Usman Haque | Founder of Umbrellium
Usman Haque, Founder of Umbrellium - collective of architects, designers, tactical urbanists and creative technologists based in London, will be the keynote speaker at the Empowering smart solutions for better cities conference. Besides the Umbrellium collective (formerly Haque Design + Research), Usman is also Founder of Internet of Things data infrastructure and community platform Pachube.com, (acquired by LogMeIn Inc in 2011, where he launched the Urban Projects Division). Trained as an architect, he has created responsive environments, interactive installations, digital interfaces and dozens of mass-participation initiatives in cities throughout the world. He has taught in the Interactive Architecture Workshop at the Bartlett School of Architecture, London and in 2008 received the Design of the Year Award (interactive) from the Design Museum.
Usman will address the topic Engaging cities: designs for citizen aprticipation. He will speak along with other recognized speakers including Andreea Strachinescu, Head of Unit New energy technologies, innovation and clean coal, DG Energy, European Commission, Ulf Kamne, Deputy Mayor of Gothenburg, Jaroslav Kacer, Deputy Mayor of of Brno, Balázs Szeneczey, Deputy Mayor of Budapest, Gotzone Sagardui, Deputy Mayor of Bilbao, and Tomasz Pactwa, City of Warsaw. They are among the more than 40 speakers who will address the conference.
Andreea Strachinescu | Head of Unit New energy technologies, innovation and clean coal, DG Energy, European Commission
Andreea Strachinescu is responsible for the development of policy and actions on non-nuclear energy research and innovation. The core files for which she is in charge are Strategic Energy Technology Plan, the energy research and innovation strategy of EU, and H2020, the main financing instrument of research and innovation at EU level. Ms. Strachinescu studied mechanical engineering and business administration in Bucharest, Romania and she has a Master of Science in International Affairs from H.E.C. Montreal, Canada. Prior to joining the European Commission, Ms. Strachinescu professional activity was in the public service in the field of economic development and international cooperation, trade policies and actions.
Ulf Kamne, Deputy Mayor of Gothenburg
Ulf Kamne is Deputy Chair of the City Executive Board in Gothenburg and Deputy Mayor with responsibilities in city planning, climate and environmental issues. Ulf has been active in local politics for almost ten years. He is dedicated to continue developing Gothenburg into a sustainable city. He believes that city planning can be used as an important tool, to reduce our contribution to climate change.
Jaroslav Kacer, Deputy Mayor of of Brno
Jaroslav Kacer is the Deputy Mayor of the City of Brno for Smart City issues, city strategy, informatics and the “electronic town hall”. He graduated from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering of the Brno University of Technology has worked in a number of managerial functions in the commercial and governmental sectors. Among others, he founded an advertising agency and was self-employed in consulting and project management. Since 2010, he has been a member of the Brno City Council. As the Chairman of the Brno Smart City Commission, he was involved in the preparation of the Brno Smart City Concept, which was approved by the City Council in 2015. Since 2016, he has served as the fifth Deputy Mayor of the City of Brno.
Balázs Szeneczey, Deputy Mayor of Budapest
Trained as a lawyer with a focus on European law, Balázs Szeneczey has worked as a lawyer before becoming the Mayor’s office manager in 2010. In 2012 he was elected by the Budapest Municipal Assembly to be the Deputy Mayor for urban development. In this present position he is responsible for projects co-financed by the EU and also for tasks related to city development, urban planning and protection of local values. Besides these, he is also responsible for the priority investments of the Municipality of Budapest.
Gotzone Sagardui, Deputy Mayor of Bilbao
With a diverse educational background ranging from Medicine to Tourism and Public Relations Gotzone Sagardui has devoted her professional career to the public service. She has worked for nearly twenty years in the Basque Country University and then as a Chief of Health Care at the Socio-sanitary residence of the Provincial Council of Bizkaia, before becoming Labor Activation Director of the Basque Public Employment Service at the Basque Country Government. She left the Government in 2016 when she was elected as member of the Basque Country Parliament, where she participated in the commissions for health affairs, education and employment and social affairs. Since April 2017 she is a Councilor of the Mayor of Bilbao responsible for institutional relations, human resources and public contracting. She is chairman of the 7th District of Bilbao, as well as board member of different public companies.
Tomasz Pactwa, City of Warsaw
Tomasz Pactwa is the Director of the Welfare and social projects department in the City of Warsaw and for several years has been actively involved in creating social innovations. He supports system integration through the coordination of projects concerned with both social aid and employment policies. He also initiated broad partnerships between public sector, science sector, and NGOs in order to realise joint innovative initiatives. Tomasz Pactwa is creator of the Virtual Warsaw, system that enables people with visual impairment to travel around the city, which was recognised as one of the most innovative projects in the Mayors Challenge contest sponsored by Bloomberg Philanthropies. In addition, he initiated the modernisation of social services in Warsaw with emphasis on the use of the most recent ICT solutions.