After one of our speaker from the "Politics" session had to cancel for medical reasons last week, we worked on finding a person who can address similar topics. We're pleased to announce that Claudia Sommer accepted to give a presentation at Lift10. She is webmanager at Greenpeace Germany since 2007, responsible for the implementation of their social media strategy. In this session, Claudia will present some case studies of how an NGO such as Greenpeace employs digital technologies for political campaigns and pressuring institutions and governments.

Prior to this she occupied various positions in web business, for companies such as Electronic Commerce Center, SmartStore and Materna. Furthermore, she has provided her expertise as a communications consultant for Bertelsmann and Deutsche Post. Her keen sense of creative potential, technical feasibility and evaluation of innovative technologies as well as trends, has turned her into a social media evangelist.

She holds a graduate degree as a Multimedia Producer from the SAE Cologne. In her free time, she spins some records as a DJ :)

Lift10 is in 4 weeks time, and we are posting profiles of the confirmed speakers. Don't forget to have a look at the program!

Russell Davies will be speaking at Lift10 during our session entitled "Stories" - our traditional moment dedicated to stories from people with inspiring projects and lives. We invited him because of his intriguing projects and his insightful perspective about new media communication.

After failing as a popstar and a joke writer Russell ended up in advertising and tried to do ‘interactive marketing’ way before anyone else was interested. He worked at Wieden + Kennedy with clients such as Microsoft, Nike and Honda. Then he went to work for Nike as Global Consumer Planning Director.

He currently works for the Really Interesting Group (a multi disciplinary organisation working in post digital design) and the Open Intelligence Agency (a global small business, able to do 24-hour working, bereft of hierarchies and bureaucracy, collaborating with all sorts of people on things such as brand and communications thinking and creative ideas). Russell also writes a column for Campaign and another for Wired UK.

Lift10 is in 5 weeks time, and we are posting profiles of the confirmed speakers. Don't forget to have a look at the program!

We've invited Virginia Mouseler, the managing director of The WIT – World Information Tracking – the leading agency specialized in research and information on TV programs worldwide, to speak at Lift10. Along with Catherine Lottier, she will be part of a panel about the future of television, reflecting on recent evolutions and potential opportunities in terms of content.

Virginia's dual background is very relevant to Lift. After studying philosophy and psychoanalysis, she attended a top tier business school. Virginia has worked as a psychoanalyst, and has published two novels and an essay in psychoanalysis, all translated into several languages.

In 1996, Virginia co-founded The Wit, analyzing new creative trends and ideas in the entertainment world. The WIT’s reports and on-line services are used by the most active broadcasters, producers and distributors around the world. They highlight the most-talked about TV formats, selected new shows launched worldwide and the freshest program clips of the season.

Lift10 is in 6 weeks time, and we are posting profiles of the confirmed speakers. Don't forget to have a look at the program!

Christian Heller, born in 1984 (yes, like the book by George Orwell), lives in Berlin, Germany, and will be speaking during our session on the redefinition of privacy. We invited him as a young futurologist and science fiction expert to provide us with an anti-thesis to common views about privacy and about how to protect it.

From 2004 to 2007 Christian studied Philosophy and Film Studies at the Freie Universität Berlin. He then continued on to pursue his interests in futurology, transhumanism and internet culture. He has been involved in the creation of the coworking network Hallenprojekt.de and the open source hardware hacking venture Bausteln.de.

Christian has also worked as a film critic for online magazines such as critic.de and fudder.de. He speaks and lectures widely in hacker and new media conferences such as Transmediale or 25C3.

Lift10 is in less than 2 months time, and we are posting profiles of the confirmed speakers. Don't forget to have a look at the program!

Stephen Graham will be speaking at Lift10 in our opening session on the redefinition of privacy. We invited him to speak because of his investigations into how networked technologies redefine the notion of surveillance. His perspective as a geographer adds an important dimension to the discussion around the evolution of privacy.

Following a period at Durham Geography Department, Stephen is now Professor at the Global Urban Research Unit at Newcastle University's School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape. He has a background in urbanism, planning and the sociology of technology. His research addresses intersections between urban places, mobilities, technology, war, militarization, surveillance and geopolitics. He writes and lectures in many countries and across a variety of disciplines.

Lift10 is in less than 2 months time, and we are posting profiles of the confirmed speakers. Don't forget to have a look at the program!

Neil Rimer will be giving the keynote speech at the Alp ICT venture night on the 5th of May at Lift10. Neil is a co-founder and Partner of Index Ventures. In 1992, He started the venture capital activity of Index's predecessor firm, later co-founding Index Ventures and raising the firm's first fund in 1996.

Neil's current investment focus is on innovative solutions for energy and environmental problems.

He is currently on the board of several innovative companies (such as AlertMe, Lehigh Technologies, Netvibes, Moo Print, Innovative Silicon). Neil sponsored many of the firm's investments including Betfair, Ofoto (now Kodak), Trolltech (now Nokia) Listen (now Real Networks), Numerical Technologies (now Synopsis) and Genmab. He has also served on the board of Human Rights Watch and has served on the Board of Directors of U.C. Sampdoria, a football club competing in the Italian Serie A.

Before starting Index Ventures, Neil spent four years with Montgomery Securities in San Francisco. Neil has a BA in History and Economics from Stanford University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Following Neil's speech, eight startups from Western Switzerland will present on the big stage. If you think your company could qualify, please read this.

Lift10 is in 2 months time, and we are posting profiles of the confirmed speakers. Don't forget to have a look at the program!

This year Lift welcomes Alice Taylor as one of our speakers! We've invited Alice to speak during our session on online communities. She will present various cases showing how the video game environment can be used for public diplomacy, democracy, entertainment, education and experimentation.

Alice works at the UK's Channel 4, and her job is to commission cross-platform educational content for UK-based 14-19 year olds, aiming to get useful, life-helpful information to teens via their most-favored platforms and formats.

She specializes in video gaming and playful experiences, and Channel 4 Education’s 2009 slate includes:

• Routes, a cross-platform game tackling DNA and genetic testing. Winner of Best Content BIMA 2009, nominated for children's interactive BAFTA 2009.
• Smokescreen, a cross-platform game on the subject of privacy, online security and surveillance.
• 1066 The Game, a web game depicting the events of the battles of 1066. Winner, Best Online Game, BIMA 2009, and nominated for children's interactive BAFTA 2009.
• Bow Street Runner, C4 Education’s first game commission, won the children’s interactive BAFTA in 2008.

Lift10 is in less than 3 months, and we are posting profiles of the confirmed speakers. Don't forget to have a look at the program!

This year Lift welcomes Amelia Andersdotter as one of our speakers! Amelia is our youngest speaker to date, very appropriate as she will speak in the session about politics, but we will also talk about "generations" in another session.

We invited her because we were interested in her perspective on the role and challenges of Information Technology in politics. Beyond digital activism and lobbying, she will address how ICT can help transform the legislation creation process by making it more open and collaborative.

Amelia is a Swedish politician and Member of the European Parliament (MEP), elected on the a Swedish Pirate Party list in the 2009 election. Amelia was the second candidate on this party list for the European elections on 7 June last year, in which the party gained one member of Parliament and 7.1% of the vote.

Lift10 is in 3 months time, and we are posting profiles of the confirmed speakers. Don't forget to have a look at the program!

We are happy to announce Mercedes Bunz as one of our Lift10 speakers. Mercedes will be speaking during our session entitled "The old new media": Newspapers are struggling, TV is not sure of what the future holds. What is at stake nowadays when informing, reaching and involving people?

Mercedes is an experienced and optimistic new media strategist for journalism currently working as the Guardian’s reporter for digital media. As a motivating managing editor experienced in print and online journalism she has been editor-in-chief of the online version of the Berlin-based daily newspaper Tagesspiegel. Before, she was the editor-in-chief of zitty, the oldest and best-known Berlin city-guide magazine. Mercedes also co-founded de:bug, one of the leading magazines for electronic culture in german-speaking countries. She holds a PhD in media science and is a visionary writer and speaker on new technology, creative industries and society.

Her last book was about the history of the internet (in German), and got published at the German Kadmos Kulturverlag tracing the transformation of media from saving to distribution. She is currently working on a new one, and yes journalism and the internet occur.

Lift10 is in less than 4 months, and we are posting profiles of the confirmed speakers. Don't forget to have a look at the program!

We're very much looking forward to welcoming Jean Burgess as one of our speakers this year at Lift10. Jean will be speaking during our session entitled "What's up with on-line communities?"

Jean is a postdoctoral research fellow based in the Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation at Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia. Her background is in music, cultural studies and media studies, and her current research concentrates on everyday media creation and use in relation to technological change, both past and present. As part of her work she regularly designs and facilitates co-creative media workshops for community groups and organisations.

In addition, she co-authored "YouTube: Online Video and Participatory Culture" with Joshua Green at Cambridge Polity Press. People interested in her work should have a look at the following interview by Henry Jenkins

At Lift 2010, she will address on-line participation and user-generated content: who participates? who doesn’t? why? what are the limits and the opportunities?

We're looking forward to listening to her in May.