Theme: Metamorphosis

Our world is shifting and morphing before our eyes. Technologies, media, human interactions and businesses interweave to create a societal fabric never seen before. We’re bound to twist, transform and evolve in an ever-shifting personal landscape.

Join us as we take a look at ourselves through the mirror of others: inspiring stories fueled by desire for progress, game-changing ideas emerging from strenuous situations, powerful transformations powered by bold ambitions. Let go of fears. Challenge assumptions.

Aula Universitatii Politehnica din Bucuresti
Bucharest 060042
Bucharest, București, 060042
Romania

Alex Coteț

Advertising Director, Copywriter and Film Writer

Alex divides his time between directing, copywriting and writing for film – all of them being skills which he credits to his sole source of education in the field: YouTube. After launching one of the first successful Romanian YouTube channels in 2008, he branched out into writing and directing for television, then moved on to produce the number 1 morning radio show in Romania, before turning towards crafting advertising campaigns which permeate popular culture. As a self-taught professional, Alex doesn’t care much about “best practices” and “watch-outs”, constantly pushing the boundaries of what an advertising campaign can say and show, or how long an ad should be. His main ambition is that of making brands listen to the audience and their needs, instead of focusing on themselves.

Alex Dima

Journalist @Romania, te iubesc!

Committed to his mission, Alex works on various investigations for a greater good, digging deep into the unknown to expose the hidden truths of our society. Meet Alex Dima, a well-known journalist who always makes sure he promotes ideas genuinely worth spreading in our communities. Committed to his mission, Alex works on various investigations for a greater good. Alex & his team from Romania, te iubesc! turned the famous TV show into a manifesto media product.

Alex Găvan

High Altitude Climber | Environmentalist | Free Spirit

A leading Romanian high altitude climber, Alex uses the best stage possible, the summits of the world’s highest mountains to advance environmental and social causes. He reached seven 8000 m summits in the Himalayas without supplemental oxygen and high-altitude porters and is a recipient of the 2008 “Gold Medal for Merit in Sport” (Spain) and awarded twice “The Romanian Sportsman of the Year” by the Romanian Federation of Mountaineering and Sport Climbing. After surviving the earthquake and the Everest avalanche in 2015, he initiated “Joy for Nepal”, a humanitarian campaign where about 37.000 donors answered the charitable call resulting in building three schools for 300 children in remote Himalayan communities. Alex is deeply involved in a series of environmental causes, such as the quest against illegal logging, protecting and conserving Romania’s virgin forests, Vacaresti Natural Park , cyanide free mining, Bucharest Green Belt or saving asprete, probably the world’s rarest fish.

Alexandru Bocunescu

Face Reader

Alex is the creator of Face Keys method that correlates the facial features with personality traits. Face Keys is a method that facilitates a successful communication and teaches you how to look for facts behind the simple appearances. He started his formal education in arts school, where he developed a passion for portraits and then continued with history – archeology, where he discovered his passion for anthropology. For the last 6 years he studied the face muscles and how they correlate with emotional responses and behaviours. This journey keeps revealing fascinating sides of the human personality and social evolution.

Ana Maria Lucaciu

Choreographer. Contemporary dance performer

Ana Maria Lucaciu is a freelance choreographer and performing artist based in New York City. She graduated from the National Ballet School of Canada and joined Canada’s National Ballet immediately after. She danced with the Royal Danish Ballet, Augsburg Ballet (Germany), The Portuguese Contemporary Dance Company (Lisbon) and most recently Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet (New York), where she danced for seven years. Ana Maria has performed and created works with contemporary dance’s foremost choreographers, including Ohad Naharin, Crystal Pite and many others, assisting Crystal Pite or Alexander Ekman with their creations and staging their work. Ana Maria’s own choreographic work has been presented by the Norwegian National Ballet, New Dialect and SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Dance. Holder of a BFA in dance from Empire State College, Ana Maria teaches ballet, contemporary, and improvisation workshops at professional programs and dance companies across the US, Europe and Asia.

Annastiina Hintsa

Entrepreneur, Chief Executive Officer | Hintsa

During her career, Annastiina has closely observed – and also personally experienced – the challenges relating to sustainable performance in an uncertain, high pressure, fast paced global context. After working in top management consulting and experiencing burnout, she was faced with profound questions of balance and meaning. She found answers in a transformation that involved running 250km ultra-races in deserts, and later joined Hintsa Performance as an entrepreneur, helping people unlock a life of meaning and sustainable high performance. Her clientele ranges from Formula 1 drivers to female entrepreneurs in rural Guatemala, top CEOs and leading politicians. annastiina.hintsa@hintsa.com She is interested in what it will take for companies and individuals to thrive in the fourth industrial revolution, the role of women and millennials in shaping the future of work, and the business case for wellbeing.

Antonia Bonello

Creative Director

Antonia works with brands to create engaging content on BuzzFeed’s platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat, leading the design, animation, illustration, photography, and interactive game content. Her work in advertising has led her to be named in Forbes 30 Under 30 2019, Media Week 30 Under 30 2018, The Drum’s 50 Under 30, and one of 100 Significant Women In Native Advertising 2018. She’s also been shortlisted for Design Week Awards Rising Star 2016, The Drum Content Awards for Best Branded Content Campaign 2017, and won Silver at the Media Week Awards for BuzzFeed’s partnership with Alzheimer’s Society charity group. Antonia works with brands to create engaging content on BuzzFeed’s platforms, as well as leading BuzzFeed’s media brands in the UK: Proper Tasty, Bring Me!, Nifty, As/Is and Goodful.

Barbara Neuhofer

Professor and Head of Experience Design at the Salzburg University of Applied Sciences

As a scientist, educator and keynote speaker, Barbara researches, writes, teaches and speaks about experience design as a philosophy, mindset and toolset to guide human and business transformations across the physical and digital realms. She has published over 30 scientific articles, book chapters and conference papers, and has shared her work at over 60 conferences and industry events around the globe, from Austria as far afield as Australia. Barbara’s work has been recognized with more than ten international scientific awards, and in 2013 she received the ITT PhD Student of the Year 2013 Award at the House of Commons, the British Parliament. Barbara also has a PhD in Services Marketing and Management from Bournemouth University, where she coined the notion of Technology Enhanced Tourist Experiences. Currently, Barbara and Paul are co-writing a book that focuses on how to design and guide transformational experiences.

Cătălin Ciupală

Maths Teacher @National College “Andrei Saguna”

Trainer of future overachievers with a revolutionary mindset and alternative methods, Catalin Ciupala is the math teacher we all wish we had. But he’s not the man who loved only numbers. PhD in math, but also a passionate biker. Playing classical music to students in class, or using VR to teach and Youtube to communicate with young generations.

Charles Michel

Culinary Artist. Researcher. Food Philosopher

Charles Michel was originally trained at the Institut Paul Bocuse and in classical fine-dining kitchens in Europe, including two years at one of the best restaurants in the world. Between 2009 and 2012, in Bogotá, he ran a multidisciplinary community of artists creating immersive cultural events in abandoned urban spaces. Based at Oxford University between 2013 and 2015, he studied the convergence of art, science and multisensory food aesthetics at the department of experimental psychology – publishing over a dozen papers in scientific journals on cross-modal sensory perception. He has given numerous talks on the future of food, including presentations at the Royal Institution of Science in London and the Royal Society. Today, he works as an experience designer, as a food educator, flavour expert and as an artist. He has been traveling for 3 years working with cutting-edge projects in sustainable development, community building, hospitality, and experiential art.

Christophe Debard

Head of ProtoSpace Toulouse | Airbus

Christophe Debard is the leader of Toulouse ProtoSpace, a lab dedicated to innovation in Airbus, this is a place where new ideas take shape. He is also the founder of the Humanity Lab, an initiative that gives the opportunity to every Airbus employee to contribute to meaningful innovation to make a difference in areas such as disability, education, humanitarian and environment. The volunteers join self-organized teams and can use the ProtoSpace facilities (mostly digital fabrication tools) and Airbus emerging technologies to develop their projects in collaboration with the end-users: individuals, NGO or institutions. As an amputee since 13 years old, Christophe wanted his prosthetic leg to become more than a “tool” and viewed it as an opportunity to display his differences proudly.

Dex Torricke-Barton

Director @Brunswick Group

Dex is the guy behind some of the worlds’ most influential leaders nowadays, a frequent public speaker on the impact of technology on society, and a New York Times-bestselling ghostwriter. Over the last decade, Dex has advised CEOs and major US and UK political leaders on strategic communications and thought leadership. From 2008-10 he served as a speechwriter for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, playing a key role in the development of the UN’s digital strategy. Following this, he joined Google as the company’s first executive speechwriter, where he managed communications for Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt. From 2012-16 Dex was head of executive communications for Facebook, where he served as speechwriter to Mark Zuckerberg. Following this, Dex led communications for SpaceX, reporting to Elon Musk.

Feedback Ensemble

Theatre performance group

This special collaboration was initiated for a special performance at TEDxBucharest, written & directed by "Tinu Bâzgă", known for his contribution as second unit director or assist in productions such as "Alice T." (2018) and "Tuns, ras și frezat" (2012). Actors: Cosmina Stratan - Well-known for her role as Voichita from "Beyond the hills", Cosmina won the Best Actress title at the 2012’s Cannes Film Festival. Tudor Istodor is the face of Dinu Caragea from the Romanian police drama "Băieți buni", mostly a theatre performer & winner of the 2017’s EFP Shooting Star Award. Alex Călin is a theater and film actor, collaborating with both state theaters (National Theater, Bulandra, Nottara, Excelsior) & independent ones (Reforma Educational Theater Center, Macaz). He made his debut in film with “#Selfie” and “Selfie 69”, while this year he acted in the drama “Cap si pajura”. Trainer on communication skills and dedicated activist as an ambassador of Hope and Homes for Children Romania.

Florica Zaharia

Founder @Muzeul Textilelor. Ph.D. in Visual Arts

For twenty-eight years, Dr. Florica Zaharia has been a member of the Department of Textile Conservation at The Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met), thirteen years as Conservator in Charge of the Department, working with a group of world-renowned textile conservators. After her retirement from The Met in 2016, she returned to her native country, Romania, and opened the “Textile Museum” with a collection that she and her family formed during the last few decades. Currently, Dr. Zaharia is a Conservator Emerita of The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Co-Owner of the Muzeul Textilelor, Baita, Hunedoara County, Romania. Dr. Zaharia has researched, published, lectured, curated exhibitions, and taught on the subjects of tapestry conservation, textile materials and technology, Eastern European textiles, and textile conservation and preservation.

Jeffrey Eggers

Executive Director | McChrystal Group Leadership Institute, Author & Executive Coach

Jeff is passionate about his work as an executive coach and is currently serving as Executive Director of the McChrystal Group Leadership Institute, where he leads research and client training on human and organizational performance. Previously in public service, Jeff served as a Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs and worked at the White House in 2006-2007 and again from 2010 through early 2015. In 2014 President Obama presented Jeff with the Samuel Nelson Drew Award for “Distinguished Contribution in Pursuit of Global Peace”. Jeff also served in the military, retiring from the U.S. Navy in 2013, serving over 20 years as a combat veteran Navy SEAL. He is also a senior fellow at New America researching the behavioral and cognitive science of decision making and an advisor to the Geneva-based Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue where he assists with international conflict mediation efforts.

Jorge Castellanos

Director of Technology at Rocket Insights

orge’s career has touched and has been touched by sound in many of its manifestations: guitar performance. film scoring, sound recording and postproduction, research on 3D sound reproduction and simulation, software development for music and sound applications. Currently, as Director of Technology at Rocket Insights, Jorge works on the concept and development of audio wearables, among several other projects. Prior to this, he founded Audreio, a technology company developing audio streaming and remote collaboration tools for musicians. Jorge holds a B.A. in Music from Berklee College of music and an M.S. in Engineering from University of California, Santa Barbara.

Mariana Popescu

Architect. Postdoctoral Researcher

As of 2015, Mariana is a Ph.D. researcher at the Block Research Group and part of the NCCR Digital Fabrication. Her research focuses on the development of KnitCrete, a novel, material-saving, labor-reducing, cost-effective formwork system for casting of doubly curved geometries in concrete. The system uses a custom, 3d-Knitted, technical textile as a lightweight, stay-in-place shuttering, coated with a special cement paste to create a rigid mold. Mariana Popescu successfully defending her Ph.D. dissertation on KnitCrete: Stay-in-place knitted fabric formwork for complex concrete structures on June 4, 2019. Additionally, her thesis committee, consisting of Prof. Dr. Chokri Cherif of TU Dresden, Prof. Dr. Jan Knippers of University of Stuttgart and Prof. Block, nominated her for an ETH Medal for outstanding thesis. In 2019 Mariana has been named to MIT Technology Review’s prestigious annual list of Innovators Under 35 as a Pioneer.

Mihai Toader-Pasti

Co-founder and CEO @EFdeN | Co-Founder & Strategist @energiaTa

Mihai & his team create the best sustainable homes at an affordable price, striving to achieve social change through smart design are his favourite goals. Their products focus on sustainability, while incorporating architecture, design and engineering in order to build internationally award-winning solar homes. He is also the cofounder of energiaTa and successfully created Romania’s biggest prosumers community and changed a law to make household renewable energy production a reality in Romania. Previously Mihai had worked with the local Green Building Council in cocreating the National Renovation Strategy. Mihai is deeply involved in numerous educational and climate related initiatives, being a strong supporter of Sustainable Development Goals. He is the CEO & co-founder of EFdeN, co-founder & strategist for energiaTa, has been featured in Forbes 30under30 and nominated among 100 Future Energy Leaders of World Energy Council.

Olya Kudina

Ethics & Technology Researcher | Delft University of Technology

Olya Kudina (Ukraine) works in the ethics of technology to help ensure an informed design and use of technologies. She received her PhD degree in Philosophy of Technology at the University of Twente (2019) on a project “Mediated Morality: Google Glass, Sex Selection, and the complex interactions between ethics and technology.” She continues to examine the interrelation of values and technologies as a postdoctoral researcher at Delft University of Technology (the Netherlands), looking into how technologies induce value change. In her research, Olya combines empirical explorations and philosophical analysis, which prompts her interest in digital ethnography. In general, Olya’s research interests span across the fields of ethics of emerging technologies, (post)phenomenology, hermeneutics, bioethics, and design.

Paul Bulencea

Experience designer, entrepreneur and author

Paul is the co-founder and CEO of The College of Extraordinary Experiences, one of the world’s top experience design conferences and a community of global immersive experience designers. Paul is also the co-author of Gamification in Tourism: Designing Memorable Experiences and has visited eighteen countries to-date to speak about, design, or implement transformational experiences. He was a lead designer helping IKEA Centers implement its strategic shift from a shopping-center format to a more experiential model. Abu Dhabi awarded Paul’s team the opportunity to transform the legendary Yas Waterworld into a fully immersive Live Action Role Play experience “Legends of Arabia: The Quest of the Pearl Tribes”, allowing visitors to become part of the show instead of just watching it. In 2018 he was selected by Forbes Romania on the 30 under 30 list.

RECUL

Performance group

RECUL is the main project of “Teatrul Nostru“ Association, an independent theatre that aims to order everyday life in new relevant forms with the help of performing arts: theatre, improv, sketch-comedy, musicals. RECUL is a creative environment with three main areas of action: RECUL Theatre: an independent theatre, RECUL School: a learning playground for adults and kids and RECUL Space: hosting all of the above-mentioned initiatives and being home for other creative projects from content creators. The RECUL team members are: Vlad Dragomirescu, Bogdan Unitlă, Adina Maria Sandu, Adriana Bordeanu, Alexandra Băjan, Florin Lungu, Dan Miron, Dan Codreanu.

Refael Bitton

Head of UI/UX & Measurement @Google Israel

Refael has been with Google for over 11 years in various roles but has always held a great passion for innovation and mobile solutions. He’s worked with various clients globally in order to craft their mobile strategy from A-Z, improve their mSite performance, and increase user satisfaction.

Silent Strike

Musician & Sound Artist

Silent Strike (Ioan Titu) is an electronic music Romanian composer and sound designer, with 7LPs and 7EPs released until now. You might have seen him opening concerts for Faithless, Bonobo, Amon Tobin, Saul Williams, Dj Krush, Venetian Snares, Recoil, Jazzanova, Akua Naru, Dj Food and many others. You definitely saw his name on the festivals’ posters of Electric Castle, Untold, Street Delivery, Stuffstock, Fânfest, Neversea, Mox, Airfield, After Hills, Revolution, Amural, Portoroz Goldendrum Festival Slovenia, Destruktief in Maastricht Netherlands, TIFF, Anonimul, Astra Film, Future Shorts, Timishort. Silent Strike is the creative soul behind the soundtrack of Hackerville, which won him the Grimme Preis for Film Music.

Sofia Scarlat

High School Student | Founder & President @Girl Up Romania

Sofia is a Teen Advisor for the United Nations Foundation “Girl Up” initiative, working closely with staff to advance gender equality on a global scale, and is an avid writer with work in several notable publications. Through all of her work, she has grown and learned to speak words that are now less of a personal tool and more of an echo for her generation. The organization, currently formed by 60 high school students in 21 cities and towns across the country only one year after its founding, has had dozens of country-wide initiatives such as in-school conferences and workshops, support groups, awareness campaigns, protests, and school strikes, with a particular focus on gender-based violence. They’ve lobbied in the US Congress for global access to education for girls, have been quoted in the Romanian Parliament, and their work has been recognized by several NGOs, as well as Romania’s Royal Family.

Taraf de Caliu

Music Ensemble

Since 1991, their music conquered Western Europe in tours and performances on almost all continents. Their talent and roots have evolved with culturally diverse influences from Tokyo, Singapore, Paris, New York, Los Angeles, Istanbul or London. If we are to name just a few of their fans and collaborators, we’d go for Yehudi Menuhin, Kronos Quartet (alongside which they produced), Johnny Depp (with whom they starred in “The Man Who Cried”) and Yohji Yamamoto. After more than three decades of relentlessly touring all over the world, the founding members of Taraf de Haidouks came back and started a new project: Taraf de Caliu – comprising of: “Gheorghe “Caliu” Anghel – violin, Ionică Tănase – cimbalom, Marius „Marin” Manole – accordion / voice, Sile Neacșu- bass, Filip Simeonov – Clarinet, Viorica Rudăreasa – voice, Ionuț Gulună – voice. Under the name of Taraf de Haidouks, the group was awarded in 2002 with BBC World Music prize for Best Group in Europe & Middle East.

The Extraordinary Crew

Performance trio

Thomas Mertlseder is a composer, educator and sound artist working in film, games, and media-based in Austria. Currently, he is scoring a game for Activision and a horror movie for Blumhouse Productions with the London based composer Walter Mair. Michael Riemer fell in love with music listening to the works of Johannes Brahms, AC/DC and Metallica. He learned to play the violin and electric guitar before studying classical guitar in Berlin. Getting influenced by the music scene there, he also started playing the double bass and produced electronic music with various analog gear. Bartosz Nowak was born in Wrocław, Poland in 1995 and began his musical training at the age of 7 at the Karol Szymanowski Music School, from which he graduated with highest honors in 2014. Bartosz forges his own path and seeks out individual musical experiences, experimenting with different instruments (udu, cajon, hand pan) as well as play improvisational, experimental and electronic music.

Tijana Tamburic

Storyteller & Co-founder of Female Narratives

Tijana Tamburic is a storyteller, a tough freelancer and the co-founder of Female Narratives. Moreover, she is a female who established her own #metamorphosis. After a modeling agency suddenly dropped her for not being “thin enough”, Tijana co-founded Female Narratives with associate model Franziska Klein. An overnight idea, the feeling that something was missing and a 2-people decision – this is how a creative agency that operates to connect brands to real female freelancers & real stories began. Tijana collaborates with clients like Squarespace, North Face, Bumble, W Hotels and loads of female-led ethical brands. Her stories come in many different forms: a branding concept, an experiential marketing strategy, a social media campaign or a travel/culture article. She is a UCL history graduate with experience in publishing, press, PR, production, project management and editorial roles.

William Richard Oanta

AI Visionary and Doer | Co-founder @LAIF

William is co-leading LAIF, an Oxford Computational Neuroscience Laboratory spin-off with the mission to leverage Artificial Intelligence for innovations in deep technology areas, including Brain-Machine Interfaces. After finishing his 18 years artistic journey in Piano and Classical Music Composition, William explored life’s fundamental questions through Philosophy, before being drawn by the power of Science and Technology. His first startup took an unexpected path after William suffered a brain injury, which inspired him to investigate the brain while recovering. In this inquiry, he discovered the field of Artificial Intelligence, which captured his foremost interest from thereon. After studying AI at Georgia Tech, William co-founded LAIF to lead R&D endeavors in Brain-Machine Interfaces, Medical Wearable Devices, AI Democratization, and other deep tech areas.