Sandbox Laura

Henry Gordon-Smith is a sustainability strategist focused on urban agriculture, water issues, and emerging technologies. Henry earned his BA in Political Science from the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, coursework in Food Security and Urban Agriculture from Ryerson University in Toronto, and an MSc in Sustainability Management from Columbia University. In 2014, Henry responded to a global need for technology-agnostic guidance on urban agriculture by launching the advisory firm Agritecture Consulting which has now consulted on over 100 urban agriculture projects in over 25 countries. In 2018, Henry was voted top 10 in Produce (USA) and 40 under 40 food policy influencers (NYC). In 2019, Henry was accepted as a Guelph University Food Policy Fellow and an advisor to the Ryerson University urban agriculture and food security curriculum development committee. Henry was named as a top 20 influencer in food and agriculture by Rabobank in December 2019. Henry serves on the advisory board of numerous AgTech startups including Smallhold and Foodshed.io. Henry serves on the board of directors for the not-for-profit food access organization Teens for Food Justice in NYC.

Yara has a background in Environmental Sciences and Education and has a special interest in integrating environmental education into curriculums. She has lived in between the United States and the MENA-GCC Region, working on developing workshops and programs aimed to spread sustainability concepts and awareness. Yara holds a BSc in Environmental Health, with a double minor in Education and Public Health, from the American University of Beirut and is currently pursuing a MSc in Sustainability Management from Columbia University.

Henrique works with companies to drive positive change by leading projects and strategic assessments, to address their innovation management by focusing on turning inventions to market success’ and pursuing strategies that allow companies to find new products, processes, markets and business models. He also works on natural gas and electric power tendering and procurement processes for medium to large size companies, and how to integrate sustainability into the decisions and trade-offs that must be assessed across a product’s lifecycle. Prior to embrace Better to Earth and InnovWise projects, Henrique worked at Libbey, Inc for 12 years being responsible for leading engineering projects and implementation of innovation management programs. His expertise is in energy markets, innovation management, manufacturing and project management. Henrique holds a MSc in Marketing and a BSc in Electronic Engineering, business management programs at Portuguese Catholic University, and is Senior Member at IEEE.

DR ADRIANA MARAIS is a theoretical physicist, technologist, and internationally renowned advocate for off-world exploration. She left her position as Head of Innovation at SAP Africa to found Proudly Human in 2019. She has since been on location scouts for the organisation’s Off-World Project to desert regions in the Middle East & Africa, as well as Antarctica. The Off-World Project will demonstrate exploration-driven innovation for habitation in extreme environments on Earth and beyond. Adriana has a PhD in quantum physics and is currently designing a blockchain-based economic system towards a second PhD. She is a director at the Foundation for Space Development Africa, a member of the South African 4th Industrial Revolution Ministerial Task Team, Faculty at the Singularity University and Duke Corporate Education, and was previously one of 100 astronaut finalists with the Mars One Project.

After graduating as an IIoT & IT Architect Engineer, Mathieu started in Schneider Electric as the Smart Factory Project Leader for Le Vaudreuil Factory. He has always been driven by new technologies and innovation and enjoy making life better for people that are around him, both professionally and personally. His position in one of the most advanced smart factories in the world allows him to get insights about future technologies, customer needs, best practices and trends around Industry 4.0. He is since 2020 recognize as an IIoT to Cloud Digital Expert and a builder for the industry of the future.

CEO, Sirotin Ventures strategic investment & advisory firm leveraging the $1 Billion+ esports market to help scale companies and public sector initiatives. Former Founder & CEO, Alpine Esports acquired at 5X realized return. Executive Producer, The Business Wizard Radio Show. Co-Founder, Digital Pioneers Network AI Think Tank, representing orgs like Nasdaq, Bloomberg, Google. Advising Partner to Radian Partners on emerging consumer economic trends. Member of WEF, B20. 2017 recipient of the National Academy of Future Scientists and Technologists Award of Excellence.