ENGINEERING IN AN UNPREDICTABLE WORLD 16 TO 18 SEPTEMBER 2019
The series began with the first Global Grand Challenges Summit
hosted in London in 2013 and continued with a further two summits,
hosted in China and the USA in 2015 and 2017 respectively.
GLOBAL GRAND CHALLENGES SUMMIT 2019 Monday 16 to Wednesday 18
September 2019 Engineering in an unpredictable world is the first
in a second series of summits hosted by the trilateral partnership
of the Royal Academy of Engineering, Chinese Academy of Engineering
and the US National Academy of Engineering.
© The Royal Academy of Engineering September 2019. Published by the
Royal Academy of Engineering, Prince Philip House, 3 Carlton House
Terrace, London SW1Y 5DG Tel: 020 7766 0600 Registered Charity
Number: 293074 Copies of this programme are available online at
www.ggcs2019.com
The summits are inspired by the National Academy of Engineering’s
2008 publication: 14 Grand Challenges for Engineering in the 21st
Century.
The next summit is due to be hosted in China in 2021.
Follow along on Twitter at @RAEngNews and #GGCS2019 and download
the Summit app.
CONTENTS Welcome from the President 2 Professor Dame Ann Dowling OM
DBE FREng FRS, President of the Royal Academy of Engineering
Welcome from the CEO 3 Dr Hayaatun Sillem, CEO of the Royal Academy
of Engineering
Introducing a new series of Summits 4 Dr John Lazar CBE FREng,
Chair of the Steering Committee
Presidential essays 5 Professor Li Xiaohong, President of the
Chinese National Academy of Engineering Professor John L. Anderson,
President of the US National Academy of Engineering
Agenda 8 Plenary and parallel sessions
Evening events 16
Partners and funders 44
ROYAL ACADEMY OF ENGINEERING | GLOBAL GRAND CHALLENGES SUMMIT
On behalf of the Royal Academy of Engineering, I would like to take
this opportunity to welcome you all to London for the 2019 Global
Grand Challenges Summit.
Humanity is facing unprecedented challenges from a growing
population, and accelerating degradation of the planet and its
resources. Exponential technological changes are making the world
smarter, faster and more connected, but are at the same time
upending traditional concepts of work, leisure, public and private
life, and rewriting our relationships to our institutions and each
other.
Engineering is crucial to the international effort to address these
rapidly evolving, unpredictable challenges. But to maximise the
impact of this expertise and make
a better world for the citizens of tomorrow, the way engineers work
needs to change. We need to better embed collaboration, inter-
disciplinarity, systems thinking, diversity, and global
responsibility into the solutions we create. And we need to
transform the way we innovate, educate and communicate.
We are at a critical juncture: the UN has warned that we have 12
years to limit the catastrophic implications of climate change. We
have little over 10 years to meet the Sustainable Development
Goals. If we are to meet these targets, we have to catalyse a
sea-change in the engineering profession.
That is why the Global Grand Challenges Summit is bringing together
the best engineering students from the UK, China and
the US alongside exceptional innovators and thought leaders from
across the profession and beyond to see what engineers can do to
make the profession fit to tackle the challenges of an
unpredictable world.
In the words of the writer Francis Spufford: “Engineering of any
description is an art of the possible. It happens at the junction
between what is materially possible and what is humanly
possible.”
This Summit is a crucial opportunity for us engineers to showcase
what we could achieve as artists of the possible, and to set the
agenda for a safe and sustainable future.
WELCOME Professor Dame Ann Dowling OM DBE FREng FRS President,
Royal Academy of Engineering
WELCOME FROM THE PRESIDENT 2
ROYAL ACADEMY OF ENGINEERING | GLOBAL GRAND CHALLENGES SUMMIT
Eleven years ago, the US National Academy of Engineering brought
together some of the leading engineers of the 20th century to
highlight 14 engineering challenges that would underpin global
progress in the 21st.
The Grand Challenges have since been both a lodestone and an
inspiration for those who want to put the engineering profession at
the forefront of humanity’s attempts to conquer its most pressing
challenges.
They have catalysed a global movement among universities around the
world to teach engineering in an interdisciplinary, challenge-based
manner- the Global Grand Challenges Scholars Network.
They underpin some of the most critical elements of the UN
Sustainable Development Goals.
And they have inspired a series of global Summits between the US,
Chinese and UK national academies of engineering, which have
brought together the world’s best engineers across continents and
generations to discuss the contribution engineering can make to
global progress.
In the fourth Global Grand Challenges Summit, we are bringing
together a new generation of engineering leaders to examine two
major challenges that will shape the world over the course of their
careers: the impact of AI and disruptive technologies on humanity,
and global sustainability.
For the first time we are introducing the Student Collaboration Lab
- an intensive three-day workshop for 300 young engineering
innovators from all three countries, where they are tasked with
working together in
international inter-disciplinary teams to build solutions to the
problems of tomorrow.
In this way, we hope to further extend the legacy of the Global
Grand Challenges and create the innovations, the skills and the
networks that will power our future.
Dr Hayaatun Sillem FIET CEO, Royal Academy of Engineering
WELCOME FROM THE CEO 3
ROYAL ACADEMY OF ENGINEERING | GLOBAL GRAND CHALLENGES SUMMIT
As Chair of the Royal Academy of Engineering’s Global Grand
Challenges Summit Steering Committee, I am delighted to welcome you
to this year’s Summit, the fourth since its inception, and the
first of a new series, organised in conjunction with our friends
and colleagues at the US and Chinese national academies.
As our theme Engineering in an unpredictable world highlights,
humanity is facing significant, and rapidly evolving, challenges.
For example, will AI and other transformational technologies change
humanity for the better? And can we sustain 10 billion people? We
hope that the Summit will encourage engineers to work together, and
with others, to tackle these challenges in an expansive,
cross-disciplinary and diverse way.
In particular, we hope to inspire our young engineers to seek wide-
ranging and ambitious solutions as they develop their
careers.
Our Student Collaboration Lab, to be held immediately before the
Summit, will hopefully demonstrate, in practice, how young
engineers from the UK, US and China – and other parts of the world
– can collaborate positively to tackle the Grand Challenges and UN
Sustainable Development Goals.
The greatest legacy we can imagine from this workshop and the
summit will be if the young engineers who were brought together in
London, as well as all the more senior and eminent attendees, are
still cooperating in the years to come! We have a fascinating array
of speakers, mentors and attendees
lined up to participate – and I look forward to meeting you all
here in London.
On behalf of everyone at the Royal Academy of Engineering, I would
like to thank the members of the Summit steering committee: David
Thomlinson FREng, Yassmin Abdel- Magied, Professor C.C. Chan FREng,
Naomi Climer CBE FREng, Professor Yihui Ding, Dr Olivia Feng,
Professor Danielle George, Professor Rick Miller, Professor Dame
Henrietta Moore DBE FBA, Professor Guang-Zhong Yang CBE FREng, and
Professor Yannis Yortsos, as well as the staff and Fellows of our
two partner Academies, for their support, advice, and efforts
throughout the planning and delivery of the summit.
A NEW GLOBAL GRAND CHALLENGES SERIES
INTRODUCING A NEW SERIES OF SUMMITS4
ROYAL ACADEMY OF ENGINEERING | GLOBAL GRAND CHALLENGES SUMMIT
Dr John Lazar CBE FREng Chair, Global Grand Challenges Summit 2019
Steering Committee
PROFESSOR LI XIAOHONG 5
ROYAL ACADEMY OF ENGINEERING | GLOBAL GRAND CHALLENGES SUMMIT
The world has become a multipolar system characterised by
increasing economic globalisation, cultural diversification, and
global communications.
Accompanying these changes are significant challenges to the
sustainable development of humankind: energy security and climate
change directly threaten the development of the economy and
society; urbanisation has gradually led to disharmony between
humans and nature; and evolving information technology makes
transformation and risk coexist. Just to name a few.
The challenge is unprecedented, so is the opportunity. In
particular,
the development of engineering and technology has brought
unprecedented opportunities to humankind. Over the history of the
human civilisation, it is the breakthroughs in engineering and
technology that have been promoting the dramatic development of
social productive forces and changing the way of human
activities.
In the next few decades, a new round of scientific, technological
and industrial revolution will dawn upon human society. Engineering
advancement and innovation will become a significant engine for
tackling global grand challenges and promoting social
development.
Addressing the grand challenges will also require contributions
from many professions in addition to engineering.
It is hoped that the Global Grand Challenges Summit will inspire
current and future engineers, together with professionals in other
related fields from all over the world, to collaborate to address
global grand challenges, and to jointly build a community with a
better, shared future for humanity.
Professor Li Xiaohong President, Chinese National Academy of
Engineering
PROFESSOR JOHN L ANDERSON6
ROYAL ACADEMY OF ENGINEERING | GLOBAL GRAND CHALLENGES SUMMIT
Just over a decade ago, the US National Academy of Engineering
(NAE) asked a committee of leading technological thinkers and doers
to propose engineering goals that would dramatically improve life
on our planet. With worldwide input from experts and the public, 14
Grand Challenges for Engineering were identified.
These challenges have inspired people all over the world, from
elementary school children to the president of the United States,
and of course they are the basis for this series of Global Grand
Challenges Summits as well as the university-level NAE Grand
Challenges Scholars Program.
It is my hope that those attending this summit will continue to
help grow the Grand Challenges for Engineering movement by
motivating engineers of all ages to address today’s and tomorrow’s
complex challenges. With your creativity and active engagement, we
can be good stewards of our planet while improving quality of life
and addressing the needs of 10 billion people.
One way to do that is through international collaboration. This
Summit offers abundant opportunities to pursue new partnerships
among participants of all ages and at all stages of their career. I
encourage you to keep this
in mind as you engage in the Student Collaboration Lab, the summit
activities, and satellite events.
Consider how you will carry forward the shared inspiration and
creative thinking from the summit beyond this event, working with
both engineers and non-engineers, and how you will participate in
communicating to the broader public about the importance of
achieving our shared grand challenges.
Professor John L Anderson President, US National Academy of
Engineering
MAIN AGENDA
GGCS 2019 AGENDA PLENARY SESSIONS Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank
Centre
NB all times below are in BST
Monday 16 September 2019
Tuesday 17 September 2019
9.30am
Opening session: The role of engineering in an unpredictable world
Young speakers present their vision for engineering and technology
in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and the 14 Grand
Challenges for Engineering.
Young speakers • Gitanjali Rao, student and inventor • Adrian
Vincent Opinion, Trust for Sustainable Living Essay Competition
winner Academy Presidents
UK: Professor Dame Ann Dowling OM DBE FREng FRS US: Professor John
L Anderson China: Professor Ji Zhou FREng
10.30am - 11.05am Coffee and networking break
ROYAL ACADEMY OF ENGINEERING | GLOBAL GRAND CHALLENGES SUMMIT
MAIN AGENDA 11
11.10am
Better businesses: What do AI and transformational technologies
mean to the world of work? AI and other data-driven technologies
are transforming industries, from manufacturing to healthcare, all
around the world. This session will explore the technologies
underpinning this revolution and their integration into our
businesses and workplaces. How can businesses take advantage of
these technologies to address social and business needs? And what
sort of workforce do they need to make that happen?
• Dr Hayaatun Sillem, CEO, Royal Academy of Engineering (moderator)
• Professor Juergen Maier CBE FREng, CEO, Siemens UK • William
Tunstall-Pedoe, entrepreneur • Diane Greene, Co-Founder and former
CEO, VMware • Chris W Benson, Principal Artificial Intelligence
Strategist, Lockheed Martin • Dr Zhonghan Deng, Member of Chinese
Academy of Engineering, Co-Founder
and Chief Scientist, Vimicro Corporation
12.20pm Lunch
1.40pm
Ethical AI: What does ‘good’ digital technology look like? AI and
other digital technologies increasingly let us outsource our
decision-making. This generates huge opportunities but also
significant ethical questions. What decisions should machines be
allowed to make? Will they deliver fair and equitable answers? And
how will we know if they go wrong? This session will explore these
questions, and the role of engineers in delivering responsible
technology to drive positive change.
• Professor Luciano Floridi, Professor of Philosophy and Ethics of
Information, University of Oxford (moderator)
• Professor Dame Wendy Hall DBE FREng FRS, Regius Professor of
Computer Science, University of Southampton
• Azeem Azhar, entrepreneur, venture capitalist and Senior Advisor
to CTO, Accenture • Sue Daley, Associate Director of Tech and
Innovation, Tech UK
3.00pm Coffee and networking break
3.30pm
Transformational technology: How will new innovations revolutionise
our world? In this session, speakers will present their visions for
how two cutting-edge technologies – space travel and autonomous
vehicles – have the potential to change the way we live in cities
and communities around the world, and maybe beyond!
• Introductory remarks by Dr Keoki Jackson, CTO, Lockheed Martin •
Sir Mark Walport FRS FMedSci, CEO, UK Research and Innovation •
Professor Jackie Hunter CBE FMedSci, Chief Executive Clinical
Programmes
and Strategic Partnerships, BenevolentAI • Dr Gill Pratt (via
video), Founding CEO, Toyota Research Institute • Rob Meyerson,
space engineer and former CEO, Blue Origin
4.30pm
Improving lives: The transformational impact of engineering
innovation This session will showcase entrepreneurs supported by
the Academy’s international programmes who have developed scalable
technology solutions to local challenges, delivering improved
quality of life and economic development.
• Dr Shakir Mohamed, Research Scientist, Deepmind (moderator) •
Brian Bosire, Founder, UjuziKilimo • Nnaemeka Ikegwuonu, Founder,
ColdHubs • Anne Rweyora, Founder, Smart Havens Africa • Evangelista
Chekera, Founder, Passion Poultry
ROYAL ACADEMY OF ENGINEERING | GLOBAL GRAND CHALLENGES SUMMIT
5.30pm First day closing sponsor speeches
5.35pm Evening events Please see page 18: varying times and
rooms
Wednesday 18 September 2019
9.00am Introduction
9.10am
Student Student Collaboration Lab competition final This session
will see the top four Student Collaboration Lab event mixed country
teams pitch their innovations to the summit.
Moderator Yassmin Abdel-Magied, author and broadcaster
10.10am Keynote address: Lord Martin Rees Kt OM FREng FRS FMedSci,
cosmologist and astrophysicist; Astronomer Royal at the Institute
of Astronomy, University of Cambridge
10.35am Coffee and networking break
11.00am
Increasing resilience: How can engineering reduce the risks of
climate change? Delivering a sustainable energy supply, while
mitigating the risks associated with changing climate, is one the
most pressing challenges of our time, for developing countries and
advanced economies alike. This session will explore how engineers
can help address these dual challenges and deliver a low-carbon,
resilient global future.
• Jo Swinson MP, Leader, Liberal Democrats and MP for East
Dunbartonshire (moderator) • Hannah Olmberg-Soesman, COO and
Co-Founder, Guguplex Technologies • Professor Jianyun Zhang,
President, Nanjing Hydraulic Research Institute • Dr Amrit Chandan,
Co-Founder and CEO, Aceleron • Professor Klaus Lackner, Director,
Center for Negative Carbon Emissions
12.30pm Lunch
MAIN AGENDA12
2.00pm
Future cities: How do we create sustainable living places for 10
billion people? Increasing numbers of people creates increasing
demand for appropriate housing, workplaces, and access to food,
water, energy, and waste services. Will smarter technology in
ever-bigger cities be the answer? Or is there an alternative
future? This session will explore the central role engineers must
play in meeting these challenges, and moving our cities towards a
circular economy.
• Professor Dame Henrietta Moore, Director of the Institute for
Global Prosperity, University College London (moderator)
• Dr Jian Wang, Chairman, Alibaba Group Technology Committee;
Founder, Alibaba Cloud • Monica von Schmalensee, Adviser to Sadiq
Khan, Mayor of London; President, Swedish
Council for Sustainable Cities • Professor Zhiqiang Wu,
Vice-President, Tongji University, Shanghai • Peter Lacy, Senior
Managing Director, Accenture Strategy, UK and Ireland
3.15pm
Future wellbeing: How do we sustain a healthy population of 10
billion? New technologies, from AI doctors to novel neural
interfaces, have the potential to deliver life changing health
benefits or even to change humanity itself. But is technology
always the best way to improve wellbeing? Will it be accessible to
10 billion people? And who decides where limits should lie?
• Dr Loubna Bouarfa, Founder and CEO, OKRA Technologies (moderator)
• Christine Schindler, Co-Founder and CEO, PathSpot • Neo Hutiri,
Founder, Pelebox and 2019 Africa Prize winner • Professor Jackie
Hunter CBE FMedSci
4.00pm Closing session Dean Kamen, President, DEKA Research and
Founder, FIRST
4.45pm Closing remarks Dr Hayaatun Sillem FIET
5.00pm Closing reception
MAIN AGENDA 13
GGCS 2019 AGENDA PARALLEL SESSIONS Purcell Room, Southbank
Centre
The parallel sessions will provide further opportunities for
engagement between delegates, particularly students, young
engineers, and speakers.
The sessions are in two formats: My engineering journey sessions –
these will provide an opportunity for extended Q&A with a broad
range of senior speakers, exploring how they are involved in
tackling global challenges, how they got to where they are, and
what advice they would give to young engineers today.
Fireside chat sessions – these will explore a particular topic
through a fireside chat between two or more experts, with plenty of
opportunity for questions from delegates.
Tuesday 17 September 2019
• Dr Caroline Hargrove FREng, CTO, Babylon Health
12.25pm - 12.45pm My engineering journey: talk and Q&A
• Andrei Iancu, Director, US Patent and Trademark Office
12.50pm - 1.35pm
• Dr Jack Stilgoe, Associate Professor in Science and Technology
Studies, University College London
• Dr Alex Kendall, Research Fellow, University of Cambridge;
Co-Founder and CTO, Wayve
3.05pm - 3.45pm
Fireside chat: AI and Ethics continuing the discussion
• Professor Luciano Floridi, Professor of Philosophy and Ethics of
Information and Director of the Digital Ethics Lab, Oxford Internet
Institute
• Dr James Williams, writer and academic
MAIN AGENDA14
Wednesday 18 September 2019
• Dr Sam Chapman, Founder and CEO, Kenoteq (moderator) • Chris
Mairs CBE FREng, Venture Partner, Entrepreneur First • Maria
Dramalioti-Taylor, Managing Partner, Beacon Capital LLP • David
Byard, Technology Business Development Manager, BP
10.35am - 10.55am My engineering journey: talk and Q&A
• Rob Meyerson, space engineer and former CEO, Blue Origin
12.30pm - 1.15pm
My engineering journey: talk and Q&A
• Professor Liz Tanner OBE FREng FRSE, Bonfield Professor of
Biomedical Materials, Queen Mary University of London
• Dr Shakir Mohamed, research scientist in statistical machine
learning and artificial intelligence, DeepMind
1.20pm - 1.50pm
My engineering journey: talk and Q&A NB Mandarin language
session
• Dr Olivia Feng, Founder and CEO, ICAN Future Star • Dr Jian Wang,
Chairman, Alibaba Group Technology Committee and Founder, Alibaba
Cloud • Professor Weijia Yuan, Professor of Electronic and
Electrical Engineering, University of
Strathclyde • Professor Sheng Xu, Assistant Professor of
Nanoengineering, Bioengineering, and Electrical
and Computer Engineering, University of California San Diego
3.15pm - 4.00pm
Fireside chat: Greenhouse gas removal/carbon sequestration
• Professor Nilay Shah FREng, Director of the Centre for Process
Systems Engineering, Imperial College London
• Professor Raffaella Ocone OBE FREng FRSE, Professor of Chemical
Engineering, Heriot-Watt University
• Professor Klaus Lackner, Director, Center for Negative Carbon
Emissions, Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering, Arizona State
University
MAIN AGENDA 15
EVENING EVENTS
Location: Queen Elizabeth Hall, Foyer
All delegates are invited to attend the opening drinks reception,
with welcome speeches from the three Academy presidents.
Tuesday 17 September 2019
Location: 5th Floor Function Room, Royal Festival Hall
This event will provide a further opportunity, particularly for
students, for networking and informal discussion of the summit’s
themes with summit partner organisations.
6.30pm - 9.00pm
Location: St Paul’s Roof Pavilion, Royal Festival Hall
This interactive workshop will combine the Global Grand Challenge
Summit themes, questioning how digital technologies could transform
society in the context of sustaining 10 billion people. It will run
for 45 minutes on a rolling basis, and groups will consider the
role of autonomous systems in combatting global challenges,
identify the assumptions made before deciding to deploy autonomous
systems and consider the associated ethical implications. This will
create an opportunity to test the concepts of the afternoon’s
themes of transformational technology, improving lives and ethical
AI, and explore some of the interpersonal and international
tensions from which ethical challenges can arise. This discussion
will shape ongoing work by the UK’s National Engineering Policy
Centre, a partnership led by the Royal Academy of
Engineering.
GGCS 2019 EVENING EVENTS A range of events are organised on Tuesday
evening to facilitate ongoing discussion of the Summit themes,
networking across generations of delegates, and engagement with the
UK’s engineering landscape.
A range of events are organised on Tuesday evening to facilitate
ongoing discussion of the Summit themes, networking across
generations of delegates, and engagement with the UK’s engineering
landscape. Events are open to all delegates.
Details of each event are outlined below and delegates are
encouraged to move between events over the course of the
evening.
EVENING EVENTS18
EVENING EVENTS 19
Location: Weston Roof Pavillion, Royal Festival Hall
EPSRC’s Engineering Grand Challenges were inspired by the themes of
the Global Grand challenges Summit in 2013 and further developed at
a special two-day event in 2014 involving academics from many
disciplines alongside representatives from industry and
government.
- Challenge one: Sustainable engineering solutions to provide water
for all - Challenge two: Future Cities: engineering approaches that
restore the balance between
engineered and natural systems - Challenge three: Engineering
across length scales, from atoms to applications - Challenge four:
Identifying risk and building resilience into engineered
systems.
To address these Grand Challenges, EPSRC provided £21 million to
support five ambitious research programmes and two networks
involving 19 UK universities and 80 partners, where industry
contributed an additional £11 million investment. The projects
being showcased at GGCS 2019 are:
• TWENTY 65: Tailored water solutions for positive impact, led by
the University of Sheffield (Principle Investigator: Joby Boxall)
with Newcastle University, Imperial College London, University of
Exeter, University of Manchester and University of Reading.
• Managing air for green inner cities, led by the University of
Cambridge (Principle Investigator: Paul Linden), with Imperial
College London and University of Surrey.
• Balancing the impact of city infrastructure engineering on
natural systems using robots, led by the University of Leeds
(Principle Investigator: Phil Purnell), with University College
London, University of Birmingham and University of
Southampton.
• Synthesising 3D METAmaterials for RF, microwave and THz
applications (SYMETA), led by Loughborough University (Principal
Investigator: Yiannis Vardaxoglou) with University of Exeter,
University of Oxford, University of Sheffield and Queen Mary
University of London.
• Engineering van der Waals heterostructures: from atomic level
layer-by-layer assembly to printable innovative devices, led by the
University of Manchester (Principal Investigator: Konstantin
Novoselov) with Lancaster University and University of
Cambridge.
• BRIM: building resilience into risk management, led by the
University of Exeter (Principal Investigator: Guangtao Fu, with
Loughborough University and Cranfield University.
• Engineering complexity resilience network plus (ENCORE), led by
the University of Sheffield (Principal Investigator: Martin
Mayfield) with Cranfield University, Durham University and
University of Strathclyde.
Wednesday 18 September 2019
This event will mark the close of the summit
ROYAL ACADEMY OF ENGINEERING | GLOBAL GRAND CHALLENGES SUMMIT
On-Spot Fertiliser Applicator, an Africa Prize for Engineering
Innovation shortlist company that allows farmers to apply
fertiliser directly to crops, eliminating wastage.
Lockheed Martin is proud to serve as the Founding Funder for the
Global Grand Challenges Summit Series. We understand that our
future is tied to the success of our diverse talent and future
leaders of innovation and technology. And to develop the world’s
most advanced systems, we need
®
© 2019 Lockheed Martin Corporation
Yassmin Abdel-Magied Author and broadcaster
Yassmin Abdel-Magied is a Sudanese born author, broadcaster, social
advocate and mechanical engineer. She founded Youth Without Borders
at the age of 16, and has published a memoir and a fiction book
with Penguin Random House. Her TED talk, What does my headscarf
mean to you, has been viewed over two million times and was chosen
as one of TED’s top ten ideas of 2015.
Yassmin’s critically acclaimed essays have been published in
numerous anthologies. She has also featured on podcasts, and in
2018 co-hosted The Guilty Feminist in association with Guardian
Live at a sold-out Barbican Theatre. Outside advocacy, she was a
drilling engineer on oil and gas rigs for four years and is an
internationally accredited F1 journalist.
Azeem Azhar Entrepreneur, investor and member of the editorial
board of Harvard Business Review; Host of the Exponential View
podcast
Azeem Azhar is a strategist, analyst, award-winning entrepreneur
and investor. Azeem is on the board of the Ada Lovelace Foundation,
is a venture partner at Kindred Capital, and an advisor to Fabric
Ventures. He is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global
Future’s Council on
the Digital Economy and Society. He co-curates CogX, Europe’s
largest festival of AI and emerging technologies. Through his
widely praised newsletter, Exponential View, he brings a unique
background to explain the intersection of breakthrough technologies
and the economies and societies in which we live. Subscribers
include investors, academics, and journalists around the
world.
Professor John L. Anderson US National Academy of Engineering
Dr Anderson is President of the NAE, after becoming a Fellow in
1992 for contributions to colloidal hydro dynamics and membrane
transport. He was previously Distinguished Professor of Chemical
Engineering and President of the Illinois Institute of Technology.
Before that he was Provost and Executive Vice-President of Case
Western Reserve University, and spent eight years as Dean of
Carnegie Mellon University’s College of Engineering. He received
the Acrivos Professional Progress Award from the American Institute
of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) and an award from the Pittsburgh
Section of AIChE for Outstanding Professional Accomplishments in
the Field of Academics. He has presented guest lectures at
universities across the US and is the author of numerous journal
articles and book chapters.
Summit moderator: David Rowan Founding Editor of Wired magazine,
Author and Speaker
David Rowan was the Editor-in-Chief of Wired magazine’s UK edition
from 2008 to 2017, and the author of Non-Bullshit Innovation:
Radical Ideas from the World’s Smartest Minds. Following successful
inception and winning the 2009 Launch of the Year at the British
Society of Magazine Editor awards, the magazine has continued at
the cutting edge, investigating disruptive digital sectors and
future technologies.
25SPEAKERS 25
Chris W Benson Principal Artificial Intelligence Strategist,
Lockheed Martin
Chris Benson is Principal Artificial Intelligence Strategist at
Lockheed Martin, and was previously Chief Scientist for Artificial
Intelligence and Machine Learning at Honeywell SPS. He is Co-Host
of the Practical AI podcast, which reaches thousands of AI
enthusiasts each week, and is also the Founder and Organiser of the
Atlanta Deep Learning Meetup - one of the largest AI communities
in
the world. Known for his passion, energy, and clarity, Chris is
among the AI community’s most in-demand professional keynote
speakers. He and his family are committed animal advocates who are
active in animal rescue, and strive to make strategic improvements
on specific animal welfare issues through advocacy for
non-partisan, no-kill, and vegan legislation and regulation.
Brian Bosire Founder and CEO, Hydrologistics Africa (HydroIQ) and
UjuziKilimo Solutions
Brian Bosire is a Kenyan entrepreneur and expert in product design.
UjuziKilimo is a technology company that collects and analyses farm
data using sensors to inform the agriculture industry across
Africa. HydroIQ focuses on bringing intelligence in access and
distribution of water by developing smart water grids using IoT and
data analytics. Brian is a UN Young Leader for
Sustainable Development Goals and has been recognised as Africa
Pioneer in Agri-tech by Forbes and the American Society for
Mechanical Engineers. He is an Academy Leaders in Innovation fellow
and serves in the World Bank youth advisory group on solutions for
youth employment.
Dr Loubna Bouarfa Founder and CEO, OKRA Technologies; MIT Innovator
under 35
Dr Bouarfa is a machine-learning scientist turned entrepreneur who
founded OKRA Technologies in 2016. OKRA is an AI data analytics
company for healthcare, enabling healthcare professionals to
combine multiple complex data sets and generate evidence-based
insights in real time to save and improve human lives. She
previously spent over 10 years in academia, developing
machine-
learning solutions for real-world applications. Her research
includes a top-cited pioneering methodology for preventing surgical
error in real time, which tracks and predicts surgeons’ operating
movements. Loubna is currently a member of the European Union
High-Level Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence. She is a strong
advocate for diversity, women and challenging the status quo.
David Byard Technology Delivery and Opportunity Evaluation Manager,
BP
David is the Technology Delivery and Opportunity Evaluation Manager
at BP, in Business Development, Group Technology. David is
responsible for building the tools, processes and capability
necessary to facilitate origination, scale-up and deployment of
technology driven businesses. His team source opportunities from
both inside and outside BP. David works
extensively with small entrepreneurial teams and helps accelerate
their businesses using different innovation approaches. David has
over 20 years of experience and joined BP in 2007 after engineering
roles in the industrial gases and petrochemicals sectors, including
project delivery for CO2 capture and bio-products. Prior to his
current role, David was a transformation project manager for the
design and implementation of the current business development
organisation in Group Technology.
SPEAKERS26
Sam Chapman Managing Director, Kenoteq Ltd
Dr Sam Chapman is Managing Director of spin-out company, Kenoteq
Ltd. Kenoteq’s patented ‘K-Briq’ is an unfired brick made of 90%
recycled material. It is made using traditional methods and spurns
environmentally unfriendly cement. The K-Briq is made nearly
exclusively from waste materials and boasted the highest recycled
content of any construction material in the UK.
Originally hailing from the Lake District, Sam relocated to
Edinburgh in his final years of school, with a view to following
his father’s footsteps into the world of engineering. A master’s in
structural engineering with architectural design, a PhD in carbon
assessment of wind power, and a chance to work on developing a new
type of building material soon followed. He is also director of a
successful hospitality company that operates three cocktail
bars.
Evangelista Chekera Founder, Passion Poultry
Evangelista Chekera leads the Passion Poultry team that designs,
manufactures and distributes chick brooding devices that reduce
chick mortality and poultry cones. Evangelista has partnered with
Profeeds, for distribution and product development and organises
independent training with poultry feed shops, cooperatives and
NGOs. Evangelista was one of the 25 entrepreneurs
recognised in the Act in Africa design thinking entrepreneurship
programme in 2017. She was one of 25 young African women to be
selected to be part of the African Innovation Fellowship. In May
2019, Evangelista was also pre-selected to be a Thought For Food
Ambassador, a global initiative for the food industry.
Sue Daley Associate Director for Technology and Innovation,
TechUK
Sue Daley leads TechUK’s work on cloud, data analytics and AI and
has been recognised as one of the most influential women in UK tech
by Computer Weekly. She has also been recognised in UK Big Data 100
as a key influencer in driving forward the Big Data agenda and was
recently a judge for the Loebner Prize in AI. Prior to joining
TechUK in January 2015 Sue was responsible for
Symantec’s government relations in the UK and Ireland. She has
spoken at events including the UK-China Internet Forum in Beijing,
UN Internet Governance Forum and European RSA on issues ranging
from data usage and privacy, cloud computing and online child
safety.
Dr Amrit Chandan Co-founder and CEO, Aceleron
Dr Chandan is an entrepreneur interested in low carbon projects
that will have a positive impact on our world. Amrit holds a PhD in
fuel cell technology and worked in the low carbon vehicle space for
years, advising companies such as Morgan Motor Company. In 2016,
Amrit co-founded and is CEO of Aceleron, which builds advanced
lithium batteries. Amrit has written articles published in
popular
magazines, trade journals and academic peer-reviewed journals. He
has been named on the Forbes ‘30 under 30’ List and was awarded the
Hawley Award for Engineering Innovation by HRH The Princess Royal
on behalf of the Worshipful Company of Engineers.
27SPEAKERS 27
ROYAL ACADEMY OF ENGINEERING | GLOBAL GRAND CHALLENGES SUMMIT
Dr Zhonghan Deng Member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering;
Co-Founder and Chief Scientist, Vimicro Cooperation
Dr Zhonghan (John) Deng is a technologist and the co-founder of
Vimicro Corporation. He is an elected member of the 10th and 11th
National People’s Congress of China, as well as member of the
Chinese Academy of Engineering. His career started at IBM TJ Watson
Research Center at Yorktown Heights in New York after he completed
his PhD at UC Berkeley. He co-founded his first
start-up company Pixim Inc in Silicon Valley, which was acquired by
Sony. In 1999 Dr Deng returned to China and co- founded Vimicro
Corporation. Dr Deng has received awards including the College of
Engineering Outstanding Alumni Innovation Award and the Chancellor
Citation from University of California Berkeley, as well as the
Chinese National First Class Award of Science and Technology.
Professor Dame Ann Dowling OM DBE FREng FRS President of the Royal
Academy of Engineering; Professor of Mechanical Engineering,
University of Cambridge; Fellow, Sidney Sussex College
Dame Ann Dowling is a world authority on combustion and acoustics.
After working at Rolls-Royce Bristol, she was appointed to a
lectureship at the University of Cambridge in 1979 and held
visiting research posts at Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(MIT) in 1999 and California
Institute of Technology in 2001. She was Head of the Department of
Engineering at Cambridge from 2009 to 2014. Dame Ann led the
Cambridge MIT Silent Aircraft Initiative, publishing a radical new
design concept SAX-40 in 2006 aimed at raising aircraft industry
aspirations. She leads research on efficient, low-emission
combustion for aero and industrial gas turbines and low-noise
vehicles, particularly aircraft. She is a member of the Prime
Minister’s Council for Science and Technology.
Dr Olivia Feng Founder and CEO, ICAN Future Star
Dr Olivia Feng has had quite an unusual career path. She set up an
education tech startup, hellouni, in the last year of her PhD. The
business went on to win UK government R&D grants and university
contracts. Her vision was to make studying abroad an easier and
positive experience. During the stint as a founder and CEO, she
realised that she needed more experience for software
management in a more scaled and agile way. Recently she joined
Sketchup as a product manager in its London office. She is
responsible for developing a suite of products for architects and
designers for all their 3D modelling needs.
Maria Dramalioti-Taylor Managing Partner, Beacon Capital LLP
Maria is the founding managing partner of Beacon Capital LLP, a
London-based venture capital firm that invests in early stage,
enterprise tech ventures. Beacon’s portfolio of 20 plus companies
includes category-defining businesses such as Topia, Epignosis
(partially exited), Ometria and Lifebit and has reached a market
cap of more than £700 million. Maria has led numerous early
stage investments, is on the board of many portfolio companies,
supports not-for-profit organisations such as the Enterprise Hub of
the Royal Academy of Engineering and Reload Greece and is an
Entrepreneur-in-Residence at INSEAD. She studied engineering at
Imperial College London and Ethniko Metsovio Polytechneio in Athens
and holds an MBA from Cranfield School of Management.
SPEAKERS28
Professor Dame Wendy Hall DBE FREng FRS Regius Professor of
Computer Science; Pro Vice-Chancellor (International Engagement)
and Executive Director, Web Science Institute, University of
Southampton
Dame Wendy co-founded the Web Science Research Initiative in 2006
and is the Managing Director of the Web Science Trust, which has a
global mission to support the development of research, education
and thought leadership in web science. She was a founding member of
the European
Research Council and Chair of the European Commission’s ISTAG, was
a member of the Global Commission on Internet Governance and was a
member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Futures Council on the
Digital Economy. Dame Wendy was Co-Chair of the UK government’s AI
Review, which was published in October 2017, and has recently been
announced by the UK government as the first Skills Champion for AI
in the UK.
Dr Caroline Hargrove FREng Chief Technical Officer, Babylon
Health
Dr Hargrove is Babylon’s CTO, with responsibility over the
company’s technologies and AI products. She is also a Non-Executive
Director at Ceres Power and a trustee of the National Saturday
Clubs. Caroline has experience in a range of sectors and started
her career as a lecturer in engineering at the University of
Cambridge, followed by various roles at McLaren Formula 1, mainly
focused on
the development of simulations and the first F1 simulator. She
moved to McLaren Applied Technologies as a founding member and
became its CTO before moving to Babylon. Caroline is a Fellow of
the Royal Academy of Engineering and was, until recently, a
Visiting Professor at Oxford. She holds a PhD in Applied Mechanics
from the University of Cambridge.
Diane Greene Co-Founder and former CEO, VMware
Diane Greene is a technology industry executive, entrepreneur, and
engineer. She worked as a naval architect designing ships and large
ocean structure deployment systems. Most recently, she established
and ran Google’s multibillion-dollar enterprise cloud business. She
currently serves on the boards of SAP, and Stripe and is a lifetime
member of the MIT Corporation. Prior to
Google, Diane co-founded and was CEO of three technology companies;
VMware, the virtualisation company that she led for 11 years,
taking it public to a $19.1 billion valuation in 2007; Bebop, an
enterprise company specialising in hiring and applying machine
learning to finding jobs, acquired by Google in 2015; and VXtreme,
a streaming video company acquired by Microsoft in 1995.
Professor Luciano Floridi Professor of Philosophy and Ethics of
Information, OII, University of Oxford
Luciano Floridi is Professor of Philosophy and Ethics of
Information at the University of Oxford, where he directs the
Digital Ethics Lab of the Oxford Internet Institute and is
Professorial Fellow of Exeter College. He is also a Turing Fellow
and chairs the Alan Turing Institute’s Data Ethics Group. His
expertise areas include digital ethics, the philosophy of
information, and the philosophy of
technology. His recent books include The Fourth Revolution - How
the Infosphere is Reshaping Human Reality (2014), winner of the J.
Ong Award; The Ethics of Information (2013); The Philosophy of
Information (2011); and The Logic of Information (2019).
29SPEAKERS 29
Andrei Iancu Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property
and Director, United States Patent and Trademark Office
(USPTO)
Andrei Iancu leads one of the largest intellectual property offices
in the world, with more than 12,000 employees and $3 billion annual
budget. He also serves as the principal advisor to the President on
domestic and international intellectual property policy matters.
Prior to his legal
career, Andrei was an engineer at the Hughes Aircraft Company.
Before joining the USPTO, Andrei was the Managing Partner at Irell
and Manella LLP, where his practice focused on intellectual
property litigation. He has represented clients across the
technical and scientific spectra, including genetic testing,
therapeutics, the internet, telephony, TV broadcasting, video game
systems and computer peripherals.
ROYAL ACADEMY OF ENGINEERING | GLOBAL GRAND CHALLENGES SUMMIT
Dr Jackie Hunter CBE FMedSci Board Director, BenevolentAI
Professor Jackie Hunter is Chief Executive, Clinical Programmes and
Strategic Relationships. She held senior positions at global
pharmaceutical organisations including GSK, Proximagen and OI
Pharma Partners before joining BenevolentAI as a Director in 2016.
She brings vast academic and business experience in the biomedical
and pharmaceutical sectors. Jackie directs the application
of BenevolentAI’s technology for clinical development and gives the
company the insight it needs to operate its unique business model –
one which sees it not only researching, but also developing the
blueprint for new drugs.
Nnaemeka Ikegwuonu Founder, ColdHubs, farmer and community radio
agricultural presenter
Nnaemeka Ikegwuonu founded the Smallholders Foundation, which uses
its rural radio (FARM F.M) network to reach an estimated 250,000
farmers with daily agriculture, environmental management and market
access messages. Nnaemeka launched ColdHubs, which enables
smallholder farmers, retailers and wholesalers to store and
preserve fresh fruits, vegetables and
other perishable food 24/7, extending the shelf life from two days
to 21 days. Nnaemeka was recognised as Ashoka Fellow 2008, Laureate
of the Rolex Awards for Enterprise 2010, Laureate WISE Awards 2010,
Fast Company USA 100 Most Creative in Business 2012, and Japan 2012
and 2013 Laureate of the prestigious Yara Prize for Green
Revolution in Africa (now Africa Food Prize).
Neo Hutiri Founder, Pelebox; 2019 Africa Prize Winner
Neo Hutiri is an engineer turned entrepreneur and founder of
Technovera; a technology startup developing smart solutions in the
public healthcare space. Neo joined the steel manufacturing
industry as an automation engineer. He later took up an operations
management role working as a technical assistant to the COO while
also completing a MEng in industrial engineering at Wits
before venturing out into the technology startup scene in
Johannesburg. Neo invented Pelebox, a solution that enables
patients to collect repeat medication in seconds instead of waiting
hours. He is currently studying towards a master’s in philosophy in
inclusive innovation with a special interest in scaling impact
through digital technologies.
SPEAKERS30
ROYAL ACADEMY OF ENGINEERING | GLOBAL GRAND CHALLENGES SUMMIT
Professor Klaus Lackner Director, Center for Negative Carbon
Emissions, Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering, Arizona State
University
Dr Lackner’s research interests include closing the carbon cycle by
capturing carbon dioxide from the air, carbon sequestration, carbon
foot-printing, innovative energy and infrastructure systems and
their scaling properties. He also looks at the role of automation,
robotics and mass-
manufacturing in downscaling infrastructure systems, and energy and
environmental policy. His work includes more than 200 publications
and 30 patents, commercially licensed IP in carbon capture and life
cycle analysis. He is a Fellow of the American Association of the
Advancement of Science. As Ewing Worzel Professor, he directed the
Lenfest Center for Sustainable Energy at Columbia University. He
co-founded two startup companies and led the zero-emission coal
Alliance in the late 1990s.
Peter Lacy Senior Managing Director, Accenture Strategy, UK and
Ireland
Peter Lacy is senior managing director at Accenture and a member of
its Global Leadership Council, working with CEOs, fortune 500
companies and organisations including the UN, EU and UK Government.
His responsibilities include growth, strategy and sustainability.
He leads Accenture’s relationship with the World Economic Forum and
its Digital Transformation of Industries
programme. He also leads Accenture UK and Ireland Strategy
business. Peter’s role focuses on corporate strategy, digital
transformation, investments in innovation and acquisitions.
Previously, Peter worked for McKinsey and Company and the think
tank the Academy of Business in Society, where he was founding
executive director. Peter founded the World Economic Forum’s Young
Global Leaders Taskforce on Circular Economy and its Circular
Economy Awards. He has led the world’s largest study on CEO
attitudes to sustainability for the UN Secretary General four
times, and he was a founding signatory of the UN’s Principles for
Responsible Management Education. His book Waste to Wealth – the
Circular Economy Advantage is published in eight languages.
Dr Alex Kendall Research fellow in Computer Vision and Robotics,
University of Cambridge
Dr Kendall co-founded and is CTO of Wayve, in addition to holding a
research fellowship at Trinity College at the University of
Cambridge. Alex grew up in New Zealand, studied mechatronics
engineering at Auckland University, was awarded a Woolf Fisher
Scholarship and helped design the algorithms that fly the Skydio
drone, before completing a PhD in computer vision and
robotics
at the University of Cambridge. His work has appeared at leading
computer vision, robotics and machine learning conferences. Alex
interested in building robots that can learn to do more intelligent
things with less data.
Dean Kamen Entrepreneur; Inventor of the Segway and Founder, FIRST
Global and DEKA Research
Dean Kamen is an inventor, an entrepreneur, and a tireless advocate
for science and technology. As an inventor, he holds more than 440
patents, many of them for innovative medical devices. Kamen was
awarded the National Medal of Technology in 2000, presented by
President Clinton. This award was in recognition of inventions that
have advanced medical care worldwide, and for
innovative and imaginative leadership in awakening America to the
excitement of science and technology. Dean also founded FIRST® and
FIRST®Global, organisations that motivate the next generation to
understand, use and enjoy science and technology. This year FIRST
will serve more than one million young people, aged 6 to 18, in
more than 122 countries around the globe; and FIRST Global will
gather one team from nearly 200 nations to participate in the
annual FIRST Global Challenge.
31SPEAKERS 31
Chris Mairs CBE FREng Venture partner, Entrepreneur First
Chris graduated from the University of Cambridge with a first class
honours degree in Computer Science and was Co-Founder and Chief
Technical Officer of Metaswitch Networks. He sits on the boards of
several AI and biotech startups and is also a trustee of The
Raspberry Pi Foundation. He was awarded a CBE in 2014 and is a
Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering. Being blind
himself, he rode a tandem across America in 2017, raising $190,000
to restore sight to 4,700 people with cataracts in the developing
world.
ROYAL ACADEMY OF ENGINEERING | GLOBAL GRAND CHALLENGES SUMMIT
Rob Meyerson Former CEO, Blue Origin and space engineer
Rob Meyerson is an aerospace engineer and executive. He is
recognised for his breakthrough leadership and entrepreneurial
mindset in building and scaling aerospace organisations. As former
president of Blue Origin, reporting directly to Jeff Bezos, Rob led
the development of the New Shepard system for suborbital human and
research flights, the BE-3 hydrogen-fueled rocket
engine, the BE-4 LNG-fueled rocket engine, and the New Glenn
orbital launch vehicle, as well as the manufacturing and test
capabilities to enable all the above. He is a Fellow of the
American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics. Rob serves as
a board member at the Museum of Flight and the University of
Michigan College of Engineering.
Professor Juergen Maier CBE FREng CEO, Siemens and Honorary
Professor, Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences, University
of Manchester
Juergen Maier was appointed Chief Executive in 2014 and has been a
member of the Siemens UK Executive Board since 2008. He joined the
company in 1986 and has held senior roles within Siemens in the UK
and Germany including Managing Director of Industrial activities
for the UK and
Manufacturing Director of the award-winning Drives factory in
Congleton. He is a passionate advocate of rebalancing the UK
economy and has supported many initiatives championing
manufacturing, improved infrastructure and engineering skills. In
2017, he was asked by government to lead a review on increasing the
digitalisation of the UK manufacturing sector.
Dr Shakir Mohamed Research scientist of statistical machine
learning and artificial intelligence, DeepMind
Shakir Mohamed focuses on the interface between probabilistic
reasoning, deep learning and reinforcement learning. He finds how
the solutions that emerge at that intersection can be used to
develop general-purpose learning systems and in addressing global
challenges. Shakir also leads the Deep Learning Indaba, an
independent grassroots organisation whose mission is to build
pan-
African capacity and ownership in AI: by building communities,
creating leadership and recognising excellence across the African
continent. Shakir will be the senior programme chair for the 2020
International conference on Learning Representations in Ethiopia.
Shakir is from Johannesburg, South Africa, where he completed his
undergraduate and master’s degrees in electrical and information
engineering.
SPEAKERS32
Adrian Vincent Opinion Student and Trust for Sustainable Living
Essay Competition Winner
Adrian Vincent P Opinion, known as Ryan, is a freshman Filipino
college student at the Ateneo de Manila University. Ryan discovered
the power that intellectual discourse has on youth after attending
international debates in 2017. After his passion for debate was
ignited, Ryan has been at the forefront of the fight to eliminate
poverty, push for sustainable development, advocate
for human rights, uphold the rule of law, empower youth, and combat
climate change. Ryan has volunteered in the Commission on Human
Rights of the Philippines, the Government of Marikina, the
Philippine Congress, is a Junior Officer in International Youth
United, and has chaired and facilitated various youth workshops.
Ryan spends his days writing socio-political analyses for NGOs,
joining human rights activist movements, and assisting his parents
with their daily needs.
Hannah Olmberg-Soesman COO and Co-Founder, Guguplex Technologies;
Attorney, Olmberg Law and Women in Renewable Energy (WIRE) Network
Mentor
Hannah Olmberg-Soesman is a dynamic entrepreneur and an attorney at
law with a background in social work. Focusing on women’s
empowerment and community development in Suriname, she and her
company have been instrumental in introducing off-grid solar
systems to remote villages.
This has forged possibilities for better school education, medical
care and small-scale business to augment families’ income and
increase local development. Hannah received the inaugural Caribbean
Community Energy Personality Award in 2018 for her exceptional
contribution to a sustainable energy future in the region. She
believes that renewable energy, or any kind of technology, does not
have relevance if it does not actively contribute and increase
personal, social, economic and educational development.
Professor Raffaella Ocone OBE FREng FRSE Professor of Chemical
Engineering, Heriot-Watt University
Professor Ocone has held the Chair of Chemical Engineering in the
School of Engineering and Physical Sciences at Heriot-Watt
University since 1995. At Heriot-Watt, she is the head of the
multiphase multiscale engineering modelling research group.
Raffaella has worked in a number of highly recognised international
Institutions and recently she was the Caroline Herschel
Visiting
Professor at RHUR Universität, Germany and the recipient of a
Visiting Research Fellowship from the Institute for Advanced
Studies, Università di Bologna. Raffaella’s main area of research
is in the field of modelling complex (multi-phase) reactive
systems. She is the EPSRC Established Career Fellow in Particle
Technology.
Professor Dame Henrietta Moore DBE FBA Founder and Director,
Institute for Global Prosperity, University College London
Professor Moore is Founder and Director of the Institute for Global
Prosperity and the Chair in Culture Philosophy and Design at
University College London (UCL). A leading global thinker on
prosperity Professor Moore challenges traditional economic models
of growth arguing that for flourishing communities, businesses and
governments need to engage with diversity and work
within environmental limits. In 2016 she was made a dame for
contribution to social sciences, services to business, policy and
the arts. She is the Chair and Co-Founder of SHM Productions and
the founding trustee of the SHM Foundation. She is the lead
academic on the ESRC-funded RELIEF Centre; the London Prosperity
Board, a trustee at the Barbican Centre Trust, a Fellow of the
British Academy and Royal Society of Arts, an Academician of the
Learned Societies for the Social Sciences, and a Member of the
Institute of Directors.
Dr Gill Pratt Founding CEO, Toyota Research Institute; Fellow,
Toyota Motor Corporation
Prior to joining the Toyota Research Institute as its founding CEO,
Dr Pratt served as an Executive Technical Advisor to Toyota Motor
Corporation. As a Toyota Motor Corporation Fellow, Gill guides its
advanced R&D company in the areas of automated driving and
artificial intelligence. Prior to joining Toyota, he led the
Robotics Challenge of the US Defense Advanced Research Projects
Agency,
where he served as a programme manager in the Defense Sciences and
Tactical Technology offices from January 2010 through August 2015.
Gill was an Associate Professor and Director of the Leg Lab at MIT.
He holds several patents in series elastic actuation and adaptive
control.
33SPEAKERS 33
Gitanjali Rao Student inventor awarded America’s Top Young
Scientist in 2017, author and speaker
Gitanjali Rao is 13 years old and was named America’s Top Young
Scientist of 2017, with a patent pending device to detect lead in
water faster than any other current techniques. She is also the
winner of a global Paradigm science challenge. Since 2012 she has
been a Davidson Young Scholar and has received several scholarships
and awards for achievements in science, arts and community
service. Gitanjali is pursuing research in cell biology at Colorado
University, Denver. She recently gave three TEDx talks: two in
India and another in Nashville and has been a UNICEF panellist
about the role of youth to power the planet.
ROYAL ACADEMY OF ENGINEERING | GLOBAL GRAND CHALLENGES SUMMIT
The Lord Martin Rees Baron Rees of Ludlow Kt OM HonFREng HonFMedSci
FRS: cosmologist and astrophysicist; Astronomer Royal at Institute
of Astronomy, University of Cambridge and Member of the House of
Lords
Lord Rees is the UK’s Astronomer Royal. He is based at the
University of Cambridge where he is a Fellow (and Former Master) of
Trinity College. He was President of the Royal Society from 2005 to
2010. He is a foreign associate of the National Academy of
Sciences, the Russian Academy of
Sciences, the Pontifical Academy and the Japan Academy. His awards
include the Balzan Prize, the Bower Award for Science of the
Franklin Institute, the Gruber Prize, the Crafoord Prize and the
Templeton Prize. He has been increasingly concerned about the
pressures that a growing and more demanding population are placing
on environment, sustainability and biodiversity; and the impact of
new technologies.
Anne Rweyora Founder and Managing Director, Smart Havens
Africa
Anne Rweyora is an entrepreneur and industrial designer from
Uganda. Smart Havens Africa is a business social enterprise that
provides smart, sustainable and affordable homes geared towards
making home ownership more affordable and accessible to African
women struggling to buy their own homes. Anne is a Global Social
Benefit Institute alumna and was a finalist in the Royal
Academy of Engineering’s Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation.
She gained recognition at the UNSDGS IST Forum, was a Pitch@Palace
3.0 Finalist for the FT/IFC Transformational business awards and
has also won the Youth Innovation Contest at the IFC Sustainability
Exchange among other achievements
SPEAKERS34
ROYAL ACADEMY OF ENGINEERING | GLOBAL GRAND CHALLENGES SUMMIT
Dr Hayaatun Sillem CEO, Royal Academy of Engineering
Hayaatun has extensive leadership experience in UK and
international engineering, innovation and diversity and inclusion
activities. She is a trustee of the London Transport Museum and
EngineeringUK; serves as a member of the Made Smarter Commission
and chairs its Expert Stakeholder Panel; chairs the judging panel
for the St Andrews Prize for the Environment; and is
a member of advisory groups for Lloyd’s Register Foundation,
accelerateHER and the BCS. She was named as one of the ‘Inspiring
Fifty’ women in tech in 2018. Hayaatun has a master’s in
biochemistry from the University of Oxford and a PhD in signal
transduction from Cancer Research UK/University College London. She
is a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology and an
Honorary Professor at UCL’s Department of Science, Technology,
Engineering and Public Policy.
Monica von Schmalensee Architect; Adviser to Sadiq Khan; President,
Swedish Council for Sustainable Cities
Monica von Schmalensee is a senior partner and architect at White
Arkitekter. As CEO from 2010 to 2017, she established the practice
internationally and doubled its size. In 2017 she was named the
second most powerful person in Swedish architecture and design by
publication Tidskriften Rum. She is one of the Mayor of London’s
Design Advocates, a collection of individuals who support the
Mayor in the delivery of the Good Growth by Design agenda, through
advocacy, critique and research. In 2018 Monica was appointed by
the Swedish government as chair and president for Council of
Sustainable Cities. She is also a fellow member of the Royal
Swedish Academy of Engineering and Sciences.
Christine Schindler Co-Founder and CEO, PathSpot Technologies
Christine Schindler is an engineer and entrepreneur passionate
about utilising technology to overcome gaps in healthcare. She
founded the non-profit organisation Girls Engineering Change (GEC)
to address gender representation in STEM. GEC brings female middle
school and college students together at college campuses across the
US to build low-cost devices that are donated
to organisations across the world. Christine then founded PathSpot
Technologies, where she serves as CEO, to use technology she
created to instantly detect harmful contamination behind foodborne
illness. PathSpot is used by restaurants, packaging facilities, and
farms to encourage sanitation practices, protect food supplies, and
create a healthier world.
Professor Nilay Shah FREng Head of Department of Engineering,
Imperial College London
Professor Shah was previously Director of the Centre for Process
Systems Engineering. This is a multi-institution (Imperial and
University College London) research centre that covers modelling
and model-based design and optimisation of energy and process
systems. Nilay’s research interests include the application of
process modelling and mathematical/systems engineering
techniques to analyse and optimise complex, spatially - and
temporally-explicit low-carbon energy systems, including hydrogen
infrastructures, carbon capture and storage systems, urban energy
systems and bioenergy systems. He was recently part of a joint
Royal Society/Royal Academy of Engineering team preparing a
comprehensive report on greenhouse gas removal, where his role was
to provide process and systems engineering expertise.
35SPEAKERS 35
ROYAL ACADEMY OF ENGINEERING | GLOBAL GRAND CHALLENGES SUMMIT
Professor Liz Tanner OBE FREng FRSE Professor of Biomedical
Materials at the University of Glasgow
Liz Tanner has been Professor of Biomedical Materials in the School
of Engineering at the University of Glasgow since 2007. At Glasgow,
she established the undergraduate and MSc degrees in biomedical
engineering, the first BEng and MEng degrees on the field in
Scotland. She has been an Adjunct Professor in the Department of
Orthopaedics at Lund University Hospital
since 1998. Professor Tanner’s research interests are biomaterials
and biomechanics especially related to bone and joint replacement
and augmentation. This interest progresses from the development of
novel materials, through their testing and into clinical
application. From 2005 to 2009 she was Secretary of the European
Society for Biomaterials.
Jo Swinson MP Leader, Liberal Democrats; Member of Parliament for
East Dunbartonshire
Jo Swinson is the Leader of the Liberal Democrats and Liberal
Democrat MP for East Dunbartonshire. She was a Business Minister
and Minister for Women and Equalities in the Coalition Government
(2012-2015). A former marketing manager, in 2015 Jo founded her own
consulting business advising organisations on workplace diversity.
She has written a book, Equal Power.
Dr Jack Stilgoe Associate Professor in Science and Technology
Studies, University College London
Dr Stilgoe is associate professor of science and technology studies
at University College London where he studies the development of
new technologies in society. Jack is currently the Principal
Investigator of the ESRC Driverless Futures? project, a three-year
social science project looking at the governance of self-driving
cars. He is the author of Experiment Earth - Responsible innovation
in geoengineering.
William Tunstall-Pedoe Angel investor, Cambridge Angels; Advisor,
Ada Health, co-creator of Amazon Alexa and Echo
William Tunstall-Pedoe is a computer scientist and entrepreneur who
founded Evi, an AI company, that was acquired by Amazon in 2012.
The software developed by Evi under William’s leadership, which
understood questions and framed natural, conversational answers, is
the basis for Amazon’s Alexa technology. As a result, the
engineering excellence of the technology developed by William
has underpinned the mainstream emergence of voice-controlled
devices - the most significant user interface shift since the
advent of smart phones.
SPEAKERS36
ROYAL ACADEMY OF ENGINEERING | GLOBAL GRAND CHALLENGES SUMMIT
Professor Zhiqiang Wu Vice-President of Tongji University,
Shanghai
Professor Wu is Vice-President of Tongji University, an academic at
the Chinese, German and Royal Swedish national academies of
engineering; and an Honorary Fellow of American Institute of
Architects. He serves as Co-Chair of International Steering
Committee of World Planning School Congress, Permanent Member of
UNESCO-International Union of Architects. As Vice-President of
Urban
Planning Society of China, China Association of Building Energy
Efficiency, and China Green Building Council, Professor Wu is the
most influential academic figure in the field of urbanisation and
urban planning. He is Chief Planner of World EXPO Shanghai 2010,
Qingdao World Horticultural Exhibition 2014 and the Earthquake
Placement Plan in Sichuan. Currently Professor Wu is appointed as
the chief planner of urban design concept for the sub-center of in
Beijing.
Dr James Williams Writer and academic
Dr Williams received his PhD from Oxford, where his research
focused on the philosophy and ethics of attention and persuasion in
technology design. In 2017 he won the inaugural Nine Dots Prize, a
major international award for creative thinking, which led to the
publication of his first book, Stand Out of Our Light, in 2018 by
Cambridge University Press. The Observer called it ‘a
landmark
book’ and TechCrunch hailed it as ‘an instant classic in the field
of tech ethics.’ Recently, the president of Princeton University
selected the book as the one book all incoming students are
assigned to read before commencing their studies. Previously, James
spent a decade at Google, where he received the Founders’ Award,
the company’s highest honour. He is also a co-founder of the Time
Well Spent campaign, has been a visiting fellow at the University
of Cambridge, and is an advisor to numerous governments and
companies on technology issues.
Dr Jian Wang Chairman, Alibaba Group Technology Committee; Founder,
Alibaba Cloud; Honorary Mayor, Yunqi Cloud Town and Xuelang Town
and the Volunteer of 2050
Dr Wang joined Alibaba Group in 2008 as Chief Architect,
responsible for the group’s technology architecture and
construction of technology platforms. He founded Alibaba Cloud and
took on the role of president, helping develop a large-scale
distributed computing system—Apsara. Jian
led a team to incubate and launch YunOS, a commercial operating
system for cars, mobile phones, televisions and other smart
devices. He became Alibaba’s CTO in 2012. In 2014, he established
the Institute of Data Science and Technologies, and in April 2016,
Dr Wang proposed the concept and framework of the City Brain, and
began working on the world’s first City Brain project in
Hangzhou.
Professor Sir Mark Walport FRS FRCP FRCPath FMedSci CEO UK Research
and Innovation
Sir Mark Walport is Chief Executive of UK Research and Innovation,
which brings together the seven Research Councils, Innovate UK and
Research England. He was previously Government Chief Scientific
Adviser, Head of the Government Office for Science and Co-Chair of
the Prime Minister’s Council for Science and Technology. He was
Professor of Medicine and Head of the
Division of Medicine at Imperial College London and former director
of the Wellcome Trust. Sir Mark conducted independent reviews for
the UK government on the use and sharing of personal information in
the public and private sectors: Data Sharing Review (2009); and
Science and Mathematics: Secondary Education for the 21st
Century (2010).
37SPEAKERS 37
Professor Weijia Yuan Department of Electric and Electrical
Engineering, University of Strathclyde
Professor Weijia Yuan received his bachelor degree from Tsinghua
University in 2006 and his PhD from the University of Cambridge in
2010, winning a Springer Theses Prize. He joined the University of
Bath as a lecturer in 2011, where he was later promoted to Reader
in 2016. Between 2013 and 2018, he held a prestigious Royal Academy
of Engineering Research Fellowship. In
2018 he joined the University of Strathclyde as a full professor.
He has published more than 80 peer reviewed journal papers. He has
won the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Van Duzer
Prize 2014 and Institute of Physics Superconductivity Group Early
Career Researcher Prize 2013. He is now leading a research team of
15 researchers in the area applied superconductivity including
superconducting propulsion technology for future electrical
aircraft.
Professor Sheng Xu Assistant Professor, Department of
Nanoengineering, University of California San Diego
After Sheng Xu gained his PhD in Materials Science and Engineering
from Georgia Institute of Technology, he was a postdoctoral
research associate in the Department of Materials Science and
Engineering at the University of Illinois. His group focuses on
biointegrated electronics for health monitoring and human-machine
interfaces. His research has been highlighted as
Groundbreaking
Research in 2018 by Forbes and one of “12 innovations that will
revolutionise the future of medicine” by National Geographic, and
2018 National Institute Health end-of-year review. He was awarded
the as MRS Outstanding Young Investigator Award (one of the 32
recipients since its inception in 1991). He serves Nano Research as
a Young Star Editor.
Professor Jianyun Zhang FREng President, Nanjing Hydraulic Research
Institute; Chief Engineer, Bureau of Hydrology, Ministry of Water
Resources
Professor Jianyun Zhang is a leading specialist in hydrology and
water resources. He is currently Head of Department of Civil,
Hydraulic and Architectural Engineering of the Chinese Academy of
Engineering, Director-General of MWR Research Center for Climate
Change, and Chair of the
Chinese National Committee for International Association of
Hydrological Sciences. He is also Editor-in- Chief for the journals
of Advances in Water Science and Hydro-Science and Engineering. He
has published over 200 papers in high- profile journals. He was
elected as a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering in 2009
and an international Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, UK
in 2014.
Professor Ji Zhou FREng Honorary Chairman of the Governing Board
and immediate Past President, Chinese Academy of Engineering
Professor Zhou graduated from Tsinghua University and received a
PhD degree from State University of New York at Buffalo. His
previous posts include Minister of Education and President of the
Chinese Academy of Engineering. Professor Zhou is a professor of
mechanical engineering
in Huazhong University of Science and Technology. During his
professional career, he was actively involved in research and
development of optimal design, computer aided design, and numerical
control technology. He is an international Fellow of the Royal
Academy of Engineering, and a foreign member of the US National
Academy of Engineering, Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering
Sciences, Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and
Engineering, and National Academy of Engineering of Korea.
STUDENT COMPETITION AND COLLABORATION LAB
#GGCS2019
STUDENT COMPETITION40
The competition University teams were invited to propose an
innovation or novel approach to address global challenges
associated with the sub-themes of the summit. As the themes are
broad, teams were expected to tackle one or more elements of a
challenge rather than the entire subject. For example, this could
include:
• How do we feed 10 billion? • Is continued urbanisation
inevitable
and desirable? • How can we achieve globally
equitable access to technology? • How do we stop the world
being
water short? • How do we make innovation
circular?
Five champion teams from each country were selected to attend a
Collaboration Lab event before the summit between 12 and 16
September, as well as an invitation to the main summit in
London.
Collaboration Lab Event The Collaboration Lab in London, UK,
brought together around 300 students – comprising the winning 15
in-country teams and additionally selected students – from the UK,
USA and China to stimulate and encourage them to work
cross-culturally and across disciplines through a programme of
challenge-led innovation, providing the tools to respond to
global
challenges in transformational ways. The event was kicked off with
the final of the student competition, where the five champion teams
from each country pitched to a panel of senior judges.The students
were then mixed up to generate new, cross-country teams. These new
mixed teams were challenged to collaborate and draw on each other’s
skills and experience to develop solutions to the grand challenges,
developing and building on those pitched by the student champion
teams.
The programme for the three days included: • cross-cultural
icebreakers and team
building sessions • scenario-based facilitated
workshops, including time to develop new proposals in mixed
teams
• inspirational speaker sessions • opportunities for feedback
and
mentoring from senior engineers • evening social events, including
the
opportunity to see and experience London.
On the final morning of the Collaboration Lab, the mixed country
teams presented their proposals for judging through a showcase
exhibition event. The judges selected a number of winning teams to
present their proposals at the main Summit on 18 September
2019.
The Academy is very grateful for the assistance of a number of
people throughout the collaboration lab as mentors and judges,
including:
Ana Avaliani Malcolm A. Brinded CBE FREng Cristovao Cacombe
Professor C. C. Chan FREng Konrad Chlupka Jenny Edwards David Elemi
Professor Amr S. Elnashai FREng Dr Ozak Esu Joseph Hart Professor
Peter J. Goodhew CBE FREng Mark Goudie Patrick Gregory Dr Keoki
Jackson Dr John Lazar CBE FREng Dmitry Leyko Professor Richard K.
Miller Naadiya Moosajee Paul Neal Professor Raffaella Ocone OBE
FREng FRSE Shameer Omar Kalita Patel Dr Alton D. Romig Sir Robin
Saxby FREng FRS Zein Shah Matt Speirs David Thomlinson FREng Adam
Tunbridge Dr Yannis C. Yortsos
GLOBAL GRAND CHALLENGES SUMMIT Student Competition and
Collaboration Lab
The Royal Academy of Engineering invited university teams to
participate in the Global Grand Challenges Summit Competition 2019,
a programme of challenge-led innovation, design and business
development, culminating in the opportunity for teams to attend the
student Collaboration Lab event and the Global Grand Challenges
Summit.
ROYAL ACADEMY OF ENGINEERING | GLOBAL GRAND CHALLENGES SUMMIT
41STUDENT COMPETITION 41
1. Loughborough University 1: A modularised, off-grid toilet block
that generates resources for urbanising communities in developing
countries A self-sustaining, off-grid toilet block designed within
a shipping container to be implemented as a turnkey solution to
tackle the lack of sanitation in rural and rapidly urbanising
communities. Its biodigestor-centred system uses human waste to
create high quality fertiliser and generate electricity for local
lighting and phone charging.
2. Loughborough University 2: Disaster relief shelter
Intermediate-term housing for displaced populations in the
aftermath of both natural and humanitarian crises. The shelter is
modular, meaning it can be adapted for the individuals needs of
people living there. Giving each family a
private space to live in as well as open shared areas to maintain a
sense of community after such disasters.
3.University of Cambridge: Improving nutrition through dehydration
innovation More than 70% of people worldwide don’t consume
sufficient fruits and vegetables. This is a huge issue because it
causes a large burden on the healthcare system. To improve general
well-being, the team proposed a solution to improve access to a
fruit and vegetable alternatives. Using microwave dehydration, they
have made a fruit and vegetable powdered drink mix that is tasty,
convenient and natural.
4. University of Surrey: A post-harvest storage network for
developing countries The team aims to contribute towards
a vision of ‘Zero Hunger’ by 2050 by reducing post-harvest storage
losses in developing countries. The storage network is essentially
like Airbnb for grains, where farmers can make the best use of
their individual storage spaces and minimise wastage due to
inadequate centralised storage. It minimises costs associated with
storage and transportation, and will be implemented via a
Progressive Web Application.
5. Heriot-Watt University: Hive house The team’s solution to the
issue of sustaining 10 billion people is prefabricated modular
housing that can be stacked or expanded as and when is needed. The
Hive House will be made of cross laminated timber, which can
consist of recycled timber or bamboo.
UK TEAMS Twenty shortlisted teams from the UK took part in a
two-day interactive workshop in April and June 2019, working with
experts to explore global challenges and building the knowledge and
tools needed to develop their proposed solutions.
ROYAL ACADEMY OF ENGINEERING | GLOBAL GRAND CHALLENGES SUMMIT
STUDENT COMPETITION42
1. Dartmouth College: The Compost Tea Project The project aims to
deliver sustainable organic fertiliser to low-income urban farmers
who face soil nutrient deficiency, but lack the space, time, and
finances needed to implement traditional composting systems.
2. North Carolina State University: Peak Coffee Processing The
business has developed an affordable treatment process to filter
wastewater into clean water and fertiliser. This will produce
purified water while creating a product that economically benefits
coffee producers through increasing crop yields and reducing
topsoil erosion.
3. Oklahoma State University: An innovative technological system
that increases yields and reduces input costs and waste for
farmers. This system employs sensors that collect data from farms,
transmitting
it to a data hub for processing, and communicating information back
to individual farmers.
4. University of California, San Diego: Sulo Sulo is working with
rural villagers in the Philippines to sell an affordable, reliable,
and safe solar-powered lantern. They aim to bring a reliable source
of light and economic development to rural communities.
5. University of Southern California: Marlink A product that serves
as the link between operators and their underwater exploration
vehicles. Marlink enables the next generation of underwater
communication by pairing the robust, long-range effects of acoustic
technology with the high data rates of optical technology.
6. (Reserve team) University of Rochester: EZ Water EZ Water
leverages locally available resources to set up a network of water
shops run by micro- entrepreneurs who filter water locally without
electricity and serve the needs of people in low-income
communities.
In an effort to ensure that solutions addressed the most pressing
issues facing targeted populations, the US teams participated in a
version of the National Science Foundation’s I-Corps programme.
Teams were trained to identify, access, and interview key members
of the ecosystems who are directly impacted by the problems they
are attempting to solve. Teams interviewed numerous ‘customers’ and
in doing so, came to a deeper understanding of the specific
challenges they must address.
US TEAMS The US National Academy of Engineering (NAE) selected five
teams from more than 20 US entrants, to represent the United States
at the Global Grand Challenges Summit 2019.
ROYAL ACADEMY OF ENGINEERING | GLOBAL GRAND CHALLENGES SUMMIT
43STUDENT COMPETITION 43
1. Tongji University: Dwelt Optimized Guiding and Accessibility
System (DOGAS) This project takes the award-winning DWELT indoor
localization technique as the core, combines machine vision, SLAM
and data fusion to build an AI-powered digital blind sidewalk
system. The system will use these technologies to restore and
improve urban infrastructure, which can solve travel problems for
people with visual impairments.
2. Central South University: Brainus Brainus, brain of a bus, is
committed to path planning and navigation control systems of
driverless electric buses to establish an intelligent public
transportation ecological platform in the future. It aims to
achieve the goal of “restore and improve urban infrastructure” for
enhancing the joy of living.
3. Chongqing University: A lightweight and functional design of
elderly care robot The team independently designed a household
robot dog for the elderly. The robot dog is designed with
lightweight materials and structures. The breathable skin is
prepared to degrade indoor pollutants. Besides, the robot dog
possesses triboelectric vibration sensor and communication alarm
system, which detect falls of the elderly to ensure safety.
4. Hong Kong Joint University Team: ClearBot: Decentralized Robot
Swarms to Clean our Oceans Ocean plastics destroy natural marine
and coastal habitats, endanger wildlife across the globe, pollute
the food chain, ultimately affecting the global water-food- energy
nexus. ClearBot is a scalable, AI-powered, plastic collecting
intelligent robotic solution to address the ocean plastic epidemic
with a sustainable community-centric symbiotic ecosystem.
5. Wuhan University: MA New Cellulose Dissolution Method Used in
Industrial Production to Replace Plastic Products A novel
technology is used to dissolve cellulose and apply it in industrial
production. This makes it practical to fabricate cheap and
biodegradable products to substitute traditional plastics, thus
solving the plastic issue to a great extent. The grand challenge
this will solve is “Engineer the tools of scientific
discoveries.”
CHINA TEAMS The Chinese Academy of Engineering have selected 5
teams to represent China at the Summit and the Student Competition
Collaboration event.
ROYAL ACADEMY OF ENGINEERING | GLOBAL GRAND CHALLENGES SUMMIT
PARTNERS
#GGCS2019
& FUNDERS
FUNDERS
SPONSORS, PARTNERS AND FUNDERS46
GGCS PARTNERS AND FUNDERS The Academy would like to acknowledge the
following institutions and companies who are partners in the Global
Grand Challenges Summit 2019. Thank you for your support in
convening a truly global audience for the summit.
Global Grand Challenges Summit Principal Partners
Global Grand Challenges Summit Series Founding Funder
Programme Partner
Global Grand Challenges Summit Partner
For further information regarding sponsorship opportunities and
in-kind support at the Royal Academy of Engineering , please
contact Samantha Bagchi, Director of Development:
[email protected]
ROYAL ACADEMY OF ENGINEERING | GLOBAL GRAND CHALLENGES SUMMIT
GLOBAL PARTICIPATION 47
GLOBAL PARTICIPATION International involvement In addition to
hosting the Summit itself, the Royal Academy of Engineering has
several avenues for the global engineering community to get
involved with tackling the world’s most pressing issues.
To ensure the summit is a truly global event, and to increase the
global reach of the summit, the Academy has funded the attendance
for up to 100 engineers, innovators, and researchers across all
career stages from more than 30 developing countries across the
globe.
Satellite events Summit satellite events are being hosted in six
countries outside of the tri-lateral partnership in India, Kenya,
Mexico, Thailand, Uganda and Vietnam. These events cover a range of
topics aligned with the summit themes, from AI in healthcare to
water sustainability.
The satellite events will engage young engineers, entrepreneurs,
industry and academics within the local communities. The events
will bring people together, across generations, to engage with the
themes of the summit, and create
ROYAL ACADEMY OF ENGINEERING | GLOBAL GRAND CHALLENGES SUMMIT
or strengthen a regional network of engineers and stakeholders to
benefit their local economies and communities.
Satellite events will be linked into the summit through live or on
demand streaming of summit sessions, and attendees will be able to
engage live through the summit app.
Host organisations received up to £10,000 from the Academy, funded
through the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF).
ORGANISERS48
ROYAL ACADEMY OF ENGINEERING As the UK’s national academy for
engineering and technology, the Royal Academy of Engineering brings
together the most talented and successful engineers – our Fellows –
to advance and promote excellence in engineering for the benefit of
society.
NATIONAL ACADEMY OF ENGINEERING Founded in 1964, the US National
Academy of Engineering is a private, independent, non-profit
institution that provides engineering leadership in service to the
nation.
We harness their experience and expertise to provide independent
advice to government, to deliver programmes that help exceptional
engineering researchers and innovators realise their potential, to
engage the public with engineeri