Marleen Stikker

Marleen Stikker (1962) is the founder of Waag, a social enterprise that consists of a research institute for creative technologies and social innovation, and Waag Products, that launched companies like Fairphone, the first fair smartphone in the world. Stikker is also the founder of De Digitale Stad (The Digital City), the first virtual community introducing free public access to the Internet in Amsterdam, created in 1993.

She is a member of the High-level Expert Group for the Strategic Research & Innovation Agenda (SRIA) on Innovating Cities in the context of the Horizon 2020 program of the European Commission, and member of the Dutch AcTI (Academy for Technology & Innovation).

Stikker strongly adheres to the Maker’s Bill of Rights motto: “If You Can’t Open It, You Don’t Own It”. She believes that society needs open technologies that meet societal challenges.