WORLD FREE DIVING CHAMPION
Alessia is world freediving champion. Passionate about diving since the age of 13, since 2012 she is a member of the national team with which she won 13 gold and 5 silver medals at the world championships. She holds, among others, the world record of free immersion, -96 meters and the world record of CWT, - 107 meters (Long Island, 2018). In 2018 she received from the Coni the Golden Collar of athletic value, the highest honor of Italian sport.
PHOTOGRAPHER
Nikon Ambassador and National Geographic magazine photographer, has travelled to more than 100 countries where she has witnessed civil unrest and violence, surreal beauty, and the enduring power of the human spirit. Throughout the years, Ami has lived in mud huts and war zones, documented wildlife, contracted malaria, and donned a panda suit— keeping true to her belief in the importance of “living the story.” Instyle Magazine named her one of fifty “Badass Women”. She has garnered prestigious awards including multiple prizes from World Press Photos, the first Magnum Inge Morath grant and the Daniel Pearl Award for Outstanding Reporting. Her first book, “Panda Love: The Secret Lives of Pandas”, was published in 2018. She is also a founding member of Ripple Effect Images and is on the Photojournalism Advisory Council for the Alexia Foundation. Based in Montana, she lectures for the National Geographic live series, and she frequently gives workshops in the Americas, Europe, and Asia.
VR ARTIST
Anna is a French-Russian artist known for her unique virtual reality painting style. Her passion for technology and her art has led her to collaborate with the biggest companies in the world and to perform live in exclusive locations such as the Louvre in Paris. After graduating from the School of Fine Arts in Orienburg, Russia, Anna worked as a designer, illustrator and art director in a Russian publishing house, but she never stopped studying and improving her art. To define her technique, she adopted the term "Volumism" to indicate the property of this technology that allows to create any volume by breaking the law of gravity. Anna is also founder of Anna's Atelier, a non-profit organization that aims to promote fine arts through courses, internships and exhibitions.
ANTONIO CASINI
BIOLOGIST
Antonio is a researcher at CIBIO (Center for Integrative Biology) of the University of Trento. He graduated in Molecular Biology at the University of Pisa, completing his education with a PhD in Biomolecular Sciences at the University of Trento. During his research he dealt with HIV and more recently genomic evolution through CRISPR-Cas9 technology, as well as gene therapy. Together with his colleagues, he developed evoCas9, ultra-precise molecular scissors for genome editing. For these discoveries he was awarded several scientific prices. He is one of the founders of Alia Therapeutics, a startup incubated at the University of Trento, which aims to develop innovative therapies based on the CRISPR-Cas9 system for the treatment of previously incurable genetic diseases.
Acrobat and contemporary circus artist
Daniele is an acrobat and contemporary circus artist. He is part and founder of the contemporary circus company MagdaClan, which combines the traditional circus imagination with the innovation of a contemporary, poetic and multiform language. Specialized in acrodance and poetic juggling, since childhood he began to develop a passion for every kind of game, involving everyone who is around him in his jokes. At the age of 16, he began to focus on circus. He enrolled at the Scuola Flic of Turin and experimented with many circus disciplines, which he used in compositions and collective performance. Last January he took part in the Italia's Got Talent show with a delicate and poetic dance performance, close to street art.
AI EXPERT
Since 2016, Fabio is the General Country Manager for Microsoft Consulting & Services in Italy. He led a profound business transformation centered on Artificial Intelligence and data-driven business models. Thanks to this, his team won the EMEA Award for Digital Transformation for two consecutive years. Fabio’s professional career started in Ericsson as Project Manager leading 16 different markets in three different continents. After this, he entered as Associate at McKinsey & Co. where he dealt with Change Management and Business transformation mostly. Prior to Microsoft, he worked also for Capgemini, where he was Responsible for the Web & Mobile Services and Network Services Division and then Vice-President Telecom & Media. Fabio has an Engineering Degree in Information Technology from MIP Politecnico of Milan and a Telecommunications Engineering degree from KTH Royal Institute of Technology of Stockholm. He also lectures at MIP - School of Management of Politecnico in Milan.
ENTREPRENEUR
Francesco Ferri is the President of Lombardia Informatica Spa, the digital company of the Lombardy Region. Born in Parma 42 years ago, he graduated in Economics at the Bocconi University and is an expert in organization and corporate operations of an exceptional nature. In 2003 he founded Innext, a Strategic Consulting and Business Innovation company, together with a team of young entrepreneurs. In 2012 he held the position of President of the Young Entrepreneurs group of Confindustria Monza and Brianza and from 2014 to 2017 the position of National Vice President of the Young Entrepreneurs of Confindustria.
Associate Professor of Physical Geography and Geomorphology at the University of Milan
Associate Professor of Physical Geography and Geomorphology at the University of Milan (Department of Environmental Sciences and Policies, ESP) and she is a scholar of Alpine and extra-alpine glaciers, surface waters and alpine climatology. During her career she has studied Italian Alps, Karakorum and Himalayas, the Andes and Antarctica. She has coordinated several research projects both nationally and internationally, including the branch of cooperation programs and sustainable development. She published more than 100 international publications. She is very attentive in relation to the third mission and she is constantly engaged in the dissemination of information and data on the impacts of climate change in mountain areas in schools, associations, institutions. Together with her colleague V. Maggi, she coordinates the Permanent Biosphere and Territory Table at the General States of Mountains within the Department of General and Autonomous Affairs (DARA) of the Italian Government.
DEAF ACTIVIST/CAPTIAIN OF THE ITALIAN VOLLEYBALL TEAM
Ilaria is deaf since birth. She has recently graduated in Economics and Management of Cultural Heritage and Entertainment and works in a bank. Gold medal for athletic value, she is captain of the National Deaf Volleyball Team. With the National Team she won the silver medal at the Deaflympics 2017 in Samsun, Turkey and in 2017 the Paralympic Athlete of the Year Award. In March 2019, she received the title of Knight of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic by the President of the Italian Republic Sergio Mattarella for "the commitment and passion she puts into sports as an instrument of knowledge and inclusion". She collaborates in the co-creation of summer sports camps for the integration of deaf children and young people and she has been promoter of a trip to Ghana to help the local Deaf Federation which, due to lack of funds, could not participate in the Olympic Competition. She is also Co-director of The noise of victory, a documentary about the story of six deaf athletes.
PEOPLE & SMART FACTORY EMPOWERER
Joachim is the Managing Director of HUGO BOSS Textile Industries, Ltd. Starting as a tailor for several years in bespoke couture, he later moved into the ready to wear business and since then has taken various positions, mainly in the field of product development. In 2015 he took the position of managing director in the biggest factory of HUGO BOSS Group located in İzmir with 3,800 employees. His most important target is to transfer the whole organization into a flexible and reactive Smart Factory with implementation of industry 4.0 measures. Within this approach he is in the forefront of innovation excellence in garment manufacturing and the Izmir Factory is a role model for global industry.
DESIGNER
Designer, entrepreneur, inventor, creative director, Joe Doucet is one of the most sought-after creative talents working in America today. After graduating from the Art Center College of Design, Doucet quickly began exporting his vision into product, furniture, environment, and technology to find solutions for daily and societal challenges through design. Doucet believes that design and the designer’s thought process can play a larger role in innovation and problem solving, as well as aesthetics. His work has been exhibited globally, including the London Design Museum and the Biennale International Design in Saint-Etienne. Among the international awards, he got a World Technology Award for Design Innovation and multiple Good Design Awards. He was also named the only ever AvantGuardian for Design by Surface Magazine. In 2017, Doucet was also named the 2017 Winner of the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award as Product Designer. He is the Founder of OTHR.
HAPPY GENETIC EXPERT
Richard is an international speaker expert on happy-genetics. He is best seller author, contributor for The Huffington Post and he is the creator of C.A.T.C.H., an energetic-emotional practice, popular worldwide. His mission is to bring positive benefits in people's lives, communicating the therapeutic, scientific and spiritual virtues that are released through laughter and the creative and healing power of the subconscious mind. In 2016 he gained the title of “Official Amazing” for leading the world's longest running marathon: 24 hours and 13 minutes. For his philanthropic contribution, he was awarded the title of "World Food Security Ambassador" by the world organization Rise Against Hunger.
HISTORIAN/LEONARDO DA VINCI EXPERT
Sara is an art historian. She collaborated with Prof. Carlo Pedretti, the greatest Leonardo Da Vinci’s scholar in the world. With a PhD and Post PhD (Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Sorbonne, Paris), she was Professor in prestigious Institutes in Italy and abroad, publishing monographs and articles and receiving awards of the highest level. Her favorite fields of study are those of static and dynamic mechanics, automation, robotics, engineering, hydraulic and pneumatic devices, fountains and watchmaking. For her first book "Automations and Robotics by Leonardo da Vinci" (2010) received an honorable mention from Scientific American magazine in an article about some robots built at NASA. Visiting professor at the UNAM Robotics department of Mexico City, she'll be visiting professor at UCLA (USA). She is currently scholarship recipient at the Museo Galileo in Florence. She was the one who identified the real functionality of the first prototype of a robot designed by Leonardo in 1494.
CULTURAL MEDIATOR/ACTIVIST
Tareke was born in Eritrea, a country he left at the age of 17 to avoid mandatory military recruitment for life. This was a long journey, during which he experienced violence, imprisonment and even risked death. At the end of 2005 he managed to get to Sicily, after been rejected several times in his attempt to cross the Mediterranean. Since then, he has always been committed to helping those who, like him, flee situations of unspeakable abuse and violence. He was cultural mediator in Lampedusa for Save the Children and Médecins Sans Frontières. Today he helps asylum seekers and he is president of the "Committee of October 3rd”, a non-profit organization founded after the Lampedusa tragedy (3rd October 2013) in which 368 people lost their lives. The association aims to raise awareness on this date as "Day of memory and reception", both in Italy and Europe. In 2014 he was awarded with the medal for social activism at the Nobel Peace Prize Summit.