“You see things; and you say “Why?” But I dream things that never were; and I say “Why not?” George Bernard Shaw

Join a panel of entrepreneurs and innovation experts to discuss how we can tackle the world’s biggest problems in innovative ways to benefit society.

We will consider questions including: What does innovation mean for social science? How we can innovate in socially responsible ways? Is innovation always to do with technology? How can we foster creativity and innovation? What does an innovative world look like? 

Juanita Gonzalez-Uribe is an Assistant Professor at the London School of Economics. Her research focuses on entrepreneurship, private equity and innovation. Her work has won several prizes including the Kauffman Dissertation Award (2012), the Coller Prize Award London (2013) and the Jaime Fernandez de Araoz Award (JFA, 2017). She has also won several grants for her research projects including Coller Institute Grant and NBER Innovation Policy Grants. Juanita has a PhD in Finance and Economics from Columbia University, and, a Master in Economics and a Bachelor in Economics and Mathematics from Universidad de los Andes (Colombia). Prior to her PhD studies, Juanita worked as a junior researcher at the Central Bank of Colombia. 

Emma Smith (@emmyagsmith) is the Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer at Eversend, a blockchain-based e-wallet for Africa and its diaspora that can facilitate money transfers both on and offline. To date, Eversend has facilitated over $5.5 million worth of transactions. Before Eversend, Emma has worked on enterprising and innovative solutions to complex development problems. She's been on the founding team of five startups. Working with the public and private sector, she has led and participated in projects on diverse topics such as refugees and forced migration, global health, and financial inclusion. She has worked in 10 countries and speaks five languages. Emma has been honored as a FutureTalks delegate, Kenneth Cole Compass Fellow for Social Entrepreneurship, and Bass Connections Scholar. Her research has been published by Oxford Press, Duke University Press, and the LSE International Development blog. She has presented on panels including Innovations in Sustainable Finance for Global Entrepreneurship Week and at conferences such as the Consortium of Universities for Global Health. She graduated with a BA with Distinction from Duke University and a MSc. from the London School of Economics. 

Geoff Mulgan (@geoffmulgan) has been Chief Executive of Nesta since 2011. Nesta is the UK's innovation foundation and runs a wide range of activities in investment, practical innovation and research. Between 1997 and 2004 Geoff had various roles in the UK government including director of the Government's Strategy Unit and head of policy in the Prime Minister's office. From 2004 to 2011 Geoff was the first Chief Executive of The Young Foundation. He was the first director of the think-tank Demos; Chief Adviser to Gordon Brown MP and reporter on BBC TV and radio. He has been a visiting professor at LSE, UCL and Melbourne University and is currently a senior visiting scholar at Harvard University. Geoff co-chaIrs a World Economic Forum group looking at innovation and entrepreneurship in the fourth industrial revolution. His books include The Art of Public Strategy, Good and Bad Power, The Locust and the Bee and, most recently, Big Mind: how collective intelligence can change our world.

Kartik Varma (@CorpusKV) is an entrepreneur and an investor. He is the co-founder of PropTiger.com, India's largest digital real estate services firm, and iTrust Financial Advisors, a web-based open architecture platform providing financial products and advice to the mass affluent market in India. Previously, Kartik worked at The Childrens Investment Fund (London), Ziff Brothers Investments (New York and London) and James D Wolfensohn, Inc. (New York). Kartik has an LLB from the London School of Economics and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He's currently a Managing Director at Techstars and runs the Barclays Accelerator powered by Techstars in London which invests in early stage fintech startups.

Julia Black is Professor of Law in the Department of Law at LSE. She joined the Law Department in 1994. She completed her first degree in Jurisprudence and her DPhil at Oxford University. Her primary research interest is regulation.  She has had a  British Academy / Leverhulme Trust Senior Research Fellowship, and been a Visiting Fellow at the University of Sydney and at All Souls College, Oxford, and in 2014 was the Sir Frank Holmes Visiting Professor in Public Policy at the University of Victoria, Wellington. She has written extensively on regulatory issues in a number of areas, and has advised policy makers, consumer bodies and regulators on issues of institutional design and regulatory policy. Julia was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 2015. She was appointed to the Board of UK Research and Innovation in 2017.

Due to unforeseen circumstances Hannah Leach is unfortunately no longer able to speak at this event. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.

Twitter hashtags for this event: #LSEFestival #NewWorldDisorders

This event is part of the LSE Festival: New World (Dis)Orders running from Monday 25 February to Saturday 2 March 2019, with a series of events exploring how social science can tackle global problems.