Björn Block

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With a background in industrial design, Björn Block joined IKEA in 2012 to lead the new division of IKEA Home smart, IKEA’s take on the smart home and Internet of Things. Since then the range of smart products focusing on combining technology into home furnishing solutions has grown to be one of the most interesting new positioning’s for the Swedish furniture giant.

For IKEA, the smart home is about making life at home better with affordable solutions that creates atmosphere, make people live a more convenient life and make you feel safe. With the IKEA vision of creating a better everyday life for the many people and a strong focus on home furnishing, IKEA is creating its unique take on the smart home starting in 2015 launching wireless charging, followed by smart lighting, connected blinds and the most recent, smart sound together with the speaker company, Sonos.

Beatrice Eriksson

Award-winning singer, songwriter and producer Beatrice Eli, born and raised in Stockholm/Sweden, took the lgbtqi+ community by storm with her song “Girls” in 2014. The single was followed by the critically acclaimed debut album “Die Another Day” which earned a number one spot on iTunes Sweden, and several prestigious Swedish music awards. Eli has since then grown strongly and developed her artistry creating what she calls “soulful, queer synthpop music”. With a dear connection to her fans, Eli has already been called an “icon of her time”.

“With everything I do I try to showcase and celebrate the power of compassion and the strength that comes through vulnerability. I try my best to create space through my songs and my live shows for people to feel safe, to let their guard down and to unite. She continues “We’re just emotions and thoughts covered in flesh, we need emotional support, we need human connection, we need relief. I try to provide that for my listeners”.

Eli has spoken up about the unjust climate of the music industry. “For me it’s been a long struggle, reclaiming my music, my money, my dreams. Just look at the stats, my industry is still very male dominated, and of course, I suffered from that. Like any other industry it needs diversity, like any other industry diversity would benefit all of us.”

She recently released the live album “Showgirl (Live at Dramaten)”, recorded at The Royal Dramatic Theatre of Stockholm. Eli and her team worked for months creating “Showgirl”, a concert celebrating the divas who put on a show every night, no matter the pain, no matter the struggle. Currently, Eli is working on a studio album set for release in 2020.

Beata Wickbom’s business card reads ”Digital Innovation Guru”. She has been a pioneer in advocating and exploring the opportunities with digital media. With a business degree and a background in the startup world, Beata has spent the last 25 years as an advisor to corporations and organizations on digital strategy and innovation. She is on a constant learning journey, always striving to understand how new technologies such are shaping leadership, value creation and our society as a whole. In 2016 she was selected as one of ”The top fifty most inspirational women in the technology sector across the Nordics”. She is also one of Sweden’s most sought after moderators and has been nominated moderator of the year 2017. She makes sure to spend a lot of time adventuring outside of her comfort zone, preferably in a kayak at sea or on a mountain top.

Barry Diller is the Chairman and Senior Executive of IAC and the Chairman and Senior Executive of Expedia Group.

Until late 2010, Mr. Diller spent 15 years serving as the Chairman and CEO of IAC.

Before IAC, Mr. Diller served as the Chairman and CEO of both QVC, Inc., from 1992 to 1994, and Fox, Inc. from 1984 to 1992. At Fox, Mr. Diller was responsible for the creation of Fox Broadcasting Company. Prior to joining Fox, he served for 10 years as the Chairman of Paramount Pictures Corporation, and was previously the Vice President of Prime Time Television for ABC Entertainment.

Mr. Diller serves on the board of The Coca-Cola Company. He is also a member of The Business Council, and serves on the Board of Councilors for the School of Cinema-Television at the University of Southern California and the Advisory Board for the Peter G. Peterson Foundation.

Graduates of the University of Television and Film Munich, Jantje Friese and Baran bo Odar have been working together since Odar’s debut directing The Silence.  The writing and directing duo’s most recent feature film collaboration is Who Am I – No System Is Safe with Tom Schilling and Elyas M’Barek. The thriller was celebrated at the 2014 International Film Festival in Toronto. The film was a critical and commercial success in Germany, awarded with three German Film Awards and the Bambi for Best German Film. Odar, who was included in the list of “Ten Directors to Watch” by Variety, made his Hollywood debut with Sleepless starring Academy Award winner, Jamie Foxx, which premiered on March 9, 2017.

Friese and Odar are also the creators behind Netflix’s first German original series “Dark”. The critically acclaimed series has won several Grimme Awards and boasts of a growing global fanbase. Friese and Odar just wrapped up the second season of “Dark”, premiering June 21st, and are currently producing new series and projects exclusively for Netflix.

Anders Ynnerman is professor at Linköping University and director of the Norrköping Visualization Center C. In addition to producing world leading research in visualization, the center has a large-scale dome theater and interactive exhibits that are open to the public. Anders and his team are using visualization applied to topics ranging from molecules and the interior of the human body to planets, stars and galaxies. Their work enables scientific discovery and creates engaging visual experiences. Anders and his team are making it possible to explore and understand complex data at a glance.

Anders has received several awards over the years, including the Akzo Nobel Science Award, the Royal Academy of Engineering Sciences Gold Medal, H.M. The King’s Medal for contributions to medical image science, and the IEEE VGTC Technical Achievement Award. Anders is also a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences.

Amferia is a Swedish med-tech company with a vision to fight the global problem of antibiotic resistance through efficient preventive care. Today, the main focus of Amferia is to prevent the occurrence of infections in skin-wounds. With the rise of antibiotic resistant bacteria, even simple skin infections pose an alarming threat to human life on a global scale. Amferia intends to combat this problem through its preventive care wound-patch, an innovative antibacterial material that can specifically target and rapidly kill bacteria in wounds, including dangerous resistant bacteria.

Amferia is working towards scaling up its core technology as the next-generation wound patch for preventing a broad range of life-threatening skin-wound infections in humans. The invention stemmed out of research performed at Chalmers University of Technology and the founders are Dr. Anand Kumar Rajasekharan, Ms. Saba Atefyekta and Professor Martin Andersson.

Dr Ali Parsa is a British-Iranian healthcare entrepreneur and engineer. He’s the founder and CEO of Babylon, the revolutionary artificial intelligence and digital health company. Babylon’s mission is to put an accessible and affordable health service in the hands of every person on earth.

Dr Parsa was listed in The Times 100 people to watch. The Health Service Journal recognised him as one of ‘the 50 most influential people in UK healthcare’. He was featured in the Maserati 100, a list that recognises game-changing entrepreneurs who are disrupting the world of business. The Independent Healthcare Awards presented Dr Parsa with an Entrepreneurial Achievement award. He is also a UK Cabinet Office Ambassador for Mutuals and has a PhD in Engineering Physics.

We are thrilled to welcome President Barack Obama, the 44th President of the United States of America, to Brilliant Minds 2019!

Few presidents have walked a more improbable path to the White House. Born in Hawaii to a mother from Kansas and a father from Kenya, Obama was raised with help from his grandparents, whose generosity of spirit reflected their Midwestern roots. The homespun values they instilled in him, paired with his innate sense of optimism, compelled Obama to devote his life to giving every child, regardless of his or her background, the same chance America gave him.

After working his way through college with the help of scholarships and student loans, Obama moved to Chicago, where he worked with a group of churches to help rebuild communities devastated by the closure of local steel plants. That experience honed his belief in the power of uniting ordinary people around a politics of purpose, in the hard work of citizenship, to bring about positive change. In law school, he became the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review, then he returned to Illinois to teach constitutional law at the University of Chicago and begin a career in public service, winning seats in the Illinois State Senate and the United States Senate.

On November 4, 2008, Barack Obama was elected the 44th President of the United States, winning more votes than any candidate in history.