Susan O’Connor is an award-winning writer who creates worlds, plots, characters and scripts for video games.

She works with game designers, creative directors, and producers to bring story and gameplay together.

In 2009, Gamasutra named her as one of the top writers working in the videogame industry today.

She has contributed to first-person shooters, action-adventure titles, RTS, RPGs and open-world games in a variety of genres, including sci-fi, fantasy, horror, action, thriller, mystery and crime.

Her focus is on creating compelling story lines and complex characters in order to help studios and publishers find a wider audience.

Her client list includes Epic Games, Ubisoft Montreal, Microsoft, Take 2 Interactive, Radical Entertainment, Activision, Sega, Sony, THQ, and Vivendi.

Games in her portfolio have sold over ten million copies and generated over half a billion dollars in sales.

She has been a featured speaker at several industry conferences, including GDC, the Montreal International Game Summit, and the Austin Film Festival.

She is the founder of the Game Writers Conference, now part of GDC Online.

In 2010 and 2011, she was a nominee for Women In Gaming’s “Top Female In Design” award. 

In 2009, she shared a GDC “Best Writing” nomination (for Far Cry 2) with Clint Hocking, Patrick Redding, and Armand Constantine.

In 2008, she shared the GDC “Best Writing” award (for BioShock) with Ken Levine, Joe McDonagh, and Emily Ridgway.

Sandberg is CEO and Chief Creative Officer at The company P.

Christopher Sandberg has a long passion for scripted drama with rich audience participation, using broadcast, games, social media and events in truly immersive productions.

Sandberg is currently developing the international prime-time transmedial show 'Treasures' with Craig Wright (Lost, Dirty Sexy Money), with the European Broadcasting Union, Shaftesbury and partners.

Recent work includes transmedia consultancy for the 2012 International Emmy Award winning interactive episode for the prime-time show 'Endgame' (Showcase). Sandberg was Executive Producer and Creative Director for 2011 International Emmy Award nominated Conspiracy For Good (Nokia, TKE Imperative), with Tim Kring (Heroes, Touch). The project was also awarded two Banff World Media Awards same year. Sandberg’s first major participatory television drama series, 'The Truth About Marika' (SVT), received the 2007 International Emmy Award, along with multiple other international and national awards. Sandberg headed the 2009 production of Dollplay, with Joss Whedon (creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer) for 20th Century FOX Television. 

Before that, Sandberg created a participatory national digital TV-channel with TV4 in Sweden. The drama series 'The Spiral', a format developed by The company P, SVT and VRT, is airing in ten territories simultaneously in September 2012, starring notably Swedish star Tuva Novotny (Eat Pray Love).

MA in philosophy at the University of Ljubljana, diplome des etudes approfondies (DEA) in audio-visual research at Universite de la Sorbonne Nouvelle - Paris III and PhD in sociology (The Image of Thought) at the University of Ljubljana under the guidance of professor Slavoj Žižek.Writes on film history and theory, teaches at the University of Ljubljana.

He has published several books on film theory and translated major French authors (Lacan, Baudrillard, Deleuze, Badiou) to Slovene. His last book was called: The Image of Thought (2007).

As one of creative directors of Luna advertising agency (Ljubljana) he founded his own communication consulting company Korpus (in 2000) and became one of the leading political consultant in the region. From 2008 to 2011 as State Secretary at the Ministry of Culture he worked on the transformation of Slovene Film Center, media and national television law, interministerial projects of creative industries, permanent dialogue with the NGO’s and Slovene pavillon at the Shanghai World Expo 2010. He was the keynote-speaker at the EU Conference on The role of cultural activities in post-conflict situations (Brussels 2009), IFACA World Summit on Arts and Culture (Johannesburg, 2010) and Council of Europe CultureWatchEurope Conference (with Jeremy Rifkin, Brussels, 2011).

In November 2011 he coordinated a think-tank From challenges to changes (Bled, Slovenia), where Council of Europe and Ministry of Culture have gathered intellectuals and policy-makers to debate the cultural governance. Based on this work, Danish Minister of Culture Uffe Elbaek has invited him to join the task force Culture Team 2012 in order to find solutions for art and culture in the time of crisis. They were presented to European ministers of culture in June 2012 in Brussels.

In the autumn of 2011 he has returned to his own communication company Korpus to work as programme and political consultant for Zoran Janković’s Positive Slovenia that won December 2011 Slovene parliamentary elections only 7 weeks after being established with 28,51 % - but didn’t succeed to form the government.

He is currently contracted as spokesperson and chief communication officer to EU Office / EU Special Representative Samuel Zbogar in Pristina (Kosovo).

Kristen Taylor is Head of Communities, Al Jazeera English. From July 2012 until May 2013, she was Senior Community Editor and Velociraptor of The Huffington Post. Kristen has worked with foursquare, BBC America, Al Jazeera International, Global Voices, Superfly Presents and Roadtrip Nation developing content and community strategy for networked audiences. 

This draws on a decade of experience including social good incubator PopTech and the Knight Foundation, building deeply engaged communities online and on the ground.

She is the founder of Galvanize, a geolocative mobile application for friends to hide real gifts for each other, and the editor of Saucy magazine, a food + short story annual. She teaches Community Design at NYU's graduate ITP in the Tisch School of the Arts and has written for Fast Company, GOOD, and The Atlantic.

Her food photography is widely published online, and her doctoral research archive maps local currency, shelter, and food to network vibrancy.

Kristen is an International Speaker and Masterclass Mentor at KR8V Masterclass Series: Creative Leadership Edition.

Laurent-Paul Robert is an artist, film director, photographer and musician.

From 1987 - 1992, he was part of the Swiss art group Graffichik, exhibiting and performing internationally. While also working in broadcasting, he began to use media as a means of radical theory, and was later mentored by the cult director Alejandro Jodorowsky.

He developed a practice in 3D animation in the and became lead art director and senior artist for computer games in 1995, collaborating with Moebius, Philippe Druillet and Paulo Coelho. He developed a 3D/4D and real-time technique for architectural visualisation and also designed the first artistic (non-commercial) satellite.
He has been a foresight and innovation consultant to Ove Arup and Partners, providing real-time technology solutions for iconic architectures such as the Serpentine Pavilion.

As technical director and lead artist, Laurent has created innovative visual effects for TV advertising with The Mill as well as Hollywood films produced by Warner Bros., Universal, 20th Century Fox and Dreamworks, with Double Negative; these films won a string of awards including Oscar, BAFTA, VES and Palme d’or.

Laurent-Paul Robert is also director of Rubedo, an art practice and a think tank he founded with Dr Vesna Petresin Robert in London in 2005.

Rubedo explore the relations between aesthetics, complex geometry, acoustics and synaesthesia, through performance, installation and artefact.

The work integrates sound, space, moving image and narrative using customised digital and analogue tools and trans-disciplinary methods. It takes art outside the ‘white cube’ experience and explores sound in relation to space, time and user interaction. Rubedo use their ‘harmonographic’ technique of mapping audio visual data networks, as well as composition methods based on aleatory, emergent patterns and particle fields.

Rubedo have recently featured at the Royal Academy of Arts, Royal Festival Hall, Casa da Musica, Venice Biennale, Beijing Biennale of Architecture, the Critics’ Selection at Cannes International Film Festival and Vienna Art Week.

Their combined experience in art, architecture, visual theory, music, film, games, education, psychology, engineering and IT, allowed Rubedo to pursue research and development in adaptive environments, parametric modeling, digital manufacturing and bionic design.

Rubedo are an art practice and a think tank founded in London in 2005 by Dr Vesna Petresin Robert and Laurent Paul Robert who have collaborated since 1994.

Vesna trained in architectural engineering and fine art and earned her Ph.D. in 2002 for a dissertation on temporal aspects of composition in architecture, art and music.

She has worked as an artist, theorist, performer and designer.  Having produced international competitions that led to artists taking over military barracks across countries of Eastern Europe, she continued using broadcasting as a medium of radical theory, directing online actions and short TV programmes.  She also worked with Hypersurface Inc, an office for speculative architecture founded at Columbia GSAPP exploring digital design and manufacturing methods (The Moebius House, Hypersurface Interfacing, Hypersurface Architecture: The Age of Electronic Baroque), as well as with contemporary British artists Mark Wallinger and Jane & Louise Wilson.

An academic since 1997, Vesna developed multi-disciplinary courses and has lectured in architecture, visual theory, film and design, most recently at the University of the Arts London and at the University College London.  A research fellow to Cecil Balmond, the Deputy Chairman of Arup since 2003, she produced innovation strategies and co-curated the acclaimed exhibition The Frontiers of Architecture at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Denmark, bridging aesthetics, engineering, acoustics and number theory.

Vesna is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

Her publications include Power Movement Multiplicity Transformation, Perception of Order and Ambiguity in Leonardo's Design Concepts, Solutions for a Sustainable City, Radicalising the Habitat, award-nominated Dimension of Time in Architectural Composition, and Colour in Visual Culture.  With Laurent-Paul Robert, she published Distructuring Utopias, The Double Moebius Strip, Trans_Form: Form Generation Using Particle Physics and Cybercity - an Urban Matrix of the Information Society.  With Cecil Balmond, she wrote Inform - a manifesto on emergent aesthetics, and is currently writing on Quantum Space and Sound.

About Rubedo

Research and Development
Combining experience in art, architecture, visual theory, music film, games, education, psychology, engineering and IT development, Rubedo also operate as a think-tank providing creative solutions.

Their research and development in adaptive environments, parametric modeling, digital manufacturing, acoustics and bionic design has contributed to patents and projects including Serpentine Gallery Pavilions, Ebbsfleet Landmark, Oscar-winning Hollywood films, AV midi devices and the world's first non-commercial satellite.

Artist Statement

The work of Rubedo crosses disciplinary boundaries, emerging as a single experience integrating sound, form, movement and narrative.

Using cutomised media - cross-modal networks, allows expressing the cross-modal synaesthetic nature of our senses.

The work takes arts outside the 'white cube' experience and explores sound in relation to space, time and user interaction.  It is supported by the technique of multimedia mapping, referred to as harmonography.

Rather than putting together a sum of specialist views, Rubedo aim at connecting senses, concepts and media.  Bridging a variety of disciplines allows us to resolve problems and express ideas at any scale.

Just as Renaissance thinkers were also artists and scientists bringing attention to universally shared humanistic values, so today, in the time after the digital revolution, the role of the artist may also be an innovator, philosopher, engineer, humanitarian and social reformer.

Rubedo have recently featured at Tate Modern, Vienna Secession (Vienna Art Week), Royal Academy of Arts (with Brian Eno and Tom Phillips RA), Royal Festival Hall (with Scanner), Casa da Musica, Venice Biennale, Beijing Biennale of Arcitecture, Cannes International Film Festival and the World Architecture Festival.

Gerd Leonhard is a well-known Futurist and Author of 5 books, a highly influential Keynote Speaker, Think-Tank Leader & Advisor, and the Founder of GreenFuturists.com. Gerd also serves as Visiting Professor at the Fundação Dom Cabral (São Paulo, Brazil).

He is well-known as the Co-author of the influential book ‘The Future of Music’ (Berklee Press, 2005), and as the author of ‘The End of Control’ (2007), ‘Music 2.0’ (2008), ‘Friction is Fiction’ (2009, Lulu Publishing), and ‘The Future of Content’ (Kindle-only, 2011). His new book 'From Ego to Eco' will be released in 2012.


Gerd’s background is in music and the music business; in 1985 he won Berklee College’s ‘Quincy Jones Award’ and subsequently spend 10 years working as a professional guitar player, composer and producer. He then caught the Internet bug and became a digital media entrepreneur, serving as CEO with several Internet startups, based in San Francisco, for 7 years. In 2002, Gerd returned to Europe and started his career as Futurist, Keynote Speaker and Strategic Advisor. He now travels around the globe and speaks at many major conferences and events, company retreats, seminars and in-house trainings on the Future of Business, Sustainability, Environmental Policy and Climate Change, Media, Content and Entertainment, Technology, Marketing, Advertising & Branding, Telecommunications etc. Since late 2011, Gerd has been widening the scope of his work to include some of the most pressing ‘green’ issues such as sustainability and sustainable capitalism, renewable energy, climate change and global warming (see GreenFuturist.com)

Gerd is considered a leading expert on topics such as digital business models, the networked society, a sustainable business ecology, social media and social communications, TV & Radio 2.0, mobile content, innovation, leadership and entrepreneurship, consumer trends, UGC and peer production, copyright and IPR issues, next-generation advertising, marketing and branding, and recently the development of ‘green futures‘ scenarios. In 2006, The Wall Street Journal called Gerd ‘one of the leading Media Futurists in the World’.



Gerd’s keynotes, speeches and presentations are renowned for his hard-hitting and provocative yet inspiring, personal and intense motivational style. With over 1’300 engagements in 43 countries since 2003, Gerd has addressed over 200.000 executives and professionals, and is often considered a key influencer. His diverse client list includes Consumers International, Youtube, Nokia, The Guardian, Google, Sony-BMG, Telkom Indonesia, Siemens, RTL, ITV, the BBC, France Telecom, Orange, Deutsche Telekom, MTN, The Financial Times, DDB / TribalDDB, Ogilvy, Omnicom, the European Commission and many others.

Gerd is a fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts (London), a member of the World Future Society, and a visiting professor at the Fundação Dom Cabral in Brazil. A native German, he now resides in Basel, Switzerland.
 

Ariane Koek (UK) leads the International Arts at CERN - the world's largest particle physics laboratory based outside Geneva, in Switzerland since Spring 2010.

She created and initiated the laboratory's first arts policy, which includes the annual Collide@CERN artists residency programme announced at last year's Ars Electronica Festival, Linz. It was the first time that CERN had collaborated for the with a major international arts festival, and marks the 3 year cultural partnership between CERN and Ars Electronica, working together on the annual Prix Ars Electronica Collide@CERN international competition for a digital artist to win a two month residency at the laboratory and one month at Linz.

Prior to CERN, Ariane was Director of the Arvon Foundation for Creative Writing, and had an award-winning career as a BBC producer and director in both radio and television, working across arts, science and politics.  In 2009 she won the prestigious Clore Fellowship - an international leadership award for her work in culture. As part of the award, she initiated coming to CERN and has been there ever since.

Ariane also works as a creative producer, curator, writer and arts journalist, has been broadcast on the BBC and published in various international publications,

Her field of expertise is across the arts and the history of ideas, including science and philosophy. She lectures widely internationally about the art/science nexus, including later this September at ISEA 2012, is involved in many European consultations on culture, and chairs international conferences. Her career and work is dedicated to her  fundamental belief in the power of the imagination and self-expression to generate change and innovation beyond paradigms.

Ariane is on the advisory boards of various organisations which cross boundaries and make things happen in extraordinary ways. The arts/science festival, Pestival who were winners of the Observer ethical award 2010; You Make It - the innovative designer/maker initiative for unemployed women in the inner city of London in the UK; and the artist-led radio station Resonance FM.

Chris Bergstresser, an industry veteran is responsible for driving the international growth of numerous top-selling and highly acclaimed video games. With more than 20 years experience directing strategy and driving revenue within games, online and new media, Bergstresser is a visionary leader with proven abilities and a highly successful track record.

Most recently Bergstresser co-founded and led Vector Entertainment, creators of Vector City Racers. In this role as CEO, he led product development, fund raising, sales and marketing activities as well as overall corporate strategy. Vector City Racers saw incredible growth under Bergstresser’s leadership - over 500,000 registered users in 8 months.

Prior to Vector Entertainment, he was Senior Vice President of publishing and online entertainment at Atari, Inc. There he established, managed and executed comprehensive publishing, product and online strategies, as well as created the casual games group for the international publisher. He built and grew a dedicated and monetizeable online community from 500,000 unique visitors to more than 2 million in only six months. Revenue grew over 200%.

Prior to Atari, Bergstresser was the CEO of Gamer.TV, the leading producer of video game television shows for global syndication and online games. Under his direction, Gamer.TV’s syndication grew to 375 million households from 300,000 within just two years, generating millions in revenue.

Chris has also held key positions at some of the world’s top video game publishers including Konami, Climax (UK Games Development Studio) and Sega of America/Sega Channel.

Nicoletta Iacobacci is a seasoned multimedia and transmedia producer. In July 2012 she was appointed Director of Strategy, EBU. She began at the EBU in 2006 as Head of Multiplatform where she managed Eurovision TV and EBU’s transmedia activities and projects.  She was also responsible for co-ordinating and supporting the most interesting and innovative TV professionals in European public service media.  Nicoletta is also chief curator of TedX Transmedia in Rome.

From 2002 until 2006 she spearheaded RAI’s Interactive Factory and the activities of experimental content for Digital Storytelling and Interactive TV productions at various universities in Roma (La Sapienza), Firenze (Master Multimedia), Milano (Brera, IULM), and Torino (IED).

Between 1993 and 2002 Nicoletta led the RAI New York Multimedia Factory, as well as produced and co-wrote multiple TV series, documentaries and live events. In 1993 she created and managed RAI’s first website: planetitaly.it

Nicoletta’s background comprises graphic design, television producer, costume and set design for theatre and TV. She holds a Master in Communication Arts (Computer Graphics) from NYIT.

Tom Chatfield is the author of four books of non-fiction exploring digital culture.  His new bestseller will be published two weeks before XML Switzerland “Participation Culture”.

Most recently, How to Thrive in the Digital Age was published in May 2012 by Pan Macmillan, as part of a new series in association with the School of Life. It’s forthcoming in over a dozen languages and territories through 2012-13.

His 2010 book on the culture of video games, Fun Inc, was published by Virgin Books in the UK and Pegasus in the US. In July 2011, Activism or Slacktivism? – looking at new media, protest and the future of politics – was published by Vintage Digital. And 50 Digital Ideas You Really Need to Know was first published by Quercus in September 2011.

Tom is especially interested in the interactions between media, culture and public life, and in improving people’s experiences of technology in education, politics and art. As a writer and consultant, he’s worked with companies including Google, Teach For All, Mind Candy, BBC Worldwide, We Are What We Do, Channel 4 Education, Six to Start, VCCP, Red Glasses and Intervox.

His latest digital projects include design and consulting work on HistoryPin – a new way for millions of people to come together to share glimpses of the past – and lead writing and design for The End: an award-winning game developed by Preloaded for Channel 4 Education combining play and philosophical questions about mortality. He has also contributed to transmedia projects like the location-based Wanderlust app and the ARG Perplex City.

He writes widely in the international press, and is a fortnightly columnist for the BBC‘s technology site, BBC Future. He’s also an associate editor at Prospect magazine; a faculty member at London’s School of Life; and a guest faculty member at the Said Business School, Oxford for its Strategic Leadership Programme.

As well as regular radio and television work, his appearances include the RSA; authors@Google; TED Global and TED@Cannes; the Hay, Bath, LSE, and Edinburgh book festivals; the House of Commons; Games Based Learning; GameCamp; the World Congress on Information Technology; the London Book Fair; the Channel 4 Education conference; Science Foo Camp; the OpenTech conference; the Liberal Democrat, Labour and Conservative party conferences; Learning Without Frontiers; the Turning Festival; Intelligence Squared; the ICA; Digital Shoreditch; Thinking Digital; Digital Derry; and many others.

Marshall directs/produces a wide array of digital media projects and has been the Director of Online & Emerging Platforms at SBS for the last 5 years where he’s been responsible for the overall strategy and execution of SBS’s digital offering.

Marshall is passionate about creating original content projects that utilise technology to tell stories in new and engaging ways whether through innovative uses of content, form, function, interactivity and/or community engagement.

Projects that Marshall has worked on have won numerous international awards including more than 10 AIMIA Awards, a SXSW Award as well as numerous Webby and Digital Emmy nominations. Recent projects he’s particularly proud of include ‘The Block’, 'Goa Hippy Tribe', 'Africa to Australia' and '12 Canoes'

Prior to joining SBS Marshall produced projects in partnership with many of Australia's major companies and cultural institutions including The Australia Council, Telstra, Screen Australia, Qantas, The National Gallery and National Museum, The ABC and the SAFC.

Valentin Spiess is the Founder and Managing Director of iartinteractive.  Valentin is a qualified electrical engineer, has been working in the field of new media since 1993. At first he created media installations in cooperation with artists, including the internationally renowned VIA artists’ cooperative, and was the technical manager for various festivals and theatrical productions.

In 2001 he set up the company iart as an engineering office for the planning and realisation of media projects. In the same year he and a small interdisciplinary team realised the media for the Museum of Communication in Berne and then created the media effects for the Mercedes Benz Museum in Stuttgart. iart’s activities encompassed hardware and software development and the conception, planning and realisation of media. Today Valentin Spiess heads a team of 25 people who are specialists in the conception, planning and execution of media solutions for exhibitions, museums, architectural projects and outdoor spaces.

By means of the media design in exhibitions Valentin always aims at creating content that can be experienced with all senses. Specialising in audio-visual and interactive engineering for museums, trade fairs, presentations, exhibitions, events and architecture, he accompanies projects from the first idea to their successful realization. In doing so, he ensures the creative, fast and efficient implementation of complex projects. Regarding his work, Valentin sets the highest value on innovative, individual, customized solutions of high-quality, using the latest technical equipment.

Iart interactive’s recent works include: the façade and the interior of the Swiss Pavillion at the Expo 2010 in Shanghai; the Universe of Particles – the permanent multimedia exhibition at CERN; the new showroom at the VitraHaus; the permanent exhibition at the Swiss Museum of Transport, the Museum of Military History Dresden and the Historical Museum Basel. 

iart’s innovative audio, lighting and sensor technology is embedded in the 200 cushions that form the Coca Cola Beatbox at the London Olympics, enabling participants to ‘play’ Mark Ronson’s music.

Malo is Co-founder of Digital Art International (Digitalarti) – the leading international community and media portal covering digital art & innovation worldwide. 

His company, M21 Entertainment also publishes FilmFestivals.com and Fest21 – one of the world’s leading online resources and communities for film professionals and fans. M21 also publishes books on digital art, R&D and innovation. Malo himself is the author of 2010 Futur Virtuel, and blogs regularly at Digitalarti.  Malo also co-produces digital artworks with artists and creators worldwide.
 

Carlo Donzella has almost 30 years of experience in Digital Technologies, R&D and Innovation Management.

As an advisor to the Lazio Region of Rome, Carlo has recently been involved in the Futouring.it project which has created 6 world-class digital media experiences for 6 world-heritage sites within the Lazio region.  Crucially the project has focussed on 6 sites which are ‘not on the tourist map’ and which aim to increase tourism to regions outside of metropolitan Rome.

Beyond his role as an Advisor to the Lazio Region and Maltese governments, Carlo teaches the “Brave New Media World” course at the Master in Development, Innovation and Change (MiDIC) of the University of Bologna (Italy) and at the PopAkademie of the University of Mannheim (Germany).

A reviewer for dozens of international projects, he has covered various executive and consulting roles with many public agencies and private enterprises.  From 1993 – 1996 he was a Project Officer responsible for selection and execution of R&D projects on behalf of the European Commission.  Prior to this from 1984 to 1992 he was involved in the design and implementation of various Business Information Systems, in both public and private environments.

Carlo is a sought-after speaker, moderator, coach and content organizer, in international conferences on ICT & Media. In the last eighteen months he has been a keynote speaker at: Digital Taipei; Mobile Gaming Summit Malta; KR8TV! Asia; Heidelberg Innovation Forum; Future Film Festival, Bologna; and Futur en Seine, Paris.

His favourite subjects are: digital entrepreneurship, intellectual property, business models, creative industries, cultural heritage and new media. He’s a very active micro-blogger on Twitter with the nick @nerissimo. PeerIndex.com gives him an Authority Index of 60/100 (the same of The Economist). The “1000 Digital” list of the top 1000 influencers in Digital Media, rank him at 184th position (as per 06/11/2011).

Carlo studied Philosophy, Theory of Language and Computer Science at the University of Bologna.

Christian is the founder and CEO of tegoro solutions, an engineering office for the planning and realization of media projects since 2005. Graduated as a Post Industrial Designer at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland, he has been working in the field of new media since 2002 as he started with the realization of media projects for iart in Basel. Until 2005 he was head of interactive media at iart, realizing e.g. the media for the Museum of Communication in Bern, of the Mercedes Benz Museum in Stuttgart and the Swiss Pavilion in Aichi Japan during that time. Since 2005 tegoro solutions operates as an engineering office for the planning and realization of media solutions, including the development of hardware and software for state of the art media installations for museums, art and architecture.

Christian is an International Mentor at X Media Lab Switzerland "Participation Culture"
 

Chris Ziegler is a Director and digital artist of numerous international interdisciplinary projects in the field of New Media, Performing Arts, Education Architecture and Acting.

As a member of the EU‘s Dance Apprentices Network Across Europe (D.A.N.C.E.) he has developed a Digital Stage curriculum for Europe‘s leading choreographers such as Frédéric Flamand, William Forsythe, Wayne McGregor and Angelin Preljocaj to name a few. Currently he is the Associate Artist at the ZKM | Karlsruhe.

Aside from his role as Associate artist at ZKM, he is a visiting Assistant Professor at “Interface Cultures“ Department of the Art-University Linz (Austria) and a researcher in the field of “Scenic art and the Cciences“ at SINLAB in (Lausanne), the Amsterdam School for the Arts (AHK) and the International Choreographic Centre in Amsterdam (ICK Amsterdam).

Ziegler started his career in1994 at the Centre for Art and Media ZKM Karlsruhe with multimedia projects for Frankfurt Ballet and Goethe Institute. His interactive film installations, multimedia performances and scenographic works were then presented at International festivals including exhibitions at ZKM Karlsruhe, KIASMA Museum (Helsinki), YCAM Performance Centre Yamaguchi (Japan).

In 1996 he received the “New Voices New Visions“ award in New York-handed over by Laurie Anderson. In 2001 he also received the “Young Art and New Media Award“ in Munich and was nominated for the Monaco Dance Forum Award in 2006.

In 2007, Ziegler launched the first Dance Media Academy held at the Weimar Art Festival, which was also supported by the German Federal Cultural Foundation.

Jean-Frédéric Jauslin was born in 1954 at Le Locle (canton Neuchâtel). He studied mathematics and information technology at the University of Neuchâtel. After obtaining his PhD in Information Technology at the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETHZ), he worked in the private sector as head of IT at an insurance company.

In 1990, he was made Director of the Swiss National Library. He initiated a fundamental reorganisation of the library’s operating procedures, IT, collection conservation and protection. He also improved coordination with other libraries and specialised institutions at national and international level. In 2002, he became President of the Conference of European National Librarians (CENL) which brings together the directors of over forty national libraries in Europe. Between 1995 and 2005 he was president of the MEMORIAV association, which has the aim of preserving Switzerland’s audiovisual cultural heritage.

Jean-Frédéric Jauslin has been Director of the Federal Office of Culture since 1 April 2005.

Since Jean-Frédéric Jauslin has been at the helm of the Federal Office of Culture, the Office has notched up a number of achievements. Under his stewardship, the Culture Promotion Act, which establishes for the first time a policy of coordinated support for culture at federal level, was prepared. He introduced changes to the way in which the Confederation’s museums are managed. The Swiss National Museum was consequently granted independent legal status. Under the credo of promoting cultural diversity and supporting minorities, the Federal Office of Culture has conducted a policy of preserving national languages, which was validated by the adoption by parliament of the Languages Act. In the field of cinema and visual arts, the Office has put in place a policy of active promotion, which consists of national awards designed to heighten recognition and visibility of artistic creators at national level. In the field of cultural heritage, Switzerland has seen four new entries in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites, Lavaux, the Rhaetian railway, La Chaux-de-fonds – Le Locle and les Palaffites, a serial trans-national candidature led by Switzerland in collaboration with 5 Alpine countries at the heart of Europe.

After completing his postgraduate degree in history and civilization from Academy of Social Science in Paris, Nicolas Bideau began his career as a Director of the University theatre “le zelig” in Lausanne. He then spent three years in Beijing, to complete his postgraduate studies at the University of Beijing and worked as a Consultant.

In 1999 he became a member of the diplomatic staff at the Office for Economic and Financial Affairs of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) in Berne. From 2000 to 2002 Bideau worked for the Political Affairs sector at the Swiss embassy in New Delhi and Asian Affairs sector upon his return to Switzerland.

In 2003 Bideau was appointed as the diplomatic advisor to the President of the Swiss Confederation and Head of the Federal Department of Home Affairs (FDHA). He then became Head of the center of expertise for foreign cultural policy in the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA).

From 2005 to 2010 he was the Head of the film department in the FDHA. Since 2011 Bideau has been the Head of Presence Switzerland in the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA). In 2012 the Federal Council of Switzerland appointed him as their Ambassador.

Chris Deering has led multicultural motion picture video and computer game publishing for nearly 3 decades, initially as Vice President – International for Atari game consoles and computers, and subsequently as Executive Vice President and COO for Columbia Pictures International Video, and from 1995 to 2005 as President of Sony Computer Entertainment - Europe (SCEE).

At SCEE he led the team that has sold over 80 million consoles and facilitated the sale of over 1 billion games. Most of SCEE's original management team, set up by Chris, remains at the core of PlayStation leadership, now including the management of Sony's worldwide game development studios.

From 2006 to 2010, Chris served as Chairman of the Board for Codemasters, the world’s leading independent video game developers; and as Chairman of the Edinburgh Interactive Entertainment Festival.  He was a board director at Malmo based Wayfinder Systems, a GPS navigation software firm, before it was acquired by Vodafone in 2009.  Chris was also a board member of Malmo-based Sony Ericsson in 2004 - 2005.

Chris currently serves as Chairman of TRCMediaGroup Family Entertainment Ltd (Malta); Tangentix Ltd and is a Board Director at Geomerics Ltd.

Martin Zimper is head of a new field of studies at the Zurich University of the Arts, Department Design.  He established the bachelor programme "Cast/ Audiovisual Media" in 2007.

His students learn how to produce audiovisual content for online and mobile media (animations, web documentaries, webisodes, interactive infographics) and how to distribute content online to reach their audience. He cooperates with Zurich Film Festival, Swiss Public Television, Credit Suisse, RADO, ArtBasel Miami Beach, Publicis and Gruner & Jahr for multimedia projects.



He lectures on multiplatform storytelling. International lectures 2011: MEDIA Initial Training Conference Brussels ("New media - new profiles - new competencies"; Organizer and supervisor of the symposium "The future of magazines on the tablets"; ePublishing Group of German Association of print magazine publishers; Salzburger Medientag ("Social TV: TV as shared experience"); Eyes & Ears of Europe, Academy, 2-day-workshop about "Audiovisual Storytelling in a digital context" (Redbull Media House Salzburg); Workshop at the University of Applied Science Vienna, Institute Journalism and Media Management 2012: Solothurner Filmtage "First Steps Transmedia".



Martin Zimper holds a Ph D in communications and has a long and successful track record as programme director, managing director and co-owner of private radio stations and networks in Austria. Former editor for Austrian Public Television/ Entertainment departement. Produced script writer (Prime TV, TV movie and documentary) Published Author. Lecturer at Universities since 1993.



Award: Ludwig Erhard Award for Economic Journalism (Germany)

David graduated from École cantonale d'art de Lausanne in Stop Motion and Computer Animation.

In 2002 David started his multidisciplinary design studio ‘YOLK’ based in Zurich. Besides individual designs he works and creates for clients such as Swatch, GM, Alstom, Lapalma and Muji.

YOLK also develop their own line of products and devotes much of its time and resources in R&D projects such as digital cinema camera Y2.

Art Fabrication is one of David's passions. Contemporary artists such as Ugo Rondinone and Kerim Seiler rely on YOLK's many competencies and challenges to come up with innovative solutions for their sculptures and installations.

Geleyn Meijer is Dean of Creative Industries Media, ICT & Gaming and Fashion Faculty at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences  (School of Design and Communications).

Geleyn Meijer is an inspirational leader with a proven track record on innovation leadership in ICT-led Creative Industries. Together with leading Dutch media companies, SME’s and universities he launched the ICT Innovation Platform for the Creative industry (IIP/Create).

He represents the IT and Creative Industries in various national and international eco-systems on the future of the IT services industry and is expert in the Open Innovation Strategy and Policy Group, a EU-wide think-tank.

His interest is the wider development of creative thinking for societal and industrial growth.

Geleyn Meijer (1960) received his PhD in Robotics and Computer Science in 1991. He was partner of Logica and was Logica’s R&D and Innovation director until 2011. From 2007 to 2009 he was managing director of Logica’s NL Management Consulting unit, leading an international consulting practise on ICT and innovation.

He has extensive experience as director and board member of several large national and EU-wide research consortia with a focus on programme management, project selection and validation.

He was associate professor at the University of Amsterdam from 2007 – 2011 and guest lecturer at TU Delft and Erasmus University. He publishes regularly and is speaker on various conferences and in expert panels.

René Stettler is the founder of the Neue Galerie Luzern (1987) and the Swiss Biennial on Science, Technics + Aesthetics (1994). Both institutions are supported by the City of Lucerne, the Regionalkonferenz Kultur Region Luzern (RKK), the Swiss National Science Foundation, and private donors. The Swiss Biennial has been a forum for discussions of major topics such as Brain–Mind–Culture (1995), Liquid Visions (1997), Frontier Communication: Human Beings, Apes, Whales, Electronic Networks (1999), The Enigma of Consciousness (2001), Consciousness and Teleportation (2005), Consciousness and Quantum Computers (2007), and The Large, the Small and the Human Mind (2010) by internationally acclaimed speakers such as the British mathematician Sir Roger Penrose (2001), the Austrian quantum physicist Anton Zeilinger (1992 and 2001) the German chaos theorist Otto E. Rössler (2001), the French sociologist Bruno Latour (2010), and the Austrian-American ecologist Fritjof Capra (2010).

Stettler received his Ph.D. from the University of Plymouth for the thesis The Politics of Post-Industrial Cultural Knowledge Work (2011) under the guidance of Roy Ascott and David Turnbull. His interests include the theory of post-industrial cultural work, the signification, interests and aims embodied in cultural production touching on issues of cultural and scientific learning, alternative modes of governance of science and technology, the spatialisation and dissemination of knowledge, cultural workplace identity, knowledge politics, cultural policy, and the biopolitical production of knowledge. His areas of interest are the sociology of knowledge and the exploration of a new form of knowledge work for the humanities and the arts; (self-)reflexivity and non-knowledge, second-order approaches into cultural work practice, and the socio-epistemological-political responsibility of cultural work in the face of industrial society’s logic of accumulation, market rationality, and instrumentalism. In the past 12 years, Stettler has supervised and examined many bachelor and master theses at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts in Lucerne, Switzerland.

Manto is a Danish consultancy specialized in industry and business development in the creative and cultural sectors as well as tourism. The business areas include strategy & analysis, business development, effect assessment & evaluation and fundraising & project development. Clients include national and regional governments, municipalities, Danish and international industry associations in the creative sector as well as cultural institutions and creative companies.  Anna Porse Nielsen is the founder and CEO. Her experience comes from various positions in different ministries, organizations as well as management consulting. Before establishing Manto she has worked with export and internationalization, regional development, tourism and - since 2003 - with an exclusive focus on the creative and cultural sector and the experience economy. She has co-authored a number of books and articles on the experience economy and is an experienced key note speaker. Manto was established in 2006 and currently employs 6 persons. 

REG LAB is an independent not-for-profit think tank focusing on regional economic development. Members include a total of more than 100 institutional members in Denmark ranging from ministries to regions, municipalities, universities, clusters and business links. REG LAB is also operating Netmatch, a government funded support function for the Danish Innovation Networks (cluster initiatives). Bjarne E. Jensen is the CEO of the organisation. He previously worked as a consultant and researcher on regional economic development, particularly in the field of industry clusters. He has written numerous reports and guides to clustering and is an advisor to the EU, national and regional governments.

Natalie Tidey is a Recruiter for Double Negative Visual Effects, with the responsibility for finding the best programmers, developers and project managers for the R&D, Technology and Production departments, as well as the world’s top 2D and 3D artists.

Double Negative, located in the heart of London's Soho, is Europe’s largest provider of visual effects for Film, working on international renowned projects including The Dark Knight Rises, Inception and Harry Potter to name a few. Currently housing over 1,000 employees in London and almost 200 in Singapore, the company has grown rapidly from humble beginnings in 1998.

Graduating with a degree in Drama & Theatre Studies from the University of Hull, Natalie initially worked for musical theatre impresario Sir Cameron Mackintosh in London’s West End. In 2009, she joined Future plc, the international multi-media company, in a communications role, before joining Double Negative’s in-house recruitment team at the beginning of 2012.

Dr.Gohar Sargsyan is the EU/International programme director at IIP Create, the Dutch cluster for creative industries.

She is an experienced programme manager and business management consultant in international multidisciplinary environments both in public as well as private sectors focusing on ICT, digital media and creative industries. She holds an MBA degree and an MS degree in Computer Information Sciences from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), she also accomplished her PhD in informatics.

Gohar is an EU appointed expert for ICT and media innovation programmes since 2002. Recently she coordinated an EU study from Logica, now part of CGI ”OSI: Socio-Economic Impact of Open Services Innovation” in support Europe Digital Agenda and EU2020, The Barosso Agenda. Gohar is a founding member of Open Innovation Strategy and Policy Group (OISPG) run by the European Commission, an EU wide industry led think tank in support EU Digital Agenda.

Gohar is also a frequent keynote speaker/expert/moderator at International professional conferences and events and she publishes regularly in international scientific and business journals.

Michael Luda is the Head of Digital Entertainment & Technology at Saxonia Media GmbH in Leipzig since 1995. As the Head of Digital Entertainment & Technology he deals with various trans-media stories, developing contents and its formats for different platforms. He has supervised film productions and produced commercials for private sectors in television networks such as ARD, ZDF and ARTE, also documentaries for MDR.

Additionally he is responsible for the first multimedia App “Coffeeshop”, produced in central Germany, a mobile application including e-book, audiofiles, animation and film that will be launched in November 2012.

Aside from his role at Saxonia, Luda has written for the Medien Bulletin. He also teaches ‘Technology in Film Business’ as a guest lecturer at the University of Technology, Economy and Culture (HTWK) in Leipzig.

Roberto Simanowski holds a Ph.D. in literary studies and a Venia Legendi in media studies. He was a research fellow at University of Göttingen, Harvard University and University of Washington, guest professor for media studies at University of Jena, and professor for German studies at Brown University. Since 2010 he is professor for media studies at the University of Basel.

Simanowski has authored a book on mass culture around 1800 and edited a book on cultural boundaries as well as a book on the literary salon. He is the founder and editor of the journal on digital culture and aesthetics dichtung-digital.org, editor of three books on digital literature, and author of four books on digital arts and online culture. Among them: Digitale Medien in der Erlebnisgesellschaft. Kultur – Kunst – Utopie (Rowohlts Enzyklopädie, 2008) and Digital Art and Meaning: Reading Kinetic Poetry, Text Machines, Mapping Art, and Interactive Installations (University of Minnesota Press, 2011).

His current research focuses on the intersection of participation culture and digital media with special regards to the aspects of database and narrative.

Gert Christen is the CEO of two Zurich based startup incubators, BlueLion Incubator and Startzentrum Zurich.

He is also the head of the Department of Entrepreneurship at HWZ University of Applied Sciences in Business Administration in Zurich.

He supports the creation of new companies with innovative business models, mainly in hi-tech and multimedia industries.

At HWZ University he created a program where up to 300 students support startup companies each year.

His experience include 7 years with Nokia in the USA and South America, where he created Nokia’s commercial content business. As Nokia Switzerland’s Rollout Manager, he oversaw the network rollouts for Orange and Sunrise mobile operators.

Prior to his role in Nokia he was active in Radiofrequency Identification for over 10 years with assignments in Europe and Asia.

Christen earned his M.B.A. at Southern Methodist University’s Cox School of Business in Dallas, Texas, USA.

Marcel Vonesch is a Composer, Producer and Guitarist. Over the last 25 years he has wrote and produced various music from film soundtrack to jingles, new media productions to big studio sessions.

Today he is the Head of Computer and New Media at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Art, Department of Music. He teaches Computer and New Media courses to a few hundred students every year. Over the last 12 years he has gained wide experience in teaching many different courses ranging from “music and social media” to “remixing”, “cartoon music” to “orchestra simulation”.

He also teaches individual, customized private lessons and courses at different schools in Switzerland. 

Axel Vogelsang started his career as a typesetter, graphic designer and art director in advertising, before he moved into digital media design in 1997.

He received his MA in communication design from Central Saint Martins College, where he later began teaching in 2002. In 2008 he completed his PhD in Art and Design, which dealt with the relationship between text, image and design in hypertext networks. Axel also regularly worked as a freelance web designer and information architect aside from teaching.

In summer 2008, he became a research fellow at the department of design & art at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts in Lucerne. He is now the Head of the Explanations and Services research group.

His main research interests are in the area of visual communication, narration and explanation in digital networks as well as interaction design and changing literacies through digital media. He is currently working on a project related to the usage of social media for cultural purposes. 

Matthias Geering is the Head of Communication and Marketing at University of Basel, where he is responsible for public relations, marketing, international affairs and the alumni.

Geering has more than 25 years experience in the newspaper business and over 9 years in Public Relations where he was a part-time lecturer at the University of Applied Science Northern Switzerland.

His career in Newspaper began in 1983 as a local reporter at the Basler Zeitung and he was later appointed as their Editor-in-chief in 2007.

He launched a publication called Artinside to introduce the exhibitions of the most important museums of Northwestern Switzerland. Ten years after its launching day, Artinside is now the most popular art magazine in Basel with various partners in Switzerland, Germany and France. Artinside has also announced the launch of their mobile application in the near future.

During his career as an editor-in-chief, “Basler Zeitung was also awarded as “Europe’s Best Designed Newspaper”.

Stéphane Baril is a Creative Suite Design product consultant at Adobe and the author of “Comics Coloring“ (Eyrolles).

He studied advertising before joining The Academy of Fine Arts in Le Havre (France), which he graduated with honors for his thesis on cosmology and Taoist philosophy.

The idea of writing a book came whilst he was working for BDDP (Now /TBWA) and when he met Naïts, a comic artist who introduced him to colorization and realizing that there were not enough materials exist to learn about colorization.

Since the book has been published, it opened an opportunity for Baril to teach at the Istituto Marangoni – Paris (Design and Fashion school), where he taught Digital Design for Fashion Design and Fashion Styling students.

Baril is convinced about the mutual benefit of sharing with others. One of the many reasons why is pro-active on the web and developed software extensions to help users to do different tasks in colorization, frame-by-frame animation and so on.

Frédérique Lemerre is in charge of events and services at Fonction:Cinéma, a professional film association based in Geneva.

She has previously worked as Communication Manager at the Parisian association Silicon Sentier, which has fuelled the booming digital economy and actively participated in the emergence of a digital ecosystem in the Ile-de-France region. She also worked as  journalist in Budapest for 5 years and a film production assistant in Paris.

Danick is a serial entrepreneur and sought after Innovation Advisor .  He founded the worlds first electronic book scanner (4DigitalBooks) in 1998, and was awarded the Wall Street Journal Innovation Award in 2001.  His first customers were IBM and Stanford.  He went on to become Senior Project Manager at Valtronic SA, developing innovative medical implantable devices, and then the Business Manager of the Economic Development Agency of Neuchatel's Canton, responsible for Medtech/Biotech.

In 2008 he founded DBS, a high-end audio systems company with audio legend Mark Levinson which launched in Switzerland, Italy, Russia and the USA.

He is now the Innovation Advisor in Micro & Nano technologies at Alliance EPFL and the Swiss Innovoation Promotion  Agency where he brings universities and companies together to innovate.

Yan is a social media strategist, creative content editor and community manager with a brand marketing and communications background.

After a classical career in FMCG and Broadcast Media brand marketing management, Yan switched to Digital and Social Media management in 2008. Since then he develops, coordinates and manages social media strategies, architectures, processes, guidelines, content and communities.

This includes Montreux Jazz Festival and Radio Télévision Suisse, amongst many.

He is currently working at EPFL.

Additionally he also teaches at HEC Lausanne, HEG and HEMU, coaches, talks and consults.

Martin is the founder and energy behind the highly acclaimed Swiss Mobicamp initiative.

He shares his mobile industry insights, international contacts and intimate knowledge of the value chain with aspiring entrepreneurs, start-ups, corporates and investors across numerous technology domains throughout Switzerland. 

Over the last 14 years Martin has worked with and for HTC, Nokia, Samsung, Skype, Sony Ericsson and Symbian.  

Before relocating to Switzerland in Sept 2011, he was a member of the core team at Skype which launched Skype’s mobile presence, building towards the 3rd most downloaded app in the world in 2011 and grew revenue from $10m to over $200m in 18 months. 

He is known among his peers for having an enduring reputation & natural talent for creating, fostering & nurturing communication and contact between individuals and companies.

Martin lives in Zurich and has a Business Studies degree from the University of the West of England.

Nadine Luque was born in Spain and educated in England where she graduated in law and finance. In 1991 Nadine moved to Madrid where she embarked on her film career in international sales at the Quincentennial Commission, representing over 200 feature films, documentaries and television programming from Spain and Latin America. Nadine then joined the Media Business School, a professional training, research and development organisation where she became deputy director responsible for training, research and publications. 

On her return to London in 1995 she briefly worked with Lord Puttnam on projects such as the World Learning Network, and in 1996 Nadine co-founded and managed another training initiative, Arista Story Editor Workshops with the support of the EU’s Media Programme, British Screen Finance and the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), and geared to developing story editing skills for film producers, writers and script editors. 

In 1997, Nadine established the London office of Lolafilms UK, the English language production and international sales division of Spain’s leading independent production company, Lolafilms. As Vice President of Development and Production she oversaw the development, financing and production of a slate of films including John Malkovich’s critically acclaimed THE DANCER UPSTAIRS starring Javier Bardem and Laura Morante; Susan Seidelman’s GAUDI AFTERNOON with Judy Davis, Marcia Gay-Harden and Juliette Lewis; Manolo Gomez Pereira’s THE THREE TENORS with George Hamilton, Joe Mantegna and Danny Aiello; Fernando Trueba’s SHANGHAI SPELL and RAIN directed by Katherine Lindberg and executive produced by Martin Scorsese. 

Nadine founded Viceversa Films in 2002 with a slate of feature film projects in development. In 2003, Nadine co-produced Gabriele Muccino’s RICORDATI DI ME (Remember Me) with Fandango (Italy) and Buena Vista in France. In 2004 Nadine put in place options for the publication of six Sudoku books in Italy. These were published with great success through Fandango Libri. In 2006 Nadine produced SILK, director Francois Girard’s (The Red Violin) screen adaptation of Alessandro Baricco’s best-selling novel, starring Keira Knightley and Alfred Molina. This $25m co-production with Japan, Canada, and Italy was distributed worldwide through New Line Cinema, and A THROW OF THE DICE with the British Film Institute and Fandango, with an original composition by Nitin Sawhney and performed by the London Symphony Orchestra. The film was released theatrically and as ‘live’ performances in the UK (Barbican and Trafalgar Square), the US, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, France, Italy and elsewhere. Between 2003 and 2006 Nadine was also Director of the Film Business School, a Media Business School training initiative geared to film producers. 

In 2007 Nadine founded ZINI, intended as a global online channel ZINIFILM.TV and rights aggregator for independent films, Zini International Distribution. At present ZINI has a catalogue of over 600 independent film titles under license from producers, sales agent and distributors and which will be commercialised across a number of platforms offering VoD content. The business plan has received financial support from NESTA and the UK Film Council. As a result Nadine has developed considerable knowledge of the digital media sector, the impact and opportunities for the global distribution and exploitation of independent films. 

In 2009 Nadine coproduced Michael Radford’s first Spanish language film ‘LA MULA’. 

Nadine has been a jury member of the Berlin based Nipkow Programm since 1993, a fellowship programme dedicated to supporting European audiovisual professionals through grants, placements and training in Germany. 

Recently, Nadine re-joined the Media Business School as Activities Director. 

After obtaining a Master‘s degree in Anthropology and Film Studies, Michel Vust worked for several film festivals in Switzerland, including the Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival, which he directed from 2005 to 2011.

During those years, he also curated several exhibitions and issued numerous papers on Swiss cinema, video games and visual effects aesthetics and economy. He also directed Imaging the Future, a symposium linking arts and technologies. He recently joined Pro Helvetia, the Swiss Council for the Arts as their project manager.

Risa Cohen was born and raised in New York City, Risa started her career in entertainment as a Playwright and Producer. After finishing art school, she moved to Paris and began working in multimedia and videogames. First as a designer and localization manager, then Producer, Risa has worked for various companies such as Kalisto, Infogrames, Exmachina Image and Disney.

She has also worked in collaboration with Square, Namco, NEC, Microprose, Universal studios, Warner Bros, Moulinsart and ABC television. Her credits include: Dark Earth, Loons: fight for fame, Martian Alert, Martian Revenge, Lucky Luke: on the Dolton trail, Smurf Adventure, Loony Tunes racing, Adventures of Tintin, Dead to Rights; Piglets BIG Game, and Alias. She has won awards including Francis Newcomb 1997, Grant for Best play, Best voice recording 2000, Dark Earth and Piglets BIG Game in 2002 and Best kids game, PS2 Magazine USA in 2003.

As an authority in Europe on 3D animation and 3D special fx, Risa speaks at conferences throughout Europe and is a visiting professor at the Institute International Multimedia in Paris 3D production and video games. She spent the past two years working as a videogame specialist for Film Finance inc, responsible for evaluating and monitoring projects for completion bonding. She has returned to production, as a consultant working closely with development studios to solve critical problems and finish games in production with high quality on time.

Anna Hill,  Founder of Space Synapse,  is an innovator, artist  and creative space entrepreneur.

The mission of Space Synapse Systems Ltd is to develop a niche creative portfolio of next generation cutting edge, space education and sustainable design products.

Fusing futuristic innovation with a global environmental vision, Space Synapse brings the unique experience of space to both private and global markets, preparing the next generation for the challenges that they face in the 21st century.

In conjunction with their commercial and philanthropic partners, Space Synapse will share the space experience using frontier space technologies with millions of people on earth, bridging economic gaps between future space frontier technology and society in general.

Their revolutionary sustainable design products enhance and define a new approach in education, environmental awareness, space simulation and edutainment.

Evert Ypma is a design researcher, lecturer and conceptual strategist. He consults public and private sector with design strategies, identity and positioning questions. This comprises global financial corporations, local, national and supra-national governmental and cultural institutions. Between 2005 and 2010 he has lead an international oriented postgraduate research programme on identity, design and representation (Multiplicity & Visual Identities) at the Zurich University of the Arts. Furthermore he was educator at the Basel School of Art and Design MA programme and regular guest lecturer at international universities, expert meetings and business seminars. In 2011 he has been research fellow and consultant at the University of Technology, Sydney. 

Evert has been member of the Cumulus VisCom working group and he is on the advisory panel of Iridescent, Icograda Journal of Design Research and ambassador of the Icograda, global INDIGO initiative for indigeanous design. 

Currently he initiates his PhD research. Since April 2012 Evert has become head of programme of the transdisciplinary study programme ‘Camera Arts’ at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences of Art and Design. This focus on photography, visual culture, design and transmedia storytelling.

Evert Ypma is based in Zurich and Amsterdam, and linked to Singapore and Bangkok.

Raphael Rogenmoser is the Project Manager in the Department of Pop and New Media at Migros Culture Percentage.

He is the Curator of the Digital Brainstorming Project and Head of Communications and Marketing for the Pop Music Festival m4music.

He is also responsible for the subsidies of Migros Culture Percentage in the field of Pop Music and New Media. 

Sylvain Gardel is the Head of Impulse programmes at Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia. The Programmes Sector is responsible for administering the branch offices abroad and for implementing the exchange and impulse programmes. Impulse programmes help to  promote cultural diversity and stimulate the development of cultural promotion in Switzerland. Sylvain directs since 2009 the art councils „GameCulture“ programme, dedicated to games as an artform which has been exported to several countries, e.g Germany, France, UK, United States, China and Russia.

David is a Senior Research Project Manager at the University of Bath (The Sunday Times UK University of The Year 2011 / 12)

David leads the management team for the Centre for Digital Entertainment combining the expertise of the Media Technology Research Centre at the University of Bath’s Department of Computer Science and the National Centre for Computer Animation at Bournemouth University.  The Centre places high calibre research students with leading Digital Media companies from the Film, Animation, Computer Games and Visual Effects industries, including Double Negative, Aardman Animations, EA Games and Disney Interactive.

The Centre was pleased to welcome X Media Lab in March 2012 to the City of Bath, which will also host the Ex-Play Games Festival this November.

Following a career in engineering and technology David now manages multi-million pound research projects and is very active in developing future projects with both industrial and academic partners.

In 2010 David secured a £2.2M EU funded project to integrate metrology research with industry supported by leading companies such as Airbus and Rolls-Royce, which has also led to new 3D scanning techniques of interest to creative, heritage and museum sectors.

In 2011 David led the University of Bath’s partnership in a £4M Arts and Humanities Research Hub to bring greater digital media impact to Arts, Heritage and Humanities projects, which is proving highly successful.

David acts as an advisor and mentor to the University’s Student Entrepreneurs and gives presentations to visiting International delegations at Bath’s Innovation Centre.  David is currently working with digital creative networks to develop the rapidly growing and exciting media businesses in Bath and across the South West of England. 

Thomas Lehmann is the Director of the New Media Centre at University of Basel since October 2001. The New Media Centre produces and designs creative media solutions for teaching, science and communication to convey complex contents. In 2008 it produced an award-winning interactive science – thriller reverse-forward as an alternate reality game that sends its user on a treasure hunt leading through Basel and the history of sciences. The AR is still played throughout German and Swiss schools until today.

As a director, Lehmann creates and directs PR and scientific video contents for the University of Basel. He also teaches classes in film theory and media production within the Communication and Media Studies at the University of Basel.

His broad experience in communication of scientific contents (within the university and the broadcast sector) also expands beyond his current role. In the past Lehmann worked as an author in a German science broadcast show, Quarks & Co; the director of a weekly trilingual commercial spot at Mobile Fernsehstudio Basel and the Head of video-facility at the University of Basel.

Lehmann has a doctorate in literature and film studies and a MBA from the Berlin School of Creative Leadership. 

Caroline is the Head of Product and Marketing at iTaste.com, a social network for food lovers, where people can share their taste and enrich their food experiences. She is responsible for all product developments and marketing initiatives. She also ensures that iTaste is a community with impartial reviews with no censorship and sponsored content, iTaste is all about user generated content and trusted information.

Today the team is proud of the community's level of engagement and is ready to roll-out the iTaste.com experience to new geographies.

Aside from her role at iTaste.com, Caroline is a web strategist, digital accelerator and startup advisor. She helps various companies that face challenges in a fast-moving digital environment.

Sabiene Heindl recently left Australia's National Broadband Network Co as the Senior Advisor – Stakeholder Relations advising across a number of industries (including the arts) on the potential of the NBN. She is about to embark on the IE Brown Executive MBA from Switzerland. She is an experienced intellectual property lawyer with over 12 years experience advising the content industries, having been a spokesperson for the Australian Content Industry Group and the General Manager of Music Rights Australia. She has also pioneered education and communication initiatives around respect for creativity. Sabiene has a First Class Honours in Law and International Business and spent close to nine years at law firm, Allens Arthur Robinson as a Senior Associate. Sabiene also worked in the European Commission in Brussels on content, copyright and competition issues.

Patrick Hofer is the founder of tweakfest, a Digital Culture and Lifestyle Festival for the Swiss creative industries in 2004. He also runs a consulting firm in the field of Tech-PR and Social Business Engineering enabling organizations to manage their stakeholders and adopt contemporary innovation & collaboration cultures.

For 20 years Robi Müller has worked as an organizer and producer in the field of culture and event management.

In 1992 he co-founded and directed FUMETTO, the Comix-Festival in Lucerne until 1999.

In 2001, he took a role as the Head of Communications and Marketing at the Lucerne Theater for over three years.

Since then he has worked as an independent project manager, consultant, communicator and producer for various clients and events such «shape»

Currently, Robi is the General Secretary at the Swiss Animated Film Group based in Zürich.

is Co-Director of the ‘Swiss artists-in-labs’ program (www.artistsinlabs.ch) at the Institute for Cultural Studies in the Arts (ICS) at the Zurich University of the Arts and curator of the international exhibition ‘Think Art – Act Science (www.thinkartactscience.com)’.

After her studies in business administration, she got a degree in organizational development and group dynamics (DAGG) and a Master of Advanced Studies in Cultural Management at the University of Basel. She specializes in interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary creative processes and practices and in the development of inclusive and participatory outreach concepts for a general public.

Since 2003 the ‘Swiss artists-in-labs’ programprovides a framework for artists and scientists to investigate relations among contemporary art practice, science and society. 

‘Think Art – Act Science’enables a broader public to comprehend the exchange of perspectives and ideas by making scientific issues accessible through artistic interpretations.

Robert has contributed to the creation of several start-ups and brought major technology innovations to the market. He is the author of more than 25 patents in the fields of advanced man-machine interaction and intelligent social networking.  Recently, he worked in the domain of “Big data” and more specifically on the social graph of company interactions through the analysis of their DNS traffic.

Today, he is an Innovation Advisor at Alliance-EPFL in Information Technologies. In the past, he has worked at Kudelski Group, Swisscom Innovations and at Verisign Inc. 

“My belief is that participative culture is and will be a major inspiration source for disruptive business innovations.”

François Chalet has been working as an independent illustrator, animator, director and visual artist since 1997. He is the Head of Studies in Bachelors of Animation at Lucerne University of Art & Design and is a regular jury member and speaker at international conferences and festivals.

Christian Walter is the Managing Partner of swiss made software, a label that promotes software, which the main components were produced in Switzerland.

Walter was born in Germany and moved to Switzerland in 1998 to complete his degree in Economics at the University of Basel. After completing his Master he worked in Consulting and Quality Management. After several years his passion for journalism and the IT industry led him to become a journalist in IT for the local business publication Netzwoche. Since then his work has been featured in several IT journals in Switzerland.

In 2010 he left Netzwoche to head up operations at swiss made software.

Isobel is an award winning artist and animator. Her multidisciplinary practice spans short film, interactive installation, cross-platform performance, music, painting, photography and illustration. Her most recent achievements include winning the 2010 Premier of QLD's National New Media Art Award, being given an Award of Distinction at the 2012 Ars Electronica Festival and publishing a children's book with Thames & Hudson.

Alexandre Delidais joined the EPFL Vice-Presidency for Innovation in 2010 as Director Operations & development of the Metamedia center, to incubate and transfer technology in the Media/IT field. He is also responsible for the digitization of the Montreux Jazz Festival 47 years of archives. Prior to joining EPFL, he spent 8 years in the Kudelski group starting in 2002 as Head of R&D, embedded software. In 2005 he became Project Manager in the corporate business development team to manage M&A initiatives and develop new opportunities in home multimedia and Web 2.0 applications. In 2009, he moved to the CTO office to incubate and further develop the “Widget initiative” to converge the TV experience with Internet services and social networks. Prior to joining the Kudelski group, Delidais spend 3 years in the startup Lysis as Head of Engineering in charge of InteractiveTV product development. He also worked 3 years in service companies with a strong focus in telecom network management. After 15 years of experience in the technology and software development area, Delidais would be considered an expert in building and incubating new opportunities.