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Jon Kastelan is a Machine Learning Specialist, advising governments and city agencies on analytics and machine learning across North America and Asia Pacific. Previously, Jon has worked with PwC's Analytics and Urbanisation practice to support the development of the Smart City blueprint for Hong Kong. He has also taught data science and analytics at New York University and worked with urban-focused startups. City governments are increasingly using Machine Learning (ML) methods to help serve their citizens better. Jon led a workshop for World Bank staff to further understanding of the nuts-and-bolts of ML in a smart city context. From key ML concepts such as training and test data, identifying important features for prediction, to model evaluation metrics. Jon’s ability to simplify the complex and make ML more accessible to smart city practitioners is quite rare, we can’t wait to learn more.

Cristian Santibanez is an urban innovation & mobility expert currently the  Marketing Operations and Urban Mobility Lead at HyperloopTT - an innovative transportation and technology company focused on realizing the Hyperloop, a system that moves people and goods at unprecedented speeds safely, efficiently, and sustainably.Son of a pianist and a political activist, Cristian was born in Prague, spent his childhood in Santiago de Chile, and grew up in Paris as an Italian national.Cristian is also building Explicity, an urban experimentation agency building technology to identify opportunities for urban public service improvement and a methodology to implement replicable and scalable experiments that validate collaborative business models and foster public-private partnerships.Cristian is also a lecturer at Sciences Po, at ENSCI and at ISEG, and Startup Sesame’s Mobility Lead.

Veronika Bylicki is an engagement innovator, community builder and sustainability strategist. A lifelong Vancouverite, Veronika is passionate about creating more sustainable, liveable cities and amplifying the meaningful engagement of citizens, particularly youth, in addressing urban challenges. As Executive Director and Co-Founder at CityHive, Veronika leads a social enterprise on a mission to transform the way young people shape their cities and the civic processes that engage them.  Veronika completed her BSc in Global Resource Systems at The University of British Columbia, with a specialization in Urban Sustainability, Policy and Planning. Her experience includes working in Sustainability Education Facilitation with Metro Vancouver, and in Environmental Assessment with Environment and Climate Change Canada, and as a Director at Co-Design Engage, which leads participatory design processes in city planning. She was awarded as a Top 25 Under 25 Environmentalist in Canada in 2015, has delivered a TEDxYouth talk on Urban Sustainability and was a Social Innovation Fellow at RADIUS SFU. Veronika is currently a Commissioner on the Vancouver City Planning Commission and Board Member for CityStudio Vancouver. Veronika is an outdoor enthusiast and can often be found zipping around the city on her bike. 

Dr. Bruno Zamborlin is a pioneer in the field of AI for Human-Technology interaction.As the CEO and Chief Scientist of the a London-based technology company Hypersurface– Bruno’s team are using vibration sensors and edge-AI to convert any object of any material and shape into an intelligent Hypersurface, seamlessly merging the physical and data worlds without the need for keyboards, buttons or touch screens.Bruno Zamborlin, gained his PhD in Arts and Computer Science at Goldsmiths University in London and the IRCAM-Pompidou centre in Paris, where he researched new interfaces for musical expression. Hyperspaces wants us to imagine a world where consumer electronics, IoT, retail, transportation, augmented reality, and smart facilities can potentially be changed forever.

The Tyre Collective is a startup on a mission to mitgate tyre wear emissions in our environment. Tyre wear is the stealthiest and second-largest source of micro-plastics pollution in our air and water. Co-founders, Hanson Cheng, Siobhan Anderson, Hugo Richardson and Deepak Mallya began the project as part of their MA/MSc in Innovation Design Engineering at Imperial College London and the Royal College of Art. They are a multicultural team of engineers and designers with a wide range of professional experience. With the goal to make our cities healthier, The Tyre Collective aims to bring people across disciplines and industries together, by creating a global network of partnerships and collaborations. They are currently working with some of the largest tyre and vehicle manufacturers in the world to develop their technology further. The Tyre Collective  recently won UK National James Dyson Award & The Mayor of London, Entrepreneur Competition's Environment Award.

Corina Kwami is a Renaissance woman whose mission is to bring together the arts and sciences and celebrate innovations on and off stage. On stage as a public speaker, singer or tap dancer, she has performed in countries across the Americas, Europe, Africa and Asia with her own band and as a guest, as a TEDx speaker and in the innovation lab space. Offstage, she holds a doctorate in engineering and is a speaker, strategist and policy advisor on future cities, infrastructure and sustainability. She has been recognised for her “impressive grasp of what jazz can teach us about leadership, partnerships, and innovative thinking” at the UNLEASH Innovation Lab. She is currently a policy advisor at the Royal Academy of Engineering.Corina’s work cuts across the arts and sciences, music and dance and recalling the past to inspire future innovation. Her new project, “Jazz for Innovators” aims to facilitate exchanges between these worlds to uncover our human knack for improvisation and cultivate experiences that enable change for a collective purpose. As a former competitive swimmer, she loves the challenge of training as an individual and as a collective and outside of lockdown, is never too far from the water. Based in London, she plays with her band Corina Kwami & the Swing Selection and collaborates in the jazz, tap and swing circuit. Check out more at: www.corinakwami.com

Charlotte Slingsby is a South African entrepreneur recognised by Forbes 30 under 30 as one of the brightest young entrepreneurs, simultaneously running two high impact startups. Charlotte’s first venture is Moya Power - a lightweight, flexible sheeting material that can independently harvest low-grade wind energy in a variety of locations.Charlotte is also Co-Founder and CTO of Nettoken, a London based startup developing a digital platform for everyday internet users to be in control and best manage their ever-expanding online identity - all without a username and password.Nettoken is supported by InnovationRCA, the Royal College of Art’s Centre for Enterprise and Entrepreneurship, helping students and graduates transform compelling ideas into successful businesses. Nettoken’s all-female leadership team were recent Cylon and NCSC Cyber Accelerator Alumnus run by the British National Cyber Security Centre (GCHQ) and Wayra (Telefónica).Charlotte graduated with a Double Masters in Innovation Design Engineering from Imperial College London and the Royal College of Art.

Pei Chin Tay is a Senior Programme Manager currently leading the Mayor's Digital Talent Programme - a £7m investment in London’s tech talent pipeline – created to up skill young Londoner’s and bridge employer’s demand for digital talent. Previously, Pei Chin led ‘Design for Europe’ - a flagship £3.2m European design innovation programme, credited with utilising design as a tool to drive innovation and growth across the EU.Pei Chin has managed high profile portfolio of enterprise and employability projects for the University of the Arts London and the Singapore National Government.A specialist in digital and public sector transformation, Pei Chin is deeply passionate about driving change and creating lasting socio-economic impact through employability and skills. The views in this episode do not reflect the views and policies of the Greater London Authority.

Rishi Chowdhury co-founded IncuBus Ventures with his business partner George Johnston. After working at Huddle, they both decided to buy a London double-decker bus and create the first startup incubator on a bus. The bus became a startup community space for meet-ups , pop-up shops and Code Clubs. Parking a bus in London is expensive and Rishi soon made friends with commercial real estate developers who had large swathes of land waiting for planning permissions for several years - creating the perfect parking location for Incubus.As a result, Rishi launched Incube with George to create smart spaces for landlords and corporations, spaces that adapt to people as opposed to a fixed design for the lifespan of a lease. This manifested into the London Connectory by Bosch, a smart co-creation space designed and operated by Incube and Incube’s sister company Nitrous. Nitrous is a leading community-building organisation connecting public sector organisations, corporate actors and technology startups.

Raj Pannu PhD is the Co-Founder and CEO of Emergence, a global creative agency dedicated to social impact. In addition, Raj is the Co-Founder of Smart Cities New York - North America's leading global conference for innovators and decision-makers who are improving life in the cities of tomorrow.An expert at adapting private sector approaches to behaviour change for application in the public sphere, Raj has introduced large-scale communication strategies for Coca-Cola Company, Sesame Workshop, and President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).In a previous life, Raj was the acting as Director of Global Health at McCann Health, where he facilitated collaboration between McCann, multinational companies, and not-for-profits, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, USAID, and UNICEF.He holds an MS of Immunology and a PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Alberta.

Ade Thomas is probably the most connected individual within the European Electric Vehicle movement. Previously a Producer and Director of Current Affairs and Documentary Features for the BBC. Ade was behind the environment and rural affairs series, 'Countryfile' and BBC Radio 4's environment series, 'Costing the Earth'.Today, Ade is the Chief Sustainability Officer at Green.TV, a multi-channel publishing network for sustainability content. Deploying creative content strategies to connect people with purpose. Green.TV produces the Ebike Summit and Oxford EV Summit, the world's most significant, CEO-led business forum for e-mobility.

Victoria Lee is an Urban Development Strategist with over 12 years of experience on nationally and internationally significant projects, from airport and rail infrastructure, innovation districts, estate regeneration and mixed-use masterplans. Victoria shares her views on what makes a smart city, the opportunities for cities after the pandemic, and the need for greater diversity in all its forms within the built environment industry. 

Building Future Cities brings you interviews with creative leaders changing our cities for the better. Whether building brands, launching bold marketing campaigns or establishing strategic partnerships; we investigate how creative leaders are enriching the future cities conversation.