Agenda

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.

 
Un ingénieur distingué, leadeur et diplomate; un expert en normalisation multilingue et titulaire de 22 brevets, Dr. Bilel Jamoussi, d’origine tunisienne, est le Chef du Département des Commissions d'Études du Bureau de la Normalisation de l'UIT (TSB) à Genève, Suisse, depuis 2010.

Il a dirigé la coordination des activités du Bureau en matière de normalisation dans une nouvelle ère caractérisée par la transformation numérique, qui nécessite une collaboration accrue avec des secteurs verticaux tels que la santé, les transports, les services publics et les finances.

Avant 2010, il a travaillé dans le secteur privé pendant 15 ans et a occupé des postes de cadre supérieur, notamment celui de directeur des normes pour Nortel. 

Il est titulaire d'une licence, d'une maîtrise et d'un doctorat en génie informatique de la Pennsylvania State University, aux États-Unis. Bilel a vécu en Tunisie, au Canada, aux États-Unis et en Suisse, ce qui lui donne un point de vue mondial unique. Il parle couramment l'arabe, le français et l'anglais et parle un peu l'espagnol et l'allemand.

Link to the Video Recording >> https://youtu.be/0bATrrU0mys

Eric Garcetti is a fourth-generation Angeleno and the 42nd Mayor of Los Angeles. Born and raised in the San Fernando Valley, Mayor Garcetti’s life has been shaped by a deep commitment to the core values of justice, dignity, and equality for all people. 

The Mayor’s government service began on the L.A. City Council, where he spent four terms as Council President before being elected Mayor in 2013 and winning re-election in 2017 by the widest margin in the history of Los Angeles. Beyond his time at City Hall, Mayor Garcetti has served his country as an intelligence officer in the United States Navy Reserve, and taught at the University of Southern California and Occidental College. The Mayor received his B.A. and M.A. from Columbia University, and studied as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University, and later at the London School of Economics.

Strongly interested in public affairs from early on, Sami Kanaan has a very rich political experience. He was elected to the Parliament of the City of Geneva (Municipal Council) in 1997, then to the Parliament of the Canton of Geneva (Grand Council) in 2001, before his election to the Executive Council of the City of Geneva (Administrative Council) in spring 2011. Reelected twice in 2015 and 2020, he is currently in charge of the Department of Culture and Digital Transition, after having been in charge of the Department of Culture and Sport.

Mayor of Geneva on three occasions, he put at the center of his years as Mayor, the dynamic of borders which can operate as ditches or on the contrary as bridges, the cultural and creative economy, support for the media, the digital transition and the resilience of cities in times of crisis. He is vice-president of the Union of Swiss Cities and he also chairs since 2016 the Federal Commission for Children and Youth (CFEJ) on a mandate from the Swiss Federal Council.

Public policy and government relations professional with solid experience in business and in government. Diplomat, lawyer. Skilled in public policy, government relations, management, team leadership, strategy, international relations, EU affairs, diplomacy, negotiation, policy analysis and research. Highly experienced in multicultural environments. Passionate about
technology and innovation.

Experience
Deputy Mayor of Vilnius, Dec 2020 - now
Education, Infrastructure, Social Affairs

Bolt Lithuania 2020-2020
Head of Public Policy Micromobility
● Management and mitigation of political, regulatory and legislative risk
● Government and NGO stakeholder engagement
● Support to Engineering Manager and Global Director in research and engagement in target markets

Google Poland 2015-2017, Google Lithuania 2017-2018
Public Policy and Government Relations manager, CEE

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.​

Pavlina Pavlova is a cybersecurity and human rights professional working on advancing international law and norms and promoting responsible behavior in cyberspace at the CyberPeace Institute in Geneva. Prior to this, Pavlina was an official at the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). She served as the OSCE Chairmanship’s liaison officer and later coordinated capacity-building programs, including digital security and risk assessment training. Her earlier experience comprises policy research, political advisory, and stakeholder engagement at European and national institutions. She has been publishing and speaking on the nexus between technology, human rights, and security—raising awareness about the differentiated impacts of attacks in cyberspace on vulnerable communities.

Richie is head of digital services in Arup Ireland. In this role he is responsible for meeting client needs with appropriate digital advisory and tools/services. This involves defining, planning marketing, and delivering these digital services. 

He has a passion for improving sustainability through his Arup project work and in his personal involvement with local programmes. 

He leads the Digital Pillar for Arup Ireland Group 1 which is charged with implementing Arup’s global Harnessing Digital strategy to deliver digital transformation and demonstrate digital leadership in the built environment. 

Richie has over 30 years’ experience in planning and delivering software and data solutions in different business sectors. He is an experienced agile practitioner and business analysis consultant. 

Recognised as an innovator, a strong communicator and contributor to IT and business strategies. He has an excellent understanding of change management principles and is very knowledgeable in agile and lean startup practices for developing new businesses. 

Previously he has worked for several international companies including IBM Software, Oracle and KPMG Consulting. He also managed his own business for several years which included being part of Enterprise Ireland’s national entrepreneurship programme, when he started an eHealth start-up for older care. 

Daniela has more than 15 years of professional experience in the development of environmental, climate action projects in the energy and ICT sectors and in cities. Daniela is an Environmental Engineer and holds master’s degrees in Sustainable Energy Development and City Sciences and a specialization on Climate Adaptation Finance.

She is currently Senior Officer of Sustainable Resources, Climate and Resilience at ICLEI Europe. Her work is focused on advising cities on sustainable energy and climate action planning processes, based on scientific evidence and data-driven decision making processes. She works on smart city projects and contributes to the EU Covenant of Mayors Office, as an expert in the Monitoring, Reporting and Evaluation Task Group. She leads the ICLEI Europe projects with Google and google.org to drive data-driven climate action in cities and currently provides technical support to the Matchmaking process at the EU Smart Cities Marketplace Initiative.

Prior to joining ICLEI, Daniela worked as an consultant on environment, energy and climate change at International Telecommunication Union (ITU), as well as providing expert contribution to the ITU Green ICT and Smart Sustainable Cities standardization efforts. She also worked in Spain at the telecom operator Telefonica-O2, where her job included leading the global office in charge of the environment, energy and climate change programme of the Company, an effort that involved 26 countries in Europe and Latin America. Daniela also served as a technical advisor at the Latin American Energy Organization OLADE and the Ministry of Energy in her home country Ecuador.

She has contributed and still participates in international working groups and academic programmes, in order to foster smart, data-driven, low carbon and climate resiliency initiatives in cities and companies worldwide.

Dr. Graham Alabaster is Chief of UN-Habitat Geneva office, where he manages various cross-sectoral initiatives related to urban systems, and is responsible for liaison with Geneva-based agencies. He is a public health engineer by profession and an expert in the provision of basic services to low income urban populations relating to public health and environment. He is also a member of UNHabitat’s core team on Covid-19 response and is the co-chair of the Roll back malaria multi-sector working group. He has worked for UN-Habitat since 1992 including secondments to WHOs Department for Public Health and Environment and UNHCR on public health infrastrucuture. He holds first degree in Chemical Engineering and a PhD in Civil Engineering. He has over 35 years experience in urban development, public health and environment, working in over 50 countries.

András Szörényi is senior policy advisor at Geneva Cities Hub where he works on issues like smart cities, digital transformation, urban health and climate change. Before that he worked in different diplomatic capacities in Brussels, covering EU affairs, Washington D.C. dealing with bilateral relations 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, he 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 has been particularly interested in the increasing influence of non-state actors on the development of international relations since his Ph.D. research. Dr. Szörényi holds a DEA in Comparative Political Sciences from Sciences Po Paris and a Ph.D. in International Economics from Corvinus University, Budapest.