Humantech Meetings: AI and Digital Age

Pietro Leo – Executive Architect, IBM Italy Chief Scientist and Research Strategist, IBM Academy of Technology Leadership, Head of IBM Italy Center of Advanced Studies.
Pietro advises companies that want to embrace the new reality of data-centric and highly automated world. Together, they design interactive platforms and real-time systems that empower them and their customers to make better decisions. His expertise is the future of artificial intelligence, big data, and advanced analytics and in general, technology innovation, which blends research & business perspectives. For the last 25 years, he has worked with corporate clients as well as with many successful and exciting startups in multiple industrial domains including Public sector, Healthcare, Life Sciences, Banking, Insurance, Telco, Oil & Gas, Travel & Transportation, Media & Entertainment, acting as technical leader and data scientist in a number of projects whose overall effort size amounts to over 150 years/man, working both at the national and international levels. As IBM Italy chief scientist for Research & Business and thought leader for AI, he helped firms to implement a number mission-critical projects and implement their advanced analytics, artificial intelligence strategy and data-centric culture. As IBM Academy of Technology Leadership member and former IBM Academy of Technology Global Technical Program leading a team of 30 IBM global technical senior leaders, including IBM Fellows as well as IBM Distinguished Engineers, he provided consultancy to the IBM senior executive board members as well as IBM’s client C-Suites. He regularly teaches artificial intelligence, big data and technology innovation at top university courses in major universities in Europe and direct IBM Italy Center of Advanced Studies. I speak at corporate events and top conferences around the globe. Author and co-author of about 70 scientific/technical publications as well as co-author of two IBM books edited by IBM Redbooks. Obtained multiple degrees in Computing Science and Applied Artificial Intelligence. Recipient of numerous awards for high technical achievements from IBM.

Łukasz Komuda – Graduate of the Faculty of Economic Sciences at the University of Warsaw. He has 24 years of editorial experience in print and online media and in economic journalism. For three years, he held a position of Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the Businessman.pl monthly publication. For the past seven years, he has been working for the NGO sector, where he has been providing labor market expertise for the Foundation for Social and Economic Initiatives (FISE). Editor of the Rynekpracy.org online portal. English to Polish translator of books on economics and co-author of “Idée Fixe”, a role-playing game (RPG).

Sławomir Kosieliński – Historian, writer, President of the Instytut Mikromakro Foundation. In 2008, he developed scenarios for the National Foresight Programme “Poland 2020” - Information and Communication Technologies . Co-author of reports on robotization, published by the Instytut Mikromakro Foundation, including: “Człowiek – maszyna – bezpieczeństwo” [Human-Machine-Security] (2013) and “Roboty w przestrzeni publicznej” [Robots in Public Space] (2014). His field of expertise includes information and communication technologies in the state management, public tenders, new technologies spearheading city development, national security, strategic foresight and gaining social approval for drones and robots.

Julia Koczanowicz-Chondzyńska (panel moderator) – Graduate of the Faculty of Applied Social Sciences and Resocialization, specialization in political science, at the University of Warsaw. Completed professional certification program in Corporate Social Responsibility at Kozminski University. For the past 12 years, she has been working for the Foundation for Social and Economic Initiatives and became its President in 2018. She has been working for the third sector of economy since 2005 as social entrepreneurship and NGO development expert. She is an enthusiast and advocate of inter-sector cooperation and wise strategies of corporate social responsibility. Advisor at the Center for the Support of Social Economy. Initiator and coordinator of community projects.

Paul Timmers, Ph.D. – Visiting fellow at the University of Oxford. His recent research is on cybersecurity, strategic autonomy and sovereignty. He is also visiting professor at Rijeka University, Senior Advisor to the European Policy Center, Chief Adviser to the European Institute of Technology/Health, and Supervisory Board member of the eGovernance Academy in Estonia. He is a former Director at the European Commission for Digital Society, Trust & Cybersecurity, responsible for policy, legislation and innovation in cybersecurity, digital privacy, digital health and ageing, e-government, and smart cities/mobility/energy. He holds a PhD in physics from Nijmegen University in the Netherlands, an MBA from Warwick University in the UK, was awarded an EU fellowship at UNC Chapel Hill and completed executive cybersecurity education at Harvard.

Aleksandra Przegalińska, Ph.D. – Holds a doctoral degree in philosophy of Artificial Intelligence. She is Assistant Professor at Kozminski University and currently Research Fellow at the Center for Collective Intelligence at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Boston. Recent visiting scholar at The New School for Social Research / Brown University in New York City (2014). In 2011, Aleksandra held a position of Chair of Media Regulation Working Party at the Council of European Union in Brussels. As a William J. Fulbright Scholar, Aleksandra also majored in Sociology at The New School for Social Research in New York (2012), where she participated in research on identity in virtual reality, with particular emphasis on „Second Life”. Currently, Aleksandra’s primary research interests include consequences of introducing artificial intelligence systems to people’s social and professional sphere as well as wearable technologies and human/bot interactions.

Dominik Batorski, Ph.D. – Sociologist and data scientist who combines research at the Interdisciplinary Centre for Mathematical and Computational Modelling (ICM) at the University of Warsaw with business activity and consulting. Co-founder and Member of the Management Board of Sotrender, a social media analytics platform. He has several years of experience in analyzing big data, collected by online platforms and telecommunication companies. For example in 2010 he established and developed a business intelligence department for Gadu-Gadu, a Polish online chat platform. He specializes in researching social networks and network processes, including information diffusion and human interaction with provided information. His research interests include social and economic change related to spread of new technologies and development of Artificial Intelligence. Since 2014, he has bee organizing monthly Warsaw Data Science Meetup events.

Witold Drożdż – Executive Director for Corporate Affairs at Orange Poland. From 2010 to 2012 Vice-President and subsequently, Deputy President of PGE Nuclear Energy. In the period 2007-2010, Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs and Administration and Chairman of a governmental task force “Digital Poland”. He graduated from the University of Warsaw with degrees in law and international relations. Alumnus of the Stanford Executive Program.

Anna Mierzyńska – Social media analyst and expert in political marketing. She specializes in the analysis of digital threats, in particular Russian disinformation operations in Poland, various online forms of manipulation and fake news. She was responsible for a social media monitoring project related to the EU 2019 elections, conducted by the Institute of Strategic Dialogue, a London-based ‘think and do tank’. Blogger, who specializes in analysis of social media, social communication and political marketing https://mierzynska.marketing/.

Zuzanna Rudzińska-Bluszcz – Legal counsel, Chief Coordinator for the Strategic Litigation at the Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights (Ombudsman), initiator of a round table on the prevention of patostreaming on the Internet. Responsible for the coordination of precedent legal cases undertaken by the Ombudsman and for the development of reports on the condition of human rights in Poland for the UN.

Jakub Turowski – Head of Public Policy for Poland & the Baltics at Facebook. Responsible for developing relations between Facebook and policy makers, regulators, NGOs and other communities. Prior to joining Facebook, he worked for UPC Poland and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC). He gained international experience while working as a Senior Regulatory Expert and Regulatory Affairs Manager at Belgacom in Brussels.

Konrad Maj, Ph.D. (meeting host) – Social psychologist, Head of the HumanTech Meetings project, initiator and Head of the HumanTech Center for Social and Technological Innovations. In his research and teaching he focuses on social influence, media psychology and innovations. Recently, he has been working on a Human-Robot-Interaction (HRI) project. From 2013 to 2016 he held the post of Rector’s Representative for Research, focusing on practical application of research results and social innovations. He visited numerous innovation centers, including the Institute for Social Innovation (ISI) at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, USA, the ID+ Research Institute for Design, Media and Culture at the University of Averio, Portugal, and Design Factory at Aalto University, in Finland.

Michał Boni, Ph.D. (panel moderator) – Holds a doctoral degree in humanities. Former politician (1989-2019) and Minister of Administration and Digitalization (2011-2013). Negotiator specializing in public affairs. Author of “Poland 2030 Report” and reports on youth. Former member of the European Parliament (2014-2019). His professional interests include protection of personal data and development of the 5G network.