Innovationsforum: Get Inspired

Miguel Aflalo (BR/DE)

Miguel Aflalo holds an ITECH MSc. from the University of Stuttgart in Germany and Bachelor’s degree in Architecture from Mackenzie University in São Paulo. He has 12 years of experience working in Brazil and the United States in different companies in the areas of Architecture and Industrial Design. More recently he has worked as BIM Manager and Project Coordinator implementing BIM platforms and developing parametric solutions for architecture companies in Brazil. Recently, migrating to areas of Computational Design, Digital Fabrication, Robotic Manufacturing, the focus of his work is to join innovation and technology to create multidisciplinary solutions in projects that benefit from the use of technological tools from conception to manufacturing.

Agnes Aistleitner (AT)

Co-Founder Teenah
Agnes Aistleitner (AT)  (Golden Nica U19 Prix Ars Electronica 2012, state of revolution) is an entrepreneur building a social manufacturing business named teenah.org creating jobs for refugee women and women from their host communities in the Middle East.

Robert Bauer (AT)

Robert M. Bauer is professor of organization and innovation at Johannes Kepler University, Linz; 1998-1999 and 2004-2006 he was a visiting professor at the University of Toronto.

His research focuses on innovation (creative processes, innovation management, design thinking, regional innovation ecosystems) and digital platforms and crowds (platforms as new organizational forms, platform-enabled crowds, managing digital transformations). His research has appeared in major European and North-American journals. His studies of Tabakfabrik Linz and innovation in the greater Linz area inform the City of Linz’s urban development policies.

He has been active as a keynote speaker and advisor to top management in Europe, North America and China.

Gianpaolo Barozzi (IT)

Gianpaolo Barozzi is the head of the Digitalization Office in Cisco’s HR Leadership & Team Intelligence organization. His team designs innovative workforce experiences in multiple HR areas to re-define the nature of work in organizations and its implication on people, corporations and ultimately the society. He is also the Strategic Director of the Department of Innovation Design at IAAD.
www.iaad.it

Alexander Berlin (DE)

Alexander Berlin is professional startup developer, investment adviser and data business model expert on the European level. As CEO and Founder of Berlin Thinking Consulting, he provides acceleration service for tech startups in all IoT and ICT sectors internationally. Alexander is currently in charge of business support at the large scale IoT project IoF2020 and develops the next generation data business models for the agricultural sector. With Berlin Thinking Social, Alexander is also actively supporting technological innovations for humanitarian aid.

George Cave (UK/AT)

Senior Creative Technologies KISKA
George (UK/AT) brings interactive concepts to life. An experienced design engineer, he helps brands create complex connected products – realising their future visions. Blending hardware, software, electro-mechanical design and digital technology, George builds prototypes at all levels. A mountaineer, George is a TEDx speaker on the topics of digital mapping and expedition technology. He has completed five mountain expeditions in central Asia and did scientific fieldwork in Greenland on the ice sheet.

Hiroshi Chigira (JP)

Hiroshi Chigira is a research engineer working for NTT R&D. His main research interest is human computer interaction, and he has been engaging in variety of projects such as vital sensor design, remote collaboration, interactive system, live music event, and so on. As a project lead, he has been driving the joint research collaboration between NTT and Ars Electronica Futurelab since 2016.

Michelle Collier (UK)

Michelle Collier is a multidisciplinary creative with 15 years’ experience working in the digital creative industries. Currently Digital Comms Officer at FutureEverything, she has worked with the BBC, Manchester International Festival and Hyper Island on digital campaigns, experiences and content. In addition to content strategy and hands-on creative production, Michelle is also an experienced design professional, with knowledge of UX research practices, service design and HCD methodologies.

Jason Crouch (UK)

Jason is an artist and digital consultant with a particular interest in contemporary performance practice. In theatre he has worked as a producer and production manager for large scale, site-specific performance, and as both a technical specialist and playwright for more intimate work. Jason recently completed his PhD at Manchester Metropolitan University, where his research investigated digitally mediated intimacy expressed as one-to-one performance practice.

Eric Dahlstrom (NZ/US)

Eric Dahlstrom is a co-founder of SpaceBase and International Space Consultants, and an Edmund Hillary Fellow. Eric is a space engineer, astronomer, and consultant who has worked on spacecraft design, space science, and project management for 35 years, both for NASA and the commercial space industry. Eric worked on the design of the International Space Station and studied the risk of Shuttle accidents for NASA. He studied physics, astronomy, and space systems engineering and is currently the chair of Space Science at International Space University, having taught in ten countries.

Eric worked on the design of the International Space Station including the Russian interface. He co-authored NASA’s “Lessons Learned from Challenger” report and the risk of Shuttle accidents. He has supported a dozen entrepreneurial space companies, served as project manager for commercial lunar spacecraft and payloads, and managed team projects at Singularity University. He is a planetary sciences mentor for the NASA Frontier Development Lab, applying artificial intelligence to the hazard of asteroid impact.

Jane C.K. Engel (DE)

CEO/CFO at Kastor/Pollux Productions
Studies: Psychology, Media & Communication, Directing and Screenwriting
During the studies, always working for the movies. I’ve worked on film sets and did a few documentaries on my own, for example, for SPIEGEL GESCHICHTE, about people who have shaped the german history.
I wrote 2 screenplays who we will produced for the cinema, in co-production.
I’m giving guest workshops at universities and schools about screenwriting and entrepreneurship for students.
In June 2017, we’ve established Kastor&Pollux Productions in Passau, Germany. We are working on the world´s first hologram short movie, currently.

Hermann Erlach (AT)

Hermann Erlach has been Chief Operating Officer, Digital Transformation Lead and spokesman for innovation topics since July 2018. He has been a member of the management board at Microsoft Austria since 2015 and most recently head of the Enterprise Services division.In his role as COO, Erlach now links all business and sales divisions together in such a way as to ensure optimum added value for our customers and partners.Before joining Microsoft, the 41-year-old held numerous management positions at international management consultancies such as Capgemini Consulting and Booz & Company. After many years of designing and implementing successful projects, he joined SAP in 2008, where he held strategically important management positions at regional/international and local level.

DI Wolfgang Freiseisen (AT)

CEO RISC
DI Wolfgang Freiseisen comes from the field of computer mathematics and has been working for more than 30 years on the modelling and digitization of industrial and logistical problems. The thematic emphases range from mathematical optimization and simulation via heuristics and data analytics to artificial intelligence (AI). He was a student of Prof. Bruno Buchberger and is a graduate of the RISC (Research Institute for Symbolic Computation).

Since 2001, he has been the sole managing director of RISC Software GmbH, one of the leading non-university research institutions owned by JKU and the state of Upper Austria, with the R & D areas Medical Informatics, Industrial Software Systems, Logistics Informatics and Data Analytics. He is currently coordinating the development of an AI strategy for the state of Upper Austria. The subject of Artificial Intelligence is considered as a topic of the future very holistic, both from the point of view of the data and from the point of view of the models.

Christoph Guger (AT)

CEO g.tec
Christoph Guger is from a small town in the mountains of Austria, a couple hours south of Germany. He loves hiking, skiing, and other mountain sports. He earned his PhD in Biomedical Engineering in 1999 at a top Austrian technical university called the Technical University of Graz (TUG). He started g.tec medical engineering GmbH and has been the CEO there ever since. He studies and develops BCIs for different people, including patients with stroke or disorders of consciousness (DOC). He also runs several international research projects with people from different countries, which helped us do the research in this paper.

Chiaki Hayashi (JP)

Co-Founder and Representative Director Loftwork Inc.
Co-founded Loftwork Inc. in 2000, which rolls out the diversely projects including web, community, and spatial design initiatives.
The agency operates multiple services: “FabCafe”, a digital manufacturing cafe, and “MTRL”, a creative space for creators, “AWRD”, a platform to promote co-creation with creators. She also serves as the Japan Liaison to the Director of MIT Media Lab, and CEO of Hidakuma. Hidakuma is a new form of public-private joint enterprise, which aims to create regional industries through traditional techniques and forest regeneration.

Drew Hemment (UK)

Drew is an artist, curator and academic researcher, and founder of FutureEverything. Over 20 years, his work has been covered by New York Times, BBC and NBC and recognised by awards from the arts, technology and business sectors, including the Lever Prize and Prix Ars Electronica. He is on the Editorial Board of the Leonardo journal of art, science and technology, and was a leadership role-model on a pilot leadership programme for the AHRC.

Johann Hoffelner (AT)

Chief Scientist Office Linz Center of Mechatronics GmbH
In 2003 he finished his PhD at the Friedrich Alexander University in Erlangen Nuremberg, Germany. After that he started at General Electric (GE) Healthcare Austria leading international and intercultural technology projects within GE (Korea, India, USA, Norway, Germany and France). 2006 he was promoted to the Engineering Technology Manager within the Women’s Health (WH) ultrasound group in Austria. During this time he finished a postgraduate study for Innovation Management at the LIMAK. From 2009 – 2014 he acted as console engineering manager WH, leading the complete VOLUSON platform development with a group of about 75 people located in Austria and about 25 internationally placed co-workers. In 2014 he left GE and joined the LCM GmbH as Chief Scientific Officer being responsible for research and strategy, the local and international scientific network and the coordination of national and international projects. From 2016 – 2017 he successfully coordinated the preparation and establishment of the next K2-Center for Symbiotic Mechatronics at the LCM in Linz, which started in January 2018.

Horst Hörtner (AT)

FutureLab AEC
Horst Hörtner is a media artist and researcher. He is expert in design of Human Computer Interaction and holds several patents in this field. He started to work in the field of media art in the 1980ies and co-founded the media art group x-space in Graz/Austria in 1990. Hörtner is founding member of the Ars Electronica Futurelab in 1996 and since then directing this atelier/laboratory.
Since 2013, Horst Hörtner also holds a position as conjoint Professor at the University of Newcastle/Australia. He is working in the nexus of art & science and giving lectures and talks at numerous international conferences and universities.

Kilian Kleinschmidt (DE)

Kilian Kleinschmidt is an international networker, humanitarian and refugee expert with over 25 years of experience in a wide range of countries, emergencies and refugee camps as United Nations official, Aid worker and Diplomat. He is the founder and Chairman of the startup Innovation and Planning Agency (IPA) which aims at connecting the millions of poor and disadvantaged with relevant and under-utilized resources and modern technologies of the 21st century through its project SWITXBOARD http://www.switxboard.net. He is part of a number of initiatives and Projects which aim at global connectivity through better use of globalization. He is currently developing a number of ventures which aim at sustainable investment in very fragile environments. He most recently became known as the “Mayor of Za’atari“ when he managed the refugee camp of Za’atari in Northern Jordan from 2013-2014 on behalf of UNHCR. Za’atari has become a symbol for new and innovative approaches in refugee and humanitarian management under his leadership. He is now challenging the Humanitarian Aid Sector through a range of new and unorthodox partnerships, technologies and ways of financing. His work on emerging cities and urbanization of refugee camps is widely recognized and team building and leadership in crisis situations are a focus of his work. Previous senior roles included Deputy Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia, Deputy Special Envoy for Assistance to Pakistan, Acting Director for Communities and Minorities in the UN administration in Kosovo, Executive Secretary for the Migration and Refugee Initiative (MARRI) in the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe and many field based functions with UNHCR, UNDP and WFP. He worked extensively in Africa, South Eastern Europe, Pakistan and Sri Lanka and during the European refugee crisis advised the Austrian Ministry of Interior on Refugee reception. Most recently he was a Special Advisor to the German Minister of Development on Refugee issues. In 2017 he developed a strategy on stabilisation of migration flows and development in Africa for the Chancellor of Austria. He has published two books – “Weil es um die Menschen geht” (ECON 2015) and “Beyond Survival” (Dumont-Mair 2016) and authored a number of articles on refugee and migration issues. He is a renowned public speaker in conferences, TEDx and other events.

Bradly Dunn Klerks (NL/BE)

Bradly Dunn Klerks graduated as a 3D visualising artist designer from the ArtEZ Institute of the Arts, Arnhem. Currently positioned as General Director of Iris van Herpen. The Couture Fashion label is well known for her innovative experiments with materials, techniques and technologies. Using the interdisciplinary research and collaborations with a number of artists from various industries to create stunning work. He is responsible for all the IvH Couture shows, exhibitions and international media. His knowledge of the industry and long term relationship with several artist’s places him in a cross section between the business and the creative field that respects his vision and opinion that “the creative maker” is the centre where it all starts.

Sophie Lamparter (CH)

For the last 10 years Sophie has been building interdisciplinary networks and collaborations. She is the founder of DART, a testing lab bringing design, art, research, and technology together to build clever human machine interfaces. Before starting DART, she was Associate Director at swissnex San Francisco, Switzerland’s Innovation outpost in San Francisco. Her expertise is the digital creative industry. Being involved in scouting, presenting, match-making, scaling and funding of hundreds of projects and startups between Switzerland, Europe and the US, she knows it’s time for a new type of incubator dedicated to projects with an art and design focus.

Bernhard Lehner (AT)

Co-Gründer und Vorstand, startup300
Bernhard Lehner is a startup business angel and serial entrepreneur. He is CEO and co-founder of startup300 AG, a company that is offering spaces, network, capital and know-how to both startups and corporates to develop the business cases.

Christopher Lindinger-Mara (AT)

Ars Electronica Futurelab, Director Research & Innovation
Christopher Lindinger has been dealing with the social impact of new technologies and the cultures of innovation associated with them for more than two decades. He studied computer science and mathematics at Johannes Kepler University in Linz, worked on supercomputer visualization of abstract mathematical models as a visiting researcher at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and developed software for NASA, the National Center for Supercomputing Applications NCSA, and in the computer gaming industry. In 1997, his interest in interdisciplinary research and digital culture brought him to Ars Electronica, where he was a key protagonist in establishing the Ars Electronica Futurelab in the late ‘90s. He subsequently got a postgraduate degree in cultural management in Salzburg. As co-director of the Ars Electronica Futurelab, he has managed the media lab’s research activities since 2002. His work currently focuses on collaborative R&D with the private sector and scientific institutions. Together with international partners, he develops digital creativity support tools, and investigates the manifold potential of disruptive technologies such as VR, robotics and blockchain in social and corporate transformation processes. His clients and associates in recent years have included Audi, Honda Robotics, Mercedes-Benz, Nokia, SAP and Toshiba. In addition to his work at the Ars Electronica Futurelab, Christopher Lindinger served as lead project manager and co-curator responsible for the expansion of the Ars Electronica Center prior to Linz’s term as European Capital of Culture in 2009 and, in 2014, managed the city’s successful application for appointment as a UNESCO City of Media Arts. He has also been a visiting lecturer at several European universities, and co-conceived curricula for tertiary education—most recently, the Digital Ideation bachelor’s and master’s program at Lucerne (Switzerland) University of Applied Sciences and Arts. Due to his many years of experience at the interface of technology, culture and society, Christopher Lindinger is a consultant to cities and government agencies worldwide on how to nurture creative industries.

Alexander Mankowsky (DE)

Futures Studies & Ideation, Daimler AG
Alexander Mankowsky (DE) was born in Berlin in 1957 and studied social science, philosophy and psychology at Freie Universität Berlin. In 1989, he joined Daimler’s research institute in Berlin. The multidisciplinary approach of the Institute brought together a wide range of disciplines, from social sciences to artificial intelligence. His current work topics are future studies dealing with the constantly changing culture of mobility, the interdependence of social and technological innovation and other aspects in connection with possible paths into the future.

Kasia Molga (UK)

Kasia is a Design Fusionist mixing art, engineering, research, and science with imagination. Kasia investigates our perception of and relation to nature and an environment increasingly mediated by emerging technology. Her work defies easy categorisation, comprising design fictions told through tangible, multisensory experiences, immersive environments and hybrid interfaces.
www.studiomolga.com

Michael Mondria (AT)

Senior Director of Ars Electronica Solutions Michael Mondria (AT) (formerly Michael Badics) is Senior Director of Ars Electronica Solutions, a division of Ars Electronica. AE Solutions creates customized solutions for interactive exhibitions, events,products and services.

Previously he founded and managed Memetics GmbH, a Berlin based company in the field of media
art and creative technologies. Earlier he co-managed Ars Electronica Futurelab, where he realized international art, cooperation & third party projects with the focus on cutting edge technologies.

Before he worked as a software engineer and manager for the multinational software company Fabasoft AG.
Michael Mondria started his career by studying computer sciences at JKU (Johannes Kepler University) Linz.

Oren Moshe (IL)

CEO NIIO art digital age
Co-founder of Niio, a new distribution and display platform for moving images and new digital art forms, is an award-winning Product and Design expert with 18 years of experience in the worlds of technology, art, design and digital culture where he has consistently driven innovation at the intersection of these worlds.

His career spans both the worlds of Academic and Hitech: He founded the Interactive Design Faculty at Bezalel, Israel’s most prestigious Art & Design Academy. He also founded one of Israel’s leading digital product development consultancies developing solutions for both global corporations and fast growing startups such as MyHeritage and Wix. Oren co-founded Niio out of a deep desire to enable greater exposure and accessibility to the digital art medium. The ‘Niio’ platform offers a comprehensive, end-to-end solution for storing, preserving, securely transferring, monetising and perfectly displaying media art works on any screen or projector device.

Hannes Möseneder (AT)

CEO at Greiner Technology & Innovation GmbH
Hannes Möseneder (AT) is Managing Director of Greiner Technology & Innovation. He has been with Greiner since 1983 and led Greiner Purtec and Greiner Aerospace until 2010. Under his leadership, the business was strongly internationalized and established locations in Germany, the Czech Republic, Northern Ireland, the USA and China. Since 2010, Hannes Möseneder has been in charge of Greiner Technology & Innovation, the Group’s innovation center. The focus of GTI is strategic foresight with a strong focus on new digital technologies.

Claudia Novak (AT)

Earlier as a lawyer, Dr. Claudia Novak, MSc built the perfect walls around their clients. Today she is tearing down these walls and pleading in her lectures for more openness and transparency in dealing with mistakes. In this she sees the potential for more creativity and innovative strength, but also for more credibility and trust – whether it be individuals, companies or organisations. Claudia Novak holds a doctorate in European law. After 10 years of international legal jobs (European Commission, compensation fund for victims of National Socialism in the Austrian Parliament, law firms in Brussels and Vienna), she has specialized in PR and strategic communication as part of her Master’s degree at the Danube University Krems. Claudia Novak does research and lectures on error culture and vulnerability and is curator of the international ideas conference TEDxLinz.

Irini Papadimitriou (UK/GR)

Irini Papadimitriou is Digital Programmes Manager at the V&A – responsible for the annual Digital Design Weekend festival and Digital Futures – and Head of New Media Arts Development at Watermans, where she curates the exhibition programme. Irini is currently an Art & Design Associate with Mozilla and a co-founder of Maker Assembly.

www.vam.ac.uk/blog/author/irini-papadimitriou

Maya Pindeus (AT/UK)

Co-Founder, CEO Humanising Autonomy
Maya Pindeus (AT/UK) is CEO and Co-Founder of Humanising Autonomy, a London based startup that works towards a vision of intuitive interactions between autonomous systems and people. Humanising Autonomy applies a human centered approach to automation to create technology with the human in mind and to foster a much needed dialogue in today’s technology.

Originally from Austria, Maya works at the intersection of innovation, industry and engineering with a deep interest in the impact that technology has on our daily lives, our interactions and our behaviors.

Alexander Ronacher (AT)

A. Ronacher is a trained mechanical engineer and graduated in innovation and technology management.
Started in 1992, with construction tasks for fire engines. With 1994 developer for the municipal vehicle series AT in the Rosenbauer Int. AG group. Since 1999 development manager of the AT2 vehicle series. Since 2007, he has been development and program manager of the AT3 vehicle program, and in 2011 he was commissioned by the Executive Board to establish innovation management, research and pre-development for radical innovations. Since 2012 Head of Technology, Innovation and Knowledge Management. 2012-2017 parallel development and project manager for the electrified future study Concept Fire Truck CFT, which was presented to the public on the occasion of 150 years of Rosenbauer.

In the course of this activity, he and his team conduct intensive trend scouting and organise international expert workshops to analyse, discuss and evaluate trends that will be relevant for the fire brigade in the future. As a result of this activity he is author and on behalf of Rosenbauer International AG, publisher of the fire brigade trend map ©

Since 2009 he has also been a lecturer and author of specialist topics such as lightweight construction, vehicle construction, manufacturing technologies, alternative drive systems, technology development and innovation and technology management.

Lindsay Saunders (US)

Senior Program Manager, Mozilla´s Open Innovation Team
Lindsay Saunders (US)  is currently the Senior Program Manager on Mozilla’s Open Innovation Team. She has run a number of open innovation challenges that span from Equal Rating and digital inclusion to using art and tech to create conversations about misinformation. She is currently focusing on Common Voice which hopes to open up voice data and make speech recognition available to everyone.  Lindsay also Co-Founded an art tech company called Dream Logic Art which has had shows at California Academy of Sciences and SFMOMA.

Masha Sergeeva (RU/UK)

Director of Communications at .ART
Professional experience includes working for leading profit and non-profit arts organizations: Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow; Andras Szanto LLC, New York; Performa Biennial, New York; Sotheby’s Auction House, New York; bitforms gallery, New York and Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg.
Holds an MA in Visual Arts Administration from New York University (NYU), an MA in Cultural Project Management from St. Petersburg University of Culture and Arts and a BA in Business Analysis from St. Petersburg ITMO University.

Dr. J. Martin Serrano (IE/ES)

Dr. Martin Serrano is Research Fellow in the Insight Centre for Data Analytics at the NUI, Galway. He holds a M.Sc. and a Ph.D. from the Technical University of Catalonia, Spain. Before joining academia, Dr. Serrano worked as Senior Engineer Supervisor at Panasonic-AKME. He has contributed to developing the state of the art on Pervasive Computing, Knowledge Engineering and Autonomic Computing areas. Part of his work is with the European LSP Activage.

Aleksandra Smilek (FR)

Creative Director of EP7
Aleksandra Smilek (FR)  is the Artistic Director and Creative Technologist of EP7 digital gallery in Paris. She is specialized in deploying new ways to create an economy for digital art and developing engaging interactive experiences that connects people with art and technology. She is actually working on innovative ways to connect architecture with digital art.

Dejan Stojanovic (AT)

FuckUp Nights Vienna
Dejan Stojanovic is a serial entrepreneur as well as digital & new media specialist who partners with CEOs and marketing executives to help grow their professional brands while preparing them to succeed in meeting future challenges. After founding his first startup in the automotive industry and living in Silicon Valley, Dejan knows what truly drives conversions – and it has nothing to do with mastering the marketing flavor of the week. It is all about how well you connect with your current and future customers while being able to communicate your understanding back to them.

Dejan is a passionate entrepreneur and supporter of the Austrian startup ecosystem. His personal conviction that failure is the mother of innovation, motivated him to start and host the Austrian version of “Fuckup Nights.” This groundbreaking series of events introduces the U.S. perspective of a healthier startup and business culture, where business failure stories are publicly shared and questioned while the learning effects are celebrated.

Due to his extensive experience in entrepreneurship and error culture, Dejan has landed coverage in different print and broadcast outlets in Austria while also being invited to give speeches at venues such as TEDx Klagenfurt, the Austrian Chamber of Commerce, BMW Startup Garage and Urban Future Global Conference.

Dejan holds a master’s degree in law from the University of Vienna.

Karina Streng (AT)

Former CEO of Sybermon GmbH
We tried best but it was not enough. In the beginning, the company had not a good standing but with hard work and a lot of effort, it finally looked that we are doing everything right. After a lot of ups and downs, with our partners, team, and financials our two biggest costumers canceled the contract within three days and this was the end.

Illya Szilak (US)

Illya Szilak is a writer, director, and interactive storyteller. Shaped by her experiences as a physician, her artistic practice explores mortality, embodiment, identity, and belief in a media inundated and increasingly virtual world. Cyril Tsiboulski is her longtime artistic partner. Their works include Reconstructing Mayakovsky, Queerskins, and Queerskins: a love story, a VR experience.

Kazuko Tanaka (JP)

VoiceVision Inc.Founder, Hakuhodo
Kazuko Tanaka (JP) works in the field of business development for a leading marketing company in Japan, Hakuhodo Inc., and is the founder of the network Hakuhodo Working Moms Link. She is also a founding member of VoiceVision Inc., where she is a producer of community projects for companies and local governments. Kazuko Tanaka is also involved in the Ars Electronica Tokyo Initiative, a joint project of Hakuhodo and Ars Electronica. Jury for Prix Ars Electronica Digital Communities 2016, 2018, and jury for the STARTS prize 2018.

Giulia Tomasello (IT)

Giulia Tomasello is an Interaction Designer and Researcher specialised in wearables, biotechnology and material finishes for the female healthcare. She uses material research as a personal drive to question and communicate the boundaries between technology and human bodies, by developing experimental work in the intersection of medical and social sciences.

Giulia Tomasello: gitomasello.com
Coded Bodies: codedbodies.persona.co

Claire Tymon (UK)

Claire Tymon is a creative entrepreneur who initiates and co-produces creative place-based projects, embedding co-design and participation at the heart of her practice. Claire is a true collaborator, and creates best practice when testing new methodologies and reflecting on the process. Claire introduces an extensive network of creative practitioners, community groups, policy makers and local organisations to makers, artists and students and continues to champion creative societal change.

Dylan Wood (US/DE)

Dylan Wood, is a research associate and doctoral candidate at the Institute for Computational Design and Construction at the University of Stuttgart.  At ICD Dylan leads the Institute’s research on programmable matter and materials and supervises graduate students in the associated masters thesis topic. His research is focused on developing intelligent design and fabrication principles for ‘smart’ shape-changing materials as a form of material robotics that can be applied in building systems, construction, and manufacturing.  He has worked extensively in collaboration with material science partners at the ETH, Zurich, EMPA, Dübendorf, and the Physical Intelligence department at the Max Plank Institute for Physical Systems, Stuttgart. His doctoral research is funded by the Swiss Commission for Technology and Innovation (CTI / KTI), and the Getty Foundation’s GettyLab. He holds a ITECH, MSc. with distinction from the University of Stuttgart, and a B.Arch, magna cum laude from the University of Southern California. Professionally he has worked as a designer and computational fabrication specialist at Barkow Leibinger Architects in Berlin, Germany and DOSU Studio Architects in Los Angeles, CA.

Maria Yablonina (RU/DE)

Maria Yablonina is a research associate and doctoral candidate at the Institute for Computational Design and Construction at the University of Stuttgart. With the completion of her Master degree at the ITECH program in 2015 she also received the faculty’s Diploma Prize. In 2017 she has been awarded a Landesgraduierten-Scholarship for her doctoral thesis. With a strong interest in robotics and digital fabrication techniques, she is currently focusing on exploring potential fabrication techniques enabled through introduction of architecture-specific custom robotic tools for construction and fabrication. Her work includes development of hardware and software tools as well as complementing material systems.