Nicolas Nova

Keynote Speaker

Nicolas Nova's Biography

Nicolas Nova is an ethnographer, futures researcher, writer and curator. He is both the co-founder of the Near Future Laboratory, a futures research agency based in Europe and California, and an Associate Professor at the Geneva School of Arts and Design (HEAD – Genève).

His work lies at the intersection of anthropology, interaction design and digital technologies. He is interested in observing and documenting digital and new media practices, in order to create new computing experiences centered around people’s needs, cultures and contexts. Nicolas has given talks and exhibited his work in venues such SXSW, EPIC, the American Association for the Advancement of Science conference, O’Reilly Emerging Technology Conference, NEXT, the design week in Milano, ixda interaction, and the Institute for the Future.

He holds a PhD in Computer Science (Human-Computer Interaction) from the Swiss Institute of Technology (Lausanne) and another PhD in Social Sciences from the University of Geneva. He was previously a visiting professor at Politecnico di Milano (Italy), ENSCI-Les Ateliers (Paris), die Angewandte (Vienna), and a visiting researcher at the Art Center College of Design (Pasadena, CA).

Nicolas was finally one of co-founder and curator at Lift Conference, a series of international events about digital culture, design and innovation. He lives in Geneva (Switzerland) with a dual French and Swiss citizenship and presents both in English and French.