Speakers

Meet the speakers

  • A woman with a headset and a blazer in front of a blue and green background with geometric lines, with the text 'ANNOUNCING SOON' overlaid.

    Dr. Sari Arho Havrén

    Senior Geopolitical Adviser & Counsellor, Geopolitical strategist and certified futurist, Business Finland, Brussels, Finland

  • Blurred image of a woman with long dark hair against a blue background with colorful gradient at the top. The overlay text says "Announcing Soon."

    Dr. Anu Raghunathan

    Principal Scientist, Systems biologist, CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory (NCL), Pune

  • A blurred image of a person with the text 'ANNOUNCING SOON' overlayed, and a background featuring gradient colors and geometric lines.

    Sagar Vishnoi

    Co-Founder & Director, AI policy and political communications expert, Future Shift Labs, Noida

  • Blurred image of a person against a blue and green background with graduation cap, overlaid with the text 'ANNOUNCING SOON'.

    Dr. Kaustav Sengupta

    Head/Director-Insights & Associate Professor, Futurist and color psychologist, National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), Chennai

  • Manoj Kewalramani

    Chairperson & Research Fellow, China studies expert, Takshashila Institution, Bengaluru

  • Manoj Kothari

    Manoj Kothari

    Founder & CEO, Strategic foresight expert, Turian Labs, Pune

  • Dhaval Kothari

    Co-Founder, Design researcher and speculative futures strategist, Lagori Collective, Bengaluru

  • Srinivas Venkatram

    Founder & CEO,
    Illumine Knowledge Resources,     Mumbai

  • Harsh Mittal

    UX Research, Google, Bengaluru

Express interest as

speaker?

Before you begin

CrossDive is curated, not crowdsourced. We read every submission carefully and respond to all proposals.

Submissions close: June 30, 2026.   Final speaker confirmations: July15, 2026

We are especially keen to hear from frontline researchers, public-system designers, regional practitioners, and builders working outside metro hubs — voices that usually do not make it onto conference stages.

  • Original work, not opinion — talks grounded in research, practice, design, or first-hand decision-making.

  • A point of view — a clear stance or insight, not a survey of the field.

  • India at the centre, world in the frame — international perspective is welcome where it sharpens the Indian conversation.

  • Permission to be specific — examples, products, prototypes, datasets, and stories beat abstractions.

  • Curiosity about other tracks — speakers who can engage across themes make CrossDive more than the sum of its sessions.

The Four Themes

Please indicate later in this form which theme(s) your proposal speaks to. A submission can sit at the intersection of two themes — that is welcome.

  • The world is actively choosing reorganisation over the old global default. Trade blocs reform around shared values. Supply chains now prioritise resilience over efficiency. Every Build, Buy, or Ally decision carries geopolitical weight — and new clusters, coalitions, and interpretations of value are quietly forming.

  • The fixed arc of growing up, working, and retiring is dissolving. Lifespan, healthspan, careers, and finances now stretch at uneven speeds. People are improvising ninety-year lives no system was built for — and age-based market segmentation is rapidly losing its predictive power.

  • The world is delegating more decisions to machines every day. AI is generating, deciding, and acting across daily life — while guardrails lag behind. As intelligence becomes abundant, attention turns to what AI cannot replace: individuality, human judgement, and accountability.

  • Convenience and acceleration now shape everyday urban life. Apartments act as offices, gyms, studios, and social venues. Shrinking households carry more care and emotional load alone. Some gain control inside this compression. Others lose recovery, stability, and room to reset.

About you

Please plan to spend 10–15 minutes on this form to evince your interest in participating as a speaker.

Tell us who you are. Use the name and identity you would like to appear on stage and in printed materials.