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Speakers
How can we tackle climate change? How can we provide affordable healthcare for a growing and ageing society? And how will the city of the future look like?
Twenty-two top speakers from business, science and politics discussed the challenges of the 21st century and possible solutions at Future Dialogue in Berlin.
The speakers brought a wide range of backgrounds, professional expertise and perspectives to the discussions which contributed to a lively discussion. All sessions were chaired by The Economist.
- Khaled Awad
- Director Masdar City, Abu Dhabi
- Vishal Bali
- CEO of Wockhardt Hospitals Group, India
- John Beard
- Director, Ageing and Life Course Department, World Health Organisation, Switzerland
- Andreas Busch
- Member of the Managing Board of Bayer Schering Pharma, Germany
- Geoffrey Carr
- Moderator, Science Editor, The Economist, UK
- Alice Dautry
- President, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France
- Gordon Feller
- Chief Executive Officer, Urban Age Institute, USA
- Joschka Fischer
- Former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Germany
- Peter Gruss
- President of the Max Planck Society, Germany
- Lars Josefsson
- Chief Executive Officer, Vattenfall, Sweden
- Stefan Kaufmann
- Founding Director and Director of the Department of Immunology at the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology, Germany
- Gary Lawrence
- Urban Strategies Leader, Arup, USA
- Daniel Libeskind
- International architect and urban planner, USA
- Peter Löscher
- President and Chief Executive Officer, Siemens AG, Germany
- Jochem Marotzke
- Director, Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, Hamburg, Germany
- Dennis Meadows
- Author of The Limits to Growth, USA
- Frieder Meyer-Krahmer
- State Secretary for Education and Research, Germany
- Paul Pelosi Jr.
- President of the Environment Commission of San Francisco, USA
- Setty Pendakur
- Honorary Professor of the China National Academy of Sciences and Professor Emeritus of the University of British Columbia, Canada
- Hermann Requardt
- Member of the Managing Board of Siemens and Head of Corporate Technology, Germany
- Marcus du Sautoy
- Charles Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science, Oxford University, UK
- Hans Joachim Schellnhuber
- Director of Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Germany
- Lord Nicholas Stern
- IG Patel Professor of Economics and Government, Chairman of the Grantham Institute on Climate Change, London School of Economics, UK
- Vijay Vaitheeswaran
- Moderator, Correspondent of The Economist and co-author of Zoom, USA
- James Watson
- Moderator, Managing Editor, Economist Intelligence Unit, UK
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Khaled Awad,
Director Masdar City, Abu DhabiTopKhaled Awad is the director of Property Development at the Masdar Initiative. Masdar is a multi-faceted initiative by the Emirate of Abu Dhabi advancing the development, commercialisation and deployment of renewable and alternative energy technologies and solutions. He oversees the development of emissionfree MASDAR City, the world’s first carbon-neutral city, which will soon become home to 40,000 residents and a place of work to a daily influx of 50,000 commuters.
Prior to joining MASDAR, Mr Awad worked in the construction industry in the Arabian Gulf for more than 24 years. He was founder and CEO of various construction and real estate companies, dealing with the supply and IT side of the industry as well as the concept development of large-scale projects.
He is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM). He is also a fellow of both the American Concrete Institute (ACI) and the Institute of Concrete Technology (ICT). He is an active member of several ACI committees, including the ACI Board Advisory Committee on Sustainability, and was the recipient of the Henry Kennedy Award from ACI in April 2007.- Parallel session III: Urbanisation and the city of tomorrow
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Vishal Bali,
CEO of Wockhardt Hospitals Group, IndiaTopVishal Bali is the chief executive of the Wockhardt Hospitals group in India. Wockhardt Hospitals is amongst India’s largest healthcare providers with a national network of 17 super-speciality hospitals and plans for international expansion. Mr Bali has been in the healthcare delivery sector for more than a decade and half and is recognised as a leader in the change management of the healthcare delivery sector in India. His expertise in management analysis and successfully integrating healthcare strategy, operations and management through information technology has set industry benchmarks.
Mr Bali is an active participant in shaping the growth of the healthcare sector in India. He has recently been nominated as Indian Healthcare Leader of the year by Express Healthcare. He is an active member of the Indian Healthcare Federation and of the Confederation of Indian Industry. He is on the board of Wockhardt Hospitals and also serves on the advisory board of other prominent healthcare organisations. He is an invited member on the Strategic Initiatives group of Joint Commission International, US and on the Healthcare Council of the World Economic Forum.
Mr Bali graduated as Bachelor of Science and Master of Business Administration from Bombay University and has completed an advance programme in Hospital Management in Boston.- Parallel session II: Providing healthcare for a growing and ageing population
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John Beard,
Director, Ageing and Life Course Department, World Health Organisation, SwitzerlandTopJohn Beard was appointed as director of the World Health Organisation’s department for ageing and life course in January 2009. In this role, he is responsible for increasing the awareness of ageing as a driving force in shaping policy on public health and helping the international community to meet the associated challenges and to realise the potential benefits.
Since 1991 Dr Beard has held a wide range of senior public health and academic roles in Australia and the US, including three years as senior epidemiologist with the New York Academy of Medicine. Earlier in his career, he worked as a primary health physician in Australia, including several years as medical officer for an aboriginal medical service.
Dr Beard has published widely on medical and demographic issues. Much of his research has examined the social determinants of health in older adults, including a focus on depression, disability and obesity, although he has also explored the influence of the physical and social environment on health at all ages.- Parallel session II: Providing healthcare for a growing and ageing population
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Andreas Busch,
Member of the Managing Board of Bayer Schering Pharma, GermanyTopAndreas Busch is responsible for global drug discovery at Bayer Schering Pharma AG and has served as a member of the managing board since February 2007. He previously held that role for Bayer Healthcare, which he joined in 2005 as European head of discovery for its pharmaceuticals division. He is also chairman of the supervisory board of biopharmaceutical company Icon Genetics, a Bayer subsidiary.
Before joining Bayer, Professor Busch was head of cardiovascular research for Hoechst Marion Roussel from 1997 to 1999, when he moved to the same role at Aventis (subsequently Sanofi-Aventis) upon Hoechst’s merger with Rhône-Poulenc.
Earlier in his career, he worked at research institutes in Germany and the US, and served as a Helmholtz Fellow and a Heisenberg Fellow at the University of Tübingen and the Max Planck Institute in Göttingen. He studied pharmacy and subsequently earned a PhD in pharmacology at Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main; he serves as an extraordinary professor at the university’s Institute of Pharmacology.- Parallel session II: Providing healthcare for a growing and ageing population
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Geoffrey Carr,
Moderator, Science Editor, The Economist, UKTopGeoffrey Carr serves as the science editor for The Economist, editing and contributing to the Science and Technology section of the magazine. He joined The Economist in 1991 as science correspondent and became science editor in 1995.
He writes in particular about new energy technologies, biotechnology, evolution, genetics and brain science. He also covers diseases such as AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.- Moderator: Parallel session I
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Alice Dautry,
President, Institut Pasteur, Paris, FranceTopProfessor Alice Dautry is President of the Institut Pasteur, a French non profit foundation dedicated to biomedical research, teaching and training and public health.
She was trained as a physicist at the University of Paris and as a molecular biologist at the University of New York. Dautry has devoted her career in France and during her stays in the United States, at the National Institutes of Health and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, to research, training, teaching and evaluation and management of research. Dautry has published some 130 publications in international scientific journals dealing with her studies in cell biology, receptors and infectious agents.
She is a member of the board of trustees of a number of higher education and research institutions such as Ecole Polytechnique, ISTA (Austria), DNDi (Switzerland) and of the External Reference Group for Health Research Strategy of the WHO.- Parallel session II: Providing healthcare for a growing and ageing population
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Gordon Feller,
Chief Executive Officer, Urban Age Institute, USATopGordon Feller is chief executive officer of the Urban Age Institute, one of the leading institutes of sustainable urban planning; he also serves as executive editor of its Urban Age Magazine. In a career spanning more than 25 years, he has focused on changing the way in which cities work: how they govern themselves, how they engage in partnership with the business sector, how they collaborate with NGOs and international agencies, and how they plan for a more sustainable future.
As a consultant, Gordon Feller’s client list has featured many prominent organisations and companies, including the World Bank Institute, Reuters, Bechtel, BP, Phelps Dodge, IBM, Apple Computer, AT&T, McGraw-Hill, Lockheed and UNESCO. He has founded and/or managed numerous projects in the non-profit sector, many of which have received sizeable grants from charitable foundations and corporate sponsors. More than 400 of his articles have been published by leading international newspapers and magazines. Mr Feller has lectured at a wide variety of institutions, including the United Nations, the World Business Academy, the Electronic Industries Association, Columbia University and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
He graduated in political science from Columbia University, where he subsequently earned a master’s degree in international affairs. He has been awarded numerous academic fellowships and scholarships.- Parallel session III: Urbanisation and the city of tomorrow
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Joschka Fischer,
Former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Germany
© Press and Information Office of the Federal GovernmentTopJoseph (Joschka) Fischer was born on April 12, 1948 in Gerabronn. He has been a member of the Green Party since 1982, and represented it for the first time in the German Bundestag (parliament) in 1983. From 1985–1987 he was minister for the environment and energy for the state of Hessen. At the same time he was a deputy member of the Bundesrat (federal council). In 1987 he became parliamentary leader of the Green Party in the Hessen parliament, a position he held until 1991.
From 1991–1994 Joschka Fischer was deputy minister president of the state of Hessen and the minister for the environment, energy and federal affairs. From 1994 to 2006 he was again a member of the German Bundestag.
Until 1998 he was parliamentary spokesman for Bündnis 90/Die Grünen. From 1998 to 2005, Joschka Fischer was minister of foreign affairs and vice chancellor in the Red-Green coalition under federal chancellor Gerhard Schröder.
During the 2006 / 2007 academic year Joschka Fischer was a visiting professor at the Woodrow Wilson School of Princeton University (USA). He has been serving on the board of trustees of the International Crisis Group since 2006 and a member of the executive board of the European Council on Foreign Relations since 2007. Today Joschka Fischer is active as a book author, political commentator and an international adviser.- Panel discussion: Facing up to the challenges of the 21st century: the changing role of business, science and politics
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Peter Gruss,
President of the Max Planck Society, GermanyTopPeter Gruss was born in 1949 in Alsfeld in Germany. In 1968, he began his studies in biology at the Technical University in Darmstadt. After graduating, he went on to research his doctoral thesis at the Institute for Virus Research at the German Cancer Research. In 1977, he earned his PhD in biology from the University of Heidelberg.
The following year he began work at the Laboratory of Molecular Virology of the National Institute of Health in Bethesda, Maryland (USA). In 1982, he was appointed professor of the Institute for Microbiology at the University of Heidelberg. One year later, he was appointed to the board of directors of the Center for Molecular Biology in Heidelberg.
In 1986, he was appointed director of the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen and made a scientific member of the Max Planck Society.
Since 1990, Peter Gruss has held the status of honorary professor at the University of Göttingen. He has been president of the Max Planck Society since mid-2002.- Panel discussion: Facing up to the challenges of the 21st century: the changing role of business, science and politics
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Lars Josefsson,
Chief Executive Officer, Vattenfall, SwedenTopLars G Josefsson has been President and CEO of Vattenfall AB since August 2000 and has been instrumental in putting the energy company at the centre of the climate change debate. He graduated in 1973 with a degree in technical physics from Chalmers Institute of Technology and began his professional career in 1974 at Ericsson, where he held a number of executive positions. In 1993, Mr Josefsson was appointed President of Schrack Telecom AG in Vienna and in 1997 President of Celsius AB.
Mr Josefsson is a member of the UN Secretary-General‘s Advisory Group on Energy and Climate Change. He is also President of The Union of the Electricity Industry (Eurelectric), a member of the supervisory board of the South African energy company Eskom Holdings Ltd, a partner of Robert Bosch Industrietreuhand, a member of the supervisory board of Robert Bosch GmbH and chairman of the German-Swedish Chamber of Commerce.
Mr Josefsson is the holder of several patents in the field of radar technology.- Parallel session I: Finding marketable solutions to climate change
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Stefan Kaufmann,
Founding Director and Director of the Department of Immunology at the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology, GermanyTopStefan Kaufmann is the founding director of the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology in Berlin, where he heads the Department of Immunology. He is one of the world’s leading experts in the field of vaccines and tuberculosis and coordinates several international, interdisciplinary projects, including the Gates Foundation’s Grand Challenge to identify biomarkers of tuberculosis.
Professor Kaufmann is also professor for microbiology and immunology at the Charité, Humboldt University, Berlin. He is past president and honorary member of the German Society for Immunology, past president of the European Federation of Immunological Societies and vice president of the International Union of Immunological Societies.
Professor Kaufmann has won numerous scientific awards, is doctor honoris causa at the Université de la Mediterranée, Aix-Marseille II. In addition to over 600 publications, he is on the editorial boards of more than 20 international scientific journals.- Parallel session II: Providing healthcare for a growing and ageing population
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Gary Lawrence,
Urban Strategies Leader, Arup, USATopIn his role as head of urban strategies, Gary Lawrence provides thought leadership on sustainable strategies for urban development throughout Arup’s global offices. Arup is a leading international firm of designers, engineers, planners and business consultants, with 10,000 employees in 35 countries.
Mr Lawrence’s work has a strong focus on public policy. During the 1990s, he was planning director for the City of Seattle, where he was responsible for establishing the initiative Towards a Sustainable Seattle, the world’s first comprehensive sustainability focused municipal plan. He subsequently served as adviser to a number of organisations, including the Clinton administration’s Council on Sustainable Development, the UN’s Habitat II, the US Agency for International Development and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. He was also a co-chair of the World Urban Forum’s private-sector initiative. Current environmental initiatives in which he is involved include Futurama 2050, Resilient Coasts and the Delta Project.
He is actively involved in the local and national chapters of the Urban Land Institute, the American Planning Association and the US Smart Growth Leadership Council. He serves as adjunct professor at Huxley College of Environmental Studies at Western Washington University.- Parallel session III: Urbanisation and the city of tomorrow
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Daniel Libeskind,
International architect and urban planner, USATopDaniel Libeskind is an internationally renowned figure in architectural practice and urban design. His practice extends from building major cultural and commercial institutions – including museums and concert halls – to universities, housing, hotels and shopping centres.
www.daniel-libeskind.com
Upon winning the competition in 2003 to design a new World Trade Center in Manhattan, he was appointed as master plan architect for the site, where reconstruction is under way. Mr Libeskind also designed the Jewish Museum Berlin, which opened in 2001.
Some of his other major buildings include the Frederic C. Hamilton building, extension to the Denver Art Museum, alongside the Denver Museum Residences, in Colorado; the extension to the Royal Ontario Museum, Canada; The Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco, California; the Imperial War Museum North in Manchester, UK; the Felix Nussbaum Haus museum in Osnabrück, Germany; and the Westside shopping centre in Bern, Switzerland. Several of his projects are currently under construction, including the Military History Museum in Dresden, Germany, and the Grand Canal Performing Arts Centre in Dublin, Ireland; others are at the design stage.
His work has been widely exhibited and his buildings have appeared on the covers of publications including Time, Newsweek and The Wall Street Journal.
Mr Libeskind has taught and lectured at many universities and has received numerous accolades. His memoir Breaking Ground was published in 2004. In November, 2008, Monacelli Press (Random House, INC.) published an extensive monograph of his work, Counterpoint in conversation with Paul Goldberger.- Parallel session III: Urbanisation and the city of tomorrow
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Peter Löscher,
President and Chief Executive Officer, Siemens AG, GermanyTopPeter Löscher took over as President and CEO of Siemens AG on July 1, 2007. He is the twelfth CEO in the 160-year history of the company and the first to be named from outside Siemens.
He has years of domestic and foreign experience in various companies in the pharmaceutical and medical fields. His international management experience began in 1988 with the Hoechst Group, and in the course of his eleven years with the company he held top management positions in Spain, the United States, Britain and Japan. Later he moved to General Electric Healthcare and GE Healthcare Bio-Sciences. Immediately prior to his appointment as CEO of Siemens, he served as President of Global Human Health at Merck & Co, Inc., in the United States.
Peter Löscher studied economics at Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration and at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He received his Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration. Mr Löscher graduated from the Advanced Management Program of Harvard Business School.
He was born in Villach, Austria, is married and has three children.- Panel discussion: Facing up to the challenges of the 21st century: the changing role of business, science and politics
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Jochem Marotzke,
Director, Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, Hamburg, GermanyTopJochem Marotzke is one of Germany’s leading researchers on climate change, focusing in particular on the impact of ocean circulation on global warming. He has served as director of the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg since 2003. From 2006 until earlier this year he was head of the International Max Planck Research School on Earth System Modelling and acting scientific director of the German Climate Computing Centre (DKRZ) in Hamburg.
From 1999 until 2003 he was professor of physical oceanography at Southampton Oceanography Centre in the UK. The years before, from 1990 until 1999 he worked in the U.S., at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), initially as a post-doctoral associate (1990–92), and then as assistant professor (1992–97) and associate professor (1997–99) of physical oceanography. He has been an honorary professor of the University of Hamburg since 2006 and was honorary visiting professor of the Southampton Oceanography Centre from 2003–06.
Professor Marotzke has received many honours for his work, including the European Geophysical Union’s 2009 Fridtjof Nansen Medal. He was elected to the Leopoldina (German Academy of Sciences) in 2007. He graduated in physics from the University of Kiel, Germany, where he subsequently earned a PhD in physical oceanography.- Parallel session I: Finding marketable solutions to climate change
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Dennis Meadows,
Author of The Limits to Growth, USATopAs co-author of the ground-breaking book The Limits to Growth, in 1972, Dennis Meadows launched the debate over the relationship between economic growth and the earth’s resources, long before sustainability had entered the mainstream vocabulary. In 2004, he published an update, arguing that, thirty years on, we have gone beyond the limits and need to signifi cantly reduce our use of resources.
Dennis Meadows, a leading systems analyst and environmental expert, is president of the Laboratory for Interactive Learning, where he designs sophisticated management training simulations that are used in training programmes by organisations such as the World Bank and the World Health Organisation. Dr Meadows has served as a professor in business, engineering and the social sciences at three U.S. universities: the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Dartmouth College and the University of New Hampshire. He has served on the boards of leading companies in Europe and the U.S., and has lectured and acted as a consultant to numerous governments and corporations. He has written or co-written ten books, which have been translated into 30 languages. Dr Meadows has won numerous honours, most recently, in 2009, the Japan Prize, that country’s most prestigious award for contributions to science and global peace.
He graduated in chemistry from Carleton College, Minnesota, and later earned a PhD in management from MIT.- Panel discussion: Facing up to the challenges of the 21st century: the changing role of business, science and politics
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Top
- 20 December 1949
- Born in Heidelberg, married, 2 daughters
- 1968–1975
- Studies of Mathematics, Economics and Political Science in Heidelberg, Bonn and Frankfurt
- 1978
- Dr. rer. pol. (summa cum laude) at Frankfurt University
- 1982
- Period of research at Yale University, USA
- 1986–1990
- Head of the Industry and Technology Department at the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW), Berlin
- 1989
- Habilitation (professorial qualifi cation) at Stuttgart University
- 1990–2005
- Head of the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (ISI), Karlsruhe, and Chairman of the Scientifi c-Technical Board of the Fraunhofer Gesellschaft (with effect from1999)
- since 1995
- Professor of Economics with focus on Innovation Economics at Louis Pasteur University, Strasbourg, France
- since February 2005
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State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Education and Research
- Member of the Science Council
- Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the WZB (Social Science Research Center Berlin)
- Member of the Senates of the Leibniz Association
- Representative of the Federal Chancellor for the European Institute of Technology
- Member of the Stakeholder Committee des Network of Excellence DIME (Dynamics of Institutions and Markets in Europe)
- Chevalier of the National Order of Merit of the Republic of France
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Paul Pelosi Jr.,
President of the Environment Commission of San Francisco, USATopPaul Pelosi was appointed in 2003 by San Francisco’s mayor to the city’s Commission on the Environment, of which he is currently president. Under his leadership the city has successfully implemented energy efficiency and recycling programmes, reducing carbon emissions to 6% below 1990 levels.
Mr Pelosi has over 15 years experience advising emerging and Fortune 500 companies in the areas of finance, infrastructure, sustainability and public policy. He is a founding member of Cisco Connected Urban Development, working with a network of global cities, including San Francisco, Birmingham, Amsterdam, Hamburg, Lisbon, Madrid and Seoul, to demonstrate how network connectivity reduces carbon emissions in urban environments.
He currently advises companies including AirPatrol Corporation and NASA Ames Research Center on infrastructure projects to promote sustainable development and security. Before becoming an independent consultant, Mr Pelosi worked in corporate finance, institutional sales and the mortgage industry.
He graduated from Georgetown University, Washington DC, from which he holds a BA in history and a JD/MBA with a focus on international business. He has been a member of the California State Bar since 1996.- Parallel session III: Urbanisation and the city of tomorrow
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Setty Pendakur,
Honorary Professor of the China National Academy of Sciences and Professor Emeritus of the University of British Columbia, CanadaTopSetty Pendakur is an expert on urban issues, especially in developing countries. He is currently professor emeritus of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of British Columbia, Canada. He is also president of Pacific Policy and Planning Associates who specialise in providing advice at the national level on policy and planning, urban futures, infrastructure and environment. His current work is on urbanisation and urban futures, transport and environment, and fiscal and environmental sustainability of cities.
Dr. Pendakur is an honorary professor at the China National Academy of Sciences (Graduate Schools of Management and Engineering) and has been a visiting professor at universities in Canada, China, France, India, Italy, Japan, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, the UK and the USA. He has been a senior advisor to the State Council of China.
He has worked as consultant to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), for the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the European Union and the World Bank among others. He has extensive knowledge of developing countries and has rendered policy advice to governments and consulting services across many countries in Asia, Africa and Europe.
Professor Pendakur has previously served as Deputy Mayor of the City of Vancouver, Canada and on the boards of numerous public organisations and foundations. He is currently a director of the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy and of the Indo-Canadian Foundation.- Parallel session III: Urbanisation and the city of tomorrow
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Hermann Requardt,
Member of the Managing Board of Siemens and Head of Corporate Technology, GermanyTopHermann Requardt was born in Engern, Germany on February 11, 1955. He studied physics at the Technical University of Darmstadt and obtained his doctorate from the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt. In 1984, after working for two years as a research assistant at the Institute for Flight Medicine of the German Research Laboratory for Air and Space Travel, he joined Siemens AG, where he held a number of positions in the company’s Medical Solutions Group. In January 2001, he joined the Group Executive Management of Siemens’ Medical Solutions. Hermann Requardt has been a member of the Managing Board of Siemens AG and head of the company’s Corporate Technology department since October 2006. In December 2008, he was appointed – additionally to his other duties – CEO of Siemens’ Healthcare Sector.
In June 2006, Hermann Requardt was awarded an honorary professorship in physics by the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt.- Parallel session I: Finding marketable solutions to climate change
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Marcus du Sautoy,
Charles Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science, Oxford University, UKTopMarcus du Sautoy holds Oxford University’s Charles Simonyi professorship for the public understanding of science; he is also a professor in the university’s mathematics faculty and a fellow of New College.
He is the author of numerous articles and books on mathematics, including the best-selling The Music of the Primes, which has been translated into ten languages. His latest book is Finding Moonshine: a mathematician’s journey through symmetry.
Professor du Sautoy writes on popular science and maths for leading UK newspapers and frequently appears on BBC radio and television programmes. He has written and presented several series for radio; he is also the presenter of the television game show Mind Games for BBC4, and in 2008 he wrote and presented a four-part series for the BBC, The Story of Maths.
He has delivered presentations on mathematics to a diverse array of audiences, including theatre directors, bankers, diplomats and prison inmates. Professor du Sautoy is a former winner of the Berwick Prize (awarded biennially for the best research by a mathematician under the age of 40). He has served as visiting professor at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, the Max Planck Institute in Bonn, the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and the Australian National University in Canberra.
He graduated in mathematics from Wadham College, Oxford, of which he subsequently became a fellow; he is also a former fellow of All Souls College.- Panel discussion: Facing up to the challenges of the 21st century: the changing role of business, science and politics
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Hans Joachim Schellnhuber,
Director of Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, GermanyTopHans Joachim Schellnhuber is one of the most renowned scientists in the field of Climate Impact Research, a research area shaped substantially by him. His contributions regarding earth system analysis, climate impact research as well as sustainable development have received the highest recognition nationally and internationally.
He has been director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) since it was founded in 1992. He is chair of the German Advisory Council on Global Change and was appointed Chief Government Advisor on Climate and Related Issues by the German Federal Government for the G8 and EU presidencies in 2007. As a member of the High Level Expert Group, he also advises the president of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso on energy and climate change issues. In 1993 he started teaching theoretical physics at the University of Potsdam. From 2001 to 2005 he was additionally engaged as research director of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research and professor at the Environmental Sciences School of the University of East Anglia in Norwich (UK). Mr Schellnhuber is a member of the editorial boards of several scientific journals. He is an elected member of the Max Planck Society, the German National Academy (Leopoldina), the US National Academy of Sciences, the Leibniz Science Association, the Geological Society of London, and the International Research Society Sigma Xi. Mr Schellnhuber is ambassador for the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP) and longstanding member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). He has authored or co-authored more than 200 articles and about forty books on theoretical physics, environmental analysis and sustainability science. In 2004 he was awarded the title Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) by Queen Elizabeth II. In 2007 he received the German Environment Prize for his scientific work in the field of climate impact research and its dissemination to politicians and the public.- Parallel session I: Finding marketable solutions to climate change
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Lord Nicholas Stern,
IG Patel Professor of Economics and Government, Chairman of the Grantham Institute on Climate Change, London School of Economics, UKTopNicholas Stern, who was made Lord Stern of Brentford in 2007, has been instrumental in putting climate change onto the active policy agenda worldwide, following the publication of the Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change in 2006.
He became chairman of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in April 2008. Since 2007 he has been IG Patel professor of economics and government and head of LSE’s India Observatory. He is special adviser on economic development and climate change to the group chairman of HSBC and was recently awarded the 2009 Blue Planet Prize for outstanding achievements in science and the environment.
From 2003 to 2007, Lord Stern was head of the Government Economic Service and led the writing of the report of the Commission for Africa, published in 2005, as well as the Stern Review, in each case reporting both to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, and the Prime Minister, Tony Blair.
From 2003 to 2007, Lord Stern was head of the Government Economic Service and led the writing of the report of the Commission for Africa, published in 2005, as well as the Stern Review, in each case reporting both to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, and the Prime Minister, Tony Blair. Prior to that, he was chief economist and senior vice-president for development economics at the World Bank, having spent six years as chief economist and special counsellor to the president at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Before 1994, his career was spent mostly in academic life, including the LSE, where he held the Sir John Hicks chair in economics. He has taught and researched at universities in the U.S., France, India and China, and has published more than 15 books and 100 articles on economics, climate change and development, his most recent book being Blueprint for a Safer Planet.
In 1993 he was created a fellow of the British Academy; in 2004 he was knighted for services to economics. He holds a BA in mathematics from the University of Cambridge and a DPhil in economics from the University of Oxford.- Parallel session I: Finding marketable solutions to climate change
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Vijay Vaitheeswaran,
Moderator, Correspondent of The Economist and co-author of Zoom, USATopVijay Vaitheeswaran is an award-winning correspondent for The Economist, currently covering innovation, health and biotechnology issues. From 1998 to 2006, he covered the politics, economics, business and technology of the interrelated fields of energy and the environment.
Mr Vaitheeswaran is an expert advisor to the World Economic Forum (Davos) and the Clinton Global Initiative on clean energy and innovation, and a lifetime member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He teaches at NYU’s Stern Business School, and has delivered lectures at Yale, Oxford, Stanford and other leading universities. His commentaries have appeared on National Public Radio (NPR), in the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times, and in other media outlets. He has also delivered keynote addresses to groups ranging from the U.S. National Governors’ Association and the TED conference to organizations such as Google, World Wildlife Fund, the Aspen Institute and BP. His latest book, ZOOM: The Global Race to Fuel the Car of the Future, coauthored with Economist colleague Iain Carson, was named a Book of the Year by The Financial Times. He is also the author of Power to the People: How the Coming Energy Revolution Will Transform an Industry, Change our Lives, and Maybe Even Save the Planet. His articles and books have received various honours in America and abroad, including short-listing and prizes from Britain’s Business Journalist of the Year Awards, the International Association of Energy Economists, the FT/ Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year prize and other awards committees.
Mr Vaitheeswaran, selected as a Truman Scholar by the US Congress during his university studies, earned his degree in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was born in Madras, India, and grew up in Cheshire, Connecticut. He now lives in New York.- Chairman and moderator
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James Watson,
Moderator Managing Editor, Economist Intelligence Unit, UKTopJames Watson works on a range of bespoke research programmes, surveys and reports for the Economist Intelligence Unit’s clients covering a variety of business and management issues, with a special focus on environmental issues and corporate social responsibility.
He was the editor of Countdown to Copenhagen, a major report on climate change, and helped chair the 2009 Economist Sustainability Summit. Prior to joining the Economist Intelligence Unit, Watson spent the past eight years working as a technology journalist and editor in the UK, Singapore and South Africa.- Moderator: Parallel session III
