kasliwal is the Founder of Ayush Kasliwal Design Private Ltd.

Founder and Partner of Studio Korjan, Ahmedabad, Dinesh is one of the pioneers of Product Design practice in India. He complements his practice with active engagement in academics and teaches at many leading design schools including Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Gandhinagar, National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad, Srishti School of Art Design & Technology, Bangalore, IICD. Jaipur, School of Interior Design, CEPT University, Ahmedabad, Pearl Academy of Fashion, Jaipur, FLAME, Pune. He has also been conducting design workshops in India and abroad.Dinesh believes that Design is finally about re-arranging information flows. He has, for the last two decades, been persuading Indian industry to invest in design for long term returns rather than write off design spending as an expense.He is currently an advocate of Plan Dûthe effort to find design solutions for real world problems.

Mr. Tago graduated from the Class-II Design Management program of Tokyo Zokei University.He was engaged in the design development of various home electrical appliances and information technology devices at Toshiba Design Center Corporation. Following a career at Toshiba, he served as design management director at REALFLEET Co., Ltd. Subsequently, he launched MTDO in 2008 to try and open up new areas up until now. He is currently engaged in design, direction and management throughout the entire process from concept creation to production in a wide range of industries.He is also the recipient of many awards: iF Product Design Award 2013 (GOLD), reddot Design Award Best of the Best 2013 and Design for Asia Award 2013 Grand Awardùjust to name a few.

Cathy founded CBi China Bridge in 2003, the first insight-based innovation consulting firm in China. Most recently, she co-founded Successful Design, a social enterprise aiming to amplifying the value of design.

Having broad influence both socially and on the global design industry, Cathy is frequently invited to conferences in North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. She enjoys adventures; from crossing the Gobi desert in Dunhuang to bungee jumping in New Zealand. Her continued dedication to challenging the limits fuels her creativity for both business and design.

Adam Lawrence is a change facilitator, stand-up comedian and professional actor with a background in psychology and the global automotive industry. For years he has been using expertise gained in the world of theater, film, music and storytelling to help organizations influence and impress their customers and partners. He has been a pioneer in the use of full-bodied development tools in service design, and in his focus on the dramatic arcs of experiences. Adam is co-founder of WorkPlayExperience, and co-initiator of the Global Service Jam - the world's biggest ever service design event (so far). Follow him on Twitter:@adamstjohn

Luis is President and Founder of INSITUM, a leading innovation consulting firm. He co-founded INSITUM in 2002 and today has more than 110 employees and offices in Mexico, Brazil, Spain, Colombia, Argentina, Peru and the United States. INSITUM helps the biggest companies in the world create an innovation culture by envisioning new products, developing new services and designing better experiences. He has been involved in more than 1000 innovation projects for a wide variety of sectors. Before founding INSITUM he worked as a strategy consultant for DiamondCluster in Barcelona and E-Lab (now Sapient) in Chicago.Luis holds a bachelor's in Industrial Design and a Master's degree in Innovation Planning from the Institute of Design, IIT in Chicago. He is a prolific speaker a member of the committee for various conferences on innovation and research.

Martha is a Partner at gravitytank and has led the Research Discipline since the spring of 2008 when she joined the firm. She began her career at eLab in 1990s, and since then has worked across a wide variety of industries plying her skills as an applied ethnographer and business consultant. Stints include leadership roles at Sapient, Hall & Partners, and HLB. Clients are numerous and range from General Mills to General Motors; from SCJ to J&J; from Fidelity (Investments) to Security (U.S. Department of).Martha holds a BA in English from Indiana University and an MA in Performance Studies from Northwestern University. She is currently adjunct faculty at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management and the McCormick School of Engineering. Martha is former co-chair and current Advisory Committee member of the Ethnographic Praxis in Industry Conference (EPIC). She is also a contributing author in The Handbook of Anthropology and Business (Left Coast Press, May 2014).

Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg is a designer, artist and writer. Seeking new roles for design, Daisy is developing experimental design approaches to help us imagine alternative ideals around technology. Through the design of objects, workshops, and writing and curating, her practice investigates both aesthetic and ethical futures for design. Daisy's collaborators include scientists, engineers, artists, designers, social scientists, galleries and industry around the world.

She began a PhD by practice, The Dream of Better, exploring the idea of a 'better' future, at the Royal College of Art in London, in 2013. As Design Fellow on Synthetic Aesthetics (Stanford University/University of Edinburgh, 2010-2013), Daisy curated an international research project, developing novel modes of collaboration and critical discourse between synthetic biology, art and design. Daisy is lead author onSynthetic Aesthetics: Investigating Synthetic Biology's Designs on Nature (MIT Press, March 2014). She led the curatorial team for Grow Your Own - Life After Nature, a flagship exhibition about synthetic biology at Science Gallery, Dublin (October 2013 - January 2014).

Daisy studied architecture at the University of Cambridge, design at Harvard University and Design Interactions MA at the Royal College of Art. Her work has been exhibited internationally, including MoMA New York, London's Design Museum, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Israel Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo and the National Museum of China. Daisy publishes, teaches and lectures internationally: talks include TEDGlobal, PopTech and Design Indaba; she guest-edited Current Opinion in Chemical Biology (December 2012). In 2011, her collaborative work E. chromi was nominated for Designs of The Year and the Index Awards and was collected by the new Museo Delle Scienze in Trento. Daisy won the 2011 World Technology Award for Design and received the first London Design Medal for Emerging Talent in 2012. Daisy leads Studio Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg Ltd.

Cher Potter is an LCF/V&A Museum Senior Research Fellow. She is currently working as part of the curatorial team for a forthcoming exhibition at the V&A Museum titledThe Future: A History.As a Design Futurist, her practice has a number of applications in forecasting, research, curating and writing. Before starting at the V&A, she lead the Creative Direction at WGSN Forecasting Agencyùthe global leader in design research and trends. Here, her reports garnered a readership of over 2,150,000 people within the design industry, and became the source from which many product and fashion industry tendencies emanate today.As an expert of design futures, she curated the 23rd edition of the Impakt Arts Festival in 2012 which focused on post western arts and design practice. She has organized design symposiums, ran workshops and presented design trends globally, and her writing has appeared in various publications, including a regular feature on design futures in 032C Magazine.

Creative Director, body>data>space - curator, researcher, producer, presenter, UX expert - a future thinker placing the live body at the centre of digital interaction, Ghislaine is recognised internationally since the early 90’s as a thought leader and global pioneer in full body telepresence, with deep expertise in body responsive technologies, immersive experiences and interactive interfaces.

She has conceived, directed, commissioned and produced 100s of international projects converging telepresence, motion capture, wearable computing, intelligent materials, sense/gesture tech, robotics, social medias and virtual worlds, focusing on the fluid blending of the virtual and the physical. Her long term work has been to extend natural interface techniques, passionately advocating the use of the entire body as a digital interaction canvas. She has worked extensively across the years with ICA, Dance Umbrella, FACT, National Theatre, Kinetica Art Fair and Nesta as well as major venues and festivals worldwide.

Present work includes Associate Curation of Nesta's flagship event FutureFest, the Women Shift Digital initiative with National Theatre, Research Development with IntelligentHQ and consultancies with creative industries on the body technology convergences.

She holds a Research Associateship with Middlesex University since 1999, is a Tech London Advocate, a member of the TechCityInsider100 and is a godmother to the Stemettes. She has extensive experience in chairing and presenting, having keynoted in over 30 countries on the future of virtual physical body interfaces. She regularly inputs as a thought leader on tv, radio and in the press and into governmental briefings as a key UK innovator.

James Auger is a designer, researcher and lecturer whose work examines the social, cultural and human impact of technology and the products that exist as a result of its development and application. On graduating from Design Products (MA) at the Royal College of Art in 2001 James moved to Dublin to conduct research at Media Lab Europe (MLE) exploring the theme of human communication as mediated by technology. After MLE he worked in Tokyo as guest designer at the Miyake Design Studio developing new concepts for mobile telephones.In 2005 he returned to the RCA to teach on the Design Interactions program. During his time in DI he has been a Philips research fellow exploring the human experiential potential of smell as part of their probes program (2006-2007) and more recently completed a Ph.D (December 2012). The thesis questions the process through with emerging technologies enter everyday life using the robot as a focus for the study. James is a visiting professor at both the Haute +cole d'Art et de Design in Geneva and Musashino Art University in Tokyo. He is a partner in the speculative design practice Auger-Loizeau whose projects have been published and exhibited internationally, including MoMA, New York; 21_21, Tokyo; The Science Museum, London and Ars Electronica, Linz. Their work is in the permanent collection at MoMA. Before moving into the field of design James completed an Engineering apprenticeship at Rolls-Royce, Derby (aero engines) and worked for several years as a model-maker and special effects technician in the film industry.

Jan Boelen (¦1967, Genk) graduated as a product designer at the Media and Design Academy (KHLim), now the MAD Faculty, in Genk (B). He currently holds the position of artistic director of Z33 in Hasselt (B) and Head of the Masters Department Social Design at the Design Academy Eindhoven (NL).He is chairman of the architecture and design commission of the Flemish Community. Commissioned by the Permanent Deputation of the Province of Limburg, Jan Boelen reformed the Provincial Centre for the Visual Arts into Z33, a house for contemporary art.Since 2002, Z33 has been fashioning projects and exhibitions that encourage the visitor to look at everyday matters in a novel manner. It is a unique laboratory and a meeting place for experiment and innovation where one can discover cutting-edge exhibitions with contemporary art and design. Z33 does not have its own collection of works, but accommodates exhibition shows continuously.In his curatorial work, Jan Boelen has collaborated with Raf Simons, Studio Makkink Bey, John K÷rmeling, Thomas LommTe, Dunne & Raby, Marti QuixT, Aldo Bakker, Konstantin Grcic and Joseph Grima.In addition to the exhibitions at Z33 û House for Contemporary Art, Z33 also organizes projects in the open space, as well as projects commissioned by other organizations.At the initiative of Z33 and the Province of Limburg, Manifesta 9 took place in Belgium in 2012. In 2014 he curated the design biennial of Ljubljana in Slovenia and leaded a series of international debates on the future of design.

As Founder and Director at Huddle, Melis is the main provocateur when it comes to encouraging creative and pragmatic solutions. She is passionate about driving change within organizations with a natural focus on human centricity, design and what it takes to thrive in the 21st century.Melis has deep academic qualifications and vast business experience, underpinned by a PhD in Human Factors (user-centered design). Her areas of expertise covers service strategy, strategic service design, experience design, concept prototyping, systems engineering, program management and human factors research.Melis is a contributing author to This is Service Design Thinking, the very first textbook on Service Design published in 2011. She sits on the advisory board for the Department of Architecture and Industrial Design at RMIT and is a Senior Research Fellow at the School of Medicine at Monash University.Melis is also co-founder of London-based Enterprise Design consultancy FromHereOn.

Dr. Yoko Akama is a Senior Lecturer in design in the School of Media and Communication and Research Leader of the Design Research Institute at RMIT University, Australia. Her Japanese heritage has embedded a Zen-informed reflective practice in human-centered design. Her design research practice is entangled in social 'wicked problems', to strengthen adaptive capacity for disaster resilience in Australia and Japan, and to contribute towards the efforts of Indigenous Nations enact their self-determination and governance. Trained as a communication designer, visualization features strongly in her work to catalyze meaning-making, learning and dialogue through participatory interactions. Yoko is a leader and founder of two prominent design networks – Service Design Network and Design for Social Innovation and Sustainability Lab- in Melbourne, Australia. These are fostering a community of practice among academia, business, government and community organizations to share and create knowledge on human-centered design applications.She is a recipient of British Council Design Research Award (2008); a Finalist in the Victorian Premier's Design Award (2012); and two Good Design Australia Awards (2014), which has led to invitations for collaboration and guest lectures at several national and international institutions in the UK, US, Europe and Japan.

Dr. Harold Nelson is a visiting scholar in the School of Computer Science at the University of Montana. He was the 2009-2010 Nierenberg Distinguished Professor of Design in the School of Design at Carnegie Mellon University. He is a Senior Lecturer in the Graduate School of Business and Public Policy at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. Dr. Nelson was the head of the Graduate Programs in Whole Systems Design (WSD) at Antioch University and has held teaching positions in several universities. He is a licensed architect in the State of California and worked as the assistant regional architect for the U.S. Forest Service in San Francisco, California.He is a past-president and a trustee of the International Society for Systems Science. He is the co-founding Director and President of the Advanced Design Institute and owner of Harold Nelson LLC; Organizational Design Competence. He has worked with a variety of organizations, including: non-profits and corporations, state and federal agencies, international governments and the United Nations.Dr. Nelson received his Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley where he designed his own graduate program in Social Systems Design. He received his Master of Architecture degree from U.C. Berkeley, and a Bachelor of Architecture from Montana State University.

Hugh Evans is an entrepreneur and business designer with a focus on large scale enterprise transformation and using design practice in a business context. Since his first venture in 2002 he has founded and led the development of a business portfolio that has guided major transformation investments for organizations across 5 continents, generating more than US$100M in service revenues. Currently Hugh leads FromHereOn (www.fromhereon.com), which is an Enterprise Design firm focused on customer-led strategy, service transformation and redesigning how businesses operate. FromHereOn works with multinational organizations from offices in London and New York.

Service Designer

Industrial designer, cyclist, photographer, husband, & father...not necessarily in that order. Find me online at JCT.design and BicycleDesign.net

Eric Stoddard is an accomplished automotive, transportation and product designer, with 17 years experience at major automotive OEMs including Ford, Hyundai and Chrysler.At Ford, Eric is responsible for mid-size passenger car exterior design, including Taurus and Fusion. He played a key role in establishing an all-new advanced design team in Detroit. Advanced programs include the next generation Fiesta, Focus, Mustang, Expedition and Navigator.At Hyundai, production automotive designs included the 2013 Santa Fe, 2011 Elantra, Genesis Coupe, Tucson, Equus, HCD9 Talus concept (2006), and 2007 Elantra. At Chrysler he conceived and led the exterior design of the Crossfire (concept and production), Pacifica and the Dodge SRT-4. In addition to his automotive work, Eric consults in product design as founder of SpeedStudio Design. He has a passion for bicycle design and alternative transportation, having won awards for bicycle design concepts at Red Dot and the Taipei International Bicycle Show. He actively participates in design education, having taught courses and held demos at Cleveland Institute of Art, College for Creative Studies, Lawrence Technological University and Art Center College of Design. Eric holds Bachelor Fine Art from Cleveland Institute of Art, Class of 1998.

Melissa Bruntlett is co-founder of Modacity, a multi-service consultancy, focused on inspiring healthier, happier, simpler forms of urban mobility through words, photography and film. She is a regular contributor for Momentum Magazine, The Vancouver Courier, Vanity Buzz and most recently Grist. Melissa is very active in her community, advocating for walking, cycling and public transportation improvements, and works as producer and project manager for Modacity's film campaigns. Her most recent work includes developing a marketing campaign for a Transit Referendum in the Metro Vancouver area. She lives in Vancouver, BC with her husband and two children, and makes riding a bicycle or walking throughout her beautiful city a daily activity.Follow her on Twitter at@mbruntlett.

Rob started out in California working on Porsche and BMW race cars. Not far away, Dr. Paul MacCready built the Gossamer Condor, a pedal powered aircraft. Rob become fascinated with the technology and built a 60 mph pedal powered trike. Highway speeds at fractional horsepower became an obsession. Rob became VP of the International Human Powered Vehicle Association and directed the first solar car race in the US. With support from GE and DuPont to develop composite and thermoforming technologies, Rob built or contributed to numerous innovative vehicles. He also served as an advisor to Gov. Jerry Brown, a Creative Director and a documentary producer. He worked with Anita Roddick, CEO of The Body Shop launching environmental and human rights campaigns. After consulting on Bike Sharing technology for NYC, it became apparent there was now a viable market for an ultra-efficient vehicle that was between a bicycle and a car.

Torgny initially studied mechanical engineering and earned a master's degree at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim. Later on he studied Transport Vehicle Design at Elisava Design School in Barcelona.After graduating he started working for Mazda at their European design center in Frankfurt, then moved to Cannondale Bicycles, where he was heading up the industrial design team. Five years later he went back to automotive design at BMW in Munich, and last year he returned to bicycles again and is now Design Director at BMC Switzerland. Torgny was awarded ôYoung Designer of the Yearö by the Norwegian Design Council in 2009, along with numerous IF Awards for his work at Cannondale.As a side-project Torgny has co-founded laisr.com, a small manufacturer of high-tech furniture. As a designer and design teacher he is interested in all sorts of transport vehicles and how urban design influences our habits and needs with respect to transportation.Torgny can be found on Twitter at @torgnyf.

Astrid Stavro graduated with a First Class Certificate from Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design and with Distinction from The Royal College of Art in London. In 2004 she returned to her native land of Spain to start her own design practice in Barcelona. Astrid Stavro's strongly rooted conceptual solutions and distinctive typographic approach quickly won international critical acclaim. Her work has been recognized nationally and internationally with over 150 highly acclaimed creative awards including D&AD, The Annual (Creative Review), Design Week Awards, The International Society of Typographic Designers and Art Directors Club of New York. She is a recurrent jury member in design competitions and lectures in design conferences worldwide. Stavro writes for various design journals and is currently the Art Director as well as a contributing editor of Elephant magazine.

British illustrator and author Marion Deuchars works with major design and advertising agencies, publishes illustrated children's books and has created a globally recognized style of hand-lettering. Whether it's client work for the likes of The Royal Mail and The Imperial War Museum, or inspiring youngsters with her Let's Make Great Art books, Marion's impact on the creative scene continues to be wide-ranging. She is a member of the Alliance Graphique Internationale and represented the UK at Helsinki's World Design Capital celebrations.Her latest book, Draw Paint Print like the Great Artists, was published by Laurence King in Autumn 2014.

Matt graduated from Central St Martins in 1997. Having gained valuable experience at a handful of small design companies he joined the internationally acclaimed studio Frost Design, later becoming Creative Director. In 2005 he co-founded Studio8 Design with Zod Bather. Matt is a co-founder of Port Magazine, which launched in February of 2011. In 2014 he was named Designer of the Year by Creative Review.He is currently the Art Director of The New York Times Magazine.

Pablo Juncadella was born in Barcelona in 1977 and graduated with honors at Eina, University School of Design and Art (Barcelona) in 1999. He worked at Grafica and Pentagram London before founding Mucho (together with his partner Marc Catala). During his first 3 years of Mucho he combined running the studio with being the joint creative direction of the UK newspaper, The Observer. Today Mucho incorporates the original independent studio mentality with a global approach to design.Pablo's approach to design is focused on simplicity, wit and creative problem solving together with an interest in Typographic expression.He is a teacher at Eina, University School of Design and Art, and director of the Masters degree in Graphic Design and Communication program at ELISAVA, Barcelona School of Design and Engineering. He is also Co-author of ôNo somas Hormigasö a book discussing positive views on the world and its consumption new habits.

Teal Triggs, is a Professor of Graphic Design and Associate Dean, School of Communication, Royal College of Art, London. As a graphic design historian, critic and educator she has lectured and broadcast widely and her writings have appeared in numerous edited books and international design publications. Her research has focused primarily on design pedagogy, self-publishing, and feminism. Teal is also Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Communication Design (Bloomsbury/ico-D) and co-editor of Visual Communication (Sage) and Associate Editor of Design Issues (MIT Press). She is currently co-editing a new book The Graphic Design Reader (Bloomsbury). Her previous books include: Fanzines and, The Typographic Experiment: Radical Innovations in Contemporary Type Design, both published by Thames & Hudson. She is a Fellow of the International Society of Typographic Designers, the Royal College of Art and the Royal Society of Arts.