Bill’s Vision

As an aerospace engineer on Apollo, an Air Force officer, a Silicon Valley manager, professor of technology & innovation, and founder of TechCast, I have always been fascinated with the revolutionary power of technology driving us into a high-tech global order. My work is devoted to helping us figure out where this profound transition is heading, what it all means, and how we can get there.

Source: William Halal and Associates Website

Sir Demis Hassabis (born 27 July 1976) is a British artificial intelligence (AI) researcher, and entrepreneur. He is the chief executive officer and co-founder of Google DeepMind, and Isomorphic Labs, and a UK Government AI Adviser. In 2024, Hassabis and John M. Jumper were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their AI research contributions for protein structure prediction.

Hassabis is a Fellow of the Royal Society, and has won many prestigious awards for his research work including the Breakthrough Prize, the Canada Gairdner International Award, and the Lasker Award. In 2017 he was appointed a CBE and listed in the Time 100 most influential people list. In 2024 he was knighted for services to AI.

Source: Wikipedia

Aharon Hauptman is senior researcher at TSF/ICTAF since 1988. Dr. Hauptman has a B.Sc from the Technion (Israel Institute of Technology) and Ph.D in Engineering from Tel-Aviv University (1986).

Specializing in the evaluation of trends in emerging technologies and their impacts, he has much experience in Technology Foresight and its relations with research policy and with various application areas. Examples of past/recent activities: Delphi surveys of emerging technologies; foresight in nanobiotechnology; foresight in the area of future unmanned/autonomous systems, “wild cards” and “weak signals”.

He has been involved in several EU FP6 projects (ELOST, Knowledge-NBIC, SSH-FUTURES) and led central work-packages or tasks in the FP7 projects FESTOS (impact of future/emerging technologies on security), PRACTIS (impact of  future technologies on privacy), iKNOW (wild cards and weak signals shaping the future science, technology and innovation policy) and RACE2050 (future transportation scenarios).

Source: Webpage

Dr. Elina Hiltunen – Futurist, Author, D. Sc (business), M.Sc. (chemistry)

Elina Hiltunen is a futurist, D. Sc. (Business administration) from Aalto University, School of Business and M.Sc. (chemical engineering) from Helsinki University of Technology (currently Aalto University, School of Chemical Engineering). Forbes has listed her as one of the 50 leading female futurists in the world. She is an experienced keynote speaker who has delivered hundreds of lectures about various topics on the future in Finland and abroad. She studied at the National Defense University, Finland and wrote her second PhD thesis on how to use science fiction in the foresight process of defense organization.

Elina has experience working as a futurist at Nokia, Finland Futures Research Centre and Finpro (Finnish Trade Promotion Association). She has also worked as an Executive in Residence at Aalto University, ARTS.

Source: Gerd Featured Colleagues

Geoffrey Everest Hinton (born 6 December 1947) is a British-Canadian computer scientist, cognitive scientist, cognitive psychologist, and Nobel laureate in physics, known for his work on artificial neural networks, which earned him the title “the Godfather of AI”.

Hinton is University Professor Emeritus at the University of Toronto. From 2013 to 2023, he divided his time working for Google (Google Brain) and the University of Toronto before publicly announcing his departure from Google in May 2023, citing concerns about the many risks of artificial intelligence (AI) technology.  In 2017, he co-founded and became the chief scientific advisor of the Vector Institute in Toronto.

Source: Wikipedia

Technology Entrepreneur, Advisor, and Investor

Volker is an entrepreneur, executive, and investor who has founded and co-founded a total of 7 companies to date. Most recently, he was the Chief Commercial Officer of the UK’s Medicines Discovery Catapult and a Partner at Amadeus Capital. He is also co-founder of Blue Beck, a 30-strong software development house, and Chairman of Advantage Creative. His investment focuses on health, AI, Med Tech, Digital Health and education technology. Further, Volker is a co-founder of Tech North Advocates, a non-profit focused on promoting the role of tech in the North of England.

Previously, Volker was the Chief Strategy Officer at Scoreloop, a mobile social gaming platform, which he helped grow to 450m users. After the company was acquired by BlackBerry, he served as its Global Head of Business Development – Games.

Source: Gerd Featured Colleagues

The Norwegian-born philosopher, deep-tech investor Anders Indset has been recognized by Thinkers50 as one of the leading thinkers in technology and leadership. Anders is a bridge-builder between humanity and technology, shaping the economy of tomorrow with his practical philosophy. With two decades of experience working with multinational companies, he is a trusted sparring partner for international CEOs and political leaders, and a guest lecturer at leading international business schools.

With his deep understanding of the impact of exponential technologies, Anders demonstrates how and why leadership and its relationship to philosophy are more relevant than ever. He firmly believes that in a world with nearly unlimited access to knowledge, a deeper understanding and the ability to anticipate future scenarios, combined with the development of interpersonal skills, will be the most sought-after qualities for leaders.

Source: Gerd Featured Colleagues

Maggie Jackson is an award-winning author and journalist known for her prescient writings on social trends, particularly technology’s impact on humanity. Her new book Uncertain: The Wisdom and Wonder of Being Unsure has been lauded as “remarkable and persuasive” (Library Journal); “deeply compelling” (Kate Bowler); “incisive and timely-triumphant” (Dan Pink); and “both surprising and practical” (Gretchen Rubin).

Nominated for a National Book Award, Uncertain was chosen as the 2024 “Nonfiction Book of the Year” by the Independent Publishers of New England and a Top 25 Nonfiction Book of 2024 by the Next Big Idea Club led by Malcolm Gladwell, Susan Cain, Adam Grant and Dan Pink. Uncertain also was named a Top 10 book of the year by Greater Good magazine, the Artificiality Institute, and Library Journal, and a Top 10 Summer Read by Nautilus magazine. The book has been featured in media worldwide. Jackson’s recent lead New York Times opinion piece on uncertainty and well-being drew a quarter-million views.

Source: Website

Chair, onAir Tech Corporation
Curation Director,  onAir Networks
Chair, Future onAir Advisory Board

Interests:  Knowledge Networks, Catalyzing Innovation, Tech Entrepreneurship, Healthy and Sustainable Communities

Pioneer in identifying, developing, and applying new information and communication technologies:

• The first consumer applications of the microprocessor (4bit & LSIs) … for the toy and game industry and for education
• The first internet cafe with online news, games, and computer conferencing
• The first prototype smartphone working with the developers of the Amiga computer, the first graphical computer

My current focus has been on developing the onAir Knowledge Network System, a knowledge sharing software platform with many unique features such as enabling authors to own and share their content across multiple public and custom Hubs.

The 2-minute video  gives an overview of many of the capabilities of the onAir platform and the US onAir network of 50 state hubs and national hub at us.onair.cc.  The nonpartisan nonprofit onAir Networks, a 501c3, oversees the public onAir networks and hubs licensing the onAir software from onAir Tech corporation (formerly AIR Networks, LLC).

Steve Kantor is a serial entrepreneur involved with multiple business, creative, and social entrepreneurial ventures as a founder, co-founder/partner, coach, and consultant. He is also the Founder of Bushido Dinners with 200+ people experiencing a Bushido Dinner at his home from 2015-2020 at small inspiring dinner parties of 6-8 entrepreneurs and artists.

From 2006-2019 the main focus was focus on helping top real estate agents grow their business to the next level with our Best Agent Business Virtual Assistant and Calling services based on our Billion Dollar Agent System. Starting in 2020, I have teamed with MyOutDesk to provide solid virtual assistant services.

Previously, Steve was the founder of Gnossos Software, a CRM database software company that was sold in 2004 to Vocus.

Rakesh Kapoor is a researcher, writer, editor and founder-managing trustee of Alternative Futures. Rakesh works on the interface of science, technology, society and the future and on issues of sustainable development. He is Consulting Editor of Futures: the journal of policy, planning and futures studies (www.elsevier.com/locate/futures).

He was Director of the World Futures Studies Federation (www.wfsf.org) – a global community of futurist thinkers, scientists and consultants from 2008 to 2014. See detailed c.v.

Ralph Keeney specializes in the development, use, and dissemination of decision-making concepts and techniques that help policy makers, governments, businesses, and individuals facing important decisions to structure their decisions in a logical manner that will promote better decision-making.

Dr. Keeney has made significant contributions to the fields of decision analysis and value-focused thinking. He applies precepts from operations research, management science and the decision sciences to important and challenging decision problems. His work includes: theoretical, methodological, and procedural contributions to decision analysis, risk analysis, and value-focused thinking and their applications.

He promotes the decision sciences through education and speaking, and service.

Ralph Keeney is President of the consulting firm, U.S. Marketing and Decisions Group, Inc.,  Professor Emeritus at Duke’s Fuqua School of Business and Professor Emeritus of Industrial and Systems Engineering at the University of Southern California.

Ezra Klein (born May 10, 1984) is an American journalist, political analyst, New York Times columnist, and the host of The Ezra Klein Show podcast. He is a co-founder of Vox and formerly served as the website’s editor-at-large.

He has held editorial positions at The Washington Post and The American Prospect, and was a regular contributor to Bloomberg News and MSNBC. His first book, Why We’re Polarized, was published by Simon & Schuster in January 2020.

Psychologist · Futures Strategist · Cultural Innovator

I work at the intersection of systems thinking, ecological intelligence, and moral imagination—helping individuals, organizations, and creative teams design futures that support human and planetary flourishing through applied psychology.

My work bridges research, wellness, technology, and the arts. Whether I’m consulting with leaders on ethical innovation, guiding people into deeper relationship with the more-than-human world, or creating immersive story systems for social transformation, my purpose is the same:

To help us remember how to be fully human in an accelerating world.

Source: Website

William R Kramer earned a bachelor’s degree in wildlife biology, master’s in environmental policy and public administration, and doctorate in political science with an emphasis in outer space policy and futures studies.

He spent most of his career as a wildlife biologist with the Smithsonian Institution and the US Fish and Wildlife Service, where he spent nearly two decades working on endangered species conservation issues in Hawaii and the Pacific region. He retired as head of the US Endangered Species Recovery Program.

After his first retirement, he assisted the US Navy’s Pacific Fleet for 12 years as a senior environmental scientist, taught bioethics and biology at Hawaii Pacific University, and worked at HDR, Inc. as their extraterrestrial environmental analyst. His experiences include Mission Commander at the Mars Desert Research Station and ground support for the Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation Facility.

Since 2013, William continues to lecture and lead workshops on outer space exploration and development issues related to futures studies, bioethics, and environmental ethics at the International Space University in Strasbourg, France, and other locations.

Source: Blackburn International

Koffi M. Kouakou is a senior lecturer in government communications and scenario planning and former programme director of the Unilever Mandela Rhodes Academy (UMRA) at the Wits School of Governance, formerly the Graduate School of Public and Development Management (P&DM) at Wits UNiversity. He is also a Long Now futurist, author and social commentator. He is a former co-director of CSIR Virtual Reality Solutions and a small business strategist. He also coordinated the World Bank initiative on environmental information systems initiative in Sub-Saharan Africa in Washington and Pretoria.

Source: Millennium Project

Timothy B. Lee writes the newsletter Understanding AI and cohosts the AI Summer podcast. ​

Tim has written about technology, economics, and public policy for more than a decade. Before launching Understanding AI, he wrote for the Washington Post, Vox, and Ars Technica and holds a master’s degree in computer science from Princeton.

“People, Planet, Purpose, and Prosperity” is Gerd’s motto, and helping to design The Good Future is his key objective. Gerd is one of the top-rated contemporary futurists worldwide.

He’s presented at over 2000 leading conferences and events over the past 20 years, working with Mercedes-Benz, Microsoft, NBC, Visa, Google, the European Commission, L’Oréal, Audi, Deloitte, and IBM. Gerd has influenced and inspired millions to “Imagine and create a better tomorrow”. Wired magazine named him one of the most influential Europeans, and he is listed as #7 in the global ranking of futurists.

Dr. Colin W. P. Lewis, Ph.D. is an Artificial Intelligence (AI) researcher, although he prefers to call it Machine Intelligence (MI). Most of his work focuses on understanding human intelligence and creating solutions for artificial intelligence that benefits humanity.

He is also an Adjunct Professor and international business and policy advisor, specialized in the social and economic impact of technological change. With specific knowledge of the evolving conditions of technology for productivity growth, development, labor, (in)equality, and competitiveness

Source: Techerati

Emeritus Professor of Strategic Management, London South Bank University

Dr Bruce Lloyd,  Emeritus Professor of Strategic Management, spent over 20 years in industry and finance before joining the academic world twenty years ago to help establish the Management Centre at what is now London South Bank University. He has a Degree in Chemical Engineering; MSc (Economics) / MBA from the London Business School (1968) and a PhD (by published work) for his work on ‘The Future of Offices and Office Work: Implications for Organisational Strategy’.

Since the late 1960’s he has written extensively (about 200 published articles) on a wide range of strategy/futures related issues, including articles exploring the link between Leadership, Power and Responsibility and, more recently, the relationship between Leadership, Wisdom, Knowledge Management and Organisational Performance. He has undertaken over 30 interviews on leadership/management related issues for various journals. He was also the UK co-ordinator for ‘The Millennium Project’ 1999-2005.  Currently he works part-time for the University, particularly on PhD supervision.

Source: Fast Future page

With over three decades of organisational change and foresight experience, LASA CEO Patricia Lustig has worked with leaders worldwide to anticipate change and shape the future. An internationally respected consultant, author, and practitioner in strategic foresight, Patricia brings unparalleled expertise in futures thinking, strategy development, and innovation.

Her portfolio includes collaborations with the UK Government Office for Science, the European Commission, and the Construction Industry Training Board. Patricia has been featured by Harvard Business Review, invited to the inaugural Dubai Futures Forum, and is a thought leader in futures strategy, regularly publishing insights and co-authoring groundbreaking works such as the award winning Strategic Foresight: Learning from the Future and her most recent book, co-authored with Gill Ringland, The Possibility Wheel: Making Better Choices in a Fractured World.

Source: Website

Leading Futurist, visionary and communicator

Liselotte Lyngsø possesses a unique ability to paint mental pictures of how megatrends will affect us. She is a sought-after speaker and strategic advisor worldwide. Host and organizer of the podcast “Supertrends,” where she explores the future technologies that will revolutionize our way of life.

Source: Gerd Featured Colleagues

Thomas Lombardo, Ph.D. is the Director of the Center for Future Consciousness, Editor of Future Consciousness Insights (previously Wisdom and the Future), and Professor Emeritus and Retired Faculty Chair of Psychology, Philosophy, and the Future at Rio Salado College, Tempe, Arizona. He is an Executive Board member and Fellow of the World Futures Studies Federation, a special honor given to members who have made a globally recognized original contribution to futures studies. He is also past Director of The Wisdom Page.

A national and internationally recognized researcher, writer, and speaker, he has published thirteen books and over sixty articles, and given roughly the same number of professional national and international presentations on topics including: the history of scientific and philosophical thought; wisdom, character virtues, and the future of education; future consciousness and contemporary futurist thought; dystopian and utopian thought; theories of the future; the evolution of science fiction; and the future evolution of consciousness and mind.

Source: Center for Future Consciousness