EUonAIR AI Summit

John Martinis is a distinguished physicist and 2025 Nobel Laureate in Physics, renowned for his pioneering contributions to superconducting quantum computing. His research has been central to developing high-fidelity qubits and engineering the architectures needed for scalable quantum processors. He previously led Google's quantum hardware team, where his group achieved the landmark 2019 quantum supremacy experiment — the first demonstration of a quantum computer outperforming the world's most powerful classical supercomputer on a computational task. In 2022, he co-founded Qolab, where he now serves as CTO and continues to advance next-generation superconducting qubit technology and quantum system design.

Joel Mokyr is the Robert H. Strotz Professor of Arts and Sciences and Professor of Economics and History at Northwestern University and Senior Professor at the Eitan Berglas School of Economics at the University of Tel Aviv. He specializes in economic history and the economics of technological change and population change. He is the author of numerous influential works including Why Ireland Starved, The Lever of Riches, The Gifts of Athena, The Enlightened Economy, and A Culture of Growth. His most recent book is Two Paths to Prosperity: Culture and Institutions in Europe and China, 1000-2000 (joint with G. Tabellini and A. Greif), published by Princeton University Press in 2025. He has authored over 120 articles and books in his field.

Professor Mokyr has served as President of the Economic History Association, the Midwest Economics Association, and the Atlantic Economic Association. He is a director of the National Bureau of Economic Research and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences, and the Econometric Society. In 2006 he was awarded the Heineken Prize by the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences, and in 2015 the Balzan Prize for Economic History. In 2025 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Economic Science, together with Peter Howitt and Philippe Aghion.

Alessandro Aresu is a writer, consultant, and public policy expert. He writes on geopolitics, technology and economic security for the main geopolitical journal in Italy, Limes, as well as for Le Grand Continent, Aspenia, Gnosis, and several Italian newspapers. He is the author of a series of books on U.S.-China competition and on political capitalism, where he has profiled companies such as ASML, BYD, NVIDIA, TSMC. His 2024 book on the geopolitics of artificial intelligence was shortlisted for Italy's main literary prize, Premio Strega.

Alessandro Aresu has over 15 years of experience as a consultant and counselor to several institutions, including the Italian Prime Minister's Office, the Ministry of Economy, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Italian Space Agency. In 2021-2022, he also served as an advisor to Italian prime minister Mario Draghi. He is an advisor of several startups, and member of the scientific committee of the Feltrinelli Foundation and of the board of directors of the Praexidia Foundation.

Dr. Siniša Krajnović has served as CEO and President of the Management Board of Ericsson Nikola Tesla since November 1, 2025. Before his current role, he was a Partner at McKinsey & Company and a core member of the Technology, Media and Telecommunications Practice (2022–2025). Combining deep technological expertise with extensive business experience, he focused on the telecommunications industry, product R&D, and digital transformation.

From 2018 to 2022, Dr. Krajnović held the position of Executive Vice President, Ericsson Northeast Asia, where he led Cloud Software and Services operations across China, Japan, and South Korea. His professional journey began in 1994 at the R&D Center of Ericsson Nikola Tesla, where he spent a decade advancing research and development initiatives. Over the course of his career, he held several senior leadership positions within Ericsson, including Head of Development Unit Networks, a global R&D organization comprising over 15,000 engineers.

Dr. Krajnović is deeply engaged in academia. He serves as President of the Economic Council of the University of Zagreb, lectures at ZŠEM, the Luxembourg School of Business, and Tsinghua University, and sits on the advisory boards of both ZŠEM and LSB. He holds M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computing from the University of Zagreb.

Professor Aleksandra Przegalińska is a philosopher and researcher of new technologies development, especially green and sustainable technology, humanoid artificial intelligence, social robots, and wearable technologies. She received her Ph.D. in 2014 from the Institute of Philosophy at the University of Warsaw and graduated from The New School for Social Research in New York, where she researched identities in virtual reality.

Since 2024, she has served as the Vice-Rector for Innovation at Kozminski University. She heads the Center for Human-Machine Interaction Research. Her research focuses on artificial intelligence, specifically on perception and ethical issues in creating and implementing bots, as well as popularizing activities related to artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, and human-machine interactions.

She is a co-creator of the virtual platform CampusAI.pl, offering an environment for learning AI at every level of advancement, and a member of the international Women in AI community. Together with Paweł Oksanowicz, she published the popular science book Sztuczna Inteligencja — Nieludzka, Arcyludzka (Artificial Intelligence: Inhuman, All Too Human; Znak, 2020).

Prof. Izabela Grabowska, Ph.D., D.Sc. is a Professor of Social Sciences, sociologist, and economist. She holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Warsaw, an M.A. in Economics from University College Dublin, and an M.A. in Sociology from the University of Wrocław.

She is the author of more than 60 scholarly publications and has been awarded numerous competitive research grants, including Horizon Europe (as Scientific Coordinator of the Link4Skills project) and Horizon 2020. She is co-creator and first Principal Investigator of the European University Alliance EUonAIR: AI in Curricula, Smart UniverCity and (Return) Mobility.

In 2021, she joined Kozminski University where she founded and now leads the CRASH Center (Center for Research on Social Change and Human Mobility). Her research focuses on labor markets, human capital, international labor migration, and careers. Her work has been published in leading journals such as Work, Employment and Society, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, and Europe-Asia Studies.

dr Konrad Sowa is an Assistant Professor, AI Product Manager, and Deputy Director of the Human Race Research Center at Kozminski University in Warsaw, Poland. His research and applied work is focused on human–AI collaboration and the adoption of generative AI in organizations, drawing upon his background in startups and technology innovation.

Mato Njavro, PhD, is the dean of the Zagreb School of Economics and Management, where he teaches financial courses. He is also a professor at the Luxembourg School of Business and a lecturer at the University of St. Gallen and Singapore Management University.

From 2016 to 2020, Mato resided in Singapore where he worked at the Institute of Management of the University of St. Gallen in Asia and Singapore Management University. Before moving to Singapore, Mato spent a year as a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University. His research interests focus on financial markets, public policy and economic development. He is the author and co-author of several scientific papers and studies, including the Harvard Business School case "Atlantic Group."

He is the founder and academic director of the New Europe Business Forum, an interdisciplinary event that brings together world leaders from various fields once a year. He completed his undergraduate and graduate studies at Bocconi University in Milan, and received his PhD from the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland.

Marin Njavro is the Managing Director of the Luxembourg School of Business, where he oversees strategic development and international partnerships in business education.

Vladimir Lukić is the global leader for Boston Consulting Group's Tech and Digital Advantage practice, including BCG Platinion. Vlad works with leading organizations to accelerate the successful delivery of large-scale end-to-end digital transformations powered by digitization, data, and analytics. He coleads BCG's AI at scale offering globally, working closely with BCG X to support clients in their AI transformation journeys.

Vladimir is passionate about AI and analytics and their application to business transformation, and shaping bold, tech-centric agendas for clients. He works to drive innovation in the tech stack, deploying technology (whether building or buying), rewiring operating models, and orchestrating large-scale transformations to accelerate the adoption of AI at scale. Vladimir believes organizations must have tech at their core to thrive and gain a competitive edge. He is committed to developing the next generation of tech CEOs through his work in the tech community, within and outside of BCG, and is a steadfast champion of BCG's diversity and inclusion agenda, particularly with respect to attracting and retaining the best and most talented women in tech.

Before joining BCG, Vladimir was at Gisdata in Zagreb, Croatia, where he worked on business development across southeastern Europe and on implementation of complex IT solutions.

Dubravka Kovačević serves as Associate Dean for Project Initiatives and Development, where she leads strategic project planning and institutional development initiatives.

Current Activities

Professor of Business Administration & Controlling, Head of the Institute for Strategy & Controlling at Heilbronn University of Applied Sciences, Professor of Financial Management in the European MBA program at the University of Louisville, Kentucky and Visiting Lecturer at St.Gallen Business School, Head of the Steinbeis Transfer Center for Strategy & Controlling, Head of the Controlling Dialogue

Professional Experience

Several management positions in controlling at Robert Bosch GmbH, Thermotechnology Division Corporate planning, purchasing, and logistics at Mercedes-Benz AG Production planning at ASB Greenworld Ltd.

Academic Background

PhD and research assistant at the University of Stuttgart Teaching courses at the University of Stuttgart, the Stuttgart Cooperative State University, and the University of Wales, Swansea Studies in technically oriented business administration at the University of Stuttgart

Peter A. Gloor is a Research Scientist at the Center for Collective Intelligence at MIT’s Sloan School of Management where he leads a project exploring Collaborative Innovation Networks (COIN). He is also Founder and Chief Creative Officer of software company galaxyadvisors where he puts his academic insights to practical use, helping clients to coolhunt by analyzing social networking patterns on the Internet – spot the next big thing by finding the trendsetters, and to coolfarm – increase organizational happiness, creativity and performance through workforce analytics.

In addition Peter is a Honorary Professor at University of Cologne and a Honorary Professor at Jilin University, Changchun China. He has also taught classes at University of Bamberg, Universidad Cattolica, Santiago de Chile, Aalto University Helsinki, University of Rome Tor Vergata, University of Applied Sciences Lucerne, and University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland. Previously, Peter was a Partner with Deloitte Consulting, leading its e-Business practice for Europe, a Partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers and the section leader for software engineering at UBS. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the MIT Lab for Computer Science in the Advanced Networking Architecture group, working on hypertext well before the Web emerged and creating the multimedia CD “Animated Algorithms” (published by MIT Press). He obtained a Ph.D in Computer Science from the University of Zurich, and a Master’s degree (diploma) in Mathematics also from the University of Zurich.

In his spare time he likes to work on bridging the digital divide, hiking and skiing in the mountains, and playing the piano. He has written 9 books, his three newest books are Morality, Emotions, and AI (forthcoming), Swarm Leadership and the Collective Mind: Using Collaborative Innovation Networks to Build a Better Business (Emerald Publishers, 2017) and Sociometrics and Human Relationships: Analyzing Social Networks to Manage Brands, Predict Trends, and Improve Organizational Performance (Emerald Publishers, 2017), previous books include Swarm Creativity – Competitive Advantage through Collaborative Innovation Networks (Oxford University Press, 2005), Coolhunting – Chasing Down The Next Big Thing (with Scott Cooper) (AMACOM, 2007), and Coolfarming – Turn Your Great Idea In The Next Big Thing (AMACOM 2010).

As of 2025 Stefano Gison has been appointed as the member of the Management Board responsible for Chief Operating Officer domain (COO) at Zagrebačka banka. His areas of responsibility include Operations Back Office, Digital & Information, Real Estate Procurement & TPM, Security and Products COO. Prior to this role, from 2021 he was a Member of the Management Board and COO of UniCredit Bank Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Until 2021, he held the position of Member of the Management Board responsible for the Chief Operating Office at Zagrebačka banka and UniCredit Bank in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

He graduated from the Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, and has an additional certificate in leading digital business transformation from IMD.

Nataša Rapaić is the CEO of Hrvatski Telekom, a position she has held since July 2024. With more than two decades of experience in telecommunications, finance, and consulting, her career is marked by successful business transformation and growth, innovative service launches and customer focus,

She joined the HT Group in 2003 and has held a series of leadership roles, including Director of Corporate Communications, Chief Marketing Officer at T-Com, Operating Director and Chief Marketing Officer for residential customers. From 2013 she was Member of the Management Board and Chief Operating Officer for Residential Customers.

Before joining Hrvatski Telekom, she worked as an economic and financial analyst, and consultant on international telecommunications projects. She holds a degree in Economics and an MBA from IE Business School in Madrid.

Known for her collaborative leadership style, Nataša firmly believes that sustainable success is built through teamwork, trust, and empowering people to grow together. Her leadership reflects a commitment to combining technological progress with strong customer and employee engagement, creating lasting value for business and society alike.

Gordan Pešić is currently CEO and a member of the Management Board at DOK-ING. With over 15 years of experience in robotics and autonomous systems, particularly across the defence, security, and mining sectors, he has built his career bridging cutting-edge technology with real-world impact.

Leading business development at DOK-ING, he has focused on turning complex challenges into growth opportunities, whether by expanding product portfolios, driving cross-border partnerships, or securing major EU and national R&D funding through programmes such as FP7, Horizon 2020, PESCO, EDIDP, and ESIF. His work has taken him deep into international markets, where he has contributed to NATO capability development programmes and championed innovation in military and security technology. He has led major business development and project management efforts from concept to execution, consistently guided by innovation, agility, and results.

Beyond his core role, Gordan chairs Croatia's Thematic Innovation Council for Security and serves as Vice President of the Croatian Defence Industry Competitiveness Cluster, positions through which he actively shapes the future of the industry while promoting Croatia's technology and defence potential on the global stage. He is an alumnus of the Zagreb School of Economics and Management, where he earned an MBA in Management.