BalticlaB

Anastassia is an audience development specialist in the eld of culture and a communication specialist in the eld of human rights and diversity. Anastassia stands for contemporary culture, creative freedom and equal rights for each and every one. She would like to raise awareness about the impact culture exerts on the creative economy and the difference it can make to people’s lives.

Andreas’ interests are mostly focused on culture, art and entertainment. Right now he works for a lm production company called Nafta as well as the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival where he produces special events during the festival. He currently concentrates on music and short lm production and runs an underground club venue Lekker in Tallinn.

Andrey & Julia are a creative duo – photographer and fashion designer, they are passionate about style, image and re ned natural beauty. They aim to mix the media of fashion design and photography on a new level, creating unique items and imagery.

Anne from Estonia is the editor-in-chief of the independent publication Slacker Magazine. Her favourite actor is Arnold Schwarzenegger and she once dug out a child’s skull from a 10.000BC burial ground.

Ellen is currently studying at the architecture department of the Estonian Academy of Arts where she mostly works with spaces and installations. She is an enthusiastic multitasker and among other things she has been a part of organising such events as Tallinn Bicycle Week.

Hannes is starting a print business, which will mediate art on different canvases, mostly textiles and paper. He is also part of a seasonal project in Pärnu called «Katlamaja» which pushes underground art and culture in the summer capital of Estonia. As part of his family’s business he is involved in the export of Estonian, Baltic and American art to China. He also organises art exhibitions and festivals here and there. He is an active member of the international performance art troupe Non Grata which has recently been on a global tour.

Helena is an Account Manager at Velvet Creative Alliance, where she manages design and web design projects. She describes herself as a curious and empathic people’s person and is driven by the need to create user experience. She is interested to learn new aspects of design, innovation and technology while building her flower delivery related startup FlowerShower.

Henri is with Yep – a digital consultancy building up digital products and services. When Henri is not coding / prototyping he enjoys spending time together with his beloved ones. He also plays the fiddle at gigs and jam sessions.

Henrik is the ambassador at the Estonian Funk Embassy. He’s looking to connect the regions funk-soul-disco music scenes by promoting events, DJing, producing records and managing artists like Lexsoul Dancemachine, the Estrada Orchestra and the Misha Panfilov Sound Combo.

Kadi Ploom works as a tourism development consultant and manager of the NGO Peipsimaa Tourism. Her job is also her hobby, which brings her exciting ways to spend her leisure time outside of the working schedule. Therefor she wishes to create international contacts and international projects to bene t enterprises of South-Estonia and Estonia.

Kadri has experiences in feminism, ecology, human rights, historical memory, and civic activism, she has currently found her place as the coordinator of international cooperation at the National Foundation of Civil Society in Estonia. RSVP for contacts, grants, partners or projects in the non-governmental sector.

Kaisa is an Estonian entrepreneur residing in Riga, she does art management for the painter Ritums Ivanovs and brand management for the fashion designer Keta Gutmane. Kaisa’s company Thindividual offers customized support for creatives: production, PR, marketing, press, consulting, sales, communication, red tape, social media admin & more. Supportive technicalities are taken care of, so the artists can just excel in creating.

Kaspar trained as a composer and a classical musician and currently works in lm production. In this capacity he is looking for ways to enhance the level of overall cooperation and co-production within the region. He has many ideas on how to help regional talents to cooperate easily, while entering carefully selected markets. He also likes soup.

In addition to Kristiina’s daily job as a consultant and project manager in one of the leading PR companies in Estonia, she is also studying Business Administration (MBA) at Tallinn University of Technology.

One of the best decisions in Kristjan’s life was to study semiotics, which has left him with an everlasting affection towards signs, languages and generating connections. He also enjoys wakeboarding on a nice summer day, good food and a great book.

Laura is a former copywriter, now working in a startup as a lead generation manager. She al- most religiously pays street musicians because she thinks their input to the enrichment of our environment is priceless. She is looking forward to exercise her creativity, to be immersed in different ideas and to meet new interesting people.

Liina has a professional background in project management, advertising and design. She works as a full-stack marketer and is passionate about ideation and entrepreneurship. When she is not working, you can probably find her participating in some creative projects, travelling or absorbing music and culture.

Mari-Liis Vunder is an architect, who loves to create a reality out of her imagination. Usually she reaches it through thinking, drawing and experimenting. A good atmosphere and innovative people are the tools that drive her ideas.

Mariliis works as a music and web editor for the Estonian monthly Müürileht which focuses on culture, society and niche cultures and tries to dig deeper in covering different phenomena that would otherwise be left out from the mainstream media. Mariliis’s main interests of late have been mapping the different subcultures and trying to grasp the rising club scene in post-Soviet countries.

Maris has been working in the design field for over 8 years, right now as a communications and project manager at the Estonian Design Centre. Her job is to make sure that Estonian design is used, seen and heard. Besides design, Maris love music, DJing, singing karaoke, eating and cooking food, swimming, bicycling and art.

Mervet is a legal professional from Estonia with a passion for sustainable development, artificial intelligence and aviation. Having studied and worked in seven countries she has developed an attraction towards wanderlust, interesting people and airplane food. Mervet is excited to live in a time where technology is used to seek innovative solutions to global challenges, while she seeks to deploy her legal expertise and to collaborate with others in order to impact positive social change.

Peeter is the Co-Founder and Sidekick at Marit Ilison Creative Atelier in Tallinn, who connects creativity with reality by finding the best combinations of how to get the most out of both, on a daily basis. Excel makes him smile, he also likes to work with people and constrain untamed numbers.

Pille is from Tallinn and has spent the past couple of years travelling, organising and promoting events and working in the entertainment business. People and the ocean are her main sources of inspiration.

Risto is an entrepreneur, designer and art director, who graduated from Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam. He lives and works in Tallinn. Besides creative and design work he is committed to event productions, where he has initiated and worked on Simple Session, Tallinn Bicycle Week and some music events. He has also co-founded JOOKS bicycle studio and Spot of Tallinn action sports centre. Besides that he has run his own magazine, produced films for the Bicycle Film Festival and taught at the Estonian Academy of Arts.

Sandra Vokk holds a BA in Near Eastern and Asian Studies from The Estonian Institute of Humanities at Tallinn University and a MSc in Social Anthropology from the University of Oxford. She is currently the CEO of the Unitas Foundation, dedicated to history and human rights education.

Tõnis has an IT and business background and is now working in lm, focusing on music events and art production. He’s a partner in the creative agency VÄLK, based in Tallinn.

Vahur Mäe is a serial entrepreneur, based in Estonia. Right now he is working on an industry changing charcoal grilling product named Grillcube. He has 8 years of entrepreneurship experience and his expert fields are international sales, production management and business planning.

Anni has worked as a producer for Helsinki Design Week for nearly ten years now. Currently she is undertaking a Master’s Programme in Innovation Management at Central Saint Martins, London. She is passionate about the protection of seas and oceans and values empathy and positive energy when collaborating in creative problem solving.

Junnu is an entrepreneur from Helsinki, Finland and the founder of Letgee Creative Oy. Letgee (Finnish slang word for ́laid back ́ or ́mel- low ́) provides kick ass web solutions mainly focusing on web design, mobile apps and di erent kinds of software programming and music production. Through his company he also has experience in developing high quality event services such as livestreaming and social media integrations for events.

A visual arts teacher by degree Laura cur- rently works as a counselor for the city of Helsinki helping long term unemployed take steps towards employment and a normal life. She wants to enable people to discover and express themselves. Combining visual arts and technology education is a dream she hopes to one day turn into reality in a big way.

Michiko is a Japanese born media artist (MFA) based in Helsinki. At the moment she focuses on making art projects with 3D graphics/ animation, collaborating with other creative individuals from overseas. In 2014 she started-up her own company «Mime», which o offers visual satisfaction with 3DCG, Animation and Music production.

Salla is a Finnish art director, once marinated in the Swedish design eld, nowadays working in a creative studio in Helsinki. She is specialized in branding and strategic communication and works with both established international corporates and rising start-ups within the technology, entertainment and fashion industry. Still the bona de hippie, she devotes her free time to more civic activities and cultural collaborations – or getting lost in the Nordic woods.

Veera Pakala believes that multidisciplinarity is the key to successful innovations and a shift in mindsets. Veera works in a multidiciplinary brand innovation agency, in Stockholm and believes that there is creativity in each of us; the challenge is to nd a way to combine and harness this creativity successfully.

Xavier is a keen observer of human nature and cautious about motion design and its full detail on the foundation of things. He is interested in creating innovative digital solutions.

Christina is an industrial designer specialized in sustainability strategies and business modeling for a circular economy. Together with Dutch organizations she has developed and facilitated workshops that guided designers and SMEs through the innovation process for circular economy product and business concepts. Currently Christina is setting up her own agency in Hamburg, Germany.

Elliot is a designer who has worked with lm, product and graphic design. He is based in Berlin. His work as a designer the last few years has been very diverse: from doing design research on mobility at old age, to designing and programming company websites, to producing music videos for bands… he has done it all. That is why he believes a multidisciplinarity and a cross-media approach to be the most characteristic aspect of his work. Nowadays he is a co-founder and the guy responsible for web design and lm at Studio Toto in Berlin.

Kay is open minded and easily inspired, always wishing for creative excellence to pop up and be published to a wide range of people. Furthermore he is interested in the wide eld of light usage and installations.

Martin was born in Poland and later moved to Germany where he became fascinated by engineering and art, especially photos and slide-projectors. He has always loved the magic of enlightened things and people, therefore he founded the startup Light Instruments to develop tools and systems to enhance the possibilities available with light and projections.

Sophia is a native of Hamburg. She has a fascination for metropoles as the location of cultural clashes and innovation which drove her to study “Metropolitan Culture” at the Hafen City University in Hamburg. Starting from the assumption, that creative industries are a potential driver for innovation in different classical industries as well as in area development, she started to work at Hamburg Kreativ Gesellschaft after her studies and she is now amongst other things responsible for cooperation between actors involved in the creative industries and other industries with the aim to foster innovative output. Hamburg Kreativ Gesellschaft is a municipal institution founded to promote creative industries with its 11 sectors (Music, Design, Architecture, Literature, Software & Games, Advertisement, Arts, Performing Arts, Press and Film) in Hamburg.

Nathalie is a graduate from the International Leadership School, Kaospilot and is currently working for the Copenhagen based consultancy Spark. In her work, she designs and facilitates development and change processes, both on an organizational and societal level. Nathalie also heads Sparks Community for Change Agents – with the purpose of creating more sustainable change processes.

Yrja has been working with start-ups in Norway and globally in various fields like fashion, educational technologies and community management. More recently she has been working as a community manager consultant for a company based in Silicon Valley, following her move to San Francisco to connect and learn from other like-minded people in the start-up scene. Yrja is always looking for new ways and means to utilize her many ideas.

With an academic background in anthropology, photography and audiovisual communication, Agnieszka widely collaborates with international organizations interested in sustainability, intercultural communication, global justice and human rights. She loves art, nature and animals and makes the best vegan banana bread in the world.

Agnieszka is a girl with a lot of positive energy and a rich imagination as a young creative and Architect and Engineer. She has taken part in many projects localized around the globe. She loves to make visualizations in Photoshop and work in 3D programs. Her biggest dream is to meet people – because she believes that it is only in a good team that you can find and create something new and innovative. In her free time she snowboards and surfs but she also enjoys different types of sports too. Living and traveling around the world is her way of life.

Aleksander graduated from Warsaw School of Economics in Management and International Relations, he gained his business experience as an entrepreneur running a number of innovative projects, as well as an employee of the international auditing company Ernst & Young. He has gained experience with business investments by working as a nancial analyst at Black Lion. He is currently organizing the Warsaw Accelerator for startups from the CEE region. In his free time Aleksander enjoys travels, hiking and reading. More information on startuphub.pl/warsaw

Anna is a data scientist, data warehouse and ETL expert and is currently doing her PhD at the Silesian University of Technology in Gliwice. She is really into data, its warehousing, its science, its mining and algorithms. Her biggest passion is working with real data and solving real problems encountered by industry, especially from the so-called heavy industries like fuels, and energy. She has been working on a petroleum leak detection method that is currently used on more than 50 petrol stations in Poland.

Anna is a co-founder of Subscrea, an easy to use subscription e-commerce solution. She is passionate about meeting new people and embracing the beauty of the unknowable future. She hopes to spread her open approach business model to other more traditional industries. Anna is an intrapreneur within the media behemoth Ringier Axel Springer where she is Managing Director of the new online publishing brand for millennials NOIZZ Poland.

Anna is a Startup activist, entrepreneur and motivator. She is the Founder of the first Commercial Real Estate Accelerator in CEE and the Warsaw Accelerator for technology startups. She supports startup founders with knowledge and international networks. In 2011 she co-funded Reaktor – a startup mansion where the Warsaw Startup Community was born. Since May 2014 she leads Startup Grind Warsaw as the Chapter Director. In 2015 she was awarded Poland’s Most In uential Woman in Tech by CESA. A mentor and a speaker at technology conferences and CG artist by passion, Anna is also co-founder of homplex.pl – a platform promoting 3D technology support for furnishing products through the “shop the room” model. For 15 years she has been en- gaged in web app development and for 3 years was an IT security expert at the ABN AMRO Bank and the Royal Bank of Scotland, where she managed an international team.

Anna is an entrepreneurial professional, dedicated to forging a career track in intercultural communication and innovative ventures. A person who nds herself at ease in both nonprofit and business setups: responsible for the program of TEDx Poznan; coordinating training processes in a fast growing HR service line of a reputable consulting rm and last, but not least a traveler who has been lost and found many times, and is still amazed how many inspiring people one can meet on the way.

Barbara is an architect based in Cracow, Poland. She is the co-founder of the interdisciplinary collective Palce Lizać acting between architecture, urban planning, art and urban activism. She is a Member of the research team nanotourism which was awarded with the highest honour of the Best Collaboration Award at BIO50 – 24th Biennial of Design of Ljubljana, Slovenia in 2014.

Dawid is an architect and urban planner, educated at the Faculty of Architecture, University of Technology in Delft, Netherlands. After graduating he worked as an architect for various offices in Belgium, Denmark, Great Britain and the Netherlands. Since 2012 he has been leading the architectural office Atelier Starzak Strebicki together with Jola Starzak in Poznan, Poland. Selection of current and past collaborations: School of Form – Poznań (PL), Technical University Delft (NL), Foundation Bęc Zmiana – Warsaw (PL), National Audiovisual Institute (NInA) – Warsaw (PL), Gdynia Design Days (PL), Łódź Design Festival (PL), Institute of Design Kielce (PL), City Government Poznań (PL), Municipality of Grimbergen (BE).

Dominika is an environmental psychologist and Ph.D. student at the University of Wroclaw, Poland. She researches the fields of cognitive maps, place attachment and local identity. She is engaged in projects, which promote sustain- able and human-friendly public spaces.

Ewelina is an architect, designer and research- er. She has a number of roles, such as being the Coordinator of Modular Building R&D Lab and the director for Innovation and Product Development in the company DiamondModule, where she works in the eld of modular and o -site construction, currently mostly for refugees. Her interests lie in collaboration be- tween science and industry, modular architecture, public space, urban heritage, creative and collaborative thinking.

Iga is an artist, originally from Poland. She currently lives in Barcelona, Spain, where she works in the eld of fashion e-commerce. Her greatest passions are veganism, drawing and travelling. If you’d like to contact her for a project or a chat, please don’t hesitate!

Jakub Ignaczak is a friendly and open-minded creative with a multifarious approach. He runs a small advertising company, seeking differences and unique features in the surrounding world. He is keen on graphic and interior design as a photographer and a sculptor. In his free time Jakub runs workshops for young people and those who are 50+ and is also involved in lo- cal activities held by NGOs and municipalities. Feel free to contact him, there are always spare strings that can be pulled.

Since having graduated with a Diploma of the Year in Architecture at Warsaw University of Technology in 2012, Jakub is “trying not to be an architect”. He has been volunteering on a farm in Norway and developed his passion for programming, which he has had since high school. He is now working on a software programme for architects and with Attefallshus container accommodation.

Jakub lives in Poland and says this about his engineering skills: “Just give me some duct tape and WD-40 and I can x almost everything.” He is currently working on his PhD thesis in the eld of vibration and noise emission in machinery.

For most of my professional work I had the pleasure to be the member of the Polish non-governmental organization Fundacja Platon (CEO since 2011), which works in the fields of education, cultural activities, science outreach and financial support of youth. In 2012 I have been in charge of Cosmic Underground, an artistic journey from Estonia to Portugal. Under my guidance, a train lled with art from the Baltic countries traversed Europe for more than 2 months, having its final stop in Guimaraes ECC 2012. After this project funded by the Culture Program 2007 – 2013, I have worked in Lisbon with the Polish Embassy in order to prepare the rst ever Polish culture festival in Portugal. The idea behind “The Re:volution of the Stars” was to celebrate the 25th and the 40th anniversary of Polish and Portuguese democratic transformations. Since October 2014 I have been the CEO of the Kuyavian – Pomeranian Creative Cluster – The Brewster Hub, which has the goal to use art as a tool for science outreach. The main partner of the Hub is the Nicolaus Copernicus University Toruń and the NCU Technology Transfer Centre.

Jan is an architect and artist from Warsaw but is currently based in Milan specializing in product design, interiors and art. His goal is to cross any and all boundaries between art, design, fashion and architecture. He runs two small businesses: one for furniture and the other for jewelry. Jan is convinced that everything we touch and feel in a project should possess a continuity of concept and a cohesive voice. Considering space as sculpture, he wants to create an experience that becomes a destination in its own right with an individual sense of spirit and soul. He plays with shapes, scale and dimension to create drama that tells stories, interprets memories.

Jarek has a background in nance and business development. He is also a co-organizer of Warsaw Startup Weekend. Most recently, he was the Business Development Director at Kontomatik, a financial technology company acquired by Kreditech Group. Jarek is passionate about entrepreneurship and bringing technology products to the market.

Jerzy is part of the team responsible for technology innovations and cooperation with startups at Aviva Poland, an insurance company. He facilitates cooperation between large, traditional business and the world of startups – guiding the latter through corporate realities. In addition he mentors teams during startups events such as Startup Weekend and HackJam or runs Design Thinking workshops.

Joanna is a lm lover and a designer who has a passion for travel. Currently she is working with the idea of relationship between architecture and cinema. Her recent collaboration – The Other Side Installation, was awarded Grand Prix Student Section at the Prague Quadrennial 2015. Feel free to contact her on joaska.

Justyna is a visual experience designer. She graduated from the Eugene Geppert Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Wrocław, Poland. She also holds a bachelor degree in Design with a specialization in Glass design (2013) and studied at the Design and Applied Arts department at the Aalto University, School of Arts, Design and Architecture in Helsinki, Finland (2011-2012). In the past, around the world, she has deepened her knowledge and skills in various design studios, ateliers and culture centers. Also, she managed projects for music, design and art festivals. Currently, she is working as a freelance visual experience designer, who is frequently changing her place of dwelling in a search of inspiration and opportunities to share and experiment. She is passionate about urban design & public spaces, visual experience design and nature.

Justyna ́s passion is history of art, contemporary visual art, animated lm and cinema. Justyna is a culture manager at the Emigration Museum in Gdynia (Poland) where she has been organizing a broad scope of events dealing with the issues of emigration and the Polish community abroad.

Karina is a M.Sc. Eng. of Information Technology with the specialization in International Project Management and currently a PhD student at the West Pomeranian University of Technology in Szczecin, Poland. Her areas of interest are multi-attribute decision making methods and decision theory under uncertainty.

Karolina is a freelance graphic designer and illustrator who collaborates with many cultural institutions, foundations, and companies. She is particularly interested in how infographics can convey information quickly and memorably without the need for lengthy reports. She hopes to launch an information web service which delivers important world news only by infographic.

Kasia curates, writes and lectures about design and exhibitions. Currently she is a doctoral student at the University of Oxford where she researches the history of Polish design exhibitions and trade fairs. Since 2012 she has worked at Central Saint Martins, London as an Associate Lecturer.

Katarzyna has an engineering degree in biotechnology and is now studying a Master in sustainable biotechnology. She believes scientists represent a different type of creativity. She is interested in joining designers and scientists together to develop a production process for new biomaterials, and believes compressive solutions to complex problems is only possible through such collaborations. She is also a founder and board member at Aguila Blanca, a Real Madrid fan club.

Katarzyna is a freelance graphic designer based in Berlin and has an MFA in graphic arts. She is particularly concerned about the world’s condition and is determined to take part in improving it. To this end she engages in social design projects. She aims to specialize in information design and help institutions working for social change to develop powerful means of communicating.

Kinga is a doctoral student in media and communication at the Department of Social Research, University of Helsinki. She is currently working on her dissertation about the use of social media in moral education of ethical consumers. Kinga is particularly interested in glob- al trade relations as heavily mediated relation- ships between producers in the Global South and consumers in the Global North, and how social media can potentially be used to bring the two distant ends of the supply chain closer together. Apart from her academic work, she cooperates with an NGO, Pro Ethical Trade Finland (Eetti). She has previously worked as a communication assistant at the Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission (HELCOM), where her major interests revolved around environmental communication. She has also written a master thesis on creativity in social media environments.

Lucas Brodowicz is a cultural animator, visual artist, photographer and filmmaker, professionally known under the moniker BRATstudio.

Łukasz is a cultural and social activist residing in Gdańsk, Poland. He works mainly as an ergotherapist and seniors rights advocate. He organises various cultural and artistic projects involving the elderly. He is especially interested in collecting an oral history recordings and memories, which he often uses in his projects. In his free time he sings, usually accompanied by his terribly out-of-tune ukulele.

Łukasz is a cultural project manager for Win-Win Foundation and owns his own consulting business, Little Sparrow Event & Production. His work at Win-Win aims to create a career path for artists, entertainers, and NGO activists by building new relationships between creatives, institutions, and culture beneficiaries.

Maciej is a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Gothenburg. He has over eight years international experience within management of small-scale projects and leads now a project on the provenance of antiquities. He has always been focused on building networks and is passionate about food cultures around the world.

Maciej is a self-described ‘project freak’ devoting his time to conduct and manage modern projects in IT, especially mobile app development. He likes creating user-friendly tools that make life easier, starting from integrated hard- ware and software solutions from the beginning of IoT era up to complex mobile application platforms used by hundreds of thousand users all over the world. His technical background allows him to be the right man standing in the middle between creative geek engineers and visionaries wanting to turn their ideas into working devices or apps.

Magdalena is a founding partner at Designlab and an assistant tutor at the Polish-Japanese Institute of Information Technology. Research and experimentation are key parts of her work when designing large spaces, furniture and objects. She currently collaborates with a government agency that supports entrepreneurs in implementing innovative projects within the sector for the Development of Eastern Poland.

Marcelina is passionate about developing consulting and training projects for small and medium-sized companies. Her fields of expertise involve: strategic management, public relations, corporate social responsibility and creativity techniques. She also conducts Business English workshops within which she integrates creative business education.

Marta’s life circulates around service design. She helps clients create new services and improving existing ones. She’s a co-founder of Engage Warsaw – an organization that aims to make public services more human.

Martyna is a sound artist investigating environ- mental sounds, noise within urban environments, associations between sounds and objects, and performative aspects of listening. Her work features composed music created with eld recordings, installations, situational performances, and live improvisation. She studied at the University of the Arts, London, and Sound at UdK, Berlin. She works between Krakow, London and Berlin.

Natalia completed her master degree in Art History and Spanish at Wroclaw University, Poland, after which she went on to complete a Ph.D.on urban history. Her research has focused on the evolution of public space in early Spanish towns. It has also led her to a wider interest in urban history and urban comparative studies. In addition to these urban interests, her work also touches on issues relating to design. One of the projects she is working on is the album of Baltic contemporary designers that you can find on fb: www.facebook.com/balticdesignlab/

Pawel is a freelancer and world traveler. He is a graduate of the University of Portsmouth and the University of West Virginia. He is inspired by Brooklyn.

Piotr is an interior designer, painter and a drawing artist. He is currently enrolled in a PhD programme at the Academy of Arts. Piotr is a founder of an architectural studio and his own art school. For years he has been actively involved in promoting cultural and artistic expression.

Piotr is the owner and PR manager for Public Relations Agency Pracowina Szumu and has a master in journalism. He is a keen observer of Polish culture and fashion and has many years of experience working with media and creative industries. Piotr hopes to launch an internet platform and professional network where creators can inspire each other and exchange experiences.

Piotr is passionate about making ideas happen and founded TRALALABS – a creative company helping companies and NGOs in changing ideas into actions with impact. He is also strongly involved in the TED/TEDx community as an initiator and team leader for TEDx in his home city (TEDxLublin). He coorganises Warsaw Jams – open workshops on service design, which are part of the Global Service Jam project.

Rafał Mączyński is a TV series screenwriter willing to create European shows that could measure up to – or even surpass – such US productions as “Breaking Bad” or “Mad Men”. A rm believer in the adage: “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago; the second best time is now”.

Rafał is an architect, engineer and an artist with passion. He specializes in parametric architecture and revitalization of architectural and urban areas of the city. He now focuses on developing his collaborative and coordinate skills in para- metric projects of new design technology BIM.

Robert is a psychologist and UX specialist, working as a researcher and project manager at the University of Economy (Laboratory of Neuropsychology and Usability) and Polish Economics Society in Bydgoszcz. He has a solid background in cognitive ergonomics and he managed several projects concerning the formation of cluster structures, business incubation, commercialization of research results and trainings for young start-ups.

Sargheve is a Product/Experience Innovation professional currently based in Warsaw. He has been designing products and experiences (Mobile, Consumer Electronics, Healthcare and Packaging) for the European, American and Asian markets for over 9 years. He was the former Head of Mobile Product Design at the Samsung Global Studio (South-West-Asia). He found Designforstartups in early 2015, a growth-hacking machine helping start-ups/ SME’s to grow through easy and affordable access to design, technology and business expertise, with clear focus on strategic creativity. He is part of various conferences and programmes like Google Launchpad, UX Poland, Wolves Summit, Warsaw Accelerator and so forth, as a product strategy mentor and workshop facilitator. He is also associated with many academies and institutions in various activities and events focused on Innovation and Design.

While working in a team Sebastian tends to be the one asking difficult questions and trying to help figure out solutions. He is a junior web developer, programmer and graphic designer with a strong belief in natural leaders.

Szymon indulges in all of his interests: science, humanities, and arts. He studies journalism and communication. He is also a successful web developer, stilt-walker and a co-founder of stilts theatre “Fanaberie”. As an entrepreneur building websites, he built a small team that continues to work and evolve together. His motto: “Tell me, I’ll forget; Show me, I’ll remember; Let me do it, I’ll understand”.

Szymon is a designer and artist from Poland, currently living and working in Barcelona. He specialises in interiors, product and fashion. He gets his drive to design from the belief that design can change the world.

Tomasz is an innovation expert working currently in the financial sector. His R&D related toolkit includes: agile project management, creativity, design thinking and research. His interests lay in: intrapreneurship and entrepreneurship. During the weekends he studies product design at Strzemiński Academy of Fine Arts in Łódź.

Tomasz is passionate about logistics and technology. He likes unconventional solutions, traveling and playing squash. He has co-founded Sellbox, was responsible for the first IT system to manage operations of Marley Spoon around the world, and led TEDxPoznań for 5 years. He is currently focused on his next startup, helping restaurants get fresh produce directly from producers. Given the wings, he would travel the whole shoreline – both ways.

Zuzanna is an all-round product and graphic designer who specializes in design for children. In 2011 she has opened her studio – Melo Design, where she develops her own ideas for toys, children’s books and games. Apart from Melo Design projects she is also freelancing for different clients from Poland, Germany and the UK.

Alexander is a designer and an artist who has had his work featured in numerous exhibitions. He seeks to improve how people use public spaces in Kaliningrad, encouraging respect for pedestrian spaces, developing bicycle routes, and revitalising the forgotten spaces.

Alexander is an art director of Baltic Magazines publishing house and co-founder of ‘Kaliningrad is changing’ (ex. The-Province.Com) website about positive changes in the urban landscape of the town.

Dmitry from Kiev is the executive director of CEO Club – an organization, which unites more than 150 owners and CEOs of big Ukrainian companies. Before, he was the president of the youth organization AIESEC in Ukraine.

Kostyantyn has founded Besida, a network- ing tool for the alumni of SIDA international training programmes, and uSupport, an open source, content crowd-sourcing catalogue and marketplace for Ukraine’s IT companies. He nds himself on a constant search for new knowledge, contacts and opportunities.

Olena is the Chairwoman of the NGO “Con- gress of Cultural Activists” and a facilitator of the Active Citizen programme in partnership with the British Council. Olena works with local communities and activists on social action pro- jects and local strategies development. Olena is also a short-movie producer in the family production company “Kontora Pravylo” and the organiser of the multidisciplinary festival “Tran- skaukazja”.

Roman is an architect, urban planner, co- founder of Urban Sustain Architecture design group and social research project Urban Lab Kyiv. Besides these elds, Roman is involved in advocacy of creative industries and cultural diplomacy within activities of NGO Congress of Cultural Activists.

Serhiy’s driver is creativity. That is why he founded the jazz festival ART JAZZ and the online education platform Teleportus.

Yaroslav is the co-founder and managing part- ner of Escape Quest and an entrepreneur from Kiev. As a volunteer he also provides consult- ing and mentorship to students from Odessa National University on social entrepreneurship projects.

Alexandra is a creative analyst, business developer and co-founder of IRON’S creative agency based in Minsk, Belarus. Her motto in work is Ads, Brands & Rock’n’Roll. Alexandra is open for new experiences, cooperation and interesting projects.

Anastasia is the International Public Relations Manager at the private cultural institution Visual and Performing Arts Centre ART Corporation in Minsk. She has worked as a curator, organised participation in art fairs and acted as production manager with the International Dance theatres festival Tsekh and the theatre Ballet Moskva. In her free time she enjoys practicing yoga, dancing, and fly fishing.

Anastasiya is a PR and communications specialist and brings big international conferences, such as Global Entrepreneurship Week and Venture Day, to Belarus. She wants to build a startup ecosystem with the Imaguru startup hub in Minsk.

Kasia is a graphic and interior designer, as well as a photographer, she is currently working as an art-director of 34MAG (34mag.net) and 34travel (34travel.by) both of which are independent magazines based in Minsk, Belarus.

Krystina is a Belarusian journalist and media entrepreneur based in London. After working as a tech community manager in Minsk for several years, she did a Master’s in Interactive Journalism at City University London and is now working as a freelance data journalist. Krystina joined the City University startup accelerator in September 2015.

Lena curates projects that are connected with design in collaboration with different institutions. She is now finishing her degree in History of Arts and also makes her own contemporary jewellery.

Margarita is the co-founder of the creative space BALKI in Minsk, where she has also been serving as a curator for 1,5 years. Margarita has organised 3 open city events, a typography design school, an architectural summer school and many other public initiatives. In 2015 Margarita opened BALKI travel bureau, which organises creative tours in the Baltic region together with the Lithuanian project BY-LT: Art Bridge.

Maria is a communications manager at the International Theatre Forum TEART and Minsk International Film Fest Listapad. She has been working with design studios and the museum of electronic music.

Maryia is a product and furniture designer with background in architecture. Her main professional interest now is in responsible and discursive design – design as a tool for raising uncomfortable but important questions and seeking for answers.

Maryna is a creative technologist in London. She works at the crossroads of art, business and new technologies (IoT, augmented reality, VR, locative, wearables), striving to redirect advertising budgets to green, artistic, energy- saving, interactive «phygital» projects. Maryna makes and breaks new things to make our cities a better place to live in and raise the corporate social responsibility of advertisers.

Mikhail is a digital marketer at Volkswagen Belarus. He is in charge of the development of their digital strategy, online communications, the company’s websites, social media promotion, mobile app, communication with advertising agencies and the management of special projects. He finds inspiration in creative, on-point and people-to-people communication between brands and the public.

Nadzeya Ilkevich is the Head of the Cultural Management Centre in Minsk. She has a Masters degree in Cultural Management (Creative Industries), and is the founder of Superheroes School. She also directs short films and TV Shows and organises events.

Pavel was born in Minsk, Belarus, where from 2010-2016 he ran a music recording studio, working with Belarusian and foreign musicians. In 2016 Pavel started a web-development business in Warsaw, Poland and now he runs a company developing web-products and web- solutions for other companies (e.g. websites, portals, landing pages etc.) Considering his music occupation, Pavel decided to develop it into a production center and create a promotional agency for musicians. Pavel is interested in strengthening business connections between Belarus, Poland and other countries. He is open for new ideas and interesting project and can also provide investment and help for those ideas and projects, so get in contact.

Stepan is a young professional seeking opportunities to set up his own venture. His main areas of expertise are nance and international business. He is currently working at a telecom startup, where his responsibilities include administrative and patent-related issues.

Yuliya is the CEO and Founder of “ProWomen. by” – a social project for supporting, connecting and empowering women in business in Belarus. She has more than 4 years of progressive professional experience in a full spectrum of marketing and PR services.

Agnieszka is currently the Artistic Director at School of Form in Poland. She is a journalist, critic and curator of design, founder and perennial chief editor of the Polish edition of Elle Decoration and the Lodz Design festival artistic director between 2008 and 2011. She is a promoter of Polish design in the world and the author of numerous exhibitions exploring identities of Polish (Polska Folk, Unpolished, Materia Prima) and Central European design (Common Roots. Design Map of Central European Design for Design Museum Holon). She is also the member of advisory boards for Gdynia Design Days and Designblok (Czech Republic) and publishes in specialised magazines (2 +3 D, Architektura), as well as women’s magazines (Twój Styl). Currently she is working on a Roundabout Baltic exhibition exploring visual DNA of design from countries connected by the Baltic coastline. The exhibition will be presented at the Form/Design Center in Malmö this summer, at a Museum of Applied Arts and Design in Tallinn this autumn, as well as a part of Gdynia Design Days 2017.

Anja has zigzagged her way through academia. Criminology became Media and Communications became a BSc in Behavioural Science with a major in Psychology. Work at a PR- agency in New York became Neuroeconomics in Linköping and Moral Psychology in Lund. After one year of master studies in Strategic Communication she headed for Stockholm to receive a MSc at the Stockholm School of Economics. This is where she met Johanna, created Tankeapoteket and finally found home.

Antanas Mockus is a Colombian mathematician, philosopher, and politician. Mockus, who presided over Bogota first in the 1990s and again from 2001, has focused on human behaviour throughout his political career, conducting a series of social experiments to improve the city’s services. He once hired 420 mime artists to make fun of traffic violators because he believes Colombians fear ridicule more than being fined. This philosophical approach to leadership helped Mockus transform the city in his first term, cutting the homicide rate by an impressive 70% and traffic fatalities by more than 50%.

Behrang Miri is a jack of all trades – a host, commentator, educator, master of ceremonies, moderator, actor, rapper, inspirator, project and process manager and a captivating speaker. Working with hip-hop as a tool to get young people to articulate their thoughts and express themselves is one of Behrang Miri’s passions.

Claudio Limacher is a COO in a technology startup with a background as a senior consult- ant with deep international project management experience. He is responsible for the Revenue Management System development and overall company operations at Yield- Planet, a technology start-up in the hospitality industry. As a consultant he has led a number of projects in the areas of organisational performance improvement, restructuring, cultural change and leadership process design and implementation.

Fernanda is a Stockholm-based experience designer focused on innovation for the whole society. In the latest years she collaborated with the Karolinska Institutet Centre for Gender Medicine, where she explored innovation and value creation in sex and gender analysis in health care. She has also worked with the Stockholm Resilience Centre at Stockholm University, managing and facilitating the LEAD – Resilience Thinking, Exponential Technologies and Sustainable Leadership Programme (a leadership programme on technology shifts, innovation processes and sustainable development), at Karolinska Institutet co-organizing and designing Nov2k (an international scientific conference focused on the future of science and medicine) and she was a founding partner of “We Have Company” (a co-creation and open innovation co-working space in Stockholm).

Hall of Femmes aims to highlight the work of women in art direction and design. It includes lectures, exhibitions, interviews, podcasts and the publication of the Hall of Femmes book series, each book portraying a designer and her work through in-depth interviews and previously unpublished images. The project started as a personal desire to find female role models in graphic design, a field where women’s contribution to developing the profession had not been documented or had enough recognition. Angela Tillman Sperandio and Samira Bouabana are the founders and creative directors of Hall of Femmes. The project has been selected by Creative Review as one of the most interesting design projects for the future. For ten years they successfully ran Hjärta Smärta, a creative and innovative design agency in Stockholm.

Harri is the team lead and organiser of Estonia’s biggest startup competition Ajujaht.ee. Together with founding partners, he has also exited from CPD Ltd – a company sold and merged to Civitta. He currently continues to run Ajujaht. ee with Civitta and other entrepreneurship-related projects. He is also involved in the startup ecosystem development (incubation programs at universities, broader picture and partnership development in Estonia and abroad).

Hege Marie Mandt is the co-founder of Talentjakten- an initiative to connect a range of regional Norwegian businesses with the brightest talent, students with extra dedication, drive and creativity who can become ambassadors for the Norwegian regions. Talentjakten believes that it is the local creative force that makes Norway an international winner.

Helen Sildna is the founder and director of Tallinn Music Week, a music industry and social innovation conference and one of the biggest showcase festivals in the Baltic-Nordic region today. Helen is a board member of Music Estonia, currently also a member of the Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves’s Think Tank. In 2014 Helen was awarded with the Tampere Music Award at Music & Media Finland’s’ industry gala for Exceptional Achievements in Music Business, in 2015 she was nominated the Citizen of the Year by Estonian Ministry of Culture and in 2016 Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves awarded her the Order of White Star of IV Class for her contribution to Estonian music life and civil society.

Hlin is a designer specialised in design for social innovation, meaningful experiences and future thinking. Hlin is currently based in Iceland, where she holds an Adjunct position at the Iceland Academy of the Arts. Active on the international scene, Hlin curates exhibitions and conferences through her trans-disciplinary practice Hlin&Co, focused on facilitating, initiating and leading dialogues and collaborations for meaningful innovation through design.

Hrafnkell is a product designer and owner of Studio Berlinord in Copenhagen, specialising in product design and small-scale local production. Hrafnkell works with craftsmen, manufacturers and like-minded creative professionals on products and spatial experiences, where form follows story. Hrafnkell initiates and curates interdisciplinary design projects that con- tribute to a sustainable continuity of traditional manufacturing. Hrafnkell has collaborated with numerous higher educational institutions developing and holding workshops, seminars and lectures f.x. at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen, Kunsthochschule Kassel, Bauhaus University Weimar, CCA in San Francisco and The Iceland Art Academy.

Johanna has always had a passion for theatre, culture and design. A desire to combine practice, theory and aesthetics led her to architecture. After earning a degree in Gothenburg and pursuing master studies in Berlin she began her career in Copenhagen and Oslo. Refusal to limit herself to one profession caused her to explore journalism and later to receive a MSc at Stockholm School of Economics. This is where she finally found her transdisciplinary tribe and created Tankeapoteket.

Johanna is a learning designer, facilitator and programme manager for digital business at Hyper Island. She is a Kaospilot graduate, and has previously been working with film, web and cross media in different ways in different parts of the world. She has, among other things, worked as a mime artist in the French mountains, as a sheep shepherd on a small Scottish island, and as a creative process manager for a big multinational company in a secret castle in Belgium.

Karina has had seven lives, but resourcefulness and creativity have saved her throughout all of them – being a lecturer, translator, city council member, member of parliament, government minister, presidential candidate, Head of the Latvian Institute or just a mother and grandmother, a partner. Her dream is to write a book about life. A woman’s life. But meanwhile she enjoys her job as the Secretary General of the Parliament of Latvia.

Lillis has over 25 years of experience in presentation skills, as well as visual communication. With experience of marketing and meeting strategies, she has been working the field with high profile clients and companies from the business field world-wide. Her specialty is the raw guidance for success. Enhancing, as well as develop- ing, the best parts of the clients personality and making the worst acceptable when representing the core brand. Lecturer, practical workshops as well as one to one sessions or all in a combination. The skills to lead and the ability to create a dialog are also factors that are enhanced in her work. All in order to build lasting relationships and brands, into the future.

Lina Thomsgård is a Swedish columnist, TV host and a spokesperson on gender. Lina started the project Rättviseförmedlingen (titled Fair Service in English) to encourage female representation in a range of different industries through open source female expert list compilations in 2010. In 2014 she launched the project Skapelsen (”Creation” in English) for the Swedish Composers and Lyricists Association (SKAP), in order to draw attention to the need for diversity and equality in the music industry. Lina is the founder of the PR agency FRAU and works with artists such as Robyn and Zhala. She has also worked as a public relations strategist for Forsman & Bodenfors. Today she also writes for the newspapers Fokus and Aftonbladet and is the co-host of the TV programme Kobra on SVT in Sweden.

Luzumpunkts is an adventure and team-building organization that was founded in 2006 with an idea to develop the best outdoor and team-building company in Latvia. Since then, they have organized and lead different kind of projects and events locally and worldwide, empowering companies in Latvia and Baltics. Lauma Zubule – training manager at Luzumpunkts Maris Resnis – training manager at Luzumpunkts

Marco Steinberg is the founder and CEO of Snowcone and Haystack, a Helsinki based strategic design practice focused on helping governments and leaders innovate. Previously Marco was an Associate Professor at the Harvard Design School (1999-2009) and founder and director of Strategic Design at the Finnish Innovation Fund, Sitra (2008-2013). He is currently the Chairman of the Board of the Finnish Museum of Architecture and sits on the board of Design Driven Cities.

Martina Hoogland Ivanow makes use of dark, fascinating aesthetics and raises a number of questions concerning the “outside” and being an outsider, which are intended not only to affect the subjects of her pictures, but the viewer of the photographs as well.

The process is primarily analogue and she prints a large amount of pictures. It is a slow process in which the choice of images is just as important as the moment in which they are shot. The main function of these photographs is, however, not as standalone works – how one image relates to another has become increasingly important in her work. A keen interest in what is often called the periphery, in both a geographical and a human/cultural sense, is a common element in all her work. This leads to existential questions about our place as humans in the world, belonging and alienation, identity and identification. In the more recent series Satellite (2009–2010) and Circular Wait (2010–2014) she explores this in-depth.

Martina Hoogland Ivanow, born in Stockholm in 1973, moved from Sweden at the age of 18 to study photography in Paris and later New York. After an early breakthrough in the mid 90’s living in London with many commercial commissions, she has spent the last 15 years based in Stock- holm, Sweden. In 2010 she received an IASPIS grant and a one-year residency in at Kunstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin and her work has been exhibited at Moderna Museet (Stockholm), The Barbican (London), Gun Gallery, Kulturhuset (Stockholm) and Hermes Foundation (New York). She has published 3 books, Far too Close; SteidlMACK, 2010; Speedway, 2013 and Circular Wait, Satellite and Second Nature, Livrasion books and Art and Theory Publishing, 2015. She lives and works in Stockholm.

Lundahl & Seitl’s trans-disciplinary collaborations investigate space, time and perception in increas- ingly large-scale installations, always in proximity to the history of a specific medium and its institution; museums, galleries, theatres and found spaces, on projects spanning architecture, cognitive neurology, classical music theatre and experience design. Their work has been widely shown, including presentations at Tate Britain, Whitechapel Gallery, Battersea Arts Centre, Royal Academy of Arts, S.M.A.K., Weld and Magasin 3. Lundahl & Seitl’s practice is pioneering in the fields of neuroscience, contemporary art and immersive theatre.

After having worked as a learning facilitator at Hyper Island from 2008-2009, Micke worked as Global Social Media Manager for Björn Borg, Storyteller at Mag+ and as a lecturer for Berghs School of Communication. Today Micke educates companies and organizations about the digital shift, and consults on digital strategies.

An entrepreneur since early years, Mikolaj has founded and run a number of ventures, ranging from theatre festival catering, a cosmetics production line to an exclusive contemporary art gallery. Currently he runs a growing consultancy focusing on the design and delivery of educational and leadership programmes. In an effort to bridge the entrepreneurial with the policy world, Mikolaj is also the Managing Director of the innovation policy think-tank FIM, the Forum for Innovation Management. FIM is an activity within the Karl-Adam Bonnier Foundation focusing on bringing together senior policy makers and selected high-level representatives from academia and the private sectors. Passionate about social entrepreneurship, Mikolaj is an Expert Reader at Reach for Change and a Member of the Venture Board of Ashoka Scandinavia.

Morten Nottelmann is a friendly being that splits his time between teaching, talking, thinking and doing within various fields of design, music, culture, entrepreneurship and educational philosophy. His ramblings are (sometimes) so good that people actually pays to hear them — something that never cease to amaze him. He has received formal training from Rotterdam Conservatory in electronics and percussion and is a graduated Kaospilot. Currently he runs a one-human operation that connects to universities, architecture schools, conservatories, creative individuals and the private sector all over Europe. He is also running workshops, works on designing secular rituals for modern times, lends his heart, head and hands to a string of artistic projects and writes on a poetic business book for gentle activists.

Ola is the founder & designer of MethodKit-making analogue tools for effective meetings & creative workshops. He is a Hyper Island alumni that also initiated Project of How, Photo Book about Sweden and unMonastery.

Pauls Irbins is a former Latvian participant of the MarsOne project. He has developed and currently manages 5 science centres across the country. As a science communicator, Pauls has launched the first Latvian space probe and organised several science festivals and events. He also holds 20 years of experience in sales management and more than 15 years of experience in consulting production and distribution companies on process optimization around the world.

Rokas is an entrepreneur and startup ecosystem developer with extensive experience in startup mergers and acquisitions and strategic management. He is the co-founder of Startup Highway- a startup accelerator in Vilnius. He is also the co-founder of the Open Coffee Club Vilnius. He is host to events, such as Open Coffee Club, Startup Weekend, Mentoring day and many more. He actively assists startups access early stage financing, mentors and more.

Ruth is the co-founder of Impact Invest Scandinavia, the first impact investor network in the Nordics. She has supported the development of growth strategies for more than 500 social businesses worldwide to date. In 2011 – 2013 she helped to establish and co-managed the seed fund Innovations Against Poverty for Sida. Prior to this, Ruth kicked-off several social enterprises in Africa on behalf of Richard Branson, as he established his non-profit venture Virgin Unite. Alongside her work, Ruth is pursuing a PhD at KTH, the Royal Institute of Technology, in management of social innovation and cross-cultural leadership. Her background is in online media and telecoms, in senior management positions for Yahoo!, Orange and NEC based in London.

Shawn is an initiator & catalyser for sustainability initiatives. He started as a social entrepreneur while in university, helping grow a national organisation, Lift, focused on poverty alleviation in the United States. He has founded or held various leadership positions in social and environmental impact organisations, including serving as Chairman of Social Entrepreneur- ship Forum, Co-Founder and Chairman of Impact Invest Scandinavia, an impact investor network, and Co-Founder of SE Outreach, the first social business accelerator program in the Nordics. He also served as European Business Development Director for SOCAP. Previously Shawn was a US political adviser and strategist, starting with Al Gore’s campaign for President, eventually working on dozens of local and national initiatives in the United States.

Uffe Elbæk is the founder of Kaospilot, a Danish MP, initiator of the entrepreneurial green party the Alternative and former Minister of Culture of Denmark. He’s an entrepreneur, writer, activist and motivational speaker and has during the last 30 years been a vital part of Danish cultural life through his many committee memberships.