Contributors

Prof. Bruno Lanvin

Co-editor and Co-author

Bruno Lanvin is co-founder and director of Portulans Institute, (Washington DC and Geneva). He is also a Distinguished Fellow at INSEAD. Bruno Lanvin is the President of IMD’s Smart City Observatory. 

Initially a mathematician and a specialist of international trade, his research and publications have focused on information technology, innovation and talent strategies. He has over forty years of experience in advising governments and large corporations, including twenty years at the United Nations and ten at the World Bank.

Since 2001, Dr Lanvin has been co-authoring The Global Information Technology Report (NRI), the Global Innovation Index Report (GII), and the Global Talent Competitiveness Index (GTCI), the Smart City Index Report, and of the award-winning book ‘Sixteen Shades of Smart’.

He holds a BA in Mathematics and Physics, an MBA (HEC, a PhD in Economics (Paris I)-La Sorbonne), and is an alumnus of INSEAD (IDP-C) and MIT (Beyond Smart Cities Certificate). A frequent speaker at high-level meetings, he has been a member of numerous boards for many years, including those of ICANN, IDA-Infocomm, GovTech, IP-Watch, AAID, Kazakhstan’s Presidential Board on ICT Strategy, and the Bin Rashid Foundation for Government Innovation. He has also been a frequent speaker at the World Economic Forum, and chaired the Forum’s Global Advisory Group on ‘Future of Government’.

Prof. Soumitra Dutta

Co-editor and Co-author

Soumitra Dutta is Professor of Management and the former founding dean of the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business. Previously, he was the Anne and Elmer Lindseth Dean of the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management. Prior to joining Cornell in 2012, he was on the faculty and leadership team of INSEAD. Mr. Dutta is an authority on technology and innovation policy, and has engaged in a number of multi-stakeholder initiatives to shape global, regional, and industry agendas. He is the co-editor and author of The Global Information Technology Report, published by the World Economic Forum, and The Global Innovation Index, published by the World Intellectual Property Organization. 

Mr. Dutta is on the global boards of Sodexo and Dassault Systèmes, and is a member of the Shareholder Council of Chicago-based ZS Associates. He serves on the advisory boards of several business schools, including HEC, Montreal; ESADE, Barcelona; and ESCP, Paris. He has co-founded two firms, including Fisheye Analytics, which WPP group acquired. He is currently Chair of the Board of Directors of the Global Business School Network.

Mr. Dutta was previously the Chair of AACSB, the leading global body for the accreditation of business schools. He is a member of the Davos Circle, an association of long-time participants in the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos. He is also the co-chair of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Innovation Ecosystems. 

Mr. Dutta received a Bachelor of Technology in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), New Delhi, a Master of Science in both Business Administration and Computer Science, and a PhD in Computer Science from the University of California at Berkeley. In 2017, he received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from his alma mater, IIT Delhi.

Rafael Escalona Reynoso

Portulans Institute, CEO

Rafael Escalona Reynoso has been Senior Research Associate and Data Scientist for Portulans Institute since 2020. Before joining the Portulans Team he was the Lead Researcher at The Global Innovation Index (GII) from 2013 to 2020. He is a leader leveraging a unique combination of data and policy analysis and public relations skills plus an ability to influence long-term strategy by demonstrating thought leadership on project management. 

His previous professional experience was as a member of the Trade and Foreign Investment Advisory Board at the office of the President of Mexico and as Economic, Science and Technology Policy Advisor to the Senate of Mexico (LVIII Legislature). As part of the congressional advisory group he led research on the economic effects of international biosafety regulations on Mexico’s basic research, industry, and trade and directed comparative analyses on international food and drug safety policies and regulations. These efforts assisted with the enactment of Mexico’s biosafety of genetically modified organisms law (DOF 18-03-2005) and of the regulatory framework for Mexico’s Federal Commission for Sanitary Risks (DOF-13-04-2004).

His research experience at Cornell University includes comparative studies between Mexico and Spain’s National Systems of Innovation and regulatory aspects of modern biotechnology and the biosafety of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), and on the reach and scope of intellectual property rights (IPRs) in the information technologies era. He holds a PhD in Regional Planning with concentrations on Science and Technology Studies and Risk Analysis, Communication, and Policy and a Master of Public Administration with a concentration in Science, Technology, and Infrastructure Policy from Cornell University. He also holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Universidad Panamericana in Mexico.

Mariam Chaduneli

Project Manager

Mariam is a Policy Associate at Portulans Institute who has worked extensively on research and policy analysis in the area of technology policy, and digital rights, cybercrime and emerging threats. As the NRI 2021 Project Manager she has been in charge of monitoring relevant national and international policy developments and producing research content relating to digital readiness, innovation policy, and digital transformation. She has also been coordinating and managing communications, and administrative work across key workstreams and stakeholders of the Network Readiness Index 2021. 

Mariam has a master’s degree in Innovation, Technology, and the Law from the University of Edinburgh focusing on the interplay of law, technology, and digital rights. Prior to obtaining the UK Government’s Chevening Scholarship for her master’s studies, she was a Chief Project Management Specialist in the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia where she gained hands-on experience initiating and managing international projects with public and private sector organizations operating on a national, regional and international level.

Sylvie Antal

Digital Strategy Manager

Sylvie is a Policy Research Associate with prior experience in digital privacy issues relating to minors and vulnerable populations, technology policy development research, and technology for international development. Prior to joining Portulans Institute, she spent time interning at the Family Online Safety Institute and the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, and was a Technology and Innovations writer for The Borgen Project. 

Sylvie holds a Bachelor of Science in Information Science from the University of Michigan’s School of Information, where she was a member of Tech for Social Good and an affiliate with The Center for Ethics, Society, and Computing. She is currently working towards completing her Masters degree in Human-Computer Interaction.

Abdellah Bouhamidi

Data Scientist

Abdellah is the Practice Leader at Sustainable Development Value Ltd., a consulting practice focused on Sustainable Growth Strategy. With a background in Operations Research, an MBA from Cornell University, and more than eight years of hands-on experience providing research and advisory services for strategy and investment executives, Abdellah Bouhamidi has helped 25 client organizations across 12 industries find and activate levers for growth.

Abdellah’s work benefited corporate and governmental programs by bringing the advantage of technology and analytics to the table and drawing from the best practices of sustainability to identify quick wins and opportunities for impact that add incremental value toward the SDGs, on top of increasing the benefit to shareholders and client organizations.

Michaela Saisana

Michaela Saisana is acting head of the Monitoring, Indicators and Impact Evaluation Unit, and she also leads the European Commission’s Competence Centre on Composite Indicators and Scoreboards (COIN) at the Joint Research Centre in Italy. She has been working in the JRC since 1998, where she was awarded “best young scientist of the year” in 2004 and, along with her team, the “JRC policy impact award” for the Social Scoreboard of the European Pillar of Social Rights in 2018.

As a scientist and engineer specializing in process optimization and spatial statistics, she collaborates, by auditing performance indices, with over 150 international organizations and world-class universities, including the United Nations, Transparency International, Oxfam, the World Economic Forum, INSEAD and WIPO.

She is the author of about 30 articles in academic journals, 100 working papers, and a co-author of two books: 2008 OECD/JRC Handbook on Composite Indicators and 2008 Global Sensitivity Analysis-The Primer (Wiley).

Andrew Puddephatt

Andrew is the founder and director of Cedar Partners, a network of individuals working to improve life for all, and the founder and director of Adapt, a new startup helping companies manage user data ethically. Andrew also is the chair of the Internet Watch Foundation, which helps prevent child sex abuse online, board chair of the Board of Global Partners Digital, focusing on human rights implications of Internet policy, and deputy chair of the Sigrid Rausing Trust and management committee member of European Council of Foreign Relations.

Irene Mia

Dr Mia is an experienced professional (economist by training) with a successful 20 year track-record in economic and policy research and on engaging with policy-makers and senior corporate leaders. Dr Mia has expertise in managing large teams with proven strategic, financial, planning and team building skills. Dr Mia holds a PHD in International Economic and Trade Law from L. Bocconi University and MA in Latin American studies from the Institute for Latin American Studies, London University.

Before her recent appointment as Senior Fellow for Latin America at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), Dr Mia was the Global Editorial Director for Thought Leadership at Economist Group, Economist Intelligence Unit.

Elena Kvochko

Elena Kvochko is Chief Trust Officer working in the field of cybersecurity and started with SAP in 2020. She is a former COO of cybersecurity technologies at Bank of America, CISSP, CEH. She also served as a technology, cybersecurity, and business operations executive. Kvochko is a Certified Information Security Professional (CISSP) and Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH).

She was named one of the Top 100 CIOs and is a member of the Wall Street Journal CIO Council. Kvochko was named one of Fortune magazine’s Most Powerful Women International, one of the “Leading CIOs Who Happen to Be Female” by CIO Magazine, and Business Role Model of the Year by Women in IT. She is also a published author and an inventor with patents pending in security, privacy, and digital payments technology.

John Garrity

John Garrity is an economist, policy advisor, and program manager focusing on digital inclusion through pro-poor information and communications technology (ICT) policy and projects to foster universal Internet access and adoption. Currently he is an independent consultant to public sector and private sector organizations, including Connectivity Capital, a sector-focused investment management firm providing debt capital to Internet Service Providers (ISPs), UNDP as the technical advisor on a national rollout of free public WiFi in Southeast Asia, and with the UN Broadband Commission.

Previously, John was the senior connectivity advisor in the Global Development Lab at USAID. Before USAID, John spent 10 years at Cisco, and prior to that, John was in the Corporate Strategy Group at the World Bank and held previous roles at the Federal Trade Commission and in state government. John has co-authored several reports on technology and development and has presented around the world on efforts to close the digital divide.

Chris Ferguson

Chris Ferguson was a member of the original senior management team that built the UK’s Government Digital Service. In 2011, he was brought into the Cabinet Office to take on the digital identity challenge and created the team that developed GOV.UK Verify. In January 2015, Chris became the GDS director responsible for the digital group comprising GOV.UK, GOV.UK Verify, and the Government-as-a-Platform delivery team.

In February 2017, Chris established the National, International & Research Group within GDS. This will focus on how GDS engages and collaborates with the UK’s wider public sector, devolved administrations, and partner organizations worldwide. Chris is the chair of the cross-government Digital Leaders network and head of the digital profession within HM Government. Prior to his involvement with the digital transformation of public services, Chris’s career mainly focused on diplomacy and security in the UK and overseas.

Osman Sultan

Osman Sultan brings 35 years of leadership, rich with achievements in the telecom sector. His vast knowledge and expertise in the field as early as the pre-Internet period placed him as one of the pioneers in Europe, the US, Japan, and the entire MENA region.

His distinguished achievements ranked him as one of the most powerful executives in the worldwide telecom industry twice on the “GTBPower100 List” in both 2010 and 2011. Sultan has developed several strategies that helped produce the profound transformations that the telecom and information sectors have been creating in our lives.

Sultan has been a board member for various institutions in the telecom industry, technology space, and academic world. incl. the advisory board of the Mohammed bin Rashid School of Communications (MBRSC), the Global Blockchain Advisory Council of the WEF, the Board of Endeavor UAE, and many others.

Diego Molano

Diego Molano is an international consultant on digital transformation of companies and governments. He was the minister of information and communication technologies (ICT) of Colombia from 2010 to 2015. He transformed his country with his policy plan “Vive Digital,” which aims to reduce poverty and create jobs using technology. Mr. Molano has a long career in the technology industry and has had responsibilities in more than 20 countries.

He has been a board member of international organizations and corporations in the telecommunications, TV, radio, and postal services sectors.

He is currently senior advisor to the Inter-American Development Bank, senior advisor to McKinsey & Co. in Washington DC. Mr. Molano is an electronics engineer and economist from Xavier University in Colombia and holds an MBA from IMD in Switzerland.

Dr. Tawfik Jelassi

Tawfik Jelassi is Professor of Strategy and Technology Management at IMD Business School in Lausanne (Switzerland). He is also Co-Director of the “Orchestrating Winning Performance” program in Lausanne, Singapore and Dubai, which is IMD’s signature program and its biggest executive education offering (with more than 650 participants enrolled in it annually).

Before joining IMD, Dr. Jelassi was Minister of Higher Education, Scientific Research, and Information & Communication Technologies in the post-Arab Spring Tunisian Government, which was mandated to finalize the democratic transition in the country. Dr. Jelassi was Chairman of the Board of Directors of Ooredoo Tunisia, the leading mobile telecom operator in the country.

Between 2000 and 2013, he was Professor and Dean of the Business School of Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées in Paris (the oldest Grande Ecole of France). Prior to that, he was Associate Professor and Coordinator of the Technology Management academic area at INSEAD, Fontainebleau. Dr. Jelassi holds a Ph.D. degree in Management Information Systems (MIS) from the Stern School of Business at New York University (USA).

Dr. Hessa Al-Jaber

Dr. Hessa Al-Jaber Dr. Tawfik Jelassi Diego Molano Dr. Hessa Al-Jaber is the chairperson of Trio Investment, a technology investment company that invest in innovative technology that address some of the most pressing health problems in MENA region. As an expert in technology, media, and telecom practice, her focus is the impact of a digital economy in productivity and competitiveness. Dr. Hessa was the former and the first-ever Minister of Information and Communication Technology in Qatar.

Prior to becoming a minister, Dr. Hessa held the position of Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Information and Communication Technology since its inception in 2005. Dr. Al Jaber was a member of United Nations ITU Broadband Commission for Sustainable development and a member at the Network of Global Agenda Councils of the World Economic Forum (WEF).

Dr. Al Jaber is currently the Chairperson of Qatar Satellite Company, and Malomatia, in addition to being a member of several boards including Volkswagen (AG) Supervisory Board in Germany, Qatar University’s Board of Regents, Qatar Museums Authority’s Board. Dr. Hessa holds a Bachelor of Science in Engineering from Kuwait University, and a Master’s Degree and Ph.D in Computer Science from George Washington University, Washington, DC.