Biography
Co-Founder & Co-CEO, Prewave
In 2012, Lisa Smith embarked on her PhD research, which laid the foundation for Prewave's core mission: Supply Chain Superintelligence. Her commitment to human rights and sustainability was reinforced by the Rana Plaza factory collapse in 2013, prompting her to explore how AI could be utilized to detect supply chain risks through social media data. In 2017, Lisa co-founded Prewave with Harald Nitschinger as a spin-off from the Technical University of Vienna. Together, they developed an end-to-end supply chain risk management platform now employed by hundreds of industry giants such as VW, Toyota, Lufthansa, and Ferrari. Prewave offers full transparency into deep supply chain layers, enabling businesses to mitigate supplier risks, ensure continuous operations, and address sustainability as well as human rights issues. Lisa has spearheaded Prewave's ascent to industry leadership and made it her mission to future-proof supply chains and protect people, planet and profits. She currently leads the roll-out of the technology to the public sector to inform and support implementation of policies that strengthen the resilience and economic security of critical supply chains.