Biography available soon.

Dr. Martin Vendel holds the position as Academy Director at EIT Urban Mobility. He has experience from academic research and teaching combined with industrial experience from large multinational corporations and startups. Dr. Vendel has experience from a number of executive and board positions, with a focus on corporate strategy, marketing, business development and industry transformation. The last years with a focus on technology driven transformation and change.

Dr. Maria Tsavachidis is the CEO of the EIT Urban Mobility, a European knowledge and innovation community to accelerate the transition towards sustainable urban mobility and livable urban spaces. Before joining the European Institute for Innovation and Technology, she was responsible for Innovation at Siemens for more than 20 year in different positions. She started her career as a researcher in the field of Intelligent Transport Systems and holds a PHD in traffic engineering from the Technical University of Munich.

Ilaria manages the units in charge of Innovation, Education, and Communication at the seat of the EIT in Budapest.

She began her career at Whirlpool Corporation, where she held different managerial positions in Customer Service and Marketing and led the EMEA Innovation Team.  She then worked as Head of Business Development and Grants Management for an Engineering Consulting firm, building her experience in European Grants strategies and submissions, with proven successes.

She was then Senior Partner at Great Product Ventures Inc, a US based venture development firm. Ilaria is a Startup’s business developer, mentor, and advisor and has put together an extensive network of relations with major crowdfunding entities, VC players, Accelerators & Incubators, and many valuable startups at international level.

In the last 10 years, Ilaria is also a Lecturer at LIUC University (Italy), teaching Innovation Management at the Faculty of Economics and Innovation & Industrial Design at the Faculty of Engineering.

Ilaria holds an Msc in Economics from Università Cattolica di Milano.

Biography available soon.

Milena Stoycheva is a long-time CEO of Junior Achievement Bulgaria (JA Bulgaria), part of the global network of Junior Achievement Worldwide (JA Worldwide). Throughout her career, Stoycheva has worked systematically for digitalization, modernization and development of a high educational and startup culture in Bulgaria.

She taught innovation and entrepreneurship at the European Institute of Innovation and Technology and was responsible for the innovation and transformation strategy at EIT Culture & Creativity.

She is the recipient of JA Worldwide’s highest global leadership award “Soraya Salti” for 2021, presented in recognition of making a social impact through economic empowerment.

Stoycheva has more than 20 years of experience in leadership positions in international organizations and companies, having also served as the Chair of the Global Member Council of JA Worldwide and Senior Adviser on Higher Education for Europe.

She is the first Dean of Student Affairs at the American University in Bulgaria. Stoycheva is a member of the board of the European Female Founders and works actively for affirming women in business, science and entrepreneurship.

She is a co-founder of the Bulgarian cluster for digital solutions and innovations in healthcare and is its first chairperson. Stoycheva participated in several expert groups at the EC, OECD, HEinnovate, etc.

She has degrees and specializations from Bulgarian and international universities such as Sofia University “Kliment Ohridski”, Penn State University, UC Berkeley and MIT.

Biography available soon.

David Pollard is the Head of Digital Learning, Education Platforms, and Scaling at EIT Health and a Ph.D. Candidate in Inclusive Design and Creative Technology Innovation. David has practical experience in healthcare innovation as co-founder of a social enterprise during the COVID-19 pandemic which facilitated over 5,000 volunteers from across the world to develop rapid open-source solutions for challenges faced both the public, government, and healthcare ecosystems. His initiative was nominated for a Red Cross Humanitarian Award in Innovation for Change and was featured in Forbes, Fortune Magazine, and the New York Times. David is also the FIC Chairman for the Global Alliance for Medical Education.

Biography available soon.

Professor Tuula Teeri (PhD) is currently leading a diverse spectrum of activities for science-based policy advice as the President of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (IVA), Chair of Euro-CASE (European Network of Engineering Academies) and Board member of SAPEA (Science Advice for Policy by European Academies). She has held research and leadership positions at VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland and KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden where she was appointed Pro Vice Chancellor in 2008. During 2009 – 2017 Tuula Teeri was the founding President of Aalto University, leading the merger of three Finnish universities in technology, business, and design. The unique profile at the intersection of art, science, business, and technology, as well as student driven entrepreneurship has become an international benchmark of university reform.

Biography available soon.

Janis Grevins is an academic executive with a strong focus on institutional development, technology implementation and business linkages. He has been the Director of Riga Business School at Riga Technical University since April 2003. He also serves as the independent member on the Supervisory Board of Tet Ltd., Latvia. Between 1998 and 2003 he studied for his MBA and PhD degrees, and worked as a project coordinator at the School of Management of the University at Buffalo, State University of New York, USA. His research was devoted to the analysis of the effects of modern communications on project management performance.

The strong academic training combined with broad international management experience has allowed Mr. Grevins to provide leadership for international institutional development initiatives and implementations for several national strategy projects linked to technology adoption.

Inge de Waard is the learning strategist at EIT InnoEnergy. She is a longtime researcher, activist, and award-winning learning innovator. She coordinated multiple online & hybrid initiatives, co-designed AI tools, and embedded learning innovations. Inge co-creates international, blended curricula with engineers and teachers, while exploring and embedding innovative learning formats. Her expertise is recognized by peers, resulting in additional co-authored papers, invited talks and keynotes in both academic as well as professional conferences, workshops and seminars. She recently co-created the ‘AI for Teachers’ LinkedIn group, that aims at sharing knowledge and experiences with educators around the world.

Originally a high school teacher from Australia, Beth Havinga has managed education publishing houses and education software companies in Europe, founded her own EdTech startups in Germany and the USA, and, for the last six years, has supported a wide variety of education organisations through her company, Connect EdTech. Beth works with large tech corporations, education publishers, governments, ministries of education and education startups globally, supporting them in education policy, digital implementation strategies, market analyses, and the internationalisation and expansion of digital products. She currently serves on the practical advisory board of Kids.digilab.Berlin.

As a specialist in the digitisation and interoperability of education systems, Beth currently serves on the Digitisation Council of the state of Berlin in Germany, is chair of the advisory board of Kids.Digilab.Berlin, and also represents Germany as head delegate to the European Committee for Standardization of Interoperability for Learning Technologies and EdTech. Additionally, Beth is part of the EdTech Roundtable of the European Commission, represents the EEA as part of UNESCO’s Broadband Commission, and is part of the COSN international advisory board.

Beth has previously served on the expert committee of the Austrian Ministry of Economy, Research and Science, and was an invited member of the expert Platform, “Digital Future: Learning. Researching. Knowledge” of the German Digital Summit under the Chairmanship of the German Education Minister.

As a cofounder of the European Edtech Alliance, Beth is excited about making the digital education landscape within Europe more accessible, interconnected and open for innovation.

Nady El Hoyek obtained his PhD in Kinesiology from Lyon 1 University in 2009. After two years as assistant professor (2009-2011) he obtained a tenure-track position at Lyon 1 University.

He teaches human anatomy for kinesiology students. His research topics are motor imagery and spatial abilities especially mental rotation. He studies the impact of spatial abilities on conceiving, developing and validating new 3D teaching tools. He is involved in several funded R&D projects aiming at developing new digital solutions for learning and teaching human anatomy as well as surgical skills (IDEFI SAMSEI ; FUI ANTEPULSIO ; ANR An@tomy2020). In January 2012, Nady had published 25 peer-reviewed papers, 20 of which in 1^st, 2^nd or last author.

Nady is the winner of the French PEPS 2017 award – Category: Research in Pedagogy. He is since 2017 Scientific and Pedagogical Consultant in the French Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation.

Founder and Executive Chairman at Educraftor, Founder and CEO at Teach millions, Accelerator Programme Lead at the European Digital Education Hub.

Sean O’Reilly has worked with the national representative association for Ireland’s technological higher education sector (Technological Higher Education Association, THEA) since 2012, in a number of roles supporting the rapidly evolving Technological Higher Education sector in strategic, data-driven decision-making, change management and quality enhancement. Sean works particularly with Registrars / Vice-Presidents of Academic Affairs, but also other key networks, and represents member institutions on several national groups. Sean represents THEA on the Steering Board for a €40m National Recovery and Resilience Programme in technological universities, funded by #NextGenerationEU. The programme focuses on empowering students, developing staff capabilities, and enhancing the digital ecosystem (www.transforminglearning.ie).

Prior to returning to Ireland, Sean worked for almost 20 years with schools in the United Kingdom, ultimately leading ICT developments for 130 schools and acting as school inspector. This role included setting strategic direction for primary and secondary schools’ use of ICT, and managing a EU-funded project to invest in 600 sites, including SMEs, across a sub-region.

I am an Estonian career diplomat with over twenty-five years of experience in various fields of diplomacy, ranging from security policy issues to humanitarian aid. I have represented my country in multilateral fora such as NATO, the EU, OPCW, and ICC, as well as in bilateral fora. My diplomatic journey includes roles as a young diplomat in Berlin, Estonian Special Representative in Lusaka and Ramallah, and Ambassador in The Hague. I have collaborated with individuals from diverse backgrounds, continuously expanding my knowledge across different fields. Currently, I leverage my extensive experience as the Ambassador at large for Education.

I graduated from Tartu University, where I earned my first degree in special pedagogy (1989-1995) and later obtained a master’s degree in European Studies (2008-2010). A strong advocate for lifelong learning, I have actively participated in various diplomatic training programs. Apart from my diplomatic responsibilities, I also contribute as a teacher in one of Estonia’s state gymnasiums.

Biography available soon.