Intelligence and digital – where is the human?

Prof Fabrizio Dughiero

Full Professor of Electrical Engineering and Electromagnetic processing of Materials at the Department of Industrial Engineering. He is Vice Rector for Innovation and Relations with Industries at the University of Padua. His research deals with industrial, biomedical and “food” applications of Electroheat Technologies and in particular microwave, radio frequency and induction heating. He has been coordinator of some European projects and is author of more than 200 scientific papers, of which over 150 classified in WoS and SCOPUS. He is inventor or co-inventor of 15 patents and has founded two research firms (spin offs of University of Padua).

He is director of the Contamination Lab of Veneto, the only trans-disciplinary learning experience offered to students of the University of Padua. He has been president of the SMACT Competence Center, a public-private partnership company created as part of the Industry 4.0 program of the Ministry of Economic Development and he is member of the board of directors of the Unismart Foundation. For a few months he has been sitting on the board of directors of the “Le Village” business accelerator of Credit Agricole of which the University of Padua is a member. He is director of a post graduate course about Open Innovation Management for SMEs entrepreneurs and managers.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/fabrizio-dughiero-2b770721/

www.fabriziodughiero.it

https://projects.dii.unipd.it/hes/conference/

Professor Piero Formica

Prof. Piero Formica is an Italian writer and academic, active in the field of knowledge economics. He graduated cum laude, with a mention of scientific aptitude, in 1965, with a thesis on the pure theory of international trade at the University of Messina. Between 1966 and 1968, he studied international economics at the Bologna Centre of Johns Hopkins University.

In the early 1970s, Formica was an economist in the Economic Outlook Division of the OECD and part of the editorial team of Economic Outlook – a six-monthly analysis of the main economic trends and prospects for the next two years.

In the 1980s and 1990s, Piero Formica was involved in academic activities in the United Kingdom (London and Birmingham) while affiliated to Università degli Studi “Gabriele d’Annunzio”, where he inaugurated the Chair of International Economics, and the Alma Mater Studiorum in Bologna, where he was a member of the Board of Directors for four years. During that period, Formica was involved in European programmes to develop incubators and science and technology parks. He collaborated with the European Business Network – a network of about 140 Business and Innovation Centres and other organisations supporting the development and growth of innovative entrepreneurs, start-ups and SMEs – and for more than a decade (1995-2006) he was a member of the Scientific Committee of the International Science Park Association (IASP).

During the 2000s, Piero Formica spent his academic life almost entirely in research at the convergence of the physical, natural, and human sciences, publishing books and articles in international scholarly journals. At the University of Tartu, Estonia, he designed the first master’s degree dedicated to innovative entrepreneurship and taught there, initially through the European Union’s Marie Curie programme, until 2014. In the United Arab Emirates, he inaugurated the Chair of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the Abu Dhabi Men’s College in 2003, the first college established by the Higher Colleges of Technology. From 2006 to 2009, he was Professor of the Economics of Knowledge, Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Jonköping University in Sweden, where he founded the International Entrepreneurship Academy.

Since 2010, Piero has been a Senior Research Fellow and Thought Leader at the Innovation Value Institute of Maynooth University in Ireland. In December 2025, he received the title of Distinguished International Collaborator of this University.

Piero is a board member of several academic journals, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, of Entovation International (Boston, USA), the Smithsonian Curiosity Council, and Magister Peloritanus ‘for Innovation and Entrepreneurship’ at the Accademia Peloritana dei Pericolanti, founded by the University of Messina in 1729. In 2017, he received the Innovation Luminary Award from the Open Innovation Strategy and Policy Group, under the aegis of the European Union, “for his outstanding work on sustained contributions to entrepreneurial research, development of the Experimental Labs approach and advocating for an Innovation Renaissance”.

His most recent books include One Health: Transformative Enterprises, Wellbeing and Education in the Knowledge Economy (2023), Sciencepreneurship: Science, Entrepreneurship and Sustainable Economic Growth (2023), Human Intelligence and Artificial Intelligence: Exhibition at the Mind Gallery (2024) and Economic Humanism: An Imperfect Utopia where Homo Solidalis Lands (2025).

Lynne Schneider

Ms. Schneider has over 30 years of experience in the defense industry and international economic development initiatives.  She has a successful track record providing innovative strategy and policy solutions to senior defense officials/military on a global scale in the Middle East, Europe and NATO.  Ms. Schneider has extensive knowledge of Department of Defense policy/processes, principals fostering change and designing and directing large-scale innovative projects for the Federal Government and private sector applying in the areas of innovation, knowledge cities, crisis response, economic development and micro-business initiatives. She has worked for three Presidents at the Department of Defense and most recently served as Senior Advisor to the Secretary of the Army for Stability Operations (2006-2008) and Chief Management Officer (2019 -2021) at DoD. Ms. Schneider has also served the Secretary of Defense directly on three advisory boards and was the deputy director of the Defense Business Board under Secretary Rumsfeld.

Ms. Schneider recently retired from the US Army Reserve after 35 years as a Lieutenant Colonel in the 361^st Civil Affairs BDE located in EUCOM.    She is an expert in stability operations with a concentration on Theater Security Cooperation, stabilization strategies for economic and national security, reconstruction, emergency response.  She has received the Bronze Star and Combat Action Badge.

She is currently the CEO of Entovation International, a global innovation and knowledge management consulting firm bringing innovative strategies, culture change and disruptive technologies for collaborative advantage to companies and government. She serves on several boards including the ISOA Advisory Board.

She received her Masters Degree from George Mason University in Information Systems and is currently working to complete her Doctorate at Grand Canyon University in Arizona in Business Administration.  She holds several certifications including two in Knowledge Management; Artificial Intelligence and Advanced Concepts.

Dr. Lina Užienė

Dr. Lina Užienė is an associate professor at the School of Economics and Business, Kaunas University of Technology, where she implements scientific research projects and delivers courses in Intellectual Capital Management, Knowledge Management, Digital Organization Management, Strategic Management, Business Valuation and Investor Relations Management, etc.

She has been acting as a director of Management Study Programs at the university in the period of 2016-2019 which successfully resulted in a portfolio of six study programs delivered for bachelor and master students as well as corporate executives.

Since 2005 she holds a Ph.D. degree in Management and Business Administration. Since 2009 she works as an associate professor. She is one of the coordinators of the Open Innovation Research Cluster at the University, responsible for the research stream on open innovation measurement and metrics.

Her research focuses on national policy-making based on the effective management of intellectual resources and the development of innovation-oriented infrastructures. Her current research projects are mostly oriented toward corporate digital transformation.

She is a member of several scientific committees and bodies responsible for the development of methodologies and transfer of knowledge from educational systems to business practice, such as Baltic Management Development Association, International Society for Professional Innovation Management, KM4Dev and others. She is a board member at the New Club of Paris the aim of which is to support nations, regions, cities, communities, and organizations in their transformation into a knowledge society.

She acts as a national and international expert on knowledge management, intellectual capital management, and digital transformation management issues, is an author of more than 40 academic publications, books, and chapters, a consultant, a research project manager, and an inspirational speaker to promote knowledge economy leadership and intellectual capital development via educational forums and platforms.

Areas of Interest/Expertise

Research:  Intellectual capital measurement and management, knowledge management practices, corporate digital transformation, open innovation, and national policy-making based on effective management of the intellectual resources.

Teaching: Intellectual Capital Management, Intellectual Property Management, Digital Organization Management, Strategic Management, Business Valuation and Investor Relationship Management (MBA courses).

Professor Leif Edvinsson

Professor(emeritus) Leif Edvinsson is a key pioneering contributor to theory and practice of Intellectual Capital(IC). The world’s First director of IC in 1991. The World´s First Professor on IC at Lund University as well as Polytechnic University. Prototyping in 1996 the Skandia Future Center as Lab for Organisational design. In 1998, awarded by Brain Trust “Brain of the Year” award, UK. Listed in Who’s Who in the world. Associate member of The Club of Rome. Cofounder and Founding Chairman of The New Club of Paris. In 2013 awarded the Thought Leader Award by European Commission, Intel and Peter Drucker Association. In 2015 appointed Advisory Board to JIN – the Japan Innovation Network. Appointed 2016 to the Advisory Board of Norway Open Innovation Forum. In 2017 Awarded the KM Award , in Geneva at UN, by www.km[1]a.net

Prof. Brian Donnellan

Professor Brian Donnellan is Professor of Management Information Systems at Maynooth University.

Previous senior management positions in Maynooth University include  Vice President of Engagement and Innovation, Vice President and Dean of International Affairs and Academic Director of the Innovation Value Institute. He is active researcher in four Science Foundation Ireland research centres.

A native of County Clare, he graduated from University of Limerick with a B. Engineering in Electronic Engineering, an MBA and PhD (Computer Science and Information Systems). Prior to becoming an academic, Brian spent 19 years working in the IT industry, where he was responsible for Computer-Aided-Engineering for New Product Development.