Transatlantic Sync
Germany & Silicon Valley: Shaping a shared digital future
Computer History Museum, Mountain View, California
October 27 - 29, 2019
organized by the Young Professionals Team within the German American Business Association
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Introductions and Keynotes
The need for a new bridge between Silicon Valley and Germany in the age of AI
Innovation in the Age of AI
OLAF GROTH, Ph.D.; CEO Cambrian Futures Inc.; Professor, Hult Business School - Intro
ANDY V. BECHTOLSHEIM, Ph.D.; Co-founder, Sun Microsystems; Founder, Arista Networks- AI Based Innovation
CHRISTOPH KEESE, Best-selling technology author; CEO, Axel Springer Hy - Digital Disruption
HAUKE SCHMIDT, Ph.D.; Vice President, Research and Technology Center, Robert Bosch North American- Industrial AI
Panel Discussion: AI-based Innovation
Digital Democracy: Ethics, Responsibility, Transparency, and Privacy
JOHN L. HENNESSY, Chairman, Alphabet; President Emeritus, Stanford University - Fireside Chat
CAMILLE CRITTENDEN, Executive Director of CITRIS and the Banatao Institute
Panel Discussion: Ethics & Responsibility in the Digital Age
JOHN MARKOFF, New York Times Journalist & Winner of the Pulitzer-Prize - Panel Intro
SIEGBERT SCHEFKE, Journalist and leader of Germany's StaSi resistance - StaSi Surveillance and Resistance
JOSH CHIN, National Fellow at New America and Beijing-based correspondent for The Wall Street Journal - 21st Century Surveillance in China
ANDREAS WEIGEND, Ph.D.; Member of the Digital Council to the German Government, former Chief Scientist, Amazon - Data Dilemma Transparency vs Privacy
SHEILA COLCLASURE, SVP, Global Digital Responsibility and Public Policy at IPG Kinesso
JEANETTE HOFMANN, Professor of Internet Policy at Humboldt University, Berlin (Institute of Networked Society) and Co-Founder of Weizenbaum Institute of Networked Society
Panel Disussion: Digital Democracy
Michael Göring, CEO of the ZEIT-Stiftung Ebelin und Gerd Bucerius - Civil Society in Digital Age
The Future of Work
HAL VARIAN, Ph.D.; Chief Economist, Google - Keynote: Future of Work
SIMON SCHUMACHER, Research Scientist, Fraunhofer IPA - Future of work 360 Case Studies
ESTHER LEGANT, Head of KIT LINK, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology - Future of Work
Panel Discussion: Work in the age of AI
LUTHER JACKSON, Program Manager at NOVA (moderator)
MARKUS DICKS, Ph.D.; Policy Lab Digital Work and Society, German Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs
ASHER SINENSKY, Ph.D.; Palantir Senior Executive
Health care in the age of AI
LLOYD B. MINOR, Ph.D.; Dean, Stanford Medical School - Health care in the age of AI
Panel Discussion: AI Health Care
PAVLOS TSANTILAS, M.D.; Resident, University Hospital Munich
PETER SCHARDT, Ph.D.; CTO, Siemens Healthineers
GOTTFRIED LUDEWIG, Ph.D.; Director General Digitalisation and Innovation Federal Ministry of Health Germany
BETH ROGOZINSKI, CEO, Signal2Health
Supply Chain Security
ANJA MANUEL, CoFounder and Partner, RiceHadleyGates LLC - Supply Chain Security
Panel Discussion: Supply Chain Security
DR. GREGORY L. ROSSTON, Director of the Public Policy program at Stanford University
DR. KENJI KUSHIDA, Japan Program Research Scholar at the Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center at Stanford University
QUENTIN HARDY, Head of Editorial at Google Cloud
Startup Pitches
VOLKER DAHM, Founder and CEO of KeyX - Pitch
ROMAN WOLKOW, Co-founder and CEO of Mitakus Analytic
SVEN PRZYWARRA, Founder of LiveEO
ANDREJ SAFUNDZIC, Founder & Lead of Tech4Germany
PHILIPP PETRESCU, CEO & Co-founder MVPF Technologies GmbH
ADAM PROBST, CEO and Co-founder maiot GmbH
Press
Transatlantic Sync Conference is in the German News!
Technologisch fast abgehängt: Deutschlands Wohlstand in ernster Gefahr
Studierende der Uni Kiel diskutieren im Silicon Valley über die digitale Zukunft
https://idw-online.de/de/news726169
Für attraktive Arbeitswelten der Zukunft: Deutsche und US-amerikanische Forschende vernetzten sich im Silicon Valley
KI made in Germany? Was wir vom Silicon Valley lernen können
https://blog.iao.fraunhofer.de/ki-made-in-germany-was-wir-vom-silicon-valley-lernen-koennen/
Brauchen wir digitale Grundrechte? Vorstellung der Digital Charta in Kalifornien
https://www.zeit-stiftung.de/aktuelles/detail/177
Transatlantic Dialogue on Shaping the Shared Digital Future
We have a shared mission:
Building a new transatlantic bridge
based on shared values and cooperation in new technologies and the digital economy
Our conference
Our Goal
Want to dive right into the Transatlantic Sync topics?
Read our white paper here
(co-authored with Cambrian Futures)
Speakers
The key minds and shapers of the transatlantic future
Andreas "Andy" Bechtolsheim
Co-Founder of Sun Microsystems, First Investor in Google, Chairman of Arista Networks
Andreas “Andy” Bechtolsheim is Chairman, Chief Development Officer and Co-Founder of Arista Networks, a leading vendor of cloud networking solutions.
Previously, Andy was a Co-Founder and Chief System Architect at Sun Microsystems, responsible for next generation server, storage, and network architectures.
As a private venture investor, Andy has been involved in the funding of numerous companies including Google, VMware, Mellanox, and Brocade. He has served on the Board of Directors of over 25 companies, the majority of which went public or were acquired.
Andy earned a M.S. in Computer Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University in 1976 and was a doctoral student in Computer Engineering at Stanford University from 1977 to 1982. He has been honored with a Fulbright scholarship, a Studienstiftung scholarship, the Stanford Entrepreneur Company of the year award, the Smithsonian Leadership Award for Innovation, and is a member of the National Academy of Engineering.
Donatela Bellone, PhD
Engagement Manager at McKinsey & Company, Inc.
Donatela is an Engagement Manager at McKinsey focusing on Digital transformations and Sustainability including Decarbonization. She helps energy clients define their Digital vision and strategy, as well as implement highly impactful use cases and rolling out Digital solutions. Donatela earned an MS in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and a PhD in Chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley
Peter Beyer LL.M., M.P.
Special Rapporteur on Transatlantic Relations and the Western Balkans; Representative of Germany's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Heiko Maas
Peter Beyer, Member of the German Bundestag is a committed Atlanticist for many years. Beyer stands out among Members of the German Bundestag and hi party as one of the most committed advocates of a strong transatlantic relationship with the United States and Canada.
He serves as parliamentary Special Rapporteur on Transatlantic Relations in the Committee on Foreign Affairs. He is an active member of Atlantik-Brücke, the Aspen Institute and United Europe in addition to numerous organizations in his district. Beyer is also Executive Vice-President of the Southeast Europe Association. In April 2018, Beyer was appointed Coordinator of Transatlantic Cooperation.
Andreas Breiter
Partner at McKinsey & Company, Inc.
Andreas leads McKinsey’s capital-investment work for advanced industries in North America as well as the company's Center for Future Mobility on the West Coast. In his advisory work, Andreas serves a broad range of companies in the automotive sector, including car and truck manufacturers and their suppliers, as well as companies in the utilities and renewables space. He helps executives make strategic choices around product development while reducing material costs and optimizing the purchasing function. With a big picture view informed by advanced analytics, Andreas helps companies take a fresh approach to capital investment as a springboard to future growth.
Dr. Gerhard Casper
9th President of Stanford University, Professor Emeritus of Law
Gerhard Casper is President Emeritus of Stanford University. He is also the Peter and Helen Bing Professor, Emeritus, and a Senior Fellow at both the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI) at Stanford and the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR). He has written and taught primarily in the fields of constitutional law, constitutional history, comparative law, and jurisprudence. Mr. Casper serves as a trustee of the American Academy in Berlin as well as a trustee of the Central European University in Budapest. He is a member of international advisory councils at the Israel Democracy Institute (chairman since 2014), the European University at St. Petersburg, and Koç University, Istanbul. His most recent book, The Winds of Freedom—Addressing Challenges to the University, was published by Yale University Press in February 2014. He is also the author of numerous scholarly articles and occasional papers.
Josh Chin
National Fellow at New America and Beijing-based correspondent for The Wall Street Journal
Josh Chin is a National Fellow at New America and a long-time Beijing-based correspondent for The Wall Street Journal covering Chinese tech and politics. He led a team that won the 2018 Gerald Loeb Award for international reporting for a series exposing the Chinese government's pioneering embrace of digital surveillance. He is co-writing a book about the same topic for St. Martin's Press with Journal reporter Liza Lin.
Sheila Colclasure
SVP, Global Digital Responsibility and Public Policy at IPG Kinesso
Colclasure has extensive knowledge of laws governing the collection and use of information worldwide, and is regularly sought out by policy makers, regulators and government agencies for her views on the ethical use of data. She is recognized as a global authority on applied data ethics, consumer advocacy and information policy, and participates in numerous domestic and international efforts to help develop effective data policy, establish industry best practices and achieve maximum harmonization of information policy across the world.
Colclasure is a 2017 Presidential Leadership Scholar and was recognized by CSO as one of “12 amazing women in security.” Colclasure serves on the advisory boards of the Information Accountability Foundation (IAF) and the Future of Privacy Forum (FPF).
Prior to joining IPG Kinesso, Colclasure was SVP Global Public Policy Officer for LiveRamp, the Global Chief Data Ethics Officer at Acxiom and previously worked for both the U.S. Senate and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants in Washington, D.C.
Camille Crittenden
Executive Director of CITRIS (Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society) and the Banatao Institute
Camille Crittenden is Executive Director of CITRIS (Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society) and the Banatao Institute, and co-founder of the CITRIS Policy Lab and the Women in Technology Initiative at UC. Prior to coming to CITRIS in 2012, she was Executive Director of the Human Rights Center at Berkeley Law, where she helped to develop its program in human rights, technology, and new media. She has written and spoken widely on these topics, as well as technology applications for civic engagement, government transparency and accountability, and the digital divide. She also chairs the State of California's Blockchain Working Group. She held previous positions as Assistant Dean for Development with International and Area Studies at UC Berkeley and in development and public relations at University of California Press and San Francisco Opera. She earned an MA and Ph.D. from Duke University.
Volker Dahm
Founder & CEO of KeyX
Volker started his career as a Mechanical Engineer in specializing in processes and datas out of the University of Stuttgart in 1996. While founding his first startup in the area of production automation he earned the MBA of Business Administration at the HHL in Leipzig in 2009. He sold his startup to the biggest competitor in that technical field in 2013. In 2016 he founded his new company KeyX in the field of software system integration, process automation and data analytics. Based on that he developed the data analytics and integration platform MonaX4U which presents the Easiest, Safest and Most Predictive Platform to avoid Software Update Crashes.
Lake Dai
Partner at LDV Partners
Lake Dai is an entrepreneur, a venture capitalist and an Adjunct Professor at Carnegie Mellon University. She is a partner at the venture capital firm, LDV Partners. For 20 years she has led product and engineering teams globally at Alibaba, Apple, Yahoo!, and Silicon Valley tech startups. She is a recognized expert in Search Engine, Ad Platform, Marketplace, Analytics, Mobile Platforms and Applications, holding 5 US patents in search algorithm, search tokenization, mobile data analytics, and mobile monetization.
In China, Lake was employee #84 at Alibaba, led the product team launched the first generation of profitable products at Alibaba. At Yahoo! China, her team launched the first generation of web and vertical search products of China, tripling Yahoo!'s market share within one quarter. In the US, as a co-founder Shinect, a non-profit acceleration program designed to connect Silicon Valley's entrepreneurs to China's market, she has been helping companies build successful products and profitable businesses. She also mentors start-ups at various incubators including 500 Startups, Muckerlab, Lab360 and Shinect.
As Adjunct Professor at Carnegie Mellon University, she teaches Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Product Management courses at master programs in College of Engineering. She is on the Advisory Board of Women In Technology International (WITI), the premiere global organization empowering women in business and technology. She is also a Board Governor and Chairwoman of the US Chapter of QCH, a non-profit organization which fosters entrepreneurship for Alibaba alumni worldwide.
Prof. Bruce L. Daniel
Professor of Radiology and, by courtesy, of Bioengineering at Stanford University
Bruce L. Daniel MD is Professor of Radiology and, by courtesy, of Bioengineering at Stanford University. He received his B.A. in physics with highest honors from Williams College in 1985, and his M.D. from Harvard Medical School in 1990. His awards include being elected as a Fellow of the Society of Computed Body Tomography and Magnetic Resonance, Distinguished Investigator of the Academy of Radiology Research, and most recently Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering. Recently he started and now co-directs IMMERS, the incubator for medical mixed and extended reality at Stanford.
Dr. Markus Dicks
Policy Lab Digital Work and Society, German Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs
Dr. Markus Dicks is Desk Officer at the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (BMAS) Policy Lab Digital Work & Society. The Policy Lab has started its work in October 2018. It is a new, interdisciplinary and agile organizational unit that observes technological, economic and social trends and helps to shape change together with academia, business and social partners. Within the German AI Strategy the BMAS and Policy Lab will take responsible for the topics work, society, technology assessment and regulation.
He worked as Desk Officer at the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) in health management, industry 4.0 & AI (5 years) and worked 10 years in the industry (ThyssenKrupp, VDI Technologiezentrum).
Christian Djeffal
Professor for Law, Science and Technology, Munich Center for Technology and Society, Technical University of Munich (TUM)
Christian Djeffal works on the relationship of law, technology and society with a specific focus on emergent digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and the internet of things. He focuses on a holistic perspective across legal regimes (constitutional law, regulative regimes, standardization) and across disciplines (law, STS, computer science). Before joining the Munich Center for Technology in Society and the TUM School of Governance at TUM, Christian coordinated the research group Global Constiutionalism and the Internet at Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society (HIIG). He received his doctorate from Humboldt University of Berlin and studied law at Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich and University College London. Christian is associated researcher at HIIG and the Institute for Technology, Society, and Law at University of Zurich.
Daniela Geretshuber
Risk Assurance Leader Industrial Services; Partner at PwC Germany
Daniela Geretshuber is Head of Risk Assurance Solutions (RAS) of PwC Germany and has more than 18 years of professional experience. RAS supports their clients in building trust and security in areas of regulation and new technologies. Daniela’s main focus is to help her clients to embrace the opportunities of new technology for business process optimization while effectively managing risks. This includes discussing and establishing general governance criteria and frameworks to assure a robust and safe implementation of emerging technologies, in particular AI.
She is Board Member of the German PwC foundation supporting the education of young people and Alumni of the Young Leaders Programme of the American Council in Germany.
Prof. Dr. Michael Göring
CEO of the ZEIT-Stiftung Ebelin und Gerd Bucerius
Since 1997 Prof. Dr. Michael Göring has been executive member of the board and since 2005 CEO of the Hamburg-based foundation ZEIT-Stiftung Ebelin und Gerd Bucerius, one of the largest foundations in Germany. Central to its mission is the commitment to invigorate civil society in Germany and Europe and to promote innovative transatlantic programs, exchanges and perspectives. The foundation established the first private law school in Germany, the Bucerius Law School, in 2000. The Digital Charter is another initiative under the umbrella of the ZEIT-foundation.
Michael Göring received his Ph.D. in English Literature and started his career as assistant professor in English Literature at the University of Munich. Since 2000, he has taught as honorary professor at the Cultural and Media Management Institute at the Hamburg School of Music and Drama. He is the author of various publications and has published four novels. As one of Germany’s philanthropic leaders, he is involved with numerous foundations and private organizations.
©Roman Pawlowski
Olaf Groth, Ph.D.
CEO Cambrian Futures, Inc., Professor Hult International Business School
Olaf Groth is founder and managing partner of Cambrian Futures. He is also the Co-author of Solomon's Code, professor of strategy and economics at Hult International Business School and an executive for the evolving global innovation economy with 20 years of experience in corporations, consulting firms, and academia. Olaf Groth has helped build new ventures and change management initiatives for employers and clients in the energy, technology, aerospace and transportation sectors in 30+ countries.
Quentin Hardy
Head of Editorial at Google Cloud
Quentin Hardy is the head of Editorial at Google Cloud, writing about the ways that cloud computing technology, and by extension the advent of computer intelligence at every point on the planet, is reshaping business and society.
Previous to joining Google, Mr. Hardy was Deputy Technology Editor at The New York Times, where for many years he wrote about enterprise computing. He has also been National Editor of Forbes Magazine, and a reporter with The Wall Street Journal in San Francisco and Tokyo, covering technology, banks, and financial markets. For 10 years he was part of "Forbes on Fox", a weekend economics and politics program on Fox News.
John Hennessy, Ph.D.
Chairman of Alphabet & Professor of Electrical Engineering, Stanford
John L. Hennessy is the James F. and Mary Lynn Gibbons Professor of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering in the Stanford School of Engineering, and the Shriram Family Director of Stanford’s Knight-Hennessy Scholars, the largest fully endowed graduate-level scholarship program in the world. He is chairman of Alphabet and serves as a trustee of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. Formerly the tenth president of Stanford, he is also a computer scientist who co-founded MIPS Computer Systems and Atheros Communications. John is the coauthor (with David Patterson) of two internationally used textbooks in computer architecture. His honors include the 2012 Medal of Honor of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and the 2017 ACM A.M. Turing Award (jointly with David Patterson). John earned his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Villanova University and his master’s and doctoral degrees in computer science from the Stony Brook University.
Dr. Jeanette Hofmann
Professor & Director at the Humboldt Institut for Internet and Society & Co-Founder of the Weizenbaum Institute for the Networked Society
Jeanette Hofmann's research focuses on Internet governance and regulation. Her current research areas concern digital democracy and the development of digital platforms. She teaches at the Institute for Media and Communication Studies at Free University Berlin and she heads a research group on 'Politics of Digitalization' at the Berlin Social Science Center. Jeanette is a co-director of the Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society and Prinicipal Investigator at the recently founded Weizenbaum Institute for the Networked Society in Berlin.
In addition to her academic work, Jeanette is a member of the expert group to the EU Observatory on the Online Platform Economy. She also heads two national academic expert commissions on 'digitalization and democracy' (Leopoldina, National Academy of the Sciences) and on 'Young Engagement in the Digital Age' (Federal Government). Jeanette is one of the 27 co-authors of the Digital Charter Initiative.
©David Ausserhofer
Luther Jackson
Program Manager at NOVA
Luther Jackson is a program manager at NOVA, the non-profit, federally-funded workforce development agency in Sunnyvale, California. He is leading several initiatives that are creating accessible educational and career pathways for diverse populations into the heart of the San Francisco Bay Area’s innovation economy. He is a leader of Apprenticeship Bay Area, a regional workforce initiative to scale tech and other high-skill apprenticeships. Luther also staffs NOVA’s emerging trends task force and is a member of the “Future of Work” affinity group sponsored by the American Leadership Forum – Silicon Valley. Luther is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and previously worked as a journalist in Detroit and as a union representative in Detroit and San Jose.
Christoph Keese
CEO of Axel Springer hy GmbH
Christoph Keese is one of Germany's best-known thought leaders on digital transformation. He is a passionate innovator, serial entrepreneur, business angel, and keynote speaker. In addition, he authored bestselling books on digitization and economic policy ("Silicon Valley", "Silicon Germany", and "Disrupt Yourself"). As editor-in-chief and manager, he drove digital transformation at leading German newspapers (e.g., Financial Times and WELT) as well as at Axel Springer SE. Today he is CEO of Axel Springer hy, a digital consultancy in Berlin. Christoph Keese is one of the 27 co-authors of the Digital Charter Initiative.
Kenji E. Kushida, Ph.D.
Japan Program Research Scholar at the Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center at Stanford University
Kenji E. Kushida is the Japan Program Research Scholar at the Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center at Stanford University (APARC), Project Leader of the Silicon Valley – New Japan Project (SV-NJ). He is also an international Research Fellow at the Canon Institute for Global Studies (CIGS), and Visiting Researcher at the Nippon Institute for Research Advancement (NIRA). He holds a PhD in political science from the University of California, Berkeley, an MA in East Asian studies and BAs in economics and East Asian studies, all from Stanford University
Kushida’s research streams include Information Technology innovation, Silicon Valley’s economic ecosystem, Japan’s political economic transformation since the 1990s, and the Fukushima nuclear disaster. He has published several books and numerous articles in each of these streams, including “The Politics of Commoditization in Global ICT Industries,” “Japan’s Startups Ecosystem,” “Cloud Computing: From Scarcity to Abundance,” and others. His latest business book in Japanese is “The Algorithmic Revolution Disruption: a Silicon Valley Vantage on IoT, Fintech, Cloud, and AI” (Asahi Shimbun Shuppan 2016).
He has appeared in media including The New York Times, Washington Post, Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Nikkei Business, NHK, PBS NewsHour, and NPR, and he advises companies and government.
Esther Legant
Head of KIT LINK and International Partnermanagement & Communication at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)
As Head of KIT LINK Esther Legant paves the way for the exchange of knowledge and transatlantic communication between individuals from the San Francisco Bay Area (SFBA) and the German Southwest, a transatlantic network for innovative high-quality research with future potential. KIT LINK represents German research at Karlsruhe Institut of Technology (KIT) in the field of "The Future of Work", such as digitization, artificial intelligence, entrepreneurship, digital health, robotics, cloud services and open knowledge in SFBA as well as the establishment of a transatlantic network, together with several institutes and in cooperation with the strategic partner SAP. Exchange of knowledge and communication via minds. At best, partnerships to form to solve global issues of the future and drive innovation with purpose linked to the 17 UN Global Goals.
Dr. Christoph Leuze
Instructor at the Incubator for Medical Mixed & Extended Reality at Stanford Radiology; Founder of Nakamir
Dr. Christoph Leuze is an instructor at the Incubator for Medical Mixed and Extended Reality at Stanford Radiology and founder of the augmented reality startup Nakamir that aims to help medics with patient care during outdoor prolonged field care scenarios. During his Ph.D. thesis at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig, he worked on high-resolution brain MRI measurements for which he was awarded the Otto Hahn medal by the Max Planck Society for outstanding young researchers. At the department of Radiology in Stanford Dr. Leuze has been working on ultra high-field brain MRI to measure and better understand tissue connectivity inside the brain.
Dr. Gottfried Ludewig
Director General Digitalisation and Innovation Federal Ministry of Health Germany
Dr. Ludewig is a German Politician and since April 2018 Director General Digitalisation and Innovation of the German Federal Ministry of Health. Between 2011-2018 he has been member of the Berlin Parliament. There he served as speaker for health policy with focus on digitalisation in healthcare. With his current position at the German Federal Ministry of Health he aims to promote digitalisation and innovation in healthcare for a better and more efficient health care for patients in Germany.
Anja Manuel
CoFounder and Partner, RiceHadleyGates LLC
Former diplomat, author, and advisor on emerging markets, Anja
Manuel is Co-Founder and Principal along with former Secretary of
State Condoleezza Rice, former National Security Advisor Stephen
Hadley and former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, in RiceHadleyGates LLC, a strategic consulting firm that helps US
companies navigate international markets. She is the author of the critically acclaimed This Brave New World: India, China, and the United States, published by Simon and Schuster in 2016. From 2005-2007, she served as an official at the U.S. Department of State, responsible for South Asia Policy.
Earlier in her career, Ms. Manuel was an attorney at WilmerHale
working on corporate governance, international and Supreme Court cases, and represented special committees of major corporate boards before the US Congress, Department of Justice and the SEC. She was also an investment banker at Salomon Brothers in London. She currently serves on two corporate boards: Overseas Shipping Group, Inc., an NYSE listed transportation company, and Ripple Labs Inc., a leading blockchain payments company.
John Markoff
Science & Technology Journalist and Pulitzer Prize Winner
John Markoff, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, wrote for The New York Times’ science and technology beat for 28 years, where he was widely regarded as the paper’s star technology reporter. He is currently a Fellow at Stanford University’s Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences and the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence. He has been a lecturer at the University of California at Berkeley School of Journalism, and an adjunct faculty member at the Stanford Graduate Program on Journalism. In 2013, Markoff was part of a Pulitzer Prize-winning team for Explanatory Reporting “for its penetrating look into business practices by Apple and other technology companies that illustrates the darker side of a changing global economy for workers and consumers.
Lloyd B. Minor, MD
Dean of the Stanford University School of Medicine
Lloyd B. Minor, MD, is the Carl and Elizabeth Naumann Dean of the Stanford University School of Medicine. With his leadership, Stanford Medicine has established a strategic vision to lead the biomedical revolution in Precision Health, a fundamental shift to more proactive and personalized health care that empowers people to lead healthy lives. Dr. Minor is also a professor of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery and a professor of Bioengineering and of Neurobiology, by courtesy, at Stanford University. With more than 140 published articles and chapters, Dr. Minor is an expert in balance and inner ear disorders. In 2012, he was elected to the National Academy of Medicine.
Simon Mueller
Co-Founder and Vice President, The Future Society
Simon co-founded The Future Society in 2014 while a student at Harvard Kennedy School because of his firm belief that the rapid development of technology in our days poses unparalleled challenges for public decision makers and corporate leaders. At Harvard, Simon focused on technology governance, advanced analytics and strategic decision making. At The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), Simon advises CEOs and their teams in the domain of Robotics, Automation and Advanced Manufacturing (such as 3D-Printing and IoT). Simon has been a frequent speaker, moderator and panel participant on the topics of automation, technology governance and decision-making at conferences around the world.
Daniel Opper
Head of Bucerius Lab, ZEIT-Stiftung Ebelin und Gerd Bucerius
Daniel Opper is head of the Bucerius Lab of the Germany based ZEIT-Foundation, which deals with current issues of societal change — such as the effects of digitization on politics, civil rights, work and culture. Daniel studied politics, sociology and journalism in Göttingen, Germany and Berkeley, CA, and worked for various media. Recently, he co-curated the exhibition “Out of Office” about the future of work in the digital age. Daniel Opper is one of the 27 co-authors of the Digital Charter initiative.
Philipp Petrescu
CEO & Co-founder MVPF Technologies GmbH
Philipp is CEO and Co-founder of MVPF Technologies GmbH. MVP Factory empowers the digitization of enterprises and SMEs. Combining technology with a network of freelancers to offer smart services at unparalleled quality. For our clients we design & build digital products and ventures by combining lean and agile processes with high-performing, scalable freelance delivery teams and industry-leading functional experts.
Before that, Philipp co-founded and sold two startups being responsible for business development, product, engineering and fundraising. He also consulted a FTSE500 enterprise on their digital strategy, strategic start-up acquisitions and implementation, lead the founding of a tech start-up setup in a new entity. He advised a number of German SMEs on digital strategy, corporate venture building and IT fulfillment.
Adam Probst
CEO and Co-founder maiot GmbH
Sven Przywarra
Founder of LiveEO
Sven Przywarra founded the earth observation start-up LiveEO together with Daniel Seidel in 2017. Before that he studied Business Engineering at the Technical University of Berlin with a strong focus on space engineering and entrepreneurship after working one year in India’s capital New Delhi. He has previously worked in the space industry and founded NewSpaceVision, Europe’s biggest new space event series with the goal to connect the industry. Daniel and Sven are leading a team of 20+ people working on bringing the insights of earth observation to the infrastructure sector. He is convinced that earth observation will have a positive impact on every major industry within the next 10 years.
Hendrick Reese
Thought Leader Trust in AI & Responsible AI; Director at PwC Germany
Hendrik Reese is Director of Responsible AI at PwC in Germany. He has 18 years experience in IT consulting and has led numerous national and international projects. In the area of Emerging Technologies (i.e. Cloud Solutions and Artificial Intelligence), he has been focusing on supporting the transformation and ensuring trust for clients. Together with his highly skilled team, Hendrik is currently setting trust and audit standards for AI and building quality assurance solutions for AI models and data (bias, robustness, interpretability).
Beth Rogozinski
CEO of Signal 2 Health
Beth Rogozinski is the founder and CEO of Signal 2 Health, a digital health strategy and production company located in SF. Beth is a serial entrepreneur, technology professional, and business strategist who has spent the last several years focused on digital medicine.
Beth was a founding member of the internationally renowned Multimedia Studies Program at SFSU where she taught and published a book on multimedia. Beth was on the founding team at Pear Therapeutics, where she served as Chief Product and Content Officer and helped build the product and development teams and successfully led the design, development and commercialization of six sub-clinical products. She also led the development of Pear’s first clinical product, reSET, and the product team submission of the De Novo 510k to the FDA. reSET was cleared by the FDA on September 14, 2017 as the first ever prescription digital therapeutic.
Dr. Gregory L. Rosston
Director of the Public Policy program at Stanford University
Gregory L. Rosston is Director of the Public Policy program at Stanford University, the Gordon Cain Senior Fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, and Professor of Economics (by courtesy). He teaches Economics and Public Policy courses on competition policy and strategy, economic policy analysis, and writing and rhetoric.
Dr. Rosston served as Deputy Chief Economist at the Federal Communications Commission working on the implementation of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and helped to design and implement the first ever spectrum auctions in the United States. In 2011, he was Senior Economist for Transactions for the Federal Communications Commission for the proposed AT&T – T-Mobile transaction. He co-chaired the Economy, Globalization and Trade committee for the 2008 Obama campaign and was a member of the Obama transition team on economic agency review and energy policy.
Dr. Rosston received his Ph.D. in Economics from Stanford University and his A.B. with Honors in Economics from University of California at Berkeley. Dr. Rosston has written extensively on the application of economics to telecommunications issues. He serves as Chairman of the Board of the Stanford Federal Credit Union, as a Board member of the Nepal Youth Foundation and as an Advisory Board member of Sustainable Conservation and the Technology Policy Institute.
Andrej Safundzic
Founder & Lead of Tech4Germany
Andrej founded and is leading Tech4Germany, Germany’s technology task force under Chancellor Merkel’s right hand and Federal Chief of Staff, Helge Braun. Tech4Germany is the government's tech startup that brings the best digital talents and creative minds together with different federal government entities.Before that, Andrej established two EdTech startups in East Africa, worked in product management and data science for leading German and US startups. He completed a degree in computer science and business as valedictorian at Technical University of Munich and completed his senior year at Harvard University.
Dr. Peter Schardt
CTO of Siemens Healthineers
Dr. Peter Schardt has been Chief Technology Officer of Siemens Healthineers since October 01, 2018. The doctor of physics joined Siemens in 1995 as a project manager for X-ray tubes. There he developed high-performance tubes for computed tomography before taking over the management of the entire predevelopment for X-ray tubes in 2002. In 2009, Schardt assumed business responsibility for the Mechatronics Competence Center in Kemnath. This is one of the largest integrated development and manufacturing sites of Siemens Healthineers worldwide.
In 2011, he moved to the Laboratory Diagnostics business unit as program manager for the Atellica Solution product family. In this role, he played a key role in the final development and market launch of the new system, which is a trend-setter in laboratory diagnostics. On January 1,2018, Schardt took over worldwide management of the X-ray Technology product division.
Siegbert Schefke
Journalist
Siegbert Schefke is a German journalist and author of the book “Als die Angst die Seite wechselte”. He is famous in Germany for having secretly filmed the demonstrations in Leipzig 1989, where for the first time, the East German police did not intervene in open anti-government protests. With his friend he smuggled the film to the West, where it was broadcast the next day under the headline, "The beginning of the end of the Communist regime". It was activities like this that made him a prime target of the dreaded Stasi secret police.
Dr. Hauke Schmidt
Vice President, Research and Technology Center, Robert Bosch North America
Dr. Hauke Schmidt leads Corporate Research for Robert Bosch in North America. Since June 2017, he is vice president of the Bosch Research and Technology Center with locations in Sunnyvale, California; Cambridge, Massachusetts; and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Schmidt, who is located in Sunnyvale, oversees the overall strategy, planning, operations and research direction of the three Research and Technology (RTC) locations in the United States.
Prior to his current assignment, Schmidt founded the Bosch Center for Artificial Intelligence with locations in Bangalore, Sunnyvale and Stuttgart. He has held various leadership positions dedicated to developing artificial intelligence solutions for integration into Bosch products in areas such as user interaction and natural language understanding, service robotics, automated driving and data mining.
Simon Schumacher
Research Scientist at Fraunhofer IPA & Project Lead of Future Work Lab
Simon Schumacher is a research scientist at the Competence Center Digital Tools in Manufacturing at the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation IPA in Stuttgart, Germany. His research focuses on Industry 4.0 and the digital transformation of industrial manufacturing, in particular the technological and organizational changes of labor on the manufacturing system level.
Simon Schumacher is also the project lead of the Future Work Lab, a government-funded and widely recognized innovation lab for technical, social and organizational changes in industrial labor with more than 40 live use cases and over 10,000 visitors within the first two years.
Prof. Kathryn Shaw
Ernest C. Arbuckle Professor of Economics at the Graduate School of Business, Stanford University
Kathryn Shaw is Ernest C. Arbuckle Professor of Economics at the Graduate School of Business, Stanford University. Professor Shaw currently studies managing talent in high-performance firms, entrepreneurship, and the value that good bosses confer on their firms and workers. She particularly focuses on how firms attract and build star talent. In addition, she on how the firm’s choice of its human resource management practices can produce performance gains. She is identified as the co-developer of the field of “insider econometrics,” a research field within economics in which researchers go within companies and use insider knowledge to empirically identify the performance gains from management practices. Her research has been extensively funded by the NSF, the Sloan Foundation, and the Russell Sage and Rockefeller Foundations. Previously, Shaw was a Member of President Clinton’s Council of Economic Advisers (1999-2001) and was the Ford Distinguished Research Chair and Professor of Economics at the business school at Carnegie Mellon University. She completed her Ph.D. in economics at Harvard University in 1981. In 2008, she was elected a Fellow of the Society of Labor Economists; in 2001 Shaw received the Columbia University award for the best paper on international business. At Stanford, she teaches People Management Strategy and Managing in the Age of AI, and has won teaching awards.
Dr. Asher Sinensky
Palantir Senior Executive
Dr. Asher Sinensky is a senior member of Palantir’s executive team having joined the company in 2007 after completing his PhD In Materials Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
During his tenure, Asher has been deeply engaged with all levels of Palantir’s operations including the Technical (Data Modeling, Product Management), Business (Founding Palantir’s European Presence), and Customer Engagement (Worked with many customers including acting as the Interim Chief Data Officer for a large media client).
Asher has maintained a deep emphasis on how to understand and derive actionable meaning from data throughout his time at Palantir and continues to learn, speak, and teach about these topics.
Lalit Singh
Chief Operating Officer, Udacity
Malte Spitz
Secretary General of the German Society for Civil Rights
Malte Spitz, *1984, is a German activist, author, politician and Secretary General of the German NGO Gesellschaft für Freiheitsrechte (Society for Civil Rights). He deals with the topics of future regulation in the digital age and focuses on data protection and civil rights. In 2014 and 2017 his books on data protection and digital regulation "What are you doing with my data?" and "Data - The Oil of the 21st Century? Sustainability in the Digital Age" were published. His lawsuit against Deutsche Telekom and the subsequent publication of the metadata of his mobil communications caused an international attention.
In 2015, he co-founded the Gesellschaft für Freiheitsrechte (Society for Civil Rights), which works for fundamental and human rights through strategic litigation. From 2006 to 2013, he was one of six members of the Federal Executive Board of the Green Party in Germany and has been a member of the Federal Board since 2013. Malte Spitz is one of the 27 co-authors of the Digital Charter initiative.
©Paul Wagner
Hays Steilberg
Executive Vice President Corporate HR at Bertelsmann
Hans-Ulrich Suedbeck
German Consul General in San Francisco
Before becoming Consul General of San Francisco Mr. Suedbeck was Head of the Western Balkans Division at the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin, Germany. Prior posts had brought him to Afghanistan, Serbia, Ukraine, Brussels, and The Hague in the Netherlands.
Pavlos Tsantilas, Ph.D.
Resident, University Hospital Munich
Pavlos Tsantilas is a resident for vascular surgery at the Department of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery, Hospital Rechts der Isar, Technical University of Munich, Germany. He recently finished a research fellowship at the Division of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery at Stanford University, California, USA. As a tech enthusiast, he strives to bring innovative and meaningful technologies to healthcare.
Hal Varian, Ph.D.
Economist at Google & Professor at University of California, Berkeley
Hal R. Varian is the chief economist at Google. Since 2002 he has been involved in many aspects of the company, including auction design, econometric analysis, finance, corporate strategy and public policy.
Hal also holds academic appointments at the University of California, Berkeley in three departments: business, economics, and information management.Hal is a fellow of the Guggenheim Foundation, the Econometric Society, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He was co-editor of the American Economic Review from 1987-1990 and holds honorary doctorates from the University of Oulu, Finland and the University of Karlsruhe, Germany.
Dr. Heinrich Wefing
Head of the Political Department of the German weekly DIE ZEIT
Heinrich Wefing was born in Hamburg in 1965. He studied History of Art and Law in Bonn and Freiburg and finished his studies with a dissertation in 1992. From 1995 on he volunteered at DIE ZEIT and FAZ, becoming feuilleton editor with the FAZ in 1996, first in Frankfurt, then Berlin, from 2001 to 2004 in San Francisco. From 2008 on he was editor at the political desk of the German weekly DIE ZEIT in Hamburg, in 2010 he became Deputy Head of the Political Department, in January 2018 Head of the Political Department. Heinrich Wefing is one of the 27 co-authors of the Digital Charter initiative.
©Vera Tammen
Andreas Weigend
Former Chief Scientist, Amazon; Member, Digital Council to the German Government
Dr. Andreas Weigend’s expertise is to turn data into decisions. He was the chief scientist at Amazon where he worked with Jeff Bezos on the company's data strategy. In 2018, Angela Merkel appointed him to Germany’s Digital Council ("Digitalrat") to help create a positive mindset towards digital transformation ("Digitalisierung").
Andreas studied electrical engineering, physics and philosophy in Karlsruhe, Cambridge and Bonn, before moving to Stanford for his Ph.D. in neural networks. His book “Data for the People” (2017) has been translated into eight languages. He has taught at NYU/Stern, Stanford, UC Berkeley and in China. He lives in San Francisco, Bangkok and on http://aweigend.com.
Dörte Wickenhagen
Director Learning Culture & Transformation at Bertelsmann
Roman Wolkow
Co-founder & CEO of Mitakus Analytics
Roman Wolkow is the Co-founder and CEO of Mitakus analytics, a German SaaS-Startup providing accurate forecasts and recommendations to commercial food service providers.
Previously, Roman has been involved in the Initiative "Wir retten Lebensmittel" / "We save Food" launched by the Bavarian Ministry for Nutrition, Agriculture and Forestry, supporting various startup projects and other projects aiming to prevent food waste.
Shortly after finishing his M.S. in Management & Technology at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) he saw the business opportunity and social value in implementing a solution to fight food waste and launched Mitakus. The startup since then has developed it's own forecasting & recommendations platform for food service providers, tested and launched the product with several German customers.
Fehmi Yüksel
Senior Associate at McKinsey & Company, Inc.
Fehmi joined McKinsey in Germany in 2012 focusing on large transformation programs mainly in the Advanced Industries and Automotive sector. Fehmi serves a wide range of clients in topics related to Product Development and Engineering, Global Quality Management, or Sales and Pricing. In his work, he identifies and translates global trends in specific strategic alternatives and also helps his clients in implementing these in their operating models or products. Fehmi holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering and Business Administration from RWTH Aachen University having also studied at UC Berkeley and ETH Zurich. Leading the Recruiting activities of McKinsey Germany in the US West Coast, he is one of the key contacts for students and young professionals who seek a career at McKinsey in Germany.
Participants and Community
Become part of a community that is passionate about shaping our shared digital future through building new bridges across the Atlantic
Who participates in Transatlantic Sync?
Scientists and Students
Young and established scientists as well as graduate students from leading universities and research institutes:
Policy Makers
German and American policy makers, policy researchers and politicians, e.g.:
Business Leaders
Startup founders and business leaders from big industry players to successful high-tech SMEs, e.g.:
Other participants include journalists, media professionals, venture capitalists,..
Transatlantic Sync is not only about listening to top speakers on stage. True to Silicon Valley spirit, the goal of the conference is for you, our participants, to share your ideas, ask questions, connect over topics you care about and to inspire each other. The result is a new dynamic transatlantic community for technology collaboration - made by you!
Interactive formats include:
Targeted networking and match-making
Collaborative breakout sessions and interactive Q&A sessions
Innovation exhibition: Startups and industry leaders showcase the latest digital prototypes
Student researchers’ poster exhibition and start-up prototype presentation (apply below): Up-and-coming talents present projects in AI/ CS and related fields, and on their impact on society
Fun evening events
And more!
GABA is a member-driven non-profit organization that fosters transatlantic knowledge sharing and networking among German-American and Californian business and tech communities. The GABA programs address critical business, Alutechnik and leadership issues, with specific industry programs.
Share knowledge. Gain insight. Expand connections.
Non-profit organization, founded in 2003
GABA promotes:
The Volunteer Team: The Young Professionals at GABA
We are a group of digital enthusiasts
Transatlantic Sync is a grassroots project initiated and lead by Young
Academics and Professionals: Our motivation and drive will ensure quality
and success
Co-President
Katharina is a Ph.D. Candidate in Management Science & Engineering at Stanford focusing on Computational Social Science. She works with several industry partners to study team interactions using Artificial Intelligence.
Co-President
Lars is a Ph.D. Candidate in Electrical Engineering at Stanford, where he works on computer-aided design for additive manufacturing of charged particle device. Moreover, he teaches creativity in research at Stanford's d.school and is an ERP scholar.
Director
Vincent is a Ph.D. Candidate in Electrical Engineering at Stanford working on Computer Vision and a Fulbright Scholar. His passion is to connect modern Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence with Imaging.
Richard Gruner
Director
Richard works as an Autonomous Driving Engineer for Mercedes-Benz in the Bay Area. His work focuses on machine learning based techniques and robotics for self-driving cars.
Nikolaus Volk
Director
Nikolaus is the tech lead of UMI.systems, an early stage AI mobility startup. Prior to that, he graduated with a Master's Degree in Biomechanical Engineering from Stanford University and worked as a Machine Learning Software Engineer at Uber.
Dr. Henrike Steimer
Director
Henrike is a Postdoctoral Researcher at Susan Athey's lab at the Stanford University. In her research, she is interested in the economics of digitization and the intersection of machine learning and causal inference.
Jonas Metzger
Director
Jonas is a Ph.D. Student in Economics at Stanford University. He is interested in econometrics, game theory and reinforcement learning. He holds a Master's Degree from the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Robert Ruhlandt
Director
Robert is a Ph.D. Candidate in Civil Engineering at Stanford University. His research interest are smart cities. He worked as a consultant for Bain&Company after the completion of his Master's Degree in Management Science & Engineering and before starting his Ph.D.
Dr. Pavlos Tsantilas
Director
Pavlos is a former postdoctoral scholar at the Division of Vascular Surgery, School of Medicine, Stanford University focusing on atherosclerotic disease. He strives to bring innovative and meaningful technologies to healthcare.
Lars Jebe
Director
Lars is a M.Sc. candidate in Electrical Engineering at Stanford University. He is specializing in signal processing for computer vision. Prior to Stanford, he studied at the RWTH Aachen.
Carolin Thomas
Director
Carolin is a Visiting Student Researcher at the Graduate School of Business. She is currently pursuing a Master's degree in Economics at Stockholm School of Economics.
Maximilian Zoller
Director
Maximilian is an MBA candidate at Stanford Universities Business school. He is interested in the intersection of tech and clean energy and has worked as the Managing Director of Thermondo Energy prior to his time at Stanford.
Marc Brunssen
Director
Marc is an MBA candidate at Stanford Universities Graduate School of Business. His interest is the future of the automotive industry. Prior to his MBA, he worked as a consultant for the Boston Consulting Group and co-founded an Ed Tech start-up.
Dr. Christoph Leuze
Director
Christoph is an instructor in Mixed Reality in Medicine at Stanford University where he works on the visualization of MRI data using virtual and augmented reality devices and founder of Nakamir, a medical augmented reality startup.
His interest in data privacy issues stem on the one hand from his work in digital health where he has to handle sensitive data on a daily basis and on the other hand from his time as a student in the “Heldenstadt" Leipzig, where he experienced and met people whose lives were strongly impacted and restricted by the constant surveillance during the GDR.
Jana Meiser
Director
Jana is a Ph.D. Candidate in Chemistry at Stanford University. Her research is in the Dynamics of Photon-Catalyzed Reactions. Prior to Stanford, she studied and worked at the Leibniz University in Hannover.
Director
Steffen studies Economic Geography at the Leibniz University in Hannover, focusing on start-up and innovation ecosystems. He currently works as Marketing & Operations Manager at German Silicon Valley Innovators.
Samuel Loebell
Samuel is a medical student at the Heidelberg University. He pursued his doctoral research in Pediatrics (Hematology/Oncology) at the Stanford University Medical School.
Dr. Caroline Zeisbrich
Caroline is the Medical Director at Vave Health, a start up for connected and personal assessment tools.
Dr. Christoph Olivier
Christoph is a postdoctoral researcher at the Stanford Center for Clinical Research.
Jan Felix Heyse
Jan is a Ph.D. candidate in Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University, doing his research in the Flow Physics and Computational Engineering group. Prior to his graduate studies, he received his B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from RWTH Aachen University.
Dr. Lisa K. Simon
Lisa is a Postdoctoral Researcher in Economics at Stanford GSB working at Susan Athey's lab. Her current research looks at the impact of automation and AI on labor markets and the future of work.
Philipp Reineke
Philipp is a Ph.D. candidate in Management Science and Engineering at Stanford University. Before arriving at Stanford, he worked at INSEAD France and studied at the London School of Economics.
Conference Team
Other Members
We look forward to hearing from you.
Get in touch!
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