SPEAKERS

As a veteran of the mainstream entertainment and media industry, Christina Korp uses her experience to create and execute global marketing campaigns to promote space brands, create exciting projects, space themed products and inspiring educational programs. SPACE FOR A BETTER WORLD.

ETH Engineer and digital Entrepreneur. Co-founder crypto-mining in Switzerland based on renewable energy (Aq. Petawatt Group, 2018). Crypto community builder. Expert in hackathons and blockchain events.

Role of Export Credit Agencies in facilitating international business

"Initial coin offerings are valuable but need strong regulations"

"We can change 'it' through education"

"Digitization as the game-changer as it allows the producers to automate many of their trading and supply chain activities."

"The worlds last mile…rural villages and invisible consumers."

"In the financial services industry, we are witnessing huge and fast steps toward mobile and artificial intelligence, but the banking sector is still lagging, especially in the EU."

Simona Scarpaleggia, from Italy, has been CEO of IKEA Switzerland since May 2010. She is a passionate campaigner for all issues surrounding women's empowerment. In 2009, she co-founded «Valore D» in Italy and later «Advance - Women in Swiss Business» in Switzerland.

Kim Azzarelli, from the USA, is a business-, philanthropic, and legal advisor focused on advancing women and girls. Together with Ambassador Melanne Verveer she is a co-founder of Seneca Women and co-author of Fast Forward: How Women Can Achieve Power and Purpose.

Afsin Yurdakul, from Turkey, is a news anchor at Turkey's Haberturk News Network. From 2013 to 2015, she anchored and executive-produced foreign policy programs featuring leading domestic and international figures, and oversaw the network's international news coverage as chief foreign editor.

Preeti Sinha, from India, is Senior President & Glocal Convenor of the YES Institute a practicing think tank at YES Bank. YES Institute is one of the leading private sector global think-tank based in Delhi, with a mission to catalyze private capital into development and growth of India.

Özlem Denizmen, from Turkey, is an opinion leader for 'empowerment of women in economy' in many national and international platforms. She is the Strategist for Doğuş Group, one of the largest industrial holdings in Turkey and is on the Board of Directors at Doğuş Otomotiv.

Recently, Mr. Choundhy established PeakXV Advisors to identify investment opportunities in the energy, renewable, and commodity sectors.

Marten Roed is the Chairman of Maxi Shipping an international shipping companies focused on commodity logistic in the CIS and Black Sea region.

Steve has over 20 years of experience in energy, infrastructure, and innovation and is the Founder and CEO of Veriown Global Holdings, a distributed generation and micro grid service provider with a focus on electrifying the 1.2 billion people without access to electricity and banking systems in India and Sub-Saharan Africa.

Ernst Hafen is a leading geneticist and a promoter of the democratization of a personal data economy. He holds a professorship at ETH Zürich and served as its Presidenti. He is a co-founder of the Association Data and Health and the personal data cooperative MIDATA.coop.

Effy Vayena is a leading expert in digital health ethics and policies. She has a professorship at the University of Zurich and a teaching affiliation with Harvard Medical School at the center for Bioethics. She is the lead consultant to the WHO for ethical and policy issues relating to reproductive health, and assisted reproduction as well as on health research ethics.

Marcel Tanner is a global leader in public health research and epidemiology in low and middle income countries. President of Swiss Academy of Sciences and Emeritus Director of the Swiss Institute for Tropical and Public Health, University Basel and EPF Lausannev . He is the co-founder and former president of the Board of INDEPTH-Network.orgvi. Honorary Prof. University of Queensland Medical School, Brisbane, Australia and University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland.

Klaas Zuideveld is an expert in clinical drug development. At Roche, he transitioned from being responsible for the clinical development of Avastin, to leadership roles setting the strategic agenda in Oncology Diagnostics. He is currently leading efforts at Caris Life Sciences to develop the next generation of Companion Diagnostics.

David Haerry is the work package co-leader and member of the Executive Committee in the EUPATI-IMI patient project. He has been involved in the working group updating the CIOMS International Ethical Guidelines for Health-Related Research involving Humans and in several European and global research networks and research collaborations.

Dr. Haas assumed his position in 2013, having returned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs after five years as an executive board member of a Swiss private banking.

Stuard Detmer is acting Chairman of the Board of Nobel Oil Service, an Azerbaijani offshore drilling and services company based in Baku. He is an international executive with extensive experience in Russia and the Caspian region.

Ms. Ketevan Bochorishvili occupies the position of the Deputy Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia since 2012. Since then her main focus has been development of the investment policies and to facilitate investments into the country, provide research and analysis on Georgian markets and introduce investors to Georgian business and authorities.

Until last year Stephan was Group Chief Technology officer at UBS AG, responsible for architecture and innovation of UBS's information systems. Before that, Stephan used to perform the same role at Credit Suisse.

Eric Knight is the Founder and CEO of Knight Vinke Asset Management, a deep value investor and leading activist fund manager with offices in London, Zurich and Monaco.

Adriano is the founder of Descartes Finance, a robo-financial digital advisor bringing together the latest insights in financial theory, leading technology, and successful investment specialists.

Pierre-Edouard Wahl is the VP of Innovation and Blockchain lead for a leading global bank. After graduating from University of Edinburgh with an Engineering degree, he began working with virtual currency and built a marketplace that used closed currency to facilitate trade while lowering the cost of transacting on the platform.

Mr. Hammour heads Capital Guidance's Real Estate investments and operations in the US and internationally. As Chairman and founder of Capital Guidance's main US based Real Estate subsidiary, Madison Marquette, which focuses on mixed use and retail properties and projects nationally, he is responsible for setting the company's investment strategy and leads its growth and capital relationship.

Don Harkleroad is CEO of 'The Bristol Company', a private enterprise with interests in various industries, including real estate, food production and distribution, agriculture and natural resources, technology, retail, trade, and private equity and finance.

Mr. David Cassidy serves as the Chairman of Consolidated Energy Limited which is a leading global energy player with a world-class asset base of methanol and fertilizer assets.

English solicitor and New York attorney, member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and the LMAA, specialising in contractual disputes, commodities, shipping, banking and finance, civil fraud and international investment disputes.

Marc P. Bernegger is a Fintech and Crypto Entrepreneur. Since 2010, Marc is active as an investor focusing on fintech. He is in the advisory board of FinLeap, co-founder of Crypto Finance Conference and he is board member of Falcon Private Bank, Crypto Finance Group and Greater Zurich Area. Marc was awarded as '100 most successful people under 40 in Switzerland' by BILANZ.

Angie has been an active member of the Greek shipping community for the last 25 years. She currently holds the position of Executive Vice President – Crew Affairs and is in charge of monitoring the crew plans on bulk carriers adhering to sound manning practices and proper financial principles, as well as strengthening the company's affairs with crews.
Angie is an active member of WISTA Hellas since 1999 and President of WISTA Hellas since April 2014.

Despina is President of WISTA International and board member of various organizations like the Cyprus Shipping Chamber, the Cyprus Employers and Industrial Federation etc.
Leading international shipping publication Lloyd's List selected Despina as one of the Top 100 Most Influential people in shipping in 2017 and 2018 she attained a further credit as one of Lloyd's List's Top 10 Women in Shipping in 2018.

Don Harkleroad is a businessman, (The Bristol Company) lawyer, and commentator on economic trends, market forces, company development, and geopolitics, with a worldwide view. His wide experience in investment, venture capital and company management are transnational. He is a member of the Davos Circle, and The Society of International Business Fellows. His headquarters are in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.

CEO and founder at Kwambio. First additive manufacturing company focused on advanced ceramics and bioprinting. TED speaker and Techstars member.

Xavier Oberson is Professor of Swiss and International Tax Law at the University of Geneva since 1994.
He has published numerous books and articles, notably: «International Exchange of Information in Tax Matters. Towards Global Transparency», Edward Elgar Publishing, London 2015; «Droit fiscal suisse», Basel 2011, 4th ed (Helbing & Lichtenhahn); as a co-author, «Switzerland in international tax law», 4th ed., Amsterdam 2011 (IBFD Publications) and others. Since 2016 he has initiated a research on the potential taxation of robots.
He initiated and is the director of the recent LL.M. (Master of Advanced Studies) in Tax of the University of Geneva, which started early 2011.
Professor Oberson also practices as an attorney-at-law, member of the Geneva bar since 1987, partner of Oberson Abels SA, in Geneva, Switzerland, a law firm specialized in tax or commercial matters.

Alexander is actively involved in the work of the Foreign Investment Advisory Council in Russia. In 2007 WEF elected Alexander as Young Global Leader. In 2009 he was included in the top 100 leaders in the Russian Presidential Reserve. He is a member of the World Economic Forum's Expert Council.
Alexander is a member of the Organizing Committee of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, Gaidar Forum, Eastern Economic Forum, Expert Council of the Open Innovations Forum, and Public Council of the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation.
In June 2017 Alexander was elected Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Russian Anti-Doping Agency. Alexander supervises the EY Entrepreneur of the Year program in CIS. Alexander has over twenty years of experience in strategic development, client service and government and corporate affairs.

Sarah Hunt acts for a range of trading companies, charterers and owners in disputes involving in particular petroleum products, cement, coal, ethanol and soft commodities.
She has also advised extensively on the applicability of international sanctions, including US, EU and Swiss sanctions.

Passionate about digital transformation, prof. Antoine Geissbuhler, MD, an eHealth expert, leads the strategic transformation projects at the 2000-bed Geneva University Hospitals, the Digital transition of the University of Geneva, as well as a large telemedicine network active in 300+ hospitals in 20+ LMICs.

Luka Groselj specializes in international arbitration spanning a range of industries. Luka also regularly acts in proceedings before the Swiss Supreme Court. He further advises a variety of clients both in Switzerland and around the world on a wide array of Swiss contract law matters with a particular focus on the CIS, Greater China and Mediterranean regions.

Bryan Fok has practised in Beijing, Hong Kong, London and is currently based in Geneva. Bryan specialises in cross-border dispute resolution and complex international arbitrations, with a particular focus on joint venture and shareholders' disputes in the energy and finance sectors. Bryan is Hong Kong's Regional Representative for the International Chamber of Commerce Young Arbitrators Forum. He is also a member of the Global Steering Committee and vice chair of the East Asia Committee of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators Young Members Group.

Born in Tehran and completed his studies in France, Mr Cholley is the co-founder of CHOLLEY SA that produces High-end Dermo Cosmetics in Switzerland since 1989

Apart from his academic activities, Mr Hodu is a regular adviser to many governments and UN Agencies on trade, investment and international financial law. He is also currently the Director of Postgraduate Research and director of Master programme in International Business and Commercial Law at the University of Manchester.

Professor LU is columnist of China Plus. He has published numerous articles in selected Chinese and foreign journals and have participated in the writing of some books on various subjects including global governance, WTO, China's economic and trade policies, China's reform and opening-up and foreign relations. He frequently receives interviews by Chinese and international media including China CGTN.
In 2015 Professor LU was Professor of China Institute for WTO Studies, University of International Business and Economics of China (UIBE).
Before that, Professor LU was appointed as Counsellor and Head of Division for Cross-cutting Issues of the Permanent Mission of China to the WTO in Geneva, Switzerland.

Editor in chief and founder of Ship2Shore, since 1993 the Genoa (Italy)-based Angelo Scorza is an international economic journalist specialised in maritime, port, transports, logistics also cooperating with national newspapers and correspondent from Italy for several international publications.

Daniel Crosby is a specialist in international trade, investment and matters related to public international law for over 20 years.Daniel helps sovereign and business clients to achieve practical economic objectives around the world by applying and negotiating international agreements.

President of the Chamber of Deputies in the Italian Parliament in the Nineties, at 31, Irene Pivetti is now leading Only Italia Network between Italy and China.

Alba Medina Flores is a serial entrepreneur as well as an investor in global start-ups. Alba is shareholder and Commercial Director of Grupo Fame-Altozano, a private Mexican holding primarily comprised of car dealerships, real estate developments and financial services.
Alba has been an active member in over 18 boards that include Citibanamex, Consejo Michoacano de Negocios (first woman in history to become elected), Mundo Ejecutivo, Nacional Financiera, Forbes LATAM, and others.
Medina Flores is involved with multiple organizations for women empowerment worldwide and enjoys speaking in national and international panels as well as keynote conferences on women empowerment and entrepreneurship that include ASCOA in New York and the Global Women´s Forum Summit in Deauville, France. In 2016 Alba was selected as a Rising Talent of the Women´s Forum for Economy and Society and was named ¨Entrepreneur of the Year¨ by the Chamber of Commerce of the City of Guadalajara (tech hub in Mexico).

Head of Machine Vision Program for Western Switzerland / Data scientist at OPI. Previous researcher at CERN, EPFL and CEA laboratories. PhD in theoretical physics.

Education in Arts, after a first successful career in classical music switch to medtech. 1995 cofounder and CEO of OBTECH MEDICAL AG, sold to J&J, thereafter co-founder of Implantica.

Pietro Poretti has specialized in international trade law and policy for over 13 years. He served as senior legal officer of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and as counsel for a Geneva-based law firm. He currently works for the City of Lugano where he is in charge of economic development.

Mr Endriss is responsible for renewable energy and portfolio management at SESl energy company in Switzerland. President of the Board of Raiffeisen Switzerland. Cofounder of Swissponic agritech start-up.

Marco Gaia has a Degree in Atmospheric physics from the ETH Zurich University. In 2001 he joined the forecasting service at MeteoSwiss. Mr Gaia is Head of the regional Center South of MeteoSwiss and member of the Board of MeteoSwiss, the national meteorological service of Switzerland since 2008. Since 2015 he acts as deputy of the head of the domain "Analysis and forecasting".

Irina Nikitina is a winner of many international music competitions worldwide. Since 1995 she is the President of the Musical Olympus Foundation established upon her initiative in St. Petersburg.
In 2016 Irina Nikitina has started the Enigma Cycle at the TV Russia-Kultura: a series of 40 minutes long interviews featuring top world musicians.
She is laureate of the "Olympia" Russian National Award of Public Recognition and Silver Archer USA Award.
Irina Nikitina is a member of the Board of the Geza Anda International Piano Competition, President of the Associations of Friends of the Musical Olympus (Zurich, Switzeland), member of the Board of Civilizations Matter (Berlin) and member of Honorary committee of the German-Russian Young Leaders Forum "The New Generation". Since 2015 she is the Head of the Board of Trustees of the International Television Contest for Young Musicians Nutcracker.

Named as one of "Top 25 Women in Asset Management" by Asian Investor, Dr Fan has been with the Chinese SWF CIC for 10 years as a Senior Managing Director. Before that she was with Goldman Sachs for 11 years. She also won Industry Leadership Award by "100 Women in Hedge Fund" in 2015.

Robert has more than 10 years of building and designing IT Solutions: data intelligence, analytics, distributed systems, and also crypto-economics and entrepreneurship. He is recognized as a thought leader in emergent technology, FinTech and sustainable economy disruption.

Deputy of Prime Minister, Minister of Finance, Asgardia-The Space Nation. Mr. Shpilsky most recently served as the Principal/Head of Corporate Development at Oxford Sciences Innovation Ltd. in Oxford, UK.
Mr. Shpilsky also currently holds the position of CEO at Asgardia AG. He is a graduate of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles with a BS in Business Administration.
Leon Shpilsky has worked on investment banking deals, as well as in capital raises, international investment into high tech and innovation projects, and the expansion of businesses internationally.
Altogether, Mr. Shpilsky has more than 30 years of professional consulting experience.

Ainur Turisbek is a men's and women's wear designer based in Almaty. Thanks to her strong vision, aesthetics and understanding of quality the entirely self-taught designer has broken the boundaries of Kazakshtan fashion and now presents and sells her collections during Paris Fashion week and her creations have been featured in countless international publications. Turisbek is a specialist in meticulously crafted leathers and furs combining the energy of sub-cultures with timeless luxury. In recent seasons the collection has also grown to include menswear, jersey and wovens. In Turisbek's hands notions to the traditional Kazakh dress or decoration are always modern, often with a twist borrowed from military or athletic uniforms. Compared to many of her fellow "dark" designers Turisbek's message is always positive combining strength with warmth and fragility.
Doctor in law, Fashion designer of own brand "Ainur Turisbek".

Laurent Horvath is the Smart City manager and lead for the city of Carouge/Geneva in the European project Synchronicity including Helsinki, Antwerp, Eindhoven, Milan, Porto, Santander, Manchester. He was elected by the 120 cities of OASC to represent them in the board of OASC worldwide. He has an MBA from the Dallas University and a Master's Degree in Science from Xavier University, Ohio, USA. Born in Switzerland,he won the Basketball Swiss Championships in 1992 with Vevey.

Sergey Shumakov works at the Russian Television since 1990, as producer and director at TV Channel 1, Chief Producer of the NTV, Deputy Director of the VGTRK holding, Chief Producer of the TV Channel Russia. Since 2009 he occupies the position of CEO of the TV Channel Russia-Kultura.
He is a producer of many feature films, documentaries, series, informational programs and talk-shows.

Marcel Muenster is a serial entrepreneur, a Johns Hopkins-trained medical doctor, public health professional, and management consultant. He is the founder and CEO of Doctor in Your Pocket. An industry leading global digital medical concierge service, giving international travelers access to trusted local, virtual, and house call doctors around the clock anywhere in the world. In 2015, Marcel was a finalist for Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur of the Year Award. His work has been featured on Forbes, TechCrunch, New York Times, and other industry-leading publications. Besides his CEO role, Marcel also mentors companies as part of his Entrepreneurship Unplugged World Tour and engagement with Techstars. In his latest endeavor, Marcel founded The Gritti Fund, the world's first purpose-driven, and happiness-focused investment fund.

Monty C. M. Metzger, is an internet veteran and acclaimed thought leader on the future of digital. Monty graduated in Germany and in Switzerland - but he had been an entrepreneur since early on, as he found his first Internet company back in 1998 while still going to school. Then he co-founded several tech companies and co-founded a future research and technology consultancy with offices in Beijing, Tokyo, Munich and New York. Monty is a professional keynote speaker with almost two decades of speaking experience. He has been invited to many high-level conferences, corporate events and leadership workshops in Europe, USA and Asia.

As a former diplomat and possessing working experience in National Development and Reform Commission of PRC, Mr. He has handled and experienced a large number of overseas investment projects and accumulated rich experience. In 2009, Mr. He founded China Overseas Investment Fair (COIFAIR), which has been successfully held for 10 consecutive years and had great impact at home and abroad. In 2018, as the major initiator, Mr. He successfully established the China-Russia Regional Cooperation and Development Investment Fund, which was backed up by the two heads of the states.

Mr. Kotenev had a long and successful diplomatic career. Former Head of the Consular service of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he managed 240 consulates around the world. Member of the Consultative Board East of the Deutsche Bank AG.

H.E. Ghadiyali is a fifth generation construction & Steel manufacturing entrepreneur, which lead to his impeccable business acumen and as a CEO, he is involved in major businesss and strategic management of investment projects. H.E. Mr. Ghadiyali has also been involved in various Social entrepreneurship projects across Asia, India and Africa.
Such companies include UHAUL logistics, Fire fly Aerospace and Cinemoi Technologies in the USA while ING Robotics, which develops ISTAR level UAVs for both civilian and defence applications. Mr. Ghadiyali is a partner at the WDH corporation, and several large US defence corporations on several defence projects worldwide.

Early 90' Thierry was among the very first at that time to open the Black Sea markets after the collapse of the USSR. In 2003 Mr Beaupied joined Trans-Oil Int SA as head of trading. He has 30 years of experiences in International agri-commodities trading, seed crushing, farming and supply chain.

Marco is founding partner in CM LEGAL Studio Legale in Lugano, an independent firm in association with Mercanti e Associati. His practice encompasses all aspects of international taxation and business law.

Murat Seitnepesov has a university degree in natural science from one of the leading universities in Russia and many years of successful experience in trading and logistics, networking and long-term professional relationships in the regions and in the industry. 10 years ago, he founded the company Integral Petroleum SA, that became a successful player on the Caspian and international trading and logistics arenas.
Mr Seitnepesov is an ideological inspirer and a Chairman of the Organizing Committee of Caspian Week.