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 move back to my home country in 2020.

On a professional note, I have 10+ years of international experience in developing and delivering programs and communities focused on human-centric innovation and emerging tech. These innovation programs in the form of accelerators, hackathons, incubators, pitching competitions, and educational workshops 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 & Home Delivery Services

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

Dubai Future Foundation
Dubai, UAE

Sept. 2016 to July 2020

Head of Programs – Dubai Future Accelerators & AREA 2071

Design, development, and execution of public-private-partnership programs focused on innovation and emerging technologies
Team management (6 multicultural team members)
Budget planning and -management
Acquisition of new partners and stakeholder relationship management (local, national and international government organizations as well as private sector corporations)
Community building (entrepreneurs, government professionals, VCs)
Strategy development and process design
Creation of new programs and pricing structure (expansion of our development from 1 to 4 program categories)
Representation at local and international conferences (Web Summit, SXSW, WEF - Annual Meeting of the New Champions)

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)
Set-up of a new service portfolio, "Professional Training"
Budget management
Team management (3 multicultural team members)
Operative: agenda creation, content management, acquisition of and relationship management with speakers and sponsors, pricing of sponsorship packages

Microsoft
Vienna, Austria

July 2010 to Oct. 2011

Channel Marketing & Readiness Manager

Organization of POS marketing activities as part of the inaugural launch of Windows Phone in Austria
Development of new a training concept as well as execution for 1,000+ partner-sales representatives in Austria

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

Magister Business & Economics
(Business and Internet;
Production and Logistics Management)
2003 - 2011
Johannes Kepler University Linz - Linz Austria

Exchange Program
(Cross-Cultural Management:
India’s Foreign Trade;
Indian Financial Systems)
Jan. - Feb. 2008
Indian Institute of Planning & Management - New Delhi, India

International Summer School
(International Management)
July - Aug. 2007
Copenhagen Business School - Copenhagen, Denmark

Additional Engagements

Since March 2021: World Economic Forum ‘Pathways to Digital Justice’ - Advisory Committee to Working Group
Since Dec. 2020: Women in AI Austria
1997 - 2003: Volunteer Firefighter

Skills

German (native), English (fluent), Arabic (basic)
Licensed Business Practitioner of NLP (190303)
Diplom Sprech- & Stimmbuilding Deutsch (Speech- & voice formation German)
Public speaking
Management of multicultural teams
Project and program management
Event management

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