Lift10 is in less than 2 months time, and we are posting profiles of the confirmed speakers. Don't forget to have a look at the program!

Stephen Graham will be speaking at Lift10 in our opening session on the redefinition of privacy. We invited him to speak because of his investigations into how networked technologies redefine the notion of surveillance. His perspective as a geographer adds an important dimension to the discussion around the evolution of privacy.

Following a period at Durham Geography Department, Stephen is now Professor at the Global Urban Research Unit at Newcastle University's School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape. He has a background in urbanism, planning and the sociology of technology. His research addresses intersections between urban places, mobilities, technology, war, militarization, surveillance and geopolitics. He writes and lectures in many countries and across a variety of disciplines.

Lift10 is in less than 2 months time, and we are posting profiles of the confirmed speakers. Don't forget to have a look at the program!

Neil Rimer will be giving the keynote speech at the Alp ICT venture night on the 5th of May at Lift10. Neil is a co-founder and Partner of Index Ventures. In 1992, He started the venture capital activity of Index's predecessor firm, later co-founding Index Ventures and raising the firm's first fund in 1996.

Neil's current investment focus is on innovative solutions for energy and environmental problems.

He is currently on the board of several innovative companies (such as AlertMe, Lehigh Technologies, Netvibes, Moo Print, Innovative Silicon). Neil sponsored many of the firm's investments including Betfair, Ofoto (now Kodak), Trolltech (now Nokia) Listen (now Real Networks), Numerical Technologies (now Synopsis) and Genmab. He has also served on the board of Human Rights Watch and has served on the Board of Directors of U.C. Sampdoria, a football club competing in the Italian Serie A.

Before starting Index Ventures, Neil spent four years with Montgomery Securities in San Francisco. Neil has a BA in History and Economics from Stanford University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Following Neil's speech, eight startups from Western Switzerland will present on the big stage. If you think your company could qualify, please read this.

Lift10 is in 2 months time, and we are posting profiles of the confirmed speakers. Don't forget to have a look at the program!

This year Lift welcomes Alice Taylor as one of our speakers! We've invited Alice to speak during our session on online communities. She will present various cases showing how the video game environment can be used for public diplomacy, democracy, entertainment, education and experimentation.

Alice works at the UK's Channel 4, and her job is to commission cross-platform educational content for UK-based 14-19 year olds, aiming to get useful, life-helpful information to teens via their most-favored platforms and formats.

She specializes in video gaming and playful experiences, and Channel 4 Education’s 2009 slate includes:

• Routes, a cross-platform game tackling DNA and genetic testing. Winner of Best Content BIMA 2009, nominated for children's interactive BAFTA 2009.
• Smokescreen, a cross-platform game on the subject of privacy, online security and surveillance.
• 1066 The Game, a web game depicting the events of the battles of 1066. Winner, Best Online Game, BIMA 2009, and nominated for children's interactive BAFTA 2009.
• Bow Street Runner, C4 Education’s first game commission, won the children’s interactive BAFTA in 2008.

Lift10 is in less than 3 months, and we are posting profiles of the confirmed speakers. Don't forget to have a look at the program!

This year Lift welcomes Amelia Andersdotter as one of our speakers! Amelia is our youngest speaker to date, very appropriate as she will speak in the session about politics, but we will also talk about "generations" in another session.

We invited her because we were interested in her perspective on the role and challenges of Information Technology in politics. Beyond digital activism and lobbying, she will address how ICT can help transform the legislation creation process by making it more open and collaborative.

Amelia is a Swedish politician and Member of the European Parliament (MEP), elected on the a Swedish Pirate Party list in the 2009 election. Amelia was the second candidate on this party list for the European elections on 7 June last year, in which the party gained one member of Parliament and 7.1% of the vote.

Lift10 is in 3 months time, and we are posting profiles of the confirmed speakers. Don't forget to have a look at the program!

We are happy to announce Mercedes Bunz as one of our Lift10 speakers. Mercedes will be speaking during our session entitled "The old new media": Newspapers are struggling, TV is not sure of what the future holds. What is at stake nowadays when informing, reaching and involving people?

Mercedes is an experienced and optimistic new media strategist for journalism currently working as the Guardian’s reporter for digital media. As a motivating managing editor experienced in print and online journalism she has been editor-in-chief of the online version of the Berlin-based daily newspaper Tagesspiegel. Before, she was the editor-in-chief of zitty, the oldest and best-known Berlin city-guide magazine. Mercedes also co-founded de:bug, one of the leading magazines for electronic culture in german-speaking countries. She holds a PhD in media science and is a visionary writer and speaker on new technology, creative industries and society.

Her last book was about the history of the internet (in German), and got published at the German Kadmos Kulturverlag tracing the transformation of media from saving to distribution. She is currently working on a new one, and yes journalism and the internet occur.

Lift10 is in less than 4 months, and we are posting profiles of the confirmed speakers. Don't forget to have a look at the program!

We're very much looking forward to welcoming Jean Burgess as one of our speakers this year at Lift10. Jean will be speaking during our session entitled "What's up with on-line communities?"

Jean is a postdoctoral research fellow based in the Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation at Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia. Her background is in music, cultural studies and media studies, and her current research concentrates on everyday media creation and use in relation to technological change, both past and present. As part of her work she regularly designs and facilitates co-creative media workshops for community groups and organisations.

In addition, she co-authored "YouTube: Online Video and Participatory Culture" with Joshua Green at Cambridge Polity Press. People interested in her work should have a look at the following interview by Henry Jenkins

At Lift 2010, she will address on-line participation and user-generated content: who participates? who doesn’t? why? what are the limits and the opportunities?

We're looking forward to listening to her in May.

Lift10 is in less than 4 months, and we are posting profiles of the confirmed speakers. Don't forget to have a look at the program!

We're very excited to welcome Basile Zimmermann as one of our speakers this year at Lift10. Basile will be speaking during our session entitled "Stories" - our traditional session dedicated to inspiring stories from people with extraordinary projects and lives.

Basile is Assistant Professor at the University of Geneva, Switzerland. He is a consultant for Swiss companies and political institutions on Chinese relations, and also does consulting work for an IT company. He works and publishes in the fields of Chinese studies, technology studies, sociology, and cultural studies.

For a preview - you can watch an interview by the Swiss National Television (TSR) in the second part of their series “History of Knowledge – Research, a passion”, focusing on rising stars of Swiss science, click here (in French).

His doctoral thesis about the impact of Western Technology on Chinese Culture can be downloaded here. And to read his papers in English you can click here.

We're looking forward to listening to him in May. You can read more about him on his LIFT profile.

Happy New Year! Lift10 is in 4 months, and we are posting profiles of the confirmed speakers. Don't forget to have a look at the program!

We're excited to welcome Katrin Verclas as one of our speakers this year at Lift10. As the co-founder and editor of MobileActive.org, a global network of practitioners using mobile phones for social impact, Katrin will be speaking during our session entitled "What's up with on-line communities?"

Katrin has written widely on mobile phones in citizen participation and civil society organizations, mobile phones in health and for development. She is a co-author of "Wireless Technology for Social Change", a report on trends in mobile use by NGOs with the UN Foundation and Vodafone Group Foundation, and author of A Mobile Voice: The Use of Mobile Phones in Citizen Media.

Katrin's background is in IT management, IT in social change organizations, and in philanthropy. She is a 2009 TED Fellow and a fellow at the MIT Media Lab. At Lift 2010, she will participate in the Community session, to address the role of ICT in enabling social change through various forms of participation.

We're looking forward to listening to her in May. You can read more about her on her LIFT profile.

We are very much looking forward to welcoming the "guru of all things on the horizon" Jamais Cascio as one of our speakers at Lift10.

Selected by Foreign Policy magazine as one of the Top 100 Global Thinkers of 2009, Jamais writes about the intersection of emerging technologies, environmental dilemmas, and cultural transformation, specializing in the design and creation of plausible scenarios of the future. His work focuses on the importance of long-term, systemic thinking as a catalyst for building a more resilient society. He has applied his scenario development skills in the entertainment industry, advising multiple television and film projects, and designing several well-received science fiction game settings.

Jamais has long worked in the field of scenario development, and is currently a Research Fellow at the Institute for the Future, offering insights and analysis to IFTF’s government, non-profit, and corporate clients. He is also a co-founder of WorldChanging.com, the award-winning website dedicated to finding and calling attention to models, tools and ideas for building a "bright green" future.

At Lift 2010, he will participate in the Stories session. Our traditional session dedicated to inspiring stories from people with extraordinary perspectives and projects.
You can find more info about him on his LIFT profile.