About Speaker

Dr. Lara Srivastava is a policy advisor, lawyer, futurist, and strategic foresight expert with over 25 years of experience working for and advising governments, industry, internet start-ups and international organizations. She has lived in over 16 different cities across 9 countries and has a keen insight into long-term developments and volutions from both a multi-disciplinary and multi-cultural perspective - ranging from key technical developments (such as AI or IoT) to legal frameworks and techno-social interdependence.

Her background is multi-disciplinary: she holds graduate degrees in French literature (with a focus on gender), in law (with a specialization in technology law) and in science/technology policy (with a focus on FinTech) as well as a Ph.D. in Innovation (with a focus on Smart Homes and IoT).

In the early 2000s, she managed the UN’s first ICT technology foresight programme, during which she initiated and led work on the landmark ITU Internet Report 2005: Internet of Things (IoT), the first report of its kind in the field, and similar groundbreaking work on digital identity (2006), before such developments hit the mainstream. Later in her career, she headed up the ITU’s Bridging the Gap programme, for which she designed and delivered strategic training programmes on innovation and standardization for developing countries across five regions of the world. Lara has also been an entrepreneur and has worked in national utilities regulation, technical standardization, human rights,and management consultancy. Lara is currently working with The World Bank on start-up tech accelerator initiatives and on programs relating to digital development and digital regulation. She is a Visiting Fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), and a business coach and mentor.