Daan Roosegaarde Keynote Speaker

Member of NASA’s Innovation team
World Economic Forum Young Global Leader (2015)
Professor at Tongji University in Shanghai

Daan Roosegaarde's Biography

Dutch artist and innovator Daan Roosegaarde (1979) is a creative thinker and designer known for social projects that explore the connection between people, technology, and nature.

From an early age, Roosegaarde was inspired by nature’s wonders, like glowing fireflies and jellyfish. His fascination with both nature and technology is reflected in iconic works such as; The SMOG FREE PROJECT, the world’s largest outdoor air purifier that transforms smog into jewelry; The VAN GOGH PATH, a glowing bicycle path which charges at daytime; The URBAN SUN, which purifies public spaces from coronavirus;

Daan Roosegaarde studied Fine Arts and earned a Master’s in architecture from The Berlage Institute in Rotterdam. In 2007, he founded Studio Roosegaarde, collaborating with his team to create future landscapes.

He has received prestigious awards, including the London Design Innovation Medal, INDEX Design Award, and two Dutch Design Awards, and has exhibited at the Design Museum London, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, and Tate Modern.

Roosegaarde is a Young Global Leader at the World Economic Forum, a professor at Tongji University in Shanghai, and a member of NASA’s Innovation team. Recognized by Forbes and WIRED as a creative changemaker, he lectures globally, including at TED. Phaidon has published a monograph on his work.

Roosegaarde: “I don’t believe in utopia, I believe in protopia: a prototype world that we are improving step by step.”

For coordination, please contact: pa@studioroosegaarde.net | +31 6 48810084

From Vision to Reality

Turning imagination into real-world projects

Most ideas remain concepts. Daan shows how imagination becomes a practical tool for engineering reality, guiding projects from sketch to implementation while navigating resistance and institutional doubt.

Key takeaways: 

Protect vision while navigating institutions 
Build trust through long and uncertain processes

Poetry and Pragmatism

Beauty as strategic force

Beauty is not decoration. It opens people up, lowers resistance, and helps communicate complex themes like climate, ethics, and future living. It creates emotional connection first so facts can land.

Key takeaways: 

Connect logic with emotion 
Use aesthetics to communicate and shift perspective

Thinking Outside the Box

New mental models for tomorrow

Future challenges demand different thinking. Daan encourages curiosity, experimentation, and cross-disciplinary collaboration to reframe limitations as opportunities and move from “yes but” to “what now.”

Key takeaways: 

Break mental and organisational patterns 
See challenges from new angles to unlock innovation

He creates iconic social design projects such as the Smog Free Project, Van Gogh Path and Urban Sun that show how technology and nature can work together to improve public life.
He brings global credibility from recognition by the World Economic Forum as a Young Global Leader and roles as Professor at Tongji University and a member of NASA’s Innovation team.
He translates complex challenges like air pollution, urban mobility and public health into tangible experiences that help leaders see what’s possible and mobilise public support.
He delivers visually powerful talks, including on TED stages, that connect creative thinking to real-world action for governments, institutions and organisations shaping the future.
He equips audiences with the practical mindset of “protopia”, showing how to move beyond distant perfection and build step-by-step progress through prototyping and collaboration.