Carlo Ratti keynote speaker

Carlo Ratti loves cities and the built environment. Ranked as one of the top ten most-cited scholars in urban planning and one of the leading designers in America, he focuses on intelligent systems and the convergence between the natural and artificial worlds. Recently nominated curator of the 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, he aims to foster a public conversation on our urban habitat, starting from his work at the intersection between academic research, innovative design,
and start-up entrepreneurship.

An architect and engineer by training, Carlo Ratti works on the future of cities and the built environment. He is a Professor of the Practice of Urban Technologies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Boston, where he directs the Senseable City Lab, and is a Full Professor in the Department of Architecture, Built Environment, and Construction Engineering at the Politecnico di Milano.

Carlo Rati is a founding partner of the international architecture and innovation office, CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati, who designed the 2026 Winter Olympic torch, which has been named “Essential,” paying tribute to its minimalist design.

Carlo Ratti has established several tech start-ups in the United States and Europe. He graduated from the Politecnico di Torino and the École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées in Paris, and later carried out his MPhil and Ph.D. work at the University of Cambridge, completing his Ph.D. thesis as a Fulbright Scholar at MIT. Carlo Ratti is the Director of the Venice Biennale Architettura 2025.

Ratti’s work has been exhibited worldwide at venues including New York City’s MoMA, the Venice Biennale, the Science Museum in London, Expo 2015 Milan, and Expo 2020 Dubai. His focus on many scales of innovation– from products to buildings to cities – has led CRA to become the only design firm in the world to feature on TIME’s “Best Inventions of the Year” list three different times (2007, 2014, 2019). He has appeared as one of “50 people who will change the world” according to Wired. Fast Company hailed him as one of the “Most Influential Designers in America,” and Blueprint Magazine listed him as one of its “People Who Will Change the World of Design.” Bloomberg dubbed him the “Sensory City Philosopher.”