Lucia Komljen

Lucia is a sociocultural researcher and strategic leader who guides innovation responsibly, empathetically, and creatively. She does this by complementing technological possibility with a rigorous understanding of human truths, utilising her participatory research methodology, A Human Core, to study people’s emerging needs and expectations of technology. As Chief Strategy Officer at Ella, Lucia’s role is to oversee the company’s strategic development and innovation efforts. To carry out this remit responsibly, in parallel, she is researching the impact of synthetic media on existing and emerging media ecosystems, people’s media diets and minds, and culture and society at large. Prior to Ella, she led an insight, foresight and strategy practice inside Telefonica’s global innovation division and developed specialisms in media / entertainment, data privacy / security, and digital wellbeing. Her research themes included the anticipated impact of AI on storytelling, fan culture's evolution through immersive video technologies, trusting emotionally-aware machines (Affective Computing) with data and decisions, and the tensions between needs and risks in a hyperconnected age. Born and raised in Hamburg / Germany, she made London her home and place of work following her studies at UAL and UCL.