Born and raised in Austria, I lived and worked 8+ years in Bangalore, India, and Dubai, the United Arab Emirates. To be closer to my family, I decided to return to my home country in 2020.

On a professional note, I have 15 years of international experience in developing and delivering programs and building communities focused on human-centric innovation and emerging tech. These innovation programs in the form of accelerators, hackathons, incubators, pitching competitions, and educational workshops are aimed at creating a bridge between entrepreneurs, government, and private sector professionals, respectively.

My passion lies in storytelling, exploring new cultures, and learning about emerging technologies and their implications on our society and businesses. Furthermore, I am convinced that diversity and inclusion are at the core of building a better future for all, and I thus use my voice for equality.

My Resume

Ars Electronica
Linz, Austria

Since Sept. 2020

Head of Future Thinking School & Festival University

Creation of a new department focused on developing and executing educational programs (online and in-person) for companies, public institutions, academia as well as artists
•   Built up a new department from scratch responsible for innovation & educational programs for the private sector, public sector & academia
•   Developed & delivered online & in-person workshops on emerging technology, especially Artificial Intelligence (AI)
•   Led a program with Austria's Public Employment Office to train 1.500+ women over 2 years returning to the workforce on AI and digitization
Built & led the inaugural Festival University program in collaboration with the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education & Johannes Kepler University (100 students, 40 countries, 3-week program) as a test concept for a new local university. Conceptualized & led the 2nd edition of the program (200 students, 4-week program).

Dubai Future Foundation
Dubai, UAE

Sept. 2016 to July 2020

Head of Programs – Dubai Future Accelerators & AREA 2071

Built & led 11 innovation & start-up-programs including 280+ international start-ups & scale-ups, 13 government organizations & 3 private sector corporations
Expanded program portfolio from 1 to 4 (accelerators, competitions, policy & corporate innovation)
Team management (6 team members)
Budget planning & management of
Project & global team management across various organizations & geographies
Strategy development, design thinking & business process reengineering
Built a global ecosystem of partners
Official representation at local & international conferences

Naseba
Bangalore, India & Dubai, UAE

May 2012 to July 2016

Head of Production – Leadership Conferences and Professional Training

Creation and execution of conferences targeting C-level executives (2-3 days, 150+ attendees)
Creation & execution of 7 conferences with 800+ C-level attendees & 50+ sponsors overall, achieving the sales target of EUR 250k-300k per conference
Expanded the portfolio by launching "Professional Training"-services (~15 programs p.a.)
Budget management
Team management (3 team members)
Project management of the entire value chain of the program from agenda creation, acquisition of & relationship management with speakers, pricing of sponsorship packages to execution

Microsoft
Vienna, Austria

July 2010 to Oct. 2011

Channel Marketing & Readiness Manager

Part of the inaugural launch team of Windows Phone in Austr
Organized all POS marketing activities in Austria
Developed & deployed a new a training concept for Windows Phone for 1,000+ partner-sales representatives

AIESEC
Linz & Vienna, Austria
Rotterdam, the Netherlands

July 2008 to June 2010

Local & National VP Communications & Alumni Management

Set-up of 'Communications'-department on a national level
Development and execution of national PR- and marketing activities
Project management and agenda creation of multi-day conferences

Education

Johannes Kepler University
2011 | Linz, Austria
Master’s in Business & Economics

Indian Institute of Planning & Management
2008 | New Delhi, India
Exchange Program

Copenhagen Business School
2007 | Copenhagen, Denmark
Summer School

Languages

German (native)
English (fluent)
Arabic (basic)

Special Training

Licensed Business Practionerer of Neuro-Linguistic Programming NLP (190303)
UCLA Fundamentals of Blockchain Technology
IDEO Systems Thinking
Diploma Certificate (with distinction) "Speaking & Vocal Training"

Skills

Public Speaker & Moderator
Management of global teams & projects
Creating & running international innovation programs (accelerators, competitions, hackathons, policy programs)
Developing educational workshops & interdisciplinary academic programs
Creative & collaborative problem solver
Intercultural & governmental relationships
Ecosystem builder

Innovation Programs

Dubai Future Accelerators – Cohort 1 to Cohort 7

Dubai Future Accelerators is a 9week program pairing government organizations and private-sector corporations with start-ups and scale-ups from all around the world to co-create and test tech solutions for set innovation projects.

Responsibilities: Program Manager for cohorts 1 and 2, Program Lead for cohort 2 to 7. Our team's scope of work included identifying the innovation requirements of our partners, creating suitable program formats, evaluating applicants submitted by start-ups, coordinating participants' travel and accommodations, executing programs with participating start-ups and our partner organizations.
Results: Since the launch of the program in Sept. 2016, we've worked with 13 government and private sector organizations and have connected them with 200+ start-ups and scale-ups from 32 countries. 60% of the start-ups have successfully started a collaborative pilot project with their respective partner organization; 17% have registered their company in Dubai post the in-residence program.
Press Release, Press Release, Video
www.dubaifutureaccelerators.com; www.area2071.ae

Blockchain Governance Accelerator (in collaboration with the Centre for the 4th Industrial Revolution and the World Economic Forum)

6day program connecting representatives from local and national government organizations, private sector corporations as well as blockchain start-ups to collaboratively develop and test guidelines for implementing blockchain projects using case studies.

Responsibilities: Co-creation, -management, and facilitation of the program.
Results: The outcome of the case studies was added to the "WEF Global Blockchain Toolkit" and made available for other countries. Acquisition of 2 new customers for Dubai Future Accelerators.

Press Release

VR & Beyond Challenge (in Collaboration with Burj Khalifa/Emaar and HTC)

9month global competition inviting virtual reality start-ups to develop a new VR experience for Burj Khalifa.

Responsibilities: Concept development and overall program management
Results: The winning start-ups were awarded EUR 120k and the solution was deployed at Burj Khalifa. The VR experience created by the runner up was added to the ‘Virtual Reality Park‘ in Dubai Mall.
Press Release

Smart Dubai Global Blockchain Challenge 2019

A global competition inviting blockchain start-ups from all around the world to pitch their solution as part of the region's largest blockchain summit (Future Blockchain Summit).

Responsibilities: Designer and project lead (5 months), co-moderation of pitching competition at the summit
Results: Increase in number of applications from 200 in 2018 to 700 in 2019; successful customer retention for 2020 program
Press Release

UAE Entrepreneurship Visa

In May 2019 the UAE government launched a new visa granting up to a 5year residency for experienced entrepreneurs from the UAE as well as abroad.

Responsibilities: Co-creation of application form, selection criteria and evaluation process
Press Release
business.goldenvisa.ae