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

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

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

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

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

Filipe Araújo is Porto’s Vice-Mayor and City Councillor for Innovation and Environment, Chairman of the Board of Directors of AdePorto (Porto’s Energy Agency), Chairman of the Board of Directors of Porto Digital Association (supports the Porto City Council in the development of e-government projects and online services), board member of LIPOR- Intermunicipal Waste Management of Greater Porto, Chair of Eurocities Environment Forum, Vice-Chair of Eurocities Environment Forum (2016-2018), advisory board member of Portuguese Association for the Development of Communications, advisory board member of MIL (Media Innovation Labs) of Porto University, and member of the Innovation Advisory Board, of Porto University. 

He has a degree in Electrical Engineering (Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto) and holds a M.Sc. in Telecommunications (UMIST - University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology, Manchester, UK). He was a guest Professor at the Faculty of Science of University of Porto, between 2007 and 2011 and a Municipal Deputy of Porto between 2005 and 2009. Other relevant executive functions include Service Manager in a telecommunication company and board member of the Youth Foundation.

Laia Bonet is the Deputy Mayor of Barcelona for the Agenda 2030, the Digital Transition, Sports, Territorial and Metropolitan Coordination, and International Relations. A lawyer by training she is a professor of Administrative Law (Pompeu Fabra University) and Communications Law (Blanquerna- Ramon Llull University). 

Prior to her current role as Deputy Mayor of Barcelona, she was Secretary of the Government of Catalonia (2007-2010), and a member of the Parliament of Catalonia (2010-2012), where she was deputy spokesperson for the Socialist Parliamentary Group.

Entrepreneurship is the common thread in all activities of Marja Ruigrok. Ruigrok was an entrepreneur for over 25 years and a City of Amsterdam Vice Mayor for eight years. Since January 2019, Ruigrok is Vice Mayor for Economy & Innovation, Traffic & Transport, and Culture at the municipality of Haarlemmermeer. Haarlemmermeer is one of 32 municipalities in the Amsterdam Metropolitan Region and home to 150.000 inhabitants and the Schiphol international airport.  

Ruigrok is a natural connector and entrepreneurial politician who fosters collaboration between individuals and organizations. She continues to mentor and support entrepreneurs and start-ups and serves on numerous advisory boards in the Amsterdam Metropolitan Region. Her motto: "If you can't divide, you can't multiply." 

After working several years as product manager and account manager for different digital projects such as UiTPAS (discount and loyalty scheme for leisure), UiTdatabank (crowdsourcing event information) and Culturefeed API’s (distributing eventdata through API’s, widgets and open source platforms) and lecturing for University College Leuven Limburg (UCLL) in digital innovation in social profit, Tim decided to make his hometown of Leuven smarter and to work as a Policy Advisor Smart City for the city of Leuven. Tim is dedicated in providing a framework for tying together all the different smart city projects in Leuven and advancing the city in their use of IoT, data technology and insight.

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

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

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

An architect and engineer by training, Professor Carlo Ratti teaches at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he directs the Senseable City Lab, and is a founding part- ner of the international design and innovation office Carlo Ratti Associati. He graduated from the Politecnico di Torino and the École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées in Paris, and later earned his MPhil and PhD at the University of Cambridge, UK. 

A leading voice in the debate on new technologies’ impact on urban life and design, Car- lo has co-authored over 500 publications, including “The City of Tomorrow” (Yale University Press, with Matthew Claudel), and holds several technical patents. His articles and interviews have appeared on international media including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Financial Times, Scientific American, BBC, Project Syn- dicate, Corriere della Sera, Il Sole 24 Ore, Domus. His work has been exhibited worldwide at venues such as the Venice Biennale, the Design Museum Barcelona, the Science Museum in London, MAXXI in Rome, and MoMA in New York City. 

Carlo has been featured in Esquire Magazine’s ‘Best & Brightest’ list and in Thames & Hud- son’s selection of ‘60 innovators’ shaping our creative future. Blueprint Magazine included him as one of the ‘25 People Who Will Change the World of Design’, Forbes listed him as one of the ‘Names You Need To Know’ and Fast Company named him as one of the ’50 Most Influen-tial Designers in America’. He was also featured in Wired Magazine’s ‘Smart List: 50 people who will change the world’. Three of his projects – the Digital Water Pavilion, the Copenhagen Wheel and Scribit – have been included by TIME Magazine in the list of the ‘Best Inventions of the Year’. 

Carlo has been a presenter at TED (in 2011 and 2015), program director at the Strelka Insti- tute for Media, Architecture and Design in Moscow, curator of the BMW Guggenheim Pavilion in Berlin, and was named Inaugural Innovator in Residence by the Queensland Government. He was the curator of the Future Food District pavilion for the 2015 World Expo in Milan and chief curator of the "Eyes of the City" section at the 2019 UABB Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism of Shenzhen. He is currently serving as co- chair of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Cities and Urbanization. 

Michela Magas is an innovation catalyst who bridges the worlds of science and art, design and technology, and academic research and industry, with a track record of over 25 years of innovation. She is innovation advisor to the European Commission and the G7 leaders, Member of President von der Leyen’s High Level Round Table for the New European Bauhaus, and Chair of the Industry Commons Foundation. In 2017, she was awarded European Woman Innovator of the Year and in 2016 she was presented with an Innovation Luminary Award for Creative Innovation. She is the founder and CEO of MTF Labs, a global community platform of around 8000 creative innovators and scientific researchers. The platform provides a test case for innovation in areas as diverse as neuroscience, forestry and microcomputing, and has been hosted worldwide by partners including Microsoft Research New England, Centre Pompidou in Paris and the London Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican in London. Over 20 years she ran Stromatolite Design Lab in London with global clients such as Apple, Nike and Nokia, and prior to that was Art Editor at the Financial Times.

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

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

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

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

Paula works on Barcelona’s digital rights, ethics and digital inclusion projects and coordinates the projects & communications of the Cities Coalition for Digital Rights, a network of more than 50 cities and organisations around the world working for a rights-based digital transition.  Paula Boet is a  Philosophy, Politics and Economics graduate and has specialsed in citizenship, human rights, ethics and the social impact of new technologies. 

Blaga Popova is leading the team for the agri-food industrial ecosystem in DG GROW – the Directorate General for Enterprise, Industry and Internal Market at the European Commission. She has been working on a range of food policy projects in relation to sustainability, digitalisation and the COVID response for the agri-food system, including the EU Code of Conduct for Sustainable Food Business and Marketing Practices. Previously she was representing the EU in free trade negotiations in relation to processed food, with countries like Mexico, Chile, Indonesia, Euromed and EFTA regions. Before joining the Commission, Blaga worked in EU public affairs, the NGO sector and academia. She is also involved in public speaking and facilitating participatory leadership processes.

Grigoris Konstantellos graduated from Panteion University (BSc) and from the City University of London (MSc). He holds a Ph.D. in Management Science from the International School of Management (I.S.M) in Paris. 

In April 2022 he successfully completed the postgraduate program at the National Defence School (S.E.THA), the highest military training institution in Greece, and the Postgraduate Studies program of Panteion University and National Defence School (S.E.THA) on  Security Strategy. 

He has been actively involved with Local Government and served as Municipal Councilor, as Deputy Mayor for Administration and Finance, Deputy Mayor as well as Vice Chairman of the Municipal Board . He has been elected Mayor for first time at 2014 Municipal Elections and for second time at 2019 Municipal Elections. 

He is a member of the Board of Directors (2019-2023) of the Regional Union of Municipalities of Attica and a member of the Board of Directors of the Central Union of Municipalities of Greece. 
 

Cornelia Dinca is the International Liaison for Amsterdam Smart City, the innovation platform that brings together governments, companies, knowledge institutions and civil society organizations to shape a futureproof Amsterdam Metropolitan Region. In her role, Cornelia is responsible for connecting international stakeholders to innovation projects in the Amsterdam region, facilitating knowledge transfer and helping kickstart new collaborations. Cornelia holds an MSc in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Amsterdam and a BSc in Chemical Engineering from the University of Calgary. Cornelia previously worked on energy, climate, sustainable mobility and urbanism projects in Canada and Germany.

Prior to taking office as mayor, Ivica Puljak was a full professor working at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture in Split.  He was one of several thousand scientists involved in the multi-year discovery of the Higgs boson at the European Council for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Switzerland. 

He was the secretary and member of the presidency of the Pametno party and the political secretary of the Centar party. 

He graduated in electrical engineering at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture in Split and received his master's degree in particle physics from the Department of Physics, Faculty of Science in Zagreb. 

In 2000 he received a PhD at the Pierre and Marie Curie University in Paris, PhD was made at the Ecole polytechnique and CERN. 

Co-author of more than 1000 scientific papers, and more than 600 activities for the promotion and popularization of science. 

Alexander Vandersmissen has been mayor of Mechelen since October 2019. He replaced Bart Somers who became Deputy Prime Minister in the Flemish Government. Before that, he was, among other things, alderman for mobility and chairman of the social housing company Woonpunt Mechelen and a municipal councilor for the city list. 

Alexander is married and father of three children. 

Ms Ķere joined the European Commission in 2004 and has worked as a Policy Officer in the Commission’s Directorates-General for Home Affairs, Mobility and Transport and currently serves in DG GROW - Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs - in the tourism team, covering such areas as skills, labour shortages, transport (maritime, aviation, rail, road) and inter-institutional affairs. She holds an MSc in European Politics and Policy from the London School of Economics and a BA in International Affairs from the School of International Service, The American University (Washington, DC).

• Over 30 years’ experience in several management, international sales and marketing positions in conversion and mechanical/electrical industry
• Leading family own or public companies in Finland, Europe and Middle East
• Experience in co-operating with international companies and different cultures, living in Italy and Saudi-Arabia

Mr. Vanderpoorten is currently policy officer Social Economy in DG GROW and focuses mainly on the following themes: the use of digitization and new technologies within the social economy, scaling up social business models and the creation of business partnerships between traditional and social economy enterprises, financing opportunities for social economy companies and social innovation.

Alice Xu has called Toronto home since immigrating to Canada as a teenager with her family. A proud public servant at the City of Toronto for over 15 years, Alice is Director, Digital City, and overseas the Connected Community/Smart City program at the City of Toronto's Technology Services Division. The Connected Community team is committed to delivering broader quality of life value as a City through the use of data, technology and processes. Prior to joining Technology Services in 2019, Alice spent over 10 years cutting her teeth in the vehicle and business licensing and regulatory world, where she navigated regulatory challenges like ride-sharing and rooming houses.

Alice has lead the creation of Toronto's Digital Infrastructure Strategic Framework, a comprehensive plan that also serves as an outward evaluation tool for external proposals with digital elements. She is also leading the work on ConnectTO, a program the seeks to connect underserved areas with affordable internet access through leveraging public assets.

Ilektra Papadaki is the Team Leader for construction policy in the European Commission. She is in charge of the development of the construction transition pathway, a roadmap for greening, digital transformation and resilience. She is leading policy, technical and research support for initiatives that foster the digitalisation of construction and administrative processes linked to it, mainstream holistic approaches for the sustainability of the built environment and make buildings safer for their users.

Ilektra holds a Master and Bachelor in Architecture Engineering with specialization in urbanism and high tech from the National Technical University of Athens. Urban development and digitalisation remain in her interests, and the last years she has authored relevant scientific papers.
 
She is fluent in Greek, English, French, learning Portuguese. 

Mieke Van Cauwenberghe is a senior policy expert with a 20 years of experience on Local Policies. She started in the city of Mechelen first management of Social Economy and later in International Development Policy. In 2012 she became Manager of the Entrepreneurship centre. As her broad experience in both governmental organisation, NGO's and the private sector, she is a very strong liaison officer. She became Manager Smart City & Innovation of Mechelen in 2016 and has a facilitating role in involving local (and regional) stakeholders in the Smart City and Innovation program of Mechelen.

Nicole La Iacona started her career developing projects with young people in the Youth in Action programme (now Erasmus +) and organised training in intercultural learning. In 2007 she started working in the city of Mechelen as head of the youth Service. In 2012 she became strategic funding advisor for all departments of the city. She has a wide experience in linking local and European policy and translating this into European cooperation projects.

Of Italian-Romanian origin, Remus graduated in European studies in France, where he works on international cooperation projects in areas such as sustainable development, training, tourism and business support. As manager of the Green Deal Cross Alp-Med project, his goal is to foster the development of the territory and its companies in order to make them more competitive, orienting the local economy towards more sustainable and inclusive models, in line with European objectives.

Daniel Freitas is the Head of Carbon Neutrality in Porto Ambiente, being responsible for the management of some climate neutrality projects in the city of Porto, namely the Porto Climate Pact. He is also the Mission Coordinator of the city of Porto in the EU Mission: 100 Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities by 2030.

Former adviser to the Porto’s Vice-Mayor and City Councillor for Environment, Climate, Innovation and Digital Transition, he has experience in the subjects of environment, climate change, energy, innovation, digital transition, information systems and services to the citizen in the city of Porto.

Currently he is also teaching in several programs / study cycles in FEP - School of Economics and Management of the University of Porto.

Méabh Mc Mahon is an Irish TV reporter who is based in Brussels where she works for the international news channel Euronews. She reports on the EU, NATO and European affairs and presents a weekly European news and current affairs show.