Hiroyasu Ando

President, The Japan Foundation

Hiroyasu Ando was born in Tokyo in 1944. After graduating from the Tokyo University in 1970, he entered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan.
His oversea posting includes Washington D.C., Manila, London, and New York.
He served Prime Minister Hashimoto as the Private Secretary. He also served three Prime Ministers as the Assistant Chief Cabinet Secretary.
He was Director-General in charge of Middle East and African Affairs between 2002 and 2003.
He was appointed as the Ambassador to Italy in 2008.
Since October 2011, he has been the President of the Japan Foundation.

Apinan Poshyananda

Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Culture, Thailand

A renowned curator and writer in Asia, Prof. Apinan Poshyananda is the author of Modern Art in Thailand (Oxford University Press, 1992), Contemporary Art in Asia: Traditions/Tensions (The Asia Society, 1996), Traces of Siamese Smile: Art + Faith + Politics + Love (Bangkok Art and Culture Centre, 2008), and Thai Trends from Localism to Internationalism (Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, 2012). He received a MFA degree from Edinburgh University and PhD in art history from Cornell University and taught art history at Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok.
Professor Apinan Poshyananda has held positions, including Director General, Office of Contemporary Art and Culture; Director General, Department of Cultural Promotion, Ministry of Culture; and Acting Director, Office of Knowledge Management and Development, Prime Minister’s Office. He has curated numerous shows including Contemporary Art in Asia: Traditions/Tensions, the Asia Society, New York; Zhang Peili in Bangkok; Unveiled Reality, Nobuyoshi Araki: Story Portrait, Yasumasa Morimura, Art Center, Chulalongkorn University; Heri Dono: Dancing Demons, Drunken Deities, Japan Foundation, Tokyo; Floating Chimera, Edsvik Art and Culture; Beyond Paradise: Nordic Artists Travel East, Moderna Museet, Stockholm; Thai-tanic: Thai Art in the Age of Constraint and Coercion; Death Before Dying: the Return of Montien Boonma, the National Gallery, Bangkok; Show Me Thai, Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo; Thai Transience, Singapore Art Museum; and Thai selections at Venice Biennale, Art-Asia Pacific Triennial, Sydney Biennale, Johannesburg Biennale, Havana Biennale, Liverpool Biennale, Istanbul Biennale, Sao Paulo Biennale, Yokohama Triennale, Echigo-Tsumari Triennale. He was guest curator, Thai Charisma: Heritage + Creative Power, Bangkok Art and Culture Centre, 2014.
Poshyananda has lectured extensively on contemporary art in Asia, Europe, Australia and USA. He was awarded Residencies by the Asian Cultural Council, New York and the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center in 2000 and received the Outstanding National Researcher Award from the National Research Council of Thailand in 2002.

Marco Kusmawijaya

Director, Rujak Center for Urban Studies

An architect and urbanist, has been focusing on sustainable architecture, urbanism and arts for the last 15 years.
In 2003 he directed collaborative workshops with architects and artists that produced "Imagining Jakarta" exhibition.
In 2005 he co-curated the 2nd CP Biennale "Urban/Culture".
He was chair of Jakarta Arts Council in July 2006 - January 2010.
He co-founded Rujak Center for Urban Studies in 2010 to promote thinking and practices on sustainability.
In 2012 he built Bumi Pemuda Rahayu sustainability learning center in a village near Yogyakarta to house workshops and residency programs for works with communities and ecological issues, including urban-rural relationship.
In 2013 he co-produced the Indonesian section of "Smart City" exhibition at AEDES, Berlin. He is curating an artist expedition Liwuto Pasi to the marine national park of Wakatobi Islands on board WWF's boat to take place in November 15-30, 2014.

Karndee Leopairote

Assistant Professor, Thammasat Business School / Executive Director, the Future Innovative Thailand Institute

An assistant professor at the Department of Operations Management, Thammasat Business School and an executive director of the Future Innovative Thailand Institute.
She plays a lead role in Policy Design Lab – Thailand Blueprint Initiative 2020, to enhance the local wisdom and the public participation, and to propose the national policy innovation.
Karndee also plays an active role in driving city innovation initiatives for Bangkok Metropolitan Administration through series of Bangkok Renewal and Innovation Workshops and Forums.
Previously, she served as an advisor Software Industry Promotion Agency and the Deputy Minister of Commerce responsible for the development of creative economy policies and initiatives, and has been actively involved in framing out creative economy policy at the national level.
As an academic and a thought leader in Thailand, Karndee has put her continuing effort in public service to improve innovative mindsets and creative businesses to the SMEs and the future generation. She holds BEng in Industrial Engineering from Sirindhorn International Institute of Technology, Thammasat University, MS and PhD in Industrial Engineering from University of Wisconsin – Madison, USA.

Jason Hsu

Curator, Shareable Cities & TEDxTaipei / Co-founder, MakerBar

Co-founder of The Big Questions, an innovation consultancy that focuses on city innovation and data visualization.
Jason also curates TEDxTaipei conference and serves as TEDx Ambassador for Asia.
Jason is passionate about using storytelling and new media to change the way information is perceived.
Jason also co-founded MakerBarTaipei and currently serves as Chief Catalyst.
MakerBar is Taiwan's leading hardware / software integration incubator.

Gunalan Nadarajan

Dean, The Penny W. Stamps of Art and Design at University of Michigan

An art theorist and curator working at the intersections of art, science and technology, is Dean of the Penny W. Stamps School of Art and Design at the University of Michigan. Prior to joining U-M, he was Vice Provost for Research and Graduate Studies at the Maryland Institute College of Arts.
His publications include Ambulations (2000), Construction Site (edited; 2004) and Contemporary Art in Singapore (co-authored; 2007), Place Studies in Art, Media, Science and Technology: Historical Investigations on the Sites and Migration of Knowledge (co-edited; 2009), The Handbook of Visual Culture (co-edited; 2012) and over 100 book chapters, catalogue essays, academic articles and reviews.
His writings have also been translated into 14 languages.
He has curated twenty international exhibitions including Ambulations (Singapore, 1999), 180KG (Jogjakarta, 2002), media_city (Seoul, 2002), Negotiating Spaces (Auckland, 2004) and DenseLocal (Mexico City, 2009).
He was contributing curator for Documenta XI (Kassel, Germany, 2002) and the Singapore Biennale (2006) and served on the jury of a number of international exhibitions, like ISEA2004 (Helsinki / Talinn), transmediale 05 (Berlin), ISEA2006 (San Jose) and FutureEverything Festival (Manchester, 2009).
He was Artistic Co-Director of the Ogaki Biennale 2006, Japan and Artistic Director of ISEA2008 (International Symposium on Electronic Art) in Singapore.
He is active in the development of media arts internationally and has previously served on the Board of Directors of the Inter Society for Electronic Art and is on the Advisory Board of the Database of Virtual Art.
He is currently on the Board of Directors of the College Art Association.
Presently, he is also working on a National Science Foundation funded initiative to develop a national network in the US for collaborative research, education and creative practice between sciences, engineering, arts and design.
In 2004, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Art.

Toshiyuki Inoko

Founder of teamLab

Toshiyuki Inoko, Founder of teamLab was born in Tokushima City in 1977. He graduated from the University of Tokyo in 2001, from the Department of Mathematical Engineering and Information Physics.
He attended the University of Tokyo Graduate School of Interdisciplinary Information Studies before leaving in 2004. teamLab is an Ultra-technologists group made up of specialists including; Programmers, Hardware Engineers, Mathematicians, Architects, CG Animators, and more.
http://www.team-lab.net/en

Selected Exhibitions:
2014 teamLab and Kagawa DIGITAL ART FESTA IN SUMMER, Sun Port
Takamatsu Seto Sea Pallet / Takamatsu City Museum of Art / e-topia-kagawa, Kagawa, Japan
2014 teamLab: Ultra Subjective Space, Pace Gallery New York, New York, America
2014 teamLab and Saga Merry-go-round Exhibition,
2013 Distilling Senses: A Journey through Art and Technology in Asian Contemporary Art, Hong Kong Arts Centre, Hong Kong, China,
2013 SINGAPORE BIENNALE 2013: If The World Changed
2011 WE ARE THE FUTURE teamLab exhibition, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taichung
2011 LIVE! teamLab exhibition, Kaikai Kiki Gallery Taipei, Taipei, Taiwan

Tetsuya Mizuguchi

Founder, Resonair / Project Professor, Keio University Graduate School of Media Design

Along with his pursuit of research on the links between human desires and media, Tetsuya Mizuguchi engages in a wide range of creative activities in synesthesia around the globe, spanning genres such as video games, music, music videos, and live performances. His works include Space Channel 5 (1999), Rez (2001), Lumines (2004), and Child of Eden (2010).
He leads Genki Rockets, a synesthesia performance project that blends music with video imagery, and has produced a variety of lives, including a holographic musical performance that served as the opening act to the Live Earth concert in Tokyo in 2007, and make.believe 3D Live, an event that fused Sony's 3D technology with live music.

His accolades include an Honorary Mention in the Interactive Art division of the 2002 Ars Electronica award and a Special Prize in the Agency for Cultural Affairs' Japan Media Arts Festival (both in recognition of Rez).
In 2006, he was selected by the Producers Guild of America and The Hollywood Reporter for their annual "Digital Power 50," a list of fifty prominent innovators in digital media.
He headed the panel of judges for the Entertainment division of the 2007 Japan Media Arts Festival, and served on the jury for the 2009 Japan Prize and for the 2010 Art Encouragement Prizes.
He is also a Research Associate for Sapporo Media Arts Lab.

Kittiratana Pitipanich

Director, Design and Creative Business Development Department, Thailand Creative & Design Center

Kittiratana Pitipanich is a designer, architect and educator. He earned Master’s degrees in architecture and urban design from UCLA and Columbia University. During his six-year tenure as Chairperson of the School of Architecture at Assumption University, he opened his design studio and lifestyle brand “Everyday Life Elements.” His multidisciplinary experience led to his appointment in 2005 as the Director of Design and Creative Business Development at Thailand Creative and Design Center under the Office of the Prime Minister, responsible for developing creative businesses and professionals. His work at TCDC includes research on the Creative Economy of Thailand—which was later used as the foundation for setting up policy on development of creative industries in Thailand’s 11th National Development Plan—as well as creative mapping, international symposium, online design community, service design for Thailand High-Speed Train, and Bangkok-Global Government Jam. In 2014, his work was recognized as the “Movement of the Year” by the Thai edition of the magazine Wallpaper.

Venzha Christ

Media Artist, Director of HONF Foundation

Venzha Christ has focused on new media art since 1999 and founded “HONF’lab, yogyakarta new media art laboratory,” a space for sharing and growing ideas in the field of media art (renamed HONF Foundation in 2011). This center brings together a broad spectrum of society—including artists, creative practitioners, scientist, hackers, activists, and the general public—in an exploratory and responsive dialogue that is determined to fuse education, art and technology with local communities without cultural limitations. He has produced and organized many projects, such as public art installations, media performances, media art festivals, technology research, a videowork festival, workshops and discussions on media + science + technology, DIY gatherings, and electronic and media culture movements, among others. Venzha is also the initiator and founder of v.u.f.o.c (an extraterrestrial study center), EFP platform, the Micronation/Macronation project, and the Electrocore sound + research project. He and and fellow members of his artistic community present media art projects in many places around the world. HONF produces special projects in media art under the Education Focus Program (EFP), the goal of which is to build connections and interactions between local/creative communities (whose interest and focus is on new media), scientists, and creators/artists. A second innovative aim is to make a connection between universities/laboratories with expertise in technology and media artists/theorists who are interested in new media art and technology. Herewith, he tries to reinforce interest in and analysis of technology in artistic production and theory. He seeks to build new bridges between art and technology in Indonesia together with HONF. Venzha has also served as a conceptor and director for Cellsbutton (Yogyakarta International Media Art Festival) since 2007, and launched a new platform for Open Culture and Critical Making this year (2014), both of which will be produced and organized by HONF every year. Links: http://natural-fiber.com , http://honfablab.org , http://vufoc.net

Richard Streitmatter-Tran

Artist / Director of Dia/Projects, Ho Chi Minh City / Senior Lecturer, RMIT University Vietnam

An artist living and working in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. He received his degree in the Studio for Interrelated Media (SIM) at the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston.
His work, solo and collaborative, has been exhibited in several cities in the United States, Europe and Asia including the Asia Triennial Manchester 2011, 4th Guangzhou Triennale, 52nd Venice Biennale; the Shenzhen & Hong Kong Bi-city Biennale of Urbanism and Architecture, the Singapore Biennale 2006 and 2008; the 2004 Gwangju Biennale; 2005 Pocheon Asian Art Festival; ZKM Center for Art Media Karlsruhe, Singapore Art Museum, 10 Chancery Lane Gallery (Hong Kong), Eslite Gallery (Taiwan), Asia Art Now at Arario Beijing, the Hugh Lane Gallery, Chula Art Gallery at Chulalongkorn University & Asiatopia Performance Art Festival in Bangkok, Art Tech Media 06 in Barcelona, Ifa Gallery (Beijing), and Kandada Art Space (Tokyo).
Writing, criticism and curatorial projects include The Rotterdam Dialogues at Witte de With, Synapse at Haus der Kulturen in Berlin, and "The Mekong" at the Asia Pacific Triennial (APT6) in 2009, The Times Museum, Guangzhou and the Asian Arts Spaces Network in Gwangju in 2012 .
He was an Asia Pacific correspondent for Art.Es (Madrid) and Ho Chi Minh City editor for Contemporary (London). He received the 2005 Martell Contemporary Asian Art Research Grant in 2005 with the Asia Art Archive in Hong Kong for his year-long research project, Mediating the Mekong. A speaker on contemporary art at the Harvard Project for Asian and International Relations (HPAIR) in Tokyo 2005. He was a TA at Harvard University (2000-2004), conducted media arts research at the MIT Media Lab (2000), and Visiting Lecturer at the Ho Chi Minh Fine Arts University in 2003 prior to his current work as Senior Lecturer (Design) at RMIT University Vietnam.
In 2010, he established DIA/PROJECTS, a contemporary art experiment in Saigon.

Kevin Slavin

Assistant Professor, Media Arts and Sciences, MIT Media Lab

As an entrepreneur, Kevin Slavin has successfully integrated digital media, game development, technology, and design. He is a pioneer in rethinking game design and development around new technologies (like GPS) and new platforms (like Facebook).
In 2005 he co-founded Area/Code (acquired by Zynga in 2011), where he developed large-scale, real-world games using mobile, pervasive, and location-aware technologies. This included work for major companies, including Nokia, Nike, and Puma, and also for media giants, including MTV, A&E, the Discovery Channel, CBSl, and Disney. He co-founded AFK Labs in 2008, designing next-generation responsive environments, including one for what was then the largest and densest sensor mesh on the planet.
Slavin argues that we’re living in a world designed for–and increasingly controlled by–algorithms. His very popular TED talk, “How Algorithms Shape Our World,” has received over 2 million views. He frequently delivers keynote addresses and has spoken at international venues such as the Royal Society of Art, Aspen Institute, BBC, and MIP/Cannes.
Slavin has taught at NYU’s ITP, the Cooper Union, and Fabrica, and has worked as a creative director and strategic planner in advertising agencies, including DDB and TBWA\Chiat\Day. He is currently working on producing a TV show for network broadcast. As an artist, his public, city-scale work has been exhibited in Frankfurt’s Museum fuer Moderne Kunst and the Design Museum of London. He has been written about in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, Wired, and Fast Company. He received his BFA from the Cooper Union.

Andrew "bunnie" Huang

Open Hardware Designer

bunnie loves to design and undesign hardware. His past work includes discovering and publishing security exploits on the original Xbox, designing silicon chips for various startups, and designing and manufacturing the hardware behind chumby. He spends a lot of time in Shenzhen exploring the lesser-known aspects of hardware supply chains. He got his start in hardware in part because his Apple II came with schematics, and he is hoping to enable others to follow his path by providing a contemporary computer with open documentation.

Connor Dickie

Co-Founder & CEO, Synbiota Inc.

Connor Dickie is a multi patent-holding inventor and entrepreneur with a deep interest in media and technology.
Connor co-founded Synbiota to accelerate the development of new medicines, materials, food and fuel by combining Synthetic Biology and the Open Web.
Connor's past inventions include display technology that embeds hidden messages, and a television that plays only when you look at it - now Samsung's "Smart Pause" feature.
Connor is alumnus of Singularity University and the MIT Media Lab where he was a Visiting Scholar, and most recently he was a Fellow at Mozilla Labs, and co-founder of BricoBio, Montréal's DIYbio community.

Peter Bishop

Professor of Urban Design, The Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London　

Peter trained in town planning at the University of Manchester and was Director of Planning in central London for 25 years dealing with major developments such as Canary Wharf and the Kings Cross Railway lands.
In 2007 he was appointed the first Director of Design for London, the Mayor's architecture and design studio, and then deputy CEO of the London Development Agency.
In these roles he developed new public space schemes, new housing design policies and produced masterplans for the long term legacy from the London Olympics and major regeneration strategies for east London.
In 2011 he joined the architecture firm, Allies and Morrison as a director and was appointed Professor of Urban Design at The Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London.
In 2011 he wrote "The Bishop Review" on design standards for the UK Government.
His book on temporary architecture "The Temporary City" was published in 2012.

Vishaan Chakrabarti

Holliday Professor and Director, Center for Urban Real Estate, Columbia University / Partner, SHoP Architects

The Holliday Associate Professor of Real Estate Development and the Director of CURE, the Center for Urban Real Estate, at Columbia University's Graduate School of Architecture, Planning & Preservation.
Simultaneously, Professor Chakrabarti is a Partner at SHoP Architects where he advances large-scale projects worldwide.
He is the author of a recently published book called, "A Country of Cities" from Metropolis/DAP Books 2013.
The book is "A Manifesto for an Urban America", in which a future of Trains, Towers and Trees is envisioned as a prosperous, sustainable and equitable alternative to our current failing condition of Highways, Houses, and Hedges.
Prior to joining Columbia and SHoP, Chakrabarti was an Executive Vice President at the Related Companies where he ran the Moynihan Station project and oversaw planning and design for the firm's extensive development portfolio including Hudson Yards.
In addition, Chakrabarti was the inaugural Jaquelin T. Robertson Visiting Professor in Architecture for the University of Virginia in 2009.
From 2002 to 2005, Chakrabarti served as the Director of the Manhattan Office for the New York Department of City Planning.
Prior to his work with the City, Chakrabarti was an Associate Partner and Director of Urban Design at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, as well as a transportation planner at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
Chakrabarti holds a Master of Architecture from the University of California at Berkeley, a Master of City Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and dual Bachelors' degrees in Art History and Engineering from Cornell University.
He serves on the boards of the Architectural League of New York and Enterprise Community Partners, is a trustee of the Citizens Budget Commission, and is an emeritus board member of Friends of the High Line. He is also a member of the Young Leaders Forum of the National Council on US-China Relations.
Metropolis Magazine named Chakrabarti one of the top 12 "Game Changers" for 2012.
Chakrabarti is a David Rockefeller Fellow and was a Crain's "40 under 40" in 2000.

Dominique Perrault

Architect and Urban Planner / Founder of Dominique Perrault Architecture / Professor at the EPFL / Member of the Grand Paris Scientific Council

One of the major figures in French architecture, Dominique Perrault is first renowned as the author of the French National Library in Paris, a 365,000m² project for which he won the competition in 1989 at the age of 36. His most applauded works include large public institutions such as the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg, the Ewha Womans University in Seoul, and Olympic centers in both Berlin and Madrid. He has received over 30 international awards and the body of his work has been gathered in several solo exhibitions, including displays at the Centre Pompidou Paris and at the Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery. As curator of the French Pavilion for the 2010 Venice Biennale, Perrault invited scientists and experts to introduce the question of Big Data for designing smarter connected cities.
Dominique Perrault Architecture’s presence in Japan is very diverse, ranging from premium corporate developments such as the Fukoku Life Insurance Tower in central Osaka, to cultural projects such as the outdoor Noh Theater in the Kaino River Park of Tokamachi in Niigata.

Christophe Girard

Mayor of the 4th district of Paris / former Deputy Mayor in charge of Culture from 2001 to 2012 / Initiator of "Nuit Blanche" event

Born in February 1956, Christophe Girard seems to have lived multiple lives. As a teenager, he fell in love with the Japanese culture and studied the Japanese language in Paris before moving to Tokyo – the very first of his numerous travels to the Archipelago.
He spent most of his career as a top executive in international companies such as Yves Saint Laurent and LVMH.
From 1999 to 2001, he was Chairman of the Board of the former American Center in Paris. He also produces wine in France.

Politics is simply another step taken in a life dedicated to promoting the arts, culture and equal rights.
In 2001, he is appointed Deputy Mayor in charge of Culture by former Mayor of Paris Bertrand Delanoë.
During his term, culture enjoyed a clear revival in the French capital: innovative projects such as "Nuit Blanche" – that is now worldwide known and imitated – were implemented.

In 2012, Girard became Mayor of the 4th district and has been re-elected this year, in March. As such, he keeps on fighting for the causes he has been advocating all his life such as the European Union, equal rights for same-sex couples, culture and is dedicated to fighting against all discriminations.
He is an activist for education. He has written three books and a novel : Père comme les Autres (2006), La Défaillance des Pudeurs (2006), Le Petit Livre Rouge de la Culture (2012) and L'Equinoxe du 11 septembre (2011).

Justine Simons

Head of Culture for the Mayor of London / Chair of the World Cities Cultural Forum

As Head of Culture for the Mayor of London for over a decade, Justine has played a central role in the cultural revitalization of London - with Mayors from both sides of the political spectrum.
She leads London’s Cultural Policy, founded the World Cities Culture Forum - a major global initiative on culture and the future of cities involving 25 cities around the world. She believes culture is the essential ingredient in cities and that no city can succeed and thrive in the 21st century without it.
She shaped the Mayor’s Investment Strategy for the Creative Industries which covers film, fashion and design. As well as overseeing City Hall’s work across music, theatre, international cultural exchange, visual arts, cultural policy and arts in the public realm Justine spearheaded the largest cultural festival ever staged in London for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. She has built the Fourth Plinth Commission into the UK’s biggest sculpture prize and chairs the Big Dance, the world’s biggest participatory dance festival, now in 23 countries.
Prior to the Mayor’s Office, Justine worked in the field of contemporary dance for ten years with a variety of leading venues. She serves on the boards of the British Fashion Council, British Film Commission, London Design Festival, Artichoke Trust. She is Chair of the World Cities Culture Forum and Vice Chair of Mayor’s Thames Festival.

Carsten Nicolai

Artist

In his work Carsten Nicolai, born 1965 in Karl-Marx-Stadt, seeks to overcome the separation of art forms and genres in favor of an integrated artistic approach. Influenced by scientific reference systems, Nicolai often uses mathematical patterns, such as grids and codes, as well as error, random and self-organising structures.
After his participation in important international exhibitions like "documenta X" and the "49th and 50th Venice Biennial", Nicolai's works were shown in two comprehensive solo exhibitions at Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, Germany (anti reflex), at Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin (syn chron) in 2005, at Haus Konstruktiv, Zurich (static fades) in 2007 and at CAC, Vilnius (pionier) in 2011. In 2013 he received the Grand Prize at the 17th Japan Media Arts Festival.
Carsten Nicolai is represented by Galerie EIGEN + ART in Leipzig/Berlin, the Pace Gallery and Galleria Lorcan O'Neill in Rome.
Under the pseudonym noto, Carsten Nicolai experiments with sound to create his own code of signs, acoustic and visual symbols. As alva noto, he leads those experiments into the field of electronic music. Besides performing in club and concert halls, Nicolai presented his audio-visual pieces at museums such as Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Centre Pompidou in Paris, Kunsthaus Graz and Tate Modern in London. He also pursues projects with diverse artists such as Ryuichi Sakamoto, Yoji Ikeda (cyclo.), Blixa Bargeld (anbb) and Michael Nyman. His latest musical project with Olaf Bender (byetone) is called Diamond Version and is released on mute records.

Seiichi Saito

Rhizomatiks / Creative & Technical Director

Born in Kanagawa in 1975, Mr. Saito began his career in New York in 2000 after graduating from Columbia University with a Master of Science degree in Advanced Architectural Design (MSAAD).
Since then, he has been active in creative work at the Arnell Group, and returned to Japan upon being selected for the Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennial event.
He produces works in the commercial art field which are three-dimensional and interactive while also being based on the firm grounding in logical thought that he cultivated through architecture.
Mr. Saito has won numerous international awards at the 2009-2012.
He currently serves as Director of Rhizomatiks Co., Ltd., while also lecturing part-time at the Department of Architecture in the Faculty of Science and Technology at Tokyo University of Science.
2013 D&AD "Digital Design" Jury, 2014 Cannes LIONS "Branded Content and Entertainment" jury.

Heizo Takenaka

Professor, Keio University / Chairman, Institute for Urban Strategies, The Mori Memorial Foundation / Director, Academyhills

Heizo Takenaka is Professor and Director of the Global Security Research Institute at Keio University. He is also Chairman of the Institute for Urban Strategies at The Mori Memorial Foundation and Director of Academyhills.

In 2001, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi named him the Minister of Economic/Fiscal Policy, the Minister of both Financial Services and Economic/Fiscal Policy in 2002, the Minister of both Economic / Fiscal Policy and Privatization of the Postal Services in 2004, the Minister of both Internal Affairs and Communication, and Privatization of the Postal Services in 2005. The following year, he returned to academia, leaving both the Cabinet and the House of Councilors when Prime Minister Koizumi resigned.

He received his B.A. in Economics from Hitotsubashi University and his Ph.D. in Economics from Osaka University. His academic experience is numerous, including Visiting Associate Professor of Harvard University in 1989, and Professor of Faculty of Policy Management at Keio University in 1996.

He is the author of numerous books, including "The Structural Reforms of the Koizumi Cabinet".

Joichi Ito

Director, MIT Media Lab

Joichi Ito is the Director of the MIT Media Lab. He is a Board Member of Sony Corporation, The New York Times Company, The MacArthur Foundation, The Knight Foundation, The Mozilla Foundation and co-founder and board member of Digital Garage an Internet company in Japan.
He has created numerous Internet companies including PSINet Japan, Digital Garage and Infoseek Japan and was an early stage investor in Twitter, Six Apart, Wikia, Flickr, Last.fm, Kickstarter, Path and other Internet companies.
He is the Guild Custodian of the World of Warcraft guild, We Know (http://weknow.to/). He is a PADI IDC Staff Instructor, an Emergency First Responder Instructor and a Divers Alert Network (DAN) Instructor Trainer.

Ito was named by Businessweek as one of the 25 Most Influential People on the Web in 2008. In 2011, he was chosen by Foreign Policy Magazine as one of the "Top 100 Global Thinkers".
In 2011, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Oxford Internet Institute in recognition of his role as one of the world's leading advocates of Internet freedom.
In 2011 and 2012, Ito was chosen by Nikkei Business as one of the 100 most influential people for the future of Japan.
Ito received the degree of Doctor of Literature, honoris causa, from The New School in 2013.
On March 11, 2014, Ito was inducted into the SXSW Interactive Festival Hall of Fame.

Hiroo Ichikawa

Dean and Professor, Professional Graduate School of Governance Studies, Meiji University / Executive Director, The Mori Memorial Foundation

Hiroo Ichikawa, PhD is currently Dean at the Professional Graduate Schools and Dean at the Graduate School of Governance Studies, Meiji University, Tokyo, Japan. He is also an Executive Director at The Mori Memorial Foundation. He majors in urban policy, urban and regional planning and risk management. He has been appointed as chairmen and committee members of Japanese national and local governments such as Urban Planning Council.

Ichikawa graduated from Waseda University with a Bachelor of Architecture and later earned a Master of Urban Planning degree at Waseda University. He continued his study at University of Waterloo in Canada where he was granted a Ph.D. from this institution in Urban and Regional Planning.

He is an author of Future Urban Strategy for Tokyo (2012), Lessons from Japanese Disaster (2011), Creating Japan's Future (2010), Global Front Tokyo: Achieving its world leading status (2007), Urban Space as Culture (2007), Encyclopedia of Metropolitan Tokyo (2002), The Conflicting Futures of the Tokyo Metropolitan Region (2001), Future of Tokyo as Matured Society (1998), Objecting the Relocation of Capital Function (1999), Tokyo's Future reformed by Relocation of Capital and Decentralization (1995), A City of Attractive Diversity and Flexible Form (1994), and Future of World Cities and their Development of Infrastructure – New York, London and Paris (1992).

Fumio Nanjo

Director, Mori Art Museum

Fumio Nanjo (b.1949 in Tokyo) is the director of Mori Art Museum since November in 2006.
He graduated from Keio University in the faculty of Economics (1972) and Letters (Aesthetics/Art History;1977), where he has been teaching the courses in "art management" and "art & society" since 1991.
He organized numerous exhibitions as an officer of the Japan Foundation Asia Center (1978-1986), as the director of ICA Nagoya (1986-1990), as the representative director of Nanjo and Associates (1990-2002), and as the deputy director of Mori Art Museum(2002-2006).
His main achievements include commissioner of the Japan Pavilion at the Venice Biennale(1997), commissioner at the Taipei Biennale(1998), member of jury committee of the Turner Prize(1998), artistic director of the Yokohama Triennale 2001, jury member of the Golden Lion Prize of the Venice Biennale(2005) and artistic director of the Singapore Biennale(2006/2008).
He also served as a consultant on several public art and corporate art projects including "Shinjuku I-LAND" Public Art Projects(Tokyo/1995), Hakata Riverain Art Project(Fukuoka/1999), Art Project for Obayashi Corporation Head Office(Tokyo/1999), and VIVO City Art Project(Singapore/2006).
He is the member of CIMAM(International).