Architect and urban planner specialized in city digitalization with a Master’s degree in Urban Engineering from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. Her areas of expertise include Energy Efficiency, Street Lighting, Urban Planning & Management, and Policy Design for Smart Cities. In Brazil, she collaborated in an inter-ministerial cooperative with over 200 smart cities experts, which elaborated the Brazilian Charter for Smart Cities, published last year. As a member of IEEE, she is involved in various leadership roles and technical activities. Currently, she is the Marketing Committee Chair of the IEEE Smart Cities Community and the Chair of the IEEE P2784 (Smart City Planning and Technology Guide) Standard project. In the last year, she spoke in over 30 events worldwide, sharing her knowledge with thousands of attendees in three different languages. Today, she works as a consultant at Quanta Technology, in Climate & Resilience projects for the energy sector.

Victor M. Larios has received his Ph.D. and a DEA (French version of an M.S. program) in Computer Science at the Technological University of Compiègne, France, and a B.A. in Electronics Engineering at the ITESO University in Guadalajara, Mexico. He works at the University of Guadalajara (UDG), holding a Full Professor-Researcher position at the Department of Information Systems. In addition, he is the Smart Cities Innovation Center director at CUCEA UDG Campus. Besides, Dr. Victor M. Larios is the founder of the UDG Ph.D. in Information Technologies (2007). He has been leading projects in Guadalajara between the academy, government, and high tech industry as IBM, Intel, and H.P. focusing his research on distributed systems, parallel computing, data analytics, and visualization, serious games, and smart cities. During the year 2013, Dr. Victor M. Larios was a consultor and elected the Director of Science and Technology for the Guadalajara Ciudad Creativa Digital A.C. project. Furthermore, since July 2013, Dr. Victor M. Larios is the Guadalajara City Local Leader for the IEEE Smart Cities Initiative (volunteer). In addition, Dr. Victor M. Larios is an IEEE Senior member with a valued membership of 22 years and is the current secretary of the IEEE Computer Chapter at the Guadalajara Section. 

Sara Paiva is an Assistant Professor at the Polytechnic Institute of Viana do Castelo, a Ph.D. in Informatics Engineering from the University of Vigo in 2011, and a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Oviedo, under advanced driving assistants and urban mobility. Her main line of research is smart mobility and smart cities, with a focus on inclusive mobility solutions. She is an IEEE Senior Member, Vice-Chair of the IEEE Smart Cities Marketing Committee, member of the IEEE Education Committee, R&D, and IEEE P2784 Smart City Planning and Technology Standard. She is Editor in Chief of EAI Endorsed Transaction on Smart Cities, Associate Editor of Springer Wireless Networks (IF 2.6), Mobile Networks (IF 2.6), and Editorial Board Member from the International Journal of Sustainable Cities and Society (IF 5.2). She was General Co-Chair of the EAI International Convention on Smart Cities 360º 2020 with 10 co-located conferences. She acts as Scientific Evaluator of Individual Scientist Project Proposals for Fundamental and Applied Research for the Latvian Council of Science since 2020. She is editor of books with Springer, CRC Press, Cambridge Scholar, and special issues in several impact factor journals. She has authored and co-authored several scientific publications in journals and conferences and is a frequent reviewer of international journals and international conferences.

Angelo Ferraro is currently a Research Assistant and Ph.D. Candidate in Electrical Engineering, at the University of South Carolina. He holds an MEEE, BSEE, BSCE. Formerly a Visiting Scientist with the Office of Naval Research, he has also held Research and Executive positions at several companies, including Harris Semiconductor R&D Power Laboratory and General Electric Corporate Research & Development Center, and co-founder and consultant for venture based start-ups. Publications and presentations topics have included power, energy, control, and medical instrumentation. Current research interests include nature-inspired architecture, large systems control, i.e., smart cities and grids, and engineering ethics. R&D-100 publication awards for contributions in IEEE text on power electronics. Several IEEE Societies memberships, serving on several standards working groups. He is the IEEE Columbia Section Chair and the Vice-Chair IEEE P2863 Organizational Governance on AI Working Group.

Lee is a highly motivated, experienced nonprofit leader and program developer for vulnerable and low-income families and their communities. Skilled in leading diverse staff, building locally-based, scalable programs, and delivering implementation through grantmaking and team management. Proven track record as innovative solutions designer of creative, multi-million dollar strategies that increase financial inclusion in communities with on-time, on-budget delivery. Successfully align incentives for philanthropic, government, nonprofit, and private sector organizations to achieve shared objectives.

Jigyasa is experienced economics and policy professional with extensive experience in technology policy and quantitative methods. Prior experience includes projects to C-suite and high-level government officials in the U.S., Singapore & India. She specializes in A.I. governance, smart cities, data governance, cybersecurity, privacy, community engagement, and internet policy issues.