Designing a Human-Centred Tomorrow
AI could democratise entrepreneurship and enable the design of more human-centred systems or dehumanise and concentrate power even further. The path we take depends on decisions being made today.
Now in its fifth year, Innovating for Impact brings together entrepreneurs, innovators, designers, academics and investors to explore these alternative paths. 
This year's conference examines how artificial intelligence is reshaping human-centred design, entrepreneurship, and organisational innovation. Through keynote presentations, research insights, and our student hackathon with Deloitte, we'll move beyond the hype to understand AI's real potential, and limitations, for creating inclusive, impactful innovation.
View the latest programme here.
Supported by Bayes Business School's Centre for Creativity in Professional Practice, and City St George’s CityVentures, as well as the new Institute for Creativity and AI, this event bridges academic inquiry with practical application, exploring creativity, the future of work, and entrepreneurship in the age of AI.
Join us for the afternoon to find out more about:
- AI for inclusive entrepreneurship – hype, hope or real leverage?
- Human-centred design and innovation with AI – collaboration or compromise?
- Who innovates best – entrepreneurs working alone or intrapreneurs working in a corporate setting?
Speaker Bios
Hader Ali – is a service designer and innovation practitioner with experience working in large organisations, including Relex Group and BT Group, where he has led and contributed to complex, front-end innovation and service design initiatives. 
His work focuses on shaping user-centred services, aligning stakeholders, and translating insights into actionable design outcomes. Alongside his role in corporate environments, Hader has initiated and led intrapreneurship projects, exploring new opportunities within organisational constraints and navigating the challenges of driving innovation from within.
He is the founder of 3E Labs, where he operates as a Design Innovation Lead. Through 3E Labs, he is also developing an AI SaaS tool focused on enabling the flow and development of ideas within organisations.
Hader is currently pursuing a Doctorate of Business Administration, researching corporate entrepreneurship in large organisations. His work explores how leadership, culture, and organisational dynamics influence intrapreneurial behaviour and the development of new ideas.
Qin Han – Qin (pronounced “Chin”) is a big fan of sci-fi and this passion translates to her fascination with technology and the role it plays in society. 
After obtaining a degree in Computer Science and Technology and a Master of Design degree, Qin was awarded the first ever PhD in Service Design in the UK from the University of Dundee. She has also played a very active role as an organiser and ambassador of the Service Design Jams.
Qin is particularly interested in the healthcare context and advocates the value of Design Research and Service Design in addressing issues related to ageing societies, and wellbeing more generally.
With strong links to universities and fresh graduates, Qin is always keen to share her experience and knowledge with the next generation of researchers through Jams, workshops and lectures.
Simon Liss – is a digital entrepreneur, innovator, and advisor. 
He has extensive experience in software development, start-ups, and scale-ups. He has started and exited two technology companies, both focussing on commercialising innovative mobile technologies.
His current work focuses on the impact of AI on innovation and creative agencies. Simon helps businesses organise themselves to effectively harness AI's power, building progressive, future-ready operations that amplify, rather than replace, human creativity.
Shervin Mashayekh – is a London-based Senior Product Manager working at the intersection of AI, fintech, and data platforms. 
With over 14 years of experience across startups and scale-ups, he specialises in turning emerging technologies into products that create measurable impact for businesses and users.
Alongside his industry work, he mentors founders and startup teams across accelerator programs such as Level39 and Natwest, and universities such as King's College, UCL, and UOL.
Stephen Miller – is an independent consultant specialising in strategy, research and evaluation. 
He recently worked with City Ventures on research exploring the relationship between entrepreneurship and social mobility, finding barriers still remain for entrepreneurs from working class backgrounds in particular.
Prior to going independent, he was Director of Delivery and Impact at Power to Change, a charitable foundation tasked with growing the community business movement in England.
He has also previously worked for Design Council and UnLtd – the Foundation for Social Entrepreneurs, and has extensive experience supporting purpose-led businesses achieve greater impact by demonstrating their unique value and improving how they work.
Dr Nettra Pan – is a Lecturer in Entrepreneurship at Bayes Business School. 
Her research examines how founders build and finance organizations that reflect personal, social, and environmental goals.
She studies how the cognition of founders and investors shapes venture identity, strategic choices, and alternative measures of performance, particularly during early-stage fundraising.
Her work has been presented at research conferences and industry conferences.
Nettra takes an interactive and experiential approach to teaching, combining evidence-based insights with hands-on exercises and real-world perspectives.
At Bayes, she has developed two courses with a human-centered design focus, including "Entrepreneurship with Design Thinking" for the MSc Management program and "Purpose-driven Innovation & Entrepreneurship" for the MSc Entrepreneurship program.
Beth Richards – is the Senior Business Engagement & Knowledge Exchange Officer in the Business Engagement & Knowledge Exchange (BE-KE) team at City St George’s, University of London. 
She supports a broad range of Knowledge Exchange activities, with a specialist focus on Knowledge Transfer Partnerships.
She previously managed the patent portfolio of legacy St George’s, University of London, working closely with academics and patent attorneys to drive intellectual property protection and commercialisation.
Beth is currently working on the INSIGHTS project alongside colleagues in the Institute for Creativity and AI, to input perspective on using AI as part of the innovation process.
Simon Sällström – Simon is an economics graduate with an MPhil from the University of Oxford and a BSc in Economics and Political Science from Lund University, where he also served as President of the Lund Debate Society. 
He has held leadership roles across several NGOs and is currently the founder of DirectED.
His work explores the impact of AI on entrepreneurship, social mobility and inclusive access to opportunity.
Simon takes a pragmatic, cautiously optimistic view of AI, seeing it as a powerful lever that can both widen inequalities and unlock new pathways if paired with targeted talent development, skills training and real-world experience programmes.
Sam Steele – is a strategic leader specialising in AI transformation, entrepreneurship, and cultural innovation. 
As Entrepreneur in Residence at City St George’s, University of London, she mentors emerging founders from start-up to exit.
Her role as Honorary Senior Visiting Fellow at Bayes Business School reflects her expertise in business creativity and innovation.
She is also a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing and holds a Master’s Degree, with Distinction, in Business Innovation, Creativity and Leadership.
Sam successfully led a multi-million-pound Knowledge Exchange initiative at City St George’s, University of London, transforming cutting-edge AI research into market-ready solutions.
Her approach combines technical insight with commercial acumen, building high-performance teams and developing AI commercialisation strategies that deliver measurable results.
She successfully led her own start-up business to a successful exit in 2017 and is now Non-Executive Director for several AI startups.
Meghan Stevenson-Krausz – is CEO of Diversity VC, a nonprofit building a venture capital industry that is more inclusive and reflective of the society we live in. 
She began her career in the social sector before transitioning into VC to help expand access to capital for historically overlooked founders.
Meghan founded INCA Ventures, a fintech fund in Peru focused on underrepresented entrepreneurs, and served as the youngest and first woman President of the Peru Venture Capital Association.
A lifelong believer in the power of storytelling, she wrote her Master’s thesis on Sesame Street and contributed research to documentaries including Bill Nye: Science Guy, which premiered at SXSW.
Stephanie Terwindt – is an experienced facilitator of innovation and organisational change, with a career spanning tech start-ups, management consulting, academia, and the mining industry. 
She specialises in designing and delivering creative, evidence-based solutions to complex problems in fast-paced, high-stakes environments.
Her work includes leading digital innovation programmes for 1,000+ person departments; developing AI-enabled creativity tools; driving decarbonisation initiatives for mining equipment; shaping innovation roadmaps for major OEMs; and guiding large-scale organisational redesign and transformation.
Across these roles, she brings a human-centred, systems-oriented approach to helping organisations navigate change and create measurable impact.
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