Monique van Dusseldorp — Curating the conversations shaping our future

What I do

Three ways I shape a conversation.

Not three separate jobs — one skill applied at three different moments of an event.

Before

Curating

I help organisers define what a gathering is actually for — the themes that matter, the questions worth asking, and the speakers who can answer them in a way no one else can.

During

Moderating

I host conversations that make complex topics accessible and panels with technologists, founders and policymakers, in Dutch and English.

Ongoing

Connecting

Decades working alongside people at the edge of technology, creativity and policy have left me with a wonderful network. I like to put it to use — bringing together people I think should know each other, often nothing more formal than an introduction at a cocktail party.

Selected work

Recent programmes.

From the early internet to artificial intelligence, I have repeatedly worked at moments when technology moves from niche to mainstream.

2026–2027

AI House Amsterdam

Shaping the flagship event series for AI House Amsterdam — Prosus's initiative to make Europe an AI maker, not an AI taker — on AI agents, infrastructure, robotics and brain-computer interfaces, for an audience of builders, not spectators.

Programme designAI

2026

World Beautiful Business Forum — Davos & Athens

In Davos, moderated "Rethinking Agency" — on the human, psychological and ethical dimensions of agency as organisations embrace agentic AI — held during World Economic Forum week as an independent side event. In Athens, main curator for the AI & Democracy Marathon: a series of walks through the city, a democracy game show and more, exploring what AI means for democratic institutions.

Programme curationAI & Democracy

2026

Various

Programme work for Tweakers Developers Summit, MXT Groningen, Creative Industries Immersive Impact Coalition, New Dutch Wave/SXSW London, and Dutch Awards. Moderating for ThingsCon, Twenty Three Summit and AI House Amsterdam. Adviser to Inclusive AI Lab, Preparation Tech and Ada Lovelace Foundation.

Programme designModerationAdvisory

2001–present

Emerce eDay

Programme curator and moderator for Emerce eDay since 2001 — one of the longest-running relationships in my career, spanning the shift from the early digital economy to today's AI landscape.

Programme curationModeration

2009–2026

NEXT Conference, Hamburg

International Programme Director from 2009 to 2026 for a 1,500-delegate congress on digitalisation, commerce and society — developing themes, approaching and briefing speakers, and moderating the main programme.

Programme directionModeration

2024–2025

World Summit AI

Curating speaker programmes across editions in Qatar, San Francisco and Amsterdam, working with international researchers, founders and policymakers on frontier AI, robotics and infrastructure — and moderating select sessions.

Programme curationModerationAI

2021–2023

CogX

Curator of the CreaTech and Deep Tech stages at CogX, London — programming speakers and sessions across creative technology and frontier deep tech innovation.

Programme curationCreaTechDeep Tech

Earlier work

2011–2012, 2023

WIRED UK Conference, London

Co-curated the programme for the first WIRED UK conference alongside WIRED editor David Rowan, and later worked with Greg Williams on the WIRED Energy summit.

Programme curation

2005–2022

Cross Media Cafés

Curator and moderator of the iMMovator / Nederlands Instituut voor Beeld en Geluid series on cross-media developments in broadcasting — staged on the Mediapark in Hilversum, at Game in the City and at Eurosonic Noorderslag. Co-editor of the accompanying Jaarboek Trends en Ontwikkelingen in Cross Media.

CurationModerationMedia

2016–2022

European Institute of Innovation & Technology (EIT)

Moderator for the EIT Annual Event in Budapest (2016) and the EIT Health event in Paris (2017) and Rotterdam (2022), for the EU body promoting innovation and entrepreneurship across Europe.

Moderation

2009–2018

TEDxAmsterdam

Co-founder and board member of the foundation, and curator of the conference — one of Europe's most distinctive independently organised TEDx events.

Co-founderCurationBoard

2018

Forward Thinking Leadership

Programme advice and curation for a Denk Producties event at the AFAS Music Hall built around a keynote appearance by Barack Obama.

Programme adviceCuration

2016

Single Market Forum

Co-host and moderator of a session with EU Commissioner Elżbieta Bieńkowska, Dutch Minister of Economic Affairs Henk Kamp, and Prime Minister Mark Rutte, for EU businesses and consumers.

ModerationPolicy

2005–2008

PICNIC

Programme director for PICNIC '06, '07 and '08 — a large-scale international event on creativity and innovation, with speakers including Richard Branson, John de Mol and Blaise Agüera y Arcas.

Programme direction

How I curate

Every programme starts with one question: what should be different in the world after this event?

Define the themes

What are the questions this industry actually needs to grapple with right now — and how do they intersect with what's coming in the next twelve months?

Find the speakers

Not the most famous name — the person who can say something no one else in the room is saying, and say it well.

Design the format

A fireside chat, a panel, a debate — or a talkshow, a quiz, an AMA, a walk through the city: the format is a decision, not a default. I brief every moderator and speaker accordingly.

Moderate from real preparation

The conversations that feel unscripted are usually the most prepared. I read everything before I ask anything, and I call every guest beforehand — so I know exactly where to push once we're on stage.

Keep the connection going

The best conversations don't end when the session does. Away from any stage, I occasionally convene small invitation-only gatherings in Amsterdam — technologists, artists, designers, journalists and researchers, sharing what they're working on. No write-up.

About

From the early internet to today's AI.

Monique van Dusseldorp on stage at a ThingsCon event, CRCL Park, 2025

Digital Intelligence as MaterialThingsCon — Amsterdam

I've spent more than three decades bringing together the people shaping technology, media and society — from the early days of the internet and the European TV and Film Forum in Düsseldorf in the 1990s, through founding my own digital-media research and publishing house, to today's researchers, founders, policymakers and business leaders shaping the future of AI.

What has stayed constant is not a particular technology, but a fascination with the people who are changing the world — and a habit of finding the conversations that need to happen before they become obvious.

I studied Language and Literature at Katholieke Universiteit Brabant and Drawing and Graphic Arts at the Academie voor Beeldende Vorming in Tilburg (both cum laude), with graduate studies in History and Literature at Boston University. I've worked for the European Institute for the Media in Manchester and Düsseldorf, and founded my own research and events company — the Europemedia newsletter, with 60,000 subscribers, and the TV Meets the Web series of events — before going independent. I've since sat on the boards or advisory councils of organisations including Gridforum and Mediagateway (infrastructure), broadcaster NPS, the Filmmuseum Amsterdam (media), Next Nature and the Fontys Academy for Creative Industries (arts), and served on several government advisory committees.

Based inAmsterdam, the Netherlands

LanguagesDutch, English (moderating) · German, French (conversational)

Independent since2003 — advisor, day-chair and programmer for seminars and congresses at home and abroad

Co-founderTEDxAmsterdam (2009–2018), ThingsCon (2015–2019)

Current boardsPreparation Tech (2020–), Ada Lovelace Foundation, Inclusive AI Lab (advisory), ThingsCon (advisory, 2026–)

RecognitionNamed one of the "50 International Names to Know on the Internet" (USC Annenberg Online Journalism Review, 1998); Vosko Award for contributions to the internet industry (2003)

Curating the conversations shaping our future.