Bernard Charlès has been Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors of Dassault Systèmes, since January 2024. He served as the Company’s Chief Executive Officer from 1995 to 2022, and was Chairman & CEO in 2023.
Charlès started his career in the company in 1983 to develop new design technologies. In 1986, he founded a dedicated New Technologies, Research and Strategy department, and in 1988 was appointed President of Strategy, Research and Development.
He has helped instill a culture of ongoing innovation to further consolidate Dassault Systèmes’ scientific capabilities and make science part of the company’s DNA. The inspiration behind digital mock-up, product lifecycle management and 3DEXPERIENCE®, he firmly believes that virtual technology is about making possible the impossible: 3DEXPERIENCE universes are the most powerful vehicle for testing concepts and creating the future, bringing dream and reality together, and stretching the limits of science and imagination to drive progress in society.
Charlès has positioned Dassault Systèmes as the preferred partner for sustainable innovation in three major sectors of the economy: Manufacturing Industries, Life Sciences & Healthcare, Infrastructure & Cities. The company, established in 1981 and world leader in virtual worlds, was recognized as one of Forbes’ "World’s Most Innovative Companies".
Bernard Charlès is co-author with philosopher Pierre Musso of The Industry Renaissance, which discusses the power of virtual universes to sustainably transform industry.
He is a foreign member of the US National Academy of engineering and a member of the French Academy of Technology. He holds the rank of Commander in the “Légion d’honneur” (French Legion of Honor). He is a graduate of the Ecole Normale Supérieure engineering school in Cachan and has a PhD in mechanical engineering majoring in automation engineering and information science. He also holds an agrégation — the most senior teaching qualification achievable in France (specializing in mechanical engineering).
Patrick JOHNSON is Executive Vice President, Corporate Research & Sciences at Dassault Systèmes. His mission is to define the scientific bases of the company’s solutions and invent disruptive technologies for the Industry Renaissance.
After joining in 1996, he held various positions in R&D, from Product Lifecycle Management foundations to product design for the CATIA flagship brand. In 2001, leading the Artificial Intelligence department, he contributed to important new practices now adopted in the industry for knowledge & know-how capture and automation.
Head of Research in 2004, he initiated many strategic technologies, resulting in key innovative products and patents and significantly grew the innovation ecosystem promoting multiple public/private partnerships with prestigious research institutes.
Finally, he launched a new diversification field for the company, with the BioIntelligence European research program, resulting in an innovative modeling, simulation and big data application suite for the life sciences sector, and the creation of the BIOVIA brand.
Mr. Johnson is based at 3DS world headquarters near Paris and is a member of the National Academy of Technology as well as of the scientific board of INRIA
Reza is Chief Strategy Officer of BIOVIA at Dassault Systèmes. Reza has over 20 years of experience in executive management, with a deep knowledge of both discrete and the formulated industries. As chief strategy officer, he is responsible for BIOVIA’s overall portfolio strategy and contract research. After beginning his career in R&D, Reza moved on to an executive role at a Palo Alto startup (MARC Analysis Research Corporation) which was later acquired by MSC Software, developers of scientific software with focus on modeling and simulation. As chief technology officer at MSC Software, Reza was responsible for R&D and strategy. He is a regular speaker at a number of international scientific events as well as holds a number of advisory board positions. He lives in La Jolla CA home of UCSD where he holds an adjunct status.
William Chen received his university education (BSc and DSc) from Université Catholique de Louvain in Belgium from 1981 to 1989, and is now the Michael Fam Endowed Professor, and Director of Food Science and Technology Programme at Nanyang Technological University Singapore (NTU FST). From an initial education partnership with Wageningen University & Research, he has led to the transformation of NTU FST into an integrated platform (Education-Research-Innovation-Translation). He is also driving two of Singapore government funded food initiatives, first as Director of Singapore Agri-food Innovation Lab (SAIL), and also as Scientific Director of Singapore Future Ready Food Safety Hub (FRESH).
William Chen believes in enhancing food security by improving the current food system, in particular through food waste reduction. The food tech innovations have been developed at NTU FST to upcycle food processing side-streams (soybean residues, brewer’s spent grain, fruit peels and husks), reconnect with food value chain, and prevent these nutrient rich materials from becoming food waste. These innovations have demonstrated that addressing current food security challenges can also contribute to building a resilient future food system with more diversity and higher efficiency.
His food technology innovations, which have been extensively attracting global attention, are characterized by their simplicity and scalability and have resulted in active partnerships with food industry leading to development of consumer products. The recent ‘Going Green’ programme by CNN in 2019 described William Chen as a Game-Changing Leader in the green revolution.
His views on food tech innovations and food security have been covered regularly by major local and international media. He is also advisor/consultant to overseas universities, government agencies, food industry, and international organizations. He is currently a registered consultant with UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on novel foods and urban solutions.
Yann Cotte is an entrepreneur and innovator in bioengineering and microscopy. Since 2013, he has served as the CEO of Nanolive (www.nanolive.com), a company he co-founded after completing his Ph.D. Under his leadership, Nanolive has become a leading provider of live cell imaging and analysis solutions. Cotte's vision and entrepreneurial spirit have driven the company's success, revolutionizing microscopy and advancing scientific research in fields such as biology and medicine.
With a passion for science from an early age, Dr. Cotte pursued a bachelor’s degree in physics at the University of Wuerzburg (Germany), a Master's degree in ESR quantum systems from the State University of New York, and a Ph.D. in holographic imaging. During his doctoral research, Dr. Cotte became captivated by super resolution quantitative phase imaging, a technology revolutionizing microscopy. His work focused on developing advanced imaging techniques, including full-field quantitative phase microscopy and holographic microscopy, enabling high-resolution visualization of transparent biological samples without the need for staining.
Dr. Cotte's contributions have gained worldwide recognition, with publications in prestigious scientific journals. His ground-breaking work has earned him several prestigious awards, solidifying his reputation as a pioneer in the field.
Beyond his research, Dr. Cotte actively promotes scientific education and collaboration. Through collaborations with research institutions and industry partners, he strives to bridge the gap between academia and industry. His dedication to advancing scientific knowledge and technology promises to shape the future of microscopy, revolutionizing fields such as biology, medicine, and materials science.
Olivier de Weck is the Apollo Program Professor of Astronautics and Engineering Systems at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His main research is in Systems Engineering with a focus on how complex technological systems, such as satellites and launch vehicles, are designed and optimized and how they evolve over time. He is a Fellow of INCOSE and Fellow of AIAA and a former chair of its Space Logistics Technical Committee. He helped develop the first integrated model of the Next Generation Space Telescope (now JWST) and the concept of interplanetary supply chains together with colleagues at NASA and JPL. Prof. de Weck previously served as Senior Vice President of Technology Planning and Roadmapping at Airbus and he is currently the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets. His passion is to improve life on our home planet Earth, while paving the way for humanity’s future off-world settlements.
José Tomás Domínguez, a Mechanical Engineer hailing from Chile, brings a wealth of experience in robotics and entrepreneurial acumen to his role as a key leader at Atacama. Before joining Atacama, José worked at a leading robotics startup in Latin America, developing robots designed to clean solar panels in the unforgiving Atacama Desert. This experience has profoundly shaped José's perspective on sustainability and technology, fortifying his commitment to advancing eco-friendly innovation. In his role at Atacama, he has co-led the business vision and has been instrumental in driving the company's intellectual property development.
Dr. Paloma, serving as the CEO of Atacama, holds an impressive record of academic and entrepreneurial accomplishments. With a Ph.D. from MIT in Applied Machine Learning and a postdoctoral fellowship at MIT Chemical Engineering sponsored by the MIT Climate and Sustainability Consortium, her work synthesizes the cutting-edge realms of AI and sustainable materials. Under her leadership, Atacama has achieved significant milestones, including winning the prestigious Nucleate Eco and MITdesignX awards in 2022. Her strategic vision and steadfast commitment to innovation have led to securing commercial pilots with global clients, marking an exciting era for Atacama.
Dan Isaacs is the Chief Technology Officer and General Manager of Digital Twin Consortium. He is responsible for setting and facilitating the technical direction of the Member Consortium, liaison partnerships, and business development support for new memberships.
Dan also serves as the Chief Strategy Officer for the Object Management Group (OMG). His responsibilities include developing and implementing a comprehensive strategy to unify OMG community of consortia (AREA, BPM+ Health, CISQ, DTC, Industry IoT Consortium, OMG SDO, and Responsible Computing) and to expand the global ecosystem. Dan is responsible for driving advanced technology awareness and adoption towards accelerating sustainable global digital transformation across industries, academia, government, and geographies.
Previously, as Director of Strategic Marketing and Business Development at Xilinx, Dan was responsible for emerging technologies, including AI/ML, defining, and executing the IIOT ecosystem strategy. Before joining the Digital Twin Consortium, Dan was responsible for Automotive Business Development focused on ADAS and Automated Driving.
Dan represented Xilinx as a member of the Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC), leading the development of two testbeds from concept to production. Dan has over thirty years of experience working in Automotive, Industrial, Aerospace, and Consumer-based companies, including Ford, NEC, LSI Logic, and Hughes Aircraft.
An accomplished speaker, Dan has delivered keynotes and seminars and served as a panelist, and moderator at World Forums, Industrial IOT Global conferences, Embedded World, Embedded Systems, and FPGA Conferences. He is a member of multiple international advisory boards and holds degrees in Computer Engineering: EE from Cal State University B.S. in Geophysics from ASU.
Pierre Jaïs is professor at the University of Bordeaux, and works at the University Hospital of Bordeaux in the Department of Cardiac Arrhythmias, the leader in ablation procedures in France. His pioneering work on atrial fibrillation and its treatment by ablative methods has earned him international recognition. Over the last 12 years, he has developed the Equipex Music, at the interface of imaging and cardiology. This resulted in the creation of an AI based twin of patient’s heart to help guiding the ablation of ventricular arrhythmias, a technology further developed in Inheart which he cofounded in 2017. He is the CEO of IHU LIRYC, a large research institute dedicated to cardiac arrhythmias. His world-renowned expertise is also linked to a strong scientific activity, with more than 700 scientific articles and regular presentations at national and international conferences, typically with a focus on innovative strategies and technologies. He is the principal investigator of international studies such as BEATAF, funded by Europe. A member of the French Academy of Medicine, he is also involved in the European Heart Rhythm Association and the French Society of Cardiology and in the editorial board of prestigious scientific journals. He was elected in 2022 as a new member of the Academia Europaea in Life Sciences (Class C) and has received numerous awards.
Dr. Valeria La Saponara received her Bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Naples “Federico II”, Italy. She worked as a research fellow at the MARS Center (Microgravity Advanced Research and Support Center), Italy, a subcontractor of NASA and the European Space Agency. She then went to the U.S. and completed her Master’s and Ph.D. in 2001, both in aerospace engineering, from the Georgia Institute of Technology. She is now a tenured Professor and the Vice Chair for Undergraduate Studies of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of California, Davis (USA).
Most of her career has been spent on studying fossil-based materials and structures for aerospace, civil, naval and wind energy applications. Dr. La Saponara received a CAREER Award from the US National Science Foundation, the most prestigious award granted to a junior faculty for promise in research and education. She was the 2017/2018 Chair of the Materials Division of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), and became a Fellow of ASME in 2018.
In 2016, Dr. La Saponara co-founded and was the Chief Technology Officer of a start-up company to design and build bicycle helmets for hard-to-fit children. As the sole engineer of a company of 2, she learnt a lot about bootstrapping. While investigating the replacement of toxic plastics with biodegradable plastics, she learnt that the mycelial network and Paul Stamets were not just names related to Star Trek Discovery.
She has been working with fungal mycelium since 2019 (the start-up shut down in 2019), for various projects related to environmental stewardship, experimenting and designing with fungi and local agricultural waste. Her home office is full of boxes with fungal composite samples, she grows the cover crop needed for her experiments, and her 2023 Mother's Day presents included a book on fungi.
Kent Larson is an architect, entrepreneur, and Director of City Science at the MIT Media Lab, with research focused on urban design, modeling and simulation, compact transformable housing, and ultralight autonomous mobility systems. He has established an international network of affiliated City Science Labs in Shanghai, Taipei, Toronto, Hamburg, Andorra, Guadalajara, and Concepción, Chile. Larson received 10- Year Impact Awards from Ubicomp in 2017 and 2019 for recognition of work that, with the test of time, has had the greatest impact. He is a founder of multiple MIT spinoff companies including Ori Living and L3cities. Larson’s book, Louis I. Kahn: Unbuilt Masterworks, was selected as one of the Ten Best Books in Architecture 2000 by the New York Times Review of Books. He is on the advisory board of the Norman Foster Foundation.
Rose Loughlin is SVP of Research & Early Development at Moderna, where she joined in 2016. Prior to Moderna, she was in Business Development at Biogen and was a life science consultant at L.E.K. Consulting. Rose holds a Ph.D. in Biophysics from University of California, Berkeley and an A.B. in Physics from Harvard University.
Lucas is trained in computational biophysics and protein engineering. Prior to Cyrus he was a Translational Investigator & Senior Fellow at the Baker lab at UW, developing small-molecule binding proteins and protein design algorithms. Lucas is the founder of PedalAnywhere, an online-only bicycle rental company.
Lucas’ scientific work includes a patented computationally designed enzyme, an RNA-dynamics-modeling software toolkit (built during his Ph.D. with Eugene Shakhnovich and Xiaowei Zhuang at Harvard), and algorithm optimization for automation of computational protein design. Harvard A.B., Biochemical Sciences (summa cum laude and Goldwater Scholar) and Ph.D., Biophysics; Hertz Fellow.
Dr. Anne Pitkowski is a graduate from an engineering school in Agro-Industry (Polytech Lille) and a thesis (PhD) from the Université du Maine.
Anne Pitkowski has started working in academic laboratory of IMMM (CNRS-UMR6120) from 2002 to 2007 on the field of soft polymers, and has join Bel in 2008 to drive research on micro/macro structure of food polymers in dairy applications. Her work on caseins and on the thermodynamic of blends were acknowledged by multiple publications and several thesis referee.
After 8 years of research, and a complementary graduation in Industrial Properties (INPI) – She has taken the lead of the Group Protection of Innovation and Open Innovation.
Anne believes that science is the ground for Innovation and has triggered for integration in Research of new field of activity such as plant based, oral processing, big data…
Since 2021, Anne Pitkowski is leading the Research & Application Direction – gathering the department of Applied Research (to accelerate the innovation and prepare the future), Open Innovation (to leverage external knowledge and ecosystem management), Innovation Capabilities (R&D labs & pilots).
Her willingness to take the challenges facing on food industries regarding the planet, the health, and the population growth drive her to settle many partnerships and strategic collaboration with food tech startups which some on the field of alternative proteins.
Shahriar Shahramian received his Ph.D. degree from University of Toronto in 2010 and has been with Nokia, Bell Laboratories since 2009. He currently leads the RFIC & Packaging Lab, one of the six pillars that comprise Bell Labs Core Research. His lab research focus includes the design of mm-wave wireless and wireline integrated circuits and systems. Shahriar is a Bell Labs Fellow, an Adjunct Professor at Columbia University and has been the recipient of seven IEEE international awards for his scientific contributions to the Solid-State Circuit & Microwave Theory & Technology Society. Shahriar is on the technical program committee board of several IEEE conferences in the field of ASIC design. He is also the founder and host of the internationally recognized Signal Path video series with over one hundred thousand global followers.
Dr. Robert A. Weinberg is a Founding Member of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research and the American Cancer Society and Daniel K. Ludwig Professor for Cancer Research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Dr. Weinberg and his colleagues used transfection to identify the first human cancer-causing gene, the ras oncogene, and the first known tumor suppressor gene, RB, the retinoblastoma gene. Subsequently, his group isolated the hTERT gene encoding the telomerease enzyme and used this gene, together with others, to create the first genetically defined human cancer cells. Their discovery that a series of transcription factors (Twist, Goosecoid, FOXC2) can program multiple steps of the invasion-metastasis cascade holds the promise of revealing how cancer cells within primary tumors are able to disseminate in the bodies of cancer patients, generating the metastases that are responsible for 90% of cancer-associated mortality.
Dr. Weinberg is the author or editor of five books and more than 350 articles. Among these are three books, intended for a lay audience: “One Renegade Cell”, "Racing to the Beginning of the Road: The Search for the Origin of Cancer" and "Genes and the Biology of Cancer," co-authored with Dr. Harold E. Varmus. More recently, he has written a textbook, “The Biology of Cancer”. He is an elected Member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is a Member of the American Philosophical Society and the Institute of Medicine.
Among Dr. Weinberg's many honors and awards are the Discover Magazine 1982 Scientist of the Year, the National Academy of Sciences/U.S. Steel Foundation Award in Molecular Biology, the Sloan Prize of the General Motors Cancer Research Foundation, the Bristol-Myers Award for Distinguished Achievement in Cancer Research, the Harvey Prize from the American Society for Technion/Israel Institute of Technology, the Gairdner Foundation International Award, the Keio Medical Foundation Prize, the 1997 National Medal of Science, the 2004 Wolf Foundation Prize, and the Prince of Asturias Science Prize. He has served on scientific advisory boards for the Institute of Molecular Pathology in Vienna, Austria, the Weizmann Institute in Rehovot, Israel, and the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.
Born in Pittsburgh in 1942, Dr. Weinberg received his B.S. (1964) and Ph.D. (1969) degrees in Biology from MIT. He undertook postdoctoral research at the Weizmann Institute and the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California, and then returned to MIT in 1972. In 1982, he was appointed Professor of Biology at MIT and that year became one of the Founding Members of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, also in Cambridge, MA. In 2006 he was appointed as Director of MIT’s Ludwig Center for Cancer Research.
I am a clinical and interventional cardiologist, who heads the Center of Valve Disease at Washington University School of Medicine, and the Associate Director of the Interventional Cardiology Fellowship and Director of the Structural Heart Disease Fellowship Program. I am actively involved in the training of residents and fellows. My particular area of interest is the natural history of valvular disease and their catheter related treatments. I encounter patients in a specialized valve clinic that is aimed at the evaluation and treatment of complex valvular disease. I actively participate in trials that evaluate the role of transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) in patients with severe symptomatic aortic stenosis. In addition, I study the role of multidetector computed tomography in the evaluation and selection of patients undergoing TAVR in order to improve procedural success and safety; the effect of balloon aortic valvuloplasty in left ventricular recovery in patients with severe aortic stenosis and left ventricular dysfunction. From a clinical and epidemiological perspective I am interested in the development of aortic stenosis and its potential genetic components. I also am involved in elucidating the role of mitral regurgitation in left ventricular dysfunction and antiarrhythmic therapy. In addition I am interested in the use of percutaneous left ventricular support in patients with severe decompensated heart failure: patient selection, timing and duration of use.