Poppy Crum is the Chief Scientist at Dolby Laboratories and an Adjunct Professor at Stanford University. At Dolby, she is responsible for integrating neuroscience and sensory data science into algorithm design, technological development, and technology strategy. At Stanford, her work focuses on the impact and feedback potential of immersive environments, such as augmented and virtual reality, on neuroplasticity and learning. She is on a mission to build technologies that best leverage human physiology to enhance our experiences and how we interact with the world.

Chris Urmson is the chief executive officer and co-founder of Aurora, where he leads a world-class team in bringing self-driving technology to the transportation industry safely, quickly and broadly. Over the last 15 years Chris has worked to advance self-driving technology and bring it to market. Chris helped found the self-driving car team at Alphabet and led the team for seven years. Prior, Chris was a faculty member at Carnegie Mellon University, and was the technical director for the winning team of the 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge. Chris has a Ph.D in Robotics from Carnegie Mellon University.

Raquel Urtasun is Uber Advanced Technologies Group Chief Scientist and Head of the Toronto R&D hub for Uber's self-driving efforts. She is also an Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Toronto, a Canada Research Chair in Machine Learning and Computer Vision and a co-founder of the Vector Institute for AI. She received her Ph.D. degree from Ecole Polytechnique Federal de Lausanne (EPFL) in 2006 and did her postdoc at MIT and UC Berkeley. Her research interests include machine learning, computer vision, robotics and remote sensing.

Jonah Myerberg is a Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer at Desktop Metal where he is responsible for leading the technical direction of Desktop Metal’s 3D printing solutions. Prior to joining Desktop Metal in 2015, Myerberg held senior positions with a variety of organizations focused on high performance battery development, including Renovo Auto and Boston Impact, which he founded, and A123Systems. At A123Systems, Myerberg established and led the motorsports business unit which focused on the development of high performance batteries. His products were adopted by the majority of Formula One teams including McLaren, Force India, Mercedes Benz, RedBull and other high profile motorsports teams like the Porsche 919 team which won the 24 hours of Le Mans in 2015 and 2016. He was also a race engineer for Porsche on the 919 team and for Mahindra Racing on their Formula E team. Additionally, he helped launch Gradiant Corp., where he managed the deployment and operation of large scale water desalination plants that converted fracking water into fresh water. Myerberg earned his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Lehigh University and his M.S. in Mechanical Engineering and Manufacturing from Johns Hopkins University.

Kimberly Powell is vice president of healthcare at NVIDIA, where she leads the company’s efforts to build healthcare computing platforms that address grand challenges like early detection, diagnoses and personalized treatment.

Partnering with healthcare researchers, startups and industry leaders, her mission is to accelerate the adoption of advanced computing technologies like GPU computing and artificial intelligence.

Powell joined NVIDIA in 2008 as the global business development manager for healthcare. She also served as senior director of AI business development. Prior to joining NVIDIA, she was a product manager for diagnostic imaging at Planar Systems and a hardware engineer at DOME Imaging Systems doing FPGA design.

Powell has a Bachelor of Science from Northeastern University in electrical engineering with a concentration in computer engineering.

Serial entrepreneur Henk Rogers is on a mission to end the use of carbon-based fuel. He is founder and chairman of Blue Planet Foundation, whose mission is to lead Hawaii’s transition to clean energy. 

Henk is also founder and CEO of Blue Planet Energy, an energy storage company. The company’s innovative technology is advancing the safety, reliability and energy output of residential clean energy battery systems. 

Henk is also known for his 30 year career in the computer gaming industry, pioneering role-playing games in Japan and founding Blue Planet Software, owner of the worldwide rights to the Tetris franchise. 

His latest venture involves establishing a permanent settlement on the moon. As Chairman of Pacific International Space Center for Explorations Systems (PISCES), Henk is Hawaii’s chief advocate for space exploration and colonization.

Hyunjun is passionate about using biology to address complex challenges. As co-founder and CEO of CATALOG, he is leading the effort to handle the explosion of digital information, using cutting edge tools of synthetic biology. Hyunjun obtained his BS at Seoul National University, PhD in microbiology at the University of Wisconsin Madison, and conducted postdoctoral research in synthetic biology at MIT.

Dr. Mike North, host of Discovery shows "Prototype This!," "In The Making," & "The Potentialists," and Science Show "Outrageous Acts of Science," is an undaunted, anything-but-mild engineer. Fusing science with media he opens doors to awe-inspiring experiences and radical paradigm shifts, whether teaching innovation at UC Berkeley, creating a more equitable planet as founder of ReAllocate, or making the impossible at North Design Labs.

Norberto Andrade is a Privacy and Public Policy Manager at Facebook, covering AI and Data Ethics. He is also an Affiliated Scholar at Stanford Law School - Center for Internet & Society (CIS). Previously, Norberto was a Postdoctoral Research Scholar at UC Berkeley School of Law, where he worked at the Berkeley Center for Law and Technology (BCLT); a Legal Foresight Fellow at the Hague Institute for the Internationalisation of Law; and a Visiting Scholar at the Singapore Internet Research Centre of Nanyang Technological University. Norberto has also held corporate positions in policy and privacy at Mozilla and Workday, and scientific research roles at the European Commission. Norberto holds a PhD in Law, Policy and Technology from the European University Institute (Italy), and he has successfully published numerous academic articles, reports and book chapters in the field of Law & Technology.

General Fusion CEO Christofer Mowry has over 30 years of experience in the energy and infrastructure sectors, including leadership positions at GE, Babcock & Wilcox Company (BWC), and General Synfuels International (GSI). He has revitalized businesses in GE and BWC, founded disruptive energy technology company Generation mPower, and has overseen the transformation of complex international organizations. Christofer holds a Bachelor of Science (Engineer & Astronomy) from Swarthmore College, and a Master’s of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Drexel University.

Patrick Murck’s practice focuses on the legal and regulatory issues facing fintech and emerging payment systems. He has a deep understanding of the fintech industry, having been involved in a number of startups as an employee, entrepreneur and advisor.

Prior to joining Cooley, Patrick was a co-founder of the Bitcoin Foundation where he served at times as General Counsel and Executive Director. Patrick has engaged regulators and policymakers in the US and Europe on bitcoin and the emerging digital economy. He was named among America’s 50 Outstanding General Counsel for 2014 by the National Law Journal.

In addition to his role with Cooley, Patrick currently serves as a fellow with Harvard University's Berkman Center for Internet & Society where he conducts research on the law and policy implications of bitcoin, distributed ledgers and smart contracts. Patrick also serves as President Board member for the BitGive Foundation, a non-profit organization focused on charitable giving and social impact using bitcoin.

Professor Roland Chin is President and Chair Professor of Computer Science of Hong Kong Baptist University. He was Provost and Deputy Vice-Chancellor of The University of Hong Kong (2010-2015); Deputy President and Provost (2006-2010), Vice-President for Research and Development (2003-2006), and Chair Professor of Computer Science (1992-2010) at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. He also worked at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for two years before joining the University of Wisconsin, Madison (1981-1995) as a professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering.

In Hong Kong’s higher education scene, Professor Chin was a member of the University Grants Committee (2004-2012), the Chairman of the Research Grants Committee (2005-2012). He currently serves on the Board of Director of Applied Science and Technology Research Institute and Trustee of The Croucher Foundation.

Andrew Hessel is the founder of Humane Genomics Inc., a virtual biotechnology company specializing in open source designer synthetic viruses. The first application under development is a platform for rapid design, synthesis, testing, and deployment of single-patient cancer therapies for dogs. Hessel is also the co-founder of the Genome Project-write (GP-write), the international scientific effort advancing the design, construction, and testing of large genomes, including the human genome. He is based in San Francisco, California.

Since studying at Aoyama Gakuin University under the Department of International Politics and Economics, Yamamoto already led startup think tanks for major publicly listed corporations in Japan.

In 2012, he moved to Vietnam to work without pay for a Japanese startup initiative because he believed in the vision. Within three years, he helped grow the business from seven members to 100+ members with multiple entities across five countries with strategic businesses in Japan, Hong Kong and Vietnam, while being nominated as the Global COO.

In 2015, he co-founded Infinity Blockchain Labs (IBL) with the ultimate mission: to transform businesses with practical blockchain R&D and empower Vietnam to be the global blockchain hub. With the greatest commitment, strong passion, and the expertise of 200+ world-changers, IBL has grown to become the blockchain ecosystem leader in Vietnam with a global reach.

Virginia CHA is a Professor of innovation and entrepreneurship in Singapore with multiple appointments at Singapore’s leading tertiary education institutions: Adjunct Professor at INSEAD, Adjunct Professor at NUS Business School, Professor-in-Residence at Platform E (a member of SIM), and other adjunct appointments at SMART (Singapore MIT Alliance for Research and Techology) and Lean LaunchPad @Singapore.

In her multi-faceted 37 year-long industry and academic career which spanned multiple countries, Virginia co-founded or was the sole-founder and CEO of multiple venture-funded, hi-tech companies in Singapore and China, with listings on NASDAQ and HKSE.  She has co-authored a book “Asia’s Entrepreneurs: Dilemmas, Risks and Opportunities” which captured Singapore’s recent entrepreneurial history. Additionally, Virginia is a member of the Global uture Council of World Economic Forum (2012-2014, 2016-2019). In addition to teaching entrepreneurship, Virginia is also an active researcher, mentor, and angel investor in Singapore’s entrepreneur ecosystem. 

Virginia’s latest research into innovation is on the subject of restorative innovation (www.restorativeinnovation.com). This emergent framework uses an economic model on how sustainable goods can reach mass consumption through innovation along three dimensions: increased supply, supply chain efficiency, and increased adoption. This framework is now a subject taught in all the leading Singapore tertiary institutions in innovation, including NUS, INSEAD, and SMU.

Virginia is also an active Angel Investor in early stage start-ups, and has been named as “Top 10 Most Frequently Mentioned Mentor” and “…the most influential entrepreneur within the network of Singaporean tech companies.”

Derya Baran is the Chief Executive Officer at iyris and an Assistant Professor at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). Her expertise is on designing energy harvesting and optoelectronic devices for future such as: wearable-stretchable electronics, sensors and next generation solar cells. Using her decade of experience in PV research she co-founded iyris, an innovative start-up producing electricity from transparent windows. Her work has been internationally recognised and has recently been named as one of the Innovators Under 35 in MENA region.

Charles L. Cooney is the Robert T. Haslam (1911) Professor of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, Emeritus in the Department of Chemical Engineering at MIT and founding Faculty Director, Emeritus of the Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation. He has been involved as founder, advisor or board member of over 25 companies and currently sits on the Boards of Directors of Codiak Bioscience, Innovent Biologics (1801.HK), Levitronix Technologies, and is chairman of GreenLight Bioscience and Mitra RxDx. In addition, he is Trustee Emeritus of Boston Ballet, Advisor Emeritus of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Trustee of the Leventhal Map Center. Other interests include: high altitude mountaineering (assents of Denali, Ama Dablam, Mont Blanc, Kilimanjaro, Huascaran). and antique map collecting. Professor Cooney will speak during the VIP Investor Event on 22 January at 19:00. Investor Circle registration required. Limited tickets available.

Elizabeth Bramson-Boudreau is the CEO and publisher of MIT Technology Review, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s media company. MIT Technology Review’s analysis, features, interviews, and events explain the impact of new technologies on business and society. 

Elizabeth is leading the growth, expansion, and modernization of MIT Technology Review’s media platforms and products, including U.S. and international websites, newsletters, events, and an award-winning print magazine. Elizabeth also serves as chair of the global entrepreneurial network MIT Enterprise Forum.

Elizabeth has a 20-year background in building and running teams at world-leading media companies. She maintains a keen focus on new ways to commercialize media content to appeal to discerning, demanding consumers as well as B2B audiences.

Prior to joining MIT Technology Review, Elizabeth was the global managing director of the Economist Corporate Network (whose parent company publishes The Economist magazine), where she led editorial content creation, sales, marketing, and event operations. She also spent a decade working as a consultant.

Elizabeth holds an executive MBA from the London Business School, an MSc from the London School of Economics, and a bachelor’s degree from Swarthmore College.

Will Knight is a senior editor at MIT Technology Review, covering artificial intelligence, machine learning, robotics, self-driving cars, and human-machine collaboration. Will grew up in London, and was previously an editor at New Scientist magazine in the UK.

Claire Beatty is editorial director for Asia at MIT Technology Review Insights. She partners with clients across Asia and the Middle East to develop thought leadership that drives conversations around the way that technology is shaping our lives.

Claire has lived and worked in Singapore since 2007 and has more than 15 years of experience in consulting, editorial, and communications roles. She began her career in London as a researcher in the Technology Practice at CEB (now Gartner), developing best practice case studies from world-class IT organizations. On moving to Singapore she joined the Economist Intelligence Unit as senior editor for Southeast Asia, creating client-commissioned content on issues such as trade, innovation, and the outlook for different sectors in the region.

From 2012 to 2015 she took a consulting role with boutique leadership firm BTS, where she led worked with business leaders around the region on strategy alignment, innovation and workforce mobilization. A highly experienced chair, facilitator, and program designer, Claire has led dozens of workshops and events across the region for companies including Prudential, DBS, Unilever, Deloitte, and HP.

Before joining MIT, Claire was group communications director for logistics firm JF Hillebrand. She holds a bachelor’s degree in European Studies from the University of Leeds and a Postgraduate Diploma in Law.

Dr. Brian Kennedy is internationally recognised for his research in basic biology of aging and as a visionary committed to translating research discoveries into new ways of delaying, detecting, and preventing human aging and associated diseases. He is the Director of National University Health System Centre for Healthy Ageing. He also serves as a Distinguished Professor in Departments of Biochemistry and Physiology at Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University Singapore. From 2010 to 2016 he was the President and CEO of the Buck Institute for Research on Aging in California. He remains a professor at the Buck Institute.

Dr. Benjamin C.K. Tee is the President’s Assistant Professor in Materials Science and Engineering at the National University of Singapore and Scientist in A*STAR. He graduated from Stanford University and was selected as a 2014 Singapore-Stanford Biodesign Global Innovation Fellow. He invented multiple award-winning sensing technologies and his works are cited over 8,000 times. He was one of the MIT TR35 Innovator (Global List) in 2015. As a 2017 Singapore National Research Foundation (NRF) Fellow, he leads a multi-disciplinary team focusing on creating breakthrough sensor technologies to advance healthcare technologies in an Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Robotics era.

NeuroMem develops neuromorphic chips inspired by the human brain, capable of learning and recognizing patterns at high speed and low-power, and opening new frontiers for smart sensors and cognitive computing applications. Pierre has over 40 years of international experience in tech, sales, marketing and business development in 94 countries and across industries and verticals on major key projects, knowledge learning and customer centric to grow, merge, acquire new business, go public, hire talented people, implement local offices and make joint ventures. He developed significant local government relationships, including technology transfers, working with government and institutions to develop educational programs, certifications of technology and helping adoption with change management.

Samantha co-founded Open Bionics with Joel in 2014 when she learnt about the work that he was doing on open source robotic hands. Samantha has an exceptional business acumen and brings valuable experience in project management, marketing and business development. Samantha has elevated Open Bionics to a globally recognised brand and has recently won several awards celebrating her entrepreneurship.

With a diploma in Aerospace Engineering and a PhD in Transitional Shock-Boundary Layer Interactions, Marius is a lecturer in Compressible Aerodynamics and an appointed Honorary Professor at Technical University Berlin. He has been with Rolls Royce since 1994, having held several positions, including leading the Aero Thermal Methods Group and managing Methods Developments. Marius took over Design Systems Engineering in 2010 and since 2016 he is the Head of Physical, Computational and Design Sciences, leading the Visualisation Methods and Techniques. His past and current research projects and interests (with more than 80 publications) include: Compressor Aerodynamics, Turbine Coolling and Heat Transfer, Active Flow Control, Compressible Transitional Flows, Methods Development (CFD/FEM), Process Automation and Integration, Design Optimisation, Visualisation of Analysis Results, Virtual Reality.

Dr. Aubrey de Grey is a biomedical gerontologist based in Cambridge, UK and Mountain View, California, USA, and is the Chief Science Officer of SENS Foundation, a California-based 501(c)(3) charity dedicated to combating the aging process. He is also Editor-in-Chief of Rejuvenation Research, the world highest-impact peer-reviewed journal focused on intervention in aging.

He received his BA and Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge in 1985 and 2000 respectively.

His original field was computer science, and he did research in the private sector for six years in the area of software verification before switching to biogerontology in the mid-1990s. His research interests encompass the characterization of all the accumulating and eventually pathogenic molecular and cellular side-effects of metabolism that constitute mammalian aging and the design of interventions to repair and/or obviate that damage. He has developed a possibly comprehensive plan for such repair, termed Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence (SENS), which breaks aging down into seven major classes of damage and identifies detailed approaches to addressing each one. A key aspect of SENS is that it can potentially extend healthy lifespan without limit, even though these repair processes will probably never be perfect, as the repair only needs to approach perfection rapidly enough to keep the overall level of damage below pathogenic levels. Dr. de Grey has termed this required rate of improvement of repair therapies longevity escape velocity.

Dr. de Grey is a Fellow of both the Gerontological Society of America and the American Aging Association, and sits on the editorial and scientific advisory boards of numerous journals and organizations.

Mr Steve Leonard is a technology-industry leader with a wide range of experiences, having played key roles in building several global technology companies in Software, Hardware and Services. Although a US citizen by birth, Mr Leonard considers himself a member of the global community, having lived and worked outside the US for more than 25 years.

In his current role as Founding Chief Executive of SGInnovate, a company held within the National Research Foundation of Singapore, Mr Leonard has been chartered to help translate some of the 'deep-tech' R&D, for which Singapore has gained a global reputation, into commercial success by working with local and international partners.

Prior to his current role, Mr Leonard served as the Executive Deputy Chairman of the Infocomm Development Authority (IDA), the statutory board within the Singapore Government Ministry of Communications and Information, with various responsibilities for the technology and telecommunications environment in Singapore. Mr Leonard continues to serve as the Deputy Chairman of IDA at the request of the Minister. Mr Leonard serves on the advisory boards of a range of universities and organisations in Singapore.

Juan Aparicio is the Head of Advanced Manufacturing Automation at Siemens Corporate Technology in Berkeley, CA. Juan has extensive experience managing complex projects, involving hardware and software; and bridging the technology gap between universities and businesses. His areas of interest include Advanced Manufacturing, Advanced Robotics, Connected Cars, Industry 4.0, and Cyber-Physical Systems. He is member of the Technical Advisory Committee for the Advanced Robotics in Manufacturing (ARM) Institute in the US and the Project Manager of the Open Process Automation Forum. His work has been featured at NYTimes, MIT Tech Review and Medium.

Dr CJ Meadows is a thought leader on tomorrow's innovation. Consultant, entrepreneur, author, and speaker, she has led and advised companies and leaders across the globe. Director of i2i - The Innovation & Insights Center @SP Jain School of Global Management, a Forbes Top-20 International Business School, she holds a Doctorate in Business Administration from Harvard Business School and is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and a Certified Management Accountant (CMA). She has over 20 years’ experience in Asia, Europe, and North America as an entrepreneur, dot-com builder & innovation lab co-founder, and Accenture IT & business strategy consultant. She has designed and delivered executive education programmes individually and in conjunction with top business schools like INSEAD, AIM, NUS, and SMU.

Tariq Khokar is Managing Director and Senior Data Scientist for The Rockefeller Foundation, where he will steer the work to realize The Rockefeller Foundation’s vision for how data and technology can be transformational in improving people’s well-being. A mathematician and computer scientist by training, Mr. Khokhar most recently served as Senior Data Scientist and Global Data Editor at the World Bank, where he established the World Bank’s Data Innovation Fund, which attracted more than 1,000 applicants and led to over $7 million of investment in early-stage and scale-up projects to improve the way data are produced, managed, and financed for low-and-middle-income countries. In his work at the World Bank, Mr. Khokhar also worked as the Open Data Evangelist and grew the organization’s Open Data Initiative, transforming the way data and evidence are shared within the World Bank. Previously, Mr. Khokhar developed technical architecture and data standards for the International Aid Transparency Initiative, and co-founded Aptivate, a digital agency which works across the mobile banking, telecommunications, education, and healthcare sectors. He is a graduate of the University of Cambridge.

John McGeehan is a Professor of Structural Biology focused on the global challenge of plastic pollution and leads a team of scientists researching natural enzyme discovery and engineering. Published in PNAS in April 2018 as part of an international collaboration, their latest work reveals the detailed workings of an enzyme that can digest polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Found in single-use drinks bottles, packaging, clothing and carpets, PET can take centuries to decompose, and together with other plastics, is accumulating in our environment at a staggering rate. A biological catalyst that can break PET down into it’s original building blocks opens new and exciting opportunities for recycling towards a circular plastics economy.

Hao Li works at the intersection between Computer Graphics, Computer Vision, and Machine Learning, with focus on photorealistic human digitization, real-time performance capture using deep learning and data-driven techniques. He’s known for his work in dynamic geometry processing, non-rigid registration, real-time facial performance capture, hair digitization, and 3D avatar modeling. His research has led to the facial animation technology in Apple’s iPhone X, he worked on the digital reenactment of Paul Walker in the movie Furious 7, and his algorithms on deformable shape alignment have improved the radiation treatment for cancer patients all over the world. He has been named one of the world’s top 35 innovators under 35 by MIT Technology Review in 2013 and NextGen10: Innovators under 40 by C-Suite Quaterly in 2014. He received the Office of Naval Research (ONR) Young Investigator Award in 2018, the Google Faculty Research Award, the Okawa Foundation Research Grant, and the Andrew and Erna Viterbi Early Career Chair in 2015, the Swiss National Science Foundation fellowship for prospective researchers in 2011, and the best paper award at SCA 2009. He was ranked #1 on Microsoft Academic in 2016 on the top 10 leaderboard in Computer Graphics for the past five years. He is also co-curator for virtual and augmented reality at the World Economic Forum (WEF).

Professor Salah Sukkarieh is an international expert in the research, development and commercialisation of field robotic systems. He has led a number of robotics and intelligent systems R&D projects in logistics, commercial aviation, aerospace, education, environment monitoring, agriculture and mining, and has consulted to industry including Rio Tinto, BHP, Patrick Stevedores, Qantas, QLD Biosecurity, Meat and Livestock Australia, and the NSW DPI amongst others. He was awarded the NSW Science and Engineering Award for Excellence in Engineering and Information and Communications Technologies in 2014, and the 2017 CSIRO Eureka Prize for Leadership in Innovation and Science.

Salah is Associate Dean (Industry and Innovation) and Professor of Robotics and Intelligent Systems at the University of Sydney. He has supervised over 20 research fellows, and graduated over 30 PhDs, 5 Masters and 60 honours students. He has received over $60m in government and industry funding, national and international.

Salah is a Fellow of Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE), and is on the editorial board for the Journal of Field Robotics, Journal of Autonomous Robots, and Transactions of Aerospace Systems, and has over 500 academic and industry publications in robotics and intelligent systems.

Paul has been Managing Partner at Wavemaker Partners since 2012. Based in Singapore, he has made over 80 investments across Southeast Asia, including Luxola (acquired by LVMH), Gushcloud (acquired by YelloMobile), and Pie (acquired by Google). Prior to becoming a venture capitalist, Paul was an entrepreneur who co-founded 6 companies across multiple industries, including Indio Communications (acquired by Dentsu), Vertex Solutions (acquired by Alorica) and PAPI (acquired by New Leaf Ventures).

Paul sits on the Advisory Board of the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART) Innovation Center. He is also an Advisor to the Singapore Management University Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (SMU IIE), and a member of the Singapore chapter of the Entrepreneurs Organization.

Dr. Cody Friesen is a technology innovator passionate about solving the world's grandest challenges. As an entrepreneur and materials scientist, Friesen builds businesses that apply advanced technology to problems facing humanity by creating teams and cultures that lead with love. Founder and CEO of Zero Mass Water, Friesen and his team developed SOURCE, a solar panel that makes safe, great-tasting drinking water from the air independent of infrastructure. Friesen is also the founder of Fluidic Energy, an advanced battery company powering remote grids worldwide. He is the Fulton Engineering Professor of Innovation at Arizona State University and is a Senior Sustainability Scientist at the ASU Global Institute of Sustainability.

Friesen was named by The Aspen Institute as a 2015 Henry Crown Fellow. He was named among the "TR35", top 35 innovators in the world under 35 years of age, by MIT’s Technology Review in 2009. He serves on the US Manufacturing Council for the US Department of Commerce, as the co-chair of the Energy subcommittee. He has 145 active patent matters worldwide, and 37 granted patents. He earned a BSE in Materials Science and Engineering from Arizona State University, and a Ph.D. in the same discipline from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.