Master in Design for Emergent Futures

Ramon Sangüesa is a professor at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, (UPC) he has been affiliate researcher at and Visiting Professor at Department of Sociology at Columbia University (New York) and Senior Fellow of the Strategic Innovation Lab at the Ontario College of Art and Design at the University of Toronto (Canada). He is currently Academic Coordinator of the new Degree in Artificial Intelligence at UPC university.

He holds a PhD in Artificial Intelligence from Polytechnic University of Catalonia (1997) and a postgraduate degree in Science and Technology Communication (Pompeu Fabra University, also in 1997). He was one of the founders of Citilab, a center of civic innovation centered on empowering people to learn and appropriate technology for themselves in collaboration with designers, artists, and technologists. He also teaches at masters level at Elisava Design school and IAAC Master in Design for Emergent Futures.

Founder of ConsumoColaborativo and OuiShare Connector for Spain and Latin America

Albert is a multimedia engineer fascinated by the disruptive business models outside the pure digital domains. He founded ConsumoColaborativo in 2011 and since then he has been the reference in Spanish language for the collaborative economy. He also leads the OuiShare activities in Spain and Latin America.

In addition to teaching, speaking and writing about the impact of the collaborative business models, Albert is a consultant for startups, companies and public administrations who are willing to adapt their strategies to the collaborative era.

Author of “Vivir mejor con menos: descubre las ventajas de la economía colaborativa” (Conecta 2014)

Petra is a Slovak designer with a background in architecture, exploring the boundaries of material innovation, digital fabrication and textiles. Currently, she is working as a Fabricademy Local Instructor and Researcher between Beta Biolab and several European projects.

Petra holds a Master’s degree in Arts and Architecture at the Academy of Arts Architecture and Design in Prague. After her architectural studies, she graduated from Fabricademy – Textile and Technology Academy in Fab Lab Barcelona IAAC. During her studies, she was part of Shemakes.eu European project as an Ambassador between Fab Lab Barcelona and TextileLab Iceland working on the Lab to Lab project – Rethinking Wool. Moreover, her Fabricademy final project was awarded the Young Scientist Award 2022 at the Fiber Global Congress in Dornbirn for the most innovative use of bio-based fibers. Currently, she is still working on the application of protein fibers under the scope of new technologies and biobased materials.

Tomas Diez is a Venezuelan urbanist, designer, and technologist specialising in digital fabrication and its implications for the future of cities and society. He is a founding partner and executive director of the Fab City Foundation and serves on the board of trustees of the IAAC Foundation, where he is also a senior researcher and tutor.
Diez is a close collaborator of the Fab Foundation, supporting the development of the Fab Lab Network worldwide and playing a pivotal role in launching programs such as the Fab Academy and Fab City. He co-founded and co-designed the Smart Citizen project and the global platform for the Fab Lab Network, fablabs.io. Furthermore, he has co-designed and kickstarted higher degree programs, including the Master in Design for Emergent Futures (IAAC-Elisava) and the Master in Design for Distributed Innovation (Fab City-IAAC), both of which he co-directs.
Additionally, he is a founding partner and executive director of the Meaningful Design Group Bali, a novel initiative that intersects advanced technologies and design with alternative worldviews and cultures in Indonesia and Southeast Asia. Diez has been recognized as a Young Innovator of the Year by the Catalan ICT Association and was nominated by Nesta as one of the top 10 social innovators in Europe.

Multimedia developer, interaction designer & researcher, Mariana Quintero works and develops her practice at the intersection where digital fabrication technologies, digital literacy and information and computation ethics & aesthetics meet, contributing to projects that investigate the rise of the third digital revolution and how digital information and technologies translate, represent and mediate knowledge about the world. For the last three years, she has been based in Barcelona contributing to research projects at IAAC | Fab Lab Barcelona and developing digital literacy curricula.

Neil Gershenfeld is the Director of MIT’s Center for Bits and Atoms. His innovative laboratory merges the digital and physical realms, creating everything from molecular quantum computers to advanced musical instruments. Technologies developed in his lab have been utilised in diverse settings, including New York’s Museum of Modern Art, rural Indian villages, the White House, and community centres.

A prolific author, Neil has written numerous technical publications, patents, and books, including Fab, When Things Start to Think, and The Physics of Information Technology. He has been featured in prominent media outlets like The New York Times and The Economist.

Neil is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and was recognized as one of Scientific American’s 50 leaders in science and technology. He holds a BA in Physics with High Honors and an honorary Doctor of Science from Swarthmore College, and a PhD in Applied Physics from Cornell University.

He originated the global network of field fab labs for personal fabrication and directs the Fab Academy, promoting education in digital fabrication. Neil has presented keynotes at events including TED and the Library of Congress and has a diverse range of interests, including playing the bassoon and competitive swimming.

Mara Balestrini is an accomplished Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) researcher and practitioner with 15 years of experience in spearheading digital transformation and innovation projects. Currently, she works at the Innovation Laboratory of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB Lab), where she leads the digital transformation program and provides guidance on using disruptive technologies in operations.
Prior to this role, Mara served as an advisor to the Secretary of State for Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence in the Government of Spain and as the CEO of the innovation consultancy Ideas for Change. She is also a co-founder of SalusCoop, a pioneering Spanish cooperative dedicated to citizens’ health data.

Mara’s educational background includes a PhD in Computer Science from University College London (UCL), an MSc in Cognitive Systems and Interactive Media from Pompeu Fabra University (UPF), and a BA in Audiovisual Communications. Beyond her professional roles, she is a member of the board of trustees at IAAC and a research fellow at ESADE’s Center for Public Governance (EsadeGov). Her work has been recognized with awards from ACM CHI, ACM CSCW, and Ars Electronica, and has been featured in prominent media outlets such as the BBC, The Guardian, The Financial Times, and El País.

José Luis de Vicente is a curator and researcher working on digital culture, innovation and new media art. Currently he is the curator of Sónar+D, the Creative Technologies and New Media area of Barcelona’s acclaimed Sónar Festival, as well as a curator at FutureEverything Festival, Manchester. He runs the Visualizar program on Data Culture at Medialab Prado, Madrid, and is a founder of ZZZINC,a cultural consultancy based in Barcelona. He has curated multiple conferences, symposiums and exhibitions. His most recent exhibition project is “Big Bang Data” (Barcelona CCCB 2014 / Fundación Telefónica Madrid 2015).