Non-binding request for Dr. Elsa Solaris
Dr. Elsa Solaris
From VC investor to storyteller on breakthrough technology.
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5.00 of 5
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Why you should book Dr. Elsa Solaris for your next event
- Former early-stage capital investor who helped launch more than two dozen startups worldwide.
- Award-winning storyteller of the future combining breakthrough innovation, investing, and sci-fi to make future trends practical and engaging.
- Delivers custom-researched keynotes packed with actionable insights, humor, and perspectives that spark lasting discussions.
Non-binding request for Dr. Elsa Solaris
Future-focused keynote speaker on biotech, AI, innovation, and emerging industries
Dr. Elsa Solaris helps organizations understand the forces shaping tomorrow — from biotechnology and AI to investment trends and human transformation. A former biotech venture capital investor at SOSV, she helped finance and launch more than two dozen life sciences startups at one of the world’s most active early-stage funds. With a dual PhD in synthetic biology from Imperial College London and the University of Hong Kong, Elsa combines scientific depth, business insight, and storytelling to deliver keynotes that challenge assumptions and inspire action. Her talks are tailored for leadership teams ready to navigate disruption, identify opportunity, and stay ahead in rapidly evolving industries.
Dr. Elsa Solaris
Dr. Elsa Solaris is a keynote speaker, futurist, investor, and scientist helping organisations understand the forces shaping the future of business, technology, and society. Drawing on experience from venture capital, synthetic biology, global innovation ecosystems, and storytelling, she delivers dynamic keynotes that challenge leaders to think bigger, act earlier, and navigate uncertainty with confidence.
Her work sits at the intersection of emerging technology, innovation strategy, human behaviour, and future industries. Whether speaking to executives, investors, healthcare leaders, or technology innovators, Dr. Elsa Solaris translates complex developments into practical insights that audiences can immediately apply.
From biotech investor to future strategist
Before stepping onto global stages as a keynote speaker, Dr. Elsa Solaris worked as a biotech venture capital investor at SOSV, recognised as one of the world’s most active early-stage investment firms. During her time there, she helped finance and launch more than two dozen life sciences startups, gaining first-hand insight into the technologies and business models shaping the next generation of industries.
This experience gave her a unique perspective on innovation from the inside. She has seen how breakthrough ideas move from laboratories into global markets, how emerging technologies disrupt established sectors, and how leaders can position themselves ahead of major shifts.
Today, she brings those lessons into every keynote, helping audiences understand how innovation ecosystems work and what separates companies that adapt from those that fall behind.
Scientific expertise with commercial relevance
Dr. Elsa Solaris earned a dual PhD in synthetic biology from Imperial College London and the University of Hong Kong. Her research focused on developing cancer-fighting nano-bots at the intersection of biology and code — a pioneering field combining biotechnology, engineering, and computational science.
Her academic background allows her to explain advanced technologies in ways that are accessible, engaging, and commercially relevant. She speaks with authority on themes including:
- Artificial intelligence and the GenAI revolution
- Synthetic biology and healthcare innovation
- Industry trends and shifts
- Innovation leadership and decision-making
- Venture capital and startup ecosystems
- Risk, disruption, and opportunity
- The human impact of technological change
Rather than relying on abstract future predictions, Elsa grounds her talks in real-world developments, current market movements, and strategic implications for organisations and leaders.
Keynotes designed for modern leaders
Every keynote delivered by Dr. Elsa Solaris is custom-researched and tailored to the client’s priorities, industry challenges, and audience profile. Her presentations combine insight, storytelling, humor, and actionable takeaways that encourage meaningful conversations long after the event has ended.
She has delivered keynotes and presentations for organisations including Invesco, MSD, Gilead Sciences, and SBM Offshore. In addition to speaking engagements, she has consulted for the World Health Organization and a leading Chinese ICT company, giving her an international perspective on innovation, policy, and global transformation.
Audiences value her ability to connect technological developments with leadership realities. She helps decision-makers understand not only what is changing, but why it matters and how to respond strategically.
Her speaking style is energetic, intelligent, and approachable. Complex subjects become clear, engaging, and highly relevant through vivid examples and compelling narratives.
Recognised international thought leader
Dr. Elsa Solaris has been featured by TEDx, Times Radio, New Statesman, deVolkskrant, Arab News, and RedBull Media. Silicon Republic has named her as one of the leading voices in her field.
Her expertise resonates across industries because she bridges the gap between science, business, and society. She offers a perspective that combines analytical depth with creative thinking, helping audiences prepare for futures that are already beginning to unfold.
Her international background and cross-sector experience make her especially relevant for organisations navigating rapid change, technological acceleration, and global uncertainty.
Storytelling that brings the future to life
Alongside her work in science and investment, Dr. Elsa Solaris is also an accomplished storyteller and writer. Her literary work has reached the Amazon Bestseller list, earned recognition from Writers of the Future, and appeared in leading international magazines.
She also contributed to an award-winning BBC Sci-Fi Drama, exploring the human questions behind technological transformation. This creative background gives her keynotes a distinctive edge. Rather than simply presenting trends and data, she creates vivid future scenarios that help audiences emotionally connect with change.
Her storytelling approach enables leaders to imagine future possibilities more clearly, making innovation feel tangible, urgent, and deeply human.
Book Dr. Elsa Solaris for your event
Organisations book Dr. Elsa Solaris to inspire fresh thinking, spark strategic conversations, and prepare leaders for what comes next. Her keynotes combine scientific credibility, investor insight, creative storytelling, and practical business relevance in a way that resonates across industries.
Whether speaking about artificial intelligence, biotechnology, future leadership, innovation strategy, or emerging industries, she equips audiences with the mindset and tools needed to shape tomorrow — today.
Customer Reviews
5 of 5
Elsa has been incredibly receptive to our suggestions and managed to weave a red thread throughout her inspirational opening keynote, presenting a motley of exciting biological technologies and visions of future to our astounded attendees.
Tadeáš Peták, Program Committee GrandmasterÖredev AB
5 of 5
Elsa is both professional and personal and I love that combo. She provided great examples and ideas on stage and was very helpful beforehand with prep calls. Also, I love that she attended the rest of the conference and mingled with the attendees
Paulina Modlitba, Co-FounderGather Festival
5 of 5
Dr. Solaris joined our elite list of speakers—which includes numerous Nobel Prize winners—as she enthralled her audience by combining technical rigour with sci-fi inspired visions of the future. Her engaging and eloquent style of presentation was well tailored to our audience.
Avi Roy, Society DirectorOxford University
5 of 5
lsa is a superb speaker with an amazing ability to distil the most complex scientific ideas into easy to follow talks. The audience were gripped from start to finish and Elsa could have stayed all night to answer questions and still wouldn’t have finished! She is a highly gifted speaker and would be an asset to any event.
James Sheppard, ManagerImperial Enterprise Labs, Imperial College London
5 of 5
Dr. Solaris was an absolute enrichment for our Festival debut and we are very happy to have found such a top-class cast in her for the keynote speech. A vivid, inspiring lecture, which at the same time inspires reflection. The entire team including the visitors are absolute Elsa fans!
Josephine Ruhp, Project ManagerChildren of Doom Festival of Science
5 of 5
Working with Dr. Solaris helped us understand the innovation potential of digital biology from an ICT perspective, both strategically and technically and find practical ways and contacts how we can deliver value to our customers in the future.
Derrick Nirmalan, DirectorGlobal Top 3 Tech Company
5 of 5
A very engaging speaker!
Sarah Boulineau, Technology Innovation LeadSBM Offshore
Rated 5.00/5 based on 7 customer reviews
Keynotes
Keynote by Dr. Elsa Solaris:
Brave New World of AI: Who Controls the Future of Democracy?
Have we already made a Faustian bargain without even noticing?
We trade privacy for convenience, autonomy for personalization and fundamental rights for participation in the 21st century society. Butwhat once sounded like a fair deal has become the quietest power shift in history.
Nanny robots take over elderly care, cars drive us. In the background, bot armies exploit metadata to find personal vulnerabilities to sell them and neuro-marketing doesn't just read behavior, it actively manipulates it. Anticipatory computing knows what you want before you know it yourself. When social credit systems like China's can freeze your freedom of movement and your bank account, at any moment, what is next?
We are moving onto the second half of the chessboard, where technology is advancing so rapidly legislation can no longer keep pace.
Is AI a threat to democracy? Is it only a matter of time until an automated coup hijacks the country, until algorithms replace voting? And how do you govern a society whose infrastructure belongs to a tech corporation?
Dr. Elsa Solaris asks the uncomfortable questions others avoid with the clarity of an insider and the unflinching boldness of a sci-fi author.
Her promise: You'll leave the room wide awake with the sharpest view on power, technology and democracy you've ever had.
Keynote by Dr. Elsa Solaris:
From Payroll to Compute: What's Left for Humanity?
Technology once replaced muscle, now it's replacing thought, a remarkable reversal.
A two-person billion-dollar company is no longer a thought experiment. The question is no longer whether AI will take over work, but how many sub-agents a single human will manage. The agentic economy is not a vision of the future, it is a process already well underway.
Elsa Solaris shows how every business is becoming an AI factory, whether it wants to or not: autonomous processes, self-directing agents, an operating system that never sleeps, never negotiates and never resigns.
Two thirds of knowledge-based jobs are already on the edge. But what remains for us when intelligence itself becomes infrastructure? And will we truly need to merge with AI just to stay relevant?
Her promise: You'll leave with the clarity and courage to shape the future on your own terms.
Keynote by Dr. Elsa Solaris:
Chip Wars: The Age of Distrust
What is still real and who decides? Chips, supply chains, deepfakes, AI-generated disinformation, bioweapons by algorithm.
The world isn't just becoming more digital, it's becoming more unpredictable. Behind every technological breakthrough lies the same question: who controls the infrastructure?
Elsa Solaris shows how technology is becoming a weapon: against markets, supply chains, against democracies, against reality itself. The GenAI gold rush has a dark side and very few are talking about it.
Your best friend will soon be a subscription. A deepfake video could start the next war. And the politician you just listened to — do they actually exist? Who controls the truth in this world when everything becomes a commodity?
A keynote for audiences who want to understand not just the opportunities but the risks of the new technological world and want to think critically. Geopolitics meets technology meets the collapse of reality.
Her promise: You'll leave entertained, unsettled and sharper than before. You'll laugh more than you expected and think harder than you planned.
Keynote by Dr. Elsa Solaris:
Energy 2050: Hydrogen, Climate Lockdowns and Data Centers on the Moon?
Sounds like science fiction but it isn't.
A massive energy trilemma is taking shape: cost, energy security and sustainability must be balanced simultaneously in the midst of a geopolitical landscape that is shifting dramatically right now.
The Iran crisis around the Strait of Hormuz has once again exposed the vulnerability of the global economy. Maritime chokepoints, market shockwaves, and at the center of it all: an industry in upheaval.
Oil platforms, as complex as a spacecraft, are now fully recyclable. Rolls-Royce is experimenting with nuclear micro-batteries. China is betting on salt batteries. Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) are experiencing a global boom. Google and Microsoft are already solving their own energy needs independently, while energy companies quietly build out their hydrogen infrastructure.
But who wins the race and at what cost?
Can cleantech keep up when AI is now the fastest-growing energy consumer on the planet? The ICT sector could account for up to 21% of global electricity needs by 2030. Will entire communities lose their drinking water to cool data centers? Will servers migrate to the oceans or straight to the moon? Are we approaching the end of the always-on society?
Energy is not a question of the oil price. It reveals what a nation truly values.
Elsa Solaris takes her audience on a journey through the energy landscape of tomorrow — from fusion energy to blackout scenarios, from geopolitical risks to the quiet revolutions emerging in laboratories and on offshore platforms around the world.
Dr. Elsa Solaris brings first-class real-world experience: as a senior leader at the Carbon Trust in London, she advised multinational corporations including Heineken on their climate strategies — up close and personal with the questions keeping executives of companies large and small awake at night.
Her promise: You'll leave the room with the clearest view yet on energy, power and the future of our economy.
WEP2020 Personalized Medicine: From Science Fiction to Science Fact
Watch Dr. Elsa Solaris in action
