Agenda

Zach is a Senior Insights Manager with the GSMA Mobile for Development Digital Utilities Programme. His work focuses on how digital solutions can be leveraged to accelerate access to affordable, reliable, safe and sustainable urban utility services in low- and middle-income countries. Zach has spent a decade working in applied research in digital and essential services for a range of organisations including: WaterAid, the Collaborative African Budget Reform Initiative (CABRI), DfID/FCDO, the World Bank, various UN agencies, and USAID. He has published over 50 papers in the peer-reviewed and grey literature, including award winning UN evaluations, work published by the governments of Kenya and Malawi, and work published in the Journal of Development Economics and by the Standford Woods Institute. 

Cristina Bueti is the ITU Focal Point on Smart Sustainable Cities and AI-powered Virtual Worlds. She is also the Counsellor of ITU-T Study Group 20 “Internet of Things, digital twins and smart sustainable cities and communities” and 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. 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 ten Geneva-based inspirational women working to protect the environment. She has authored over 40 reports on telecommunication and emerging technology issues. A native Italian speaker, Cristina is also fluent in English, French and Spanish.

Amb. András Szörényi is Senior Policy Advisor at the Global Cities Hub, an organization connecting local and regional governments to the United Nations system. He provides consultancy to UN entities on advocacy and diplomatic outreach. He had 20 years of distinguished diplomatic career. He worked in different capacities in Brussels, covering EU affairs, in Washington D.C. dealing with bilateral relations, in Budapest on energy security and in Geneva, working with the United Nations and other International Organizations. He has first-hand experience of negotiating in the European Union and the UN system as well as conceptualizing and implementing diplomatic initiatives on a wide variety of issues.

With a deep knowledge of international relations, Dr. Szörényi always focuses on new global developments and emerging challenges. He has a broad understanding of the engagement of non-state actors on multi-stakeholder platforms. He regularly gives lectures and has been particularly interested in the increasing influence of non-state actors on the development of international relations since his Ph.D. research. He holds a Ph.D. in International Economics from Corvinus University, a DEA in Comparative Political Sciences from Sciences Po Paris and a Master degree in International Relations from the University of Economics in Budapest.

Nicholas You is a veteran urban specialist. He served as the senior policy and planning advisor to UN-Habitat and as the manager of the Habitat II Conference held in Istanbul in 1996. He is the founder and honorary chairman of the UN-Habitat World Urban Campaign Steering Committee and, a former thought leader for the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, Siemens, ENGIE and the Global Cities Business Alliance. He served for several years as an adjunct to the Center for Livable Cities, Singapore. He currently serves as the Executive Director of the Guangzhou Institute for Urban Innovation, as a senior policy advisor to the Metaverse Institute (London), and is a member of the SDSG Urban Finance Commission.  

He regularly advises central and local governments, technology companies and civil society organisations on urban sustainability, urban governance and urban innovation and has written and co-authored key policy papers for the U20/G20 and BRICS+.  Two of his publications this year have been presented at various United Nations conferences including the World Urban Forum, the UNFCCC and COP 29. More recently, he joined the Metaverse Institute as a senior policy advisor. The Institute advises governments, cities, regional authorities and utilities on visions, strategies and plans to harness the power of the metaverse for sustainable urban development. The Institute was asked by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) to help prepare a definition and develop a set of standards for the metaverse for cities. 

At GSMA Mobile for Development, Daniele leads the Emerging Tech programme, an initiative launched in 2024 to accelerate impact and climate action by fostering the adoption of AI and emerging technologies in low- and middle-income countries. In addition, Daniele oversees two cross-cutting teams: the Central Insights Unit (CIU), which produces country- and region-specific insights on technology for development opportunities, and M4D’s Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) function. 

Daniele has previously managed the insights teams of the GSMA AgriTech and mHealth programmes, producing analysis and intelligence for sector practitioners. Prior to joining the GSMA, Daniele worked as an industry analyst and consultant for the telecoms and media sectors in emerging markets, at Informa Telecoms & Media (now Omdia) and Pyramid Research (now GlobalData). Daniele holds an MSc in new media and information systems from the London School of Economics and an MA from the University of Bologna.