Prof. Atta-ur-Rahman obtained his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Cambridge University (1968). He has 1155 publications to his credit. Prof. Rahman won the prestigious UNESCO Science Prize (1999). He was elected Fellow of the prestigious Royal Society (London) in 2006. He has been conferred honorary doctorate degrees by many universities including Doctor of Science (Sc.D.) by the Cambridge University (UK). He was elected Honorary Life Fellow of Kings College, Cambridge University, UK in 2007. The Austrian government honoured him with its highest civil award (“Grosse Goldene Ehrenzeischen am Bande”) (2007). He has won the International Scientific Corporation Award by Chinese Academy of Science (CAS), the prestigious “Einstein Professorship” 2013 and the “Friendship Award of China”.
He is the President of Network of Academies of Science in Countries of the Organization of Islamic Conference (NASIC). He was the Federal Minister for Science and Technology, Federal Minister of Education and Chairman of the HEC. Prof. Atta-ur-Rahman is the most decorated scientist of Pakistan with four civil awards: Tamgha-i-Imtiaz, Sitara-i-Imtiaz, Hilal-i-Imtiaz, and Nishan-i-Imtiaz.
Zehra Öney is one of Turkey’s foremost female mobile/digital marketing, advertising, social media and telecommunications expert, having entered the space 15 years ago after 10 years of working at executive positions for the country’s leading tourism agencies. In 2013 she began collaborating with Blippar, the world’s leading augmented reality (AR) platform, reselling AR solutions to Turkish businesses. Her vision and leadership helped Blippar expanded rapidly. She is also President of 360+ Media Interactive, a digital marketing agency she founded in 2011, and is now a board member of Turkey’s Mobile Marketing Association (MMA). Her work has won prestigious global awards ‘Best Mobile Marketing and Advertising’ at the GSMA in Barcelona and ‘Best Innovation EMEA’ at the Smarties in Los Angeles. Öney is a member of Istanbul’s Chamber of Commerce, the Women Entrepreneurs Association (KAGİDER), and The Association of Futurists.
Sadia holds a postgraduate certificate in Computer Science from the University of Wolverhampton(UK) and a Master of Science in Applied Computing from the University of Lüneburg(DE). After over 12 years of experience in the consulting and software industry, working with the European Aerospace, Defence and Security(EADS) industry, she founded her own firm, Axtrion. Axtrion is a cloud-native firm, providing consultancy and IT services focusing on the provision of innovative technologies for SMEs. Helping clients in over four continents on their journey of digital transformation, in the areas of industry 4.0 and IoT. Since 2019 member of the federal board of German Businesswomen Association responsible for Digital Transformation / Digital Economy. Since 2016 Ambassador of the initiative‚ MINT-Zukunft schaffen‘ (STEM – Shaping the Future) The initiative was founded in May 2008 under the patronage of German chancellor Dr Angela Merkel.
Abbas Arslan is a Global Marketing leader with deep expertise in brand strategy, creative excellence and Artificial Intelligence. He has been pivotal in creating the modern marketing model for Coca-Cola based on human insights and Artificial Intelligence. He has been behind some of the most successful campaigns that are globally recognized like Coke Studio, Coke Fest, , FIFA WorldCup, Sprite Spicy food, Wanta Fanta etc. Abbas is also one of the most highly awarded marketers at The Coca-Cola Company having won multiple internal and industry awards for marketing effectiveness, creative excellence and innovation success. In his next chapter, Abbas is pursuing Generative AI opportunity with focus on increasing success rates of marketing and innovation.
Ahsan Memon is the founder and CEO at Ekkel AI. He has worked in the AI industry for over 8 years and with Ekkel AI’s advent, he has enabled several global businesses to achieve their objectives in the past 2 years. He is a two-time Erasmus scholar, and holds a US Patent for an original AI model. Currently Ekkel AI is included in the top three NLP and AI developers list. Their work in the Artificial Intelligence field has been an international success. He identifies as an entrepreneur. The foundations of his work are laid upon providing quality of service as a core practice. He insists upon innovating at the pace at which advancements are being made across the digital space, and has been the frontrunner of technologies like GPT, Voice AI, and Stable Diffusion
Dr Zainab currently also serves as an Adjunct Associate Professor of Medicine at Duke University. She attended the AKU Medical College in Karachi and thereafter completed her residency in Internal Medicine and fellowship in Cardiology at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina. She completed advanced training in cardiovascular imaging, specifically in clinical echocardiography, cardiac MRI and SPECT-myocardial perfusion imaging. She is also trained in quantitative methods with a Master of Health Sciences in Clinical Research degree from the National Institutes of Health-Duke Clinical Research Training Program. She served on faculty in the Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine for nine years before accepting the position at AKU in 2018
Imran is the founder & CEO of NexDegree where he has driven core data strategy and data centric implementations for international markets for over a decade. Imran worked as a research analyst and consultant for a biometrics consulting firm where his clients included both private and government institutions such as the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), White House Office of Science & Technology Policy and Honeywell in the US. He has co-founded startups in cleantech, computer vision, health and fintech and has served as an adviser & mentor in the Pakistani entrepreneurial ecosystem. He also holds a patent in granular electrical signals analysis with the USPTO and also serves as an adviser on government cyber policies. He is a recipient of the Development Leader award from the Government of Pakistan. Imran holds a degree in Computer Science from Stanford University.
Qashif Effendi has over 26 years’ international work experience as CEO, Director and General Management positions in top multinationals in the MENA and South Asia regions. He has worked with Chevron, Philips, Unilever, Tetley, Abu Dhabi National Industrial Projects Co., UAE. Brands like Philips Whirlpool, Dalda Cooking Oil, Brooke Bond Supreme, Tetley and Reem achieved tremendous growth during his stewardship. He believes that learning and sharing is the essence of life He is working towards the launch of his start up Three Musketeers Kids Company in Canada. Visiting Professor at George Brown College Toronto and visiting faculty at IBA, Karachi.
Sarwat Gilani is a well-known Pakistani actress, model, interior designer and entrepreneur. Graduating from Indus Valley School of Arts and Architecture in communications, she has been in the entertainment industry since 2005. Her film Joyland was shortlisted for the Academy Awards in 2022. In addition to her acting career, Sarwat is a successful entrepreneur and has also been involved in various social and cultural initiatives, contributing to discussions around women’s empowerment and social issues in PakistanHe runs his Management firm in Dubai, U.A.E. and is a founding member of two startups focused on a HR SaaS product and a social media platform .
Suleman has more than 20 years of corporate, consulting and entrepreneurial experience spanning 11 industries and 4 continents. In Pakistan, he’s been instrumental in establishing HR systems and processes in organizations, including Mobilink (Jazz), Ufone and Engro Corp., and establishing the UAE’s largest healthcare company, PureHealth, growing from an employee base of 2k to 26k in 18 months. He runs his Management firm in Dubai, U.A.E. and is a founding member of two startups focused on a HR SaaS product and a social media platform.
Huma is a former newscaster and talk show host, with extensive experience in investigating, reporting and presenting news-making events. She has 20 years experience of working with various television channels. She is an IVLP (International Visitor Leadership Program) scholar, as well as a TEDx Fellow. Huma has also been a member of the Project for Muslim Female Journalists, Deutsch Welle: DW Akademie, Berlin, Germany. She has a Masters in Defence & Strategic Studies from Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad. Prior to working in media, she worked as a research officer with Pakistan’s eminent think tank Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI). Currently Huma is hosting Geo News flagship show ´Geo Pakistan’.