Elina Zheleva

Elina Zheleva is an alumni of the d-school in Potsdam and has specialised in human-centred research at the d-school at Stanford University. She is a pioneer in introducing the methodology to Bulgaria and CEE. As a managing director of launchlabs, Sofia has worked on large scale innovation projects and redesign programmes for Fortune 500 companies, public institutions and NGOs. She is the founder of BG4UA – a Bulgaria for Ukraine initiative that has helped thousands of war refugees flee Ukraine and find a home in Bulgaria. Elina is also the President of the Funding Committee at Techfugees – a leading global impact organisation empowering displaced persons whilst supporting tech innovations designed by, with and for them.