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Our Team

INTERNATIONAL EXPERTISE. ONE GLOBAL MISSION.

Roberto D’Elia

Roberto D’Elia

PRESIDENT

Roberto leads the overall vision, strategy and execution of the Humanoid Robotics World Championship. He is a serial entrepreneur and former executive at Heineken, DHL and Swiss Post with a strong track record in digital platforms and innovation. With his network across Switzerland, Europe, India and the Middle East he builds the global ecosystem around HRWC.

Jay Balaraman

Jay Balaraman

FINANCE

Jay oversees finance, investor relations and sponsor deal structures for HRWC. He brings more than 16 years of experience in banking and financial services, having delivered strategic and regulatory projects across Europe and Australia. At HRWC he designs sustainable sponsorship and funding models and translates the championship’s vision into an attractive proposition for investors and key sponsors.

Daniel Yamaguchi

Daniel Yamaguchi

TECHNOLOGY

Daniel supports HRWC on technology, data and digital platform topics. He has over 20 years of experience in digital transformation and AI-enabled solutions across logistics, retail and regulated industries, including roles at Kuehne+Nagel, Louis Vuitton and DHL. His focus at HRWC is to make sure that the event and its ecosystem are built on robust, scalable technology foundations.

Minerva Mondejar Steiner

Minerva Mondejar Steiner

FUNDING

Minerva leads funding and partnerships for HRWC across public, private and philanthropic channels. She focuses on building long-term sponsorships and co-investment structures around the HRWC verticals and connects international partners and family offices to the Zurich and Dubai editions. Her role is to secure the financial backbone that allows HRWC to grow sustainably.

Francisco José Alvarez

Francisco José Alvarez

MARKET CONNECTOR & EXPANSION STRATEGIST

Swiss-based business development expert with over two decades of global experience across Europe, the Americas, and Asia. Francisco bridges technology, strategy, and markets, helping AI and robotics companies expand and scale through innovation-driven partnerships.

Ivory Jiang

Ivory Jiang

CHAPTER LEAD CHINA

Ivory Jiang is the China Regional General Manager of HRAS, with 26 years of professional experience in international relations, international trade, and international finance, as well as extensive industry resources in China. To make important strategic expansions and implementation for the development and cooperation of HRAS and HRWC in China.

Jan Smejkal

Jan Smejkal

SCALING VENTURES IN EMERGING MARKETS

Jan Smejkal is the Shenzhen Chapter Lead of HRAS, with over a decade of experience building tech ventures and communities in China/APAC. His career spans business development/GTM, and strategic partnerships across fintech, AI, and emerging technology - with experience at Credit Suisse/UBS and deep involvement in Startup Grind and Forbes he has earned a reputation as one of the most connected figures in South China's tech ecosystem.

 

PROMINENT ADVISORY BOARD

Prof. Dr. Yulia Sandamirskaya

Prof. Dr. Yulia Sandamirskaya

ADVISORY BOARD MEMBER

Prof. Dr. Yulia Sandamirskaya advises HRWC on neuromorphic computing, cognitive robotics and scientifically robust challenge design. She leads the Research Center “Cognitive Computing in Life Sciences” at ZHAW, where her group develops brain-inspired architectures for real-time AI in assistive robots. Previously she headed the “Neuromorphic Cognitive Robots” group at the Institute of Neuroinformatics (UZH/ETH Zurich) and the applications team in Intel’s Neuromorphic Computing Lab, bringing a unique combination of academic and industrial experience to HRWC.

Justinas Miseikis

Justinas Miseikis

ADVISORY BOARD MEMBER / ROBOTICS

Justinas is the robotics and AI specialist advising HRWC on vertical challenges and technology strategy. As Strategy & Partnerships Manager with academic roots in robotics, AI and computer vision from ETH Zurich and other leading universities, he bridges cutting-edge research and industrial applications. At HRWC he links teams, sponsors and investors around concrete humanoid use cases.