Speakers 2011
Alex MacNeil (CA): CEO, gogoyoko
Alex is a musician, composer, parent and IT geek. To be more specific, Alex has been involved in music for the last 17 years from the punk/indie scenes in Halifax in Canada and in Reykjavik…More
Anita Fontaine (AU) and Geoffrey Lillemon (US): Champagne Valentine.
Visionaries Geoffrey Lillemon and Anita Fontaine hailing from USA and Australia respectively have exhibited their works in real and virtual spaces since the millennium bug, summoning an international cult following. Champagne Valentine have transformed the art and advertising cosmos with their expressive and provocative creations.More
Anna Hildur Hildibrandsdottir (IS): Managing Director, Iceland Music Export
Anna Hildur Hildibrandsdottir has lived and worked in the UK for the last 16 years. After completing her MA studies in Radio at Goldsmith’s College, she worked in radio and TV constantly between 1992 and 1999. In 1998, Anna started her own management and consultancy company, Hill Media, centred around female rock band Bellatrix; she has since worked with several Icelandic and UK bands as well as festivals and record..More
Ari Kristinsson (IS): Producer / Writer / Director.
Ari Kristinsson graduated from the Department of VisualCommunication of the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts in 1979.He studied art from 1980-81 at The California Instutute of the Arts.From 1980 he has been working in the Icelandic film industry as a, producer cinematographer, editor, scriptwriter, producer and director.Running the Icelandic Film Corporation with Fridrik Thor Fridriksson to 1999.More
Berglind Ósk Bergsdóttir (IS): Activist and Software Developer, gogoyoko
Berglind Ósk Bergsdóttir is a computer scientist and activist who fights for freedom of expression and works to promote free software and culture. She’s a software developer for the fair play music service, gogoyoko. Working for gogoyoko allows her to combine her programming skills, love for music, and interest in new digital alternatives for artists. In her spare time Berglind works with various activist projects…More
Darren Webb (IE): sigur rós Online Team
Darren Webb will be hosting a workshop on how to optimise the online experience for both bands and fans through online integration of social media, e-commerce and website. For the last decade or so, Darren Webb has been part of the Sigur Rós online team. He is currently working on the release of “inni” – a double live album and …. More
Egill Másson (IS): Investment Manager, The New Business Venture Fund
Egill is an Investment Manager at the New Business Venture Fund, and participates in a number of projects as a board member. He was the CEO of Taugagreining and later a Managing Director of VIASYS Healthcare in Iceland. Egill holds an M.Sc. degree in Computer Science from the University of Copenhagen.More
Eiður Arnarsson (IS): Manager of Music Division, Sena
Eiður is the manager of the music division of Sena, Iceland‘s largest entertainment company. Sena releases about 50 new titles on CD per year – around 1/4 of the 200 new releases in Iceland annually. Sena is also a big player on the DVD film market and the video games market. Sena runs 3 cinemas in addition to staging a few large scale concert events every year…More
Einar Tönsberg (IS): Musician
Einar Tönsberg has released three solo albums as Eberg, is one half of the duo Feldberg and has recently released an album with the artist Pétur Ben in a project called Pétur Ben & Eberg. Einar has also worked on music for TV series, films and ads. His songs have a habit of finding their way into commercials, something he welcomes in this new era in the music industry where albums sales suffer but new opportunities…More
Espen Haugen: Planner, KITCHEN Leo Burnett.
Planner at KITCHEN Leo Burnett in Oslo. His professional competencies are found especially within the fields of account planning, digital strategy and creative concept development. Online culture enthusiast especially fascinated by Digital Curation at the moment.More
Eyþór Ívar Jónsson (IS): Associate Professor, Copenhagen Business School and CEO, Klak – Innovation Centre
Dr. Eythor Ivar Jonsson is an Associate Professor at Copenhagen Business School. He lectures at several universities, mostly in MBA and executive programs. His first book about entrepreneurship was published in 1998 and he has written hundreds of articles about related subjects. Eythor is currently the CEO of Klak – Innovation Centre, the chairman of Seed Forum Iceland and the founder of the Centre for Corporate… More
Guðrún Björk Bjarnadóttir (IS): General Manager, STEF
Guðrún Björk Bjarnadóttir has recently been appointed General Manager of STEF – The Performing Rights Society of Iceland. The Society is a non-profit collective rights management society that administers Icelandic copyright for music creators and publishers whose music is performed in public.More
Helga Valfells (IS): Managing Director, The New Business Venture Fund.
Helga Valfells is the Managing Director of the New Business Venture Fund (NBVF). The NBVF is a venture capital fund which invests in, and actively supports Icelandic start-ups with significant growth potential. Over the last 10 years Helga has worked with a wide range of technology start-ups with during the early stages of export.More
Hildur Maral Hamíðsdóttir (IS): PR & Marketing, Bedroom Community
Hildur Maral has in-depth knowledge of the Icelandic music scene and extensive experience in many parts of its music industry. She is part of the advisory board for Iceland Airwaves Music Festival and works with renowned avant-garde record label Bedroom Community as well as having recently joined new music management and export consultancy company Projekta. In the past she has worked at Iceland Music Export, online music portal Gogoyoko, and has been a radio host for many years at the Icelandic National More
Hilmar Sigurðsson (IS): CEO, CAOZ
Hilmar Sigurdsson is the CEO of CAOZ hf., an Animation Production Studio in Reykjavik. CAOZ is releasing locally ‘Legends of Valhalla – THOR’, Iceland’s first ever full animated feature film in 3D on October 14. The film has been in development and production for 7 years. The film has been sold to over 50 countries world-wide and the company is now full force on development of an on-line More
Iain Forsyth (UK): Artist & Independent Consultant to The Music Industry
He joined Mute in 2001, and was with the company throughout their years with EMI and the recent return to independence. Throughout that time he has worked closely with a wide range of artists including Depeche Mode, Goldfrapp, Moby, Erasure, Richard Hawley and a range of more recent signings including Josh T. Pearson and Yeasayer…. More
Jane Pollard (UK): Artist & Head of Strategy, Beggars Group
Working with an expansive range of artists including Radiohead, Pixies, The White Stripes, The National, Adele and Scott Walker, Jane has led numerous campaigns, won 5 Digital Music Awards and contributed to successfully re-shaping the company’s approach to digital strategy….. More
Jóhann Ágúst Jóhannsson (IS): Managing director, Kraumur Music Fund
Jóhann has been heavily involved in the Icelandic music business since the early 90s. He has worked for various artists and labels, doing everything from marketing and promotion to PR, A&R, label management, import and export. When taking a little break from the business, Jóhann who studied Business and Marketing at the University of Iceland started studies in Cultural management at the University of Bifröst…More
Jonathan Gerlach (IS): Creative Director, Skapalón
Jonathan is a Graphic Designer specializing in user interfaces for web and mobile devices. Jonathan is the Creative Director and co-founder of Digital Agency Skapalon, located in Reykjavik, Iceland. With over a decade of experience Jonathan has had the privilege to work with Iceland’s finest companies More
Kristín Atladóttir (IS): Cultural Economist
Kristin Atladottir is a film producer and screen writer turned academic working in the field of cultural economics. She has written on downloading and technological revolutions and is currently completing a PhD on the economics of copyright…More
Margrét Sigrún Sigurðardottir (IS): PhD., Assistant Professor, the Business School of The University of Iceland
Margret Sigrun Sigurdardóttir, PhD. is an Assistant Professor at the Business School of the University of Iceland and runs a research center on Creative Industries also at the University of Iceland. Margret has conducted a mapping of the creative industries in Iceland and earlier this year, when the results were introduced, the project gained a lot of attention…More
María Rut Reynisdóttir (IS): Conference Manager YAIC and General Manager, The Icelandic Music Awards
Maria is educated in creative project, process and business design from the KaosPilot school in Aarhus, Denmark, and holds a BA degree in Political Science from the University of Iceland. Over the years Maria has specialized in project management and process facilitation in a broad variety of business, cultural and civic organizations…More
Mathias Klang (SE): Project Lead, Creative Commons Sweden
His research revolves within the field of legal informatics with particular interest in copyright, online expression, digital rights and regulation. He is currently researching these areas in relation to Social Media. …. More
Nils Wiberg (SE): Interaction Designer/Interactive Artist, Gagarín
Nils Wiberg Is an interactive artist and interaction designer from Sweden based in Iceland. His design work focuses on bringing Tangible Computing to the realm of exhibition design via creating new technologies further adapted to the nature of man. As an interaction designer he specializes in the creation of…More
Njörður Sigurjónsson (IS): Lecturer, Bifröst University
Njörður is a lecturer at Bifröst University in Iceland and has worked with an advocacy group to promote open access to scholarly research. His main research areas are cultural management and organizational aesthetics, in particular, democratic structures, idea sharing and participative listening.More
Pétur Jónsson (IS): Music Producer, Medialux Music Productions
Pétur Jónsson is a music producer with a past in filmmaking. He runs Medialux Music Productions, an Icelandic music and post production company that caters to advertising and film clients. More
Ralph Simon (US): CEO, Mobilium International
Mobile Entertainment magazine has named him as one of the world’s Top 50 executives in Mobile Entertainment three times, in 2005, 2006, and 2008. In 2007, he received its special award for Outstanding Contribution to the Global Mobile Entertainment Industry. …. More
Rasmus Wiinstedt Tscherning (DK): Managing Director, Center for Culture and Experience Economy (CKO).
Rasmus, MA in Political Science, is the Managing Director for CKO, an agency established by the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Economy and Business. In addition to CKO’s responsibility to create growth and innovation in the Danish business community through collaboration with creative businesses…More
Robert Levine (US): Author of Free Ride
He was a features editor at New York magazine and Wired. He holds a B.A. in politics from Brandeis and an M.S.J. from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. He now covers the culture business from New York and Berlin. Free Ride is his first book….. More
Sigga Heimis (IS): Industrial Designer
Sigga Heimis is an industrial designer. She studied at Istituto Europeo di Design in Milan, Italy and got her MFA from Domus Academy in the same city. After her graduation she founded her own design company; Hugvit & Hönnun in Iceland. In 2000 she moved to Sweden to work as a designer in the head quarters of IKEA. Apart from designing over 300 products during her years at IKEA…More
Silja Suntola (FI): Project Director, Creative Industries Finland.
Silja has over 10 years of experience developing the cultural and creative sector and running large national and international development projects. She has been active in furthering the discussion between policy-makers, developers and business leaders in promoting awareness of the widening roles and possibilities of the creative economy in the society…More
Smári McCarthy (IS): Research Director, International Modern Media Institute (IMMI).
Smári McCarthy is research director at the International Modern Media Institute (IMMI) and co-founder of the Icelandic Digital Freedoms Society. He founded the Shadow Parliament Project, an attempt to crowd source democracy, co-founded the Constitutional Analysis Support Project (CAST) and has worked on developing and spreading digital fabrication technology through Fab Labs and Hacker Spaces.More
Staci Slater (US): CEO, The Talent House.
With offices in Los Angeles and Toronto, The Talent House is a complete licensing and administration company to many leading independent labels, publishers, artists, managers and other content owners. Staci will be directing a workshop based on her experience with film and television licensing, clearance and pitching….. More
Stefania Thors (IS): Co-founder and Owner, Icelandic Cinema Online.
Stefanía Thors is the co-founder (along with Sunna Guðnadóttir) of Icelandic Cinema Online, which opened this year in May. Stefanía is the website administrator and creative director of the company. She graduated in 2001 with an MA degree from the Academy of performing Arts in Prague, where she lived for 13 years. For the last 10 years she has been working as a performer and a film editor in Iceland…More
Stephen O’Reilly (UK): Director of International Sales, Mobile Roadie UK.
Stephen has worked in the fashion, sports and music industries for over 10 years specialising in online and mobile marketing, sponsorship and PR. He studied Sound and Music Technology in Dublin. He is currently Director of International Sales at Mobile Roadi…More
Svana Gunnarsdóttir (IS): Investment Manager, Frumtak
Svana has a lot of experience with founding and running entrepreneurial businesses as well as merging and takeovers. Svana was one of the founders of ARTitIS BV, Schipol Airport and was the managing director there from 1995 to 2008. She was one of the owners of Copyrite BV along with being the financial director between the years of 1995 to 2008…More
Thor Gunnarsson (IS): VP Business Development CCP
Thor Gunnarsson was appointed Vice President of Business Development for CCP in the fall of 2007. Prior to joining CCP, Thor served as VP Business Development and General Manager at Ideaworks3D, the BAFTA award-winning mobile game developer and middleware provider. At Ideaworks3D, he forged development partnerships with game publishers such as EA and Square Enix and technology licensing relationships with…More
Tilman Scheel (DE): Managing Director, Reelport GmbH & Founder of Europe’s Finest
In July 2004 he developed Reelport, an online film submission platform for festivals like Oberhausen and Tampere. In 2005 Tilman founded the Reelport GmbH as an independent company. By now 21.000 film makers and sales companies have uploaded more than 28.000 short and feature films to 70+ film festivals and markets including …. More
Villu Arak (EE): Former CEO of Hill & Knowlton Estonia
Villu is a travelling panelist and moderator seeking inspiration, partners and purpose after three years as CEO of Hill & Knowlton Estonia. Before his sabbatical, Villu helped ambitious local and international businesses build understanding with customers, media, and others. In an earlier life, he headed Skype’s global mobile, hardware and security communication…More
Þ. Tjörvi Þórsson (IS): Project Co-ordinator, The Icelandic Film Centre
Tjörvi started working at the Icelandic Film Centre in spring, 2009. His main responsibilities include encouraging and helping right owners to digitize Icelandic films. This includes helping to locate funds and possible partnerships, dealing with laboratories etc. Tjörvi has also overseen the construction of an Icelandic Film Database, which will be launched very soon…More
More to come…
From older conferences: