Rahaf Harfoush

About Rahaf Harfoush

• Digital Anthropologist
• New York Times Best-Selling Author
• Executive Director, Red Thread Institute of Digital Culture
• Professor, SciencesPo School of Management and Innovation
• Member France’s National Digital Council
• Visiting Policy Fellow, Oxford Internet Institute

Rahaf’s research centres on the human impacts of artificial intelligence, algorithms, social networks, and big data. Her latest book, entitled “Hustle & Float” (February 2019) reveals how the collision of disruptive technologies and centuries-old beliefs about work, is creating an untenable tension for workers in the ideal economy, and what organizations need to do to help their creatives thrive.

Rahaf is the Executive Director of the Red Thread Institute of Digital Culture, a think-tank and consultancy that focuses on helping organizations translate innovation trends into strategic opportunities. Her clients include UNESCO, L’Oreal, Estee Lauder, Bank of America, Facebook, Google, IBM, Ernst & Young, PwC, Airbus, Lenovo, Logitech, the OECD and more.

She teaches “Innovation & Emerging Business Models,” at SciencePo’s school of Management & Innovation in Paris. Rahaf is a member of France’s National Digital Council. She is also a Visiting Policy Fellow at the Oxford Internet Institute. She was named a Young Global Changer at the G20 Think Tank Summit.

Rahaf sits on the Steering Committee for the Peter Drucker Forum as well as the Peer Reviewing Committee for the Association of Internet Researchers. In 2014, Rahaf was named as a Rising Talent by the Women’s Forum for the Economy and Society and a Young Global Changer by the G20 Think Tank Summit. She was also selected as one of the Top 30 future thinkers by the prestigious Hay Literary Festival. Rahaf’s has been featured in TED, Harvard Business Review, Wired Magazine, MIT Technology Review, The Globe & Mail, The CBC, Bloomberg, Monocle, France24, The Guardian, The LA Times, Fast Company, Forbes, and more.

Formerly, Rahaf was the Associate Director of the Technology Pioneer Programme at the World Economic Forum in Geneva. She was the Research Coordinator on Don Tapscott’s best-selling “Wikinomics: how Mass Collaboration Changes Everything.”

An engaging and passionate speaker, Rahaf has been sharing her insights on technology and innovation since 2006. She excels at making trends and research easy to understand and uses case studies, stories and anecdotes to deliver presentations that are entertaining, informative and funny.  Rahaf also has extensive experience moderating panels and MC’ing events.  All sessions can be customized for audience, industry, and function and are available in both keynote and workshop (full day/half day) for clients.