How can historic cities accommodate research and innovation, creating places for ideas to turn into enterprises and economic activity? ëWhat environments can support overlaps between people, disciplines and sectors and incubate the often-dramatic growth from a single person with a bright idea to a world-changing organisation?í Drawing on direct personal experience leading major urban projects in Riga, Latvia and Oxford, UK, Jonathan will discuss the role of universities and the knowledge economy at their intersections with strategic infrastructure.

Taichi Goto is Founder and President of Region Works LLC, and Visiting Professor of Global Innovation Center, Kyushu University. As a project designer he works with variety of stakeholders in designing and managing strategic projects for sustainable development. His recent works focus on placemaking, economic development and societal innovation, and ranges from a rural town with 5,000 residents to a bustling city center of Shibuya, Tokyo. He loves tennis, football, eating and travel, which he believes all essential for quality of life.

Dr. ir. Gerhard Bruyns is an architect and urbanist. He is Assistant Professor of Environment and Interior Design, School of Design at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong. His research deals with the aspects of spatial forms and how these impact both the formal expression of the city and societal conditions that are compressed into an urban landscape driven by speculation and excess. He has published on design strategies for neoliberal landscapes, exploring what this means for concepts as the 'square foot society' and models of urban dwelling and planning. In 2012 he coedited African Perspectives [South] Africa. City, Society, Space, Literature and Architecture (010 Publishers: Rotterdam) part of the Delft School of Design Publication Series. In 2015 he was co-editor of Issue #16 of Footprint: Delft Architecture Theory Journal titled: Introduction: Commoning as Differentiated Publicness (JapSam Books 2015).

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Daunis Auers (PhD, London) is an Associate Professor at the University of Latvia, Director of the Certus think-tank and President-elect of the US-based Association for the Advancement of Baltic Studies. He has been a Fulbright Scholar at the University of California-Berkeley and a Baltic-American Freedom Foundation Scholar at Wayne State University in Detroit. He has published widely on a range of competitiveness and political issues. His most recent book ñ The Comparative Government and Politics of the Baltic States: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in the 21st Century ñ was published by Palgrave Macmillan in London and New York in 2015.

Viesturs Celmiņš is an anthropologist working in urban design. From 2007-2010 he coordinated the sustainable development strategy "Latvia 2030". Between 2012 -2015 he was a supervisor at the University of Cambridge, Division of Social Anthropology and also co-organized the "City Seminar" series at CRASH. In 2016 e contributed to the making of the Baltic Pavilion for the XV Venice Architecture Biennial. From 2016 -2018 he researched the future of knowledge territories in the Baltic region as a part of "Live Baltic Campus" at the University of Latvia.Since 2018 he is a researcher in INTERREG project "Augmented Urbans" focusing on use immersive technologies in urban planning.

I inquire into the social aspects of public space and the design and management opportunities social inclusion presents us with. My research has been credited with an award, several grants and scholarships, and has yielded numerous publications, as well as media interest. I hold a Doctor of Arts from Finland, a Master of Arts from Holland, and a Master of Architecture from my native Greece. I am currently employed by Aalto University in the master’s program of Urban Studies and Planning (USP). I am also part of the editorial team of the international journal Architecture_Media, Politics, Society (UCL).

Favourite scholarly texts of mine include: “Intercultural Public Space and Activism” included in the book The Intercultural City; “Public Spaces for Youth? The Case of the Jane-Finch Neighbourhood in Toronto” in the journal Space and Culture; “Intercultural Public Spaces in Multicultural Toronto” in the Canadian Journal of Urban Research; with colleagues, “Urban Nature and Social Diversity Promoting Interculturalism in Helsinki by Planning Urban Nature” in the journal Urban Forestry & Urban Greening; with a colleague, “Transdisciplinary Urbanism – Three Experiences from Europe and Canada” in the journal Cities; with a colleague, “‘So What?’ Limitations of Participatory Design on Decision-making in Urban Planning” in the 13th Participatory Design Conference; and my published doctoral dissertation, Space Unjust: Socio-Spatial Discrimination in Urban Public Space - Cases from Helsinki and Athens.

My aspirations include continuing my research and teaching on inclusive public space.

Since 2008, Jeffrey Matthijs is director of Autodelen.net, (network carsharing). His mission: to maximize the ecological, social and economic benefits from car sharing. Together with the Autodelen.net team heís working on this trough combining and defending the interests of all car sharing providers and private car sharing groups, representing carsharing in front of (local) Governments and installing innovative pilots to make carsharing accessible for as many target groups as possible such as sharing governmental fleets, wheelchair friendly cars and projects of social inclusion and carsharing. Also heís one of the inventors of the green deal shared mobility and the annual rocking event: 'shared mobility rocks!'

Since 2007 it's Angelo Meuleman's mission to make shared mobility the most rocking concept in the world of transport. Which is not a difficult task for him, as he's is convinced that shared mobility 100% rocks. Angelo is innovation and policy director at Taxistop, a Belgian non-profit car-sharing and carpooling operator. Het travels around in Europe as shared mobility consultant and partner in many European projects. In Belgium, he's the initiator of a new concept for urban designers: Mobihubs, a local hub with at least shared mobility, collective transport and bike-facilities. Inspired by the MadCityConference he organised another non-conventional attractive conference: Shared Mobility Rocks!

Philippe Crist is Administrator and Programme Manager of the Corporate Partnership Board of the International Transport Forum (ITF) at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). He coordinates the research of the ITFís Corporate Partnership Board and manages international research projects for the ITFís 59 Member countries. His current work focuses on disruptive urban mobility scenarios and examines how car-based and active mobility, public transport and taxis must adapt to these. He is also leading work on Data science and public policy within the ITF investigating new strategies to leverage knowledge derived from new and rapidly growing data sources to improve transport decision-making. He is a recognized world expert on transport disruption, cycling safety and urban mobility. In 2016 he won the Danish Cycling Embassy's Leadership Award for Cycling Promotion. His other work currently looks at managing mobility in rapidly growing urban areas, assessing GHG emission strategies in the transport sector, as well as investigating national transport asset and network management strategies. A French-American dual national, he is an ex-competitive cyclist and avid mushroom hunter. He also does much of his best thinking on a bicycle.

Vladimirs Reskājs is a financier and politician and the managing director of Carguru, a car-sharing company in Riga.

Founder of Atom (rideatom.com) - first Baltic e-vehicle sharing platform. Previously founded food ordering startup Qfer, company that operates in Riga and has more than 250 000 registered users. Former Board Member of startup association - Startin, organization with the aim to promote Latvian startup scene and represent its interests.

Mariska Slots is a member of the Smart – Mobility team of the Municipality of Eindhoven. She fulfils the role of expert in the field of Mobility as a Service (MaaS). As such she is the project manager responsible for the tendering and implementation of MaaS in the Brainport region, in a project in partnership with the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water management. She has over 10 years international experience in the field of bike-sharing consultancy and both hardware and software development of mobility-sharing platforms. In her projects the added value for the end-user & stakeholders and data are key.