SXSW 2026: Talent Mobility in Culture and Science during Disruptive Times

Christian Strowa assumed the roles of Director of the DWIH New York and Director of the DAAD Regional Office New York in September 2024. He completed his studies in American Studies, Psychology, and Media Studies at the University of Bonn, and pursued Comparative Literature and Philosophy at New York University. Additionally, he holds a postgraduate degree from UCL’s Institute of Education (IoE). He has held teaching roles at Dublin City University and University College London. Before his appointment to New York, he served as Head of Division “Knowledge and Network” at the DAAD’s headquarters in Bonn, where he was responsible for the DAAD’s network of overseas offices, the international DAAD Academy iDA, third party funding and the Centre for International Academic Cooperation KIWi. Prior to this, he led the Section “Scholarship Programmes Asia and the Pacific” and served as Deputy Director of the DAAD’s London Office.

Katja Lucker, born in northern Germany, began her career in 1990 in Berlin as an actress before successfully becoming self-employed as a cultural manager. Her portfolio includes, among other projects, the Kesselhaus in der Kulturbrauerei, the Karneval der Kulturen, and work at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele, including collaborations with Karlheinz Stockhausen. From 2007 to 2012, she worked as Project Manager for the Creative Industries for RUHR.2010. In addition, Katja Lucker was actively involved in various Berlin music networks and served on several juries for Berlin’s music funding programs. In 2012, she was commissioned by Klaus Wowereit, then Governing Mayor of Berlin, to establish the Musicboard Berlin in order to provide new impetus to Berlin’s pop music scene. In 2013, she was appointed Berlin’s Commissioner for Music. Since 2015, Musicboard has operated as the state-owned Musicboard Berlin GmbH, with Katja Lucker serving as Managing Director. In this role, she has been Director of the Pop-Kultur Festival, which she founded, since 2015, and since 2018 has also been responsible for organizing the Fête de la Musique in Berlin. Since January 1, 2024, she has been Managing Director of Initiative Musik gGmbH.

DJ Shani has been playing electronic music for 25 years. Born and raised in Chicago – the birthplace of house music – she finds inspiration in African rhythms; jazz artists, such as Herbie Hancock, Quincy Jones, Pharoah Sanders; and soul artists, such as Irma Thomas.

Jean-François Ouellet was 16 years old when he founded his first business - Les Produits JV, a small manufacturing business which ultimately employed some 30 team members, mainly seamstresses -- before taking on the role of Chief Marketing Officer of  LYRtech, a technology company that went public (TSX-V) in the year 2000. So far in his career, he has contributed to launching and/or growing  a half-dozen companies. His most recent venture, in the field of artificial intelligence and Internet-of-Things, provides solutions in the field of water management and maintenance. A post-doc from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), JF is an associate professor in the department of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at HEC Montréal, the business school at the University of Montreal, Canada. He has been Associate Director and remains Chief Economist of the Montreal Creative Destruction Lab, a platform that supports the launch and growth of artificial intelligence-focused startups and ventures. He has delivered hundreds of conferences to organizations in Canada and around the world. Between 2010 and 2014, he was the host of Génération INC., a television show about the challenges of entrepreneurship, for which he was nominated twice for Best Host of a Public Affairs show at the 2012 and 2014 French-language Gemini Awards (the Gémeaux).

Lutz Leichsenring is a prominent figure in the global nightlife scene, widely known for his advocacy work towards promoting a thriving and sustainable nightlife culture. He served 15 years as Spokesperson and Executive Board Member of Clubcommission Berlin, an organization that represents over 350 clubs, promoters and cultural institutions in the German capital. As the co-founder of VibeLab, the leading consultancy agency for nighttime economy and culture, Lutz seeks to develop innovative solutions for the challenges facing nightlife. VibeLab is advising and researching the night and is the publisher of the cultural impact study "Creative Footprint", works globally with institutions like UN-Habitat and World Cities Culture Forum (WCCF) and developed the grassroots peer-to-peer learning "Night School", funded by the European Union. During the Covid-19 crisis, Lutz also initiated "United We Stream", a global music streaming platform and donation campaign to create awareness about club culture affected by the epidemic, and nighttime.org to support nighttime governance. In May 2023 Lutz was recognized as one of the „100 most important minds of Berlin’s economy“ and received the "Ambassador of the Night Award" of NTIA UK in 2024. Lutz was co-founder of the creative talent agency young targets GmbH and became an expert for creative recruiting campaigns and recruiting services. He was also co-initiator of “Green Recruiting”, an initiative that focuses on recruitment of Future Talents and provides guidance in transforming organizations towards social and ecological sustainability.

Marlise Horvath Schneider is a research associate at the Chair of Innovation Research and part of the Regional Innovation Cultures team. Her research explores “lagging regions”, areas shaped by economic decline, demographic change, and political polarization while also examining sociotechnical imaginaries and futures. She holds a PhD from Technical University of Munich, TUM School of Social Sciences and Technology. Previously, she completed a B.Sc. in Advertising and Marketing Communications at the Fashion Institute of Technology and an M.Sc. in Consumer Science at the Technical University of Munich. During her Master’s, she worked as a research assistant for the DFG – funded project Innovation of food, innovation of Europe? at the STS department and as an English Writing Fellow at the TUM Language Center.