SXSW 2026: Unboxing The Future: From Purpose to Performance

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.

Annie Hardy is an innovator, strategist, futurist, and entrepreneur. Ms. Hardy's passion and curiosity drive her to connect with her clients and colleagues, advocate for the best of ideas, push the envelope of the status quo, and strategically build meaningful things. Her adventurous bent is inherited from her ancestors, who settled some of the roughest, toughest land in South Texas. Ms. Hardy has two decades of experience evangelizing human-centered design and advocating for underrepresented voices - within and alongside financial services, healthcare, and technology companies.

Genny Wood is a Music Fest Programmer at SXSW (South by Southwest) Festival.

Nikolas Woischnik’s passion for supporting the tech ecosystem began in venture capital, leading him to create TechBerlin, Germany's first English-language blog on technology and startups. Nikolas founded Tech Open Air (TOA), Europe's leading interdisciplinary technology event with more than 100,000 past visitors attending IRL. Nikolas later founded Ahoy!, a co-working company that grew to encompass over seven locations, spanning more than 17,000 square meters and providing workspace for over 1,000 founders and operators. The company was eventually acquired by Knotel. Nikolas also co-founded Openers, a communications agency serving top-tier clients like IBM, Spotify, Deutsche Bank, Atomico, and Coop. Collectively, the companies founded by Nikolas have generated over €35 million in revenue and created hundreds of full-time jobs. Together with wefox and finleap, Nikolas co-founded the HealthyTogether Initiative and Future Perfect accelerator to boost solutions against the Covid-19 crisis. Nikolas previously worked at Amazon as a Business Development Manager EMEA and founded Reduti.de, which was acquired by DailyDeal, Germany’s largest couponing company (later sold to Google). Nikolas also serves as a Mentor at Techstars and a Board Member of the Zeitbild Foundation, which develops educational projects to support immigrants.

Anja Schneider is a DJ, producer, radio broadcaster, label boss, tireless creative force and mentor; renowned as one of the hardest working figures within the music industry. Currently focused on multiple projects including her Sous Music label - the main home for her own productions and avant guard artists she admires - as well as ‘Club Room’ - the internationally syndicated weekly radio show and ‘Club Room: Backstage’ - a thriving interview podcast series. Anja continues to operate as one of electronic music’s most vital artists.

Rohit Bhargava has dedicated his career to bringing more humanity back to business. He is the best selling author of ten books on marketing, innovation and leadership and has been invited to speak at more than 500 events in 32 countries. Rohit is the founder of the Non-Obvious company, frequently advises some of the world’s largest brands and has been featured in Fast Company, GQ and the New York Times. He lives in Washington DC with his wife and two boys, loves the Olympics and believes in listening before speaking.