Title: Artisan 2.0 – the past, present and future of craftsmanship
Keynote speaker: Assaad Awad, Brand owner, crafter and international designer
Date: 11 May 2021 – 10:30 AM CET time

Assaad Awad (24-April-1974) a Spanish/Lebanese multidisciplinary artist based in Beirut, Lebanon. 14 years in the Advertising industry pushed Assaad Awad out of the bubble landing him in his workshops between Beirut & Madrid. It was an extraordinary move as his peers described. His handcrafted leather and metal pieces were first showcased by the likes of Thierry Mugler, Balenciaga, Madonna, Lady Gaga, Teatro Real, Costume Museum Madrid addition to numerous editorial appearances in Vogue. Awad’s work is known to be Artesian & Vanguardist, respecting the quality and execution of every piece, designing luxury leatherworks, industrial, accessories, and jewelry.

Conference: “The future of the office, cradle of creativity”
Keynote speaker: Carlo Ratti,  International architect, professor and director of Senseable City Lab at MIT 
Date: 11 May 2021 – 11:00 AM CET Time

An architect and engineer by training, Carlo teaches at MIT, where he directs the Senseable City Lab, and is a founding partner of the international design and innovation office Carlo Ratti Associati.
He graduated from the Politecnico di Torino and the École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées in Paris, later earning his MPhil and PhD at the University of Cambridge, UK. In the last decade, Carlo has given talks around the world on the theme of Smart Cities, while his work has been exhibited in international venues including the Venice Biennale, New York’s MoMA, London’s Science Museum and Barcelona’s Design Museum. Two of his projects – the Digital Water Pavilion and the Copenhagen Wheel – were hailed by Time Magazine as “Best Inventions of the Year.” He has been included in Blueprint Magazine’s “25 People who will Change the World of Design” and in Wired Magazine’s “Smart List: 50 people who will change the world.” He was curator for the Future Food District at Expo Milano 2015, and is currently serving as co-chair of the World Economic Forum Global Council on the Future of Cities and Urbanization.

Keynote speaker: Richard van der Laken, CEO, co-founder and creative director of What Design can Do
Conference: “Design got us into this mess, now it needs to get us out of it”
Date: 12 May 2021 – 09:30 AM CET time

Richard Van der Laken is a Dutch graphic designer, creative director and long-time advocate for the transformative power of design. Together with Pepijn Zurburg, he is co-founder of What Design Can Do, an international platform which empowers creatives to address urgent societal issues. To do this, WDCD has created multiple design challenges, publications, and events hosted across Amsterdam, Brazil and Mexico. Van der Laken is also creative director of renowned agency De Designpolitie and member of the award-winning design collective Gorilla.

Keynote speaker:  János Keresnyei, Creative business development expert
Conference: “Intangible asset management as a preparation tool for technology transfer”
Date: 12 May 2021 – 10:00 AM CET time

Janos Keresnyei is a business mentor and certified creative industry peer reviewer/sector expert. He is experienced in the support of early-stage design & technology projects at many international partnerships in WORTH, ELIIT, H2020 and EIT Health. More than 30 years spent in leading roles at media organisations, he learnt the importance of the copyright in the organisational intellectual wealth. Today he runs a company for intellectual wealth management and technology transfer.