Artis Birzins is a forward-looking futures thinker, startup founder, and corporate board member. Artis teaches futures thinking, change management, and cultural leadership at Nagaoka University of Technology, Riga Stradins University, and CIEE. His research interests include exploring major trends, disruptive technologies, and paradigm planning that impact individuals, organizations, and the world. Artis has spent 20 years living and working in Japan and Asia Pacific countries in the global software and system integration business at Microsoft, IBM, and Avanade. He is a graduate of Waseda Business School in Tokyo and an IFTF Imagination Leadership Awardee.