Who We Are?
We don’t theorize complexity. We work inside it!

Crenguța Leaua, Ph.D. is a professor of law and a problem-solving specialist with a background in international dispute resolution and an integrative approach, combining legal expertise with economics and technical perspectives. With a strong ability to grasp the technology-related problems, she has a deep understanding of the functioning and decision-making processes in both private and state entities and direct experience in entrepreneurship and leadership in international organizations.

Recognized as a Thought Leader globally in the area of alternative dispute resolution, she used her multi-faced experience in the international framework to structure the proprietary alternative thinking method, a tool for business leaders to grow and reset their thinking perspective in innovative and original ways.
Constantly looking at matters from an alternative perspective, she introduces forward-thinking and a visionary worldly perspective in all her circles. Her wide range of areas of expertise, interests, and the energetic personality and interlocking potentials have made her a catalyst force in any initiative she undertakes, in shaping and supporting transformative solutions.

Experience

Crenguța’s wide international exposure and knowledge was obtained in her professional experience – both in law, entrepreneurship and leadership – in Western & Eastern Europe, Asia, and North America, combined with her executive education in leadership at Harvard University – John. F. Kennedy School of Government, as well as her executive education in the economical features of disruption at London School of Economics, Crenguța is a full professor of law habilitatus at Bucharest University of Economic Studies, where she teaches comparative international arbitration and other alternative dispute resolution methods, business law and communication and new technologies law to students at the School of Doctoral Studies in Law, Faculty of International Relations, and Faculty of Cybernetics and Informatics in Economy. She was a visiting scholar at Columbia University in New York, and had been invited for various lectures and conferences at Georgetown University in Washington D.C., Florida International University in Miami, Florida, Arizona State University in Phoenix, Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas, Thessaloniki University in Greece, and Science Po in Paris, France. She is the author of numerous books and publications in law reviews in the US and Europe.

The source of Crenguța’s legal experience resides in her 25 years of international practice as attorney at law, as a leading specialist in alternative dispute resolution for particularly complex disputes, with a significant technology-related components, business and tax, as well as macroeconomics or sociological dimensions. Her practice also includes complex investment law, international transactions, corporate and competition law issues, as well as highly technical legal areas, such as new technologies law, communication law, construction law, aviation law, natural resources, environment and climate change. She represented clients ranging from governments, major municipalities, state owned companies to multinational corporations, investment funds and private investors. She has been featured in all issues of ‘Who’s Who Legal’ since 2007 and she is named a Thought Leader GAR in all editions since 2017 in the field of international arbitration.

The recognitions Crenguța has gained in the international legal community led her to develop a practice as arbitrator in over 150 cases. She has a wide experience at the International Court of Arbitration in Paris and London Court of International Arbitration and she is also listed as arbitrator by the Word Intellectual Property Organization Arbitration and Mediation Center, and by arbitral institutions and organizations in the US (the Silicon Valley Arbitration and Mediation Center – SVAMC), in Austria (VIAC), courts of arbitration in Eastern Europe (Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova, Slovenia, and Poland) and Asia, where she is listed both for commercial and investment disputes in China (CIETAC – Beijing, SHIAC – Shanghai, SCIA – Shenzen), Singapore (SIAC), and Malaysia (AIAC).

Crenguța is particularly skillful in understanding and absorbing technical information about new technologies as well as immediately identifying their impact in business and society. She is working as an expert in dispute resolution for technology-related disputes for the United Nations Commission for International Trade (UNCITRAL), in the initiative launched by the governments of Israel, Japan, and the Czech Republic. She is a featured member of the List of World Leading Technology Neutrals by the Silicon Valley Arbitration and Mediation Center – SVAMC, and a chair of the SVAMC Initiative on arbitration and mediation for blockchain-based transactions. She is teaching communications and new technologies law, and lecturing in various international conferences on the legal aspects of data science, blockchain & DLT, smart contracts, and artificial intelligence and conversational AI (chatbots) and the metaverse.

She is also a successful entrepreneur, having founded and built Leaua Damcali Deaconu Paunescu – LDDP, a law firm with offices in Bucharest, Romania, rapidly ranked as a GAR top 100 international arbitration law firms worldwide.

Crenguța’s strong management skills have been shaped not only as entrepreneur, but also in international organizations. She is a past Vice-president of the International Court of Arbitration at the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC Paris), the world largest alternative dispute resolution institution, and is currently a member of the Board of Directors and a Chair at the Silicon Valley Arbitration & Mediation Center (SVAMC), leading the SVAMC initiative on arbitration and mediation for blockchain-based transactions.

Jelena Tasic Pizzolato works at the intersection of innovation, organisational transformation, and executive decision-making, where complexity, uncertainty, and human dynamics converge. Swiss-based, with extensive experience in international contexts, she brings over twenty years of work across fashion, luxury, technology, and finance, supporting executive teams and boards in strengthening how they think, decide, and act through structured, human-centred approaches to innovation.

Her work is grounded in design thinking, which she uses as her primary innovation methodology. Rather than treating it as a creative exercise, she applies design thinking as a rigorous leadership and organisational tool that enables executives to reframe problems, align stakeholders, test assumptions, and make better strategic decisions under conditions of uncertainty. This lens allows her to translate innovation from aspiration into disciplined practice, embedded in how leaders think, decide, and work together.

Experience

Jelena’s professional path spans senior roles in both public and private organisations, often at moments of transition, growth, or structural change. She has worked closely with CEOs, leadership teams, and boards on strategic repositioning, post-merger integration, organisational design, and governance-level initiatives. Across these contexts, she has consistently acted as a bridge between strategy and execution, and between technological potential and human systems, helping organisations move from intent to action.

A significant part of her career has been dedicated to innovation programs and digital transformation initiatives, particularly within consumer-driven and lifestyle industries. In this context, she has advised numerous Fortune 500 companies, supporting leadership teams in exploring emerging technologies and new business models with a strong focus on adoption, alignment, and organisational readiness. Her approach emphasises that innovation creates value only when it is understood, owned, and governed by leadership—not delegated to functions or isolated units.

Alongside her advisory work, Jelena is deeply engaged in executive education. She designs and facilitates learning experiences for senior leaders and their teams, focusing on innovation, transformation, and leadership in complex environments. Her work in this area is deliberately discreet, tailored, and dialogical, often developed in close collaboration with executive leadership teams to address specific organisational challenges. She is a permanent university lecturer and regularly collaborates with international academic and professional institutions.

Her perspective is informed by a strong academic foundation, combining an MBA in Finance, an Executive Master for Board Members of Public and Private Companies, and a background in the humanities. This interdisciplinary education underpins her interest in how leaders exercise judgement, govern complexity, and make decisions under uncertainty, complementing her extensive executive and organisational experience.

Operating in a strongly cross-cultural context, Jelena has worked across multiple European countries and organisational cultures. This international exposure informs her ability to mediate between perspectives, professional languages, and decision-making styles—an essential capability when working with diverse executive teams facing high-stakes decisions.

Within the Swiss Institute for Alternative Thinking, Jelena serves as Director of Executive Education, where she designs and curates premium executive education programs for senior leaders and leadership teams. Her focus is on creating high-quality, confidential learning spaces in which leaders can step back from operational pressure, challenge assumptions, and strengthen their individual and collective capacity to think, decide, and act with clarity. Through this work, she contributes to translating Alternative Thinking into practical, high-impact educational experiences that support leaders in navigating complexity with discipline, responsibility, and confidence.

Manuel Gómez, Ph.D. special area of expertise, his professional and academic interests focus on international arbitration and transnational litigation, at the intersection between dispute resolution and new technologies, the fight against corruption, legal and institutional reform, private ordering, the globalization of the legal professions, and legal education.  In general, his academic work pays special attention to the impact of culture, social norms, economic and political forces in the genesis and operation of the law.

Manuel has more than two decades of teaching, public speaking, research, and legal practice experience.  Manuel’s professional engagement is mostly centered on international arbitration, transnational litigation, and the fight against corruption.  He maintains a professional and academic interest on Latin America, although some his work is more general and not necessarily tied to any geographical area.  Manuel has taught, spoken, and done research, and consulted in different capacities throughout the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Africa.

Manuel also has several years of successful leadership and administrative experience in legal education, and in professional and academic societies.

Private order as a different concept than public order is one of the most interesting topics to the new territories of the relationships created by new technologies, and this is an area of particular expertise. Manuel’s keen interest on the impact of culture, social norms, economic and political forces in the genesis and operation of the law, has prompted him to explore the importance of alternative thinking as a strategy to foster balance and long-lasting solutions to legal problems.
 

Experience

Manuel Gómez is a Professor of Law and Associate Dean for Graduate Studies and Global Engagement at Florida International University (FIU) College of Law in Miami, United States of America.  He holds a J.S.D. and a J.S.M. from Stanford University School of Law, and a specialization in procedural law and a law degree (cum laude) from the Universidad Catolica Andres Bello (Venezuela).  Prior to joining FIU, Manuel was a lecturer and a Teaching Fellow at Stanford Law School where he had academic responsibilities for the Stanford Program in International Legal Studies.

Manuel has taught and lectured extensively through the Americas, Asia, Africa, and Europe. He is the Editor-In-Chief of the World Arbitration and Mediation Review, serves on the Scientific Board of the Revista de Derecho of the Universidad de Los Andes (Colombia), on the Editorial Board of Derecho y Democracia of the Universidad Metropolitana (Venezuela), and the Editorial Board of the European Journal of Risk Regulation published by Cambridge University Press.  He is also Board (and founding) Member of the Miami International Arbitration Society, member of the Executive Council of the International Law Section of the Florida Bar, and chair of its Law School Liaison Committe, member of the Faculty Advisory Board of the Kimberly Green Latin American and Caribbean Center at FIU, and Independent Research Associate at the Universidad Metropolitana Law School of Venezuela.

Manuel leads the Latin America & Caribbean Group and is a member of the Initiative on International Arbitration, Mediation and Blockchain-Based Transactions of the Silicon Valley Arbitration and Mediation Center (SVAMC), is also a member of the Academic Board of the Fundación de la Inteligencia Artificial Legal (FIAL), and former member of the Academic Council of the Institute for Transnational Arbitration (ITA).

In addition to his prolific scholarly production, Manuel has also served as external referee for leading peer reviewed journals and reputable academic publishers such as Oxford University Press, Palgrave MacMillan, Routledge, Law and Social Inquiry, Latin American Policy, and the Boletín Mexicano de Derecho Comparado, among others.  His research has earned important accolades and awards.  He is the author, editor or co-editor of numerous publications in the field of dispute resolution and governance and the globalization of the legal profession.  In general, Professor Gómez’s scholarship pays special attention to the impact of culture, social norms, economic and political forces in the genesis and operation of the law.  Manuel maintains a geographical interest on Latin America, but some of his recent writings are more general and not necessarily tied to a particular spatial context (See, e.g., ). Professor Gómez’s most recent work on dispute resolution has addressed a variety of cutting-edge issues such as the challenges of transnational litigation, the use of crowd funding as a litigation financing mechanism, the development of private ordering systems, and the interplay with new technologies such as blockchain and artificial intelligence with law.

Florin Păun, Ph.D., is an interdisciplinary scientist engineer, innovation catalyst, innovation director, investor and entrepreneur. 

He encourages the comprehension of the human factors, origins of human nature and behaviors during the collaborative processes in order to build bridges between the world of practitioners and the world of scientists and economists in order to promote innovation and overcome cultural blockages. His aim is to bridge the gap between R&D and industry and lead technologies in an optimized innovation path to reshape the innovative approach in Europe. His strategies and tools aim to support the creation of the shared value between research laboratories, SMEs, multinationals and regions. 

Innovation director, practitioner and theoretician of the evolutions of the innovation models and tools, Florin encourages the comprehension of the human factors and behaviors during the collaborative processes as innovation building thus bridges between the world of practitioners and the world of scientists and economists. 

As an influential and lauded academic, Florin has stimulated innovation through a variety of projects including think tanks, start-ups, scientific models, books and other publications, international organisations, talks and lectures. 

He is an advocate for continuous learning, efficiency and methodological reasoning and encourages these values in all his activities. As a lover of philosophy, Florin reminds us to re-evaluate the full length of Descartes’ iconic quote ‘”cogito ergo sum” and recognise that it is ‘’Dubito ergo cogito, cogito ergo sum’’ as a way to lead to critical thinking and engage the mind. 

His book “J’innove, Donc Je Suis” (“I innovate so I exist”) embodies this spirit and the visionary thinking that leads to social and technological innovation. His other book, “Tout Entre-Preneurs!’’ (“All Entre-preneurs”), explores the evolution of innovation in the French scene with research gathered from SME’s to start-ups and encourages the relationship between the ‘’world of practitioners’ and the ‘’world of theoreticians’’. ‘’Innover ou périr’’ (“Innovate or disappear”) – another book authored by Florin – brings together the private and public sector to create a synergy and to highlight the importance of the advent of open – technological, social and business – innovation and the recovery of the business cycle. 

Experience

Educated at the Aerospace Faculty in Bucharest, where he got his Master in Aerospace Engineering Dr. Florin Paun has a also certificate “Sciences de l’Ingénieur” in the International Program at Ecole Polytechnique de Palaiseau, and a PhD. in Mechanical Engineering in Toulouse (ENSICA). He completed his education with a Master in Management and Leadership at MIT Sloan (United States). 

Innovation director in aerospace sector in France, Florin started its career in the aerospace research being specialized in structures and was a strategy and development director at the Competitive Pole SAFE – PACA region. Florin was the Innovation Director of the Akka Group and previously the Development & Strategy Director of the New Competitiveness Cluster SAFE resulted after the merging of the Pegase and Risques, former Competitiveness Clusters in Aerospace respectively Management of Risk. He was in charge of identifying new opportunities of development and proposing the adapted strategy to tackle such opportunities and he is also launching the respective activities. First actions were performed in engaging SAFE on best practices related to open innovation in gathering together SMEs with large industrials and corporations. 

Florin also was the Industrial Innovation Deputy Director at ONERA – France National Aerospace Research Centre, since January 2005, in charge with the Technology Transfer and International Business Development and defines programs and new partnership policies focusing on complementary knowledge, cross supporting offers, mutual intellectual property valuation, joint spin-off, risk sharing co-development. Previously, as Senior Science and Technology Expert, he coordinated the Multifunctional Materials program at ONERA and also gave courses for master degree in aerospace multifunctional materials. 

As innovation leader, Florin is one of the 5 French experts and one of the 2 Romanian experts in the Pilot Jury of the European Council of Innovation. He is expert-inventor of several tools and methods for collaborative innovation such as “Demand Readiness Level” (DRL(market pull tool) completing the TRL (NASA tech push tool), “Contract of shared risks and benefits”, “asymmetries identification and compensation in the highly collaborative process”. 

Florin is member of the more international Innovation Networks for Research and Innovation (RRI, Technology Transfer Society, ONERA Alumni, MIT Alumni, etc.) 

He published 3 books in innovation management and has been quoted in multiple international newspapers including: Aerospace Testing Magazine, Les Echos, l’Usine Nouvelle and Air & Cosmos. 

His scientific work, based on more of 200 project he worked on, gained worldwide recognition and put in light the emergence of a new innovation French model but also completed the theories of two Nobel Prize Winners (Stiglitz, J., Sen. A) after having applied and adapted them to the highly collaborative processes like innovation. 

Florin is teaching its own innovation methods in international schools for master degrees students and is senior advisor in innovation collaborative process of innovation and impact of human factors for governments, multinationals, networks of practitioners, European INTRA-PRENEURS, Innovation School of ANRT in Paris (ANRT Ecole de l`Innovation), ISAE, Ecole de l’Air, ENAC, ESEO, Toulouse Business School. 

With his strategies and tools, he has more than 70 technology transfer agreements succeeded, creating shared value between research laboratories, SMEs, multinationals and regions. 

He is the author of open innovation strategies including the contributions of more than 50 international business and political leaders in the last 10 years. 

He is also an entrepreneur and business angel with extensive business development experience out of the aerospace domain, especially in emerging East-European markets. He had created his own Engineering and Development Company (Celidea), his own start-up on cross participative evaluation platform (XValuator.fr) and he is an associated founder of another dynamic start-up in France (Progonline.com). He is also a founding member of the think tank “Club de Bucarest”, the first Parisian think tank of independent professionals from Eastern Europe. 

Florin’s years of experience in the technology, invention and engineering industry did not only make him a pioneer in various fields, it also led to him continuously seeking ways to facilitate and streamline the inventive and innovative process. This was one of the reasons he founded the ‘’Agilising Innovation’ group in the exclusive ‘DOer’s Community; where leading ENTREpreneurs and INTRApreneurs collaborate and propose new ground-breaking innovation strategies while also jointly creating more shared value with multiple stakeholders.

George Leaua, M.A., is a member of the team of The Swiss Institute for Alternative Thinking and senior researcher. Capitalising on his background in space policy, international relations, and philosophy, his educational and professional focus on science and technology allow him to seamlessly integrate various disciplines into analyses of complex global problems.

George’s experience in multiple international organizations allow him to effortlessly work on cross-cultural issues and connect with ease ideas across different cultural backgrounds. He has always been fond of foreign languages and cultures, currently speaking over five languages to various degrees of mastery. George is proficient in English, German, and Romanian has a working knowledge of Italian and French and is currently learning Russian and Spanish. The intersection and interconnections between languages and different cultures have always fascinated George, inspiring him to continue his journey of life-long learning.

George has a particular inclination toward the understanding of social behaviours as his areas of interest and study included philosophy, religious studies, psychology, socio-cultural anthropology, international affairs, and political science. These interests, anchored into a solid education in micro and macro economics, mathematics, and sciences such as physics and astronomy, paved the road towards his current work at the interface between science, technology, and policy.

His strong interests in history, current global affairs, and futurism enable George to produce overarching analyses not only in space but also in time. Constantly looking at problems from multiple alternative perspectives, he is able to rationalize seemingly irrational problems.

Experience

George’s professional and education backgrounds reflect his passion for emerging technologies, ethical decision-making, and international policies. His long-term aspirations include contributing to the future of human development into outer space, supported by human-centric and ethically developed advanced AI systems. George seeks to pursue a doctoral degree in the future, focusing on the ethics of space exploration, as well as to share his knowledge of and passion for these technologically-driven developments with the next generations.

After his undergraduate studies in international relations and philosophy, George graduated with a Masters in Arts degree in International Science and Technology Policy from the Elliott School of International Affairs. During his graduate studies, he researched topics across the broad spectrum of technology issues, including space, nuclear, artificial interlligence, and cross-border data flows.

His strong  analytical capacities have been shaped by his work as research assistant at the Space Policy Institute in Washington, DC. , as well as authorship of research papers presented at conferences or published by international organisations, on various topics such as the data protection across US, Europe and Asia, or the impact of innovation in the space industruy (he co-authored the paper titled “Innovation in the exploration of the outer space”, published by the World International Property Organisation – WIPO).

His work experience includes various internships with  important diplomatic missions and international organizations, including the Permanent Mission of Romania to the United Nations in New York, the International Chamber of Commerce and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris (Nuclear Energy Agency), as well as the work of administrative assistant to the director of the Space Policy Institute in Washington, DC.

George is currently working with G-SPACE, Inc., a vibrant start-up company based in Sillicone Valley, which is supporting the next industrial revolution by enabling in-space manufacturing of new and advanced materials and unlocking new opportunities in space for terrestrial companies. He is conducting business development operations, building partnerships, and managing various projects for the company.