engineering in an unpredictable world

ENGINEERING IN AN UNPREDICTABLE WORLD 16 TO 18 SEPTEMBER 2019
The series began with the first Global Grand Challenges Summit hosted in London in 2013 and continued with a further two summits, hosted in China and the USA in 2015 and 2017 respectively.
GLOBAL GRAND CHALLENGES SUMMIT 2019 Monday 16 to Wednesday 18 September 2019 Engineering in an unpredictable world is the first in a second series of summits hosted by the trilateral partnership of the Royal Academy of Engineering, Chinese Academy of Engineering and the US National Academy of Engineering.
© The Royal Academy of Engineering September 2019. Published by the Royal Academy of Engineering, Prince Philip House, 3 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5DG Tel: 020 7766 0600 Registered Charity Number: 293074 Copies of this programme are available online at www.ggcs2019.com
The summits are inspired by the National Academy of Engineering’s 2008 publication: 14 Grand Challenges for Engineering in the 21st Century.
The next summit is due to be hosted in China in 2021.
Follow along on Twitter at @RAEngNews and #GGCS2019 and download the Summit app.
CONTENTS Welcome from the President 2 Professor Dame Ann Dowling OM DBE FREng FRS, President of the Royal Academy of Engineering
Welcome from the CEO 3 Dr Hayaatun Sillem, CEO of the Royal Academy of Engineering
Introducing a new series of Summits 4 Dr John Lazar CBE FREng, Chair of the Steering Committee
Presidential essays 5 Professor Li Xiaohong, President of the Chinese National Academy of Engineering Professor John L. Anderson, President of the US National Academy of Engineering
Agenda 8 Plenary and parallel sessions
Evening events 16
Partners and funders 44
ROYAL ACADEMY OF ENGINEERING | GLOBAL GRAND CHALLENGES SUMMIT
On behalf of the Royal Academy of Engineering, I would like to take this opportunity to welcome you all to London for the 2019 Global Grand Challenges Summit.
Humanity is facing unprecedented challenges from a growing population, and accelerating degradation of the planet and its resources. Exponential technological changes are making the world smarter, faster and more connected, but are at the same time upending traditional concepts of work, leisure, public and private life, and rewriting our relationships to our institutions and each other.
Engineering is crucial to the international effort to address these rapidly evolving, unpredictable challenges. But to maximise the impact of this expertise and make
a better world for the citizens of tomorrow, the way engineers work needs to change. We need to better embed collaboration, inter- disciplinarity, systems thinking, diversity, and global responsibility into the solutions we create. And we need to transform the way we innovate, educate and communicate.
We are at a critical juncture: the UN has warned that we have 12 years to limit the catastrophic implications of climate change. We have little over 10 years to meet the Sustainable Development Goals. If we are to meet these targets, we have to catalyse a sea-change in the engineering profession.
That is why the Global Grand Challenges Summit is bringing together the best engineering students from the UK, China and
the US alongside exceptional innovators and thought leaders from across the profession and beyond to see what engineers can do to make the profession fit to tackle the challenges of an unpredictable world.
In the words of the writer Francis Spufford: “Engineering of any description is an art of the possible. It happens at the junction between what is materially possible and what is humanly possible.”
This Summit is a crucial opportunity for us engineers to showcase what we could achieve as artists of the possible, and to set the agenda for a safe and sustainable future.
WELCOME Professor Dame Ann Dowling OM DBE FREng FRS President, Royal Academy of Engineering
WELCOME FROM THE PRESIDENT 2
Eleven years ago, the US National Academy of Engineering brought together some of the leading engineers of the 20th century to highlight 14 engineering challenges that would underpin global progress in the 21st.
The Grand Challenges have since been both a lodestone and an inspiration for those who want to put the engineering profession at the forefront of humanity’s attempts to conquer its most pressing challenges.
They have catalysed a global movement among universities around the world to teach engineering in an interdisciplinary, challenge-based manner- the Global Grand Challenges Scholars Network.
They underpin some of the most critical elements of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
And they have inspired a series of global Summits between the US, Chinese and UK national academies of engineering, which have brought together the world’s best engineers across continents and generations to discuss the contribution engineering can make to global progress.
In the fourth Global Grand Challenges Summit, we are bringing together a new generation of engineering leaders to examine two major challenges that will shape the world over the course of their careers: the impact of AI and disruptive technologies on humanity, and global sustainability.
For the first time we are introducing the Student Collaboration Lab - an intensive three-day workshop for 300 young engineering innovators from all three countries, where they are tasked with working together in
international inter-disciplinary teams to build solutions to the problems of tomorrow.
In this way, we hope to further extend the legacy of the Global Grand Challenges and create the innovations, the skills and the networks that will power our future.
Dr Hayaatun Sillem FIET CEO, Royal Academy of Engineering
WELCOME FROM THE CEO 3
As Chair of the Royal Academy of Engineering’s Global Grand Challenges Summit Steering Committee, I am delighted to welcome you to this year’s Summit, the fourth since its inception, and the first of a new series, organised in conjunction with our friends and colleagues at the US and Chinese national academies.
As our theme Engineering in an unpredictable world highlights, humanity is facing significant, and rapidly evolving, challenges. For example, will AI and other transformational technologies change humanity for the better? And can we sustain 10 billion people? We hope that the Summit will encourage engineers to work together, and with others, to tackle these challenges in an expansive, cross-disciplinary and diverse way.
In particular, we hope to inspire our young engineers to seek wide- ranging and ambitious solutions as they develop their careers.
Our Student Collaboration Lab, to be held immediately before the Summit, will hopefully demonstrate, in practice, how young engineers from the UK, US and China – and other parts of the world – can collaborate positively to tackle the Grand Challenges and UN Sustainable Development Goals.
The greatest legacy we can imagine from this workshop and the summit will be if the young engineers who were brought together in London, as well as all the more senior and eminent attendees, are still cooperating in the years to come! We have a fascinating array of speakers, mentors and attendees
lined up to participate – and I look forward to meeting you all here in London.
On behalf of everyone at the Royal Academy of Engineering, I would like to thank the members of the Summit steering committee: David Thomlinson FREng, Yassmin Abdel- Magied, Professor C.C. Chan FREng, Naomi Climer CBE FREng, Professor Yihui Ding, Dr Olivia Feng, Professor Danielle George, Professor Rick Miller, Professor Dame Henrietta Moore DBE FBA, Professor Guang-Zhong Yang CBE FREng, and Professor Yannis Yortsos, as well as the staff and Fellows of our two partner Academies, for their support, advice, and efforts throughout the planning and delivery of the summit.
A NEW GLOBAL GRAND CHALLENGES SERIES
INTRODUCING A NEW SERIES OF SUMMITS4
Dr John Lazar CBE FREng Chair, Global Grand Challenges Summit 2019 Steering Committee
PROFESSOR LI XIAOHONG 5
The world has become a multipolar system characterised by increasing economic globalisation, cultural diversification, and global communications.
Accompanying these changes are significant challenges to the sustainable development of humankind: energy security and climate change directly threaten the development of the economy and society; urbanisation has gradually led to disharmony between humans and nature; and evolving information technology makes transformation and risk coexist. Just to name a few.
The challenge is unprecedented, so is the opportunity. In particular,
the development of engineering and technology has brought unprecedented opportunities to humankind. Over the history of the human civilisation, it is the breakthroughs in engineering and technology that have been promoting the dramatic development of social productive forces and changing the way of human activities.
In the next few decades, a new round of scientific, technological and industrial revolution will dawn upon human society. Engineering advancement and innovation will become a significant engine for tackling global grand challenges and promoting social development.
Addressing the grand challenges will also require contributions from many professions in addition to engineering.
It is hoped that the Global Grand Challenges Summit will inspire current and future engineers, together with professionals in other related fields from all over the world, to collaborate to address global grand challenges, and to jointly build a community with a better, shared future for humanity.
Professor Li Xiaohong President, Chinese National Academy of Engineering
PROFESSOR JOHN L ANDERSON6
Just over a decade ago, the US National Academy of Engineering (NAE) asked a committee of leading technological thinkers and doers to propose engineering goals that would dramatically improve life on our planet. With worldwide input from experts and the public, 14 Grand Challenges for Engineering were identified.
These challenges have inspired people all over the world, from elementary school children to the president of the United States, and of course they are the basis for this series of Global Grand Challenges Summits as well as the university-level NAE Grand Challenges Scholars Program.
It is my hope that those attending this summit will continue to help grow the Grand Challenges for Engineering movement by motivating engineers of all ages to address today’s and tomorrow’s complex challenges. With your creativity and active engagement, we can be good stewards of our planet while improving quality of life and addressing the needs of 10 billion people.
One way to do that is through international collaboration. This Summit offers abundant opportunities to pursue new partnerships among participants of all ages and at all stages of their career. I encourage you to keep this
in mind as you engage in the Student Collaboration Lab, the summit activities, and satellite events.
Consider how you will carry forward the shared inspiration and creative thinking from the summit beyond this event, working with both engineers and non-engineers, and how you will participate in communicating to the broader public about the importance of achieving our shared grand challenges.
Professor John L Anderson President, US National Academy of Engineering
MAIN AGENDA
GGCS 2019 AGENDA PLENARY SESSIONS Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre
NB all times below are in BST
Monday 16 September 2019
Tuesday 17 September 2019
9.30am
Opening session: The role of engineering in an unpredictable world Young speakers present their vision for engineering and technology in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and the 14 Grand Challenges for Engineering.
Young speakers • Gitanjali Rao, student and inventor • Adrian Vincent Opinion, Trust for Sustainable Living Essay Competition winner Academy Presidents
UK: Professor Dame Ann Dowling OM DBE FREng FRS US: Professor John L Anderson China: Professor Ji Zhou FREng
10.30am - 11.05am Coffee and networking break
MAIN AGENDA 11
11.10am
Better businesses: What do AI and transformational technologies mean to the world of work? AI and other data-driven technologies are transforming industries, from manufacturing to healthcare, all around the world. This session will explore the technologies underpinning this revolution and their integration into our businesses and workplaces. How can businesses take advantage of these technologies to address social and business needs? And what sort of workforce do they need to make that happen?
• Dr Hayaatun Sillem, CEO, Royal Academy of Engineering (moderator) • Professor Juergen Maier CBE FREng, CEO, Siemens UK • William Tunstall-Pedoe, entrepreneur • Diane Greene, Co-Founder and former CEO, VMware • Chris W Benson, Principal Artificial Intelligence Strategist, Lockheed Martin • Dr Zhonghan Deng, Member of Chinese Academy of Engineering, Co-Founder
and Chief Scientist, Vimicro Corporation
12.20pm Lunch
1.40pm
Ethical AI: What does ‘good’ digital technology look like? AI and other digital technologies increasingly let us outsource our decision-making. This generates huge opportunities but also significant ethical questions. What decisions should machines be allowed to make? Will they deliver fair and equitable answers? And how will we know if they go wrong? This session will explore these questions, and the role of engineers in delivering responsible technology to drive positive change.
• Professor Luciano Floridi, Professor of Philosophy and Ethics of Information, University of Oxford (moderator)
• Professor Dame Wendy Hall DBE FREng FRS, Regius Professor of Computer Science, University of Southampton
• Azeem Azhar, entrepreneur, venture capitalist and Senior Advisor to CTO, Accenture • Sue Daley, Associate Director of Tech and Innovation, Tech UK
3.00pm Coffee and networking break
3.30pm
Transformational technology: How will new innovations revolutionise our world? In this session, speakers will present their visions for how two cutting-edge technologies – space travel and autonomous vehicles – have the potential to change the way we live in cities and communities around the world, and maybe beyond!
• Introductory remarks by Dr Keoki Jackson, CTO, Lockheed Martin • Sir Mark Walport FRS FMedSci, CEO, UK Research and Innovation • Professor Jackie Hunter CBE FMedSci, Chief Executive Clinical Programmes
and Strategic Partnerships, BenevolentAI • Dr Gill Pratt (via video), Founding CEO, Toyota Research Institute • Rob Meyerson, space engineer and former CEO, Blue Origin
4.30pm
Improving lives: The transformational impact of engineering innovation This session will showcase entrepreneurs supported by the Academy’s international programmes who have developed scalable technology solutions to local challenges, delivering improved quality of life and economic development.
• Dr Shakir Mohamed, Research Scientist, Deepmind (moderator) • Brian Bosire, Founder, UjuziKilimo • Nnaemeka Ikegwuonu, Founder, ColdHubs • Anne Rweyora, Founder, Smart Havens Africa • Evangelista Chekera, Founder, Passion Poultry
5.30pm First day closing sponsor speeches
5.35pm Evening events Please see page 18: varying times and rooms
Wednesday 18 September 2019
9.00am Introduction
9.10am
Student Student Collaboration Lab competition final This session will see the top four Student Collaboration Lab event mixed country teams pitch their innovations to the summit.
Moderator Yassmin Abdel-Magied, author and broadcaster
10.10am Keynote address: Lord Martin Rees Kt OM FREng FRS FMedSci, cosmologist and astrophysicist; Astronomer Royal at the Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge
10.35am Coffee and networking break
11.00am
Increasing resilience: How can engineering reduce the risks of climate change? Delivering a sustainable energy supply, while mitigating the risks associated with changing climate, is one the most pressing challenges of our time, for developing countries and advanced economies alike. This session will explore how engineers can help address these dual challenges and deliver a low-carbon, resilient global future.
• Jo Swinson MP, Leader, Liberal Democrats and MP for East Dunbartonshire (moderator) • Hannah Olmberg-Soesman, COO and Co-Founder, Guguplex Technologies • Professor Jianyun Zhang, President, Nanjing Hydraulic Research Institute • Dr Amrit Chandan, Co-Founder and CEO, Aceleron • Professor Klaus Lackner, Director, Center for Negative Carbon Emissions
12.30pm Lunch
MAIN AGENDA12
2.00pm
Future cities: How do we create sustainable living places for 10 billion people? Increasing numbers of people creates increasing demand for appropriate housing, workplaces, and access to food, water, energy, and waste services. Will smarter technology in ever-bigger cities be the answer? Or is there an alternative future? This session will explore the central role engineers must play in meeting these challenges, and moving our cities towards a circular economy.
• Professor Dame Henrietta Moore, Director of the Institute for Global Prosperity, University College London (moderator)
• Dr Jian Wang, Chairman, Alibaba Group Technology Committee; Founder, Alibaba Cloud • Monica von Schmalensee, Adviser to Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London; President, Swedish
Council for Sustainable Cities • Professor Zhiqiang Wu, Vice-President, Tongji University, Shanghai • Peter Lacy, Senior Managing Director, Accenture Strategy, UK and Ireland
3.15pm
Future wellbeing: How do we sustain a healthy population of 10 billion? New technologies, from AI doctors to novel neural interfaces, have the potential to deliver life changing health benefits or even to change humanity itself. But is technology always the best way to improve wellbeing? Will it be accessible to 10 billion people? And who decides where limits should lie?
• Dr Loubna Bouarfa, Founder and CEO, OKRA Technologies (moderator) • Christine Schindler, Co-Founder and CEO, PathSpot • Neo Hutiri, Founder, Pelebox and 2019 Africa Prize winner • Professor Jackie Hunter CBE FMedSci
4.00pm Closing session Dean Kamen, President, DEKA Research and Founder, FIRST
4.45pm Closing remarks Dr Hayaatun Sillem FIET
5.00pm Closing reception
MAIN AGENDA 13
GGCS 2019 AGENDA PARALLEL SESSIONS Purcell Room, Southbank Centre
The parallel sessions will provide further opportunities for engagement between delegates, particularly students, young engineers, and speakers.
The sessions are in two formats: My engineering journey sessions – these will provide an opportunity for extended Q&A with a broad range of senior speakers, exploring how they are involved in tackling global challenges, how they got to where they are, and what advice they would give to young engineers today.
Fireside chat sessions – these will explore a particular topic through a fireside chat between two or more experts, with plenty of opportunity for questions from delegates.
• Dr Caroline Hargrove FREng, CTO, Babylon Health
12.25pm - 12.45pm My engineering journey: talk and Q&A
• Andrei Iancu, Director, US Patent and Trademark Office
12.50pm - 1.35pm
• Dr Jack Stilgoe, Associate Professor in Science and Technology Studies, University College London
• Dr Alex Kendall, Research Fellow, University of Cambridge; Co-Founder and CTO, Wayve
3.05pm - 3.45pm
Fireside chat: AI and Ethics continuing the discussion
• Professor Luciano Floridi, Professor of Philosophy and Ethics of Information and Director of the Digital Ethics Lab, Oxford Internet Institute
• Dr James Williams, writer and academic
MAIN AGENDA14
• Dr Sam Chapman, Founder and CEO, Kenoteq (moderator) • Chris Mairs CBE FREng, Venture Partner, Entrepreneur First • Maria Dramalioti-Taylor, Managing Partner, Beacon Capital LLP • David Byard, Technology Business Development Manager, BP
10.35am - 10.55am My engineering journey: talk and Q&A
• Rob Meyerson, space engineer and former CEO, Blue Origin
12.30pm - 1.15pm
My engineering journey: talk and Q&A
• Professor Liz Tanner OBE FREng FRSE, Bonfield Professor of Biomedical Materials, Queen Mary University of London
• Dr Shakir Mohamed, research scientist in statistical machine learning and artificial intelligence, DeepMind
1.20pm - 1.50pm
My engineering journey: talk and Q&A NB Mandarin language session
• Dr Olivia Feng, Founder and CEO, ICAN Future Star • Dr Jian Wang, Chairman, Alibaba Group Technology Committee and Founder, Alibaba Cloud • Professor Weijia Yuan, Professor of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, University of
Strathclyde • Professor Sheng Xu, Assistant Professor of Nanoengineering, Bioengineering, and Electrical
and Computer Engineering, University of California San Diego
3.15pm - 4.00pm
Fireside chat: Greenhouse gas removal/carbon sequestration
• Professor Nilay Shah FREng, Director of the Centre for Process Systems Engineering, Imperial College London
• Professor Raffaella Ocone OBE FREng FRSE, Professor of Chemical Engineering, Heriot-Watt University
• Professor Klaus Lackner, Director, Center for Negative Carbon Emissions, Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering, Arizona State University
MAIN AGENDA 15
EVENING EVENTS
Location: Queen Elizabeth Hall, Foyer
All delegates are invited to attend the opening drinks reception, with welcome speeches from the three Academy presidents.
Location: 5th Floor Function Room, Royal Festival Hall
This event will provide a further opportunity, particularly for students, for networking and informal discussion of the summit’s themes with summit partner organisations.
6.30pm - 9.00pm
Location: St Paul’s Roof Pavilion, Royal Festival Hall
This interactive workshop will combine the Global Grand Challenge Summit themes, questioning how digital technologies could transform society in the context of sustaining 10 billion people. It will run for 45 minutes on a rolling basis, and groups will consider the role of autonomous systems in combatting global challenges, identify the assumptions made before deciding to deploy autonomous systems and consider the associated ethical implications. This will create an opportunity to test the concepts of the afternoon’s themes of transformational technology, improving lives and ethical AI, and explore some of the interpersonal and international tensions from which ethical challenges can arise. This discussion will shape ongoing work by the UK’s National Engineering Policy Centre, a partnership led by the Royal Academy of Engineering.
GGCS 2019 EVENING EVENTS A range of events are organised on Tuesday evening to facilitate ongoing discussion of the Summit themes, networking across generations of delegates, and engagement with the UK’s engineering landscape.
A range of events are organised on Tuesday evening to facilitate ongoing discussion of the Summit themes, networking across generations of delegates, and engagement with the UK’s engineering landscape. Events are open to all delegates.
Details of each event are outlined below and delegates are encouraged to move between events over the course of the evening.
EVENING EVENTS18
EVENING EVENTS 19
Location: Weston Roof Pavillion, Royal Festival Hall
EPSRC’s Engineering Grand Challenges were inspired by the themes of the Global Grand challenges Summit in 2013 and further developed at a special two-day event in 2014 involving academics from many disciplines alongside representatives from industry and government.
- Challenge one: Sustainable engineering solutions to provide water for all - Challenge two: Future Cities: engineering approaches that restore the balance between
engineered and natural systems - Challenge three: Engineering across length scales, from atoms to applications - Challenge four: Identifying risk and building resilience into engineered systems.
To address these Grand Challenges, EPSRC provided £21 million to support five ambitious research programmes and two networks involving 19 UK universities and 80 partners, where industry contributed an additional £11 million investment. The projects being showcased at GGCS 2019 are:
• TWENTY 65: Tailored water solutions for positive impact, led by the University of Sheffield (Principle Investigator: Joby Boxall) with Newcastle University, Imperial College London, University of Exeter, University of Manchester and University of Reading.
• Managing air for green inner cities, led by the University of Cambridge (Principle Investigator: Paul Linden), with Imperial College London and University of Surrey.
• Balancing the impact of city infrastructure engineering on natural systems using robots, led by the University of Leeds (Principle Investigator: Phil Purnell), with University College London, University of Birmingham and University of Southampton.
• Synthesising 3D METAmaterials for RF, microwave and THz applications (SYMETA), led by Loughborough University (Principal Investigator: Yiannis Vardaxoglou) with University of Exeter, University of Oxford, University of Sheffield and Queen Mary University of London.
• Engineering van der Waals heterostructures: from atomic level layer-by-layer assembly to printable innovative devices, led by the University of Manchester (Principal Investigator: Konstantin Novoselov) with Lancaster University and University of Cambridge.
• BRIM: building resilience into risk management, led by the University of Exeter (Principal Investigator: Guangtao Fu, with Loughborough University and Cranfield University.
• Engineering complexity resilience network plus (ENCORE), led by the University of Sheffield (Principal Investigator: Martin Mayfield) with Cranfield University, Durham University and University of Strathclyde.
This event will mark the close of the summit
On-Spot Fertiliser Applicator, an Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation shortlist company that allows farmers to apply fertiliser directly to crops, eliminating wastage.
Lockheed Martin is proud to serve as the Founding Funder for the Global Grand Challenges Summit Series. We understand that our future is tied to the success of our diverse talent and future leaders of innovation and technology. And to develop the world’s most advanced systems, we need
®
© 2019 Lockheed Martin Corporation
Yassmin Abdel-Magied Author and broadcaster
Yassmin Abdel-Magied is a Sudanese born author, broadcaster, social advocate and mechanical engineer. She founded Youth Without Borders at the age of 16, and has published a memoir and a fiction book with Penguin Random House. Her TED talk, What does my headscarf mean to you, has been viewed over two million times and was chosen as one of TED’s top ten ideas of 2015.
Yassmin’s critically acclaimed essays have been published in numerous anthologies. She has also featured on podcasts, and in 2018 co-hosted The Guilty Feminist in association with Guardian Live at a sold-out Barbican Theatre. Outside advocacy, she was a drilling engineer on oil and gas rigs for four years and is an internationally accredited F1 journalist.
Azeem Azhar Entrepreneur, investor and member of the editorial board of Harvard Business Review; Host of the Exponential View podcast
Azeem Azhar is a strategist, analyst, award-winning entrepreneur and investor. Azeem is on the board of the Ada Lovelace Foundation, is a venture partner at Kindred Capital, and an advisor to Fabric Ventures. He is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future’s Council on
the Digital Economy and Society. He co-curates CogX, Europe’s largest festival of AI and emerging technologies. Through his widely praised newsletter, Exponential View, he brings a unique background to explain the intersection of breakthrough technologies and the economies and societies in which we live. Subscribers include investors, academics, and journalists around the world.
Professor John L. Anderson US National Academy of Engineering
Dr Anderson is President of the NAE, after becoming a Fellow in 1992 for contributions to colloidal hydro dynamics and membrane transport. He was previously Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering and President of the Illinois Institute of Technology. Before that he was Provost and Executive Vice-President of Case Western Reserve University, and spent eight years as Dean of
Carnegie Mellon University’s College of Engineering. He received the Acrivos Professional Progress Award from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) and an award from the Pittsburgh Section of AIChE for Outstanding Professional Accomplishments in the Field of Academics. He has presented guest lectures at universities across the US and is the author of numerous journal articles and book chapters.
Summit moderator: David Rowan Founding Editor of Wired magazine, Author and Speaker
David Rowan was the Editor-in-Chief of Wired magazine’s UK edition from 2008 to 2017, and the author of Non-Bullshit Innovation: Radical Ideas from the World’s Smartest Minds. Following successful inception and winning the 2009 Launch of the Year at the British Society of Magazine Editor awards, the magazine has continued at the cutting edge, investigating disruptive digital sectors and future technologies.
25SPEAKERS 25
Chris W Benson Principal Artificial Intelligence Strategist, Lockheed Martin
Chris Benson is Principal Artificial Intelligence Strategist at Lockheed Martin, and was previously Chief Scientist for Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning at Honeywell SPS. He is Co-Host of the Practical AI podcast, which reaches thousands of AI enthusiasts each week, and is also the Founder and Organiser of the Atlanta Deep Learning Meetup - one of the largest AI communities in
the world. Known for his passion, energy, and clarity, Chris is among the AI community’s most in-demand professional keynote speakers. He and his family are committed animal advocates who are active in animal rescue, and strive to make strategic improvements on specific animal welfare issues through advocacy for non-partisan, no-kill, and vegan legislation and regulation.
Brian Bosire Founder and CEO, Hydrologistics Africa (HydroIQ) and UjuziKilimo Solutions
Brian Bosire is a Kenyan entrepreneur and expert in product design. UjuziKilimo is a technology company that collects and analyses farm data using sensors to inform the agriculture industry across Africa. HydroIQ focuses on bringing intelligence in access and distribution of water by developing smart water grids using IoT and data analytics. Brian is a UN Young Leader for
Sustainable Development Goals and has been recognised as Africa Pioneer in Agri-tech by Forbes and the American Society for Mechanical Engineers. He is an Academy Leaders in Innovation fellow and serves in the World Bank youth advisory group on solutions for youth employment.
Dr Loubna Bouarfa Founder and CEO, OKRA Technologies; MIT Innovator under 35
Dr Bouarfa is a machine-learning scientist turned entrepreneur who founded OKRA Technologies in 2016. OKRA is an AI data analytics company for healthcare, enabling healthcare professionals to combine multiple complex data sets and generate evidence-based insights in real time to save and improve human lives. She previously spent over 10 years in academia, developing machine-
learning solutions for real-world applications. Her research includes a top-cited pioneering methodology for preventing surgical error in real time, which tracks and predicts surgeons’ operating movements. Loubna is currently a member of the European Union High-Level Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence. She is a strong advocate for diversity, women and challenging the status quo.
David Byard Technology Delivery and Opportunity Evaluation Manager, BP
David is the Technology Delivery and Opportunity Evaluation Manager at BP, in Business Development, Group Technology. David is responsible for building the tools, processes and capability necessary to facilitate origination, scale-up and deployment of technology driven businesses. His team source opportunities from both inside and outside BP. David works
extensively with small entrepreneurial teams and helps accelerate their businesses using different innovation approaches. David has over 20 years of experience and joined BP in 2007 after engineering roles in the industrial gases and petrochemicals sectors, including project delivery for CO2 capture and bio-products. Prior to his current role, David was a transformation project manager for the design and implementation of the current business development organisation in Group Technology.
SPEAKERS26
Sam Chapman Managing Director, Kenoteq Ltd
Dr Sam Chapman is Managing Director of spin-out company, Kenoteq Ltd. Kenoteq’s patented ‘K-Briq’ is an unfired brick made of 90% recycled material. It is made using traditional methods and spurns environmentally unfriendly cement. The K-Briq is made nearly exclusively from waste materials and boasted the highest recycled content of any construction material in the UK.
Originally hailing from the Lake District, Sam relocated to Edinburgh in his final years of school, with a view to following his father’s footsteps into the world of engineering. A master’s in structural engineering with architectural design, a PhD in carbon assessment of wind power, and a chance to work on developing a new type of building material soon followed. He is also director of a successful hospitality company that operates three cocktail bars.
Evangelista Chekera Founder, Passion Poultry
Evangelista Chekera leads the Passion Poultry team that designs, manufactures and distributes chick brooding devices that reduce chick mortality and poultry cones. Evangelista has partnered with Profeeds, for distribution and product development and organises independent training with poultry feed shops, cooperatives and NGOs. Evangelista was one of the 25 entrepreneurs
recognised in the Act in Africa design thinking entrepreneurship programme in 2017. She was one of 25 young African women to be selected to be part of the African Innovation Fellowship. In May 2019, Evangelista was also pre-selected to be a Thought For Food Ambassador, a global initiative for the food industry.
Sue Daley Associate Director for Technology and Innovation, TechUK
Sue Daley leads TechUK’s work on cloud, data analytics and AI and has been recognised as one of the most influential women in UK tech by Computer Weekly. She has also been recognised in UK Big Data 100 as a key influencer in driving forward the Big Data agenda and was recently a judge for the Loebner Prize in AI. Prior to joining TechUK in January 2015 Sue was responsible for
Symantec’s government relations in the UK and Ireland. She has spoken at events including the UK-China Internet Forum in Beijing, UN Internet Governance Forum and European RSA on issues ranging from data usage and privacy, cloud computing and online child safety.
Dr Amrit Chandan Co-founder and CEO, Aceleron
Dr Chandan is an entrepreneur interested in low carbon projects that will have a positive impact on our world. Amrit holds a PhD in fuel cell technology and worked in the low carbon vehicle space for years, advising companies such as Morgan Motor Company. In 2016, Amrit co-founded and is CEO of Aceleron, which builds advanced lithium batteries. Amrit has written articles published in popular
magazines, trade journals and academic peer-reviewed journals. He has been named on the Forbes ‘30 under 30’ List and was awarded the Hawley Award for Engineering Innovation by HRH The Princess Royal on behalf of the Worshipful Company of Engineers.
27SPEAKERS 27
Dr Zhonghan Deng Member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering; Co-Founder and Chief Scientist, Vimicro Cooperation
Dr Zhonghan (John) Deng is a technologist and the co-founder of Vimicro Corporation. He is an elected member of the 10th and 11th National People’s Congress of China, as well as member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. His career started at IBM TJ Watson Research Center at Yorktown Heights in New York after he completed his PhD at UC Berkeley. He co-founded his first
start-up company Pixim Inc in Silicon Valley, which was acquired by Sony. In 1999 Dr Deng returned to China and co- founded Vimicro Corporation. Dr Deng has received awards including the College of Engineering Outstanding Alumni Innovation Award and the Chancellor Citation from University of California Berkeley, as well as the Chinese National First Class Award of Science and Technology.
Professor Dame Ann Dowling OM DBE FREng FRS President of the Royal Academy of Engineering; Professor of Mechanical Engineering, University of Cambridge; Fellow, Sidney Sussex College
Dame Ann Dowling is a world authority on combustion and acoustics. After working at Rolls-Royce Bristol, she was appointed to a lectureship at the University of Cambridge in 1979 and held visiting research posts at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1999 and California
Institute of Technology in 2001. She was Head of the Department of Engineering at Cambridge from 2009 to 2014. Dame Ann led the Cambridge MIT Silent Aircraft Initiative, publishing a radical new design concept SAX-40 in 2006 aimed at raising aircraft industry aspirations. She leads research on efficient, low-emission combustion for aero and industrial gas turbines and low-noise vehicles, particularly aircraft. She is a member of the Prime Minister’s Council for Science and Technology.
Dr Olivia Feng Founder and CEO, ICAN Future Star
Dr Olivia Feng has had quite an unusual career path. She set up an education tech startup, hellouni, in the last year of her PhD. The business went on to win UK government R&D grants and university contracts. Her vision was to make studying abroad an easier and positive experience. During the stint as a founder and CEO, she realised that she needed more experience for software
management in a more scaled and agile way. Recently she joined Sketchup as a product manager in its London office. She is responsible for developing a suite of products for architects and designers for all their 3D modelling needs.
Maria Dramalioti-Taylor Managing Partner, Beacon Capital LLP
Maria is the founding managing partner of Beacon Capital LLP, a London-based venture capital firm that invests in early stage, enterprise tech ventures. Beacon’s portfolio of 20 plus companies includes category-defining businesses such as Topia, Epignosis (partially exited), Ometria and Lifebit and has reached a market cap of more than £700 million. Maria has led numerous early
stage investments, is on the board of many portfolio companies, supports not-for-profit organisations such as the Enterprise Hub of the Royal Academy of Engineering and Reload Greece and is an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at INSEAD. She studied engineering at Imperial College London and Ethniko Metsovio Polytechneio in Athens and holds an MBA from Cranfield School of Management.
SPEAKERS28
Professor Dame Wendy Hall DBE FREng FRS Regius Professor of Computer Science; Pro Vice-Chancellor (International Engagement) and Executive Director, Web Science Institute, University of Southampton
Dame Wendy co-founded the Web Science Research Initiative in 2006 and is the Managing Director of the Web Science Trust, which has a global mission to support the development of research, education and thought leadership in web science. She was a founding member of the European
Research Council and Chair of the European Commission’s ISTAG, was a member of the Global Commission on Internet Governance and was a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Futures Council on the Digital Economy. Dame Wendy was Co-Chair of the UK government’s AI Review, which was published in October 2017, and has recently been announced by the UK government as the first Skills Champion for AI in the UK.
Dr Caroline Hargrove FREng Chief Technical Officer, Babylon Health
Dr Hargrove is Babylon’s CTO, with responsibility over the company’s technologies and AI products. She is also a Non-Executive Director at Ceres Power and a trustee of the National Saturday Clubs. Caroline has experience in a range of sectors and started her career as a lecturer in engineering at the University of Cambridge, followed by various roles at McLaren Formula 1, mainly focused on
the development of simulations and the first F1 simulator. She moved to McLaren Applied Technologies as a founding member and became its CTO before moving to Babylon. Caroline is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and was, until recently, a Visiting Professor at Oxford. She holds a PhD in Applied Mechanics from the University of Cambridge.
Diane Greene Co-Founder and former CEO, VMware
Diane Greene is a technology industry executive, entrepreneur, and engineer. She worked as a naval architect designing ships and large ocean structure deployment systems. Most recently, she established and ran Google’s multibillion-dollar enterprise cloud business. She currently serves on the boards of SAP, and Stripe and is a lifetime member of the MIT Corporation. Prior to
Google, Diane co-founded and was CEO of three technology companies; VMware, the virtualisation company that she led for 11 years, taking it public to a $19.1 billion valuation in 2007; Bebop, an enterprise company specialising in hiring and applying machine learning to finding jobs, acquired by Google in 2015; and VXtreme, a streaming video company acquired by Microsoft in 1995.
Professor Luciano Floridi Professor of Philosophy and Ethics of Information, OII, University of Oxford
Luciano Floridi is Professor of Philosophy and Ethics of Information at the University of Oxford, where he directs the Digital Ethics Lab of the Oxford Internet Institute and is Professorial Fellow of Exeter College. He is also a Turing Fellow and chairs the Alan Turing Institute’s Data Ethics Group. His expertise areas include digital ethics, the philosophy of information, and the philosophy of
technology. His recent books include The Fourth Revolution - How the Infosphere is Reshaping Human Reality (2014), winner of the J. Ong Award; The Ethics of Information (2013); The Philosophy of Information (2011); and The Logic of Information (2019).
29SPEAKERS 29
Andrei Iancu Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director, United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)
Andrei Iancu leads one of the largest intellectual property offices in the world, with more than 12,000 employees and $3 billion annual budget. He also serves as the principal advisor to the President on domestic and international intellectual property policy matters. Prior to his legal
career, Andrei was an engineer at the Hughes Aircraft Company. Before joining the USPTO, Andrei was the Managing Partner at Irell and Manella LLP, where his practice focused on intellectual property litigation. He has represented clients across the technical and scientific spectra, including genetic testing, therapeutics, the internet, telephony, TV broadcasting, video game systems and computer peripherals.
Dr Jackie Hunter CBE FMedSci Board Director, BenevolentAI
Professor Jackie Hunter is Chief Executive, Clinical Programmes and Strategic Relationships. She held senior positions at global pharmaceutical organisations including GSK, Proximagen and OI Pharma Partners before joining BenevolentAI as a Director in 2016. She brings vast academic and business experience in the biomedical and pharmaceutical sectors. Jackie directs the application
of BenevolentAI’s technology for clinical development and gives the company the insight it needs to operate its unique business model – one which sees it not only researching, but also developing the blueprint for new drugs.
Nnaemeka Ikegwuonu Founder, ColdHubs, farmer and community radio agricultural presenter
Nnaemeka Ikegwuonu founded the Smallholders Foundation, which uses its rural radio (FARM F.M) network to reach an estimated 250,000 farmers with daily agriculture, environmental management and market access messages. Nnaemeka launched ColdHubs, which enables smallholder farmers, retailers and wholesalers to store and preserve fresh fruits, vegetables and
other perishable food 24/7, extending the shelf life from two days to 21 days. Nnaemeka was recognised as Ashoka Fellow 2008, Laureate of the Rolex Awards for Enterprise 2010, Laureate WISE Awards 2010, Fast Company USA 100 Most Creative in Business 2012, and Japan 2012 and 2013 Laureate of the prestigious Yara Prize for Green Revolution in Africa (now Africa Food Prize).
Neo Hutiri Founder, Pelebox; 2019 Africa Prize Winner
Neo Hutiri is an engineer turned entrepreneur and founder of Technovera; a technology startup developing smart solutions in the public healthcare space. Neo joined the steel manufacturing industry as an automation engineer. He later took up an operations management role working as a technical assistant to the COO while also completing a MEng in industrial engineering at Wits
before venturing out into the technology startup scene in Johannesburg. Neo invented Pelebox, a solution that enables patients to collect repeat medication in seconds instead of waiting hours. He is currently studying towards a master’s in philosophy in inclusive innovation with a special interest in scaling impact through digital technologies.
SPEAKERS30
Professor Klaus Lackner Director, Center for Negative Carbon Emissions, Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering, Arizona State University
Dr Lackner’s research interests include closing the carbon cycle by capturing carbon dioxide from the air, carbon sequestration, carbon foot-printing, innovative energy and infrastructure systems and their scaling properties. He also looks at the role of automation, robotics and mass-
manufacturing in downscaling infrastructure systems, and energy and environmental policy. His work includes more than 200 publications and 30 patents, commercially licensed IP in carbon capture and life cycle analysis. He is a Fellow of the American Association of the Advancement of Science. As Ewing Worzel Professor, he directed the Lenfest Center for Sustainable Energy at Columbia University. He co-founded two startup companies and led the zero-emission coal Alliance in the late 1990s.
Peter Lacy Senior Managing Director, Accenture Strategy, UK and Ireland
Peter Lacy is senior managing director at Accenture and a member of its Global Leadership Council, working with CEOs, fortune 500 companies and organisations including the UN, EU and UK Government. His responsibilities include growth, strategy and sustainability. He leads Accenture’s relationship with the World Economic Forum and its Digital Transformation of Industries
programme. He also leads Accenture UK and Ireland Strategy business. Peter’s role focuses on corporate strategy, digital transformation, investments in innovation and acquisitions. Previously, Peter worked for McKinsey and Company and the think tank the Academy of Business in Society, where he was founding executive director. Peter founded the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders Taskforce on Circular Economy and its Circular Economy Awards. He has led the world’s largest study on CEO attitudes to sustainability for the UN Secretary General four times, and he was a founding signatory of the UN’s Principles for Responsible Management Education. His book Waste to Wealth – the Circular Economy Advantage is published in eight languages.
Dr Alex Kendall Research fellow in Computer Vision and Robotics, University of Cambridge
Dr Kendall co-founded and is CTO of Wayve, in addition to holding a research fellowship at Trinity College at the University of Cambridge. Alex grew up in New Zealand, studied mechatronics engineering at Auckland University, was awarded a Woolf Fisher Scholarship and helped design the algorithms that fly the Skydio drone, before completing a PhD in computer vision and robotics
at the University of Cambridge. His work has appeared at leading computer vision, robotics and machine learning conferences. Alex interested in building robots that can learn to do more intelligent things with less data.
Dean Kamen Entrepreneur; Inventor of the Segway and Founder, FIRST Global and DEKA Research
Dean Kamen is an inventor, an entrepreneur, and a tireless advocate for science and technology. As an inventor, he holds more than 440 patents, many of them for innovative medical devices. Kamen was awarded the National Medal of Technology in 2000, presented by President Clinton. This award was in recognition of inventions that have advanced medical care worldwide, and for
innovative and imaginative leadership in awakening America to the excitement of science and technology. Dean also founded FIRST® and FIRST®Global, organisations that motivate the next generation to understand, use and enjoy science and technology. This year FIRST will serve more than one million young people, aged 6 to 18, in more than 122 countries around the globe; and FIRST Global will gather one team from nearly 200 nations to participate in the annual FIRST Global Challenge.
31SPEAKERS 31
Chris Mairs CBE FREng Venture partner, Entrepreneur First
Chris graduated from the University of Cambridge with a first class honours degree in Computer Science and was Co-Founder and Chief Technical Officer of Metaswitch Networks. He sits on the boards of several AI and biotech startups and is also a trustee of The Raspberry Pi Foundation. He was awarded a CBE in 2014 and is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering. Being blind
himself, he rode a tandem across America in 2017, raising $190,000 to restore sight to 4,700 people with cataracts in the developing world.
Rob Meyerson Former CEO, Blue Origin and space engineer
Rob Meyerson is an aerospace engineer and executive. He is recognised for his breakthrough leadership and entrepreneurial mindset in building and scaling aerospace organisations. As former president of Blue Origin, reporting directly to Jeff Bezos, Rob led the development of the New Shepard system for suborbital human and research flights, the BE-3 hydrogen-fueled rocket
engine, the BE-4 LNG-fueled rocket engine, and the New Glenn orbital launch vehicle, as well as the manufacturing and test capabilities to enable all the above. He is a Fellow of the American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics. Rob serves as a board member at the Museum of Flight and the University of Michigan College of Engineering.
Professor Juergen Maier CBE FREng CEO, Siemens and Honorary Professor, Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences, University of Manchester
Juergen Maier was appointed Chief Executive in 2014 and has been a member of the Siemens UK Executive Board since 2008. He joined the company in 1986 and has held senior roles within Siemens in the UK and Germany including Managing Director of Industrial activities for the UK and
Manufacturing Director of the award-winning Drives factory in Congleton. He is a passionate advocate of rebalancing the UK economy and has supported many initiatives championing manufacturing, improved infrastructure and engineering skills. In 2017, he was asked by government to lead a review on increasing the digitalisation of the UK manufacturing sector.
Dr Shakir Mohamed Research scientist of statistical machine learning and artificial intelligence, DeepMind
Shakir Mohamed focuses on the interface between probabilistic reasoning, deep learning and reinforcement learning. He finds how the solutions that emerge at that intersection can be used to develop general-purpose learning systems and in addressing global challenges. Shakir also leads the Deep Learning Indaba, an independent grassroots organisation whose mission is to build pan-
African capacity and ownership in AI: by building communities, creating leadership and recognising excellence across the African continent. Shakir will be the senior programme chair for the 2020 International conference on Learning Representations in Ethiopia. Shakir is from Johannesburg, South Africa, where he completed his undergraduate and master’s degrees in electrical and information engineering.
SPEAKERS32
Adrian Vincent Opinion Student and Trust for Sustainable Living Essay Competition Winner
Adrian Vincent P Opinion, known as Ryan, is a freshman Filipino college student at the Ateneo de Manila University. Ryan discovered the power that intellectual discourse has on youth after attending international debates in 2017. After his passion for debate was ignited, Ryan has been at the forefront of the fight to eliminate poverty, push for sustainable development, advocate
for human rights, uphold the rule of law, empower youth, and combat climate change. Ryan has volunteered in the Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines, the Government of Marikina, the Philippine Congress, is a Junior Officer in International Youth United, and has chaired and facilitated various youth workshops. Ryan spends his days writing socio-political analyses for NGOs, joining human rights activist movements, and assisting his parents with their daily needs.
Hannah Olmberg-Soesman COO and Co-Founder, Guguplex Technologies; Attorney, Olmberg Law and Women in Renewable Energy (WIRE) Network Mentor
Hannah Olmberg-Soesman is a dynamic entrepreneur and an attorney at law with a background in social work. Focusing on women’s empowerment and community development in Suriname, she and her company have been instrumental in introducing off-grid solar systems to remote villages.
This has forged possibilities for better school education, medical care and small-scale business to augment families’ income and increase local development. Hannah received the inaugural Caribbean Community Energy Personality Award in 2018 for her exceptional contribution to a sustainable energy future in the region. She believes that renewable energy, or any kind of technology, does not have relevance if it does not actively contribute and increase personal, social, economic and educational development.
Professor Raffaella Ocone OBE FREng FRSE Professor of Chemical Engineering, Heriot-Watt University
Professor Ocone has held the Chair of Chemical Engineering in the School of Engineering and Physical Sciences at Heriot-Watt University since 1995. At Heriot-Watt, she is the head of the multiphase multiscale engineering modelling research group. Raffaella has worked in a number of highly recognised international Institutions and recently she was the Caroline Herschel Visiting
Professor at RHUR Universität, Germany and the recipient of a Visiting Research Fellowship from the Institute for Advanced Studies, Università di Bologna. Raffaella’s main area of research is in the field of modelling complex (multi-phase) reactive systems. She is the EPSRC Established Career Fellow in Particle Technology.
Professor Dame Henrietta Moore DBE FBA Founder and Director, Institute for Global Prosperity, University College London
Professor Moore is Founder and Director of the Institute for Global Prosperity and the Chair in Culture Philosophy and Design at University College London (UCL). A leading global thinker on prosperity Professor Moore challenges traditional economic models of growth arguing that for flourishing communities, businesses and governments need to engage with diversity and work
within environmental limits. In 2016 she was made a dame for contribution to social sciences, services to business, policy and the arts. She is the Chair and Co-Founder of SHM Productions and the founding trustee of the SHM Foundation. She is the lead academic on the ESRC-funded RELIEF Centre; the London Prosperity Board, a trustee at the Barbican Centre Trust, a Fellow of the British Academy and Royal Society of Arts, an Academician of the Learned Societies for the Social Sciences, and a Member of the Institute of Directors.
Dr Gill Pratt Founding CEO, Toyota Research Institute; Fellow, Toyota Motor Corporation
Prior to joining the Toyota Research Institute as its founding CEO, Dr Pratt served as an Executive Technical Advisor to Toyota Motor Corporation. As a Toyota Motor Corporation Fellow, Gill guides its advanced R&D company in the areas of automated driving and artificial intelligence. Prior to joining Toyota, he led the Robotics Challenge of the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency,
where he served as a programme manager in the Defense Sciences and Tactical Technology offices from January 2010 through August 2015. Gill was an Associate Professor and Director of the Leg Lab at MIT. He holds several patents in series elastic actuation and adaptive control.
33SPEAKERS 33
Gitanjali Rao Student inventor awarded America’s Top Young Scientist in 2017, author and speaker
Gitanjali Rao is 13 years old and was named America’s Top Young Scientist of 2017, with a patent pending device to detect lead in water faster than any other current techniques. She is also the winner of a global Paradigm science challenge. Since 2012 she has been a Davidson Young Scholar and has received several scholarships and awards for achievements in science, arts and community
service. Gitanjali is pursuing research in cell biology at Colorado University, Denver. She recently gave three TEDx talks: two in India and another in Nashville and has been a UNICEF panellist about the role of youth to power the planet.
The Lord Martin Rees Baron Rees of Ludlow Kt OM HonFREng HonFMedSci FRS: cosmologist and astrophysicist; Astronomer Royal at Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge and Member of the House of Lords
Lord Rees is the UK’s Astronomer Royal. He is based at the University of Cambridge where he is a Fellow (and Former Master) of Trinity College. He was President of the Royal Society from 2005 to 2010. He is a foreign associate of the National Academy of Sciences, the Russian Academy of
Sciences, the Pontifical Academy and the Japan Academy. His awards include the Balzan Prize, the Bower Award for Science of the Franklin Institute, the Gruber Prize, the Crafoord Prize and the Templeton Prize. He has been increasingly concerned about the pressures that a growing and more demanding population are placing on environment, sustainability and biodiversity; and the impact of new technologies.
Anne Rweyora Founder and Managing Director, Smart Havens Africa
Anne Rweyora is an entrepreneur and industrial designer from Uganda. Smart Havens Africa is a business social enterprise that provides smart, sustainable and affordable homes geared towards making home ownership more affordable and accessible to African women struggling to buy their own homes. Anne is a Global Social Benefit Institute alumna and was a finalist in the Royal
Academy of Engineering’s Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation. She gained recognition at the UNSDGS IST Forum, was a Pitch@Palace 3.0 Finalist for the FT/IFC Transformational business awards and has also won the Youth Innovation Contest at the IFC Sustainability Exchange among other achievements
SPEAKERS34
Dr Hayaatun Sillem CEO, Royal Academy of Engineering
Hayaatun has extensive leadership experience in UK and international engineering, innovation and diversity and inclusion activities. She is a trustee of the London Transport Museum and EngineeringUK; serves as a member of the Made Smarter Commission and chairs its Expert Stakeholder Panel; chairs the judging panel for the St Andrews Prize for the Environment; and is
a member of advisory groups for Lloyd’s Register Foundation, accelerateHER and the BCS. She was named as one of the ‘Inspiring Fifty’ women in tech in 2018. Hayaatun has a master’s in biochemistry from the University of Oxford and a PhD in signal transduction from Cancer Research UK/University College London. She is a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology and an Honorary Professor at UCL’s Department of Science, Technology, Engineering and Public Policy.
Monica von Schmalensee Architect; Adviser to Sadiq Khan; President, Swedish Council for Sustainable Cities
Monica von Schmalensee is a senior partner and architect at White Arkitekter. As CEO from 2010 to 2017, she established the practice internationally and doubled its size. In 2017 she was named the second most powerful person in Swedish architecture and design by publication Tidskriften Rum. She is one of the Mayor of London’s Design Advocates, a collection of individuals who support the
Mayor in the delivery of the Good Growth by Design agenda, through advocacy, critique and research. In 2018 Monica was appointed by the Swedish government as chair and president for Council of Sustainable Cities. She is also a fellow member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering and Sciences.
Christine Schindler Co-Founder and CEO, PathSpot Technologies
Christine Schindler is an engineer and entrepreneur passionate about utilising technology to overcome gaps in healthcare. She founded the non-profit organisation Girls Engineering Change (GEC) to address gender representation in STEM. GEC brings female middle school and college students together at college campuses across the US to build low-cost devices that are donated
to organisations across the world. Christine then founded PathSpot Technologies, where she serves as CEO, to use technology she created to instantly detect harmful contamination behind foodborne illness. PathSpot is used by restaurants, packaging facilities, and farms to encourage sanitation practices, protect food supplies, and create a healthier world.
Professor Nilay Shah FREng Head of Department of Engineering, Imperial College London
Professor Shah was previously Director of the Centre for Process Systems Engineering. This is a multi-institution (Imperial and University College London) research centre that covers modelling and model-based design and optimisation of energy and process systems. Nilay’s research interests include the application of process modelling and mathematical/systems engineering
techniques to analyse and optimise complex, spatially - and temporally-explicit low-carbon energy systems, including hydrogen infrastructures, carbon capture and storage systems, urban energy systems and bioenergy systems. He was recently part of a joint Royal Society/Royal Academy of Engineering team preparing a comprehensive report on greenhouse gas removal, where his role was to provide process and systems engineering expertise.
35SPEAKERS 35
Professor Liz Tanner OBE FREng FRSE Professor of Biomedical Materials at the University of Glasgow
Liz Tanner has been Professor of Biomedical Materials in the School of Engineering at the University of Glasgow since 2007. At Glasgow, she established the undergraduate and MSc degrees in biomedical engineering, the first BEng and MEng degrees on the field in Scotland. She has been an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Orthopaedics at Lund University Hospital
since 1998. Professor Tanner’s research interests are biomaterials and biomechanics especially related to bone and joint replacement and augmentation. This interest progresses from the development of novel materials, through their testing and into clinical application. From 2005 to 2009 she was Secretary of the European Society for Biomaterials.
Jo Swinson MP Leader, Liberal Democrats; Member of Parliament for East Dunbartonshire
Jo Swinson is the Leader of the Liberal Democrats and Liberal Democrat MP for East Dunbartonshire. She was a Business Minister and Minister for Women and Equalities in the Coalition Government (2012-2015). A former marketing manager, in 2015 Jo founded her own consulting business advising organisations on workplace diversity. She has written a book, Equal Power.
Dr Jack Stilgoe Associate Professor in Science and Technology Studies, University College London
Dr Stilgoe is associate professor of science and technology studies at University College London where he studies the development of new technologies in society. Jack is currently the Principal Investigator of the ESRC Driverless Futures? project, a three-year social science project looking at the governance of self-driving cars. He is the author of Experiment Earth - Responsible innovation in geoengineering.
William Tunstall-Pedoe Angel investor, Cambridge Angels; Advisor, Ada Health, co-creator of Amazon Alexa and Echo
William Tunstall-Pedoe is a computer scientist and entrepreneur who founded Evi, an AI company, that was acquired by Amazon in 2012. The software developed by Evi under William’s leadership, which understood questions and framed natural, conversational answers, is the basis for Amazon’s Alexa technology. As a result, the engineering excellence of the technology developed by William
has underpinned the mainstream emergence of voice-controlled devices - the most significant user interface shift since the advent of smart phones.
SPEAKERS36
Professor Zhiqiang Wu Vice-President of Tongji University, Shanghai
Professor Wu is Vice-President of Tongji University, an academic at the Chinese, German and Royal Swedish national academies of engineering; and an Honorary Fellow of American Institute of Architects. He serves as Co-Chair of International Steering Committee of World Planning School Congress, Permanent Member of UNESCO-International Union of Architects. As Vice-President of Urban
Planning Society of China, China Association of Building Energy Efficiency, and China Green Building Council, Professor Wu is the most influential academic figure in the field of urbanisation and urban planning. He is Chief Planner of World EXPO Shanghai 2010, Qingdao World Horticultural Exhibition 2014 and the Earthquake Placement Plan in Sichuan. Currently Professor Wu is appointed as the chief planner of urban design concept for the sub-center of in Beijing.
Dr James Williams Writer and academic
Dr Williams received his PhD from Oxford, where his research focused on the philosophy and ethics of attention and persuasion in technology design. In 2017 he won the inaugural Nine Dots Prize, a major international award for creative thinking, which led to the publication of his first book, Stand Out of Our Light, in 2018 by Cambridge University Press. The Observer called it ‘a landmark
book’ and TechCrunch hailed it as ‘an instant classic in the field of tech ethics.’ Recently, the president of Princeton University selected the book as the one book all incoming students are assigned to read before commencing their studies. Previously, James spent a decade at Google, where he received the Founders’ Award, the company’s highest honour. He is also a co-founder of the Time Well Spent campaign, has been a visiting fellow at the University of Cambridge, and is an advisor to numerous governments and companies on technology issues.
Dr Jian Wang Chairman, Alibaba Group Technology Committee; Founder, Alibaba Cloud; Honorary Mayor, Yunqi Cloud Town and Xuelang Town and the Volunteer of 2050
Dr Wang joined Alibaba Group in 2008 as Chief Architect, responsible for the group’s technology architecture and construction of technology platforms. He founded Alibaba Cloud and took on the role of president, helping develop a large-scale distributed computing system—Apsara. Jian
led a team to incubate and launch YunOS, a commercial operating system for cars, mobile phones, televisions and other smart devices. He became Alibaba’s CTO in 2012. In 2014, he established the Institute of Data Science and Technologies, and in April 2016, Dr Wang proposed the concept and framework of the City Brain, and began working on the world’s first City Brain project in Hangzhou.
Professor Sir Mark Walport FRS FRCP FRCPath FMedSci CEO UK Research and Innovation
Sir Mark Walport is Chief Executive of UK Research and Innovation, which brings together the seven Research Councils, Innovate UK and Research England. He was previously Government Chief Scientific Adviser, Head of the Government Office for Science and Co-Chair of the Prime Minister’s Council for Science and Technology. He was Professor of Medicine and Head of the
Division of Medicine at Imperial College London and former director of the Wellcome Trust. Sir Mark conducted independent reviews for the UK government on the use and sharing of personal information in the public and private sectors: Data Sharing Review (2009); and Science and Mathematics: Secondary Education for the 21st
Century (2010).
37SPEAKERS 37
Professor Weijia Yuan Department of Electric and Electrical Engineering, University of Strathclyde
Professor Weijia Yuan received his bachelor degree from Tsinghua University in 2006 and his PhD from the University of Cambridge in 2010, winning a Springer Theses Prize. He joined the University of Bath as a lecturer in 2011, where he was later promoted to Reader in 2016. Between 2013 and 2018, he held a prestigious Royal Academy of Engineering Research Fellowship. In
2018 he joined the University of Strathclyde as a full professor. He has published more than 80 peer reviewed journal papers. He has won the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Van Duzer Prize 2014 and Institute of Physics Superconductivity Group Early Career Researcher Prize 2013. He is now leading a research team of 15 researchers in the area applied superconductivity including superconducting propulsion technology for future electrical aircraft.
Professor Sheng Xu Assistant Professor, Department of Nanoengineering, University of California San Diego
After Sheng Xu gained his PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology, he was a postdoctoral research associate in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Illinois. His group focuses on biointegrated electronics for health monitoring and human-machine interfaces. His research has been highlighted as Groundbreaking
Research in 2018 by Forbes and one of “12 innovations that will revolutionise the future of medicine” by National Geographic, and 2018 National Institute Health end-of-year review. He was awarded the as MRS Outstanding Young Investigator Award (one of the 32 recipients since its inception in 1991). He serves Nano Research as a Young Star Editor.
Professor Jianyun Zhang FREng President, Nanjing Hydraulic Research Institute; Chief Engineer, Bureau of Hydrology, Ministry of Water Resources
Professor Jianyun Zhang is a leading specialist in hydrology and water resources. He is currently Head of Department of Civil, Hydraulic and Architectural Engineering of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Director-General of MWR Research Center for Climate Change, and Chair of the
Chinese National Committee for International Association of Hydrological Sciences. He is also Editor-in- Chief for the journals of Advances in Water Science and Hydro-Science and Engineering. He has published over 200 papers in high- profile journals. He was elected as a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering in 2009 and an international Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, UK in 2014.
Professor Ji Zhou FREng Honorary Chairman of the Governing Board and immediate Past President, Chinese Academy of Engineering
Professor Zhou graduated from Tsinghua University and received a PhD degree from State University of New York at Buffalo. His previous posts include Minister of Education and President of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. Professor Zhou is a professor of mechanical engineering
in Huazhong University of Science and Technology. During his professional career, he was actively involved in research and development of optimal design, computer aided design, and numerical control technology. He is an international Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, and a foreign member of the US National Academy of Engineering, Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences, Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, and National Academy of Engineering of Korea.
STUDENT COMPETITION AND COLLABORATION LAB
#GGCS2019
STUDENT COMPETITION40
The competition University teams were invited to propose an innovation or novel approach to address global challenges associated with the sub-themes of the summit. As the themes are broad, teams were expected to tackle one or more elements of a challenge rather than the entire subject. For example, this could include:
• How do we feed 10 billion? • Is continued urbanisation inevitable
and desirable? • How can we achieve globally
equitable access to technology? • How do we stop the world being
water short? • How do we make innovation
circular?
Five champion teams from each country were selected to attend a Collaboration Lab event before the summit between 12 and 16 September, as well as an invitation to the main summit in London.
Collaboration Lab Event The Collaboration Lab in London, UK, brought together around 300 students – comprising the winning 15 in-country teams and additionally selected students – from the UK, USA and China to stimulate and encourage them to work cross-culturally and across disciplines through a programme of challenge-led innovation, providing the tools to respond to global
challenges in transformational ways. The event was kicked off with the final of the student competition, where the five champion teams from each country pitched to a panel of senior judges.The students were then mixed up to generate new, cross-country teams. These new mixed teams were challenged to collaborate and draw on each other’s skills and experience to develop solutions to the grand challenges, developing and building on those pitched by the student champion teams.
The programme for the three days included: • cross-cultural icebreakers and team
building sessions • scenario-based facilitated
workshops, including time to develop new proposals in mixed teams
• inspirational speaker sessions • opportunities for feedback and
mentoring from senior engineers • evening social events, including the
opportunity to see and experience London.
On the final morning of the Collaboration Lab, the mixed country teams presented their proposals for judging through a showcase exhibition event. The judges selected a number of winning teams to present their proposals at the main Summit on 18 September 2019.
The Academy is very grateful for the assistance of a number of people throughout the collaboration lab as mentors and judges, including:
Ana Avaliani Malcolm A. Brinded CBE FREng Cristovao Cacombe Professor C. C. Chan FREng Konrad Chlupka Jenny Edwards David Elemi Professor Amr S. Elnashai FREng Dr Ozak Esu Joseph Hart Professor Peter J. Goodhew CBE FREng Mark Goudie Patrick Gregory Dr Keoki Jackson Dr John Lazar CBE FREng Dmitry Leyko Professor Richard K. Miller Naadiya Moosajee Paul Neal Professor Raffaella Ocone OBE FREng FRSE Shameer Omar Kalita Patel Dr Alton D. Romig Sir Robin Saxby FREng FRS Zein Shah Matt Speirs David Thomlinson FREng Adam Tunbridge Dr Yannis C. Yortsos
GLOBAL GRAND CHALLENGES SUMMIT Student Competition and Collaboration Lab
The Royal Academy of Engineering invited university teams to participate in the Global Grand Challenges Summit Competition 2019, a programme of challenge-led innovation, design and business development, culminating in the opportunity for teams to attend the student Collaboration Lab event and the Global Grand Challenges Summit.
41STUDENT COMPETITION 41
1. Loughborough University 1: A modularised, off-grid toilet block that generates resources for urbanising communities in developing countries A self-sustaining, off-grid toilet block designed within a shipping container to be implemented as a turnkey solution to tackle the lack of sanitation in rural and rapidly urbanising communities. Its biodigestor-centred system uses human waste to create high quality fertiliser and generate electricity for local lighting and phone charging.
2. Loughborough University 2: Disaster relief shelter Intermediate-term housing for displaced populations in the aftermath of both natural and humanitarian crises. The shelter is modular, meaning it can be adapted for the individuals needs of people living there. Giving each family a
private space to live in as well as open shared areas to maintain a sense of community after such disasters.
3.University of Cambridge: Improving nutrition through dehydration innovation More than 70% of people worldwide don’t consume sufficient fruits and vegetables. This is a huge issue because it causes a large burden on the healthcare system. To improve general well-being, the team proposed a solution to improve access to a fruit and vegetable alternatives. Using microwave dehydration, they have made a fruit and vegetable powdered drink mix that is tasty, convenient and natural.
4. University of Surrey: A post-harvest storage network for developing countries The team aims to contribute towards
a vision of ‘Zero Hunger’ by 2050 by reducing post-harvest storage losses in developing countries. The storage network is essentially like Airbnb for grains, where farmers can make the best use of their individual storage spaces and minimise wastage due to inadequate centralised storage. It minimises costs associated with storage and transportation, and will be implemented via a Progressive Web Application.
5. Heriot-Watt University: Hive house The team’s solution to the issue of sustaining 10 billion people is prefabricated modular housing that can be stacked or expanded as and when is needed. The Hive House will be made of cross laminated timber, which can consist of recycled timber or bamboo.
UK TEAMS Twenty shortlisted teams from the UK took part in a two-day interactive workshop in April and June 2019, working with experts to explore global challenges and building the knowledge and tools needed to develop their proposed solutions.
STUDENT COMPETITION42
1. Dartmouth College: The Compost Tea Project The project aims to deliver sustainable organic fertiliser to low-income urban farmers who face soil nutrient deficiency, but lack the space, time, and finances needed to implement traditional composting systems.
2. North Carolina State University: Peak Coffee Processing The business has developed an affordable treatment process to filter wastewater into clean water and fertiliser. This will produce purified water while creating a product that economically benefits coffee producers through increasing crop yields and reducing topsoil erosion.
3. Oklahoma State University: An innovative technological system that increases yields and reduces input costs and waste for farmers. This system employs sensors that collect data from farms, transmitting
it to a data hub for processing, and communicating information back to individual farmers.
4. University of California, San Diego: Sulo Sulo is working with rural villagers in the Philippines to sell an affordable, reliable, and safe solar-powered lantern. They aim to bring a reliable source of light and economic development to rural communities.
5. University of Southern California: Marlink A product that serves as the link between operators and their underwater exploration vehicles. Marlink enables the next generation of underwater communication by pairing the robust, long-range effects of acoustic technology with the high data rates of optical technology.
6. (Reserve team) University of Rochester: EZ Water EZ Water leverages locally available resources to set up a network of water shops run by micro- entrepreneurs who filter water locally without electricity and serve the needs of people in low-income communities.
In an effort to ensure that solutions addressed the most pressing issues facing targeted populations, the US teams participated in a version of the National Science Foundation’s I-Corps programme. Teams were trained to identify, access, and interview key members of the ecosystems who are directly impacted by the problems they are attempting to solve. Teams interviewed numerous ‘customers’ and in doing so, came to a deeper understanding of the specific challenges they must address.
US TEAMS The US National Academy of Engineering (NAE) selected five teams from more than 20 US entrants, to represent the United States at the Global Grand Challenges Summit 2019.
43STUDENT COMPETITION 43
1. Tongji University: Dwelt Optimized Guiding and Accessibility System (DOGAS) This project takes the award-winning DWELT indoor localization technique as the core, combines machine vision, SLAM and data fusion to build an AI-powered digital blind sidewalk system. The system will use these technologies to restore and improve urban infrastructure, which can solve travel problems for people with visual impairments.
2. Central South University: Brainus Brainus, brain of a bus, is committed to path planning and navigation control systems of driverless electric buses to establish an intelligent public transportation ecological platform in the future. It aims to achieve the goal of “restore and improve urban infrastructure” for enhancing the joy of living.
3. Chongqing University: A lightweight and functional design of elderly care robot The team independently designed a household robot dog for the elderly. The robot dog is designed with lightweight materials and structures. The breathable skin is prepared to degrade indoor pollutants. Besides, the robot dog possesses triboelectric vibration sensor and communication alarm system, which detect falls of the elderly to ensure safety.
4. Hong Kong Joint University Team: ClearBot: Decentralized Robot Swarms to Clean our Oceans Ocean plastics destroy natural marine and coastal habitats, endanger wildlife across the globe, pollute the food chain, ultimately affecting the global water-food- energy nexus. ClearBot is a scalable, AI-powered, plastic collecting
intelligent robotic solution to address the ocean plastic epidemic with a sustainable community-centric symbiotic ecosystem.
5. Wuhan University: MA New Cellulose Dissolution Method Used in Industrial Production to Replace Plastic Products A novel technology is used to dissolve cellulose and apply it in industrial production. This makes it practical to fabricate cheap and biodegradable products to substitute traditional plastics, thus solving the plastic issue to a great extent. The grand challenge this will solve is “Engineer the tools of scientific discoveries.”
CHINA TEAMS The Chinese Academy of Engineering have selected 5 teams to represent China at the Summit and the Student Competition Collaboration event.
PARTNERS
#GGCS2019
& FUNDERS
FUNDERS
SPONSORS, PARTNERS AND FUNDERS46
GGCS PARTNERS AND FUNDERS The Academy would like to acknowledge the following institutions and companies who are partners in the Global Grand Challenges Summit 2019. Thank you for your support in convening a truly global audience for the summit.
Global Grand Challenges Summit Principal Partners
Global Grand Challenges Summit Series Founding Funder
Programme Partner
Global Grand Challenges Summit Partner
For further information regarding sponsorship opportunities and in-kind support at the Royal Academy of Engineering , please contact Samantha Bagchi, Director of Development: [email protected]
GLOBAL PARTICIPATION 47
GLOBAL PARTICIPATION International involvement In addition to hosting the Summit itself, the Royal Academy of Engineering has several avenues for the global engineering community to get involved with tackling the world’s most pressing issues.
To ensure the summit is a truly global event, and to increase the global reach of the summit, the Academy has funded the attendance for up to 100 engineers, innovators, and researchers across all career stages from more than 30 developing countries across the globe.
Satellite events Summit satellite events are being hosted in six countries outside of the tri-lateral partnership in India, Kenya, Mexico, Thailand, Uganda and Vietnam. These events cover a range of topics aligned with the summit themes, from AI in healthcare to water sustainability.
The satellite events will engage young engineers, entrepreneurs, industry and academics within the local communities. The events will bring people together, across generations, to engage with the themes of the summit, and create
or strengthen a regional network of engineers and stakeholders to benefit their local economies and communities.
Satellite events will be linked into the summit through live or on demand streaming of summit sessions, and attendees will be able to engage live through the summit app.
Host organisations received up to £10,000 from the Academy, funded through the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF).
ORGANISERS48
ROYAL ACADEMY OF ENGINEERING As the UK’s national academy for engineering and technology, the Royal Academy of Engineering brings together the most talented and successful engineers – our Fellows – to advance and promote excellence in engineering for the benefit of society.
NATIONAL ACADEMY OF ENGINEERING Founded in 1964, the US National Academy of Engineering is a private, independent, non-profit institution that provides engineering leadership in service to the nation.
We harness their experience and expertise to provide independent advice to government, to deliver programmes that help exceptional engineering researchers and innovators realise their potential, to engage the public with engineeri

engineering in an unpredictable world

Documents