The question of whether and, above all, how humans, as creative, formative beings, can exert influence on the upcoming transformation is at the center of our discussion round. Engineer and company founder Anne Lamp (traceless) will discuss with Monica Dalla Riva (Vice President Customer Experience and Design, Deutsche Telekom AG) designer of award-winning products, digital and design strategies and entrepreneur and business angel Fridtjof Detzner (Planet A Ventures) about challenges and opportunities for the economy and its impact on global transformation.
Moderation: Liz Shoo
Impulse: Monica Dalla Riva
How to humanize technology
“People want to understand the impact new technologies will have on their lifestyle, on their privacy, etc,” says Monica Della Riva, Vice President of Customer Experience and Design at Deutsche Telekom AG. Design builds trust by matching technological solutions to people’s needs and opportunities by translating and clarifying. But for it to be humane, a clear ethical and moral framework must be set that anticipates human needs. Awareness is essential because digital solutions need a closer look to be made fair, equal, and democratic.
In her impulse, Monica talks about the benefits of diversity and inclusion in tech companies and the future of a more human-centered perspective on products, services and digitality.
MONICA DALLA RIVA
Vice President Customer Experience and Design, Deutsche Telekom AG
Dedicated all her career to innovation, first studying at the Politecnico University in Milano and then working for some of the most innovative B2B and B2C companies: 3M, Samsung Electronics, Whirlpool Corporation, and now at Deutsche Telekom.
Monica is actually leading a talented team of Customer Experience and Design professionals at Deutsche Telekom since September 2018.
During the last 20 years, in previous positions as Head of Design, Europe at 3M, strategic design manager at Samsung Electronics in Milan and senior designer at Whirlpool Corporation, she developed award winning products, digital experiences, customer and design strategies putting always the customer first.
Monica was an assistant professor in industrial design and she is a lecturer and international keynote speaker.
FRIDTJOF DETZNER
Founder “Planet A Ventures”
Fridtjof Detzner founded his first company in 1999 at the age of 16: In 2007 it became Jimdo, a website construction kit which enabled more than 25 million people to create their own website. In 2017 he shot a ten-part TV documentary with “Deutsche Welle”: The idea was simple: travel 120 days through 10 Asian countries and choose one of the 17 UN sustainability goals.
What sounded nice at first turned out to be a life changing event for him.
After this trip, he decided to invest his time and resources solely in startups that are doing significantly better than today's economy. Together with like-minded people, he founded Planet A Ventures in 2020, where they provide venture capital to scientists and founders to work on an economy within planetary boundaries.
Credits photo: instagram/@chap.chaplin
ANNE LAMP
Founder “traceless”
Anne Lamp is co-founder and CEO of the circular bioeconomy start-up traceless materials. She has developed the technology for the production of the novel, natural-based plastic alternative traceless materials. Anne holds a PhD in process engineering from Hamburg University of Technology and has extensive experience in commercial product development and process scaling. She is also a recognized industry expert in life-cycle assessment and Cradle to Cradle.
Credits photo: Anne Lamp
PRESENTER
LIZ SHOO
was born in Germany, but grew up in Tanzania. After she returned to Germany’s Rhineland to attend college, she took part in DW Akademie’s trainee program – and she hasn’t left since. She's the presenter of DW's TV shows "Focus on Europe" and "The 77%". She is also working at the German public broadcaster WDR as a journalist and presenter of the news format “WDR aktuell”.
Credits photo: Annika Fußwinkel