Katja Schechtner is an urban scientist who holds a dual appointment between MIT and OECD to develop new technologies and shape innovative policies to keep cities on the move.

Currently she focuses on the future of algorithmic governance - and what it will mean for cities and citizens’ mobility when the legal code is fully implemented in digital code. She also leads ITF’s work on global regulation for drones – in order to ensure their acceptance and integration with the overall transport system and her passion for creating inclusive growth is reflected in the report she will be presenting at the summit: “Expanding Innovation Horizons – Learning from Transport Solutions in the Global South”.  

Previously she worked at the Asian Development Bank implementing transport technology projects across Asia; formulated smart public space strategies for the Inter-American Development Bank in Costa Rica and Argentina; advised the EU Commission on Smart City programs and headed the applied research lab for Dynamic Transportation Systems at the Austrian Institute of Technology.

Katja has published widely, both in scientific journals and the popular press in the US, Asia and Europe, including two books: “Accountability Technologies – Tools for Asking Hard Questions” and “Inscribing a Square – Urban Data as Public Space”, (Birkhaeuser, 2012 and 2014). She is an advisor to start-ups in the urban, mobility and crypto industries in the US and Europe and to city planning authorities, mainly in Europe and Asia. 

Her work has been exhibited globally at venues such as Venice Architecture Biennale, MAK , Cooper Hewitt and ars electronica. She also holds a Visiting Professorship at Technical University Vienna and curates urban tech exhibitions across the globe. Most recently her project to design and implement contemporary e-trikes in Nepal and Laos was awarded in the Fast Company World Changing Ideas 2018 transportation track and she will exhibit her work on Manila’s smart urban lighting at the Seoul Urbanism Biennale in fall 2019.