22nd European Trend Day
25 March 2026
Speakers
The list of speakers will be updated continuously.
Cory Doctorow is a renowned author, journalist and tech activist. In his latest book “Enshittification", he describes how internet platforms exploit their users, business customers, and ultimately themselves. The book articulates the diffuse sense that something has gone fundamentally wrong with the internet and shows how to refocus on openness and user control. Doctorow is also a Visiting Professor at Cornell University and a Research Affiliate at the MIT Media Lab.
Mai Thi Nguyen-Kim
Science Journalist, Author and Chemist
Germany
Website
Learn more in the trend update
Dr Mai Thi Nguyen-Kim is a PhD chemist and one of Germany’s most renowned science communicators. Through formats like Terra X and MaiThink X on YouTube and television, she conveys complex topics with scientific rigour, clarity and audience appeal. Her work illustrates how fact-based content can hold its ground in an increasingly polarised media landscape.
Nathalie Nahai
Author, Advisor and Expert on AI and Creativity
Spain
Website
Learn more in the trend update
Nathalie Nahai is an author, behavioural science advisor and artist empowering leaders to harness agency, creativity and human potential in the AI era. She explores how brands can build, sustain and convert trust into loyalty in an increasingly automated world. A best-selling author, she combines expertise in technology, psychology and marketing to help organisations foster authentic relationships in the age of AI.
Dennis Herhausen
Professor of Digital Marketing & Analytics and Head of the Marketing Department
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Netherlands
Website
Learn more in the trend update
Dennis Herhausen is Professor of Digital Marketing & Analytics and Head of the Marketing Department at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. His research digital communication, customer journeys and experience, and digital capabilities has received several awards, and is published in leading academic and managerial-oriented outlets. He actively engages with companies on his research topics as an academic consultant and a lecturer within in-house seminars.
Credit: Arne Sattler
Gerd Gigerenzer
Psychologist, risk researcher and bestselling author
Germany
Website
Prof. Gerd Gigerenzer is one of Germany's most renowned psychologists and research how decisions are made under uncertainty and time restrictions, and what role intuition and risk competence play in this process. In addition to his research, he has trained managers, physicians, and judges in dealing with risks and decision making. He is the long-time director at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development and director of the Harding Center for Risk Literacy at the University of Potsdam. He has received numerous awards for his work.
Julia Ebner
Bestselling author, academic researcher and Co-Executive Director at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue
UK
Website
Learn more in the trend update
Dr Julia Ebner is a world-leading expert on online radicalisation, conspiracy myths and threats to democracy and minority rights, as well as terrorism prevention. She has been involved in several undercover investigations into extremist groups and spent two years infiltrating far-right networks. Julia Ebner leads the Violent Extremism Lab at the University of Oxford and is Co-Executive Director of the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD).
Heiko Hebig
Trend Advisor, ex-Meta Platforms
Germany
Heiko Hebig is a trend advisor and spent over a decade at Meta. He was responsible for building Instagram’s presence in the German-speaking region, earning him the nickname “Instagram’s Foreign Minister”. Prior to that, he led New Business and Development at Spiegel Verlag in Hamburg and drove innovation in research and development as Head of Digital Media at Hubert Burda Media.
Johanna Rüdiger is Coordinator Digital Talents & Content Creators at Deutsche Welle, where she is responsible for the organisation’s journalistic content creators and “newsfluencers”. As a content creator on TikTok and Instagram, she also shares English-language news updates about Germany aimed at a migrant community. Rüdiger studied political science, trained at the Berlin Journalism School and worked for various German print and TV outlets.
James Taylor-Foster is an award-winning curator of contemporary art, design, and digital culture, having held roles at ArkDes in Stockholm and at Nieuwe Instituut in Rotterdam. Through immersive projects, Taylor-Foster explores how technology, space, and sensory experience shape society, engaging audiences in unconventional ways. The internationally acclaimed WEIRD SENSATION FEELS GOOD, an exhibition exploring the culture and creativity of ASMR, established a new model for sensory, body-based experiences that blend the ‘real’ and the ‘virtual’.
David Schärer is a communications consultant, reputation strategist and co-founder of several agencies. He gained national recognition for leading the Swiss government’s Covid-19 information campaign on the agency side. In 2024, he founded DS Studio, focusing on reputation and crisis communications. In 2025, he co-founded DYLAN, a new agency for brand positioning in the entertainment sector. Schärer has received numerous awards, including several Effies, and was named “Advertiser of the Year 2021/22”.
Dr. Gian-Luca Savino is a Senior Researcher and Speaker at the Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute. As a computer scientist with a PhD, he analyzes global trends in technology and the environment, as well as their impact on business, the economy, and society.
Elsy Etim is a certified yoga teacher trained in dynamic yoga and vinyasa flow. Her teaching focuses on breath-led movement, mobility, functional training and mindful awareness. Recently she has been exploring “brain-changing-movements” that focus on the interconnectedness of brain function, movement and energy
Moderation
The versatile and popular presenter Tama James is known to audiences from various Swiss television and radio programmes. She currently presents the health programme ‘Puls’. Previously, she was present with her YouTube channel ‘Tama Gotcha!’, for which she was honoured with the prestigious European media award Civis in 2018. She began her television career in 2013 on the youth channel Joiz.
Date
25 March 2026
Venue
GDI Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute
Langhaldenstrasse 21
8803 Rüschlikon, Switzerland
Languages
German and English, with simultaneous interpretation.
Programme changes
The programme is subject to change. Should an event not take place, the participation fee will be refunded. Further claims are ruled out.
Cancellation
If you are unable to attend, please cancel your registration in writing. The participation fee will be refunded up to 30 days before the event. After that and up to five full working days before the event, we will charge 75%, and for cancellations after that we will charge the full amount. A substitute participant is always welcome.
Hotel reservation
We have an allotment of rooms in the following hotels. Please mention the code ETD2026 when booking your room.
Hotel Sedartis, Thalwil: info@sedartis.ch
Hotel Belvoir, Rüschlikon: info@hotel-belvoir.ch
Arrival
From Zurich Airport
A taxi will take you to the GDI and the partner hotels in around 45 minutes at around CHF 100, depending on traffic. The S-Bahn will take you quickly and conveniently to Zurich and Thalwil station.
From Thalwil train station
A free shuttle bus is available for transfers between Thalwil train station / Hotel Sedartis and the GDI. It waits on the lake side of the station. A member of staff will welcome you on the spot.
Thalwil station – GDI: 08.00 – 08.45, every 15 minutes
GDI – Thalwil station: 17.00 – 18.45, every 15 minutes
The Hotel Belvoir is within walking distance of the GDI.
Parking
The parking deck is located a five-minute walk from the GDI at Zürcherstrasse 4, 8803 Rüschlikon. You can obtain a free exit ticket at the GDI.
Image and video recording
Please note that images and video recordings will be made during the event, and may be published permanently on the Internet after the event. You consent with this procedure by participating in the event.
Network partners
Media partners
About the European Trend Day
The European Trend Day is a conference on digitalisation and society. With a changing focus topic, technological innovations and their impact on the economy and society are discussed. The speakers explore new possibilities of what is still unthinkable and unimaginable today. Participants include managers, entrepreneurs, academics and journalists from quality media.
Participants
Executes
Speakers
Funktionsstufe: 38 % der Teilnehmenden sind CEOs oder VRs.
50% sind Senior Management oder höher.
Functional level: 38% of participants are CEOs or board members. 50% are senior management or higher.
Impressions
Advisory Board
The conference benefits from the expertise of the GDI: Advisory Board:
Simonetta Carbonaro, Karin Frick, Dominique von Matt, Matthew Robin, Mariann Wenckheim.