1) David Rowan

• David Rowan is founding Editor-in-chief and now Editor-at-large of WIRED’s UK edition, and technology columnist for The [UK] Sunday Times. He has taken 125 flights in the past year to investigate the companies and entrepreneurs changing our world, recently spending time with the founders of WhatsApp, LinkedIn, Google, Spotify, Xiaomi, Nest, Twitter and countless other disruptive startups from Tel Aviv to Shenzhen. His recent keynote talks have included events for banks, governments, and Fortune 100 companies, and recent stage interviews have ranged from will.i.am to James Murdoch and David Cameron. David has been a columnist for The Times, GQ, Condé Nast Traveller and The Guardian. At WIRED he has extended the brand into conferences, apps, and a consulting business. He is the co-founder of FlowJourneys.com, taking amazing people for weekend adventures in the world’s most extraordinary locations. And he is still searching for the future.

• David is preparing to deliver the opening keynote at FutureLink Munich. During his speech, he is expected to focus on the latest digital advancements disrupting healthcare and explain how a digital mindset is critical in order to embrace new technology innovations.

  “FutureLink is the only event that covers all things digital across the life sciences supply chain, embracing today’s current compliance regulations and tomorrow’s untapped value from serialization and a digital supply network,” said Shabbir Dahod, president and CEO, TraceLink. “This year in Munich, we are excited to host David, one of the world’s leading speakers in the sector of technological advancements and we look forward to learning from his vast knowledge and understanding of global digital trends.”

   

2)  Ian Bremmer

• Professor Ian Bremmer is an American political scientist and expert speaker specialising in US foreign policy, states in transition, and global political risk.  Ian is President of Eurasia Group, a political risk consultancy he founded with just $25,000 in 1998. The company now has offices in New York, Washington, and London and is one of the most successful political risk consultancies in the world, advising financial services companies, multinationals and governments on how political developments can move markets. Ian created Wall Street’s first-ever global political risk index, and has written several best-sellers, including “The End of the Free Market: Who Wins the War Between States and Corporations?” (Viking, 2010), which focuses on the geopolitical implications of state capitalism. He also wrote, “The J Curve: A New Way to Understand Why Nations Rise and Fall” (Simon & Schuster, 2007), selected by The Economist as one of the best books of the year. His latest book is “Every Nation for Itself: Winners and Losers in a G-Zero World” (Portfolio Penguin, 2012). Here he argues that, while our need for global cooperation has never been greater, the world is facing a leadership vacuum that has increased the potential for open conflict. In this context, Ian shows where positive sources of power can still be found, and how they can be exercised for the common good.

• A new book, “Us vs. Them: The Failure of Globalism” by Ian Bremmer, looks at some of the consequences of increased international connections, growing nationalism around the world, and support for anti-establishment politicians. In the book, Bremmer argues that disaffected voters are responsible for the rise of populists like Donald Trump, who won the U.S. presidency by promoting anti-establishment, anti-immigrant and anti-globalist sentiments.  He writes: “It’s easy to find fault with populists like Trump. He’s obnoxious, dishonest, and incompetent. But Donald Trump didn’t create “us vs. them.” “Us vs. them” created Donald Trump, and those who dismiss his supporters are damaging the United States.” Appearing on “CBS This Morning,” Bremmer – a CBS News senior global affairs contributor and president of the Eurasia Group – said that Americans who have suffered from the rise in globalism should not be ignored. “Across the country, we see a lot of people that have gotten really angry because free trade has not worked for them. Open borders and changing the composition of the country has not worked for them. Endless failed wars in Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria have not worked for them. And they pay the ultimate price as enlisted men and women. And now technology is not working for them,” he said.

3) Jim O’Neill

• Jim O’Neill stepped down from Government, having been Commercial Secretary to the Treasury from May 2015 until September 2016. During that time, and since Spring 2014, Lord O’Neill had chaired a formal Review into AMR (antimicrobial resistance) reporting its final recommendations in May 2016, and contributed to high level agreement at the UN in September. Until October 2014, Jim chaired the Cities Growth Commission in the UK, when it provided its final recommendations, which formed the impetus for the government’s policy on devolution as well as the concept of the Northern Powerhouse.Jim is the creator of the acronym “BRIC” and has conducted much research about these and other emerging economies. He has published various books on the topic, and in early 2014 made a documentary series for the BBC entitled MINT: The Next Economic Giants. He writes frequently on these and many other international economic and financial topics for leading international media.
• Jim will become chair of the Chatham House think tank, adding another role to an already extensive résumé. He will replace Stuart Popham after the annual general meeting in July 2018, the institute said in a statement on Thursday. He’s best known for his 2001 creation of the BRIC investing strategy, which singled out Brazil, Russia, India and China as a group of increasingly influential emerging markets. Announcing the appointment, Chatham House director Robin Niblett described him as “one of the world’s most perceptive analysts and thinkers about the global economy. Many of the structures and principles that have supported global growth and buttressed peace are under threat,” Niblet said. “We are fortunate that an individual of Jim’s caliber will help guide the institute during this period of profound change.”

4)  Jimmy Wales

• Jimmy Wales is the Internet entrepreneur best known for founding Wikipedia.org, as well as other wiki-related organisations, including the charitable organisation Wikimedia Foundation, and the for-profit company Wikia Inc., which operates Wikia.com.In January of 2001, Jimmy started Wikipedia.org, the online encyclopedia that anyone can edit, and in mid-2003, he set up the Wikimedia Foundation, a non-profit organisation based in St. Petersburg, Florida, to support the Wikipedia.org site. In 2004, Jimmy co-founded Wikia Inc. with Angela Beesley. Wikia Inc. is a for-profit company based on principles similar to Wikipedia.org, which allows people to contribute information and opinions on any topic, in any language. As part of his work at Wikia Inc., Jimmy is developing a human-powered search engine, Search Wikia, which will be based on the same open, transparent, community-driven principles of Wikia and Wikipedia.He was appointed a fellow of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School in 2005 and in 2006, he joined the Board of Directors of the non-profit organisation Creative Commons.Recently, The World Economic Forum recognised Jimmy as one of the Young Global Leaders of 2007. This prestigious award acknowledges the top 250 young leaders across the world for their professional accomplishments, their commitment to society and their potential to contribute to shaping the future of the world. In addition, Jimmy received the Time 100 Award in 2006, as he was named one of the world’s most influential people in the Scientists & Thinkers category.
• Jimmy Wales, co-founder of the crowdsourced encyclopedia, has been thinking about how to tackle the problem of “fake news.” On Thursday, he delivered a keynote address on “the future role for evidence-based journalism” at the Westminster Media Forum, an international conference organized by the British Parliament. In the face of false information, Wales still believes that the more open and connected people are online, the better things will be for everyone.“In this era, where we’ve seen the rise of these fake news websites and so forth, Wikipedia has had almost no problems with this at all,” Wales says. “Simply because our community is quite — you know, it’s their hobby to debate about the quality of sources, and it’s very difficult to fool the Wikipedia community with this.”