Summit Speakers

CHAIR: Tom Standage, Technology Editor, The Economist

Tom Standage is Business Affairs Editor at The Economist, where he oversees the magazine’s business, finance, economics, science and technology coverage. He is also the author of five history books, including An Edible History of Humanity (2009), A History of the World in Six Glasses (2005), a New York Times bestseller, and The Victorian Internet (1998), described by the Wall Street Journal as a “dot-com cult classic”.

Lily Lapena, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, MyBnk

Lily saw the potential of small loans to support entrepreneurial ideas and act as a powerful educational tool, so she launched MyBnk - a social enterprise that increases financial literacy and develops young people’s enterprise skills by giving them hands-on experience organizing, running and using a real bank with real money. In less than three years, MyBnk has reached 20,000 young people across many economic and social strata, developing the next generation of financially literate and entrepreneurial citizens.

Chris Anderson, Curator, TED Conference

TED Conferences invite people from all corners of the Earth to share a powerful and inspiring idea in a 15 minute talk to an audience of like-minded individuals.  Chris will talk about his experience identifying people whose ideas are truly important.  

Ron Gonen, Founder, RecycleBank

Ron founded RecycleBank, a company that rewards households for recycling their rubbish. In April 2009, RecycleBank was designated Champion of the Earth by the United Nations Environment Program.

Tom Steinberg, Founder and Director, mySociety

Tom founded mySociety to create an environment where politics and democracy is demystified and made accessible to the general public.  The site helps and inspires people to get engaged with the democratic process, reconnecting them with the decision-making structures that affect their lives and shape their societies.

Richard Seymour, Director, Seymour Powell

Richard is one of the world’s most influential and respected designers.  His firm, Seymourpowell, has created some of the most iconic products of the last 25 years, including the world's first cordless kettle and pocket mobile phone. More recently, the company has been involved with developing the interior of Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic privateer spacecraft, and a hydrogen-powered motorcycle.  He will share insights from his career using observations of human behavior to generate revolutionary new ideas for products and services.   He will give a vision for how design can drive innovation that will characterise our world for generations to come.

Matt Ridley, Author, The Rational Optimist

Matt is a well known science writer.  His most recent book, The Rational Optimist, is about the progress of innovation, and it champions the potential of innovation to address the world’s biggest challenges such as climate change and resource scarcity.  Matt will talk about how human beings innovate, and what this means for the future of great ideas and the world that they shape.