Speakers
Together, we seek to discover, share, and implement solutions to grow, by leveraging science and technology to generate economic growth and improve our lives. Our speakers and advisors represent the world’s innovation spectrum—policy makers, entrepreneurs, business executives, NGOs, government officials, and investors.
Ink Factory Studio
You talk, we draw....it's awesome!, Ink Factory Studio
Title of talk:
Lindsay She’s originally from Texas (don’t judge). She was a registered marksman by the age of 13, deathly afraid of glitter and zips around town on a bad ass seafoam green scooter. Dusty She’s originally from Missouri. She has a commercial driver’s license, knows boom crane sign language (say what?) and wears a camoflage helmet when she’s in her welding studio. Ryan He’s a native Illinois guy. He’s obsessed with foamcore, claims he can dance and sing at the same time (doubtful) and has a mini-storage full of Christmas decorations (shhhh).
Carlos Martin Ruiz de Gordejuela
Head of the Press and Media Service of the European Commission, Digital Agenda for Europe
Title of talk:
http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/digital-agenda/index_en.htm @DigitalAgendaEU
Alexandros Mylopoulos
Young Advisors team of the European Commissioner, Digital Agenda
Title of talk: Balancing between 3 passions: Young Advisors, international e-commerce and web analytics
A true European having studied and worked in four EU countries, Alexandros is now based in Greece balancing between 2 passions: e-commerce and web analytics. He completed his undergraduate studies in Business Administration in Thessaloniki and went on to obtain a Master's degree in New Media from the London School of Economics. An online marketing professional with experience in social networks and digital advertising, he is now focused on his e-bookstore bBooks.gr and on his full-time role as a web analyst.
Dionisis Kolokotsas
Public Policy manager Google, Google
Title of talk:
As the Public Policy manager of Google, Dionisis' mission is to work with policy-makers & other stakeholders to advance Greece's bright future in the Internet era. One path might be if Greece adopts Google's commitment to innovation, in the same way as Google embraced ancient Greece's commitment to open democracy. Before joining Google, he was the General Manager of the Hellenic Semiconductor Industry Association (HSIA) for two years, where he helped build the brand and increase visibility toward target markets & audiences. Prior to entering the world of Internet and high-tech, Dionisis spent ten years with Procter & Gamble, based in Brussels and travelling around the world to design and deploy communication campaigns. He also co-authored the P&G sustainability report in 2003 and 2004. In his early career, he worked on energy, environment and economic policy scenario analyses for the European Commission. He holds a Master's in integrating sustainability to business and an engineering degree. Dionisis is the father of three energetic kids and the husband of a passionate communication consultant and author.
Louise Wilson
Social Innovator, Kingston University
Title of talk:
Louise trained in Industrial Design at Brunel University but soon discovered her project management skills very useful for running successful design projects. Having worked in a number of large London based design consultancies she felt it time to work in a field with more social relevance and completed a Masters in Design for Development at Kingston University. Louise now works as a consultant in sustainability and design for social good focusing on behaviour change. Using her design skills to solve everyday problems in non-traditional ways, Louise has found herself working with a number of companies, many of which are start ups. Her latest project ‘My Fail Tale’ is looking to create a movement to change behaviours around failure! Louise aims to encourage start-ups to embrace failure, turn failure into a positive experience and learn from others to motivate more people to try something new. To find out more about Louise visit www.cactuslouise.com or follow her on twitter @cactuslouise
Elias Spirtounias
Executive Director, Hellenic American Chamber of Commerce
Title of talk: Innovative Business Climate
After graduation from the School of Mathematics of the University of Athens, Elias Spirtounias completed his graduate studies at the School of Electrical Engineering (M.Sc. degree and Ph.D. studies) at Boston University. During his residence in the United States, he participated as a Research Engineer in several programmes in co-operation with other organisations and companies such as NASA, MIT, UNH, working mainly in the fields of analogue and digital circuits design and applications. He returned to Greece in 1992 and after completing his military service in 1994, he held the position of Technical Director for the subsidiary of the Italian company Citec SpA., a firm specialised in the design, production and application of voice and image processing systems. From 1997 until February 2009, he worked for the Foundation of the Hellenic World, a major Greek non-profit cultural organisation starting as a Construction Supervisor and continuing as a Director of the Cultural Centre "Hellenic Cosmos". During his tenure, he contributed significantly to the expansion, development and operation of the Centre and its establishment as one of the most known cultural sites in Greece and abroad. From March 2009, Elias Spirtounias holds the position of Executive Director of the American-Hellenic Chamber of Commerce. *source eurocharity.eu
Fanis Koutouvelis
Co-founder & CTO, iKiosk
Title of talk: “Businessman or entrepreneur”?
Co-founder & CEO at i-kiosk. Drop-out of the Department of Engineering / Computer of the University of Thessaly, where he studied until the age of 23 when he started the i-kiosk. Since then, along with his colleagues, has been dedicated to the purpose of the company and to change the way we operate thousands of small retail stores in Greece and abroad. With i-kiosk has won the first prize in the contest "i-bank Innovation & Technology 2012" organized by the National Bank and the first innovation award "Ennovation 2011" University of Economics / University of Athens. Love: Technology, entrepreneurship, innovative ideas, photography & travelling
Ydir Vissers
Economic Security and Competitiveness Policy, Mentor
Title of talk: Driving Entrepreneurship through Strategic Policy Making
Ydir currently oversees the activities of the “Economic Security and Competitiveness” Global Content Group within Monitor. This Content Group focuses on addressing issues of a systemic nature in our environment, which range from issues such as national competitiveness to poverty reduction to improving the regulatory conditions in which the private sector can operate In his current capacity, Ydir serves and supports clients across multiple geographies, including Europe, the US, the Middle East, South America and Africa. Over the past few years, Ydir’s focus has been on building the Monitor presence in the Middle East where he has spent most of his time working for public sector and local private sector clients including family businesses and State Owned Enterprises (SOEs). Prior to that, Ydir was based in Europe focusing mostly on large multinational clients in Northern Europe, particularly in asset intensive industries (e.g. shipping, O&G, utilities, telecom) Ydir’s areas of expertise in the public sector include economic development, cluster competitiveness, government reform and regulatory improvements, particularly in the context of the emerging markets. Much of the experience has been gained within the framework of domestic challenges resulting from increasing urbanization, the job creation imperative and national security concerns. In the corporate sector, Ydir has extensive experience in corporate / business unit strategy and market entry strategy. Prior to Monitor Ydir worked for Rabobank International on derivates trading and risk management. Following his graduate degree education, he was also an officer with the Dutch Military Intelligence focused on political and military risk analysis. Ydir has a post graduate degree in International relations from the Clingendael Instituut, and a double Masters degree in Industrial Engineering and Physics from the Eindhoven University of Technology. Ydir has also attended Harvard Kennedy School Executive Education courses on “Infrastructure in a Market Economy” and “National and International Security”
Haris Makryniotis
Managing Director, Endeavor Greece
Title of talk: Breaking the myth, breaking the news: Endeavor in Greece
Haris is the Managing Director of Endeavor's office in Greece, launching operations in September 2012. Prior to joining Endeavor, Haris spent seven years as a top management consultant with McKinsey&Company, serving clients in Greece, UK, France, Germany, Turkey and Cyprus on a range of strategic, organizational and operational topics and with primary focus on public administration, financial institutions and healthcare. As a senior manager in McKinsey's office in Athens, he led the landmark growth strategy 'Greece 10 Years Ahead', which identifies the growth potential in multiple sectors of the Greek economy. On a personal basis, Haris has also supported multiple non-profit organizations to face strategic and operational issues that have become severe during the recent crisis years. He has an MSc in Economics and Finance from the London School of Economics in UK.
Dimitris G.E. Tsigos
Founding President, Hellenic Startup Association
Title of talk: Materializing Innovation
Dimitris is the President of YES - European Confederation of Young Entrepreneurs and the Founder of Virtual Trip, a Start-up Accelerator & Seed Fund in the ICT sector. He received his diploma in Computer Science from the Department of Computer Science, University of Crete, in January 2001 and his MBA from the Athens University of Economics and Business, Department of Management Science and Technology, in December 2005. As a student, he was a guest researcher at the Computational Vision & Active Perception Laboratory of the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm [1998] and member of the Networks & Telecommunications Group at the Institute of Computer Science, Foundation for Research & Technology, Hellas [1999, 2000]
Eleftherios Kosmas
Scout, Mozilla WebFWD
Title of talk: webFWD
Geek in mind, healthcare provider by profession, open source enthusiast, part time editor and blogger from Athens, Greece
Alexandros Costopoulos
Founder & Chief Strategist, Foresight
Title of talk: Repowering our mindset, our values … our lives
Alexandros Costopoulos is a communications strategist active in the fields of strategic affairs and international economic relations since 1998, and more specifically in the development and management of the multilayer relations, which are required today within the higher ranks of the business and political globalized environment. Following his studies in Greece and Great Britain, having already gained valuable professional experience in the realm of U.S. Greek relations, of communication and tourism both in Athens an in Washington D.C., he founded FORESIGHT │Strategy & Communications in collaboration with the U.S. based company under the same name. Mr. Costopoulos has collaborated with distinguished individuals and prominent organizations from the political, academic and business environment in the United States, Greece and the broader southeast European region, providing communication strategies related to public affairs, reputation management, public diplomacy and civil society engagement. Since 2008, he is the Director for Greece of American Citizens Abroad an international organization based in Geneva, while he is an elected member of the Board of Directors of the American‐ Hellenic Chamber of Commerce since 2010. Co‐founder of the Institute for Regional Dialogue and Strategy, he has written various social and political opinion editorials for top newspapers and magazines in Greece and has spoken extensively on the importance of cooperation and smart power, while he published two books, “Bridges of Cooperation‐Marshall Plan and Greece” in 2008 and “Bridges of Liberty‐ American Philhellenism in the 18th and 19th Centuries” in 2009. In light of today’s immense challenges and appreciating the pressing need for new mindsets in our country, on December 2011 he founded Repo(we)rGreece, an international grassroots public diplomacy campaign that seeks to restore our country’s credibility and challenge the international misconceptions of Greece and her people. Capitalizing on a new set of ideas, insights and tools that blend public affairs, public diplomacy and PR, the campaign endeavors to confront the negative stereotypes that arise from the failures and interests of the few by showcasing the strengths, talents, and achievements of the many as they reflected in stories that stand out and inspire from the country’s sectors of strategic interest. A firm believer that solutions are to be created by us, Alexandros is known among his team as a tactical-wiz always aiming for results that shape change.
Thanasis Priftis
,
Title of talk: Igniting change? An Opengov Story
Thanasis works as an Internet technologies policy analyst. He is a member of the the Greek Open Government Initiative participating in various public or grassroots projects on open content and hardware. Thanasis is also a research fellow on FP7 project on Transnational Digital Network, Migration, and Gender, a project on migrant individuals and communities and their participation in the production and transformation of transnational digital networks.
Betty Tsakarestou
Assistant Professor, Panteion University
Title of talk: Co-Creation in sharing Economy
Betty Tsakarestou works as an Assistant Professor and Head of Advertising and Public Relations Lab at the Dept. of Communication, Media and Culture of Panteion University. She teaches courses on “ Advertising and Public Relations” “Social Issues and Corporate Responsibility”, “Crisis Management” and “Digital Culture and Consumption”,Cultural Marketing and Communication (postgraduate) Between 2006-2010 she has also offered postgraduate courses on Media Responsibility” and “Corporate Responsibility in Public Sector” .
Lida Tsene
Organizer, Athens Startup Weekend - University
Title of talk: SWUNI
Lida holds a PhD from Panteion University,Department of Communication, Media and Culture. Apart from academic books on corporate and media responsibility, social media, storytelling and cultural management, she reads loads of comics. She tries to share everything she learns, and that’s why she participates in many conferences and also organizes educational workshops. She likes to talk a lot about the things she is passionate about, so she collaborates as teaching associate with several academic institutions and she is also Public Relations Director of Comicdom Press. She believes in the power of networks, that’s why she has friends all over the world.
