Confirmed Speakers
Day 3: AI for the Digital Economy
Guido Imbens
Nobel Laureate, The Applied Econometrics Professor and Professor of Economics, Stanford University
AI and Productivity
Bio
Professor Guido Imbens is The Applied Econometrics Professor at the Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB) and Professor of Economics in the Economics Department at Stanford University. He is also the Chai-Siriwatwechakul Faculty Fellow at the GSB. He has held tenured positions at UCLA, UC Berkeley, and Harvard University prior to joining Stanford in 2012. Professor Imbens specializes in econometrics, and in particular methods for drawing causal inferences from experimental and observational data. In 2021 he shared the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel with David Card and Joshua Angrist for “methodological contributions to the analysis of causal relationship”. Professor Imbens is a fellow of the Econometric Society, the Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities, the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Statistical Association, and an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences. He holds honorary doctorates from the University of St. Gallen and Brown University. In 2017 he received the Horace Mann medal at Brown University. Currently Imbens is Editor of Econometrica, one of the leading academic journals in economics.
Konstantin Novoselov
Nobel Laureate, Tan Chin Tuan Centennial Professor, National University of Singapore
Materials for the Future
Bio
Professor Sir Konstantin Novoselov is internationally recognized for his pioneering work on graphene, for which he was awarded the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics alongside Andre Geim. Their discovery of this one-atom-thick material - the thinnest and strongest ever identified - has opened new possibilities in materials science, electronics, and nanotechnology. Professor Novoselov, currently a Director of the Institute for Functional Intelligent Materials at the National University of Singapore, has authored more than 600 peer-reviewed publications. He has played a pivotal role in founding major research centers, including the National Graphene Institute and Singapore’s Institute for Functional Intelligent Materials. His outstanding contributions to science have earned him Fellowships with the Royal Society, the Royal Society of Chemistry, and the Institute of Physics. Today, his work bridges scientific discovery and technological innovation, with a growing emphasis on sustainable and intelligent materials.
Alex "Sandy" Pentland
Professor of Media Arts and Sciences, HAI Fellow at Stanford University
AI Agents and the Digital Economy
Bio
Professor Alex “Sandy” Pentland is a global expert on AI and data analytics and secure distributed information systems that support such analysis. He has more than twenty years’ experience in financial, social, and engineering aspects of building, operating, and evolution of these fields. He began his career as Lecturer at Stanford, then transferred to MIT to help create the Media Lab and later the Institute for Data, Systems and Society. He advises the OECD, and formerly the UN Secretary General, EU Presidency, World Economic Forum, Google, AT&T, Telefonica and Nissan, as well as many start-up firms. Prof. Alex Pentland is HAI Fellow at Stanford and Toshiba Professor at MIT. He is a member of the US National Academy of Engineering and has won numerous awards and prizes, including the 40th Anniversary of the Internet from DARPA, the Brandeis Privacy Award, AI Influencer Lifetime Achievement Award, as well as many scientific awards.
Najwa Aaraj
Chief Executive Officer, Technology Innovation Institute (TII), Abu Dhabi
From Falcon to the Future: Driving Technological Transformation in the UAE and Beyond
Bio
Dr. Najwa Aaraj is the CEO of the Technology Innovation Institute (TII), the applied research arm of Abu Dhabi's Advanced Technology Research Council (ATRC). Previously, she was Chief Researcher at TII's Cryptography and Autonomous Robotics Research Centers. Dr. Aaraj holds a PhD in Applied Cryptography and Embedded Systems Security from Princeton University. With over 18 years of experience, she specializes in cryptography, trusted platforms, security architecture, and autonomous systems. Prior to TII, she was SVP at DarkMatter and held research positions at IBM, Intel, and NEC Labs. She has published extensively in IEEE and ACM journals, holds several patents, and serves on the advisory boards of Neutigers and Paladin Capital Group. Dr. Aaraj is also an Adjunct Professor at MBZUAI and a board member of Abu Dhabi Ship Building. Her accolades include the Arab Woman Awards 2021 and Princeton's Wu Prize of Research Excellence.
Carme Artigas
Co-Chair United Nations AI Advisory Body, former Spain’s Secretary of State for Digitalization and AI
AI for Global Cooperation and Dialogue
Bio
Carme Artigas is a highly regarded leader in AI, big data, cybersecurity, and technology innovation, with over 30 years of experience. She co-founded Synergic Partners, a pioneering European Big Data company, which was acquired by the Telefonica Group in 2015. From 2020 to 2023, she served as Spain’s first Secretary of State for Digitalization and AI, where she played a crucial role in advancing the EU AI Act during the Spanish Presidency of the EU. She is now Co-Chair of the United Nations AI Advisory Body and a Senior Fellow at Harvard’s Belfer Center. Throughout her career, she has held senior positions at Procter & Gamble, the City of Barcelona, and Ericsson, where she led their European venture capital firm. Artigas holds a Master of Science in Chemical Engineering and has completed postgraduate programs at Berkeley and the Max Planck Institute. She has been named an ambassador for Stanford’s "Women in Data Science (WIDS)" initiative and is widely recognized as an international expert in AI regulation and governance.
Michael McQuade
Director of the Tech and Geo Project, The Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard
Bio
J. Michael McQuade is the inaugural Director of the Program on Emerging Technology, Scientific Advancement, and Global Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International AHairs. The Program tackles challenges that arise at the intersection of technology, policy, and geopolitics, and trains the next generation of leaders to be fluent in both technology and policy domains. He previously served as Special Advisor to the President and Vice President for Research at Carnegie Mellon University, leading the university's research mission and advocating for the importance of science, technology, and innovation on national and global scales. Dr. McQuade spent over a decade at United Technologies Corporation (UTC), serving as Senior Vice President for Science & Technology, providing strategic oversight for research, engineering, and development eHorts across the Corporation’s business units, focusing on innovation for the global aerospace, defense, and building systems industries. Prior to UTC, Dr. McQuade held senior research, development, and executive management roles in the health care businesses of 3M and Eastman Kodak. Dr. McQuade has contributed his expertise serving the US government as a member of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board, the Defense Innovation Board, and the National Science, Technology, and Security Roundtable.
Alexander Lipton
Global Head – Quantitative Research & Development at ADIA, ADIA Lab Advisory Board Member, Professor of Practice at KU’s Department of Mathematics, and Senior Founding Connection Science Fellow at MIT’s Media Lab.
Monetary Circuit Model, Cross-Border Payments, and Ouroboros Supply Chains
Bio
Professor Alex Lipton joined ADIA in 2021 in the position of Global Head - Quantitative Research & Development in the Strategy & Planning Department. In addition to his role at ADIA, Professor Lipton is Co-Founder of Sila, and Senior Founding Connection Science Fellow at MIT. He is also an advisor to several fintech companies worldwide. Previously, Professor Lipton was Co-Head of the Global Quantitative Group at Bank of America. Prior to this position, he was a senior manager at Citadel, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, and Bankers Trust. In parallel, he held visiting professorships at EPFL, NYU, Oxford, and Imperial College. Before becoming a banker, Professor Lipton was a Full Professor of Mathematics at the University of Illinois and a Consultant at Los Alamos. In 2000, Professor Lipton received the Inaugural Quant of the Year Award, and in 2021 the Buy-side Quant of the Year Award by Risk Magazine. He authored/edited 11 books and more than a hundred scientific papers on topics stretching from thermonuclear fusion and astrophysics to monetary circuits. Professor Lipton is an Associate Editor of several journals and a frequent keynote speaker at international conferences.
Massimo Morini
Senior Scientist, ADIA Lab
From Stablecoin to Tokenization. Tech and Economics.
Bio
Massimo leads Digital Economy research at ADIA Lab. He was Chief Economist at Algorand blockchain from 2019 to 2023 and Head of Interest Rate and Credit Modelling team at Intesa Bank from 2008 to 2019. He has been Senior Advisor for the World Bank and the Monetary Authority of Singapore, and a Board member of the Blockchain consortium R3. Massimo is Professor of Finance at Bocconi University and of Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies at USI Lugano and Politecnico di Milano. He authored several papers on quantitative finance and risk management, and seminal books on Model Risk and Credit Risk, collateral and funding, beside pioneering technical articles on decentralized derivatives cited by US Congress and regulators. He has a MSc in Economics and a PhD in Mathematics.
Christina Mesropian
Vice President of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, Numeraire Future Trends
From Pixels to Proof: How AI is Powering Trust in the Digital Economy
Bio
Christina is the Vice President of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning at Numeraire Future Trends, where she leads strategic initiatives in next-generation computational technologies. With more than two decades of experience in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and particle physics, Christina has made significant contributions at world-renowned research institutions, including Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (USA) and CERN (Switzerland). She has authored numerous publications in top scientific journals on particle physics. Widely recognized for her expertise, she has been invited to speak at major international conferences and symposia. Christina holds a Ph.D. in High Energy Physics from the Rockefeller University.
Francesco Grigoli
Senior Economist, IMF and Georgetown University
Monetary Policy: Perceptions, Channels, and Heterogeneity
Bio
Francesco Grigoli is a Senior Economist in the Research Department of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and an adjunct professor at Georgetown University. Previously, he worked in the IMF’s Western Hemisphere Department and Fiscal Affairs Department and was a visiting scholar at Columbia University. While on leave from the IMF, he served as Director of Research at the Central Bank of the UAE. He published extensively in leading academic journals and policy outlets on a wide range of topics in macroeconomics and international economics. His current research focuses on inflation expectations, price formation, monetary policy, and international finance. Francesco received his PhD in Economics from the University of Insubria and holds a Master's in International Economics from the University of Sussex.
Shafi Goldwasser
Research Director for Resilience Research Pod, Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS), RSA Professor (post tenure) of EECS, UC Berkeley & MIT
Trustworthy AI: Robustness and Alignment
Bio
Professor Goldwasser was the recipient of ACM Turing Award for 2012. She was also the recipient of the Gödel Prize in 1993 and another in 2001 for her work on interactive proofs and connections to hardness of approximation, and was awarded the ACM Grace Murray Hopper Award (1996), the RSA award in mathematics (1998), the ACM Athena award for women in computer science (2008), the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Computer and Cognitive Science (2010), the IEEE Emanuel R. Piore Award (2011), the Barnard College Medal of Distinction (2016), the Suffrage Science Award (2016), the BBVA Frontier Knowledge Award (2017), the Loreal Unesco International Women in Science Award(2021). She is a member of the AAAS, ACM, NAE, NAS, Israeli Academy of Science, London Mathematical Society, the Russian Academy of Science and a foreign member of the Royal Society. She holds honorary degrees from Oxford University, Carnegie Mellon University, Bar Ilan University, Tel Aviv University, Ben Gurion University, University of Haifa and University of Waterloo.
Michael Wolf
Professor of Econometrics and Applied Statistics, University of Zurich
Forecasting Inflation With The Hedged Random Forest
Bio
Michael Wolf is a Professor of Econometrics and Applied Statistics at the University of Zurich, and holds a Ph.D. in Statistics from Stanford University. Before joining the University of Zurich's Department of Economics, he held positions at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, and Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona. His research interests include resampling-based inference, multiple testing methods, the estimation of large-dimensional covariance matrices, and financial econometrics. His work has been published in leading journals such as The Annals of Statistics, Biometrika, Econometrica, Journal of the American Statistical Association, and The Review of Financial Studies.
Thorsten Neumann
AI, Research & Experimentation, Chief Data Office, Standard Chartered
AI-Driven Risk Assessment in Digital Asset Markets
Bio
Thorsten Neumann heads up the Innovation, Research and Partnership strategic pillar under the Chief Data Office of Standard Chartered with the focus on AI Research and Experimentation. He has published several papers and filed patents at IPOS. Mr. Neumann was recruited by Banro Corporation in 2010 to lead the Canadian TSX-listed gold miner’s technology strategy and group-wide ICT program in role of Group Technology Manager. He went onto co-founding Singapore-based fintech Transaction Technologies Pte Ltd (SmartPesa) and served as Director and Chief Technology Officer until June 2019, where he oversaw the roll out the payments platform to thirteen markets. The company was successfully acquired in April 2022 by MYPINPAD. In July 2019, Mr Neumann took on the Managing Director role and Chief Technology Officer at SC Ventures, the innovation arm of Standard Chartered Bank to deliver tangible value creation – in sponsoring entrepreneurs, technology due diligences for the $100 million investment fund, and creation of new disruptive business models. Mr Neumann holds a Masters in Computer Science specializing in Voice Over IP from the University of Pretoria, and Bachelors in Computer Science from the University of Johannesburg.
Davor Svetinovic
Computer Science Professor at Khalifa University, Senior Member of IEEE, Lifetime Member of ACM, and Affiliate of the Mohammed Bin Rashid Academy of Scientists
Agentic AI for Uncensorable Digital Economy
Bio
As a computer science professor at Khalifa University, UAE, Dr. Svetinovic has been instrumental in helping establish the nation as a hub for decentralized technologies. His international leadership is highlighted by his appointments as a Full Professor at the Vienna University of Economics and Business, and as the Director of the EU's largest Research Institute for Cryptoeconomics, where he fostered collaborations with over 15 major industrial partners and provided strategic consulting to large-scale, innovative enterprises. His work is further distinguished by affiliations with MIT and MIT Media Lab as both a Visiting Professor and an Affiliated Researcher. Dr. Svetinovic's research has directly influenced the core infrastructure of major global platforms. His seminal works on blockchain security and stealth addresses led to significant privacy-enhancing protocol enhancements being implemented into the Ethereum blockchain. This contribution is projected to have a profound economic impact, potentially increasing the market cap of the Ethereum ecosystem—which underpins numerous UAE-based companies. Dr. Svetinovic is a World Top 2% Scientist (Stanford/Elsevier), a Senior Member of IEEE, a Lifetime Member of ACM, and an affiliate of the Mohammed Bin Rashid Academy of Scientists.
Juan Corchado
Full Professor in Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence, Department of Computer Science and Automation, University of Salamanca, Spain
Science as Strategy: Steering the Quantum-AI Revolution in the Digital Economy
Bio
Juan Manuel Corchado is director of the BISITE Research Group (Bioinformatics, Intelligent Systems and Educational Technology) and director of the IoT Digital Innovation Hub. He is also visiting professor at the Osaka Institute of Technology and visiting professor at the Universiti Malaysia Kelantan. Juan M. Corchado has been vice-rector for Research from 2013 to 2017 and director of the Science Park of the University of Salamanca. He was elected twice as Dean of the Faculty of Science, has been president of the IEEE Systems, Man and Cybernetics association, and academic coordinator of the University Institute for Research in Art and Animation Technology of the University of Salamanca, as well as researcher at the Universities of Paisley (UK), Vigo (Spain) and the Plymouth Marine Laboratory (UK). He has also been a member of the Advisory Group on Online Terrorist Propaganda of the European Counter Terrorism Centre (EUROPOL) and has been a visiting professor at the University of Technology Malaysia. J. M. Corchado mainly works on projects related to Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Fintech, Blockchain, Cybersecurity, IoT, Fog Computing, Edge Computing, Smart Cities, Smart Grids, Bioinformatics, Neuroscience and Sentiment Analysis.
Jonathan Ledgard
Co-founder and CEO, Tehanu-Interspecies Money
AI and the Distributed Ledger for the Survival of Life on Earth
Bio
Jonathan invented the Interspecies Money concept, which seeks to build the digital infrastructure that would allow many species to participate in the human market economy. He is a leading thinker on risk, nature, and advanced technology. As a director at the EPFL in Switzerland he led several futuristic initiatives, notably the invention of drone delivery of blood and medicines and its successful introduction into Africa. As "J.M. Ledgard", he is an acclaimed novelist. His first novel, Giraffe, is a cult novel for animal rights activists. His second, Submergence, was a New York Times Book of Year and adapted for Hollywood by Wim Wenders. Separately, he was longtime award-winning foreign and war correspondent for The Economist, reporting lead stories from 50+ countries and many wars, including a decade as Africa correspondent.
Alexei Kondratyev
Visiting Professor at the Department of Mathematics, Imperial College London
Data Anonymisation on a Quantum Computer: Density Matrix Classifier
Bio
Alexei holds MSc in Theoretical Physics from Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv and PhD in Mathematical Physics from the Institute for Mathematics, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. His primary research interests are in quantitative finance, machine learning and quantum computing. Alexei has over 20 years of quantitative finance experience in both risk management and front office roles and has been recognized as Quant of the Year (2019) by Risk magazine for his research on the application of machine learning techniques to risk factor analysis and portfolio optimisation.
Thomas Hardjono
CTO of Connection Science and Technical Director of the MIT Trust-Data Consortium at MIT in Cambridge, MA. USA
Standardization Challenges in the Tokenization of Real-World Assets
Bio
Dr Hardjono is an early pioneer in the field of digital identities and trusted hardware, and has been instrumental in the development and broad adoption of the MIT Kerberos authentication protocol. His activities include leading standard development efforts, notably at the IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force), IEEE, Trusted Computing Group, Confidential Computing Alliance and others. He has published more than 70 technical conference/journal papers, several books and more than 30 patents. He is currently involved in several startups around the MIT community. His current area of interest is Web3 Digital Assets, with focus on the interoperability of asset networks and survivability of these networks against cybersecurity attacks.