Speakers

  • Nick Jones

    Founder

    Soho House & Co

    Jones created Soho House, a private members’ club for people in the creative industries, in 1995. Since then the group has expanded to include 18 Houses, as well as restaurants, cinemas, spas, workspaces and a homeware line. The most recent opening, The Ned in London, launched in May.

  • Christoph Amend

    Editor in chief

    Zeitmagazin

    Amend is editor in chief of the celebrated Zeitmagazin and its spin-off art title, as well as the English-language international quarterly. His work is top of the pile in a booming German media scene that’s not short on momentum.

  • Carl “Charlie” Woebcken

    CEO

    Babelsberg Studios

    Woebcken is CEO of Berlin’s Studio Babelsberg, the world’s oldest large-scale studio complex for feature films and TV productions. Recent production credits include Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel and Steven Spielberg’s Bridge of Spies.

  • Daniel Libeskind

    Architect

    Polish-born Libeskind is master-planner of Ground Zero in New York and the smarts behind Berlin’s Jewish Museum. His work is noticeably absent from undemocratic nations and his name is prominent in any list of the world’s finest architects.

  • Franziska Giffey

    Mayor of Neukölln, Berlin

    Frankfurt-born Giffey’s career with the EU and Council of Europe has taken her from London to Brussels and Strasbourg. She now manages Berlin’s Neukölln ’hood, where she is a firm believer in full integration for its migrant population.

  • Erik Spiekermann

    Typographer

    Spiekermann is a lauded designer and typographer, a printer by training and rabble-rouser by nature. His clients number Audi, Bosch, VW, German Railways and Heidelberg Printing, and he also runs an envelope-pushing letterpress workshop in Berlin.

  • Penny Martin

    Editor in chief

    The Gentlewoman

    Martin has been editor in chief of biannual women's magazine The Gentlewoman since 2010. She is also a contributor to Fantastic Man and The The New York Times’ T Magazine, has curated exhibitions at galleries and museums, and is a trustee of arts organisation Studio Voltaire.

  • Olaf Krohne

    Hotelier and Developer

    Das Regina

    After years of opening bars and redeveloping hotels in Germany and Austria, German hotelier Olaf Krohne has moved on to reworking an entire town. For the past couple of years he has been a consultant for Bad Gastein in Salzburg and hopes to reinvent the town’s historic centre.

  • Paco Savio

    Co-founder

    Balboa Move

    Buenos Aires-born Savio founded creative studio Remolino in 2004. As well as running two restaurants, he finds himself working out how we stay fit in our cities as the head of a pioneering new gym concept.

  • Anna Winger

    Author and creator of TV drama Deutschland 83

    Winger is creator of the television drama Deutschland 83 and is currently making a sequel: Deutschland 86. She’s also a novelist and prolific writer, and has hosted radio series Berlin Stories for NPR since 2009.

  • Ryan Prince

    Co-founder

    Realstar Group

    Prince heads up an investment firm, which manages more than €5.5bn of assets, including property. Most recently he founded Uncle, a business that addresses how we rent homes in our cities and creates the unusual concept of a landlord who cares.

  • Stefan Höglmaier

    Architect and founder

    Euroboden

    Höglmaier discovered his passion for architecture at an early age and founded Euroboden in 1999. His projects always bear the stamp of his personal values; the converted above-ground bunker in Munich (now the BNKR art room) is a prime example.

  • Lyn Harris

    Entrepreneur and perfumer

    Harris has a nose for business and was commissioned to create fragrances for The Carlyle Hotel, Jimmy Choo, Manolo Blahnik and Jane Birkin. She sniffed out a niche of her own in 2015 by founding Perfumer H.

  • Magnus Schmidt

    Founder and managing director

    Scoo Mobility

    Schmidt founded the world's first scooter-sharing app in 2014 and business has motored since. Based in Munich (with a Köln presence), Scoo offers access to a fleet of smart Vespas. Might the humble scooter be key to keeping our cities moving?

  • Erez Galonska

    CEO and co-founder

    Infarm

    Galonska is a self-educated farmer and entrepreneur. He works in communities around the world, learning about diverse cultures, developing a vast global network and researching innovative solutions for growing food in today’s modern city environment.

  • Meike Niedbal

    Head of Business Development

    Deutsche Bahn

    Niedbal has held a variety of positions at Deutsche Bahn since joining more than seven years ago. As an expert in sustainable innovation, she has managed projects in areas such as e-mobility, autonomous driving and rural mobility.

  • Dan Stubbergaard

    Founder

    COBE

    Stubbergaard trained as an architect at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. He founded COBE in 2006 and has been the driving force behind its projects, including Denmark’s new rock-music museum Ragnarock and Nørreport Station, Denmark’s busiest train hub.

  • Mohamed Haouache

    CEO

    Storefront

    Haouache is the CEO of Storefront, a leading online and offline marketplace for short-term retail space. Following a finance career of nearly a decade in New York and Paris, he is now focused on developing the company's strategy and overseeing its continued expansion into new markets.

  • Monica von Schmalensee

    CEO

    White Arkitekter

    White Arkitekter is a pioneer when it comes to sustainable architecture; projects include a 100-year masterplan for the relocation of the city of Kiruna in Sweden's Arctic north. Last year Von Schmalensee won the Leadership award for her contribution to the built environment in Sweden.

  • Markus Kühn

    Founder

    FluxFM

    Following roles at the likes of German TV station ZDF and Universal Records, Kühn founded consulting agency M2M, the majority shareholder of FluxFM – which he founded in 2004. So, a Berliner with a love of music? He’s your perfect guide to the city’s nightlife.

  • Pip Jamieson

    Founder and CEO

    The Dots

    The Dots is a networking platform designed to help creatives showcase work, network, collaborate and connect with opportunities. Jamieson has spent the past 13 years immersed in the creative industries, including executive roles at MTV Australia and New Zealand.

  • Dietmar Müller-Elmau

    CEO

    Schloss Elmau

    Luxury spa retreat Schloss Elmau was founded by our panellist’s grandfather in 1916. Since then it has been destroyed by fire (and rebuilt) and hosted 2015’s G7 summit, which means this is a man who knows a thing or two about the business of hospitality.

  • James Hawes

    Author

    Hawes has published six novels. His book Englanders and Huns was shortlisted for the Political Book of the Year awards in 2015 and his latest release, The Shortest History of Germany, has also garnered great reviews, making him the perfect person to speak on the country’s past.

  • Özden Akyildiz

    Founder

    Komşuköy

    Akyildiz founded the world’s first virtual farming platform, Komşuköy, in 2014. The platform allows urban-dwellers to manage a farm online. With a click of the mouse, people can plant seeds or do maintenance – all carried out by farmers on the real-life plantation.

  • Ben Lewin

    Co-founder

    Farer

    Lewin is co-founder of Farer: an affordable automatic watch brand. Since launching in 2015 the firm has sent watches to more than 30 countries. Lewin is also founding partner of design company Otherway, which was set up to create, refresh and invest in a new generation of brands.

  • Valentin Vodev

    Co-founder

    Vello

    Valentin Vodev has lived and worked in Vienna and London, and creates unique design solutions in the field of transportation products. In 2013, he co-founded Vello with Valerie Wolff, which specialises in producing and selling bicycles and other mobility items.

  • Sarah McNally

    Founder

    McNally Jackson

    Sarah McNally founded McNally Jackson Books in New York in 2004. She went on to launch Goods for the Study, which sells stationery, in 2012. Both brands are growing with new shops launching this year and in 2018.

  • Friedrich von Borries

    Architect and professor

    Hamburg University of Fine Art

    Following his PhD in 2004, Dr Friedrich von Borries completed stints at the Berlin Technical University and MIT. Now professor of design theory at Hamburg University of Fine Art, he’s the perfect guide with whom to explore the city’s architecture.

  • Ari Benjamin Meyers

    Musician and composer

    Meyers trained as a composer and conductor and has put these skills to good use, creating numerous works and founding the Kunsthalle for Music. He also worked and performed with various bands and is the subject of a recently released book: Music on Display.

  • Lorenz Aschoff

    Co-founder and chief product officer

    EyeEm

    EyeEm is a photography company building computer vision technology to understand images. Lorenz, who spends his free time DJing his way around Berlin, leads a team focused on product, design and digital innovation.

  • Inge Delobelle

    Chief executive

    thyssenkrupp Access Solutions

    Delobelle is chief executive of Access Solutions, engineering-giant thyssenkrupp’s home and airport-mobility business. She is focused on delivering ideal solutions for cities with growing and ageing populations.

  • Dagur B Eggertsson

    Mayor of Reykjavik

    Dagur B Eggertsson became mayor of Reykjavík in 2014. He has worked as a doctor at the National University Hospital in Iceland and also has a master’s degree in human rights and international law from the University of Lund in Sweden.

More speakers coming soon.

Official partner: