Agenda

As part of the Innovation for All policy team at the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), Timea Suto works with global business experts to bring private sector views into activities and decisions of ICC’s Business Action to Support the Information Society (BASIS) initiative. Among her different responsibilities, she leads policy input and project work on Internet governance issues, having served as a business representative on the United Nations Commission on Science and Technology for Development Working Group on Enhanced Cooperation (2016-2018), and currently serving on the Internet Governance Forum Multistakeholder Advisory Group.

ICC is the largest, most representative global business organization and only private sector body to have official Observer status to the United Nations General Assembly. During the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), ICC convened and facilitated business input and through ICC BASIS, it has continued to bring input and support engagement from business into the post-WSIS activities, whether at the UN and its various agencies or via multistakeholder activities. BASIS facilitates business participation and input into these activities while also bringing in views from the wider membership of ICC companies and associations.

A national of Romania and Hungary, Timea has policy and academic experience from Budapest and Paris. Prior to her role at ICC she has served as policy analyst for various social policy and open governance projects in the Visegrad countries and in evolving research and teaching roles.  She has a degree in International Relations and masters degrees in Minority Policy and European Public Policy. She speaks fluent Hungarian, Romanian, English and French.

Dr. Dafna Feinholz is UNESCO’s Chief of Bioethics and Ethics of Science and Technology. She leads different activities aimed at reinforcing capacities of Member States to manage bioethical challenges and to identify the ethical, legal and social implications of cutting-edge science, emerging technologies and their application for sustainable development. She is also responsible for the secretariat of UNESCO International Bioethics Committee (IBC) and World Ethics Commission of Science and Technology (COMEST).

Dr Gift Kalisto Machengete was appointed Director General of POTRAZ with effect from 1 December 2016. He holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Economics from the University of Zimbabwe, a Diploma in Purchasing and Supply from Harare Polytechnic and a Master of Business Administration Degree (MBA) from Southern Cross University, Australia. He attained   a Doctorate in Business Administration from Southern Cross University, Australia, for which he graduated with distinction and was awarded the University Plaque for outstanding achievement.

He is the current Acting Board Chairperson of the Traffic Safety council of Zimbabwe Board, having been appointed as a Non-Executive Director of the Board on 20 July 2015 and as Acting Board Chairperson, on 1 November 2018.

Dr Machengete has thirty-four (34) years working experience in the civil service, having started his career in 1985 as a Research Economist for the Government of Zimbabwe.

In 1991 he was deployed to China as the Economic Counsellor at the Zimbabwe Embassy, where he is credited for improving Sino-Zimbabwe relations to be what they are today.

Between 1995 and 2001, he was a Senior Economist and the Head of Co-ordination and Secretariat in the Government of Zimbabwe. Having exhibited exceptional leadership skills, in 2001, Dr Machengete was deployed to Malaysia as Zimbabwe’s Deputy Ambassador to that country. During that time, he was involved in creating ICT awareness in Zimbabwe.

Upon his return to Zimbabwe in January 2006, Dr Machengete was deployed to the Office of the President and Cabinet, as an Assistant Director for Planning and Coordination. In recognition of his hard work and good performance, in December of the same year, he was promoted to the position of Deputy Director Administration and further elevated to the position of Director Administration in 2011. In 2016, he retired as Deputy Director General, before assuming office as POTRAZ Director General. 

Dr Machengete was one of the first lecturers for the Masters in Business Leadership Degree programme for Bindura University of Science Education (BUSE), where he taught Business Research Methods and Marketing Management courses from 2008 to 2016.  He is currently lecturing in the Masters in Security and Intelligence Degree Programme for the same University. He is also a Research Thesis Moderator at the same University and has assessed numerous Master’s degree dissertations.

The Rt. Hon. Mattia Fantinati is currently serving as Member of the House of Representatives (“Camera dei Deputati”) within the Italian Parliament.

He has recently been appointed Special Advisor of Minister of Digitalization and innovation.

His main areas of interest of are Digital Transformation in Government and Innovation Management in Public and Private Organizations.

As a Member of Parliaments Mattia seats in the Permanent Committee for Industry, Trade, R&D, Innovation and Tourism of the Italian House of Representatives.

From 2018 to 2019 Mattia joined the First Cabinet of the Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, acting as Undersecretary of State for Public Administration at the Office of the Prime Minister.

He travelled abroad (Europe and U.S.), on behalf of the Minister for Public Administration and of the Prime Minister itself, in order to explore Government’s best practices in Digital Transformation. He regularly attends meetings and seminars held by the most relevant international agencies on Digital Transformation.

In the previous term of the House, he was one of the most important promoters of two valuable studies about the future evolution of Job and Tourism in next 10 years, the impact of Artificial Intelligence on job and employment.

His political party (“The Five Star Movement”) was born online and since then has always operated in the web, involving the citizens by means of the Internet and developing trust in the use of the I.T. as a way to strengthen democracy and fight corruption.

Moira de Roche is an independent consultant. She is the Chair of IFIP (International Federation for Information Processing) IP3, and a member of the IFIP board. She is also a Director on the Global Industry Council, an IFIP body comprised of senior people from all parts of the globe who are involved with ICT.
IFIP IP3 was formed to deliver on IFIP’s Strategic Pillar of “ICT as a Global Profession”. The primary focus is on the professional behavior of ICT practitioners, and ways that this can be ensured. Ethics is a foundation of Professionalism and is essential to Trustworthy computing – where ICT Professionals who provide products & services ensure that they do no harm.  Moira is currently serving on an IFIP Task Force, charged with creating a Code of Ethics for IFIP. It’s envisaged that this will be an exemplar for codes around the world.  Moira is an accomplished speaker and has presented at conferences around the world and in South Africa, on diverse subjects including Technology & Learning, IT Leadership, and more. Her speaking engagements on behalf of IP3 have seen her speaking on Professionalism, Trust & the Duty of Care in Digital, as well as people-related issues with Industry 4.0. In all cases, she stresses Ethics as a 4IR skill for all. She has attended the World Summit for Information Society since 2012. She is a Professional Member and Fellow of IITPSA (Institute of IT Professionals South Africa) and currently serves as a NED. She is also a member of ACM.  Moira considers herself an Ethics Evangelist.

During his professional career, Edmunds Beļskis has worked in state capital companies and public authorities related to the field of electronic communications, as well as acquired working experience in the councils and boards of State capital companies.

Previously Beļskis held the positions of Deputy State Secretary for Information and Communication Technologies at the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development of the Republic of Latvia, Director of Communications Department at the Ministry of Transport of the Republic of Latvia and Director of Department of Entrepreneurship Competitiveness at the Ministry of Economics of the Republic of Latvia. He also was Director, coordinator of international projects of State agency “Latvian National Accreditation Bureau”.

Edmunds Beļskis has received the degree of Master of Public Administration at the Faculty of Economics and Management of the University of Latvia and the degree of the Master of Mechanical Engineering in the Field of Quality Assurance and Management at the Technical University, Faculty of Engineering. He has graduated the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Automation.

Yonathan Parienti, former senior executive in major banking groups such as JPMorgan or Bank of China,
left a promising career in finance to pursue his passion for social entrepreneurship and philanthropy.
He resolved to found Horyou, the social network for social good, to advocate a more humanistic approach
to technology.
He introduced Spotlight, the first global social curency, to be used within the Horyou community with the aim to promote philanthropy leveraging social media.
He is a regular speaker in International forums on the subject of "Revolutionizing Philanthropy" or "Blockchain With a Purpose", and has notably spoken at the UNESCO, the United Nations and other Governmental Conferences on topics related to the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals.
Yonathan Parienti had the opportunity to share his vision on leveraging Digital Currency to support Social Inclusion and Positive Circle of Interaction at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Hyderabad, India, being invited by The White House, the U.S. State Department and the Government of the Republic of India.
He shared his insights on "BlockChain with a Purpose" and how this technology can foster Social Good in conferences like the Token Sky forum in Tokyo, the Social Innovation and Global Ethics Forum - SIGEF -, the UBS Philanthropic Forum, the Wealth Beyond Asia Summit, or the World Summit on the Information - WSIS Society - ,organized by the International Telecommunication Union and other UN Agencies.

Mr. Parienti is founder of HoryouToken - HYT -, a leading Utility Token supporting Social Good recently launched on several Token Exchanges. Dedicated to enhance Social and Economic Inclusion, with a potential of Mainstream Adoption, thanks to its disruptive "Proof of Impact" philanthropic mechanism, HoryouToken aims at opening a new path, where BlockChain Technology contribute to building a more Sustainable and Harmonious World benefiting all.

Ms. Plentz covers emerging technologies and digital transformation for The UN Brief www.theunbrief.com, in Geneva.

In 2016 Ms. Plentz Fagundes was appointed by the European Commission to the High Level Group of Experts to review the impact of Horizon 2020, the £80 billion Framework Programme to fund Research and Innovation in the EU.