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Biographies

Nasser Saleh Al Marzouqi Chairman ITU-T Study Group 20: Internet of things (IoT) and smart cities and communities (SC&C) Mr. Nasser Al Marzouqi is the Chairman of the ITU-T Study Group 20 “Internet of things (IoT) and smart cities and communities (SC&C)” which provides the specialized IoT standardization platform necessary for the convergence to rest on a cohesive set of international standards. The focus of the research conducted by ITU-T Study Group 20 will be on identifying and analyzing emerging applications and global solutions for IoT and smart cities, which will contribute to improving the interoperability of various IoT-based technologies, a key factor in ensuring end-user and market acceptance of IoT solutions. Nasser Al Marzouqi is currently working for the Telecommunication Regulatory Authority in the United Arab Emirates in the International Affairs Division. He also functions as the UAE representative to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and has been closely involved in the major ITU conferences and events. He received his Master’s degree in Telecommunication Engineering from Latrobe University in Australia. The TRA in the UAE has been at the forefront of pioneering developments in the field of ICT and in providing an optimal enabling environment in which the UAE’s ICT sector can flourish. Mr. Al Marzouqi is a firm proponent of converting existing systems to high-efficiency systems, helping to bridge the digital divide and to increase global communication and the transition to smart sustainable cities
Cristina Bueti Counsellor, ITU Cristina Bueti is the ITU Focal Point on Environment and Smart Sustainable Cities. She is also the Counsellor of ITU-T Study Group 20 “Internet of things (IoT) and smart cities and communities (SC&C)” at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). She also serves as TSB/ITU focal point for Latin America. Cristina Bueti graduated from the Faculty of Political Science, Law and International Cooperation and Development of the University of Florence, where she completed postgraduate studies in International Cooperation and Telecommunications Law in Europe. She also holds a specialization in Environmental Law with a special focus on Telecommunications. In 2003, Ms. Bueti built on her academic credentials by completing a specialized course in peace keeping and international cooperation with special focus on telecommunications at the Faculty of Laws, University of Malta, before joining the International Telecommunication Union in Geneva in January 2004. As part of the International Women's Day 2016, she was named as one of the twenty Geneva-based inspirational women working to protect the environment. She has authored over 40 reports on telecommunication issues. A native Italian speaker, Cristina is also fluent in English, French and Spanish.
Ayona Datta Professor, University College London, UK Ayona Datta is Professor in Urban Geography in University College London, UK. Her research interests are in gender citizenship, urban futures and smart cities in the global South. In particular, she is interested in how cities seek to transform themselves through utopian urban visions of the future and their impacts on everyday social, material and gendered geographies. She is author of ‘The Illegal City: Space, law and gender in a Delhi squatter settlement’ (2012), co-editor of ‘Translocal Geographies: Spaces, places, connections’ (2011) and ‘Mega-Urbanization in the Global South: Fast Cities and New Urban Utopias’ (2016), as well as over 60 papers in international peer reviewed journals. Ayona is editor of Urban Geography journal, on the Trustees’ Board of the IJURR Foundation and on the editorial boards of the journals Antipode; Digital Geography and Society and EPD: Society and Space. A key impact of her work has been in the co-production of gendered local knowledge with young women in low-income settlements, thus addressing SDGs #5: Gender Equality and #11: Sustainable Cities and Communities. For her contributions to understanding of smart cities through fieldwork she received the Busk Medal from Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) in 2019.
Michael Donaldson Commissioner of Technological Innovation, Electronic Administration and Good Governance of the Barcelona City Council Michael Donaldson is the Commissioner of Technological Innovation, Electronic Administration and Good Governance of the Barcelona City Council. He has a law degree and a master's degree in public management. He has worked as director of strategic planning and central services in the municipalities of Rubí and Gavà. He is a trainer in open government and transparency issues and has published several articles and chapters of public management.
Bilel Jamoussi Chief of Study Group Department, TSB, ITU Tunisian born, Dr. Bilel Jamoussi is Chief of the Study Groups Department of ITU Standardization Bureau in Geneva Switzerland. Since 2010, he has been leading the bureau’s standards making activities into a new era characterized by rapid convergence and the need for increased collaboration with vertical sectors and partnership between developed and developing countries. Prior to 2010, Jamoussi worked for a Telecommunication equipment and solutions provider for 15 years in Canada and then in the United States where he held several leadership positions and was granted 22 US patents in diverse areas including packet, optical, wireless, and quality of service. He holds a BSc, MSc and PhD degrees in Computer Engineering from the Pennsylvania State University, USA. He is fluent in Arabic, French, and English and speaks some Spanish and German.
Mohammad Reza Kalaei Mayor of Mashhad Mohammad Reza Kalaei was born in 1980 in Mashhad. He was elected as the Mayor of Mashhad in 2018. Kalaei hold a PhD degree in Economics from Ferdowsi University of Mashhad. Some of his executive positions are as follows: - Deputy of Finance and Support of Mashhad Municipality - Deputy Planning Deputy of Tehran Municipality - Runner for Islamic parliament of Iran in 2016 from district of Mashhad - Deputy of Iran Steel Pension Fund Head of the Monitoring and Evaluation Office of the Economic - Deputy of the Ministry of Cooperatives, Labor and Social Welfare - Director of Planning and Supervision of Economic Affairs of Mashhad Municipality - Founding member and board of directors of Abu Muslim Khorasan Black Premier League Club - Economic consultant of the third term of the Islamic Council of Mashhad
Mochamad Ridwan Kamil Governor of West Java, Indonesia Mochamad Ridwan Kamil, ST. MUD (Born in Bandung, October 4th, 1971); is a Mayor of Bandung for 2013-2018. His background is an architect, lecturer, and social activist. He graduated from Architecture Engineering of Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) and achieved Master Degree from University of California, Berkeley. After finishing his master program, he began his professional career in several firms in The United States of America and has built more than fifty (50) projects of architecture and urban design in America, Middle East and Asia. Through his own firm, he has nationally and internationally won more than 20 competitions and awards. Education -Banjarsari III Elementary School, Bandung 1978-1984 -Junior High School 2 of Bandung 1984-1987 -Senior High School 3 of Bandung 1987-1990 -Architecture Engineering of Bandung Institute of Technology 1990-1995 -Master of Urban Design, University of California, Berkeley 1999-2001
Barbara Kolm Vice President, Austrian Central Bank Dr. Barbara Kolm, Vice President of the Austrian Central Bank, is founding Director of the Austrian Economics Center and the Free Market Road Show and serves as CEO in private enterprises as well as NGOs and teaches at universities. Main fields of her academic work are efficiency processes, transparency, financial and legal foundations of administrative and state institutions – on regional, national and supranational level and provides expertise on smart structural reforms and creation of sustainable growth. She is a frequent speaker at international conferences and serves as board member of several economic and academic associations e.g. Vienna Insurance Group Versicherungsverein, WU (Business University Vienna). . She was appointed Vice-Chair of the UN ITU Focus Group on Environmental Efficiency for Artificial Intelligence and other Emerging Technologies (AI4EE) and Chair of the Thematic Group on the United for Smart Sustainable City Index. She is the recipient of the Global Network Award from the German Hayek Society (2019), an Honorary PhD from the University of Donja Gorica (2019), and the Global IP Award for Excellence in Advocacy by the Global Intellectual Property Rights and Innovation Center of the US Chamber of Commerce (2016), amongst other distinctions.
Davor Meersman CEO, Open & Agile Smart Cities Davor Meersman is CEO of Open & Agile Smart Cities (OASC). OASC is a not-for-profit city network that addresses global societal challenges by uniting cities and communities around a set of Minimal Interoperability Mechanisms (MIMs). MIMs are lightweight mechanisms based on open standards that enable cities across the world to share each others' solutions, services, and data to solve common problems. OASC counts 156 cities in 31 countries and has partnerships with the European Commission, the United Nations, the World Economic Forum and other leading international institutions. Davor is a global change maker with more than 15 years of international experience in setting up leading infrastructures and organisations on the forefront of technological innovation. He is a member of the United Nations SDG 11 Global Council, member of the European Commission's Steering Committee on Advanced Technologies for Industry, member of the Advisory Board of the ETSI Task Force on Citizen-Centric Standards, Ambassador of ISSIP, and a judge and mentor for Belgium's largest start-up incubator programme Start-It KBC (500+ startups). He holds a PhD in Information Systems from Curtin University, Australia.
Neil Sahota IBM Master Inventor and World Wide Business Development Leader, IBM Watson Group Neil Sahota (萨冠军) is an IBM Master Inventor and World Wide Business Development Leader in the IBM Watson Group. With 15+ years of business experience, he works with clients and business partners to create next generation products/solutions powered by Watson. Prior to this role, he was a Thought Leader Consultant and Practice Leader in IBM Global Business Services where he was responsible for the sales and delivery of complex consulting engagements spanning business strategy, new product development, revenue optimization, process improvement, and business and system integration. His work experience spans multiple industries including healthcare, life sciences, retail, travel and transportation, energy and utilities, automotive, telecommunications, media/communication, and government. Moreover, Neil is one of the few IBMers selected for IBM's Corporate Service Corps leadership program that pairs leaders with NGOs to perform community driven economic development projects. For his assignment, Neil lived and worked in Ningbo, China where he partnered with Chinese corporate CEOs to create a leadership development program. He also actively volunteers with nonprofits for event management, fund raising, grant reviews, and site visits. Neil is an active member of the UCI Alumni Association and serves on the Board of Directors for the Orange County Marathon, supporting their work with the OC Kids program in fighting childhood obesity.
Shipra Narang Suri Chief, Urban Practices Branch, UN-Habitat, Nairobi Dr. Shipra Narang Suri is an urban planner with a Ph.D. in Post-War Recovery Studies from the University of York, UK. She leads UN-Habitat’s Urban Practices Branch, which is the hub for UN-Habitat’s normative work and the home of its portfolio of global programmes. The work of the Branch covers all major areas of UN-Habitat’s work such as national urban policies; legislation and governance; urban planning and design; planning and health; public space; urban regeneration; land, housing and shelter; urban economy and finance; urban basic services; safer cities; human rights and social inclusion. Shipra is also the senior advisor within UN-Habitat for local governments and their networks. Shipra has extensive experience in advising national and local governments, as well as private sector organisations and networks, on issues of urban planning and management, good urban governance and indicators, livability and sustainability of cities, urban safety, women and cities, as well as post-conflict/ post-disaster recovery. She has worked with the United Nations, specifically, UN-HABITAT, UNDP, and UNESCO, as well as international NGOs such as World Vision, and private sector organisations, for over two decades. She is a regular public speaker at national and international fora, and has several publications to her credit. Twitter: @ShipraSuri ● LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/shipranarangsuri