Aug
19
2008
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Former Formula 1 World Champion
Damon Hill OBE is a British former racing driver from England. He was the 1996 Formula One World Champion and is the son of the late double Formula One world champion Graham Hill, and is the only son of a world champion to win the title. He retired from the sport at the end of the 1999 season, after 122 race starts. In 2006, Damon Hill became president of the British Racing Drivers’ Club, succeeding Jackie Stewart.
“A living F1 legend”
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Aug
12
2008
Futurologist and Lecturer
Magnus Lindkvist is a futurologist and lecturer within business intelligence and trends. He has a MSc. in Business and Economics from The Stockholm School of Economics and studied at The School of Film, Television and Theatre at UCLA. Before founding Pattern Recognition, Magnus Lindkvist worked as a brand strategist at Differ and as a planner/account director and management group member at brand strategy agency, Grow.
“Where the day takes you, that’s where you’re going”
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Aug
07
2008
Director at Cambridge Energy Research Associates in Paris
Jean-Marie Chevalier is currently professor of Economics at the University of Paris-Dauphine, Director of the ‘Centre de Géopolitique de l’Energie et des Matières Premières’. He is also a Director at CERA. He has worked, as an economist for Elf Aquitaine and the energy department of the World Bank. For several years, he was a member of the board of directors of the Banque Nationale de Paris.
The world’s leading expert on current global energy trends
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Aug
05
2008
Leading Expert on Energy and Global Economics
Daniel Yergin is a highly respected authority on international politics, economics and energy. He is Chairman of Cambridge Energy Research Associates and Vice Chairman of the Global Decisions Group.
He is both a Pulitzer Prize winner and recipient of the 1997 United States Energy Award for “lifelong achievements in energy and the promotion of international understanding.”
“No one could ask for a better account of the world’s political and economic destiny since World War II.”
The Wall Street Journal
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Jul
28
2008
Leading Global Futurist and Trend Forecaster
Anne Lise Kjaer is a leading global futurist who has pioneered the concept of Multidimensional Thinking - developing future concepts by analysing scientific research in conjunction with social, cultural, emotional and spiritual shifts in society. Anne Lise has an exceptional eye for ‘the next big thing’ and an original and inspiring way of translating fledgling concepts into viable commercial propositions, working with some of the world’s leading brands.
“The future is not some place we go, but one we create”
In detail
Her experience across markets from food, fashion and furniture to electronics, automotive and retail gives her unique insights and a ‘bigger picture’ approach. Anne contributes to a range of European trends and lifestyles publications and has been featured in the Financial Times, The Sunday Times, The Observer, Times Magazine and on BBC R4 and Question Time and several international television programmes. She is a Copenhagen Goodwill Ambassador and an MD of the Danish / UK Chamber of Commerce.
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Jul
23
2008
Technology Pioneer and Inventor
Ray Kurzweil is one of the leading inventors of our time. He was the principal developer of the first CCD flat-bed scanner, the first omni-font optical character recognition, the first print-to-speech reading machine for the blind and the first text-to-speech synthesizer. He also designed the first music synthesizer capable of recreating the grand piano and other orchestral instruments, and the first commercially marketed large-vocabulary speech recognition.
“The ultimate thinking machine” Forbes
In detail
Among Ray’s many honours, he is the recipient of the $500,000 MIT-Lemelson Prize, the World’s largest for innovation and in 1999 he received the National Medal of Technology, the USA’s highest honour in technology, from President Clinton in a White House ceremony. Most recently he was inducted into the National Inventor’s Hall of Fame, established by the US Patent Office in recognition of his inventions.
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Jun
27
2008
President of France 1974-1981
Valéry Giscard D’Estaing was President of France from 1974 until 1981. In 2004 he left partisan politics and took his seat in the Constitutional Council as a former President of the Republic. From 2002-2003 he served as President of the Convention on the Future of Europe and in 2003 he was admitted to the Académie Française. He is currently President of the CEMR (Council of European Municipalities and Regions), and a member of the French Constitutional Council.
The architect of the EU constitution
In detail
Valéry Giscard D’Estaing was born in 1926 in Koblenz. After serving in the French Resistance, he completed his studies at the Ecole Polytechnique and the Ecole Nationale d’Administration. He then joined the Inspection Generale des Finances in 1952 where he pursued an administrative career until 1956. From 1956 to 1974 he has held numerous elective positions and governmental functions before becoming President
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Jun
12
2008
Design Expert
John Thackara is a former design journalist and publisher, tireless educator and event producer. He is in the business of driving social change with design. A self-described “symposiarch” - someone who designs collaborative events, projects and organizations, John founded the international conference and design futures network Doors of Perception, which now has offices in Amsterdam and Bangalore. He is also program director of Dott 07, an ambitious, year-long genuine collaboration and invention initiative to establish a sustainable region in cities throughout the northeast of England.
“John is clearly a key player in the international dialogue on the future of the planet”
In detail
Formerly the director of the Netherlands Design Institute, John is at the forefront of business, technology, sustainability, and design, where he meshes innovations that drive social change with design. John regularly consults with companies, cities, and governmental organizations to re-imagine services and structures
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Apr
24
2008
World’s Leading Futurist
John Naisbitt is widely acknowledged as the World’s Leading Futurist.
He served as a presidential appointee in the John F. Kennedy administration and as a special assistant to President Lyndon Johnson.
A pioneer in the content analysis field, he founded the Urban Research Corporation, which provided social and cultural forecasts for leading US organisations.
A proven and powerful forecaster on the global economy
In detail
He has become the global philosopher among futurists, as much in the limelight with worldwide corporations as he is a calming influence among leading politicians.
A visiting professor at Harvard and Moscow State Universities, he is also a Faculty Member at the Nanjing University in China.
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Apr
23
2008
Foremost Futurist
Michio Kaku is the Henry Semat Professor of Theoretical Physics at the Graduate Centre of the
City University of New York. His goal is to complete Einstein’s dream of a “theory of everything”, a single equation that unifies the 4 fundamental forces of the universe. From interviews to documentaries, Dr. Kaku has explained the most fascinating and complex ideas in science today, in ways so elegant and easy to understand, much like the late Carl Sagan. On television he has been featured on the PBS documentaries: Einstein Revealed, Stephen Hawking’s Universe, and Science Odyssey. Michio is currently presenting a three part TV series on BBC4 Visions of the Future, which explores the cutting edge science of today, tomorrow, and beyond.
‘You have to realise that most of science is not done by direct experiment at all.’ Michio Kaku
In detail
His technical books are required reading for scores of Ph.D. graduate students in major physics laboratories around the world.
His weekly radio programme Explorations in Science focusses on topics such as frontiers in physics, black holes, time machines, hyperspace, the human genome project and genetic engineering.
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