Jury

Hannes Gassert is Jury President of the Prototype Fund, an entrepreneur and a defining voice of the Swiss digital scene for more than twenty years. In 2007, while still studying computer science and media studies at the University of Fribourg, he co-founded the digital agency Liip and long served as chair of its board. In 2011 he was one of the founders of Opendata.ch and sat on its board until 2023. In 2021 he co-founded the think tank CH++ and serves as its president.

He co-curated the LIFT innovation conference, initiated event series such as Webtuesday, and has been a member of the Foundation Board of Pro Helvetia since 2018. He has been involved with the Prototype Fund from the start: he served on the jury in earlier rounds and already chaired it in the previous round.

Dr Mario Angst is a lecturer at the Institute Urban Landscape at ZHAW Zurich University of Applied Sciences, where he teaches policy and data science to architecture students. His research focuses on sustainability transformations, policy-making in the Anthropocene and digitalisation, particularly in urban contexts – using natural language processing, Bayesian modelling and network analysis, often combined with qualitative approaches in interdisciplinary teams.

From 2021 to 2025 he led the sustainability.discourses project at the Digital Society Initiative of the University of Zurich and co-led the DSI community on sustainable digitalisation. Before that, he was a postdoctoral researcher at Eawag and WSL. He holds a PhD in political science from the University of Bern (2019).

Helen Burdett’s career has interwoven nature, climate, technology, and business ambitions. In her current role as Director at the World Economic Forum, she has led initiatives focused on Circular Economy Innovation, Technology for Climate Adaptation, Earth Observation, and the Future of Space.

Prior to joining the Forum, Helen applied her academic and research background from Georgetown University to strategy and operations and international development consulting with Deloitte and served as a product manager and Director at Globality, a SoftBank-funded scale-up bringing digital transformation and artificial intelligence to the procurement industry.

Jan Bieser is a professor of Digitalization and Sustainability and head of the Data + Infrastructure research group. His research examines the opportunities and risks of digitalization for society and the environment. Before joining BFH, Jan Bieser conducted research and taught as a senior researcher, postdoctoral fellow, and doctoral candidate on digitalization and sustainable development at the Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute, the Department of Computer Science at the University of Zurich, and the Department of Sustainable Development, Environmental and Engineering Sciences at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm.

As a Fellow of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Cities of Tomorrow, Jan Bieser worked with representatives from cities, the private sector, and international organizations to address how digital technologies can make cities more sustainable and equitable. Jan Bieser has led several collaborative research projects on the environmental impacts of digital technologies in partnership with industrial companies, trade associations, and NGOs. Previously, he served as sustainability manager at the University of Zurich, where he was the lead author of the university’s first sustainability report, and worked as an IT and sustainability consultant at IBM and Deutsche Telekom.

Dr. Christian Hugo Hoffmann is the founder and director of the AI Startup Center, where already over 30 AI startups have been established in less than a year, including renowned spin-offs from ETH Zurich and Cambridge University. He sees himself as a cluster-preneur, who successfully builds and manages entire clusters or business and innovation ecosystems rather than individual ventures. He is particularly driven by translating innovations of startups into sustainable impact in the economy and established companies – so-called success stories.

He has been himself an entrepreneur and AI entrepreneur for many years, with a successful exit and start-up experience in various countries, including Germany, Switzerland, and Malawi. With not only extensive practical experience, but also a PhD in finance and a PhD in philosophy (Ethics of AI), Christian is a proven expert and thought leader on questions of ethical capitalism.

Lisa Gutermuth is a Senior Program Officer with the Mozilla Foundation’s Incubator, where her work focuses on identifying and supporting technologies that give power back to people and communities. She brings experience from previous roles at Ranking Digital Rights, Humboldt Institute of Internet and Society, and Tactical Technology Collective

Dr. Daniel Dobos bridges cutting-edge research with real-world customer solutions, most recently as Research Director at Swisscom. He co-chairs the ITU AI for Good Impact Initiative and chairs the Swiss AI Standardisation Commission. Previously, he led AI and data analysis projects at CERN — contributing to the landmark Higgs boson discovery — and at the United Nations. His research spans artificial intelligence, quantum computing, graph neural networks, and particle physics, with publications cited tens of thousands of times. Educated at TU Dortmund with affiliations at Lancaster University and CERN, he is a leading voice at the intersection of science, AI, and societal impact.

Dr. Thomas Haeussler is a Media Specialist at Federal Office of Communications (OFCOM) who brings experience from previous roles at the University of Bern, Zeppelin University, Friedrichshafen and Universität Bern.