Daan Roosegaarde

Dutch artist and innovator Daan Roosegaarde fuses nature, technology and social design to reimagine how cities can become cleaner, smarter and more inspiring. From his Rotterdam-based Studio Roosegaarde, he has created internationally acclaimed projects including Smog Free Project, the world's largest outdoor air purifier that transforms pollution into jewellery, Urban Sun, which uses light to clean public spaces, and Smart Highway, featuring roads that glow at night. Recognised as a Young Global Leader at the World Economic Forum and honoured with awards including the London Design Innovation Medal and World Technology Award, Roosegaarde empowers audiences to envision sustainable futures where innovation tackles climate challenges whilst sparking wonder and possibility in everyday urban life.

When Daan Roosegaarde launched the Smog Free Tower in Rotterdam, he created the world's largest outdoor air purifier and transformed urban pollution into wearable jewellery, proving that design could tackle environmental challenges whilst sparking public imagination. Since founding Studio Roosegaarde in 2007, the Dutch artist and innovator has pioneered a distinctive approach to social design, merging nature's intelligence with cutting-edge technology to reimagine how cities function. His childhood fascination with light-emitting fireflies and jellyfish evolved into internationally acclaimed projects such as Waterlicht, a virtual flood that visualises water's power, Smart Highway, featuring roads that charge from sunlight and glow at night, and Urban Sun, which uses specific light wavelengths to clean public spaces. Most recently, his SPARK vision at Longwood Gardens demonstrates how design can create wonder whilst addressing sustainability.

Roosegaarde's credentials span architecture, innovation, and global recognition. After graduating from The Berlage Institute with a master's degree in architecture, he established his Rotterdam-based studio where he leads a team of designers and engineers developing what they call 'Landscapes of the Future', smart sustainable prototypes for tomorrow's cities. His work has earned numerous accolades including the London Design Innovation Medal, the World Technology Award, the INDEX Design Award, two Dutch Design Awards, and China's Most Successful Design Award. Named Artist of the Year 2016 in the Netherlands and recognised as a Young Global Leader at the World Economic Forum, Roosegaarde has exhibited at prestigious institutions including Tate Modern, the Victoria & Albert Museum, Tokyo National Museum, Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, and Le Musée des Arts Décoratifs Paris. Forbes and Good 100 have identified him as a creative changemaker whose influence extends across continents through exhibitions in public spaces throughout Europe and Asia.

Roosegaarde empowers audiences to see environmental challenges not as insurmountable problems but as opportunities for creative intervention. His mantra 'Schoonheid', a Dutch word meaning both 'beauty' and 'clean', encapsulates his philosophy that clean air, clean water, clean energy, and clean space should be fundamental conditions of daily life. Through his speaking engagements at conferences including TED, Design Indaba, and NASA, he demonstrates how audiences can apply design thinking to urban innovation, showing tangible examples where technology improves quality of life whilst inspiring communities. His projects prove that solutions to climate challenges can be both functional and poetic, encouraging organisations and individuals to pursue bold ideas that make modern cities liveable again. Attendees leave equipped with a renewed perspective on sustainability, understanding that creating a better future requires doing more, not less, and that imagination paired with engineering can transform abstract environmental concerns into concrete positive change.