Full class of Catalysts was featured during June 30 virtual event, showcasing innovators, visionaries, scientists, policymakers and entrepreneurs—across 6 continents—who are radically transforming the future, ahead of November’s Bloomberg New Economy Forum. Watch the video with Danielle Wood's contribution here.

Michael R. Bloomberg, Founder of Bloomberg L.P. and Bloomberg Philanthropies and Three-Term Mayor of New York City, introduced the inaugural class of Bloomberg New Economy Catalysts: a new global community of public and private sector innovators and entrepreneurs accelerating solutions to today’s greatest problems. Professor Danielle Wood was named as part of the 2021 class of Bloomberg New Economy Catalysts who are creating true impact at the cutting edge of technology and policy—across borders, in emerging economies and beyond—to build a more equitable and sustainable global future.  

“The Bloomberg New Economy Catalysts are a group of talented entrepreneurs, scientists, policymakers and other leaders taking on pressing global challenges,” said Bloomberg. “Many of them are from countries that are having an increasingly big impact on the world economy. And I know our forum will benefit from their contributions.” 

Prof. Danielle Wood will participate in the Bloomberg New Economy Catalyst event on June 30. This unique virtual platform will explore, debate and share with the world what’s next in the fields of climate, agriculture, bio-tech, e-commerce, space and digital money. 

Prof. Danielle Wood serves as an Assistant Professor in Media Arts & Sciences and holds a joint appointment in the Department of Aeronautics & Astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Within the MIT Media Lab, Prof. Wood leads the Space Enabled research group which seeks to advance justice in Earth's complex systems using designs enabled by space. Prof. Wood is a scholar of societal development with a background that includes satellite design, earth science applications, systems engineering, and technology policy. In her research, Prof. Wood applies these skills to design innovative systems that harness space technology to address development challenges around the world. Prior to serving as faculty at MIT, Professor Wood held positions at NASA Headquarters, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Aerospace Corporation, Johns Hopkins University, and the United Nations Office of Outer Space Affairs. Prof. Wood studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she earned a PhD in engineering systems, SM in aeronautics and astronautics, SM in technology policy, and SB in aerospace engineering.

Also included among this year’s Catalysts are: 

● Noubar Afeyan, CEO and Founder, Flagship Pioneering: systematically creating sciencebased innovations to tackle the challenges facing human health and sustainability (United States) 

● H.E. Sarah bint Yousef Al Amiri, Minister of State for Advanced Technology, UAE: Chairwoman of the UAE Space Agency who served as the deputy project manager and science lead of the Emirates Mars Mission (United Arab Emirates) 

● Alloysius Attah, CEO and Co-Founder, Farmerline: using mobile technology to educate and create lasting profits for farmers (Ghana) 

● Sam Bankman-Fried, CEO and Founder, FTX: leading one of the world’s fastest-growing cryptocurrency exchanges that donates 1% of its revenue to charity and is the first to offer tokenized stocks (Hong Kong) 

● Ankiti Bose, CEO and Co-Founder, Zilingo: transforming the global fashion supply chain through greater equity, transparency and sustainability (Singapore) 

● Simon Chamorro, CEO and Co-Founder, Valiu: leveraging cryptocurrency to solve real world problems and bring financial prosperity to Latin Americans (Colombia) 

● Simran Chowdhry, Co-Founder, BluePhin Technologies: tackling water pollution through an autonomous robot (United Arab Emirates) 

● Abasi Ene-Obong, CEO and Founder, 54gene: making precision medicine more equitable by pioneering the world's first pan-African biobank (Nigeria) 

● Justin Gong, Co-Founder, XAG: leveraging the power of agri-tech to reimagine the future of farming (China) 

● Sarah Hanson-Young, Senator for South Australia: fighting climate change to ensure an inclusive transition to a greener world, as the youngest woman to be elected to the Australian federal parliament (Australia) 

● Rachel Haurwitz, CEO and President, Caribou Biosciences: revolutionizing genome editing for the future of cancer therapy (United States) 

● Cristina Junqueira, Co-Founder, Nubank: expanding access to financial services to underserved populations in Latin America (Brazil) 

● Kieran Long, Director, ArkDes: reimagining urban living with the 'one-minute city’ (Sweden) 

● Ma Jun, Founding Director, Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs: promoting green supply chains and green finance through China's first environmental public database (China) 

● Megan McArthur, Astronaut, NASA: piloting NASA’s SpaceX Crew-2 mission to the International Space Station (United States) 

● Sara Menker, CEO and Founder, Gro Intelligence: using AI and machine learning to address food security and climate change (United States)  Daniel Metzler, CEO and Co-Founder, Isar Aerospace: developing next generation rockets for sustainable access to space (Germany) 

● Nick Molnar, Co-CEO and Co-Founder, Afterpay: connecting retail merchants with their end-customers through a buy now, pay later service (Australia) 

● Henrietta Moon, CEO and Co-Founder, Carbo Culture: addressing climate change by sequestering CO2 for 1000+ years through a unique removal solution that converts biomass into biocarbon (Finland) 

● Nthabiseng Mosia, Co-Founder, Easy Solar: financing high-quality solar systems and appliances for those with limited access to the grid, powering over 500,000 people across West Africa (Sierra Leone) 

● Matias Muchnick, CEO and Founder, NotCo: reinventing the food system by using AI to create plant-based versions of the foods we love to eat (Chile) 

● Shamim Nabuuma Kaliisa, Founder and Executive Director, Chil Artificial Intelligence Lab: reshaping the fight against cancer using AI and drones in Sub-Saharan Africa (Uganda) 

● Elizabeth Rossiello, CEO and Founder, AZA Finance: powering economic growth in frontier markets through cutting-edge currency trading solutions (United Kingdom) 

● Sara Spangelo, CEO and Co-Founder, Swarm: connecting the world through a lowercost satellite communications network that reaches remote regions (United States) 

● Sandhya Sriram, CEO and Co-Founder, Shiok Meats: reinventing seafood to sustainably meet global food demand (Singapore) 

● Anthony Tan, Group CEO and Co-Founder, Grab: using a super-app to bring on-demand financial services, mobile payments and mobility solutions to Southeast Asia (Singapore) 

By 2050 emerging markets will account for 56% of global output, up from just 21% at the start of this century, according to a Bloomberg New Economy Special Report by Bloomberg Economics. This group is charting the course for a better, more inclusive future for those economies and the global economy as a whole. The Catalysts will also play a pivotal role in helping inform the dialogue at the annual Bloomberg New Economy Forum, applying fresh ideas and big thinking to address humanity’s biggest challenges. The forum, hosted by Michael R. Bloomberg along with Honorary Chair Dr. Henry A. Kissinger and Chair Henry M. Paulson Jr., will convene 400 of the world’s most influential business executives, heads of state, innovators and academics from November 16-19 in Singapore. 

The 2021 forum is presented in partnership with ADNOC, Dangote Industries Limited, ExxonMobil, HSBC, Hyundai Motor Company, Mastercard, Tata Sons, and Vanke. McKinsey and Company is the exclusive knowledge partner, and IDA Ireland joins as a Spotlight Economy Partner. 

For the latest on Bloomberg New Economy Catalyst and to watch the virtual event on June 30, go to: neweconomy.com/catalyst. Join the conversation on social media using #BloombergCatalysts and follow the forum on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.