. Club of Amsterdam
About the Club of Amsterdam The Club of Amsterdam is an independent, international, future-oriented think tank involved in channelling preferred futures. It involves those who dare to think out of the box and those who don't just talk about the future but actively participate in shaping outcomes. We organize events, seminars and summits on relevant issues and publish findings & proceedings through various off-line and online media channels. Our goal is to become a global player and catalyst for innovation in industries, science and society. The Club of Amsterdam is a not-for-profit foundation registered in The Netherlands.
The Team Board of Advisors Experts Club of Amsterdam Round Table Members Motivation Contact
. The Team
Felix B Bopp founder & chairman, Club of Amsterdam Felix is founder and chairman of the Club of Amsterdam, an independent, international think-tank that organises regular high-level discussions on preferred futures. It involves those who are not just talking about the future - but those who are active participants in shaping the outcome. www.clubofamsterdam.com provides rich resources about more than 40 topics from nanotechnology to philosophy. He has an excellent reputation for putting together high-quality and high-visibility events – locally and internationally. He organised more than 400 events, conferences and festivals. Felix has been a voice promoting streaming media since its early days in the mid 90s. He made himself a name as a high-profile trend watcher on a global scale with a close eye on information and communication technologies [ICT] and the music & entertainment industry. His wide scope of interests leads him to develop a range of outstanding products in multimedia & publishing. His roots are in music and the music industry. He is an accomplished composer of theatre, ballet and film music and also had a successful career as a performer. FRSA - Fellow of the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce Universal Peace Ambassador in the Universal Ambassador Peace Circle, Geneva, Switzerland Contact: felix at clubofamsterdam.com Patrick Crehan director, Club of Amsterdam CEO and Founder, Crehan, Kusano & Associates In 1996, after a career as a mathematical physicist in Europe and Japan, Patrick Crehan left academia to work at the European Commission Directorate General for Industry. Working in international collaboration on research in Information and Communication Technologies, he traveled extensively in countries of the Mediterranean basin, Latin America, Asia and Eastern Europe using international research collaboration as a policy tool for industrial and economic development. In 1998 he left the Commission to work as an independent consultant in international RTD, industrial and economic development policy. In 1999 he founded CKA - Crehan, Kusano & Associates. CKA is inspired by the conviction that the most important source of competitive advantage today is an ability to organize and manage knowledge-intensive activities such as research, innovation, learning & communication. CKA designs and manages processes that support complex-creative tasks in industry, society and government administration. It develops and adapts technologies to support these processes. It conducts research on management-as-work, on technologies to support organization-and-management tasks, as well as on the nature and organization of work in an age of constant change. Contact: patrick at clubofamsterdam.com Humberto Schwab director, Club of Amsterdam Philosopher, Owner, Humberto Schwab Filosofia SL Humberto Schwab is owner of Humberto Schwab Filosofia SL. He studied physics and philosophy at the University of Amsterdam and was for years teaching at Montessori Schools, Rietveld Art academy and Hoogeschool of Amsterdam. He was the frontrunner in innovating secondary education with a complete new philosophy curriculum. He designed a new method and wrote 6 books for this method. Her also designed a complete new format of teacher training and executed this training. As an innovation philosopher working in Spain and Holland, he is involved in innovation processes in education, cross media, business and ngo’s. He developed the eurolab method, which is a value and philosophy based futurelab. Students from different universities participate in these labs, mostly situated in Spain. The students work in a think tank simulation and produce real advices for governments or business. The lab formula is used for companies to reflect on their philosophy or to redesign their philosophy regarding the future roads. Business is always related to ethical values because needs of persons are related to values. The Socratic dialogue is a strong contextual method to foster collaborative brainstorms. Humberto Schwab designs new tools for innovation and reflections together with several other philosophers and trainers. He also participates in several innovationlabs with i.e. Mediaguild and other organisations. His main goal is getting individuals and groups into the collective thinking mood, using philosophy as the treasure of strong ideas and concepts. He is active in creating an optimistic approach of the European challenge. www.humbertoschwab.net Contact: humberto at clubofamsterdam.com Jan Sall director, Club of Amsterdam Jan Sall is a communication and advertising expert, consultant with a long experience in initiating and organization events on corporate and consumer level. Successfully realized projects for TNT, LU-Biscuits etc. Contact: jan at clubofamsterdam.com
Felix B Bopp founder & chairman, Club of Amsterdam Felix is founder and chairman of the Club of Amsterdam, an independent, international think-tank that organises regular high-level discussions on preferred futures. It involves those who are not just talking about the future - but those who are active participants in shaping the outcome. www.clubofamsterdam.com provides rich resources about more than 40 topics from nanotechnology to philosophy. He has an excellent reputation for putting together high-quality and high-visibility events – locally and internationally. He organised more than 400 events, conferences and festivals. Felix has been a voice promoting streaming media since its early days in the mid 90s. He made himself a name as a high-profile trend watcher on a global scale with a close eye on information and communication technologies [ICT] and the music & entertainment industry. His wide scope of interests leads him to develop a range of outstanding products in multimedia & publishing. His roots are in music and the music industry. He is an accomplished composer of theatre, ballet and film music and also had a successful career as a performer. FRSA - Fellow of the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce Universal Peace Ambassador in the Universal Ambassador Peace Circle, Geneva, Switzerland Contact: felix at clubofamsterdam.com Patrick Crehan director, Club of Amsterdam CEO and Founder, Crehan, Kusano & Associates In 1996, after a career as a mathematical physicist in Europe and Japan, Patrick Crehan left academia to work at the European Commission Directorate General for Industry. Working in international collaboration on research in Information and Communication Technologies, he traveled extensively in countries of the Mediterranean basin, Latin America, Asia and Eastern Europe using international research collaboration as a policy tool for industrial and economic development. In 1998 he left the Commission to work as an independent consultant in international RTD, industrial and economic development policy. In 1999 he founded CKA - Crehan, Kusano & Associates. CKA is inspired by the conviction that the most important source of competitive advantage today is an ability to organize and manage knowledge-intensive activities such as research, innovation, learning & communication. CKA designs and manages processes that support complex-creative tasks in industry, society and government administration. It develops and adapts technologies to support these processes. It conducts research on management-as-work, on technologies to support organization-and-management tasks, as well as on the nature and organization of work in an age of constant change. Contact: patrick at clubofamsterdam.com
Humberto Schwab director, Club of Amsterdam Philosopher, Owner, Humberto Schwab Filosofia SL Humberto Schwab is owner of Humberto Schwab Filosofia SL. He studied physics and philosophy at the University of Amsterdam and was for years teaching at Montessori Schools, Rietveld Art academy and Hoogeschool of Amsterdam. He was the frontrunner in innovating secondary education with a complete new philosophy curriculum. He designed a new method and wrote 6 books for this method. Her also designed a complete new format of teacher training and executed this training. As an innovation philosopher working in Spain and Holland, he is involved in innovation processes in education, cross media, business and ngo’s. He developed the eurolab method, which is a value and philosophy based futurelab. Students from different universities participate in these labs, mostly situated in Spain. The students work in a think tank simulation and produce real advices for governments or business. The lab formula is used for companies to reflect on their philosophy or to redesign their philosophy regarding the future roads. Business is always related to ethical values because needs of persons are related to values. The Socratic dialogue is a strong contextual method to foster collaborative brainstorms. Humberto Schwab designs new tools for innovation and reflections together with several other philosophers and trainers. He also participates in several innovationlabs with i.e. Mediaguild and other organisations. His main goal is getting individuals and groups into the collective thinking mood, using philosophy as the treasure of strong ideas and concepts. He is active in creating an optimistic approach of the European challenge. www.humbertoschwab.net Contact: humberto at clubofamsterdam.com Jan Sall director, Club of Amsterdam Jan Sall is a communication and advertising expert, consultant with a long experience in initiating and organization events on corporate and consumer level. Successfully realized projects for TNT, LU-Biscuits etc. Contact: jan at clubofamsterdam.com
. Board of Advisors
Simon Jones, President, Abu Dhabi Men's College Peter R. Luiks, Executive Vice President and Director, Gaggle International BV George Pór, Founder, CommunityIntelligence Ltd. Madanmohan Rao, Consultant and prolific writer from Bangalore, Research Advisor, Asian Media Information and Communication centre (AMIC), Singapore Hardy F. Schloer, Owner, Schloer Consulting Group Bob Stumpel, Result Strategy, Cellspace, OpenBC, Ideabroker, LBI, GetMobile, TCS, Mendix, FON Peter C. van Gorsel, Director of the Institute for Media and Information Management, Hogeschool van Amsterdam
Simon Jones President, Abu Dhabi Men's College Owner, Ictinos Innovation Simon Jones is an experienced higher education leader of international standing. He is currently President of Abu Dhabi Men's College an 8200-student, 6-site Higher Education Institute in the UAE. He also owns Ictinos Innovation which invests in select start-ups. Simon has a track record in going from R&D to the launch of a company and is a Non-exec and governmental advisor in ICT and New Media sector In the Netherlands he led large and successful Human-Computer Studies Laboratory as part of the most prestigious Dutch University. He had full responsibility for education and research activities and liaison with Industry. While at MIT he ran MIT Media Lab (Europe), reporting to Nicholas Negroponte, the founder of the "$100 Laptop", this was a 150-strong private not for profit Research and Innovation Laboratory where he was responsible for Scientific Direction, MIT/Government liaision, raising of funds and exploitation of IP. In addition he was a Visiting senior Research Fellow Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In the UK he was previously Dean of Engineering and Design at the University of Bath and ARM/Royal Academy of Engineering Chair in Embedded Microelectronic Systems. www.simon-jones.com Peter R. Luiks Executive Vice President and Director Gaggle International BV Large project funding & investment banking. Peter Luiks is Executive Vice President and Director of Gaggle International BV, Global Ventures, an international Venture Capital cluster organization which consists of a small core of results-driven senior executives and a cluster of independent professionals and powerful global VC's. Gaggle International’s main focus is major deals, venture capital for diverse B2B activities and also financing major projects all over the globe. This esteemed group arranges project financing – for amounts of €5 million and above – for the private and public sector worldwide. Financing options include asset-based, guaranteed lending, equity investment/venture capital, government guaranteed funds, subsidies, grants and aid. Peter is a strategic visionary in global knowledge transfers, new business innovations, high level business development and an accredited Fellow of the UK based Centre for Consulting Excellence. Starting out as an architect, he switched to the business life in the early 80’s and since has experienced a broad scope of business activities in design and manufacturing automation, computerized combat command control and intelligence (C4I) in a Tempest B2 secured environment, air framing, micro electronics, e-business, utilities, airline procurement, advanced trading, consumer electronics, telecom, leading edge technology and ICT across the range. Within several companies he held C-Level positions in Europe, USA and the Asia Pacific region. Since 1992 he has worked on all continents active as high level project leader, technology and board level advisor, leading High Impact Teams in complex programs. Today, he is an international leading expert in business alignments, sustaining a clear Earned Value business presence in the changing markets under the current global economic equilibrium shift. He is also Global Business Director of Integrated Global Business Solutions Group, which provides a platform from which companies that have a Pan-European and Global expansion plan can benefit from the resources of the company, the affiliated companies and from their network partners. Integrated Global Business Solutions offers corporate strategic counseling, strategy as well as finance services to companies with an international expansion strategy and the firm is a 'matchmaker', as well as selling and buying companies. Peter also serves as CEO of Global Business Alignments and is on the Advisory Board of numerous worldwide companies. Peter Luiks has over 20 years of top management operating experience and he was a lead technical and strategy consultant at several defense companies in the United States from 1986-1989. Prior to that, Peter was Executive Vice President and CEO of Computervision Inc. Asia in Hong Kong, with revenues in excess of $1 billion USD in 1987. During his tenure at Computervision, he was responsible for a turnaround initiative resulting in a 'Preferred Vendor Status' in China. Also, from 1990 to 1992, he was Executive Vice President Europe for a heterogeneous operability software company that developed and marketed revolutionary, interactive operating systems software. The company obtained IPO status in1992.Peter has served as Chief Technology Officer and ad Interim Country Managers in 11 countries. George Pór Founder, CommunityIntelligence Ltd. Former Senior Research Fellow at INSEAD Tracking and moving the edge of innovation in business, society, media and technology I am an evolutionary thinker-activist and a strategic learning partner to visionary leaders in business, government and civil society, in matters of culture change and sustaining the next level, innovation and resilience, and social media strategies. I’ve been tracking the edge of innovation in electronic and social technologies for the last 30 years, and contributing to it, in the areas of collective intelligence, knowledge ecology, communities of practice, and personal mastery. I co-authored several books on related subjects and held Research Fellow positions at INSEAD and London School of Economics. I am the founder of CommunityIntelligence, serving as Research Fellow in the Business School of Universiteit van Amsterdam, and on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Knowledge Management. My clients include or included: AT&T, British Petroleum, Bull S.A., Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, CanWest, Dow Chemical, EDS, Elf Aquitaine, Ericsson, European Commission, European Foundation for Management Development, Dutch government, European Investment Bank, Flemish government, Ford Motor Co., Greenpeace International, Hewlett Packard, INSEAD, Intel, Procter & Gamble, Prudential, Siemens, Solvay, Sun Microsystems, Swiss Re, Unilever, and the World Business Academy. I can be reached at george(at)Community-Intelligence(dot)com. www.community-intelligence.com Madanmohan Rao Consultant and prolific writer from Bangalore, Research Advisor, Asian Media Information and Communication centre (AMIC), Singapore. Dr. Madanmohan Rao, a consultant and author from Bangalore, is research advisor at the Asian Media Information and Communication Centre (AMIC). He is the editor of three book series: The Asia Pacific Internet Handbook, The Knowledge Management Chronicles and AfricaDotEdu. He is the research director of Mobile Monday, a global network of mobile and wireless communication professionals, and the Bangalore K-Community, a network of knowledge management professionals. He is editor-at-large of DestinationKM, world music editor for Rave magazine, RJ for world music at WorldSpace Radio, editor-at-large for Wireless World magazine, and contributor to the Poynter Institute blog on new media trends. Madan was formerly the communications director at the United Nations Inter Press Service bureau in New York, and vice president at IndiaWorld Communications in Bombay. He graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology at Bombay and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, with an M.S. in computer science and a Ph.D. in communications. Madan is a frequent speaker on the international conference circuit, and has given talks and lectures in over 60 countries around the world. He has worked with online services in the U.S., Brazil, and India. His articles have appeared in DestinationKM, The Economic Times, Electronic Markets magazine, Economic and Political Weekly, and the Bangkok Post. Madan is on the board of directors/advisors of numerous content and wireless services firms in Asia. He also participates in consultations at UNESCO, IDRC, and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) foundation. Madan was on the nominating committee of ICANN (International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), which designs and manages the infrastructure of the global Internet, and was on the board of directors of CPSR (Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility). He is on the board of editors of the journal Electronic Markets and the Journal of Community Informatics, and was on the board of the journal Convergence. Madan was also on the international editorial board of the recently published book, Transforming e-Knowledge. Madan is adjunct faculty at the International School of Information Management in Mysore, India, where he teaches KM courses at the master's level. He is also adjunct faculty at the Indian Institute of Information Technology in Bangalore, for whom he coordinates exchange programmes with Malmo University in southern Sweden. Every summer, Madan conducts workshops on enterprise workspace design, knowledge work and usability for students and professionals, hosted by Malmo University. Madan is conference chair or on the conference committee for the following events: Digital Worlds (Asia, Arabia, Latin America, Africa), Mobile Monday Global Summit 2008, Mobile Monday India (Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad), Wireless India, RFID India, AMIC annual summit (Asian Media Information and Communication Centre). He has spoken at KM World in California, KM Asia in Singapore, KM Challenge Australia in Sydney, and InfoVision/KM India in Bangalore. He is on the conference committee for the annual India Infovision Summit and the National Seminar on KM for the Public Sector, in India. Madan is also a regular at APQC's annual KM Summit and the Braintrust KM conferences. His KM consulting engagements have included Fortune 500 companies such as Perot Systems and Philips, and Indian IT services pioneers such as HCL Technologies. His clients in mobile and wireless space include Wolff Solutions, IndiaCom and AMIC. www.amic.org.sg Hardy F. Schloer Owner, Schloer Consulting Group Hardy F. Schloer is a strong team builder, entrepreneur, accomplished scientist and visionary theoretical thinker with extensive people and public relation skills. For three decades now Schloer has built successful global technology solutions and practical problem-solving infrastructures for clients and partners in the Americas, Europe and Asia. Schloer has extensive hands-on experience in the design and the conceptualization of successful solutions and complex technology architectures on global scale. His strong ability to view problems through their complex layers of context has enabled him to become a highly effective analyst and 'out-of-the-box' thinking problem solver. Schloer is founder and former CEO of RavenPack AG in Germany and RavenPack International in Spain, a world leader in computational linguistics and real-time financial applications. Schloer is also the inventor of numerous Information and Communication Technology patents and of the Quantum Relation Theory, a breakthrough concept in Artificial Intelligence. The Quantum Relation Theory has been academically reviewed and discussed (see Reviews on QRT). (Read more about the Quantum Relation Technology) In 2001 Schloer received the award of “One of 25 Best Technologies of the Future” from NetInvestor in Germany for the invention of his Quantum Relation-based technology platform, 'RavenSpace'. Schloer made also important intellectual contributions to the field of healthcare with his groundbreaking concept ‘AlphaMedic’, a global approach to modern healthcare that envisions globally standardized, centralized and AI managed patients record keeping, combined with computer assisted real-time medical diagnostics and automated clinical trials in a global 24/7 processing approach. Schloer’s AlphaMedic concept to healthcare problems has received a European Grant and has been published and discussed in the press and online healthcare publications Schloer has developed a strong transdisciplinary and intercultural approach to problem-solving consultancy that is now leading in its field. He is an internationally acclaimed speaker and is frequently invited to international conferences, public discussion panels and other global Think Tank events. ppt SCG Company Introduction http://schloerconsulting.com Bob Stumpel Result Bob Stumpel started his first career as a researcher of and teacher in Dutch mediaeval literature. The contours of his role as an expert in the TIME industry took shape when he co-founded and managed 2 subsequent advertising agencies. In '94 he also founded interactive agency CLIC. As an advisor, Bob worked for many large and mid cap companies, like KPN, VNU, Sanoma, Grupo Clarín, Irdeto, RTL, and many automotive and retail brands. As an interim manager, Bob worked for numerous TIME companies, a.o. Xing, LinkedIn, CaliberMedia, Ikki, and Bidster. He has helped several Dutch companies to roll-out internationally. Bob is or has been involved in many new media companies, a.o. Overloaded, Infocaster, Mendix, IRL Connect, and Peers. He holds or held board positions at these same companies. He is part of the management team of Result. LinkedIn profile: www.linkedin.com/in/bobstumpel Xing profile: www.xing.com/profile/Bob_Stumpel www.result.com Peter C. van Gorsel Director of the Institute for Media and Information Management, Hogeschool van Amsterdam Peter van Gorsel spent many years in publishing before becoming Director of the Institute for Media and Information Management at the Hogeschool van Amsterdam. www.mim.hva.nl
Simon Jones President, Abu Dhabi Men's College Owner, Ictinos Innovation Simon Jones is an experienced higher education leader of international standing. He is currently President of Abu Dhabi Men's College an 8200-student, 6-site Higher Education Institute in the UAE. He also owns Ictinos Innovation which invests in select start-ups. Simon has a track record in going from R&D to the launch of a company and is a Non-exec and governmental advisor in ICT and New Media sector
In the Netherlands he led large and successful Human-Computer Studies Laboratory as part of the most prestigious Dutch University. He had full responsibility for education and research activities and liaison with Industry.
While at MIT he ran MIT Media Lab (Europe), reporting to Nicholas Negroponte, the founder of the "$100 Laptop", this was a 150-strong private not for profit Research and Innovation Laboratory where he was responsible for Scientific Direction, MIT/Government liaision, raising of funds and exploitation of IP. In addition he was a Visiting senior Research Fellow Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
In the UK he was previously Dean of Engineering and Design at the University of Bath and ARM/Royal Academy of Engineering Chair in Embedded Microelectronic Systems. www.simon-jones.com Peter R. Luiks Executive Vice President and Director Gaggle International BV Large project funding & investment banking. Peter Luiks is Executive Vice President and Director of Gaggle International BV, Global Ventures, an international Venture Capital cluster organization which consists of a small core of results-driven senior executives and a cluster of independent professionals and powerful global VC's. Gaggle International’s main focus is major deals, venture capital for diverse B2B activities and also financing major projects all over the globe.
This esteemed group arranges project financing – for amounts of €5 million and above – for the private and public sector worldwide. Financing options include asset-based, guaranteed lending, equity investment/venture capital, government guaranteed funds, subsidies, grants and aid.
Peter is a strategic visionary in global knowledge transfers, new business innovations, high level business development and an accredited Fellow of the UK based Centre for Consulting Excellence. Starting out as an architect, he switched to the business life in the early 80’s and since has experienced a broad scope of business activities in design and manufacturing automation, computerized combat command control and intelligence (C4I) in a Tempest B2 secured environment, air framing, micro electronics, e-business, utilities, airline procurement, advanced trading, consumer electronics, telecom, leading edge technology and ICT across the range. Within several companies he held C-Level positions in Europe, USA and the Asia Pacific region. Since 1992 he has worked on all continents active as high level project leader, technology and board level advisor, leading High Impact Teams in complex programs. Today, he is an international leading expert in business alignments, sustaining a clear Earned Value business presence in the changing markets under the current global economic equilibrium shift.
He is also Global Business Director of Integrated Global Business Solutions Group, which provides a platform from which companies that have a Pan-European and Global expansion plan can benefit from the resources of the company, the affiliated companies and from their network partners. Integrated Global Business Solutions offers corporate strategic counseling, strategy as well as finance services to companies with an international expansion strategy and the firm is a 'matchmaker', as well as selling and buying companies. Peter also serves as CEO of Global Business Alignments and is on the Advisory Board of numerous worldwide companies.
Peter Luiks has over 20 years of top management operating experience and he was a lead technical and strategy consultant at several defense companies in the United States from 1986-1989. Prior to that, Peter was Executive Vice President and CEO of Computervision Inc. Asia in Hong Kong, with revenues in excess of $1 billion USD in 1987. During his tenure at Computervision, he was responsible for a turnaround initiative resulting in a 'Preferred Vendor Status' in China. Also, from 1990 to 1992, he was Executive Vice President Europe for a heterogeneous operability software company that developed and marketed revolutionary, interactive operating systems software. The company obtained IPO status in1992.Peter has served as Chief Technology Officer and ad Interim Country Managers in 11 countries. George Pór Founder, CommunityIntelligence Ltd. Former Senior Research Fellow at INSEAD Tracking and moving the edge of innovation in business, society, media and technology
I am an evolutionary thinker-activist and a strategic learning partner to visionary leaders in business, government and civil society, in matters of culture change and sustaining the next level, innovation and resilience, and social media strategies.
I’ve been tracking the edge of innovation in electronic and social technologies for the last 30 years, and contributing to it, in the areas of collective intelligence, knowledge ecology, communities of practice, and personal mastery. I co-authored several books on related subjects and held Research Fellow positions at INSEAD and London School of Economics.
I am the founder of CommunityIntelligence, serving as Research Fellow in the Business School of Universiteit van Amsterdam, and on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Knowledge Management.
My clients include or included: AT&T, British Petroleum, Bull S.A., Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, CanWest, Dow Chemical, EDS, Elf Aquitaine, Ericsson, European Commission, European Foundation for Management Development, Dutch government, European Investment Bank, Flemish government, Ford Motor Co., Greenpeace International, Hewlett Packard, INSEAD, Intel, Procter & Gamble, Prudential, Siemens, Solvay, Sun Microsystems, Swiss Re, Unilever, and the World Business Academy. I can be reached at george(at)Community-Intelligence(dot)com. www.community-intelligence.com Madanmohan Rao Consultant and prolific writer from Bangalore, Research Advisor, Asian Media Information and Communication centre (AMIC), Singapore. Dr. Madanmohan Rao, a consultant and author from Bangalore, is research advisor at the Asian Media Information and Communication Centre (AMIC). He is the editor of three book series: The Asia Pacific Internet Handbook, The Knowledge Management Chronicles and AfricaDotEdu. He is the research director of Mobile Monday, a global network of mobile and wireless communication professionals, and the Bangalore K-Community, a network of knowledge management professionals. He is editor-at-large of DestinationKM, world music editor for Rave magazine, RJ for world music at WorldSpace Radio, editor-at-large for Wireless World magazine, and contributor to the Poynter Institute blog on new media trends.
Madan was formerly the communications director at the United Nations Inter Press Service bureau in New York, and vice president at IndiaWorld Communications in Bombay. He graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology at Bombay and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, with an M.S. in computer science and a Ph.D. in communications.
Madan is a frequent speaker on the international conference circuit, and has given talks and lectures in over 60 countries around the world. He has worked with online services in the U.S., Brazil, and India. His articles have appeared in DestinationKM, The Economic Times, Electronic Markets magazine, Economic and Political Weekly, and the Bangkok Post. Madan is on the board of directors/advisors of numerous content and wireless services firms in Asia. He also participates in consultations at UNESCO, IDRC, and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) foundation.
Madan was on the nominating committee of ICANN (International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), which designs and manages the infrastructure of the global Internet, and was on the board of directors of CPSR (Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility). He is on the board of editors of the journal Electronic Markets and the Journal of Community Informatics, and was on the board of the journal Convergence. Madan was also on the international editorial board of the recently published book, Transforming e-Knowledge.
Madan is adjunct faculty at the International School of Information Management in Mysore, India, where he teaches KM courses at the master's level. He is also adjunct faculty at the Indian Institute of Information Technology in Bangalore, for whom he coordinates exchange programmes with Malmo University in southern Sweden. Every summer, Madan conducts workshops on enterprise workspace design, knowledge work and usability for students and professionals, hosted by Malmo University.
Madan is conference chair or on the conference committee for the following events: Digital Worlds (Asia, Arabia, Latin America, Africa), Mobile Monday Global Summit 2008, Mobile Monday India (Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad), Wireless India, RFID India, AMIC annual summit (Asian Media Information and Communication Centre).
He has spoken at KM World in California, KM Asia in Singapore, KM Challenge Australia in Sydney, and InfoVision/KM India in Bangalore. He is on the conference committee for the annual India Infovision Summit and the National Seminar on KM for the Public Sector, in India. Madan is also a regular at APQC's annual KM Summit and the Braintrust KM conferences. His KM consulting engagements have included Fortune 500 companies such as Perot Systems and Philips, and Indian IT services pioneers such as HCL Technologies. His clients in mobile and wireless space include Wolff Solutions, IndiaCom and AMIC. www.amic.org.sg Hardy F. Schloer Owner, Schloer Consulting Group Hardy F. Schloer is a strong team builder, entrepreneur, accomplished scientist and visionary theoretical thinker with extensive people and public relation skills.
For three decades now Schloer has built successful global technology solutions and practical problem-solving infrastructures for clients and partners in the Americas, Europe and Asia. Schloer has extensive hands-on experience in the design and the conceptualization of successful solutions and complex technology architectures on global scale. His strong ability to view problems through their complex layers of context has enabled him to become a highly effective analyst and 'out-of-the-box' thinking problem solver.
Schloer is founder and former CEO of RavenPack AG in Germany and RavenPack International in Spain, a world leader in computational linguistics and real-time financial applications. Schloer is also the inventor of numerous Information and Communication Technology patents and of the Quantum Relation Theory, a breakthrough concept in Artificial Intelligence. The Quantum Relation Theory has been academically reviewed and discussed (see Reviews on QRT). (Read more about the Quantum Relation Technology)
In 2001 Schloer received the award of “One of 25 Best Technologies of the Future” from NetInvestor in Germany for the invention of his Quantum Relation-based technology platform, 'RavenSpace'.
Schloer made also important intellectual contributions to the field of healthcare with his groundbreaking concept ‘AlphaMedic’, a global approach to modern healthcare that envisions globally standardized, centralized and AI managed patients record keeping, combined with computer assisted real-time medical diagnostics and automated clinical trials in a global 24/7 processing approach. Schloer’s AlphaMedic concept to healthcare problems has received a European Grant and has been published and discussed in the press and online healthcare publications
Schloer has developed a strong transdisciplinary and intercultural approach to problem-solving consultancy that is now leading in its field. He is an internationally acclaimed speaker and is frequently invited to international conferences, public discussion panels and other global Think Tank events. ppt SCG Company Introduction http://schloerconsulting.com
Bob Stumpel Result Bob Stumpel started his first career as a researcher of and teacher in Dutch mediaeval literature. The contours of his role as an expert in the TIME industry took shape when he co-founded and managed 2 subsequent advertising agencies. In '94 he also founded interactive agency CLIC. As an advisor, Bob worked for many large and mid cap companies, like KPN, VNU, Sanoma, Grupo Clarín, Irdeto, RTL, and many automotive and retail brands. As an interim manager, Bob worked for numerous TIME companies, a.o. Xing, LinkedIn, CaliberMedia, Ikki, and Bidster. He has helped several Dutch companies to roll-out internationally. Bob is or has been involved in many new media companies, a.o. Overloaded, Infocaster, Mendix, IRL Connect, and Peers. He holds or held board positions at these same companies. He is part of the management team of Result. LinkedIn profile: www.linkedin.com/in/bobstumpel Xing profile: www.xing.com/profile/Bob_Stumpel www.result.com Peter C. van Gorsel Director of the Institute for Media and Information Management, Hogeschool van Amsterdam
Peter van Gorsel spent many years in publishing before becoming Director of the Institute for Media and Information Management at the Hogeschool van Amsterdam. www.mim.hva.nl
. Experts
You can reach the Club of Amsterdam Expert Group by email: experts@clubofamsterdam.com Yves Boillot Arnab B. Chowdhury, Founder and CEO, Ninād Thomas Ugo Ermacora, Founder and creative director, Etikstudio Ahmed El Sheikh, Scenario Planning, The Pharmaceutical Strategist Tim Harper, Founder, CMP Cientifica Fernanda Ibarra Gerd Leonhard, Music Futurist, former CEO, www.licensemusic.com Bert van Lamoen, Dean, EBBS International Business School
Yves Boillot Expertise: Telecom He is a former entrepreneur, management consultant and engineer. He has 12 years of experience in the space and telecom industry. He has earned an MBA from the Rotterdam School of Management, a degree at the International Space University and a Master's in Engineering from the Institut National des Sciences Appliquées in Lyon. Yves is a French national and lives in Leiden with his wife and two children. Arnab B. Chowdhury Founder and CEO, Ninād Expertise: Integrality-centered Knowledge Management and Strategy Arnab's upbringing at Sri Aurobindo Ashram and Integral Education at Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education have inspired him to synthesise his personal and professional aspirations. He is founder and CEO of Ninād - an Integrality-centered collaborating network that ideates Knowledge Management (KM) strategies to help entrepreneurs and organizations to become more nimble and dynamic. For him, Integrality means the motivation to see truth in all possible dimensions at all given times. A decade of innovative consulting has led to the formation of IndiaThinks - the research arm of Ninād that concretizes India's stance on global issues. Ninād's network is spread across Paris, Bangalore, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Pondicherry. Ninād consults primarily in 3 spaces: UNESCO, entrepreneurial and the Indian government. The third generation in a family of Indian classical musicians, Arnab has travelled the spectrum of performance - composition (both Indian and Western Classical) with Artificial Intelligence which culminated in his consulting as 'computer music researcher' at M.I.T. Media Lab (Music, Mind and Machine Group). His earlier corporate clients for e-Learning with multimedia design include IBM, NEC and Infosys Technologies. His writings have been published and syndicated in the British, French, Hong Kong, Dutch and Indian media. www.ninad.biz Thomas Ugo Ermacora Founder and creative director, Etikstudio Expertise: Sustainability Founder and creative director for Etikstudio, Ermacora works with a variety of companies to develop sustainable concepts, products and services. Along with a series of entrepreneurial activities in Media and lifestyle as well as technological start-ups, Thomas curates events with the intent of bringing a "debate with outcomes". Amongst those he exhibited "dreams on wheels" on cycling cities in the national design centre of Denmark in 2004. Prior to this he worked as a telecom strategy consultant on the digital divide for Tactis. He holds a degree in Urban Design from the Sorbonne and a bachelor of International Affairs from Northwestern University. www.etikstudio.com Ahmed El Sheikh Scenario Planning, The Pharmaceutical Strategist Expertise: MENA - Middle East & North Africa Ahmed is a senior partner at The Pharmaceutical Strategist, a forward looking think tank focused on scenario building for the life science industry. www.pharmastrategy.com Tim Harper Founder, CMP Cientifica Expertise: Nanotechnology Tim Harper is the founder of CMP Cientifica, Europe's largest nanotechnology information company, the Executive Director of the European NanoBusiness Association and an advisor to the US NanoBusiness Alliance. Before founding CMP Cientifica, Tim was an engineer at the European Space Agency's research and development centre in Noordwijk, The Netherlands. He managed the micro and nanoscale characterisation facility, and has published extensively on analytical techniques and characterization of advanced materials. Tim lives in Madrid, Spain, with his family, after working in the UK, US, Germany, and the Netherlands. Originally from the UK, he also speaks French, Spanish, and Dutch. www.cmp-cientifica.com Fernanda Ibarra Expertise: COP - Communities of Practice Fernanda is a consultant with a wide expertise in Computer-mediated-communication strategies and technologies, web publishing systems, Internet-mediated communities of practice (design, implementation and facilitation) and Online Learning systems. She has a broad knowledge on psychology of the cyberculture, consciousness studies, change methodologies and complex system theories. Her major interest lies in the cultural and social development through the use of Information and Communication Technologies. Issues like Digital and cultural divide in between modern, premodern and postmodern worldviews are part of her menu. She is aligned to the vision of enhancing more participative ways of organising as a mechanism to allow each individual to connect with their sources of creativity and to being able to participate in the key decisions that affects one future. She has produced a large number of online learning events and meetings (Synchronous and asynchronous) in Asia, US and Mexico. She currently mentors in the 'Communities of Practice Foundation workshop' which is leaded by Etienne Wenger and is a consultant for the Instituto Mexicano de Contadores Públicos (IMCP) which is a Federation of 61 Associations, in the development of their Social Learning System called SAL, which includes their Knowledge Managment and Informational Strategy. Their Online Learning System will launch its first 200 hours certification course in March 2005. Gerd Leonhard Music Futurist, former CEO, www.licensemusic.com Expertise: Music & Entertainment Gerd Leonhard (42), is a musician and producer, writer, strategic adviser and music business entrepreneur. Originally from Germany, Gerd spend almost 20 years in the U.S., working in the music industry, and now resides in Basel, Switzerland. 1996-2002, during the heydays of the Digital Music and dot-com years, Gerd was the founder and President & CEO of LicenseMusic.com, a company that revolutionized the B2B music-licensing space by inventing a web-based software product (and online marketplace) that reduced the average transaction time for music licenses from 6 weeks to 2 hours. LicenseMusic counted thousands of clients in the Film, TV, Advertising and New Media industries, worldwide, including Disney, McCann-Erickson, Paramount Pictures, Saatchi & Saatchi, and Fox TV. As a musician and composer (guitar), Gerd won the highly acclaimed Quincy Jones Jazz Masters Award which allowed him to attend Boston's Berklee College of Music and, in 1987, graduate with a diploma in Jazz Performance. Gerd has appeared on many recordings, concert bills and instructional videos, and has toured internationally, including some opening engagements for major acts such as Miles Davis. As an event producer, Gerd served as the Executive Producer of the pan-European talent event EuroPopDays, in Freiburg / Germany , which featured over 200 showcases with new bands and unsigned artist, sponsored by the European Commission and covered by MTV Europe. Gerd served as an Expert Adviser to the European Commission in Brussels, Belgium, in 1993-1996, as Senior Adviser to the London-based Rightscom Ltd, currently sits on the Advisory Board of the Music Business Management Division of Westminster University (London), and has consulted dozens of start-ups and SMEs in the music and technology sectors, both in Europe and the U.S. Gerd also works with venture capitalists and financial services companies in discovering interesting investment opportunities in the media-technology business. Gerd is a very active writer (look for a new book to be published in early 2004), speaker and strategic adviser, and has been quoted in Billboard, Variety, the Hollywood Reporter, the San Francisco Chronicle, Business2.0, the WSJ and Wired. He publishes his music business visions at www.thefutureof.net, a think-tank site that has been syndicated to hundreds of websites around the globe. Gerd is also the Founder of www.musicentrepreneurs.com, a network platform for entrepreneurs in the music business. Gerd has spoken, moderated and presented at dozens of music industry events, including Webnoize, MIDEM, MILIA, Gartner Conferences, Streaming Media and the Content Summits; and has lectured at Berklee College of Music, UC Berkeley, University of Miami, City University London, University of Colorado, and many others. Gerd speaks German, English, and French, and, on a good day, a little bit of Spanish and Italian. www.gerdleonhard.com Bert van Lamoen Dean, EBBS International Business School Expertise: Learning Bert studied science of communication (Utrecht) and comparative culture in Switzerland (Zurich/Lugano) with specialization : corporate culture. He holds a Master Degree (M.A. summa cum laude). Post graduate studies: futurology (Prof. Polak, Galtung), psychology prof. R. Hauben (Menninger Foundation, USA), P. Vroon (Utrecht), pedagogy/education prof. M.Langeveld (Utrecht), economics (prof. A. Heertje, Uni. Amsterdam). Comparative culture: prof. M. Buber, D. Flusser , S. Safrai (Uni.Jerusalem), prof. E. Levinas, prof. Ranganathananda (Delhi), Prof. A. Takizawi (Japan), Prof. Liu (Beijng), On dialogue: prof. M. Buber, E. Levinas, D. Bohm (U.K). And studied/worked with paradigm changers such as H. van Praag, I. Prigogine, F.A. Popp and E. Jantsch. He is a born generalist with some specialization in creating/facilitating network organizations, the Knowledge Economy and CSR (Corporate Social Accountability). For 20 years he has been teaching at universities and business schools all over the world, he was e.g. visiting professor at: IIB (Institute of International Business) Stockholm School of Economics (Sweden), University of Basel (Switzerland), Free University Brussels (Belgium), University Delhi (India), Nijenrode Business School (the Netherlands), IBS (International Business School) Nanjing University (China), IBS (International Business School), ESAMI (East and South Africa Management Institute), MsM (Maastricht School of Management), University of Amsterdam, Business School. He worked for organizations like the Shell (scenario planning and futurology), Pandata/Gap Gemini, the Dutch Ministery of Health (WVC), the European Commission (Brussels), Interbrew, Homeoropa/Steigerwald, MSD, Byk, Dolisos, Biotics, TS products, Boehringer, PTT Telecom, Serono-the Ares Group, Green Foods Corporation, Reisemus & de Frel, the ING Bank and the Ordina Institute for Research and Innovation (ICT). He (co-) authored 6 books and 40 articles and was editor in chief for Ankh Hermes (NL) and Haug Verlag (D). And was/is actively part of think-and-do-tanks like the European Edge (Denmark). As entrepreneur he managed three companies of his own - most successfully a publishing firm. He sees himself first and foremost as an entrepreneur, innovator, teacher and personal coach. Bert is married and has a son and a daughter; his favourite sport: snowboarding. His latest endeavour: dean of EBBS International Business School - one of the first change agent business schools in the world and a global entrepreneurial and educational network with focus on modern, value based entrepreneurship. www.ebbs.eu
Yves Boillot Expertise: Telecom He is a former entrepreneur, management consultant and engineer. He has 12 years of experience in the space and telecom industry. He has earned an MBA from the Rotterdam School of Management, a degree at the International Space University and a Master's in Engineering from the Institut National des Sciences Appliquées in Lyon. Yves is a French national and lives in Leiden with his wife and two children. Arnab B. Chowdhury Founder and CEO, Ninād
Expertise: Integrality-centered Knowledge Management and Strategy Arnab's upbringing at Sri Aurobindo Ashram and Integral Education at Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education have inspired him to synthesise his personal and professional aspirations. He is founder and CEO of Ninād - an Integrality-centered collaborating network that ideates Knowledge Management (KM) strategies to help entrepreneurs and organizations to become more nimble and dynamic. For him, Integrality means the motivation to see truth in all possible dimensions at all given times. A decade of innovative consulting has led to the formation of IndiaThinks - the research arm of Ninād that concretizes India's stance on global issues. Ninād's network is spread across Paris, Bangalore, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Pondicherry. Ninād consults primarily in 3 spaces: UNESCO, entrepreneurial and the Indian government. The third generation in a family of Indian classical musicians, Arnab has travelled the spectrum of performance - composition (both Indian and Western Classical) with Artificial Intelligence which culminated in his consulting as 'computer music researcher' at M.I.T. Media Lab (Music, Mind and Machine Group). His earlier corporate clients for e-Learning with multimedia design include IBM, NEC and Infosys Technologies. His writings have been published and syndicated in the British, French, Hong Kong, Dutch and Indian media. www.ninad.biz Thomas Ugo Ermacora Founder and creative director, Etikstudio Expertise: Sustainability Founder and creative director for Etikstudio, Ermacora works with a variety of companies to develop sustainable concepts, products and services. Along with a series of entrepreneurial activities in Media and lifestyle as well as technological start-ups, Thomas curates events with the intent of bringing a "debate with outcomes". Amongst those he exhibited "dreams on wheels" on cycling cities in the national design centre of Denmark in 2004. Prior to this he worked as a telecom strategy consultant on the digital divide for Tactis. He holds a degree in Urban Design from the Sorbonne and a bachelor of International Affairs from Northwestern University. www.etikstudio.com Ahmed El Sheikh Scenario Planning, The Pharmaceutical Strategist Expertise: MENA - Middle East & North Africa Ahmed is a senior partner at The Pharmaceutical Strategist, a forward looking think tank focused on scenario building for the life science industry. www.pharmastrategy.com Tim Harper Founder, CMP Cientifica Expertise: Nanotechnology Tim Harper is the founder of CMP Cientifica, Europe's largest nanotechnology information company, the Executive Director of the European NanoBusiness Association and an advisor to the US NanoBusiness Alliance. Before founding CMP Cientifica, Tim was an engineer at the European Space Agency's research and development centre in Noordwijk, The Netherlands. He managed the micro and nanoscale characterisation facility, and has published extensively on analytical techniques and characterization of advanced materials. Tim lives in Madrid, Spain, with his family, after working in the UK, US, Germany, and the Netherlands. Originally from the UK, he also speaks French, Spanish, and Dutch. www.cmp-cientifica.com Fernanda Ibarra Expertise: COP - Communities of Practice Fernanda is a consultant with a wide expertise in Computer-mediated-communication strategies and technologies, web publishing systems, Internet-mediated communities of practice (design, implementation and facilitation) and Online Learning systems. She has a broad knowledge on psychology of the cyberculture, consciousness studies, change methodologies and complex system theories. Her major interest lies in the cultural and social development through the use of Information and Communication Technologies. Issues like Digital and cultural divide in between modern, premodern and postmodern worldviews are part of her menu. She is aligned to the vision of enhancing more participative ways of organising as a mechanism to allow each individual to connect with their sources of creativity and to being able to participate in the key decisions that affects one future. She has produced a large number of online learning events and meetings (Synchronous and asynchronous) in Asia, US and Mexico. She currently mentors in the 'Communities of Practice Foundation workshop' which is leaded by Etienne Wenger and is a consultant for the Instituto Mexicano de Contadores Públicos (IMCP) which is a Federation of 61 Associations, in the development of their Social Learning System called SAL, which includes their Knowledge Managment and Informational Strategy. Their Online Learning System will launch its first 200 hours certification course in March 2005. Gerd Leonhard Music Futurist, former CEO, www.licensemusic.com Expertise: Music & Entertainment Gerd Leonhard (42), is a musician and producer, writer, strategic adviser and music business entrepreneur. Originally from Germany, Gerd spend almost 20 years in the U.S., working in the music industry, and now resides in Basel, Switzerland. 1996-2002, during the heydays of the Digital Music and dot-com years, Gerd was the founder and President & CEO of LicenseMusic.com, a company that revolutionized the B2B music-licensing space by inventing a web-based software product (and online marketplace) that reduced the average transaction time for music licenses from 6 weeks to 2 hours. LicenseMusic counted thousands of clients in the Film, TV, Advertising and New Media industries, worldwide, including Disney, McCann-Erickson, Paramount Pictures, Saatchi & Saatchi, and Fox TV. As a musician and composer (guitar), Gerd won the highly acclaimed Quincy Jones Jazz Masters Award which allowed him to attend Boston's Berklee College of Music and, in 1987, graduate with a diploma in Jazz Performance. Gerd has appeared on many recordings, concert bills and instructional videos, and has toured internationally, including some opening engagements for major acts such as Miles Davis. As an event producer, Gerd served as the Executive Producer of the pan-European talent event EuroPopDays, in Freiburg / Germany , which featured over 200 showcases with new bands and unsigned artist, sponsored by the European Commission and covered by MTV Europe. Gerd served as an Expert Adviser to the European Commission in Brussels, Belgium, in 1993-1996, as Senior Adviser to the London-based Rightscom Ltd, currently sits on the Advisory Board of the Music Business Management Division of Westminster University (London), and has consulted dozens of start-ups and SMEs in the music and technology sectors, both in Europe and the U.S. Gerd also works with venture capitalists and financial services companies in discovering interesting investment opportunities in the media-technology business. Gerd is a very active writer (look for a new book to be published in early 2004), speaker and strategic adviser, and has been quoted in Billboard, Variety, the Hollywood Reporter, the San Francisco Chronicle, Business2.0, the WSJ and Wired. He publishes his music business visions at www.thefutureof.net, a think-tank site that has been syndicated to hundreds of websites around the globe. Gerd is also the Founder of www.musicentrepreneurs.com, a network platform for entrepreneurs in the music business. Gerd has spoken, moderated and presented at dozens of music industry events, including Webnoize, MIDEM, MILIA, Gartner Conferences, Streaming Media and the Content Summits; and has lectured at Berklee College of Music, UC Berkeley, University of Miami, City University London, University of Colorado, and many others. Gerd speaks German, English, and French, and, on a good day, a little bit of Spanish and Italian. www.gerdleonhard.com Bert van Lamoen Dean, EBBS International Business School Expertise: Learning Bert studied science of communication (Utrecht) and comparative culture in Switzerland (Zurich/Lugano) with specialization : corporate culture. He holds a Master Degree (M.A. summa cum laude). Post graduate studies: futurology (Prof. Polak, Galtung), psychology prof. R. Hauben (Menninger Foundation, USA), P. Vroon (Utrecht), pedagogy/education prof. M.Langeveld (Utrecht), economics (prof. A. Heertje, Uni. Amsterdam). Comparative culture: prof. M. Buber, D. Flusser , S. Safrai (Uni.Jerusalem), prof. E. Levinas, prof. Ranganathananda (Delhi), Prof. A. Takizawi (Japan), Prof. Liu (Beijng), On dialogue: prof. M. Buber, E. Levinas, D. Bohm (U.K). And studied/worked with paradigm changers such as H. van Praag, I. Prigogine, F.A. Popp and E. Jantsch. He is a born generalist with some specialization in creating/facilitating network organizations, the Knowledge Economy and CSR (Corporate Social Accountability). For 20 years he has been teaching at universities and business schools all over the world, he was e.g. visiting professor at: IIB (Institute of International Business) Stockholm School of Economics (Sweden), University of Basel (Switzerland), Free University Brussels (Belgium), University Delhi (India), Nijenrode Business School (the Netherlands), IBS (International Business School) Nanjing University (China), IBS (International Business School), ESAMI (East and South Africa Management Institute), MsM (Maastricht School of Management), University of Amsterdam, Business School. He worked for organizations like the Shell (scenario planning and futurology), Pandata/Gap Gemini, the Dutch Ministery of Health (WVC), the European Commission (Brussels), Interbrew, Homeoropa/Steigerwald, MSD, Byk, Dolisos, Biotics, TS products, Boehringer, PTT Telecom, Serono-the Ares Group, Green Foods Corporation, Reisemus & de Frel, the ING Bank and the Ordina Institute for Research and Innovation (ICT). He (co-) authored 6 books and 40 articles and was editor in chief for Ankh Hermes (NL) and Haug Verlag (D). And was/is actively part of think-and-do-tanks like the European Edge (Denmark). As entrepreneur he managed three companies of his own - most successfully a publishing firm. He sees himself first and foremost as an entrepreneur, innovator, teacher and personal coach. Bert is married and has a son and a daughter; his favourite sport: snowboarding. His latest endeavour: dean of EBBS International Business School - one of the first change agent business schools in the world and a global entrepreneurial and educational network with focus on modern, value based entrepreneurship. www.ebbs.eu
. Club of Amsterdam Round Table
The Club of Amsterdam Round Table is an internal think tank and gets together on a monthly basis. It is for selected members only. The Round Table is a vivid example of the Club of Amsterdam's mission of shaping Your Future in the Knowledge Society. Its members are specialists in areas like finance, economy, arts, management, science, entertainment, ICT, education and architecture. You can reach the Club of Amsterdam Round Table by email: roundtable@clubofamsterdam.com Current Members are:
Felix B Bopp, chairman, Club of Amsterdam Maurice Brown John Grüter, Systems Thinker, Digital Knowledge Homme Heida, Promedia Job Romijn, Artist Menno Scheers Philip Seligmann
We currently - October 2007 - have 4.000 members globally. See section Membership
. Motivation
Alvin Toffler - one of the world's most reputable and influential futurists:
"There is a slightly odd notion in business today that things are moving so fast that strategy becomes an obsolete idea. That all you need is to be flexible or adaptable. Or as the current vocabulary puts it, 'agile.' This is a mistake. You cannot substitute agility for strategy. If you do not develop a strategy of your own, you become a part of someone else's strategy. You, in fact, become reactive to external circumstances. The absence of strategy is fine, if you don't care where you're going."
Ed Lindaman, Futurist and Director of Program Planning for the design and manufacture of the Apollo Spacecraft Project:
"If humankind could spend just a fraction of the countless millions of dollars and millions of hours we spend trying to predict the future, instead on imagining preferred future options together, we'd be living in a different world."
Craig Hamilton, former managing editor of What Is Enlightenment? magazine:
"It's July 2003, and fifteen top telecom executives have gathered at a small island retreat off the coast of Maine. Tensions are high as they head into a three-day summit to discuss the future of the industry. Since the advent of wireless service and the web, companies have been scrambling to stay ahead of the technological curve, and amid growing market competition, it has become clear that some new thinking is needed. For the first two days, the talks are frustrating. Experts take turns trading theories and speculations, but everyone remains guarded. Finally, at the suggestion of one executive, on the third morning a "dialogue facilitator" is flown in to try to bring the group together. After giving a brief introduction about the importance of listening and suspending assumptions, and a plea to remember the common goal that brought them together, the meeting begins. Already, there is a different quality in the room. Around the circle, people seem more relaxed and more attentive to one another. A few minutes into the discussion, the CEO of one of the large wireless providers shares his vision: "I think we need to stop thinking of our work in purely business terms," he states, pausing, groping for words. "What if we began to see one another not simply as competitors for market share, but as partners in uniting the world through technology? If you really think about it, in a sense, isn't our larger mission to create the infrastructure that will make it possible for the Global Village to become a real community?" His openness seems to catch everyone off guard, and for the first time all weekend, there is a brief silence. In this silence, an almost imperceptible, vibrant energy begins to grow in the room. "I'm glad you had the guts to say it," another executive offers. "I think we've all grown tired of just chasing the bottom line." "I agree," a third adds. "If there's anything this industry needs right now, it's vision." The shift in the group is now becoming palpable, and several people comment on it. There is an electricity in the air and a sense of space that seems to envelop everyone. More members join in, and as each individual speaks, it seems to pull the group deeper into a unity, not only of interest but of vision. Several people try to speak at once, only to burst into laughter upon discovering that they all spontaneously had the same idea. A creativity seems to swirl in the room, carrying everyone with it, and a mysterious recognition begins to dawn in the group that they are no longer operating as separate individuals but are actually thinking together. Hours pass, but nobody wants to stop. Eventually, the meeting comes to a natural close, and everyone sits together in silence for a few minutes. Nobody knows what has happened. But they all know it was important. In a world where many of us are still apt to think that there is nothing genuinely new under the sun, something seems to be emerging on our collective frontier. Around the country and across the globe, from corporate boardrooms to social change think tanks, people are responding to an impulse to come together in shared exploration. And in their midst, something miraculous is being born. "When the group reaches a certain level of coherence, generally there's some higher level of order that comes into the room and it's very noticeable to people," explains organizational consultant Robert Kenny. "It's like something has shifted. People stop fighting for airspace and there's a kind of group intuition that develops. It's almost like the group as a whole becomes a tuning fork for the inflow of wisdom." Call it collective consciousness, team synergy, co-intelligence, or group mind-a growing number of people are discovering through their own experience that wholes are indeed far more than the sum of their parts; that when individuals come together with a shared intention, in a conducive environment, something mysterious can come into being, with capacities and intelligences that far transcend those of the individuals involved."
. Contact
Club of Amsterdam Felix B Bopp Pieter Aertszstraat 83hs 1073 SL Amsterdam The Netherlands Phone +31-20-615 4487 info@clubofamsterdam.com www.clubofamsterdam.com
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