Aarti Holla-Maini joined ESOA in 2004. She was named one of the Faces of Satellite of 2014 by the Society of Satellite Professionals International and is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council for Space where she served as Vice-Chair from 2013 - 2014.

Alexander De Croo is Deputy Prime Minister for Open VLD and Minister of Development Cooperation, Digital Agenda, Telecom and Postal Services in the Michel I Government.As Minister of Development Cooperation, he focuses on strengthening human rights and promoting local economic growth in the partner countries.The Digital Agenda, Telecom and Postal Services portfolio focuses on the maximisation of the economic potential of the digital economy.

Passionate about public policies, public sector transformation and the role of government in bringing economic, social and sustainable outcomes, Alex has collaborated with multiple governments across Europe to design and shape their innovation and EU strategies. She is a government relations manager at Accenture, acting as a trusted advisor to public administrations and the third sector across Europe by bringing her EU and public policies knowledge. She is currently working on how governments are in practice embedding platform approaches. Alex holds master degrees in European Public Administration and EU Policies from the College of Europe (Belgium), European Political Economy from the London School of Economics (UK) and in European Affairs from Sciences-Po Paris (France), as well as bachelor degrees in Economics and Sociology from la Sorbonne (France). She is fluent in French, Spanish and English and learning Italian.

Co-Founder of Saper Vedere. Former digital consultant in EU Public Affairs working with European associations to improve their advocacy through digital communications.

Allan is a Senior Manager working in Accenture Mobility, part of Accenture Digital,where he leads IOT and mobile security thought leadership.He has extensive knowledge of mobile and IOT technology, and has written a number of security thought leadership white papers with the Accenture Security Practice, and is developing next generation security mechanisms with the Accenture Security Practice and Tech Labs.  He has worked on a variety of projects ranging from developing submarine tracking systems, implementing  1+1 optical protection switching systems in telecommunications, and pioneering operating systemdevelopment for smartphones. He has a passion for IoT security, motor carsand photography.

Andrea Halmos works as a Policy Officer in the eGovernment & Trust Unit of DG CONNECT at the European Commission. Her current activities are mainly focused on the implementation of the eGovernment Action Plan 2016-2020. This includes working with numerous Commission services and Member States as well as developing various measures to support local and regional administrations in their implementation efforts.In the past, she worked on developing the vision for the future of public services through the open government concept and used the H2020 funding mechanism to put the concept into real innovation projects. Previously, she had worked for the eTEN European Community programme, which supported the deployment of trans-European electronic services in the public interest and also worked as case handler at DG COMP. Prior to joining the European Commission in 2003, she worked for an internet start-up company as a sourcing consultant. Having graduated from the Budapest University of Economic Sciences, she received a master's degree in European studies from the College of Europe and from the Université libre de Bruxelles.

Andrew leads the Mobility Solutions sales team in Europe. If it floats, flies, or rolls, we’ve got it covered. Prior to this, Andrew led the European sales team and also led Intelsat’s Global Accounts teams on the Mobility and Broadband side of the business.

Andy is currently Programme Director at BluWireless Technology, an innovative pioneer of mmWave wireless technology developing cutting edge 60GHz wireless systems. Responsible for platform delivery, Andy and his team design and deploy integrated systems that showcase Blu Wireless’ IP.He has over 25 years’ experience in embedded systems covering both hardware and software design. Prior to Blu Wireless Andy held a progression of roles with STMicroelectronics delivering satellite digital television and wireless technologies to tier-1 customers including Sky and Nokia.

Anna Rose is the co-founder and CEO of Videopath - an interactive video solution that allow users to bring clickable websites into video. Videopath has been highlighted by TechCrunch, Venture Beat, BBC, Vanity Fair and Horizont as a leading content marketing tool for brands and content publishers.Anna is originally from Montreal, Canada but has been a resident of Berlin for the past decade. Previous to founding Videopath, Anna built up the EMEA video content network for Gracenote (formerly owned by Sony Inc) and worked with a number local startups as a video and digital producer. She holds a degree in Business Management and Music Technology from McGill University.

A nurse with a mission: Make health fun. Passionate about video games and engagement design. Entrepreneur, blogger and lecturer. Nurse by profession, and a Master’s graduate on Cognitive Systems and Interactive Media with a singular ICT-Health specialisation.

Anne-Sophie Aberi-Moska is the Co-Founder and Program Director of Digital African Woman, a social enterprise focused on developing tech startups across Africa and Diaspora.

Ben Vanparys is the cofounder and managing partner of GraduAid and Student.be. The biggest Belgian student community with over 130 000 active users.One of their most important missions is to create innovative tools in order to help students make the step towards the professional world.Ben is fascinated by the digital revolution and wants to make sure that millennials and employers create a mutual understanding, as a means to shape the workforce of the future.

Brando Benifei, European Federalist, is an elected MEP from La Spezia, Italy. He has been chair of European affairs for the Young Democrats and Vice-President of ECOSY (youth organization of PES) for 4 years. He joined the PES working group which originally drafted the European Youth Guarantee.His main fields of legislative work in the EP are Employment and social affairs and Foreign affairs. He is also vice-chair of the Youth Intergroup and of the Disability Intergroup. Among his primary interests are the Digital Agenda and technology-related issues, in particular for the impact they have in creating new jobs and thus on youth employment.

Program manager with proven communication and leadership skills within large international organizations. I have experience as facilitator and the ability to motivate and tactfully influence individuals and teams within complex organizational set-up. I combine proven project management expertise and solid background in marketing, finance and information technology which is valuable in large business transformation initiatives. Summary of 15 years of experience: - Launch and delivery of large scale programs with important investments accross front-mid-back systems and operations - Implementing Customer Relationship Management (CRM) for Sales and Servicing - Implementation of secure access solutions using biometrics and RFID technologies - Project Management in a multi cultural context (PMI Certified) - Experience in all stages of the Software development life cycle - Coaching and Training of project managers

Born in 1973, Carine Saloff-Coste is a graduate of the engineering school Supelec, of SciencePo Paris and of the national institute INET. She began her career in the industry field as a telecom engineer for Siemens Transport, implementing line 14 of the Parisian subway. She then worked for the Banque de France on transforming securities settlement systems. After graduating from INET, she moved to Boston on behalf of the Ile de France Region and Essonne Department to create an office dedicated to promotion and prospection in the biotechnology sector. Back to France, she became Director of Spatial Planning and Development for the Conseil General de l’Essonne. She joined in 2007 the city of Paris, in charge of the Economic Development Branch. In 2013, she became Assistant Director of the Economy, Innovation and Higher Education Branch. Senior Administrative Manager of Paris, she is now Director of the Economic Development, Employment and Higher Education Department.

Originally from Brussels, Caroline studied at the European Law School in Maastricht before obtaining her graduate law degree from the University of Oxford. She worked as a Blue Book trainee for the European Data Protection Supervisor and as a private law lecturer for Maastricht University. She is now pursuing her passion for law and technology in Brussels.

Cheryl Miller is CEO of Zen Digital Europe and Founder and Executive Director of the Digital Leadership Institute, a Brussels-based, international NGO whose global mission is to bridge the gender gap and digital divide worldwide by educating and empowering digital leaders of today and tomorrow.

Chris Sherwood was appointed Head of Public Policy for Naspers in late 2016, creating the function from scratch. In this role, he is responsible for Naspers’ own policy priorities globally, as well as for providing support to group companies. Chris moved to Naspers from the Allegro Group, where he was the first permanent Brussels public policy professional to be employed by a European Internet company. While at Allegro, he co-founded and chaired the European Tech Alliance for its first year. He previously worked for Yahoo! as Director for Public Policy, and at the US Department of Commerce at the US Mission to the EU, where he worked on ICT sector-related issues, including privacy and environmental rules. He has also been a public affairs consultant in Brussels and an IT systems implementation consultant. He has Masters Degrees in German and European Studies. He speaks fluent English, French, German, and Polish. He has UK, French, and US nationalities.

Cyrille Batailler is a Managing Director in the Emerging Technology group at Accenture. He is the Artificial Intelligence lead, incubating the next generation of cognitive technology services.With over 20 years of experience in technology innovation, Cyrille leads Accenture’s exploration of the disruptive Artificial Intelligence field, where cognitive IT systems can sense, comprehend, act and learn, interact naturally with people, data and their environment, and can deliver value by automating or augmenting work activities in various domains. Artificial Intelligence specialties notably include Text Analytics, Deep Learning, Cognitive Robotics, and Virtual Agents.Cyrille’s recent work has also focused on Video Analytics, an artificial intelligence specialty that applies computer vision to video surveillance cameras to derive operational, security/safety and marketing insights. Most notably, he supported various police Safe City initiatives, where Accenture integrated advanced analytic capabilities into existing video monitoring systems to increase situational awareness, streamline operations and enhance response time to public safety incidents.Cyrille also oversees Accenture’s Unique Identity activities, another artificial intelligence specialty which includes for instance the provision of a biometric identity management system to UNHCR to manage refugee populations globally.Previously, Cyrille directed European R&D activities within Accenture Technology Labs.Cyrille is a certified Accenture Solution Architect, Digital Architect, Master Technology Architect and Quality Assurance Director; he is also an IEEE CBP-Certified Biometrics Professional.He received an Electrical Engineering degree from the École Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications in Paris.

David Hannion has been working for Medecins Sans Frontiers since 2002. He started in the field as polyvalent technical coordinator and since 2010 he is in charge of telecommunications.He has been part of the emergency response team in different outbreak such as Cholera, Ebola, earthquakes, flood, Typhon and many others.He has a University Degree in electronics and in engineering for local development and counts with a radio license recognised internationally that allows him to experiment in the radio frequencies field.

David has been in the automotive industry for 32 years in leading roles at OEMs, T1’s and business services suppliers.David works closely with the Inmarsat team to help bring all the benefits ofsatellite to automotive manufacturers and T1 suppliers. David has a long-history working with industry leaders in interim and consultancy roles on auto tech, IoT and M2M applications. Roles have included automotive M2M and connected vehicle implementations to IoT-focused smart farming and intelligent transport initiatives. David also has a strong auto technology M&A background and often works with OEM’s and T1’s on both buy and sell-side mandates. David is an early stage investor in several technology sectors including AI in the automotive domain.David has worked for a global OEM as aftersales director and many of the globalOEMs in the automotive aftersales business services & technology sectorsdelivering managed data solutions and SaaS platforms as the CEO of the UK-basedClifford Thames Group.

Doris graduated from the Law faculty of the University of Rijeka with a strong focus on European Private Law. She was also the initiator of the first Croatian chapter of Legal Hackers. After a year in compliance she continued her professional development at the European Parliament as an intern at the MEP's Office while pursuing her interests in IP&IT Law, Data protection and New Technologies.

Drew Sullivan is the Editor and Co-Founder of OCCRP and served as its first director. He founded and is Executive Director of the Journalism Development Network, an innovative media development organization with programs worldwide. He has served on the board of directors of Investigative Reporters and Editors and the National Institute for Computer Assisted Reporting. Prior to establishing OCCRP, he founded the Center for Investigative Reporting (CIN) in Bosnia and Herzegovina and served as its director and editor. As a journalist and editor, his teams have been awarded the European Press Prize, Global Shining Light Awards, Daniel Pearl Awards; the Online Journalism Award for investigative reporting; the Tom Renner Award recognising outstanding crime and corruption reporting and many other international awards. He has spearheaded investment in technology as a means to innovate and revolutionize investigative journalism. Before becoming a journalist, he was an aerospace engineer on the Space Shuttle Project for Rockwell International Space Systems.

Eddy Wagenaar is the CEO & Founder of the European Blockchain Federation: the first official European trade association representing the digital asset industry. Aim is to unite companies, local governments, and educational institutes within digital technologies. To shorten and simplify law-making, compliance, and regulatory issues. To break down barriers and unite parties despite obvious antagonistic interests. To warrant digital security. To enforce digital privacy. To teach young entrepreneurs digital responsibility. To educate decision-makers on letting go of old power. To unite Europe digitally.Mr. Wagenaar is a frequent speaker at international events and in the process of writing a book about Blockchain.

Since 2015 Enrique has been providing technical support on commercial proposals with a specific focus on broadband services and mobility solutions via satellite.Prior to joining Hispasat, Enrique worked as a researcher on Lidar Telemetry inthe Photonic Technology and Bioengineering department of the UPM and has beenthe Head of the Advertising and Media team of the Employment and Technologyforum SATELEC.Enrique received his Master’s in Telecommunication Engineering at the “Universidad Politecnica de Madrid.

Erik Childerhouse delivers applied technology projects to the most marginalised areas of sub-Saharan Africa using high speed satellite connectivity in Education, eHealth, FinTech and Agri-technology. He is most proud of ECO, a ground-breaking initiative to get Every Child (and community) Online in Africa in a sustainable way. Before his role at Avanti, he has worked for the British Government as Senior Trade and also had his own successful online business which I sold. Erik has almost 20 years’ experience in international project delivery and business development, he has worked over the world in 80+ countries building long term multi-stakeholder partnerships in both public and private organisations, and extremely diverse Ministries. He shows leadership managing complex, large scale, technology-based ICT4 Education & Enterprise programs leading teams which empower learners through the delivery of high quality education paid for by public and private corporations, the World Bank, Department for International Development, USAID and the Templeton Foundation. He is passionate and excel working on multi-tiered problems, creating solutions that have the potential for transformational, value-for-money sustainable change. Erik has almost 20 years’ experience in international project delivery and business development, he has worked over the world in 80+ countries building long term multi-stakeholder partnerships in both public and private organisations, and extremely diverse Ministries. He shows leadership managing complex, large scale, technology-based ICT4 Education & Enterprise programs leading teams which empower learners through the delivery of high quality education paid for by public and private corporations, the World Bank, Department for International Development, USAID and the Templeton Foundation. He is passionate and excel working on multi-tiered problems, creating solutions that have the potential for transformational, value-for-money sustainable change. He is a keen hands-on committed strategist and project manager with a can-do attitude, who works tirelessly to foster collaboration, integrity and excellent stakeholder relationships. He considers himself a European Citizen and is an extremely pro-EU. He is a family man with 3 wonderful children.

Expert advisor to key decision makers such as CEOs, Commissioners, Ministers and Presidents in the areas of ICT, innovation, startup, tech and policy-making. Today in his role as SVP Global Public Affairs, Fabrizio is responsible for the global positioning of FacilityLive: "The European Search Platform of the Future”. Fabrizio is a regular speaker at international events and he is often invitedas an External Expert by various EU Institutions. Fabrizio fulfills other roles such as Brussels Ambassador of Startup EuropeIndia Network, Member of the Steering Group and Skills Issue Leader of EuropeanTech Alliance (acting also as a Spokesperson during the launch at the EuropeanParliament in Strasbourg in 2015) , Member of the Steering Committee of the European Business Summit, Board Member of the European e-Skills Association. He is also co-founder and VP of Digit@lians - the professional network of Italians working in ICT. Also, Fabrizio is a former Board Member of ANITEC (the ItalianAssociation of ICT services and technologies Member of Confindustria and BoardMember of DIGITALEUROPE).Before joining FacilityLive, Fabrizio worked for the Think Tank of the EuropeanParliament, for the European Commission, and for Yahoo! in Dublin and inCalifornia. He is an Alumni of the College of Europe in which he attended after being awarded a scholarship by the Italian Government. His master thesis on "Web Search Engines and Sponsored Links: A Tale of Two-sided Markets?” was one of the first dissertations produced on the topic, and is currently available at the College of Europe's library.

Franck Boissière is in charge of IoT policy developments, with particular interest in interoperability, standardisation, cybersecurity, trust and privacy. During his 25 years in the European Commission, he has first been involved in a wide spectrum of research programmes (next generation Internet, high performance computing, research infrastructures, cyber physical systems and control systems), and during the last 10 years in many of the Digital Agenda and Digital Single Market policysuch as standardisation, e-Commerce, digital payments and cybersecurity.Before joining the European Commission, Franck Boissière was working researchengineer at France Télécom in charge of multimedia equipment, protocols andservices. He received his engineering degree from the French Ecole Polytechnique in 1983 and specialised as telecom engineer in Telecom Paris.

Fulvio Sansone has more than twenty years experience in the information and communications technologies, satellite communications, positioning, and location-based services.Fulvio is one of the owners and Chief Technology Officer at SatADSL, offering satellite broadband services in Sub-Saharan Africa. He also serves as Senior Advisor for ESOA. In the past Fulvio worked at Oracle Corporation, SAIT-RadioHolland and served as the first Secretary General of ESOA.Fulvio got his degree in Electrical Engineering at the University of Naples and a MBA from CUOA. He speaks fluent Italian, English, French and Spanish.

Gerald Reindl works as Programme Manager for the Austrian Business Service Portal (www.USP.gv.at) at the Federal Ministry of Finance in Vienna. Gerald Reindl started in 2006 in Brussels at Pleon Public Affairs and moved to the Ministry of Finance in 2008. As part of the Unit on reducing administrative burdens he dealt with the Standard Cost Model and the initiative on cutting red tape in Austria. The flagship measure of this initiative is the Business Service Portal.His current activities as deputy head of unit Multiprojectmanagement and Steering are mainly focused on rolling out further eGovernment services in Austria including the business life situation starting a business, open government data in eProcurement and digital government mailing. The Business Service Portal is also pilot partner in the “Once-Only” Principle (TOOP) Project, which is part of the eGovernment ActionPlan 2016-2020.

Organizing, guiding and enhancing work in, and between, organizations (otherwise) so that the workmanship of people, individually and in collaboration, leads to more pride and pleasure. And to develop continuously and meaningful (re) achievements for people and the organizations in which they work

Hans Jørgen Wiberg is the founder of Be My Eyes.

Homero Rivas, MD, MBA, FACS, FASMBS is an Assistant Professor of Surgery and Director of Innovative Surgery at Stanford University. He has been involved in Digital Health for many years and has founded and advised many Digital Health startups. He has conducted several research projects using wearable devices to improve operating room safety as well as medical simulation and education, augmented and virtual reality, and telemedicine with drones among others. He is a strong proponent of novel technologies in healthcare such as 3D printing, drones, artificial intelligence engines, etc. He is a co-director of Stanford’s massive “open online” course on mHealth, with over 20,000 registered students from all over the world. He is a Senior Fellow with the Center for Innovation in Global Health (CIGH) at Stanford University School of Medicine. Also, he is a founding member and Vice-President of the Wearable Technology in Healthcare Society (WATCH). He is a digestive surgeon and he is a Diplomate of the American Board of Surgery. Dr. Rivas has pioneered and led numerous state-of-the-art innovative techniques of minimal access surgery including scarless surgery, natural orifice surgery, robotic surgery, and more. He has been involved in minimal access surgery both in the U.S. and internationally, in nearly all continents, as a surgeon-in-training, a practicing surgeon, and also as a teacher of other surgeons. He holds an MBA from the Cox School of Business at the Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX.

Dr Isabel Van De Keere is the CEO and Founder of Immersive Rehab, a Virtual Reality healthtech startup that focuses on the creation and development of interactive environments & games in Virtual Reality that improve the effectiveness of physical & neuro-rehabilitation.

Isidro had his first taste of entrepreneurship at university, where he created a junior enterprise. After graduating as an Engineer from the Universidad Politecnica de Madrid, he set up his on software business in the area of engineering working with sensors, actuators, Geographic Information Systems and design tools before becoming a strategic consultant to high-level executives (CEOs of large corporations), mainly in the telco and media sector.

James Cemmell is Vice President, Government Engagement at Inmarsat. He is responsible for Inmarsat’s corporate level engagements with a wide range of government stakeholders. James also leads Inmarsat’s UK government supported emerging market partnership programmes, which presently include: a multi-year disaster response project with the government of the Philippines, a major fisheries traceability initiative with the government of Indonesia, and an eHealth project in North and South Nigeria. He has a Master’s Degree in International Development from BCID, an Advanced Certificate in International Trade Law & Regulation from the World Trade Institute (Bern), and is an EMBA Candidate at the Judge Business School, University of Cambridge. James is a member of the Advisory Board of City &Islington College, London’s leading STEM specialised College.

International advisor and programme coordinator in areas relating to literacy, the cyber wellbeing of children and teens and the protection of their rights, Janice is a public speaker, project innovator and author of a dozen books as well as publications for children and adults on the impact of technology on society.

Jo Deblaere is Accenture’s chief operating officer, responsible for leading the company’s business operations globally, executing Accenture’s business strategy and ensuring operational excellence company-wide. Mr. Deblaere is also group chief executive – Europe with overall leadership responsibility for more than 20 countries. In addition, Mr. Deblaere leads enterprise risk management for Accenture, working across the company to identify, assess and actively manage enterprise risks. He is a member of Accenture's Global Management Committee and chairs Accenture’s Capital and Investment Committees.

John Burn-Murdoch is a senior data-visualisation journalist at the Financial Times, where he uses statistics and graphics to find and tell stories on subjects ranging from politics and demographics to climate chance and sport.

Dr Juha Heikkilä joined the European Commission in 1998 and currently works in its Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology (DG Connect). For more than 11 years, he has been working in the unit now called Robotics and Artificial Intelligence, first as a Project Officer, since 2008 as the Deputy Head of Unit, and since May 2014 as the Head of Unit. The unit has been funding a multidisciplinary research programme on Cognitive Systems and Robotics for about 12 years, focusing on smarter and more flexible robots and artificial systems. In recent years, the annual budget has been between €70 million and €80 million.At the beginning of the current EU seven-year funding programme, Horizon 2020, the unit set up a Public-Private Partnership in Robotics, which brings together all the key stakeholders in the area. In this partnership the unit will invest up to €700 million via Horizon 2020 in roadmap-based research and innovation in robotics over a seven-year period. Previously, Dr Heikkilä was involved in computational and corpus linguistic research at the University of Helsinki, and he did a PhD in Linguistics at the University of Cambridge.

Juma El-Awaisi is a Pharmacist and HCP with a vast experience in business and management. After graduating from the school of pharmacy at the age of 20, Juma took a different path and moved towards business and marketing. He is currently CEO of Braci and has led the company to a valuation of over £4 million.

Kaja Kallas is an Estonian politician. She is currently a Member of the European Parliament elected from Estonia and belongs to the Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE).

Karim is a Senior Analyst in Accenture Technology and a leading member of the Blockchain practice in Belgium & Luxembourg, where he is the main technology expert and works on various groundbreaking projects across Benelux. He has been active in this domain since the earliest days of Bitcoin and has built extensive knowledge of Blockchain and Distributed Ledger technologies. Karim is busy building pilots that will pave the way for large production systems running on a Blockchain-Core as well as working on global technology standardization initiatives within the Accenture Emerging Technologies practice. His background is in Electronics Engineering and International Business.

Karl-Filip Coenegrachts is Master of Laws, specialized in European Law. From 1997 to 2000 he worked for the Belgian Ministry of Justice as co-ordinator for the European Union and Schengen.

Khadijat Abdulkadir is the Founder and Executive Director of Digital African Woman, a social enterprise focused on developing tech startups across Africa and Diaspora. Currently a Master candidate in Business Engineering and Management Science from Solvay Brussels school of Economics and Management, Khadijat also holds a double Bachelor of Science degree in Anthropology and Environmental Science.

Kumardev Chatterjee, 38, is a multi-awarded Innovation Luminary, Tech Founder, European Commission appointed expert on Innovation and expert on Entrepreneurship at the World Economic Forum.

Lenard Koschwitz joined Allied for Startups in 2015. Previously he was the senior advisor to a Member of the European Parliament and Spokesperson for Justice and Home Affairs. During his time in Parliament, he focussed on the data protection reform, cyber security and the Common European Asylum System. Further, he was involved in coordinating the legislative work of the Parliamentary Group and its the position papers on these issues. Lenard is a passionate European and a member of the European Federalists and the Europa Union. He studied political science, German literature and psychology in Germany and European Studies in Brussels. Lenard speaks German, English, French and Italian. During high school, he founded an online magazine and event agency for music and lifestyle.

Passionate about innovation, growth opportunities and previously a three-time entrepreneur, Lionel is a strong believer that reality is open and still in the making. He is a Manager at Accenture Strategy, bringing his innovation and mindset to management consulting to help companies create opportunities based on both micro- and Macro-level experiences of analysing, creating, planning and building successful businesses.

Lisa Talia Moretti is an award-winning digital sociologist and strategist with 10 years experience based in London.

Long Pham is a researcher of the International Energy Research Centre, University College Cork since January 2014, after spending more than five years with IBM in Vietnam. Her focus is on resident engagement for smart city programs, local policy development and regulation for technology adoption.